I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Sword Meets Girl

The slave traders and their slaves were all in a panic. A two-headed bear was chasing them through the forest. The monster was after their caravan, to be precise. The slaver’s lackey ordered the slaves to save some of their goods before issuing the slaves another order.

“Slaves, slow that thing down while we get away!”

The slaves had no weapons with which to fight the bear monster. The only thing they could’ve done was stand there and be eaten. The slaves must have known this, and yet, they stopped in their tracks, turned around, and threw themselves at the beast.

“Nooo!”

“I don’t wanna die!”

They screamed in anguish as the bear tore them apart. It looked like they were unable to go against the slaver’s orders. Were they under some sort of spell? It must have had something to do with the collars that were fitted around their necks. I could feel magic coming from the collars, though my senses had been dulled by the magic sapping field. The mana drain only affected living bodies, which must have been why the collars maintained their effectiveness on the slaves. The field would’ve drained me dry of my mana if it was strong enough to drain the collars of their magic.

The beast roared as it swept through one of the slaves’ bodies. One ferocious claw swipe was enough to separate torso from limb as the man barely had enough time to let out a horrified cry. Even if the bear was one of the weaker monsters, facing it without any equipment was an awful idea. The slaves were helpless in the face of such a violent beast. It would only take a few minutes before the creature wiped out the lot of them. I felt sorry for them, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t call out to them even if I tried. I could only watch as the slaver made his escape. Damn it, if only there was someone who would pull me out of the ground!

The beast roared as it charged toward the slaver and tore him apart. Good job, bear! That piece of human trash deserved it! Still, was there no way of saving the rest of the slaves?

Then, a shadow approached me. It belonged to a little slave girl. She must have been free to move now that the slaver who ordered her to be a distraction was dead. Her face was covered with dirt, which made it difficult to discern her features. However, my attention was fixed not on her face or dirty hair or her ragged clothing; instead, I noticed something sticking out of her head.

They were ears—cat ears, in fact. They looked fluffy, too! This girl was a beastman, but I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I forgot all about the current situation. She had cute animal ears, after all. How could I not be touched by this turn of events?

Damn it, it’s so annoying that I can’t call out to her! Girl, I don’t know if you can hear me, but, if you can, you need to pull me out of the ground. Then, you must let me touch your fluffy ears! Wait, how would that work? I guess I could use the flat of my blade but—

The girl had gotten closer to me and wrapped her fingers around my hilt. She gripped it and began tugging. It was a desperate situation, but she wasn’t about to give up and accept death. I liked her already.

Come on…

The girl tugged harder now.

That’s it! Pull me out!

But it looked like I was stuck in the earth harder than I thought. The clay-infused ground had wrapped itself around my blade and was my greatest adversary yet; it wasn’t about to let go of me so easily. The girl looked to be about twelve or thirteen years of age, and her body was frail and malnourished. She didn’t look like she had the physical strength to yank me out of my prison.

Come on, you have to keep trying! Aaah, look out behind you!

The bear was fast approaching the girl now. The other slaves hadn’t made it, their remains scattered across the grass. The girl was the only one left.

You have to pull me out, girl!

“Who’s there?”

Oh, you can hear me?!

“Who are you?”

I’m the sword you’re trying to pull out.

“I’m shocked.”

You don’t look shocked…

“I am.”

Anyway, the bear’s coming in hot. You have to do it quick, girl!

It looked I was able to communicate with Telepathy since she was touching me. The girl also seemed to be the quiet and cool type. I didn’t dislike that. But never mind that, the bear is coming!

The girl grunted as she tugged harder.

I can feel movement!

“Nggh.”

You can do it!

More movement.

Just a little more!

“Hnngh.”

Extraction complete.

You did it!

“You’re a pretty sword.”

Why, thank you. But now’s not the time!

“You’re right.”

Can you fight?

“A little.”

I looked at the girl’s stats to be sure.

Name: None

Age: 12

Race: Beastman; Black Cat Tribe

Class: None

Status: Slave

LV: 1

HP: 19; Magic: 10; Strength: 9; Agility: 16

Skills: Sword Mastery 1; Night Vision; Expert Carver; Sense of Direction

She wasn’t kidding. But this wasn’t a problem.

You need to equip me!

“I already am.”

Equip me faster. You have to equip me like you mean it!

“Okay.”

Nameless has been registered as your User.

All right, my Skill Sharing skill should kick in now. Let’s see what it does.

Nameless has acquired several titles.

Huh, what’s that about?

I could use Identify on her…somehow. The girl had acquired the titles of Fire Mage, Master Chef, Disassembly Expert, and Skill Collector, all the skills I had leveled up to Level 10. This seemed to increase the effectiveness of each skill, with Skill Collector increasing the chances of skill acquisition. I could go into it later since they weren’t immediately useful.

You should be able to fight now. Go.

“Uh.”

You need to think about killing that thing. Then let your body tell you where to swing the blade!

Sword Mastery should kick in at that point. The skill was at Level 7 and the two-headed bear was a low-rank monster. Add to the fact that she was getting a status buff just by holding me and there was no way we could lose this fight.

“Okay… Got it.”

Good girl.

“Here I go!”

In a word, the girl’s movements were beautiful. She gracefully closed in on the beast like an experienced swordsman and pierced its heart with one thrust. My blade cut through its hide like tofu.

“Huh?”

You did it. What do you think?

“Was it thanks to you?”

Kinda. How do you feel?

“Grateful.”

With those parting words, the girl was about to stab me into the ground again. I practically screamed in order to stop her.

Wait! Don’t leave me in the ground, please!

“Huh?”

The ground here strips me of my power, I wouldn’t be able to do anything if you left me here. Could I bother you to carry me just a little further?

“Hmm?”

Please?

“He’s probably going to take you away from me.”

The slaver?

“Yeah.”

I wouldn’t want that, not after I found a cute, fluffy-eared girl. I wanted her to wield me! The slaver would probably sell me to a collector if he got his hands on me. It’d be even worse if he could steal my powers after discovering I was an enchanted sword.

Can’t you run away somehow?

“No. Not with this collar on me.”

So it really is enchanted then?

“It’s a slave collar. It makes it impossible for a slave to disobey its master’s commands. And I tried killing them a few times, too.”

The slavers?

“Yeah. I thought I’d kill them and run.”

Wow. This girl was more dangerous and hungrier than I thought. Again, I didn’t hate that.

But you couldn’t because of the collar.

“Yeah.”

A man came running to us from the other side of the forest: the slaver.

“Damn it, only one of you is left! What the hell were you doing?! Look at this pot, it’s cracked!”

He didn’t care that his lackey and the rest of the slaves had died, lamenting only over the broken pottery. This man was clearly human filth.

“Did you kill the Twin-Headed Bear?” he demanded.

“Yes.”

“How did you… Did you use that sword?”

“I found it.”

“Give me that.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. “No.”

“What was that? Give it!”

“Aah, I’m sorry.”

The man slapped the girl with the back of his hand. “You think you animals have any right to look at me like that?!”

“Ow…”

He hit her again. He seemed used to it. The man wrenched me from the cowering girl.

“That’s a fine blade. I’ll be taking this as compensation for this little squabble.”

The man ignored the girl, who was squirming in pain, and began examining me.

“Mangy beast, take whatever goods you can salvage and carry it. We’ll be heading to the nearest town.”

The slave collar kicked in. Although the girl was in pain, she couldn’t disobey the slaver’s words and began staggering toward the remains of the caravan.

This guy was pissing me off. My intent to kill was rising and I was on the verge of hacking the scumbag’s head clean off. Damn it! If only this place didn’t suck my mana dry, I could kill him right here and now!

“Gurk?”

I cast Telekinesis out of spite, but it worked somehow. Whoops. I’d been out of the ground long enough that my mana had begun recovering. My natural mana recovery was outpacing the ground’s mana draining properties now that I was no longer inside it. I had used Telekinesis while thinking of slaughtering the slaver and I immediately swung into action, stabbing the scumbag’s face dead center and piercing right through his skull. His brains splattered across the ground.

Oddly enough, I felt less guilt than killing a goblin, despite the fact I had killed a human. Was it because the man was downright scum, or because I was a sword?

Sooo, what now?

“Hm?”

Anyway, just calm down. I’ll figure something out.

“I am calm.”

You are much too calm, young lady.

The girl didn’t seem fazed by the gory death of her captor. She had the seeds of greatness in her.

You are now my User.

“Yes.”

I’m something of a magical sword…so I’m kinda strong.

“Okay.”

I want you to keep using me, as a sword. Although, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t put me away in storage. Are you interested? You’re also going to have to kill monsters of course.

I couldn’t force this little girl to go down this path. Even if she was my first User, I was ready to let the matter go if she refused.

“Yes. I do.”

The girl gave an instant reply. She looked dignified as she held me up to the sky.

“I need to get stronger. I must.”

She must have had her reasons for being so motivated.

Is there a goal you’re striving for?

“I have to break through a wall.”

A wall?

The girl explained that beastmen like her had the ability to evolve. There were different conditions for every tribe, but those who succeeded were greatly revered. However, most beastmen never lived to see the day of their evolution, a testament to how difficult a task it was. The Black Cat Tribe, the clan this girl belonged to, had never had a successful evolution to date, and they were looked down upon as the weakest of the beastmen.

The girl’s parents had tried to evolve themselves, but they met their end during their adventures and the girl was left to fend for herself. It didn’t take long after for the girl to be kidnapped by slavers. The girl was now intent on carrying out her parents’ wishes to evolve.

Oh, you’re such a good girl! All right, I’m in! I’ll help you evolve, don’t you worry!

“Thanks.”

Hey, don’t mention it! You’re my User after all! What’s your name, by the way?

It would’ve been silly to go on this adventure without knowing my precious User’s name. Still, the girl’s reply was about what I expected.

“I don’t have one.”

You really don’t have a name?

“No.”

I had guessed from Identifying her earlier, but to think she would completely lack a name…

Why not?

She had had parents after all. They had to have given her a name.

“A Slave Contract deletes your name.”

Uh, what do you mean by that?

“There may be slave owners who would want to rename their slaves. That’s why they deleted our names.”

So the slave contract prohibited slaves from even having a name. How terrible.

“The slavers got rid of my name when I was eight.”

The girl had been living as a slave for four years, and she was still set on reaching her objective. I was impressed.

I see… Then what was your name before?

“Fran.”

Funny, I used to have a dog named Fran. Well, at least she had a name I could call on now.

All right, then Fran it is.

“Are you sure?”

You don’t like it?

“No, I do. I’m Fran.”

She seemed quite happy about her new old name, judging by the way her tail stood up and curled. Problem solved.

Now it was Fran’s turn to fluster me.

“What’s your name?”

Uh, me?

“Yeah.”

No one had ever asked me that question seeing as she was the first person I’d talked to since reincarnation. The subject of my name, specifically the lack thereof, had honestly slipped my mind. I couldn’t remember what my name was, and even my Name field was still Unknown. Damn it! I should’ve given myself a cooler name sooner!

Uhh…

“You don’t have one?”

No.

“Then I’ll give you one.”

I guess that would work. Users had naming privileges, after all. I was sure I could get used to whatever Fran named me, so long as she liked it. To be honest, I didn’t really have any preferences.

“Hmmm…”

What’ll it be?

“Mm…”

Well? Well?

“Hmm… I got it.”

Really! What is it?

“Teacher.”

What.

“Teacher.”

Why?

“You said you’d teach me how to fight. That’s why you’re Teacher.”

Uhh, are you sure you don’t have any alternatives? That’s it?

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Teacher.”

Your name is now Teacher.

Whoa! I jumped at the sudden text prompt. Seriously? My name’s Teacher now?

“You don’t like it?”

The girl maintained her blank expression, but there was a hint of worry on it now. How was I supposed to say no to that face?

Of course not, I absolutely love it! It’s a great name!

“Mm.”

From then on, I was named Teacher. It was somewhat weird as far as sword names went, but I told myself that Fran liked it and that was all that mattered.

So, what now? Does the slave contract expire now that the slaver’s dead?

“I don’t think so. My collar hasn’t come off.” Fran pointed to her collar. We had to do something about that.

Can’t we just force it open? Destroy it?

“No. Breaking the slave collar kills the slave wearing it.”

Whoa, seriously?

“Seriously.”

That was close. I was about to start swinging at her neck.

Then how do we annul the contract?

“By destroying the contract papers.”

I see. Would that guy have it?

“He should. I’ll go look.”

I was worried the slaver wouldn’t have it on him and had it hidden elsewhere, but my worries were for naught.

“Found it.”

Fran took out a folder filled with parchment paper from the slaver’s shirt. One of them was Fran’s slave contract, the cause of her slavery. With it gone, Fran would be freed.

Just rip that thing to shreds!

“Hng!”

Fran gripped the edges of the parchment and began pulling. The document proved to be tougher than we thought, however. She grunted and heaved at the contract, but she wasn’t strong enough to tear it.

“Nope…”

All right, we’ll chop it up then. Put the contract on the ground.

“Okay.”

Fran heaved me up then swung me down at the document.

That did it!

The slave contract was now in two pieces. Seconds later, Fran’s slave collar unlocked itself and fell to the ground.

“The collar came off.”

Whoa! Are you okay?

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

I didn’t feel any magic emanating from the collar anymore. The contract really was the key to freeing her from the collar’s bondage.

“Thank you.”

She was blushing all the way to her cat ears. How adorable. She really was a sweet-looking girl. Give her a few years and she’d be a heartbreaker. Not that I was going to let anyone go out with my Fran. They’d have to go through me first.

“Here.”

Fran brought something to my attention as I was getting all fired up by myself. It was the slaver’s bag.

What’s in it?

A bunch of stuff apparently. There was money, for starters, though I didn’t know how much the stuff was worth since I wasn’t familiar with the coinage of this world. It couldn’t have been worth much though, because most of it was silver and copper coins.

Next were some basic tools. Some of them seemed to be magical in nature too. There was a magical torch which gave out light, a small jug which produced potable water, and an armband which increased your strength by a little bit. They didn’t amount to much, but they did seem interesting. We would have to try them elsewhere though, because of the mana-draining nature of the forest. I was anxious to get out of the area as fast as I could, too.

I don’t know how big this mana-sapping area is, but we’d better get out of the forest as soon as we can.

“Okay.”

We took some knives, utensils, clothes, and anything that looked like it might be useful from the caravan before we headed out. I had, of course, stored the bear’s remains in my Pocket Dimension for later use. As usual, the storage process only took a few moments.

I wrapped my blade in the canvas covering the carriage and fashioned a loop out of the smaller man’s belt so Fran could sling me over her shoulder. She was a bit on the shorter side, so I asked her to be careful since she may end up dragging me across the ground.

We had also dressed up Fran in some basic clothing we found in the cart. It was still meager, and she still looked like a slave, but at least she didn’t look homeless now.

Shall we?

“Yeah.”

Equipping me had made her stronger, and I could see she was surprised by it. She declared her astonishment thirty minutes into our trek.

“You’re amazing, Teacher.”

Hahaha. Right?

“Yeah.”

So, what should we do now? Any ideas?

“Hmm. There’s a town nearby.”

Around here?

“That way.”

Uh… Do you know how far it is from here?

“No.”

She had overheard the slavers mention stopping in a town as they headed east. Thanks to her Sense of Direction, she was able to tell the location of a town, so long as she had a general idea of where it was.

Let’s get going then.

Now it began feeling like a real adventure.

Something had occurred to me on the way to the nearest town. There were some updates to my status screen as a result of leveling up Identify, first being the mysterious header of Mana Conductivity. I asked Fran if she knew anything about it and she shook her head “no.” Did it affect my ability to conduct mana? What did that even mean? It was listed at A, in any case, and I had no idea whether that was good or bad at the moment.

Next came the changes to my skill menu. I was now able to sort my skills according to their categories, which made it much less confusing when I had to rifle through them. It also seemed I’d triggered the Superior Skills option when I maxed out Fire Magic to Level 10. Superior Skills were unlocked as a reward for leveling certain skills to Level 10. In exchange, I would no longer be able to share the skill and had to unequip it from Fran. It took up 10 EP, so I had to be careful about my choices there.

Along the road, I began telling Fran about myself. We had to get our stories straight to avoid people finding us out. I told her about how I used to be human, and about how I grew stronger by consuming magic crystals, Skill Sharing, and the effects I had on the stats of my User.

“Crystals…”

Yeah. But I just ranked up, so the next one’s gonna be a while.

“Mm.”

Wha—hey, what are you doing?

“Hm.”

She took the crystal of the Fanged Rat we had just killed and was knocking it against the flat of my blade. She was trying to feed me, I guessed, though her method was quite violent.

Wait, hold on! I have to cut through it! Hit it against the edge of my blade.

“Like this?”

That’s it.

“You really absorbed it.”

And that’s how I grow stronger. We should hunt every monster we see and sell the parts for money.

“Got it.”

Then we tried experimenting with Telepathy. I had only begun using it the day I met Fran, so there was still so much I didn’t know about the skill. It apparently made a field which allowed the user to have a two-way conversation. If I connected it with Fran, we would be able to have a private conversation, kinda like the old tin can telephones back home. If I widened the area of effect, I would be able to broadcast my voice to everyone who was within range. We tried it out with a rabbit we caught, and both the rabbit and Fran were able to hear my voice when I set it on broadcast. However, it didn’t look like the rabbit was able to hear Fran’s side of the conversation. Telepathy didn’t turn me into a conduit that allowed multiple people in the same area to talk to each other through me; instead, I did all of the talking and listening.

We hadn’t run into any tough encounters so far. The grasslands must’ve been a special environment given how the monsters became stronger the further I went. But the monsters outside the woods weren’t that strong; at best, they were at Area 2 levels.

I took care of the cooking. The Cooking skill I maxed out during my lapse into madness came in handy in the end. I could manipulate cooking utensils and ingredients with Telekinesis no problem. My blade made quick work of slicing and dicing, and fire and water were just a matter of casting a few spells.

Fran should have the same Cooking skill I had, but I decided against it. Nourishment was a guardian’s responsibility. I had her equip Poison Resistance, Enhanced Absorption, Enhanced Digestion, and Predator just in case. Predator allowed you to gain certain abilities based on what you ate. I didn’t know how much of an effect it had, but leaving it on her couldn’t hurt. This was Fran’s current status, aside from the skills we shared:

Name: Fran

Age: 12

Race: Beastman; Black Cat Tribe

Class: None

LV: 3

HP: 39; Magic: 25; Strength: 24; Agility: 46

Skills: Sword Mastery 1; Night Vision; Expert Carver; Sense of Direction

Titles: Disassembly Expert; Skill Collector; Fire Mage; Master Chef

She was much stronger than a goblin now. Her numbers were boosted by the Status+ (Medium) I acquired a short while ago, which stacked with my own Attack+ (Small). It made her very strong for someone who was still at Level 3, and she could stomp every low-rank monster that came her way.

I would swap out her skills depending on the circumstances, but Sword Mastery, Fire Magic, and Status+ were mainstays. I was getting so used to swapping out skills that I could do them on the fly now, too.

The problem was money. The main currency of this world was Gold, and it was accepted everywhere. We had gotten two silver coins and twenty-four copper coins from the slaver earlier, which amounted to 224G in total. It was dubious whether we could even stay a night at an inn with this little money.

I did have a solution though, and it involved the pile of monster corpses I had been storing up in my Pocket Dimension. Fran had told me that adventurers hunted down monsters, carved up their parts, and sold them for money. Selling monster materials was their main source of income. My solution was to carve up the monster remains and pick the parts which looked viable to sell. It would look suspicious if a little girl like Fran began selling high-rank monster parts though, so we’d have to start with the cheaper stuff. We’d start actually worrying about it when we got to town.

And we’re done.

We were in the middle of camping out. Fran was currently harvesting monsters for materials. Apparently, Skill Sharing was still in effect, even if there was some distance between us. Fran still got her stat bonuses and she was able to use the Disassembly skill.

Fran laid out a monster’s remains and carved it up with a knife. The smell of blood would’ve attracted nearby monsters, so she had to set up a barrier using concealment magic. She cast this one by herself too. She was getting used to her newfound abilities.

Meanwhile, I cooked her up something to eat. I used the pot we got from the slaver cart to make a stew out of the monster meat we had. I made sure to use any medicinal herbs I found along the way to make it extra nutritious. It should taste amazing too, thanks to my Level 10 Cooking skill; not that I had any way of making sure. It was a shame I couldn’t taste my own cooking.

This was the basic division of labor we had between us. I would set up camp and be on lookout while Fran carved up the monsters we had killed. I would absorb the crystals she found, and we could sell or eat the rest of the beast.

Food’s ready, Fran.

“Okay.”

Go wash your hands first.

“Create Water.”

She conjured a spout of water with magic to wash her hands. She didn’t have any problems casting magic. As my User, she could draw from my Mana Pool to cast any magic she needed, so she could conjure up all the water she wanted.

Are you done with the monster carving?

“For the most part. One of them was impossible to get through, though.”

The turtle, huh?

Fran looked at the remains of the Blast Tortoise. Even with Disassembly 10, it was impossible to get through its thick shell with a knife. It was a high-rank monster after all. She had had trouble with the Tyrant Saber-Tooth the other day too. She needed better tools.

I guess I’m up today.

“Please.”

You got it. Just sit back and enjoy your meal, Fran.

“I will. Thanks.”

I should finish carving this thing before Fran finished her meal.

Three days had gone by since I first met Fran. We were walking in the general direction of the nearest town, and I was wrapped up in canvas and had to ask Fran to shoulder me. There was no good excuse for a floating sword, no matter how I spun it.

Is the town easy to get into?

“Hm?”

Do you need to show some identification, maybe pay a toll?

“I don’t know.” She shook her fluffy head and looked cute while doing so.

No, focus.

Fran used to be a slave, so she probably never had to enter a city by herself. No wonder she didn’t know.

It’d be nice if we could ask someone.

But we hadn’t seen a single soul in the last three days. I could understand not running into merchants or adventurers, but no bandits? Come on.

“This isn’t the highway.”

What do you mean?

“This is a detour.”

The slavers had chosen to rush through a monster-infested region in the interest of time. The shortcut had cost them their lives, so I was glad they were dead, but the slaves themselves could have been spared.

So you’re saying there’s a highway?

The frequent appearance of monsters would explain why people wouldn’t usually take this road.

Where is it?

“I think we’ll find it eventually if we keep walking.”

I hope you’re right.

“It’ll be fine. Maybe.”

We continued walking for four hours, killing small animals like rabbits along the way and talking about what we should invest our EP in next. We talked about leveling up some of the skills we had or getting a status boost, but we decided to get Identity Protection and Skill Capacity Up (Medium) in the end.

As the name implied, Identity Protection prevented others from using Identify on us. Fran told me that talking swords weren’t something you saw every day in this world, so this would come in handy in the prevention of shenanigans.

Skill Capacity Up (Medium) allowed us to increase the number of skills we could equip. The more skills we could equip, the stronger we got. It was simple and straightforward.

As we continued our discussion of skill optimization, we stepped onto the city highway that we’d been looking for.

Finally, proper roads!

The highway was a stretch of road that was simply cleared of grass, but it was still better than the wild trail we were on. The road showed its long years of service in the ruts that had formed along the ground. We let Fran’s Sense of Direction point us in the right way.

“Hm, I can feel some creatures around us.”

They don’t feel human, either.

We could tell the size and movements of the creatures around us with Sense. Their presence was something I’d felt many before. We were probably up against goblins.

“Should we kill them?”

May as well. We could carve them up for materials and absorb their crystals while we’re at it.

“Got it.”

Fran nodded and leapt away from the main road. She’d gotten used to the Strong Legs skill and was now jumping from tree to tree as fast as the wind blew.

“There.”

The three goblins were hidden away in some bushes next to the highway. They were going to ambush whoever was unfortunate enough to pass them by. Fran concealed her presence, silently positioned herself behind one of them, and struck.

“Hurk.”

“Gi?”

One of them crumpled from a clean slash down their back.

“Ha!”

She proceeded to cut down the remaining two with upward slashes. Her movements were much more fluid now that she was getting accustomed to her skills. The goblins didn’t know what hit them; the battle was over before any of their dead bodies hit the ground.

“Teacher, take care of the rest.”

Sure thing.

I absorbed the goblins’ crystals and carved off their horns for later use. Apparently, Fran had heard somewhere that goblin horns were used for materials. I proceeded to toss their dead bodies into the Pocket Dimension. It would’ve been bad if their corpses attracted some big monster to the highway.

“Teacher, there’s a goblin there, too.”

There’s more of them?

“What should we do?”

They’re on the way, so let’s hunt them down.

“Okay.”

Fran leapt into action again, but what greeted her was something neither of us had expected.

“Damn it! Get away from me, you dirty goblins!”

“Giigigi!”

“Graaah!”

The goblins were terrorizing a horse carriage. There were six of them against the carriage’s sole driver.

That’s a lot of them.

“I’m going to help him.”

Go for it.

She concealed her presence again and positioned herself for an ambush. She cut through three of the little demons with Triple Thrust. Each individual stab wasn’t that powerful, but they were enough to take down goblins.

“Y-you saved me!”

“Giii!”

“Quiet.”

The rest of the goblins fell on Fran one after the other with a menacing cry, but Fran ruthlessly cut each of them down. One of them tried to get away, but Fran threw me at the little bastard to prevent his escape. I stabbed it clean through the stomach, a testament to the usefulness of Throwing Weapons.

“Th-thank you, little lady. You saved my life.”

“Hm.”

“You sure are strong, though. Are you alone?”

“…”

“Oh, you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t feel like it.”

Fran was just the quiet type, but I could understand how the man would misunderstand given her response. I was glad she wasn’t eager to give the man information though. I told her to keep up the charade for as long as she could.

“All right,” she replied telepathically.

“If it’s all the same with you, would you like a ride? You’re headed to Alessa, aren’t you?”

I guessed Alessa was the name of the city we were heading to. As kind as the man looked, he was quite shrewd as well. He would give us a ride to Alessa as payment for killing the goblins, but he would in effect be getting a bodyguard too.

We wanted information, so we were going to take him up on his offer. But I needed to remind him that saving his life wasn’t cheap. I told Fran what to say to him.

“I guess I can guard you until we reach the town.”

“Ah. Yes, of course.”

The man could only let out a wry smile.

“I’ll waive my protection fees if you tell me what I need to know.”

“Hahaha! Very interesting, young lady. All right! Hop in!”

“Hm.”

“My name is Randell. What’s yours?”

“Fran.”

“Then my life is in your hands, Young Fran.”

I made sure to take out the goblin horns before we got on the carriage. We were itching to ask questions, though Fran was going to do all the talking.

“Do people buy goblin horns?”

“Goblin horns? I guess, but they’re cheap. They’re used as catalysts, but they’re of the lowest quality.”

Really? I felt like it was a waste of time collecting them now. But Randell continued his explanation.

“That said, the Adventurer Guild’s always looking to exterminate demonkind. If you took it to them as proof, I’m sure they’d reward you for it.”

The extra details in Identify did tell me to exterminate them on sight. It was somewhat arbitrary now that I thought about it. The explanation was clearly anti-goblin; and who wrote it anyway? God? It was a very biased explanation, even calling them straight up “evil.” Surely the goblins themselves thought they were in the right and us humans to be evil.

Then again, that explanation only showed up after I had already killed a bunch of them. If the explanation had described them as “a good, merry folk who happen to look horrifying,” then I would’ve immediately felt bad about killing them. I only felt justified in killing them because the Identify screen told me they were evil. You could say I had an obligation to hunt them down because of it.

But then, someone could have rigged the Identify descriptions to pit me against the whole of demonkind. Did God really write those descriptions? I had heard a voice when I came into this world. If that was God, then he sounded like a good enough guy. He didn’t sound like he would take advantage of me. Or maybe that was what he wanted me to think? But, then again…

Okay, I should stop. Blindly doubting everything in the absence of evidence would drop me into a spiral of skepticism. Nothing bad had happened so far, so I shouldn’t think about it too much.

“Goblins are G-Rank threats, but taking that many down at once was very impressive.”

“Threat ranks?”

Never heard that one before. Was that a term people used to describe how dangerous a monster was?

“You don’t know?” Randell proceeded to tell Fran about threat levels. It wasn’t like we had anything else to talk about, so he gave a decent explanation about how they worked:

Adventurer Ranks:

G: Newbie with a provisional license. Not an actual adventurer.

F: Apprentice. Beginner adventurer.

E: Average adventurer who can proclaim themselves as such.

D: Mid-rank. Can be a party leader.

C: Veteran. Superhuman by civilian standards.

B: Top class. Usually the strongest member of a small guild.

A: Hero. Select few within a given country. Bards begin singing songs about you at this rank.

S: Legend. Only eight have ever existed. Kings bow before them, and they have the authority to command Guild Masters.

Monster Threat Levels:

G: Trash mobs. An adult male can take them down no problem. (Goblins, Fanged Rats)

F: Can take down a merchant caravan. (Giant Bear, Wolfpack)

E: Can destroy a village. (Lesser Wyvern, Ogre)

D: Can destroy a town. (Lesser Hydra, Blast Tortoise)

C: Can destroy a city. Knight Battalion dispatched. (Tyrant Saber-Tooth, Lesser Demons)

B: Can destroy a country. Entire military force dispatched. (Greater Demons, Greater Dragons, Giant Kings)

A: Can destroy a continent. (Demon Lord, Dragon Kings, Lich)

S: Can destroy the world. The stuff of legends. (Fenrir, Legendary Dragons)

It was standard practice for adventurers of the same rank to band together and take down monsters of an equal threat level. An adventurer could also even solo a monster who was a rank lower than him.

Goblins were the weakest of the bunch, but a pack of them could increase their threat level. A crew of five could bump their threat level from G to F. Considering Fran took care of them in no time flat, she was probably as strong as an E-Rank adventurer.

“Still, I never ran into goblins on this part of the highway before.”

“Really?”

“Yep. The adventurers would patrol these parts from time to time, you see.”

The adventurers. They had a guild too, by the sound of it. It was all very fantastical, and I couldn’t wait to check it out.

“I’m no spring chicken, but I can handle a goblin or two.”

I Identified Randell to see what his stats were like.

Name: Randell

Age: 39

Race: Human

Class: Merchant

LV: 13

HP: 32; Magic: 15; Strength: 20; Agility: 22

Skills: Transport 3; Driver 2; Negotiate 2; Arithmetic 5; Trade 6; Spear Mastery 3; Conversation 2

Equipment: Iron Spear; Leather Breastplate; Spider Silk Mantle

He wouldn’t lose in a one-on-one fight with a goblin, but he would have a rough time facing a whole gaggle of them. I noticed Fran’s stats far outpaced Randell’s at Level 4, which I found quite ridiculous.

“The monsters have been going a little crazy this past month.”

A month ago… That was when I had cleared Area 5.

“Why’s that?”

“I hear something happened in the Demon Wolf’s Garden.”

“The Demon Wolf’s Garden?”

“Never heard of it? It’s an A-Rank Haunt to the east of here.”

“Is it famous?”

“Of course. It’s not one of the Ten Haunts, but it’s still A-Rank.”

A Haunt referred to an area that was ruled by monsters; dungeons fell under this category. They were categorized from G- to S-Rank according to their threat level. A-Rank was the second-most dangerous level. It wasn’t quite as dangerous as the S-Rank spots dubbed the Ten Haunts, but it was up there.

So that’s where I hunted for a month. Now that I thought about it, the bosses were pretty tough. One thing was bothering me, though.

“Why is it called the Demon Wolf’s Garden?”

I didn’t run into any wolf monsters out in the grasslands. Most of the monsters in the western areas were feline even. There was no reason for it to be called the Demon Wolf’s Garden.

“Legend has it that it’s the resting place of the Great Wolf Fenrir, an S-Rank monster. Even now, Fenrir’s magical energy still emanates from the center of his garden. Funnily enough, the center is populated with weak monsters because of it. Such an odd phenomenon.”

So, I had this Fenrir to thank for setting up the barrier. Without it, starting out would’ve been much tougher. Shame to know he was already dead though. I wanted to thank him in person. But was there a reason I happened to wake up there too? I needed to know.

“There’s something that looks like an altar in the middle of the Garden, but no one knows who made it or what it’s for. Scholars are still researching it to this day.”

What about me? Do the legends say anything about a sword?

“Is there a sword on the altar?”

“A sword? Don’t know anything about that.”

And here I thought I’d find out about my origins. Guess it’s not that easy.

Unfortunately, that was all Randell knew.

“The Demon Wolf’s Garden is surrounded by the Withering Forest, so named because of its ability to drain mana from the creatures living inside it.”

I had felt the pain of that forest firsthand. I never wanted to go back there if I could help it.

“The stronger monsters of the Wolf’s Garden couldn’t get out because of the forest, but it still affects the local wildlife. The stronger monsters will fight each other for territory once every couple of years.”

I see. So there was something like a succession of area bosses.

“When that happens, the weaker monsters in the forest and the surrounding areas will get more aggressive out of fear. They’d flee from the stronger monster’s presence and eventually wind up on this highway here. It’s probably turf war season again.”

This was completely my fault for killing all the area bosses. I didn’t think it’d have this much of a ripple effect. Whoops.

Randell hadn’t been sure whether to proceed or turn back with the recent monster sightings, but he decided to keep going so he could make the delivery date.

Hahaha, I’m so sorry for the trouble, Mr. Randell, sir. I’ll waive the protection fees as a show of goodwill. Seriously though, sorry about that.

Two hours went by as we were carried along in Randell’s cart.

“And there’s Alessa now.”

I could see a wall in the distant horizon, and it seemed to be surrounding a city. It was still far off in the distance, and it took another two hours before I could make out the finer points of the city of Alessa.

It was quite large. From Randell’s explanation, it seemed to be the biggest town around here with a population of ten thousand people. It was also the only town that had a big enough Adventurer’s Guild.

Now that the town was in sight, I remembered my earlier worry.

“How much is the entrance fee?”

“300G.”

Goblin horns were cheap outside the Adventurer’s Guild, so I was at a loss for what to do. I needed to ask him the price of food and lodging. Then we could start calculating a budget.

“How much for a night at an inn? The cheapest one will do.”

“A cheap inn’s about 200G a night. No meals, of course.”

The average price of food was about 50G. Bread was 10G a pop, a cheap knife was 300G, and the baths were 20G per entry. I guessed that 1G was worth about 10 JPY back home.

A copper coin was worth 1G, and ten coins of the same value were worth one of the next value. In ascending order, the coinage went: copper, large copper, silver, large silver, gold, and large gold. Randell himself had never seen a large gold coin.

“How much would we get if we sold our goblin horns to the guild?”

“A set of two would net you 20G. A normal merchant would buy them off you for 5G.”

They were worth next to nothing! We were going to have to hunt ten goblins a day just to stay one night at an inn. Should we just take our high-rank monster parts out of the Pocket Dimension and sell those? I was considering this option, but Randell refused to buy them.

“I mainly deal in food and weaponry. I know the price of common items like goblin horns, but I don’t know enough about these items to give you a fair price for them.”

Seriously? Should I just sell it to him cheap anyway? That’d be kind of a waste though…

I detected something in the distance as I mulled over this problem. We told Randell to slow down so we could scout ahead. Sure enough, there were my old friends, the goblins, lying in wait in the bushes. They must have thought they had a winning strategy, but Fran and I made quick work of them with our skills and magic. We carved off five sets of horns and noticed one of the goblins had been carrying a sword. A wooden club may not have been worth the wood it was carved out of, but a sword had to have been worth something.

Lucky us. We might just break 300G if we sell all this stuff to Randell.

We brought the sword back to Randell and he bought it for 100G, which was more than I expected.

“Is it really worth that much?”

“It’s made of bronze but it’s still in good condition. The greens must’ve filched it off an adventurer.”

Great. Now we could enter the city.

We hunted down a monster called the Black Bug along the way and sold its parts to Randell. It was a giant beetle about fifty centimeters long whose shell could be fashioned into armor for newbie adventurers. It was worth 20G.

These monsters sure were cheap though. 20G for armor materials? It may have been better to hunt goblins that had weapons on them. The goblins and I must have been fated to meet.

“Hey there, Randell. Good to see you in one piece.”

“Thanks. I ran into some trouble on my way here though.”

“Who’s that little lady with you?”

“Found her on the road. She’ll be coming with me too.”

“You got it. It’s a good thing you ran into old Randell here. He’s a good, strong man, ain’t he?”

Randell forced a wry grin at the gatekeeper’s comment; Fran was the one guarding Randell after all. We wanted to lay low though, which was why we asked him to tell the guard Fran was a normal girl on a journey.

“That’ll be 300G, and here are your temporary permits. They’re good for three days. You’ll have to pay an extension fee if you overstay, so be careful.”

Randell had also told us earlier that we needed an official identification card or an Adventurer’s card if we wanted to stay for free. We had to head to the guild immediately after this.

“Welcome to the city of Alessa.”

The Adventurer’s Guild didn’t have an age limit for its applicants, but it did have a placement test. We had to pass it to get our identification card.

“Well, I’ll be heading back to my shop. Are you going straight to the guild, Fran?”

“Hm.”

“My shop’s in the west along the main road. Can’t miss it. Do come by if you have time.”

And with that, Randell left. He never asked about Fran’s circumstances, about the girl who was as strong as she was ignorant. She clearly had her share of problems, but he was sensitive to it and kept his curiosity to himself. He was a good person.

We should visit him once we had some money. I remembered him telling us he mostly dealt with adventurers on our way here.

Let’s go.

“Yeah.”

We followed the directions Randell gave us to go to the Adventurer’s Guild, soaking in the sights of the city along the way. It was a beautiful city with the look of medieval Europe about it. It really felt like I was in a fantasy world. It was my first time seeing this many people in one place since I had come here. I was getting excited.

Adding to my excitement were the humanoid peoples mixed in among the regular humans. There was a man who had animal ears and a tail, a sexy elf, a bearded dwarf, and even a guy that had insect wings. The streets were as multiracial as it could get—literally.

I snuck a peek at some of the adventurers who happened to pass by. After checking out their stats, there didn’t seem to be anyone weaker than Fran. A lot of them were just as strong as she was. But when it came down to skills, we won hands down in both quantity and quality. The highest I’d seen among the adventurers was one guy who had Level 5 Sword Mastery which made me appreciate how out of the ordinary our Sword Mastery was at Level 7. You could definitely win a fight against a stronger opponent by outpacing them with skills, the grasslands had taught me that much. You could say a difference in raw stats wasn’t as important as the difference in skills. Fran would have no problems being an adventurer.

One thing did bother me, however. It was the strength of the gear the adventurers were wearing.

Name: Tempered Steel Longsword

Attack: 398; MP: 5; Durability: 600

Mana Conductivity: F

Skills: None

A longsword, which I also was, had vastly greater attack power than me. It didn’t matter that I was better in other fields, I had lost the raw damage contest which was the defining trait of a sword.

The material it was made of added insult to injury. It was only tempered steel; not even mithril, or orichalcum, or some other legendary alloy. I had lost to ordinary tempered steel, and that hurt me deeply.

One high attack number after another passed by me as I saw the weapons the adventurers here wielded. It seemed that one in five weapons was stronger than me. The final blow to my ego was dealt by a simple dagger which hung from a man’s belt strap.

Name: Mithril Dagger

Attack: 423; MP: 10; Durability: 700

Magic Conductivity: D+

Skills: None

Heh. Heheheh…

I laughed bitterly. I was nothing but a dull, decorative, talking sword who let his ego get to his head since he could kill monsters by himself.

“What is it?”

Fran, I’m no good.

“Huh?”

I explained how I was of little use as a sword if it weren’t for my skills. I was probably made by a rich man who wanted a pretty-looking sword he could show off to his friends. When I was done groveling, Fran began stroking me.

Fran…

“Hm.”

Are you trying to make me feel better?

“You have your skills, Teacher.”

What a good girl!

She was right. Even if my blade was as dull as a rock, my skills still played a supporting role. That may have been the only role I could play, but so what? That settled it! I was going to become a Skill Lord!

I wanted to get Fran a better sword, though. It’d be a shame if she kept wielding something as dull as I was. We’d do best to head on to the Adventurer’s Guild and sign up so we could start making money!

Right. Sorry for making you worry. I’m okay now. Let’s go to the guild.

“Hm.”

My groveling took up some travel time but we eventually made it to the Adventurer’s Guild.

This place is huge…

The Guild was bigger than the buildings surrounding it, an indication of how many adventurers there were in this place.

Excuse me! I shouted to no one in particular. I lacked vocal cords after all.

The inside was cleaner than I anticipated. I was expecting the decor to be more like a musty, intimidating tavern, but the place looked closer to a five-star hotel. I guessed it would’ve reflected poorly on the guild if they had gone with the rustic decor. In any case, a twelve-year-old girl walking into an Adventurer’s Guild by herself was bound to get attention. I could feel the other adventurers stare at us as Fran walked up to the receptionist.

“Uh, this is the Adventurer’s Guild…”

“I know. I want to sign up.”

“Oh, okay. Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

A twelve-year-old who wanted to be an adventurer was an oddity in any world. It might help the hypothetical twelve-year-old to come in decked out in full gear, for at least then it would look like the child had been training all their life to be an adventurer. The child might even say something saucy, like, “I’ll have you know, I’m considered the top hunter around these parts.” Fran didn’t have any armor to speak of, though. Her battered rags screamed “runaway slave.” She didn’t look like she had any business being here.

The receptionist did her best to hide her incredulity and carried on her explanation.

“Not everyone can be an adventurer. You have to pass a test.”

“Sure.”

“You’ll have to go up against one of our members in a mock battle. Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you absolutely sure about this? You might get hurt.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“The Guild will not be held responsible for any damages you might suffer.”

“No problem.”

“O-kay… Hang on.”

The surrounding adventurers began buzzing when they saw Fran was serious about taking the test. No one got in our way, but they didn’t sound very welcoming of the idea. They must’ve been taken aback at the gall this kid had for wanting to become an adventurer. It was understandable enough; I would’ve felt the same in their shoes.

Are you okay, Fran?

“What?”

Nothing, don’t worry about it.

It took a while for the receptionist to come back.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Right this way.”

“Hm.”

She led us to a wide enclosure surrounded by four walls in the back of the guild. This looked like the guild’s training grounds. A grim-looking man was standing in the middle of it.

The man was over two meters tall. He wore black, spiked armor which looked like it came right out of the Middle Ages. His gigantic battleaxe rested beside him, only adding to the intimidation factor. You could almost hear the earth rumble when you saw his face; a child would probably cry upon seeing it. As used to fighting monsters as I was, he managed to make me nervous.

“You’re the newbie?”

“Yeah.” Fran nodded, not seeming fazed at all. My little girl might grow up to be more terrifying than this man!

“The name’s Donadrond. I’m the examiner here.”

That was a lot of Ds for a man to have in his name.

“Your test is simple: Fight me. Fall too early, and you fail!”

“Okay.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m terrible at holding back. I’m giving you one last chance to leave if you don’t want to get hurt!”

We felt an immense pressure as Donadrond shouted his warning. Was his Intimidation skill kicking in? I guess we were in for a fight.

Let’s do this!

“Mm!”

We were about to throw down with a man named Donadrond in the guild’s training area. The air was tense to the point that I might have fallen on my face to beg for mercy if I had a human body. Good thing I was a sword now.

Now, let’s see what your stats are like…

Name: Donadrond

Age: 46

Race: Ogre

Class: Warrior

LV: 38

HP: 246; Magic: 133; Strength: 198; Agility: 131

Skills: Intimidation 4; Transport 3; Increased Health Regen 5; Danger Sense 4; Instruct 4; Regeneration 5; Explosive Force 6; Earth Magic 2; Throwing Weapons 4; Poison Resistance 7; Lumberjack 3; Axe Arts 6; Axe Mastery 7; Roar 3; Revive; Spirit Manipulation; Steel Body; Healing Factor; Strength Up (Small)

Equipment: Blacksteel Battleaxe; Blacksteel Tortoise Armor; Saber-Tooth Mantle; Stone Dragon Boots; Armband of Sacrifice.

Holy moly, he’s strong! Our stats were no match against his; he could easily outmuscle a Lesser Wyvern. He had so many skills, his level was high, and his gear was top-notch.

Name: Blacksteel Axe

Attack: 650; MP: 3; Durability 650

Magic Conductivity: E+

650 attack power? That’s ridiculous! But it’s not like I’m jealous or anything!

He also belonged to the Ogre race, which I thought sounded cool. None of the adventurers I had scanned were anything compared to Donadrond. Was he really serious about not holding back? Wasn’t this an examination for beginners? How was anyone supposed to pass this test? Well, only one way to find out… Maybe we didn’t have to beat him and only had to show him how strong we were.

Are you ready, Fran?

“Yep.”

“Begin!”

Donadrond disappeared the very next second and blinked to Fran’s side. As if his ridiculous speed wasn’t enough, he swung his giant axe and split the ground of the training area. The impact was so hard that it produced a puff of smoke.

“Good dodge!”

That was close!

His axe was stuck to the ground beside us, taking out a huge chunk in a display of its power. He grunted to pull the axe out of the ground, breaking more of the floor in the process. Fran’s hair fluttered from the wind pressure.

That attack was insane. Just being grazed by it would’ve probably injured us! Could anyone actually pass this test?

We can’t just keep running. We have to attack!

We couldn’t just wait and see. We had to get him with our hardest hitting attack before he obliterated us. We didn’t have to worry about killing him. He was clearly strong; plus, he had the Armband of Sacrifice on. It was an item which took would-be fatal damage on behalf of its user.

“Ha!”

“Oh, you’re a fast one!”

He easily blocked Fran’s slash with his axe. Impressive, considering I had slightly boosted her speed and strength with a bit of magic. But that wasn’t the main aim of our plan.

As Fran kept Donadrond busy with her sword swings, tentacles began sprouting from the ground at his feet to bind his legs.

“You can cast spells without incantations?!”

Heh. Surprised? I couldn’t fault him. Fran hadn’t made any incantations after all. I had begun casting Earth Magic around his feet knowing he would be preoccupied with keeping Fran at bay. If he had noticed the spell, Fran would’ve cut him down on the spot. Unable to move, Donadrond was forced to fend off Fran with only his upper body. He was doing quite well actually, but not for long.

“Tri Explosion.”

“Aargh!”

Donadrond took a Level 10 fire spell to the face. Three bolts of fire exploded around him. The spell was difficult to dodge, and it took away your vision. I had told Fran to chant the name of the spell to make it seem like she was the one casting it. In effect, Fran was free to use her Sword Arts while I took care of spellcasting.

“Huff… Dragon Fang!”

It was a Level 7 Sword Art, and I had buffed it with Vibrofang to boot. Fran charged at Donadrond’s large frame while he was still trying to regain the footing he’d lost from the chain explosion. He must have recognized the nature of Fran’s skill, for his eyes widened in a look of astonishment.

“This girl can chain fire magic and Sword Art one after another?!”

Donadrond was helpless to dodge the attack.

“Aargh!”

I penetrated his side and sent his giant form flying. His 200-kilogram body flew ten meters before slamming into the wall with a loud crash. There was a crater in it when the dust settled.

This was my first time using it on an actual person who wasn’t a monster. It looked to be a bit much, though. Not that I thought it would’ve been enough to kill this giant of a man.

“Oof…”

Oh thank God he’s still alive.

He was coughing up blood but was otherwise conscious. Fran slowly approached him. Was she going to use healing magic on him? Just as I began to wonder, Fran pointed the tip of my blade at Donadrond and asked him.

“Do I pass?”

A very reasonable question. I had completely forgotten this was supposed to be a test.

“Heh… Yeah. You pass.”

“I see.”

This guy could still move? How tough was he? I stabbed him in the side!

Donadrond proceeded to surprise me even further as he plucked himself out of the wall and exploded into a bellow of laughter. The wound in his side was already healing.

It seemed he really was holding back. If the man had been serious, he would’ve chopped us into small pieces with his axe and we wouldn’t have been able to get a cut in. Fitting, considering it was just a test.

“Hahahaha! You’re the first newbie to mess me up this bad, little lady!”

This guy was a monster. Was there anything that could kill him?

“Donadrond, sir!” The receptionist rushed in, no doubt attracted by the loud noise she’d been hearing. “Could you please refrain from—huh?”

Oh, I see. She must’ve expected to see the newbie all beat up and bloody. She didn’t think Fran would blow her examiner away.

“Uh, what?”

The receptionist was shocked as she looked upon a bloody Donadrond laughing among the rubble.

With the examination over, Donadrond took us to the highest floor of the guild where a blond gentleman sat waiting for us.

“Hahaha, she beat me good!”

“This is no laughing matter, Donadrond.”

Judging by his ears, he was an elf. At a glance, he seemed weak, but…

Name: Klimt Age: 136

Race: Wood Elf

Class: Sorcerer

LV: 67

HP: 180; Magic: 616; Strength: 87; Agility: 158

Skills: Speed Casting 7; Identify 5; Bow Mastery 3; Harvesting 5; Wood Magic 7; Spirit Magic 8; Greater Earth Magic 6; Compounding 5; Earth Magic 10; Poison Resistance 3; Paralysis Resistance 4; Water Magic 5; Herbology 7; Cooking 4; Mana Manipulation; Child of the Forest

Unique Skill: Favor of the Spirits

Titles: Guildmaster; Guardian of Alessa; Wood Mage; Earth Mage

Equipment: Ancient Cherry Staff; Doppel Snake Robe; Wind Drake Wing Mantle; Lunar Hare Jump Boots; Armband of Sacrifice

He was stronger than Donadrond. He had too many magic skills to even count. I’d never seen the Sorcerer Class, either; I expected nothing less from a Guildmaster.

“Let’s get your name to start.”

“Fran.”

“Age?”

“Twelve.”

Donadrond was taken aback at this statement. “What? So you really are as young as you look!”

So that was it. Fran was so strong he’d thought her a member of a long-lived race. It was unthinkable that she wasn’t part of one, given how strong she was.

“Donadrond.”

“Excuse me.”

Donadrond bowed his head after the Guildmaster’s reprimand. He wasn’t cute at all. Still, Donadrond acted nothing like he had before the examination. I thought he was an intense drill sergeant then, but now he just seemed like a good-natured old man.

“I understand his sentiments though. Do you mean to tell me you have Fire Magic 10 when you’re only twelve? Is this some sort of joke?”

The Guildmaster furrowed his eyebrows. His gaze looked like it was trying to see to Fran’s core.

“And I see you have Identity Protection as well.”

He had Identify among his myriad of skills too. He must have used it on Fran to see whether she was lying. Fortunately, my Identity Protection prevented that from happening. Equipping me was enough for the skill to transfer to Fran, so it was a good thing we invested our EP in it. Though, we were being needlessly suspected in exchange.

“Let’s assume you really are twelve. Where did you come from?”

“That’s a secret.”

He frowned some more. “Do you think I’ll be satisfied with that?”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Good grief…”

Well, this was worrying. I’d have to tell Fran to begin probing.

“Do I pass or not?”

“You evenly matched Donadrond. Of course you pass.”

“Then give me a Guild Card.”

“All right. We’re preparing it right now. Fill out these documents, please. I could fill them out for you if you have trouble of course.”

“I’m fine.”

It seemed Fran was literate, though I wasn’t sure whether her parents had raised her that way or the slavers had taught her to give her more value as a slave.

“Always good to welcome a skilled adventurer on board, eh, Guildmaster?”

“Yes, I suppose it is. The spirits aren’t going into a frenzy either.”

“Spirits? Where?”

“You won’t be able to see them unless you’re a Sorcerer.”

“What do the spirits do?”

“The spirits are very sensitive to the state of one’s emotions. They can immediately tell if you harbor any ill intentions.”

That sounded useful. I wanted some spirits for myself. But were there monsters that could use Spirit Magic?

“Can monsters use Spirit Magic?”

“There are evil spirits which feed on evil intentions, so there are those rare monsters who could use Spirit Magic. Very unfortunate.”

I see. That was good news. They might be worth looking out for.

“The preparations are complete, Guildmaster.”

“I see. Well, shall we?”

The Guildmaster led us to a small room next to the counter. In it was a crystal ball set on top of an altar.

“Lay your hand on this. It’ll be over in a second.”

“Hm.”

It really was over in a second. It looked like the crystal ball had registered Fran’s magic signature. The receptionist was fiddling with the ball from the side, then she touched a card to it, which seemed to complete the process.

“Now, you’ll have to pick out your Class.”

“Class?”

“Yes. As everyone has different aptitudes, there are different benefits to picking each Class.”

Now that he mentioned it, Randell had been a Merchant. The Guildmaster was a Sorcerer, which sounded just as strong as Donadrond’s Warrior.

“Which Class will you choose, Fran… Huh?”

“What is it, Nell?”

“Well, her Class options are quite incredible.”

“Oh?”

We peeked from behind the Guildmaster.

Fighter; Swordsman; Pugilist; Spellsword; Duelist; Mage; Flame Mage; White Mage; Summoner; Beastmaster; Assassin; Chemist; Demolitionist; Chef.

That’s a lot.

It looked like the Class options were affected by the skills Fran could use. She could even pick Demolitionist and Chef. Although I had Spear Mastery and Spear Arts, I had left them unequipped, which was why the related Classes weren’t up for selection.

“Oh my…”

The Guildmaster was at a loss for words. He didn’t look too pleased either.

“In any case, judging from how your match with Donadrond went, you seem to have a knack for either Spellsword or Mage.”

I guess we were okay. He was probably getting used to all these surprises at this point.

“So, which one will you choose?”

Ask him for a recommendation.

“What do you recommend?”

“Well, the Spellsword, Duelist, and Flame Mage Classes are all intermediate Classes that are quite rare. If you want to use both magic and your sword, go with Spellsword. If you want to focus only on your sword, choose Duelist. And if you want to focus on your spells, choose Flame Mage.”

I see… Which one do you want, Fran?

“Spellsword sounds cool.”

Let’s go with that then.

The Spellsword Class seemed to be the one with the most beneficial Effects anyway.

Spellsword: Intermediate Class. Unlocked when a Sword skill and a Magic skill are at Level 6 or above.

Effects: Gain additional Strength and Magic upon leveling up. Increases the chances of learning new Sword and Magic skills. Increases the strength of Sword and Magic skills.

There was one more thing I had to clear:

“Can I change Classes again later?”

“Yes. You can come to the guild at any time to change your Class. However, you can only get the Effects of your equipped Class. For example, your stats will change significantly should you job change to Duelist from Spellsword. As well, job changing to a lower Class would significantly reduce your stats. You would also lose access to skills unique to specific Classes.”

That was about how I expected the Class system to work, so I was okay with it. We might as well pick Spellsword for now, since we’d confirmed we could change Classes down the road if we wanted to.

“I’ll take Spellsword.”

“Then here is your Guild Card.”

The card appeared to be an ordinary bronze card. Fran’s name was listed on it along with her guild affiliation, Class, and adventurer rank.

“The Guild Card will act as your ID. A reissue costs 5000G. The card only responds to its owner’s magic signature, but do your best not to lose it regardless.”

The Guildmaster proceeded to tell us about basic guild procedure. It was an explanation usually given by the guild receptionist, but we had gained his attention, for better or worse. Here were the bullet points of his talk:

You could only take up Guild Quests that corresponded with your Adventurer Rank, plus or minus one. There were also Rank Up Quests when you wanted to move up. G- and F-Rank cards were bronze, E and D were black, B was silver, A was gold, and S was platinum. You could sell any materials regardless of your rank.

There was no annual fee, but if you didn’t take any quests after a set amount of time, you would get demoted and eventually removed from the guild. Any acts of betraying the guild would also get you kicked out.

The guild wasn’t responsible for any fights you got into with your fellow adventurers.

The last point was likely personally directed at Fran. She was raising too many flags.

“And now, you are an adventurer.”

“’Kay.”

“Is there anything else you want to ask?”

It wasn’t a question so much as it was a request.

“Are you going to announce the results of my examination?”

“No. The guild does not circulate the abilities of individual adventurers.”

“Good.”

“You don’t want to stand out?”

“Not in a bad way.”

“Let’s make a deal. I, Donadrond, and the receptionist will keep quiet about you. It is much more convenient for us anyway. Donadrond oversees assembling the adventurers in case of emergency, and it would trouble us if people began questioning his authority.”

“I think it’d be a crying shame. But if you want us to keep quiet for you, little lady, I’ll oblige.”

“Not that you could lay low for long considering how strong you are…”

Ugh, I couldn’t deny that. But I guess this meeting turned out okay.

We spoke to the receptionist, Nell, after receiving our guild card.

“Do you want to take on a quest?”

Her question reminded me that we had to sell off our materials if we wanted to stay the night at an inn. I had almost forgotten following the barrage of information we got after receiving our guild card.

“I have some goblin horns.”

“You’ll want the Quest Report counter then. Right this way.”

Now that Fran was a proper adventurer, Nell the receptionist politely responded to her needs. As the face of the guild, her manners were impeccable.

“I have some materials I want to sell.”

“Then please head to the trading counter and wait for me there. I’ll just count the number of goblin horns you’re turning in.”

“’Kay.”

“Eight pairs makes for 160G. Would that be all right?”

That wasn’t enough for a night’s stay. We needed 300G at the very least, and I’d like to stay at a decent inn if possible.

We made our way to the trading counter.

“Will you be selling individual parts? There’s a special area to the side in case the parts you’re selling are too big or aren’t carved yet. If it’s still too big, we have a special room where we can properly assess its value,” Nell explained.

If the goblin horns were any indication, the low-rank monster parts would only sell as much as the Black Bug parts I had sold to Randell on the way into the city. They were just way too cheap. They were going to be a bit bigger, but I was going to have to take out the mid-rank monster parts.

“They’re a little big.”

“Then you can have them delivered to that spot over there. Where do you have them stored? High-quality materials will need careful handling.”

Oh yeah, I guess we didn’t look like we had anything on hand.

Judging by the many people in town who had Item Pouches on their belts when I Identified them, Storage Space wasn’t that rare of a skill. It should be safe for me to use it here.

“I’ll take it out now.”

I’d be the one in charge of inventory of course. This was one of the drawbacks of Skill Sharing. Although Fran could use Pocket Dimension, she didn’t have access to my inventory, and I didn’t have access to hers.

I had Fran pretend to take things out of her own inventory and leave it on the trading area. I began by clearing out my low-rank materials, with the first monster Fran had ever killed coming first. Specifically, the Twin-Headed Bear’s claws and fur. The bear’s guts were apparently used in making medicines, but I shoved it back inside the Pocket Dimension until I could find containers for it; it would stink up the place all by itself. Next came two sets of pelts and fangs from the Poison Fang Rats.

“How did you find these?”

“I killed them on the way here.”

“And you carved them by yourself?”

“Yeah.”

We were getting unwanted attention from the surrounding adventurers, stealing glances at us and smirking. Were they implying we shouldn’t be selling such low-rank materials? All right, let’s up the ante a little bit.

Next, I took out the materials from the monsters in Areas 2 and 3 of the grasslands. From the Giant Bat, we had its wing membrane, venom fang, and hollow bone. From the Crush Boar, we had its tusk, pelt, and skull. From the Rock Bison, we had its shell and horns. They weren’t that strong, but these should be enough to buy us a few nights’ lodgings and some basic armor.

We definitely would’ve had enough if we sold the Tyrant Saber-Tooth and Doppel Snake materials, but I decided against it. They might come in handy as material for Fran’s equipment, and we risked standing out too much. One look at the Guildmaster’s Doppel Snake Robe and Donadrond’s Saber-Tooth Mantle was enough to tell me that these were good enough for high-rank adventurers to wear. Selling them here would only cause an upset.

Nell frowned.

Were the monsters too strong for someone as young as Fran to have beaten? They were among the monsters that gave low-rank adventurers a tough time after all. We didn’t have much choice considering the low-rank materials didn’t sell for much. We could stand out just this once and get it over with. Should we sell all our low and mid-rank materials?

What do you think?

“We may as well get it over with in one go.”

You’re right! Okay, I’m gonna bring out the rest of the stuff now.

I took out the Stone Spider’s silk sac, fangs, and shell; the Tunnel Mole’s claws and pelt; the Paralysis Cat’s pelt and claws; and left them on the trading floor. We didn’t sell the meat since I wanted to keep it for Fran’s meals.

“This is all of it.”

“O…kay… Please wait while I assess them.”

It looked like Nell had Identify and Connoisseur on her. She must’ve been a genius. She called three other receptionists and they proceeded to assess our loot. It took ten minutes of non-stop Identify until they finished.

“Thank you for waiting.”

“Hm.”

“That’ll be 195,000G in total. Will that be all right?”

Excuse me? 195,000G? Seriously?! Wasn’t that too much? I would’ve been all right with 30,000G to be honest.

“That’s a lot of money.”

“I assure you, it’s reasonably priced. There were F-Rank monster materials thrown in there, and the condition of the material is impeccable. That’s why we threw in a bonus.”

I don’t remember us being too careful when we were carving them, but I guess it made sense that a damaged pelt wouldn’t sell as much as one that was in fine condition.

“Take the Twin-Headed Bear’s pelt, for example. It usually sells for 6,000G. But the pelt you brought in was spotless. Also, not only did you skin it beautifully, you carved up the entire bear to boot. That’s why we’re buying it for 18,000G.”

Three times? Wow. I guess the other materials were in a similar condition and the profits just stacked on top of the other. I’d take whatever I could so I wasn’t complaining.

“Here is your pay. Please make sure you have the correct amount.”

“Thanks.”

Fran shoved the money into her Pocket Dimension. It’d be a mess if it fell to the floor; it was also the best anti-pickpocket measure.

“Bye.”

With our money secured, Fran turned around to leave the guild.

“Now you wait just a minute!”

That was when one of the adventurers blocked her path.

“Hm.”

“Get back here, punk!”

Fran ignored the man and went past him. He didn’t expect this little girl to ignore him after such an intimidating display. The man turned around and reached his hand toward Fran, but she still didn’t stop.

“Hm.”

“I said get back here! Do you hear me?!”

“You’re in the way.”

“Just stop!”

Wow. Even the way she was calmly handling the situation was clichéd. Regardless, the man had blocked our way out of the building.

Fran, we’re gonna have to deal with this guy either way. Let’s hear him out.

“Hm? Fine.”

“As long as you understand.”

The rando smirked, thinking Fran was finally addressing him.

The man’s shoulder pads had spikes coming out of them that looked like they might stab him, a clear indication of style over function. He had black leather armor which I didn’t want to smell to save my life, and his chipped battleaxe was slung over his back. With his bald head and intense expression, he looked like someone who was cosplaying a bandit. His four friends looked more or less the same. They were really starting to annoy me, and they hadn’t even begun.

“Hey!”

“Yes?” Nell replied with a clear exasperation in her voice to the rando’s call.

“You’re clearly biased against us!”

“Excuse me? Biased?”

“Yeah! We turned in a Twin-Headed Bear the other day and only got 2,000G for it! What gives?!”

Nell sighed deeply at the accusation.

“Ah, yes. I remember. The Twin-Headed Bear whose pelt was all beat up, whose head was needlessly cracked, and whose entire carcass you brought to us, correct?”

“What, you didn’t like it? It was still the same Twin-Headed Bear!”

“No, it wasn’t. Yours was in such a terrible condition when you brought it to us that the materials were barely of any value upon assessment.”

“Assessment—what?”

“Ugh, this is the problem with these meatheads. They think their strength can carry them all the way to high ranks. Well, it won’t. They don’t know the slightest thing about being an adventurer. Ugh, just die.”

Nell, I know you’re whispering, but I can hear you loud and clear. I’ll have to make sure to tell Fran not to talk back to her. Even as a sword, I thought it was terrifying how she could curse someone with a smile on her face.

“You killed the Twin-Headed Bear by surrounding it then stabbing it to death, correct?”

“That’s right. It took our bait then all five of us piled on top of it. I don’t see why F-Rank monsters were supposed to be difficult for newcomers. We killed it in no time flat, so I guess those other adventurers were just weak.”

Oh, I get it. There was a subtle distinction in the word “difficulty.” Killing a given monster wasn’t necessarily “difficult,” but killing it in a way that preserved most of its carcass was. These schmucks must’ve thought it didn’t matter how they killed the monster so long as they got money for it.

I knew I wasn’t one to talk, because I cheesed it with Disassemble, but this was why you needed it! Neatly carving monster pelts and preserving them was tough work! Even with the skill on we still had to physically carve the monsters we killed, and Fran did most of the hard work. Of course you’d get docked for bringing in a whole monster!

“Allow me to explain. The pelt was in such terrible condition when you brought it in that we couldn’t craft anything out of it. At best, the products made with it would be of inferior quality. We were able to stuff only one of its heads, and even then it was heavily damaged, further reducing its value. The claws you brought in were cracked, making them worth considerably less. You even somehow managed to damage the creature’s innards which we could’ve used to make medicine. I guess you waited a while before you brought the bear’s carcass to us, because the meat was in such a decomposed state that we couldn’t use it for food. Basically, you brought us garbage. It wouldn’t be fair of us to pay you so much money for garbage, would it? Also, you brought it in one piece, which meant we had to carve it up for you. We took the liberty of deducting the carving fees, along with the disposal fees, from your total amount. You said we paid you 1,600G? You’re right. That’s far too much in your favor.”

The man was dumbstruck with the speed and succinctness of Nell’s words.

What she said sounded acceptable to me, but I knew these guys wouldn’t concede. I wasn’t sure if they understood what she was saying, but they didn’t seem the type to back down from an argument.

“Shut up! You can talk fast and put up all the smokescreens you want. We know our rights and we have the right to get paid the same amount as that girl there!”

“Yeah, he’s right!”

Well, this was horrible.

I understood then that these were the type of people who wouldn’t listen to reason and would kick and scream until you gave in to their demands. They were an unpleasant bunch to begin with, but now I was beginning to get pissed off.

“We paid you exactly what the materials were worth.”

“Stop lying! No you didn’t!”

“Ugh. Maybe you need to reexamine your hunting procedure before you come complaining to us about it. Unlike soldiers whose sole duty is to fight, adventurers need to master other skills as well. Looking at you now, I don’t think you’re cut out for this adventuring business.”

“Whazzat? We’ve seen adventurers too scared to go out hunting! You think we can’t do their jobs better than them?!”

I was sure we weren’t the only ones who were getting upset over these punks’ behavior. I could feel the other adventurers around us glare at the group as their profession was being made a mockery of.

How stupid could these people be? Mocking adventurers while inside an Adventurer’s Guild?

And considering how much of a looker Nell was, she must’ve been quite popular. The adventurers must’ve been stewing with rage at how these bozos were picking on her. These guys were dead meat. Their stats weren’t even close to the rest of the adventurers in the lobby:

Name: Damun

Age: 27

Race: Beastman; Red Dog Tribe

Class: Fighter

Status: Enraged

LV: 13

HP: 48; Magic: 20; Strength: 33; Agility: 23

Skills: Transport 1; Sword Mastery 1; Steal 2; Intimidate 1; Axe Mastery 2

Title: Sore Loser

Equipment: Pig Iron Battleaxe; Pig Iron Breastplate; Scratched Deer Leather Armor; Armband of Strength (Fake)

Pitiful. And he was the strongest of the bunch. I could take him down in less than five seconds.

As I wondered what to do with them, the group turned their attention to us. They must’ve figured out blaming Nell was only making them look stupid.

“Look, it doesn’t make sense that this kid could have so many materials to sell off!”

“So?”

“So, she must’ve stolen them or something!”

“So what? Let’s say she did get them through dishonest means. What does that have to do with you?”

“Uh… W-well, here’s the thing! That means you gave her money that you were supposed to pay us!”

Wha… How did that even make sense to these people? These guys were delusional!

“The girl is strong enough to take down mid-rank monsters and carve them for parts. Killing and neatly carving a Twin-Headed Bear must’ve been no problem for her.”

“Pssh! You expect us to believe that?! You’re a Black Cat, aren’t you?”

“Hm.”

“Black Cats are the weakest among the Beastman tribes. You expect me to believe a little girl from that tribe of weaklings could kill monsters that strong? There has to be some foul play here!”

“He’s right!”

“Tell you what, kid. You pay us for damages and I’ll let this incident slide. How does all the money you got just now sound?”

“Hehehe. The guild won’t interfere in conflicts between adventurers, remember?”

“Wha—”

The brutes’ audacity stunned Nell into silence.

He was right of course. The guild wouldn’t interfere with fights between adventurers, but surely that applied only to small disputes? They wouldn’t let just anything slide, especially not extortion. These guys were meatheads, but I doubted they had brains to begin with. I wouldn’t be surprised if their heads were just stuffed full of Slime remains.

“What are you looking at us like that for?”

Fran stared at the man, but her expressionless face couldn’t hide the anger that was burning in her eyes.

“You wanna have a go at this Red Dog, Black Cat?”

“Yeah, know your place, kitty!”

“You’re a disgrace to Beastmen everywhere! Why don’t you give us all your money as penance?”

They went too far when they said that Fran was a disgrace. If Fran, who was more furious than I was, hadn’t held me back at that point, I would’ve begun stabbing. I could hear Fran lose her patience, her last nerve breaking with a snap. She was carrying out her parents’ last wishes to evolve, to improve the standing of her tribe. The man’s insults went too far.

“Shut up.”

“What’s that?”

“Stop barking, dog.”

She said it! Good job, Fran! I’ll treat you to a nice dinner later.

“You bitch, I’ll kill you!”

I was getting bored of their clichés.

“You’re not strong enough to.”

“You talkin’ to me?”

“That’s rich coming from a Black Cat!”

“You have five seconds to get out of here. Or you could chase your own tails while barking ‘I’m sorry.’ Take your pick, little doggie.”

“We’ll have our way with you and sell you to a slaver, you little whore!”

Extortion, assaulting a minor, human trafficking—these guys were done for. Some of the adventurers had already left the building earlier. The city guard might walk in any minute now to arrest these fools.

We wanted to settle things before that happened.

“Your breath stinks, so stop talking.”

“You little punk!”

The man grabbed his axe and charged at Fran. His friends followed suit with their swords and spears, shouting at the top of their voices.

They attacked first. Therefore, whatever followed was purely self-defense.

“I’ll kill you!”

“I’d like to see you try without your legs.”

“Huh? Aaaaaargh! My legs!”

The man’s body toppled over after losing its balance; his feet were cut clean off at the ankles. Fran hadn’t even pulled me out, using Aura Blade 6 on him instead. The blade was made of mana and maintained for a mere instant. It wasn’t as strong as a conventional sword, but it could be turned invisible depending on how you focused your mana. It was also deadly when paired with a skill like Vibrofang, making it the ideal skill for assassins.

The man stared at the stumps where his feet used to be and squirmed like a maggot.

“Aaah! Eeek!”

The sounds he made were unbecoming of him. It creeped me out.

“You little… Aaah?”

“Heee… Ooowww!”

Another two fell on the floor after Fran fired ultrasonic bullets which crushed their feet from under them. As they fell, the bullets grazed their face, crushing their nose and all their front teeth. It might have gotten their eyes too.

The remaining two took in the situation and considered their options. They understood something terrible was happening and glared at Fran despite knowing that, deep down, they should be running away. They couldn’t stand the idea that this little girl was much stronger than they were, and unfortunately charged ahead.

They shouldn’t have thought about it. That decision might have cost them their lives.

Not that Fran had any intention of killing them. She didn’t want to be stuck with clean-up.

Fran kicked the floor and instantly jumped in front of the two men. She pulled me out of cover and swung the flat of my blade against their faces. Now their faces were just as fractured as their feet. This wasn’t something you could recover from with low-level spells and potions.

She kicked away the last one using Aura Kick, a Martial Arts skill (with additional Impact Force of course) He tried getting away, but he was too slow. His knees were broken and his muscles were twisted. As he was kneeling, Fran came down and smashed his elbow out with Impact Force to end the matter.

A hushed silence fell upon the lobby as the other adventurers looked upon the scene with quiet astonishment. The only sound left in the building came from the desperate men who were now crying out for help.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Can I go now?”

“Oh… Of course. Thank you for using our services. We look forward to serving you again.” Nell beamed at us, giving us a thumbs-up when she thought no one else was looking. “As for you lot, I’ll be turning you in to the City Guard.”

“What?! Arrest that kid too! She started attacking us out of nowhere!”

“Excuse me, are you delirious? You scumbags assaulted the poor girl and she was forced to retaliate in self-defense. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

“Y-yeah! She’s right!”

“It was undeniably an act of self-defense.”

Nice. Nell even got the other adventurers in on it.

“It hurts! Please just heal us!”

“You’ll have to clean up the floor first. Blood is terribly difficult to remove, you know. Yes, you’ll have to pay 10,000G in damages too. I’ll think about healing you if you fork up the money.”

Nell didn’t even say she was going to heal them for sure. What a terrifying woman!

We left the Guild just as Nell was making her demands to the crooks. The event took up more time than we thought, as the sun was already beginning to set.

We should look for some lodging. You don’t wanna camp out after coming all the way to the city, do you?

“No.”

An hour had passed since we left the guild. We were still wandering about on the streets.

I didn’t think we’d get turned down at every inn.

“Yeah.”

I guess a child can’t rent a room even if she has a guild card.

That’s what all the receptionists had said, but they were obviously worried about how Fran looked. She was in little more than a ragged piece of cloth and sandals which made her look either homeless or like a runaway slave. Granted, she did stink, but come on. I made sure she was clean by using some cleaning magic, but they couldn’t have known that.

Let’s get some equipment first to sharpen you up.

She looked puzzled.

I’ll pick out your armor pieces for you, Fran. You have nothing to worry about.

We headed for the plaza that was next to the Adventurer’s Guild. The place was bustling with adventurers buying gear from different stalls and stores. There were weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, weaver’s cottages, drugstores, alchemy ateliers, pubs, kitchens, and so on.

I figured out the average price of goods here: A steel knife was 200G; a fifth-grade life potion 10,000G; and a fourth-grade antidote 20,000G. Fifth-grade was the lowest-quality potion, but it was still quite expensive. It could heal deep gashes instantly, so I guessed it was fair enough. The people of my Earth would’ve priced it about the same.

I got oddly excited by looking at all the strange new goods before me.

This is so much fun.

“Yeah.”

You think so too, Fran?

“So many weird things. It’s cool.”

That’s good to hear.

There was a glint in Fran’s eyes despite her usual, calm expression. It was nice seeing her excited for a change.

Now, where was that store I kept hearing about?

We had been keeping our ears sharp for any useful information as we walked the streets. There was a famous blacksmith currently living in Alessa. He was currently renting out a storefront in the area. My plan was to ask him to make a set of armor for Fran. We might not have enough money or material, but consultation was free.

Now where could he be…?

There were weapon and armor shops but none that seemed worthy of note. I thought people would’ve swarmed all over his smithy if he was as good as the rumors had said.

Has he closed up shop for the day?

If he was that popular, he just might have.

“Little lady, do you have a second?”

“Huh?”

“Yes, you.”

“Is this guy hitting on Fran?!” was my immediate reaction, but the source of the voice turned out to be an old dwarf. He still looked like a certain lecherous old man with a tortoise shell on his back, so I wasn’t about let my guard down. If he tried anything funny, I’d “accidentally” drop myself on his feet to warn him.

“Looks like you’re in the market for equipment. How about it?”

“How’d you know?”

“You learn a few tricks when you’ve been in business for as long as I have.”

Fran said nothing.

“No need to be so suspicious. It was easy enough. I could tell from your footwork that you’re quite a warrior. Despite that, you’re dressed in rags. And you’ve been looking at every weapon and armor shop you’ve passed by. You’re looking for gear, ain’t ya?”

This old man was smart! Who was he?

Name: Garrus

Age: 82

Race: Dwarf

Class: Arcane Blacksmith

LV: 33

HP: 160; Magic: 173; Strength: 122; Agility: 46

Skills: Disassemble 2; Flame Resistance 7; Blacksmith 10; Smith Magic 9; Identify 7; Mining 3; Hammer Arts 2; Hammer Mastery 7; Poison Resistance 2; Leatherwork 6; Fire Magic 6; Tireless 6; Manasmith 7; Connoisseur 8; Fire God’s Protection; Spirit Manipulation

Extra Skill: Godsight

Titles: Wandering Blacksmith; Honorary Blacksmith of Cranzell; Smith King

Equipment: Enchanted Steel Smith Hammer; Salamander Shirt; Firebird Sandals; Armband of Stamina Recovery

Everything from his skills to his titles was amazing. Was this the great blacksmith we’d been hearing so much about? No wonder he could analyze us just by looking at us. We were certainly saved from the trouble of looking for him. How lucky.

“Wow.”

“Hehehe. As you can see, I’ve been around for a while. You wanna have a look at my shop?”

“Please.”

“Right this way.”

Garrus led us to his store, which was in a small alley leading off the plaza. We felt countless stares as we made our way there. The scrutiny was quite slimy, and it felt as if they were calculating our value.

Uh, why is everyone staring at us?

“Enemies?”

Not exactly, but…

The gazes coming from the merchants were so sharp that Fran mistook them for hostiles. What was going on?

“Oh, don’t mind them. The merchants are just trying to pressure you into buying from them instead. Either that, or they’re gonna ‘offer’ to buy some of my equipment from you. They’re a hard-headed bunch.”

That sounded like trouble.

“Don’t you worry. You can leave by the back door when we’re done. Now, what are you in the market for?”

I wasn’t completely reassured, but worrying about it now wasn’t going to help. We were fortunate enough to have the great blacksmith himself offer his services to us, so we had to make the best of it.

“You’ll sell your stuff to me?”

“I only sell my gear to folks who deserve to use my gear, and you passed, little lady.”

The blacksmith was in the habit of travelling from town to town selling weapons at an absurdly cheap rate. He’d travelled the entire country this way, and I had to admit I quite liked the stubborn old merchant.

Ask for his sword collection.

“I want a sword.”

“What? But you already have a fine sword. It’s the first time I’ve seen an Intelligent Weapon in person!”

Impossible! How did he find out? Did he use Identify on me? But I had Identity Protection on. He couldn’t have bypassed that.

“Intelligent…Weapon?”

Fran tilted her head in response.

Good acting, Fran! That’ll throw him off the scent!

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to it you don’t want me to. I was just checking. My eyes are special, you see. They can Identify anything, even if it has Identity Protections. That goes double for weapons and armor.”

So that was how he did it! He did have Godsight on top of Identify and Connoisseur; I guessed that was the skill he used.

“I only got a look at its attack value, its Mana Conductivity, which was A, and the fact that it’s an Intelligent Weapon though. Do you have anything to add, Sword?”

Then you should know that I want this girl, Fran, to use a proper sword.

“What have we here? Was that Telepathy? You really are sapient! This is great!”

You’re acting like a child.

“You act that way too sometimes, Teacher.”

No way, really?

“Really.”

Oh… I guess hobbies make everyone get in touch with their inner child.

“Hm.”

I looked at old Garrus, who was acting like a kid in a candy store.

“So intelligent!”

So that’s what I look like.

I should exercise prudence in the future.

“Excuse me, I got a little excited there. In any case, you won’t need any of my weapons with your abilities.”

Whoa, whoa. You saw my stats, didn’t you? Your swords are much stronger. Like that one over there.

This old dwarf must’ve made the superior gear we saw in the city, seeing as there were weapons of similar design adorning his shop. All of them were about as strong as, or even stronger than, I was. Just talking about my terrible stats made me feel like hacking up blood.

“That’s because you’re only looking at its raw attack value. Don’t tell me you don’t understand what Mana Conductivity does?”

Mana Conductivity? I guess I do have that attribute.

“I figured you were clueless. Shame.”

Is it that important an attribute?

“Important? It’s the first thing you look at when you’re out shopping for swords!”

What! I didn’t know that…

“Shocked.”

Explain further.

“Well sure. Mana Conductivity refers to a weapon’s capacity to be modified by magical energy. Much of a weapon’s power is derived from this attribute.”

I see.

“Take this sword here.” Garrus took down a short sword that was displayed on the wall. It was made of steel with a Mana Conductivity of E. “With a Mana Conductivity of E, it only has a 5% efficiency at using magic. For example, if you charged 100 mana, it will only increase your attack power by 5 points.”

Then, he took down a mithril short sword. Its Mana Conductivity was C. It had 70% efficiency, which meant charging 100 mana would increase its attack power by 70.

That was quite significant. I could see how Mana Conductivity could cover the gap created by raw attack power.

“Better conductivity means higher efficiency, and that means you can charge your weapon with magic for longer.”

By the way, is the mithril’s C rating considered high in terms of conductivity?

“’Course it is! Mithril has especially high Mana Conductivity. C’s probably the highest available for commercial weapons. What usually happens is the raw attack power suffers from prioritizing Mana Conductivity.”

“So then A is amazing.”

“That’s right. Only enchanted swords have an A rating in Mana Conductivity. That means 200% mana efficiency. I’ll be honest with you, none of my weapons can come close.”

So, if Fran charged 100 mana, I could increase her Attack by 200?

I was really strong! It looked like my time had finally come.

Is there a limit to how much magic I can charge?

“Depends on what you’re made of. And in your case…I don’t know. Looks like you’re made of a Harmollium base along with some other magical alloys mixed in…”

Fran had handed me to Garrus for closer inspection, and he was now tapping my blade curiously.

“Doesn’t look like you’re made of anything less than orichalcum, so I’m sure you won’t have any problems going up to 1000. Not that anyone had that big of a mana pool. Why, the kingdom’s mages only go up to 500 on average!”

Garrus let out a big belly laugh while I broke into a cold sweat.

My MP was at 1000. Did that mean I had a 2000 attack boost this whole time? I thought it was kinda weird how I hadn’t run into any trouble with all the ferocious monsters I had faced. I thought I was just lucky to have landed a blow to their weak spots by sheer luck, or that Telekinesis had accelerated me fast enough…

I was likely charging myself with Mana while not noticing it.

“Material aside, an E-Rank charge lasts you five minutes. You get an additional two minutes for every successive rank.”

So A makes it…

“Thirty minutes thereabouts.”

“That’s pretty long.”

Enough for a short fight.

“Yeah.”

Then I’m not a decorative sword?

“If you were, I don’t know what that makes the rest of the swords in the world.”

I see. I’m… I’m so glad to hear that!

I was so happy, I would’ve started crying if I had eyes. I was so much a sword that I viewed other swords as competition. Being stronger than the lot of them made my day.

“You’re impeccable as an enchanted sword. In fact, you might be able to go up against a divine sword.”

“Enchanted? Divine?”

“Yep. Who made you? A Godsmith?”

I don’t know. I don’t have any memories of being crafted.

“I see.”

Do you know anything about me? Any little detail would help.

I was disgusted by how I didn’t know where I had come from. If this man had any information about me, then I’d like to know it.

“We blacksmiths have our own rankings, you see: Blacksmith, Great Blacksmith, Arcane Blacksmith, and Godsmith. There are derivations of the Smith Class but I won’t talk about them today. The Godsmiths are the greatest of the blacksmiths with legendary prowess. There have only been five of them in recorded history.”

The Legendary Five. Sounds cool.

“All blacksmiths long to become Godsmiths. They’re the only ones capable of crafting divine blades.”

So you’re saying a Godsmith crafted me?

“I think so, but there’s no way to be sure… You’re too weak for a divine sword, but, on the other hand, you’re too strong for an enchanted sword.”

What? Okay, maybe a really good Arcane Blacksmith made me.

“It’s possible.”

How strong is a divine sword?

Now I was curious. How strong was a sword that was better than me?

“A Divine Sword can split the heavens and crack the earth. It is the ultimate weapon. The last time it was used in a war, it claimed the lives of tens of thousands in a matter of minutes.”

A sword can do that?

“It doesn’t have to be a sword proper. Weapons crafted by Godsmiths are all called Divine Swords. That’s what I hear anyway.”

So, you’ve never seen one.

“Only the Flame Sword Ignis.”

And how strong was Mr. Ignis?

“My Identify wasn’t as strong as it is now so I couldn’t get a full scan, but…”

Name: Flame Sword Ignis

Attack: 1800

Mana Conductivity: SS

Skills: Flame Magic; Flame God; Unknown

“That’s the gist of it.”

Holy… I’m sorry for acting stuck up. I know now that I am no Divine Sword.

“Aww, don’t say that. You’re a fine sword yourself.”

You’re trying to cheer up this dull blade? You’re such a nice old man!

“Don’t worry about it. Not every day I get to meet a talking sword. You brought a bigger smile to my face than I did to your blade!”

Garrus!

“Sword!”

From the corner of my eye, I could see Fran browsing the store with a bored look on her face. “Hm. This is a good breastplate.”

Ten minutes later…

“Ahahaha. Sorry for leaving you out of that discussion, little lady.”

“It’s okay.”

So I guess Fran can keep using me as her main weapon. Could you make me a scabbard, though?

“Sure! I’ll make the finest scabbard you’ve ever seen.”

We won’t be able to pay you much… But we want some armor too.

“All right, what’s your budget?”

We still need to get supplies and lodging, so… How does 150,000G sound?

We could settle for cheaper armor, but Garrus was a famous Arcane Blacksmith. I wondered what 150,000G would get us from his inventory.

“Let me see… You know what, I like you two so much I’ll throw the scabbard in along with the armor.”

Are you sure? That’s awful nice of you.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. So, what kinda armor you want? I may be a blacksmith, but I can do leatherwork too.”

What do you think?

“I want something light.”

“Leather it is. We’ll use metal to reinforce the protection of your vital areas.”

“I’ll go with that.”

“What about headgear?”

“I don’t like wearing anything. It gets in the way of my field of vision.”

“In that case, I’ll fit you with a Beastman Earband. You won’t have to get your ears pierced, either.”

“’Kay.”

“Now just sit tight.”

Garrus disappeared into his storage room and brought out an assortment of gear.

“Try these on for size.”

He took out four pieces of armor: Flame Bull Dress Armor, Paralysis Cat Gloves, Venom Wyvern Boots, and the Mithril Earband (Cat Type). Their defensive values weren’t half bad, and they came with decent buffs like Flame Resistance, Impact Resistance, Paralysis Resistance, Poison Resistance, and Magic Resistance. The armor was weak compared to the Guildmaster and Donadrond but was slightly stronger than the average adventurer on the street.

The set was colored white and black and looked quite good on Fran. The base of the dress armor was basically a white dress with black knee socks, but the breastplate was reinforced with metal and leather. The quality of the material drove the defensive value up further.

On top of that, Garrus had given Fran some ordinary clothes. They didn’t have any defensive value whatsoever, but they were finely-woven.

This is high-quality gear. Are you sure we can have all this?

“How many times do I gotta tell ya that it’s fine? Strong adventurers need strong gear. And god knows my gear ain’t nothing compared to an enchanted sword. Besides, I’m not making a loss here.”

Isn’t that nice of him, Fran?

“Thank you.”

“Just make sure you drop in from time to time, eh? I’ve always wanted a closer look at an Intelligent Weapon.”

Just don’t do anything weird to me.

“I’ll just use Identify and Connoisseur on you, at most.”

That sounds harmless enough.

“Oh, and if you bring me some materials, I could craft some gear for ya. On the cheap, of course.”

I immediately thought of the high-rank materials I had left in my Pocket Dimension. Selling them to the Guild would make us stick out like a sore thumb. May as well solve the problem by having old Garrus make armor from them.

“We have materials.”

Yeah, we want to keep our low profile, so could we bother you to make gear out of them?

“Oh? What materials do you have in mind?”

C- and D-Rank.

C-Rank was the point where it was normal for the government to get involved and dispatch its knight battalions if the monster was sighted near a city. They made B-Rank adventurers work for their keep.

Got an empty room?

“Right this way. Are you gonna bring it in later?”

“We have it right now.”

“You have an item pouch? I don’t see one on you…”

And he was right, Fran wasn’t equipped with an item pouch. She only had a shirt, sandals, and sword on her.

It’s in one of my skills.

“Interesting… Didn’t think a sword could double as an item box.”

I ignored Garrus’s muttering and went inside the empty room. It must’ve been a storage room originally because of its lack of flooring and high ceiling.

Here goes.

I began extracting items from the Pocket Dimension. First were the Tyrant Saber-Tooth’s fangs, claws, and pelt. Next came the Doppel Snake fangs and scales. Then came the Blast Tortoise shell and skin. They were all enough to fill the entire room.

I only told the old blacksmith about the Gluttonous Slimelord I had killed. I didn’t want to take it out since that would leave the room sticky and covered in Slime. I’d save it until I found a barrel I could store the thing’s remains in.

“Holy… Did you kill all these yourself? These are materials from C- and D-Rank monsters.”

Pretty much.

“And you did it alone?”

I did it by myself, to be precise. I just flew around with Telekinesis.

“Hahahaha! That’s ridiculous! Well, that’s one way to use that ability.”

I didn’t come equipped with many basic skills, so I figured I had to get creative.

“All right, I’ll be able to make plenty of good gear with these. Word of caution: The little lady’s not gonna be able to equip them until she levels up a bit.”

I expected no less from armor made of high-rank monster material.

“I won’t be able to handle this quality of leather by myself. I’ll have to enlist some help. Maybe—”

Uh, Garrus?

“Oh, excuse me. I was getting a bit excited there. Can’t remember the last time I had this much material to play with. Anything else you folks hiding up your sleeve?” The man was absolutely beaming.

“So you’ll make it for us?”

“’Course!”

But how much does a blacksmith of your stature charge for custom gear?

“Let’s see… You brought all the basic materials and all, but it’s going to cost at least 3,000,000G.”

Jeez, that’s a lot of money.

“Would you mind selling the leftover material to me?”

Sure, take it.

“That makes it easier. It won’t take much to craft the young lady’s armor, so I’ll buy the rest of the material from you and use that to cover the crafting fee. Deal?”

Deal.

“Then we’re in business.”

“When will it be ready?”

“It’s gonna take about a month.”

That’s longer than I expected…

“It’s plenty fast, I promise you. Besides, I can’t afford to be sloppy with such fine material! I’ll need some extra components too, so I’ll need to order them in.”

Can’t be helped. Are you okay with that, Fran?

“Yeah. I’m looking forward to it.”

“It’s gonna be great!”

We then diced the Slimelord’s remains into a steel barrel Garrus had prepared for us. The Slime had its different uses apparently.

“You don’t happen to have any crystals on you, do you?”

“No.”

“Ah, that’s a shame.”

Crystals can be used to make armor too?

“Yep. It adds to the buff of a particular piece of armor. Take this Doppel Snake fang, for example. Using it to craft armor will give you medium-level Poison Resistance, while crafting a weapon with it will give it Poison Fang. Now if you add a Doppel Snake Crystal to it, you get more Poison Resistance and Advanced Poison Fang instead. You could use some other crystal on a given material, but you get a greater effect if you pair a certain material with its corresponding crystal.”

I didn’t know you could use crystals that way. Unfortunately, I had absorbed every crystal we came across. I’d have to store the crystals of the monsters whose skills I already owned. I could always pop them out of storage for a quick bite anyway.

We’ll keep an eye out.

“That’d be for the best.”

I guess we’ll be taking our leave for today.

“Bye-bye.”

Sorry for all the trouble.

“Hahaha! Just wait until you see your gear! Also, I’ll finish your scabbard in three days. Remember to come pick it up.”

We will.

We took care of our material problem and got some great gear out of that meeting. It was a good thing we ran into him.

You look great in it too, Fran. You look like a real adventurer now.

“Thanks.”

Let’s see… Uh, do you need underwear?

“Not really.”

A-are you sure?

I mean, she said she didn’t need it, so…

No. That was no excuse. I know buying underwear was a difficult hurdle to overcome, but if I ran away from this problem now, I’d run away from it forever!

I didn’t want Fran to lose her femininity. I had to go on the offense!

No. We…are going underwear shopping!

Ten minutes had passed after we left Garrus’s shop.

And we’re here.

“So frilly,” Fran said as she looked through the store window. There were many frilly designs decorating the display.

It is a specialty store for housewives.

My heart was pounding in my metaphorical chest. Any man would’ve felt the same way. This was my first time going into this type of store in either of my lives so far.

“Welcome.”

“Hm.”

“What’s this? An adventurer?”

The store attendant was a young lady with short, blue hair that seemed more fitting in a cyberpunk setting than a fantasy one. Her tone of voice reminded me of a delinquent.

“So? Whaddya lookin’ for? We got underwear and lingerie fit for everythin’ from daily life to combat.”

“What should I get?”

Just repeat after me.

“Okay.”

“Five days’ worth of underwear. The easier to wash, the better.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And I want some undershirts I can wear beneath my armor.”

“Five days’ worth of that stuff too?”

“Yeah.”

“Our smallest size underwear is over there. Anythin’ ya like in particular?”

“Not really.”

“Nope, not havin’ it! You’re too cute for that answer, sweetie!”

The store attendant used to be an adventurer. She was unsatisfied with the lack of cute-yet-functional underwear, so she ended up having to make them herself. She had now teamed up with this store to sell specialty items for female adventurers.

“Ya’ve got white skin, black hair, black eyes, and black ears. This’ll look great on ya.”

Wh-what? Black shorts? And it came with the mythical tail slot?

That’s dirty. Too dirty! But that’s what makes it so good!

“This line was made with Beastmen in mind, which is why it has a hole for your tail. Whaddya think?”

I dunno. I thought it might be too mature for Fran. She wasn’t at the age where she should be worried about pheromones or seduction yet. She’d be more suited to something cute.

The next item the attendant showed us made it look like she had read my mind.

“We got other stuff too. How ‘bout this?”

The unmistakable striped panties. And they came with white and light blue stripes too!

“Or this one.”

Wow, she was good! These panties looked like ordinary cream-colored panties at a glance, but upon closer inspection one could see it was decorated with frills and ribbons. She kept showing us one set of underwear after another, but there was always a problem with either elasticity or breathability.

“We could cut a hole out in that one for ya. On the house.”

“Then I’ll take this one and that one.”

“All right. Anythin’ else?”

What else would a girl need? Facewash? Oh, I know—may as well get a skincare kit while we’re at it.

“A skincare kit? If you have it.”

“Sure do. We have an entire selection of it, in fact.”

“Just give me whichever.”

“Here ya go.”

It didn’t look like they sold bras here. Was it because we were in the sticks, or had civilization not advanced to that point yet? Fran was on the petit, flat side anyway, so it wasn’t like she needed one.

“So that’s five days’ worth of undies and undershirts… A pair of breathable shirts and shorts… Do ya need any nightgowns with that?”

“Give me two.”

“Will do. A bar of facial cleanser and a towel…”

They had soaps here. Were they the same as on Earth?

“This bar of soap was made with alchemy and is guaranteed to leave your skin soft and smooth. It’s also odorless which makes it perfect for an adventurin’ lady such as yourself.”

I see. That was really useful. Smelling like flowers on a hunt would make it easier for monsters to sniff us out. Being odorless was a great feature.

We bought clothes and all the basic necessities the attendant had recommended. She was grinning the entire time, which I took to mean that people didn’t usually buy this much in one go. She was even kind enough to see us off.

“Thanks for your patronage!”

I still had to teach Fran how to wash her clothes, however. She would tear through her entire wardrobe if she did a poor job of it. Why didn’t I just do it for her? Absolutely not. There were too many risks. She would have to do this one on her own. I’d die if I ever looked at Fran in a dirty way.

Thirty minutes later…

We stood in front of the inn the store attendant had recommended to us earlier. This inn was supposedly popular among female adventurers. It had a nice-looking façade, so I had a good feeling about it.

We went inside.

The reception area was also neatly kept. Cute flower pots casually decorated the tables. I brushed a spot with Telekinesis and found it spotless. This was a good inn.

“Teacher, you’re acting like an in-law.”

I’m sorry, but I’m doing this for you, Frannie!

“Welcome.”

A young lady of about twenty years old was sitting behind the reception counter.

“Do you have any rooms?”

“Will you be staying by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Where’re your mom and dad?”

I guessed renting a room at her age was going to be tough.

Fran, show her your guild card.

“Here.”

“Wait, it’s real?”

“Yes.”

The girl marveled at the guild card for a while before confirming its authenticity.

“Well, you look like an adventurer, so I guess you’re okay. It’ll be 300G for a night. The 400G option comes with a meal. All our rooms are single rooms. Which will it be?”

Let’s get some food for tonight.

“I’d like the food option for one night.”

“All right. Here’s your room key. Please look after your belongings.”

“’Kay.”

She proceeded to tell us about the price of utilities, but we ignored it. We could use magic or skills to substitute lanterns and hot water. I was surprised they had toothbrushes, but we could just use cleansing magic to bypass it.

“You can exchange this coupon at the cafeteria for a free meal. Feel free to visit our cafeteria at any time.”

She gave us two meal tickets. It was nice that we could eat whenever the cafeteria was open. But we still had a ton of monster meat left, so that would’ve been more economical to eat. I’d have to prep our meals before we stayed at an inn the next time. I just needed to cook the whole lot beforehand and shove it into the Pocket Dimension. That way, we’d always have piping hot food ready to eat.

But where could I cook so much food? Fran would get bored if all she had was whole roast and stews. I wanted to expand my menu, but I was going to need a kitchen to do so.

We climbed up the stairs and headed to the room on the second floor. The number on our key was 204, a corner room.

“Here?”

Hey, it’s not half bad.

The fresh and clean room had a bed and a desk along with a small drawer. It also came installed with a wardrobe and some weapon mounts on the walls. It looked like the very picture of comfort. This inn was something else.

“Teacher, are you sure we’re in the right room?”

We are. Why do you ask?

“It’s such a nice room.”

Then I understood.

To Fran who had spent four years being a slave, this ordinary room was luxurious. Oh, you poor girl! I’ll definitely make you happy! But first, I needed to reassure her.

Not really. This is a standard room.

“Seriously?”

Yep. We’ll be able to stay at rooms like this from now on.

“Whoaaa!” Fran exclaimed, pumping her fists in the air. “I’m so glad I came with you, Teacher.”

Yeah?

“I feel like a winner already.”

That’s a little much.

“My time is now.”

Fran was so happy that she brimmed with excitement, not that I could tell from her usual expression. Still, I was glad she was enjoying herself.

We wanted to chill at the inn the rest of the day, but I remembered that we still had a little bit of shopping to do.

Hey, you wanna do some shopping while there’s still light out?

“What are we buying?”

Seasoning and cooking utensils. Remember how good the food was when we were out camping?

“Yeah.”

Well, with some seasonings, you could have even tastier food.

“We need to buy these seasonings now.”

We’ll need to go to the general store. I’m sure the receptionist will tell us where it is.

“Okay.”

We’re not leaving any belongings in the room, but let’s lock the door anyway.

“Sure.”

We asked the receptionist if she had any general store recommendations. There was one right along the main road next to the inn.

And we’re here.

The sign read “Saber-Tooth General Store.”

“Saber-Tooth?”

That doesn’t have a very “General Store” feel to it.

“But this is the only store here.”

Fran was right—there were no other general stores in the vicinity. I sighed, braced myself, and we went in.

The welcoming bell rang.

“Hey there!”

The inside of the shop was otherwise normal if not for the immensely buff shopkeeper. His greeting had such a manly inflection, it almost had a musk to go with it.

“General store?”

“That’s right. We’re very much a general store despite what the signboard says.”

I could imagine. Saber-Tooth wasn’t a name you’d give to a general store. Not to mention the shopkeeper looked like he was more at home in a dungeon than behind a counter. I could tell from his moves that he didn’t graduate from merchant school. I should Identify him to be sure.

Name: Rufus

Age: 41

Race: Human

Class: Merchant

LV: 30

HP: 188; Magic: 73; Strength: 150; Agility: 77

Skills: Transport 3; Disassemble 4; Harvesting 2; Arithmetic 1; Trading 2; Warhammer Arts 4; Warhammer Mastery 6; Tracking 2; Frost Resistance 2; Cooking 1; Spirit Manipulation; Giant Killer

Title: Giant Slayer

Equipment: Merchant Apron; Arithmetic Earrings

He didn’t have the stats of an ordinary merchant. He was a mid-rank adventurer with an avant-garde skill spread to boot. The fact that his Trading and Arithmetic skills were so low for a merchant felt incredibly out of place.

“Adventurer?”

“Used to be. I always had dreams of opening my own shop. I retired from adventuring three years ago and now, here I am.”

“Why the name? It’s not cute.”

Fran! Be polite.

“Hahaha! Yeah, I get that a lot. When I first opened up shop, I thought I’d need something to liven the place up. So, I decided to put that baby up over there.”

The shopkeeper pointed to the back of the store at the stuffed Saber-Tooth head. Its expression was frozen in a constant, intimidating roar.

“Cool.”

“I know, right? Most of the ladies who come through don’t think so, though. What a shame.”

Was this store safe? I probably would’ve left by now if the receptionist at the inn hadn’t recommended it.

I scanned the store as Fran carried on their conversation. The place did have a fine selection of goods, with everything from seasoning to basic necessities laid out in neat displays.

“Anyway, don’t let me stop you from looking around. Take your time.”

Let’s get our stuff.

“’Kay.”

It went without saying that we needed salt and pepper, but we picked up some sugar and spices while we were at it. We’d need some eating utensils like spoons and plates too.

Still, I couldn’t help but worry about the store’s lack of security. The merchandise was displayed all over the store like back in Japan. Considering the number of thieves this world had, you’d think the shopkeeper would’ve had a shoplifting problem…

Then again, the shopkeeper would’ve been able to handle minor thieves. The open display was probably his way of saying he was confident in his anti-theft measures.

In the end, we spent about 3,000G by the time we left the store. The shopkeeper liked us so much that he shouted, “Take care and come again” as we went out the door.

We have about 40,000G left.

“What should we get next?”

Some potions would be nice, but…

It was hard to justify their price.

“We have healing magic.”

Which is still at a low level. The most you can get out of that is a slight soothing sensation.

“We could level it up.”

I’ve been thinking about that.

We had 27 EP left. It took 2 EP to level up a skill, so we could max out a Level 1 skill if we wanted to. However, spending all our remaining EP made me feel uneasy.

We have other skills we could level up.

“Like what?”

Sword Arts, for example.

The Guildmaster had told us after our entrance exam that Dragon Fang was an intermediate-level Sword Art. Our Sword Art was already at Level 7, so shouldn’t bumping it to Level 10 take priority?

“Yeah, I think so too.”

Right?

But the Sword Art’s level could only go as high as our current level of Sword Mastery. If we wanted to max out Sword Art, we were going to need to max out Sword Mastery too. Spending our EP this way seemed like a bottleneck.

Our next candidate was Doppelganger. It was virtually useless in its current state, but what if we leveled it up? It might end up strong enough to fight like the Doppel Snake’s version. It could also run errands and would come in handy to act as Fran’s guardian for paperwork’s sake. It’d make it easier to get a room at any inn too.

“That sounds good.”

Right?

And there were the defensive skills: Instant Regen, Abnormal Status Resistance, and Physical Attack Resistance. They weren’t anything fancy, but they’d definitely come in handy in a fight. These three were also high-rank skills which were difficult to get.

Fran’s level was still low, so she wouldn’t be able to survive a hit from any mid-rank monster. We should play it safe until she gained a few more levels.

“I never thought of that.”

I don’t think it’d hurt to put a few levels into Instant Regen.

It’d synergize well with Healing Magic. Of course, we’d be giving up the ability to cast healing spells on other people.

I thought it’d be best if we focused on leveling up one skill to the max instead of splitting our EP.

They’re all good skills, to be honest.

We finally decided to level up Healing Magic after our discussion at the inn. It was quite useful as it also unlocked Remedy for all our status effect needs. I’d also be able to heal Fran myself if she got into trouble.

We also unlocked Recover Magic as a result. It seemed to be the advanced form of Healing Magic, like Flame Magic was to Fire Magic. It came with Regenerate and Greater Heal, both at Level 1. Regenerate added a constant healing effect to a regular Heal, while Greater Heal was a much more powerful Heal that could restore broken body parts. Both were extremely useful.

Finally, we unlocked the Healing Mage title, which was probably the healing equivalent of our Fire Mage title.

Now we can heal ourselves out of any situation.

“Yeah.”

So, what do you wanna do tomorrow? Should we go to the guild and take on some quests? We still have money left over, so we could just kick back if you want.

“I wanna go questing.”

You sure? We’ll have to leave town if we do.

“I’m sure.”

Then we’re going to the guild tomorrow.

“Yeah. Can’t wait.”

Yep. We’ll have to level you up.

“Then what?”

What do you want to do, Fran? We can do anything you want.

“Anything…”

Anything come to mind?

“Hmm…?”

Hahaha. Well, think about it. Take your time.

“Yeah. I will.”