Chapter 6: Makoto Takatsuki Forms a Temporary Party
“Hey, Makoto. Do you want to take on a quest with us?”
That’s what Jean came to ask. Next to him was Emily, a cleric.
“Are you bozos nuts? I dunno what rock you hit your head on, but get lost.” Lucy was drunk and feisty.
Wait, Lucy, are you speaking for the both of us now?
“We were asking Makoto, not you!” objected Emily. “What’re you turning us down for?!”
Please, you three, don’t start a bar fight...
“So, why us?” I figured I should at least hear them out.
“We’re actually planning to take on a raging bison hunt soon.”
“Huh.”
Raging bison were Class 2 monsters that posed medium danger. To give a rough idea, they were beasts that looked like bison, but giant, like three times the size of a regular one. They were normally quite docile, but they’d go on a rampage if you angered one. Seeing the color red only made them madder. You know, that kind of monster. They were herbivores and as such didn’t attack humans, but they’d often make travelers miserable by ramming into carriages.
A quest like this was at just the right difficulty for a party of bronze rank adventurers. The monetary reward wasn’t bad either; raging bison meat was delectable, so it fetched a high price. It was a popular quest for any adventurer trying to make a buck. That said...
“I’ll pass.”
“Why? Wh-What for?!”
“Raging bison make meadows their turf. The meadows around Macallan don’t have any bodies of water. I’m an apprentice mage who can’t do a thing without water nearby, so I wouldn’t be any help there.” I gulped down the rest of my cocktail.
“But aren’t you good with your Scout skill?”
“Wouldn’t Scout be kinda useless?” I pointed out. The meadows that these bison lived in were wide open. You didn’t need a skill when you could just use your eyes. “Like I said, I won’t be much help.”
On that note, I finished up my sandwich and attempted to leave the conversation.
“Please, wait! We’ll give you first dibs on the rewards, so please, won’t you come with us?”
“What do you want me to come with you for?” I asked.
“Bet they wanna apologize for last time,” answered Lucy. Was that really it? I looked at Jean and Emily. They seemed to feel a bit awkward.
“Part of it is an apology, but really, we just want to get along as fellow rookies,” answered Emily. Get along, huh? I wonder.
“For real?! There ain’t no way we’re getting along after that bullcrap!” Lucy snapped.
“What the hell are you so hostile for?!”
Sparks flew as Lucy and Emily glared at each other. They looked like they were one step away from a catfight. Please, you two, at least try to make up...
“So, Jean, if you wanted to adventure with us, couldn’t you join me on a goblin hunt?”
“I considered that, but you always hunt goblins in the Great Forest. I heard Lucy was forbidden from using fire magic there.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s true.” Lucy was banned from using fire magic in the Great Forest until she could control it. And that was the only offensive magic Lucy could really conjure up, hence our recent days of intensive training.
“We figured Lucy could use all the fire magic she wanted in the meadows.”
“Well, you’ve got a point there,” I agreed. “What do you think, Lucy?”
“Ugh, adventuring with these two?” Lucy didn’t seem all that receptive. On the other hand, she was surely sick of the constant training. Plus, we were poorly balanced as a two-person party of mages; having a frontline warrior like Jean and a support healer like Emily would help a lot in that regard. That just left one burning question...
“You know I won’t have anything to do, right?” I’d be useless without a body of water. Scout and Stealth wouldn’t serve much purpose either.
“Well, maybe you could slow them down?” Emily strained herself to come up with something. So, I’d be a decoy. I could probably make something work with Stealth and Dodge.
“Well, okay then. I assume we’ll be getting most of the rewards.”
“Yeah, a seven-three split,” they assured us.
I hadn’t been farming much lately, so that would do.
“Well, Lucy, they did go through the effort of inviting us, so why don’t we take them up on their offer?”
“For real?” Jean’s face lit up.
“Well, if you’re cool with it, fine, I guess.” Lucy wasn’t thrilled, but she agreed.
The next day, I woke up in the adventurer’s guild’s rest area and washed my face with water from the nearby well. Once I’d freshened up, I took the goddess’s dagger in both hands and offered a prayer.
“Here’s to another day of becoming stronger, Goddess.”
Remember, Makoto, safety first.
I finished my daily prayers and left to meet up with Jean’s party. We gathered at the eastern gate and set out for the plains beyond it. The weather was lovely—not a cloud in the sky.
But, of course, this was the worst weather possible for a water mage like me. I wish that we could’ve at least gotten a drizzle. Thankfully, that was the only aspect of this quest that came down to luck.
I talked with Jean as we walked to our destination.
“Oh,” I said, “so you and Emily are childhood friends?”
“We both grew up in the same orphanage in Highland,” Jean responded. “I’m aiming to become a knight, and Emily plans to become a High Priest. But first, we’ve gotta make names for ourselves as adventurers.”
“Pretty noble goals.”
It was a fairly average career plan by this world’s standards, but the many dangers of adventuring had caused plenty of people to lose their nerve and give up. Couldn’t blame ’em.
Also, it turned out that Jean and Emily weren’t lovers at all. Lucy had only said that to piss them off. Still, Jean had one heck of a beautiful friend. I was jealous.
“What’re you aiming to be, Makoto?”
“Hmm, I guess my plans are to level up and try my hand at a difficult dungeon.” I chose not to mention that my choice of dungeon was the Seafloor Temple, the hardest one in existence. Given how dumbfounded Lucy had been, it didn’t seem like the type of place that a bronze rank should even be thinking about.
“Ah, committed to the adventuring life?” Jean asked.
“I just can’t do anything else.” My classmates might have been hired by far-off countries and be living in luxurious palaces, but those weren’t options for someone with abilities as weak as mine.
“Let me guess—you wanna take on the great maze, Labyrinthos?”
“The largest dungeon on the continent?” I asked. “Well, I’d like to visit eventually.”
Labyrinthos was a massive underground labyrinth that spanned across the territories of Springrogue, Roses, and Great Keith. Its enormous size meant that there were still plenty of uncharted areas left inside, and because of this, there was no shortage of adventurers willing to explore the maze.
“You gotta get to iron rank before that can happen.” Jean chuckled.
“Yeah, I sure do.” It was recommended that an adventurer be iron rank or above before taking on the great maze, so that task was a bit too much for us at the moment.
Lucy and Emily were tagging along closely behind us. Were they getting along? I decided to use my Listen skill to check on them.
“So, girl,” said Lucy, “how far have you two gone?”
Lucy was getting into Emily’s personal space. Hey, Lucy, you’re not trying to start a fight, are you?
“Wh-Where is this coming from?” asked Emily, bewildered.
“C’mon,” Lucy pressed, “you like Jean, don’t you? So you’ve totally made some progress, right?”
“Excuse me, but I’ll have you know that we’re just good friends.”
“Oh please, you were giving me that ‘mortal enemy’ look the whole time I was with you two.”
“No, I—look...that was because your clothes are always so skimpy!” Emily exclaimed. “You were bothering Jean. And you’re wearing the same stuff today too.”
“It’s hot! What do you want from me? And hey, maybe Jean could just get over it. After all, my clothes haven’t bothered Makoto a bit!”
Uh, they kinda do, I mentally corrected her. I was just using Calm Mind to hold back those urges.
“Honestly, that’s even more bizarre,” remarked Emily. “Could it be that he’s not into girls?”
Wow, rude. I’m highly into girls, for the record.
“Oh no,” Lucy fretted. “If Makoto likes men, then where does that leave me?”
Lucy was worrying about something absolutely outside of the realm of possibility. Dumbass.
“Well, how about you?” shot back Emily. “How far have you and Makoto gotten?”
“Huh? Nowhere, of course! We only formed our party a few weeks ago.”
“I dunno, you two seem awfully close for a party that new. Rumors around the guild say that you’ve been training together until late at night—just the two of you.”
“Wait... You really think so?”
Wait, she really thinks so?
“I do. And I think that the next victim of Lucy the wicked witch may end up being our poor little otherworlder mage.”
“I’m gonna hit you.”
“You’re the one who made it weird first!” huffed Emily.
I decided to refrain from listening any further. Too much danger involved.
After a bit more walking...
“Isn’t that it?” asked Lucy as she pointed to something. We all looked in that direction.
“Where?” questioned Emily.
“I can’t see anything,” said Jean as he squinted.
“Guess I’ll use my Clairvoyance skill,” I said. When I investigated using the skill, I did indeed see a small bovine-looking dot. It was beyond the range of my Scout skill though, so I couldn’t tell if it was the exact monster we were after.
“I’m impressed that you can see that far,” I commended Lucy. Not even my Clairvoyance skill could totally pinpoint our target.
“Elves have great eyesight,” boasted Lucy, puffing out her chest.
“So, what do we do?” I asked the party.
Lucy crossed her arms and declared, “I’ll chargrill it with magic!”
“It’s five hundred mels away. Can you even hit it?” Jean sounded doubtful.
“No way she can,” said Emily decisively.
“What are you talking about?” shouted Lucy. “I’m the only one here who can use long-range magic!”
“Yeah, but you’ve got zero control over it,” I told her. I’d seen my share of Lucy’s spells. I knew that this distance was way beyond her abilities.
“I’ll be a decoy,” I said as I unsheathed my dagger and prepared for a fight. “It’s not like I’ll be of any use when it comes to damage.”
The weather was still lovely; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky nor a puddle on the ground. All I had was my dagger and my weak spells, so I couldn’t hope that any attack of mine would make a raging bison even flinch.
“Will you be all right, Makoto?” asked Lucy with a look of worry on her face.
“I can be pretty tricky with my skills. I’ll draw it over here. From there, Lucy can weaken it with her magic, and Jean can finish it off with his enchanted sword.”
“I’ll cast some support magic to increase Lucy and Jean’s attack power,” suggested Emily.
“Sounds like we’ve got a plan,” I said. “Okay, Lucy, start your incantation.”
“Wait, Makoto!” said Emily. “Let me put a defense spell on you.”
I let Emily cast a buff on me. Okay, here goes.
I cautiously approached the raging bison; to be safe, I made sure to activate my Stealth skill beforehand. As I drew closer, the monster’s massive size became more and more apparent. The raging bison was about as long as a mid-sized bus. If that thing decided to ram into a human, they would get launched away like a leaf.
Given that it continued to lazily graze on grass, it seemed like the bison hadn’t noticed me yet. I figured that Lucy’s incantation should’ve finished by now, so I turned back to my party. Jean had his hands raised, which was the sign that they were ready.
All right, I thought. Let’s get started.
I turned off my Stealth skill.
The raging bison gave me a small glance. It noticed me, but it wasn’t on guard yet. I picked up a stone from the ground and activated my Throw skill. This was one of my Traveler skills, and it made sure that anything I threw would always hit its mark. Unfortunately, the damage it dealt was almost nothing. There was pretty much only one thing the skill was good for: catching an opponent’s attention.
“Heave-ho!” I threw the stone with as much force as I could muster.
“Strike!” The stone hit the raging bison right on the nose with every ounce of force that I put into it. The bison bellowed out a furious roar and glared at me.
Here we go! I thought. Now I just have to lead it toward the party.
Time for my Flee skill! I ran back to my teammates at full speed with the raging bison hot on my tail. Wait, was this guy faster than I expected? It was chasing after me even more quickly than the big ogre had. And unlike in the forest, there was nothing I could use to obstruct its path. It was gonna catch up to me soon.
I turned my head to check and saw the raging bison stirring up a cloud of dirt and dust as it charged straight at me. Whew, this fella was really coming. If it hit me, I’d end up in a hospital bed with every bone in my body broken. If I didn’t die on impact, that is.
Time for my Dodge skill! I activated it right before the bison would’ve struck me. A black mass of pure destruction passed by before my eyes with a whoosh. I felt like a matador. Looking over to the bison, I tried to plan on when I should use my Dodge skill again.
The bison was coming right for...
“Hm?”
Not me?
“Wha?!” Lucy blurted out in complete surprise.
Uh oh. The color red tends to trigger a raging bison’s rage... And Lucy had red hair and a red cloak.
“Oops.”
Guess it acquired a new target.
“It’s coming this way!” shouted Jean.
“Eeek! Fire Magic: Fireball!” Lucy activated her spell. The giant ball of flame hurtled toward the beast.
“That was too early!” I screamed. Raging bison can’t change direction once they start running; if you were to cast a spell once it had already started charging, your attack would be a guaranteed hit. But if a bison hadn’t started its rush, then it could obviously dodge the spell.
The raging bison evaded the fireball with ease. It was now kicking up its hind legs in preparation for another charge right at Lucy.
“Aaaaaahhh!!!” she screamed.
“Lucy, cool it! Just start incanting again! Hurry!!!”
Lucy panicked; Emily tried to calm her down. But they didn’t have enough time. The raging bison was already tucking its head, making its intentions very clear.
“Here it comes!” Jean warned. He set up his shield, but that wouldn’t stop this monster. I had no choice, so I concentrated my mana.
“Water Magic: Ice Floor!”
I froze the ground where the raging bison stood, causing it to slip and tumble over. It made a somewhat dumbfounded moo as it crashed to the ground.
“Makoto,” asked Jean as he rushed over to me, “was that your magic?!”
“Yeah!” I answered. “Don’t expect a second one, though! I don’t have the mana for it!”
“You serious?! How is your mana that low?!”
“Quit whining!” I barked.
Jean turned to Lucy. “Hey! Do another Fireball!”
“O-Okay, got it!” Lucy responded.
“Wind Blade!” Jean swung his sword and hit the raging bison in the side with a magical slash. It sounded like the strike had dug deep, and the bison did start bleeding, but...
“Doesn’t look like it had much effect,” I noted. The bison hadn’t lost a bit of its rage. It snorted heavily, readying to charge at us yet again.
“It’s supposed to be a close-range attack,” Jean explained with a hint of frustration. “It loses a lot of force if I use it as a projectile.”
Lucy’s incantation wasn’t even halfway complete.
“Okay, let’s split up,” I said. “I’ll be the bait and dodge its attacks. Jean, you strike it from behind.”
“G-Got it. But how are you going to get the monster to focus on you?”
“Hmm, I was thinking like this.” I drew my dagger and started running toward the raging bison.
“A-Are you nuts?!” Jean screamed in bewilderment from behind me.
The raging bison was glaring daggers at me. Then suddenly, it started charging!
Dodge skill! Followed by...
“Water Magic: Ice Cutter!”
I tugged out the last of my mana, using a spell to pierce through one of the bison’s eyes. Its roar of pain could be heard across the plains.
“Ooh, you did it!” shouted Jean a bit too optimistically.
“I didn’t do anything but make it mad!”
The raging bison, still furious, charged right at me. It seemed to stumble a bit now that it had lost half of its vision—at least it would be a little easier to dodge now.
“My mana’s completely dry!” I yelled. “Jean, it’s up to you!”
“You seriously call yourself a mage?! All right, fine! I’ve got this!”
Jean used his large shield to tackle the raging bison from the side. The shield bashed into the monster with a deep ringing noise and caused it to stagger. That must’ve been a shield skill. This guy had some pretty nice tricks up his sleeve.
“The incantation’s finished!” Emily yelled. Jean and I scrambled to get as far away from our enemy as possible.
“Fire Magic: Fireball!”
Lucy let her magic burst forth. The raging bison was still staggered from Jean’s shield attack, so it couldn’t dodge this. The ridiculously huge ball of fire enveloped the raging bison’s body before a pillar of flame erupted toward the sky.
The raging bull’s anguished final bellow echoed around the plains as it became immolated in flames, ensuring that it never made another noise again.
“Wow, Lucy,” Emily remarked in awe, “your magic sure is strong...”
“I didn’t even get to do anything,” Jean muttered in disappointment. He’d been poised to strike the finishing blow, but there was no need. He shouldn’t have worried though—he’d fought well and done a great job.
“I did it!” Lucy was certainly satisfied.
“Will we still be able to sell our hunt when it’s charred black?” I asked Jean. We were supposed to be making a quick buck here, but I think we might’ve gone overboard.
“Yeah, pelts are off the table,” Jean answered with uncertainty. “But the organs and bones can be used to make materials, so someone will buy it. Probably.”
Probably? C’mon, give me a straight answer...
“Whew, I’m starving,” said Lucy. “Hey, can I take a little bite out of this guy?”
I didn’t realize that Lucy had such a wild side, but the bison carcass did smell like a well-done steak.
“You’re gonna ruin your stomach,” said Emily, pointing out the obvious. “We’ll report this to the guild. We need to put in a request for collecting the monster, as well as selling it.”
If an adventurer hunted a large monster, the guild would handle transport and valuation of the prey once it was reported to them. Jean had what appeared to be a communicator on him, so he took care of the report.
The rest of us stood watch to make sure that no more monsters came by. It looked like we were going to be in the clear, since there were almost no strong beasts in this area. We looked over the plains as we waited for a guild worker to come by and retrieve the bison.
I noticed something wrong about ten minutes after we’d defeated the raging bison and reported it to the guild.
My Sense Danger skill started blaring in my head. The high-pitched beeps going off between my ears almost made me grimace in pain. I’d never heard a siren this high or this loud before. It was a stronger warning than even the one for that big ogre.
“Hey, guys! There’s a powerful monster around here!” I warned the others.
“Huh? Where, Makoto?”
“Makoto, is that true?”
“Just watch your surroundings!” I shouted. “I know there’s something here!” I activated Scout to see if I could locate it.
“Ah, look over there!” Lucy called out. I peered in the direction that she was pointing.
Something was charging at us, and fast.
“No way!” Emily cried. “A griffin?!”
The monster heading for us was a Class 3, and a high-danger enemy: a griffin.
Ah, the griffin. It was probably the most famous fantasy-world monster next to the dragon. It possesses the chest of an eagle and the legs of a lion, but everyone knows that.
I’ve always had a soft spot for the griffins that showed up in RPGs. Mostly, they were ranked as powerful mid-game opponents. I’d never seen a game with a griffin as its final boss, but plenty of griffin boss fights were massive hurdles to overcome for RPG players.
Most importantly, they’re cool monsters.
But, uh, are we really encountering one this early on? Look, griffin, I need something called “mental preparation.” Have you heard of it?
Anyway, this staple fantasy monster was charging toward us at an absolutely ferocious speed. We could hear the sonic boom of its wings and the low rumble of its growl from where we were, a good distance across the plains.
“That thing’s big...”
The griffin’s massive figure was an order of magnitude larger than even the raging bison’s. Light reflected from the sickle-like talons that extended from the griffin’s thick front legs. I sure didn’t wanna get sliced by those things...
“Everyone, run!” Jean shouted. “It’s probably after the raging bison!”
The griffin must have been drawn by the scent of cooked meat.
Jean grabbed Emily’s hand and started running.
“Let’s run, Lucy,” I said.
“O-Okay,” she responded.
Gusts of wind caused by the griffin’s flapping eagle wings reached even where we were standing. As we expected, the griffin landed right on top of the raging bison’s corpse. And then, it started eating chunks of meat.
“But...our prey...”
Sorry, Lucy, but we’ll have to give up on this one. Can’t do much adventuring if you’re dead after all. We cautiously kept our distance from the griffin, making sure not to startle it.
We’re giving it our prey, I thought, so I hope it can leave us be and just go somewhere else...
But it seemed like my hopes were to be dashed. The griffin soon locked its eyes on us. They had the glimmer of a predator. And its target was...Lucy?
“Wha?” Lucy stammered out, utterly shocked. For the second time today, I might add.
“Wow, Lucy, you’re a hit with the monsters.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” Lucy said as she nervously backed away.
I wondered if there was a reason for this. I’d heard that strong monsters prefer prey with high mana, but could this monster be drawn to Lucy’s mana? Well, that was something I could think about later. You know, after getting us out of this alive.
“Jean!” I called out. “You up for more?”
“You got it!” Jean responded. “Okay, Makoto and I will buy you some time!”
“Wait!” said Emily, with tears already welling up in her eyes. “You can’t do this! You’ll die!”
With one whoosh, the griffin flapped its wings and took flight, soaring to the skies above.
“Here it comes!”
And just like that, it dove right for Lucy and me.
Dodge! I pulled Lucy close and activated my skill to dodge the assault. We managed to avoid the griffin’s talon by a hair, but it wasn’t long before the monster was airborne and looking down upon us again.
“It’s coming back!” screamed Lucy. It was persistent, huh? Well, Dodge!
“Ow!”
It seemed like Lucy had scraped her foot against the ground when I’d used my Dodge skill. Guess my mastery for using the skill on two people was still pretty low.
“Lucy,” I asked, “can you do your incantation while we’re evading?”
“I can try, but probably not,” Lucy tearfully admitted.
“Yeah, I figured...” It usually took three whole minutes when she had nothing to distract her, and it was probably much harder to incant while dodging.
Meanwhile, the griffin was swooping down for its third attack. Oh, for crying out loud, Dodge!
“Ouch!”
I managed to dodge again, but this time, the griffin’s talon just barely grazed my shoulder. Its aim was getting more accurate. Up it went into the air again.
This was bad; its strategy prevented us from using any close-range attacks. Jean had his back to Emily as he prepared to strike, but it seemed like he was having trouble predicting the exact moment he could land a hit.
The griffin suddenly screeched in a high-pitched shriek.
Wait, was mana gathering around it?
The griffin descended for a fourth attack. I had a bad feeling about this one, but there were no other options besides dodging.
Dodge!
An impact struck my body.
“Gagh!”
“Eek!”
I thought I’d dodged that attack, but for some reason, I was being blown away! The force of the gust was too much—Lucy’s hand was pulled from my grasp in midair.
Crap, was that wind magic? The griffin was now surrounded by wind. Are you telling me that monsters could use magic too?!
“Makoto! Lucy! Are you okay?!” shouted Jean.
“Y-Yeah, we are,” I answered. “Jean, take care of Emily.”
I held my spinning head in place as I stood up. Then, I slowly approached Lucy. Before I could make it, Jean drew his sword and stood in the path of the griffin.
“Jean!” cried Emily. This was getting really bad. But what more could I do? Lucy didn’t seem to be out cold, but she wasn’t standing up. I heard Emily incanting some healing magic from a distance, however, the spell wasn’t strong enough to fully recover Lucy. This griffin was smart; Emily would be its next target if it found out we had a healer among us.
I heard Jean swear out of panic and frustration. Every time that griffin swung its front leg, it sent Jean flying, shield and all. It was only a matter of time before he’d be done for. My mana had run dry, and attacking with my dagger was definitely not an option. I wanted to run, but our opponent probably wouldn’t let all four of us escape.
What was left? Should I leave Lucy and run? Nah, not doing it.
Makoto, put your own life first.
Goddess, I won’t leave my partners behind.
...Fine.
The goddess sounded exasperated, but I ignored her. I was maxing out my Calm Mind skill to barely maintain my composure, and I wracked my brain for some way out of this.
There had to be something... Just remember it, Makoto! There had to be a secret trick to defeating this thing.
◇
One year ago, I was taking a class in the Water Temple.
“Now, class,” said the elderly instructor, “the first step to learning magic is to feel the mana.”
“Yes, teacher,” my toddler classmates all said vigorously. I sighed.
“Put your hands forward and repeat after me,” the teacher began. “O Goddess on high whom we so revere, I offer you my prayer...”
“I thank the Holy Goddess from the bottom of my heart,” the children followed.
I-Is this that spell incantation thing? I thought. I was a bit too embarrassed to follow along. But still, incantations were the standard spell-casting method in this world, so I’d just have to deal with it.
“Well, class?” the teacher asked. “Did you all feel the mana?”
“Not much...” I mumbled.
The kids around me were all raving about how they’d felt warm or seen this strange light, but I hadn’t experienced a thing. Uh, was this a problem? Was I already falling behind actual children?
Seeing the pale look on my face, the teacher came to check up on me.
“You’re older, Makoto, so it’s only natural,” she explained. “It’s the sort of thing that the younger ones are more sensitive to.”
“Is that true?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t look so glum about it. Try it with me.” The teacher then grabbed my arm. “Concentrate on the feeling of your palms.”
“O-Okay.”
Suddenly, I felt some sort of tingly chill in my hands.
I-Is this it? I thought.
“Feel anything, Makoto?”
“I think...I’m feeling something.”
“That’s because I synchronized with you. It’s a technique that lets a mage affect another mage’s mana by touching them.”
“Wow... Didn’t know you could do that.”
“All high rank mages can do it. Mages of that caliber take on many disciples, after all, and it’s the quickest way to show someone how to use a spell.”
“Could I do it too?”
“You can, if you raise your magic mastery to 50. But be careful, though. It might not work well if both casters don’t have an affinity for the same element.”
“So you were able to synchronize with me because you can use water magic too?”
“Yes. I can use all of the elements, besides moon.”
It was a conversation that had made me realize how amazing my teacher was. And for some reason, that memory popped into my head at that very moment. I was also reminded of something else she’d told me: if nothing else, my water magic was high rank in terms of mastery.
◇
There’s a first time for everything, I thought. I’m gonna try synchronizing!
I ran over to Jean and Lucy.
“Jean! Buy us some time! I’m gonna cast a huge spell!”
“Uh, sure! Got it!”
Jean tossed his sword aside to grip his shield with both hands, and then dug his feet into the ground. The griffin’s talons came right for him. He held out somehow, and I hoped he could continue.
“Lucy, concentrate on your mana.”
“Do what?!” Lucy blurted. “Why?”
“Put your right hand out and just generate something with mana! I’ll control it for you!”
“What do you mean, ‘something’?! I can’t use anything but fire magic!”
“Good enough. Just focus on it!”
I gripped Lucy’s right hand and wrapped my other hand around her waist, just like my old teacher once had.
“Eek! Wh-What are you doing with those?!” shouted Lucy.
“Don’t worry, just hurry up!”
“Uhhhh? O-Okay, fine, but you’re getting too handsy!”
I ignored the sight of Lucy’s beet-red face and focused on my magic. I was winging it on the exact method, but I envisioned myself gathering mana from the points of connection between Lucy’s body and mine, rather than just pulling from my mana pool alone. With this technique, I could try to synchronize with Lucy’s mana.
Suddenly, the sensation of being swallowed up by a gust of wind rushed over me. Shortly after, I realized—this feeling was flowing into me from Lucy.
So...this is Lucy’s mana, I thought.
Typically, you can’t do anything with an element if you don’t have an affinity for it, but it seemed like I was managing her fire just fine; the alternative was being this griffin’s dinner.
“Ngh,” Lucy moaned next to me. It sounded sensual, but I had no time to spare thinking about it.
Lucy’s massive amount of mana was nothing like mine—if my mana was a tuft of dust, then hers was a thunderstorm. Was this what it meant to have a king rank skill? Was this torrent of power what Lucy had to control every time? It must be exhausting. I made a decision right then to lighten her training regimen going forward.
Lucy’s mana was still flowing within me. I tried my hand at converting it into something a bit out of my comfort zone—fire magic. All of a sudden, a choice dialog from my RPG Player skill appeared.
Oh come on, I was kinda busy here!
Cast the Synchro spell with Lucy?
▶Yes
No
No duh, that’s what I was there for.
Are you sure?
▶Yes
No
...What was it being so persistent for? It wasn’t like I had any other options, so of course I was gonna cast it. I continued to gather Lucy’s flood of mana into my right hand.
“Fire Magic: Fire Storm!”
A tornado of flames appeared before my eyes.
“It actually worked!” Lucy exclaimed. “And with a high level spell too!”
“I’ll lose control if I relax for a second, but man!” I felt as if I was pedaling a bike like mad through a hurricane, and I broke out in a sweat that wouldn’t stop.
My body was heating up! I felt like I was on fire!
“Jean, take cover!” I yelled.
“Got it!” Jean retreated back to Emily’s position. The griffin growled as it cautiously stepped back.
“Oh no, it’s going to dodge!” Emily cried. The fire storm wasn’t going to reach the griffin; it had already flapped its wings and taken to the sky.
“Makoto! It dodged! What do we do?!” The tornado of flame had just grazed past the griffin’s side.
Just imagine it, I told myself. It’s just like water magic. The griffin thinks it’s safe—which means now’s my chance to strike!
“Expand!” I commanded. The flaming twister suddenly transformed into a huge whirlpool. I felt the blasts of heat washing over me, even at the distance where I was standing.
“GYAAAAAAWRK!” the griffin cried as the flames consumed it.
“What’s going on?!” shouted Lucy. “Did you just change the magic’s form?!”
“Looks like that trick I’ve been practicing has come in handy!” I said. Not that I ever expected to test it out on magic of this scale.
The griffin struggled to escape the heat, but I wasn’t letting it get away; the pillar of flames chased the beast wherever it went. I was now getting used to the turbulent rush that was Lucy’s mana.
But man, this stuff’s hot, I thought. I’m probably gonna smell like ash for a while.
I started feeling a bit prickly all over. Had I stopped sweating?”
“H-Hey, Makoto!”
“Dude!” shouted Jean. “Your whole body’s on fire!”
“Huh?” I hadn’t noticed due to the flames of Fire Storm, but uh, was I on fire? “When did this get here?”
“Makoto, turn off the magic!” Lucy frantically yelled. “You can’t handle any more of this!”
“So you’re fine, Lucy?”
“I’m totally fine! Just turn off the magic already!”
Fire Magic: Cancel.
“Hm? Strange, I appear to still be on fire.”
“How are you so calm, Makoto?! You’re literally burning alive!”
“Oh, yeah. Right.” I appreciated the concern, but my Calm Mind skill still kept me from panicking. Once again, it’d come in handy.
“The griffin’s falling!” Emily said. I looked over to where she was pointing and saw that the griffin had crashed down onto the ground. Its wings were scarred from the flames, with parts of its body even reduced to ash. It was on the verge of death.
“Jean!” I shouted. “Go for it!”
“Got it! But put yourself out already!”
Jean’s sword shone bright.
“Maximum output: Wind Blade!”
His blade became bathed in a green light before it fell upon the griffin’s neck.
“I-Is it over?” Jean asked, relieved.
Next to me, Lucy had begun to stagger. Too much mana must’ve been drawn from her at once.
“That was amazing!” Emily exclaimed as she ran up and hugged her childhood friend. “Jean! We did it! We just beat a griffin! Us!”
“Phew, thank goodness.” Now that the griffin was defeated, I sighed in relief. With that done, I turned off my Calm Mind skill.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I got a little careless. I relied a little too much on Calm Mind. That curious warmth I’d been feeling? Turns out that it was coming from a fatal wound.
“Ah... Aaaugh...”
Intense pain surged throughout my body. My field of vision quickly closed in.
“M-Makoto!”
I heard Lucy’s voice, but all I saw before me was black. It was no use—I couldn’t stay conscious.
So I’d cast a Synchro spell with Lucy. We’d pulled it off with zero prep and managed to soundly defeat the griffin that was about to send us to our graves. That spell was a pretty darn powerful attack for bronze rankers like us. But in exchange, my lack of affinity for fire magic had caused Lucy’s mana to set me aflame.
I guess that was what my teacher had meant when she’d said you couldn’t synchronize with an element you had no affinity for. I really should’ve asked her to explain back then...
Guess we wouldn’t be using this attack again. A shame. I thought it was pretty good.
And so, I passed out.
◇
I found myself in a dream, a space of absolute nothingness. How many times had I been here? I was starting to get used to the scenery, but it looked a bit different this time.
The goddess who usually greeted me with a beaming smile was now glaring at me with her hands on her hips, not speaking. Was she, uh, mad?
“So.” Noah’s voice was as cold as ice. “Care to remind me? What was the first thing I asked of you?”
“Uhhh,” I wondered. I was pretty sure I remembered. “Was it...to become strong?”
“Correct.”
You know, having someone as beautiful as this goddess staring daggers at me is kinda hot.
“Dumbass,” she remarked at my internal thought. “Now then, do you remember what I told you after?”
“Uhh, yeah, totally, I remember.”
Was it the “go get ’em, champ” bit? Or did she say she had “high hopes” for me before that?
“You don’t remember at all!” the goddess squealed as she swung her fists around. “Well! I’ll tell you then! I said that you were the only follower I had, so you’d better not die that easily!”
“Ohhhhh,” I said. So that was it, now I re—wait.
“You don’t mean...” My blood ran cold at the thought. “Am I...dead?”
“Jeez, you really need to know your limits.” The goddess sighed. With a snap of her fingers, a monitor appeared in the air beside her. “Here, take a look.”
Neat magic. Anyway, the monitor displayed everyone from my party.
“Right now, your cleric is doing her best to heal you.”
“Makoto! Hey! Is Makoto okay?!”
“Lucy! Stay calm,” said Emily. “He’s lost consciousness, but he’s still breathing. We need to give him some first aid right now, but we’ll take him to a hospital the moment we get back to town!”
“Makoto, don’t die on us! The town’s just a little further ahead!”
Jean was carrying me on his back while Emily was casting healing spells. Lucy looked like she was in a complete panic.
Sorry for making you worry, guys.
“It was your magic that defeated the griffin,” explained Noah, “so they’re just trying to save the person that they owe their lives to.”
Ah, that made sense. Well, I was glad to see everyone safe at least.
“I’m sorry, Noah. I pushed my luck too far today. I nearly got myself killed.”
“You really don’t get it, do you? The damage you went through today normally would have gotten you killed!”
“Huh?” What did she mean by that?
“Look at this,” the goddess said as she pulled out a single Soul Book.
“Wait, isn’t this mine?” I asked. “Don’t take my stuff when I’m not looking.”
“C’mon, what’s a little property sharing between friends? Anyway, look right here.”
The goddess grabbed my shoulder and held me close. Um, again, personal space.
“Stop sweating the small stuff already,” she griped good-naturedly, while clinging to me even harder. I activated my Calm Mind skill and looked over my Soul Book. It was there that I found a line of words I hadn’t seen before:
Blessing of the Goddess Noah.
“W-Wait, is this...”
“Tee hee, ya did it, Makoto!” the goddess cheered. “Thanks to your daily prayers, you gained my blessing! Looks like it allowed you to endure that griffin’s attacks and the fire magic.”
A believer with their goddess’s blessing can gain anything from awesome power to unbreakable defenses. Guess that was what saved my life.
“I see...”
It had been a long time. One year and several months since I’d come to this world, in fact. But now, I felt like I was finally catching up a little to my classmates.
“Oh, well look who’s pleased with himself,” the goddess teased. “Get ready, because there’s more!”
“What else is there?”
“Look right here!”
I followed Noah’s index finger to find another word that I wasn’t too familiar with.
“Elementaler?” If I remembered correctly, that skill was something that elves and dwarves had. Lucy had it too, I think.
“Yes, indeed! We Titans are friends to the elementals! This is what we call a ‘gift skill’ from yours truly!”
“Elementaler... So, elementals, huh?”
The Water Temple didn’t have any practitioners of the skill. In fact, the whole human race didn’t have any practitioners anymore. It was a niche branch of magic that only elves and dwarves used every now and then.
“What, are you disappointed?” the goddess questioned.
“Oh no, not at all, I assure you!” That was close. I wasn’t disappointed per se, I just wasn’t sure if this skill was going to be strong or not. The goddess must have picked up on that concern. “I’ll use it with the deepest of gratitude, O Goddess!”
“Heh. Well, go forth, my believer.”
The goddess gently patted my head. A light then began to envelop my body.
“Looks like it’s about time for you to wake up, Makoto.”
Noah was beaming, and her smile was absolutely stunning. But looking at her face gave me an idea.
“Thank you very much, Goddess,” I said. “By the way, could I invite Lucy to become your acolyte?”
“Hmm... More followers, uh...”
That was strange. She didn’t seem very excited.
“The truth is,” she explained, “part of my punishment for going against the world of the gods was that I could only gain a single new believer every ten years.”
“Aw, really?” I couldn’t invite anyone at that rate.
“I’m fine as long as I’ve got you, Makoto,” Noah said with a thumbs-up and a wink. She seemed a little too carefree about this.
“Don’t worry, it’s no big deal,” she assured me. “Anyway, make sure you mind your limits out there!”
“I will. Take care, Noah.”
“See ya around!”
And with that, the light washed over me.
◇
“How are you feeling, Makoto?”
I awoke in the guild’s infirmary. When I looked up, I saw Emily’s face.
“Morning,” I said. “How long was I out for?”
“About half a day, I think. It’s nighttime now.”
“Ah, got it.” I slowly sat up. My body felt heavy.
I asked Emily what had happened after we’d defeated the griffin. According to her, when the death of the beast had been reported to the guild—that is, when my party had reported the fact that four bronze rank adventurers had taken down a high danger (Class 3) monster—the entire guild had flown into an uproar. Everyone seemed especially impressed with how Lucy had weakened the griffin using her powerful fire magic, and how Jean had struck the finishing blow.
The two had become instant heroes.
Right now, there was a raucous party being thrown at the guild entrance. Given their reactions to the ogre hunt a while back, maybe these adventurers just liked making noise. Meanwhile, my burns were being treated with Emily’s healing magic. I was completely wrapped up in bandages; I looked like a mummy.
“I feel itchy all over,” I complained.
“That’s a sign that the magic is working, so you’ll just have to bear with it,” Emily said. I couldn’t argue with that, so I did as I was told.
“Can I move?”
“You can,” Emily responded, “but you really should be resting. You sleep at the guild, right?”
“Yeah, though it might be hard to doze off with this racket. I’m gonna go say hi to everyone.”
“I’ll go with you, then. I have to see Jean anyway.”
“Makoto!”
Lucy came running up to me as soon as I set foot in the entrance of the adventurer’s guild. Her face was red, so she must’ve been drinking pretty heavily.
“So?” Lucy asked. “Are you feeling better? Sure you don’t need to sleep?”
“It’s too loud here for that.”
A massive banquet had taken over the guild’s entrance hall. Jean was surrounded by adventurers treating him like the man of the hour. There were even a few lady adventurers who were trying to get in good with the newfound hero. Always a hit with women, huh?
“Jean, you dog!” Emily said, grabbing him by the collar and tearing him away from his admirers.
Must be rough. Not that I can relate...
“Hey, Makoto?” Lucy asked. Her eyes were watering as she gripped my hand. “Are you sure you feel okay? You were unconscious all this time, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, I just woke up. But hey, you’re a hero for the day. Go over and have some fun.”
“I’m fine! I really just wanted to be by your side, but Emily told me that I wouldn’t be of any help, and Lucas said that they couldn’t really throw a party without a person to celebrate. So instead, I got forced to drink like a fish!” Lucy made a show of her displeasure, but she didn’t seem to think it was too bad. After all, before now, she’d never gotten this much attention from her peers.
“B-But, uh, Makoto,” Lucy asked sheepishly. “Are you, umm...mad about today?”
“What about today?” I asked.
“I mean, my magic nearly killed you...”
“Oh yeah, that was my fault. I learned at the temple—don’t cast a Synchro spell for an element you lack an affinity with.”
“No, that’s not it. Sure, synchronizing with magic you’re not attuned to usually doesn’t work, but it should never be so bad that fire magic burns your entire body...”
Lucy looked really glum and I wasn’t sure why. However, I got the feeling that her guilt came from something beyond the fact that I’d gotten injured.
“Lucy?” I asked.
She raised her head, then murmured a response. “I think it’s because of the demon blood inside me...”
“Demon?”
Lucy was now wearing an even more somber look, and she paused before continuing her explanation.
“Yes... It’s true.” she admitted.
“But aren’t you an elf?”
“I’m an elf on my mom’s side...but my dad’s side is different. My mom married a demon somewhere and had a child—me.”
A hybrid of elf and demon? Yeah, no wonder she’s so strong.
“According to my mom, my dad was a demon whose entire body was covered in flames. She told me that his bloodline gave my mana a strong affinity for fire.”
“How did she make a baby with someone whose body was on fire?”
“That’s not the part you should worry about!” Lucy snapped. I thought it was a pretty natural thing to wonder, though.
“I can endure flames and cast powerful spells thanks to the mana of that fire demon, but I can’t use weaker fire magic,” she explained. “As for the spells I can cast, I’m bad at controlling them. I’m butterfingered. Something always goes wrong. Also, my body temperature is abnormally high, so I tend to get hot quickly.”
“Ah, so that’s why you always dress so lightly,” I said. Guess that mystery was finally solved.
“Anyway, I think that’s why the Synchro spell gave you burns all over your body; it was because you synchronized with me, specifically. This never would’ve happened if you’d tried it with anyone else...”
Lucy looked dismal. She must have been really depressed about it.
“Well,” I said, “if that’s how it is, then so be it. We’ll just have to try something different next time.”
Lucy perked up and looked at me with wide eyes.
“Makoto... You still want to keep me in your party?”
“What makes you think I wouldn’t?”
“Why would you?!” Lucy objected with tears in her eyes. “I was useless on our hunt, I attract monsters, and to top it all off, I got you immolated!”
“You were plenty useful.” I couldn’t really deny the full-body immolation, though.
“But look at how badly you were injured!”
“Hey, no worries about that,” I said. “We all make mistakes.”
“But...even with your training, I haven’t been growing at all. I just don’t know what to do...”
Hmm, Lucy was really down in the dumps. How could I comfort her?
“Are you sure you don’t think I’m a nuisance?” Lucy fretted. “Or maybe... Maybe you’re just keeping me in your party because Lucas or Mary put you up to it?”
Wow, this was some serious self-deprecation. I didn’t think of her as a nuisance or anything like that. In fact, I enjoyed looking for a way to utilize Lucy’s powerful magic. It was like solving a puzzle. Although, she’d probably get mad if I told her she was fun to have around because I was treating her like a game. Quite the conundrum.
“Lucy,” I whispered. She was still holding my hand, and I squeezed back. “I need you, Lucy. Let’s work through this together.”
I looked her in the eyes and spoke as solemnly as I could. However, the part of me that was watching from a distance using RPG Player thought my line was pretty darn cheesy.
“Wh-Wha?! O-Oh, I see, yeah. Got it, yeah, we’ll work through this!”
Lucy’s face turned beet red as she stumbled over her words. Did I exaggerate too much? I didn’t do anything I’d regret, did I?
Hoo, boy.
Did I just hear the goddess sigh? What’d I do wrong?
For a while after that hunt, I focused on my recovery. It, well, didn’t amount to much more than lying around the guild’s rest area.
I was bored.
Lucy was training hard to raise her fire magic’s mastery. I had her teach me about my newly acquired Elementaler skill in between her training sessions.
“Elementals can’t be seen by the naked eye,” she explained.
“If you can’t see them, how can you use their magic?”
“The same way you use any other magic: with an incantation. But you need to say it in the language of the elementals, Elemanti.”
Another new language? This was gonna be a pain to remember.
“Guess I’ll just have to start learning from the basics,” I said. “I’ll check out the used book store later.”
But Lucy shook her head at this idea. “They don’t sell textbooks on elemental magic in Macallan.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Because there aren’t any human elementalers.”
Ah, right. I’d heard that back at the temple. There weren’t any human practitioners of it, right?
“So, how do I start learning it?” I asked.
“Hmm, that’s kind of the problem...”
“Man, I just wanna go adventuring again...”
“Oh no, you need another week of rest!” Emily warned as she happened to pass by.
“Hey, Jean,” I said, raising a hand to greet him.
“Hey, Makoto,” Jean responded. I heard that he’d been training to take down a raging bison on his own. Sounded like fun.
“Ugh, it’s torture to be stuck in the guild all day when I can’t go adventuring.”
I was using my magic to float seven water balls in the air, and I juggled them like beanbags. This sort of training was all I’d been doing lately.
“You sure are performing some high-level tricks for someone who’s supposedly bedridden,” Lucy remarked. But after a pause, her expression grew serious. “Hey, Makoto?”
“What is it?”
“Have you been sleeping in the guild’s rest area this whole time?”
“Yeah. I feel like it’d be a waste to spend my money on lodging. Also, I don’t have much money to blow right now anyway.”
Hunting goblins paid peanuts, and the few peanuts I had left were dwindling by the day, since I couldn’t go out and farm for cash. I probably had enough to last for another week, but after that... Phew, making ends meet in a fantasy world sure wasn’t a cakewalk.
“Listen, the chief of the elf village I come from is part of my family,” said Lucy. “The allowance they send to me isn’t exactly small, so I have a contract for a long-term rental.”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” One of those rich kids. I was jealous.
“S-So, anyway... W-Would you, um...” Lucy was fidgeting.
“Lucy?” I asked.
“Makoto, don’t you think you ought to heal up in an actual room? M-Maybe you could, um, stay in my room...”
“Makoto, dearie! Healed up yet?”
Mary came up and hugged me from behind. She was uncharacteristically sober too. Then again, it was still daylight.
“Mary, don’t be so rough with a burn patient!” Emily scolded.
“For crying out loud, Mary!” Lucy snapped. “We were having a serious conversation here!”
“Come now, are you sure you want to be so cold to me?” Mary teased with a grin. She then handed over some kind of book.
“Wait... What?! My First Elemanti... How did you get it?” I thought Macallan didn’t have anything like this.
“Well, sweetie, I heard you got a new skill, so I ordered it from the guild in Springrogue.” Mary then explained that it was a real hassle.
“The Springrogue adventurer’s guild...” Lucy said as she crossed her arms to ponder it. “If I recall correctly, plenty of elves and dwarves go there, so that makes some sense...”
“Mary, thanks a bunch!”
“Tee hee, don’t you worry about it. Good luck, Makoto!” Mary patted my head.
Lucy was sulking next to me. Oh right, our conversation.
“Oh, Lucy, were you saying something earlier?” I inquired.
Lucy didn’t answer or even look my way.
“Uh, Lucy?”
“No, it was nothing,” she responded. What had gotten into her?
“Anyway, Mary,” I asked, “what do we owe you for the book?”
“Aw, you don’t need to pay me,” she said. “But it is guild property, so make sure you return it. This is just a rental copy.”
“Got it. Thank you very much.” What a relief, especially since I didn’t have much money on hand. Mary said her goodbyes and waved as she returned to work.
“Well, that’s a big help,” I said to Lucy. “Now I can start training my elemental magic!”
Lucy didn’t respond. In fact, she seemed to be a bit disgruntled for some reason.
“Uh, Lucy?”
“...Hey, Makoto?”
“Y-Yes?”
“You jerk!”
And with that, Lucy ran off.
Later, over that night’s dinner, I had a rough time consoling her.
◇ Lucy’s Perspective ◇
Darnit... Thanks to Mary getting in the way, I couldn’t ask Makoto to stay at my place...
But maybe that was for the best. I only tried to invite him because adventurers in the same party tended to share a home base. Besides, Makoto’s a boy. If we did stay in the same room, our relationship would wind up being a bit less than professional, wouldn’t it?
I-I’m not ready for that kind of commitment, I thought. As a species, elves disliked premarital intimacy and were pretty reserved in romantic affairs.
Then again, Emily and Jean from my old party were living together. But that was just because they’d grown up in the same orphanage. Those two were different.
How do I feel about Makoto, anyway? I wondered. My feelings were certainly positive—unlike all those jerks who’d invited me to their parties because of my king rank skill or my wardrobe, he never made fun of me, not even after discovering how I could barely control my own magic.
Heck, he even helped me train. Well, technically, I just tagged along with the training he’d already been doing, and he worked with me whenever he had a moment to spare. The look in his eyes as he trained was as stern as they come.
Though on second thought, he appeared to enjoy it, at least a little. And he always kept up that training for hours.
“I’m impressed you can maintain concentration for that long,” I’d remarked on one occasion.
“I can pull triple-nighters to grind in an RPG,” he answered.
When I asked him, he explained that a “triple-nighter” meant staying up for three nights in a row. Okay, maybe he just had a screw loose.
He was a really hard worker. Of course, that didn’t mean he was likeable, or even particularly strong. If anything, his stats and skills were weak. Incredibly so. Like, to the point where anyone else in his position would’ve been better off giving up their adventuring dreams. But Makoto kept it up against all better judgment, and he’d managed to earn the unspoken respect of those at the guild.
He’s a strange one, I concluded. Especially the part where he’d never once tried to form a party until we’d teamed up. It was unthinkable—if you’re a mage, you practically have to find a party. And Makoto was just an apprentice mage, to boot.
“A real man quests solo in silence,” he’d say. Except I’d never heard that saying in my life. Maybe otherworlders were just like this...
“Morning...”
“Good morning.”
I met Makoto at the guild entrance and found him looking rather sleepy.
“Were you up late training last night?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“Remember that you’re still supposed to be resting,” I said, reminding him of Emily’s warning yesterday.
“Oh, I am, don’t worry,” Makoto said with a grimace. “That’s the only thing the doctors have been telling me.”
Does he really want to train that much? I wondered.
Well, I had my own improvement to work on! I couldn’t rely on Makoto to do everything forever. I tightly gripped my staff, a memento from my days at the elven village. It had served me well ever since.
“Lucy, let’s go to the southern forest today!”
“Sure, got it.”
Our training ground for the day was the forest to the south of Macallan. It was a wide-open place with almost no monsters who’d pose any danger.
“There’s no water around,” I pointed out with concern. “Are you gonna be okay?”
“It rained last night, so I should be able to make a smokescreen out of mist.”
The ground was moist and hard to walk on, but Makoto was having a leisurely stroll atop this uneven terrain.
Is he using Walk on Water? I wondered. His magic activated quickly, without needing an incantation, so it was sometimes hard to tell.
Couldn’t he wait for a second? My stride wasn’t keeping up with him!
After I followed Makoto for a bit longer, he turned around and brought a finger to his lips as though to say, “Wait, there’s something here.”
“What is it, Makoto? A monster?”
As I looked, I saw a small beast with the head of a dog.
“A kobold?” I asked. “It might’ve strayed from its pack.”
“Ah, that’s a new one to me. Guess they show up in the southern forest.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Run away,” he said.
“What? We’re not going to fight it?” I asked, but Makoto pulled my arm back. “It’s just a kobold, though. They’re only about as strong as a goblin.”
Makoto was the Goblin Cleaner, wasn’t he? Still, he didn’t seem to have any intention of fighting it, so we ran off without looking back.
“Phew,” Makoto said with relief. “We barely made it out of there...”
“Hey... I’m covered in mud, you know...” Running on top of such saturated soil had left me drenched in the huge splashes of mud I’d kicked up.
“Ah, sorry about that,” Makoto apologized. He may have seemed remorseful for what he’d done, but...
“You could have beaten that thing without running, right?” I asked. “It was just a kobold.”
“Hmm... Still, it’s a monster that I’ve never seen before, so fighting it on the spot would’ve been kinda risky.”
He sure was cautious. Especially for an adventurer who’d recently taken down a griffin.
“Fine, but I don’t want to go back to town looking like this!” I complained, patting down my filthy hair and clothes.
“How about we take a detour?”
“You want me to wash my clothes here?” I asked.
“Yeah,” said Makoto. “I’ll keep watch to make sure nobody comes by.”
We had stopped by a small spring in the southern forest. Makoto had led the way using his Mapping skill.
“W-Well, you’d better not look!” I warned.
“Yep, gotcha. I’ll keep my eyes to myself, so take your time.”
Right now, I wasn’t wearing a thing. I hid behind a boulder by the side of the lake as I tried to scrape the muck off my skin and out of my hair. I’d already washed my clothes and underwear in the spring, so all that remained was to get Makoto to dry them. The water was a bit chilly, but I sucked it up and bathed neck-deep.
“Makotooo, are you there?”
“Right here.”
Makoto’s voice from the other side of the boulder was as calm as ever...even though I was as nervous as could be. I splashed some water on my face to rinse the mud off. Yikes, still cold.
Makoto’s just around that boulder, I couldn’t help but remind myself. Well, he’s probably not the type to peek.
Yep, he wouldn’t blink no matter what he saw me wearing—or not wearing. He was probably just doing his water magic training right now, anyway.
THUD.
A ripple ran across the water’s surface. The nearby birds suddenly took flight.
“Makoto?” I asked, curious if something had happened.
“A monster just appeared! And it’s an ogre!” he warned. “Crap, there sure are a lot of stragglers today!”
“What?!” I said. I could see the horns of an ogre peeking out above the boulder. No way!
“W-We’ve gotta run!” I cried. B-But...I wasn’t wearing any clothes. Still! I gripped my staff tight and jumped into the fray.
“Water Magic: Ice Cutter.”
“GYAAAAAARGH!”
Makoto’s magic caused the ogre to cover its eyes in pain, just like when he’d fought the big ogre.
“Water Magic: Ice Floor.”
Makoto calmly froze the ground beneath the ogre. It lost its footing, then tripped. The beast was soon scrambling to stand up again, but...
“Water Magic: Ice Needle.”
What just happened? The ogre’s arm had just stopped moving. Had Makoto pierced its nerves with ice needles? When did his magic get so accurate?!
“Okey dokey. Water Magic: Freeze.”
Makoto stabbed the ogre in the chest with his dagger. The monster’s body shuddered, then soon stopped moving.
“Phew,” Makoto said. “Talk about a surprise... Luc— Haaah?!”
W-Wow. He defeated it. An ogre! It was recommended that bronze rank warriors only take them on with a party. And he’d slayed it all on his own, like it was nothing!
But... Hm? Why did Makoto have such a look of surprise on his face?
“Luhhh... Lucy, u-um! C-Clothes!”
“Huh?”
I had the sudden feeling that I’d forgotten something very important...
And that something was...the fact that I was naked!
“E-Eeeeeeeek!” I shrieked. A rush of embarrassment washed over me, alongside a flood of mana...which soon spiraled out of control.
In an instant, a massive pillar of flame roared toward the sky!
“Jeez... You do know that I almost got roasted alive for a second time...”
“S-Sorry, Makoto! Anyway, did you...see anything?”
An extended silence elapsed before he finally spoke. “...Nope, didn’t see a thing.”
He was lying! He definitely saw it all!
“Ugh...” I whimpered. I couldn’t bring myself to blow up at him. Urgh... How could he be so calm after getting to see me naked?!
“Anyway,” I hurriedly said, changing the subject, “why did you fight that ogre when you ran away from the kobold? Especially when you defeated the ogre like it was nothing!”
“Because I’ve fought an ogre before,” he responded. “This one was small too.”
“No, the other one was just a big ogre... Besides, the one you just fought was plenty large!”
Something was definitely wrong here—he had it all backwards! You’re supposed to run from the ogre and fight the kobold!
“Well, it’s already defeated, so I’d say it all worked out. But seriously, I thought the southern forest was only supposed to have weak monsters. Maybe they’ve been getting more active lately?”
He didn’t seem all that concerned about the fact that he’d just defeated an ogre. Anyone else would’ve been jumping for joy or bragging. In fact...
“Hey, could you keep my fight a secret from Emily?” he pleaded. “You know, since she said I needed rest and all.”
“Uhhh, sure.”
He didn’t seem to want anyone to know that he’d killed an ogre all by himself.
“Makoto,” I sighed, “you really are weird.”
“Why’s that?” He looked at me with those puzzled eyes, but that expression wasn’t changing my mind.
You’re downright weird!
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