We had left the imperial capital and had come to a nearby forest. There were many wild animals in this dense forest of conifers, making it a great hunting ground for hunters living in the imperial capital.
When I asked the question while walking along an animal path, Alma shook her head.
「To be honest, I don’t know much in detail. All I know is that in return for having weak individual fighting ability, they have strong buffs, and their job is to support the party」
「Broadly speaking, that’s correct. But buffing is not the only role of the Buffer」
「What are the other roles?」
「In the first place, buffs have various effects. For example, my Job, Talker, has a Skill called Assault Command, and while it has the power to decide a fight in an instant, its drawbacks are also huge. If used poorly, it could result in my own party getting destroyed」
「That’s scary」
「Yes, it’s very dangerous. That’s why us Buffers have to correctly determine the battle situation before buffing. However, simply responding to the battle situation limits the number of buffs that can be used, and it’s also difficult to make full use of their effects」
「Then, what should you do?」
「It’s a simple answer. The Buffer should serve as the party’s control tower and control the battle. Create the desired situation by commanding the battle and use the buffs most appropriate for that situation. This is the role of a true Buffer」
Alma was impressed and nodded repeatedly at my explanation.
「Interesting. Very interesting. But it seems extremely difficult. It’s not just about directing the battle, it’s impossible to fight this way unless you can read what’s going to happen far into the future」
「Because of that, there are barely any Buffers who can fight decently. In the first place, something like grasping the battle situation and leading the party to victory, despite the fact that simply surviving is difficult because they don’t have many methods to defend themselves, is quite a feat」
「But Noel can do it, right?」
「If I couldn’t, I would have died ages ago. ——Okay, this is a good spot」
The place where we had stopped was an open space in the middle of the forest. In the center was a mysterious cobalt blue lake. It seemed to be a drinking spot for wild animals because of the droppings and footprints that could be seen. When I concentrated and searched for presences, I could feel a number of them hiding in holes in the ground and in the overgrown grass.
「Now, I’m going to have you catch a certain Monster」
Monster(Mutant) was the collective term for flora and fauna that had mutated due to the influence of Abysses. They weren’t as dangerous as Beasts, but hunting them was also one of the jobs that Seekers did.
「Killer Rabbit, a rabbit Monster with a metal horn」
When speaking of rabbits, an image of a cute and fluffy animal comes to mind, but these had horns that were sharp enough to stab and kill people. Moreover, it had an aggressive nature, and had a habit of suddenly jumping out and skewering prey when they passed near its burrow.
「Why am I catching Killer Rabbits? Can we eat them?」
「No, we can’t. You’re catching them as an experiment」
「What kind of experiment?」
「You’re not just catching them, you’re going to do it with my buffs」
「I don’t need your buffs to catch Killer Rabbits」
Thinking that I was looking down on her, Alma gave an offended look.
「With Alma’s strength, you can certainly catch dangerous Killer Rabbits without difficulty. But what do you think will happen after I buff you?」
「It’ll become even easier to catch them」
「You think so? Of course, buffs will increase your abilities. But whether or not you can master and use those increased abilities will depend totally on you」
「Oh. ……I see」
It seemed like Alma understood what I was getting at.
「Scouts have a skill called Accel, right?」
「Yes. It’s a skill that doubles speed. It’s stackable and I can stack it up to five times」
Up to five times, huh? As might be expected. C Ranks could typically only stack it three times at most.
「Did you master that Skill right from the start?」
「Impossible. My speed jumps up in one go, so I had to go through long trainings to let my body get used to it. If I didn’t, I would have tore my ligaments or broken my bones」
「It’s already like that for your own Skill. It’ll be even harder to control when others buff you and increase its effects. What’s more, unlike Accel, my buff should also increase your physical strength. That’s why you need training to get used to my buffs」
In other words, the experiment was to find out how long she would need to get used to the effects of my buffs. Our future plans would depend on the results of the experiment.
Even my former allies, who had been outstanding Seekers, took half a month before everyone got used to my buffs.
What about for Alma?
Her individual ability itself was outstanding, but how fast she could adapt to the buffs was another matter. Since her ability was excellent, the change due to the buff would be larger, so there was a possibility that it would take her even more time to get used to it instead. In fact, among my three former members, Lloyd, who had the best abilities, took the most time to adapt to the buffs.
「How many Killer Rabbits can you perceive in our immediate surroundings?」
At my question, Alma closed her eyes and perked up her ears.
「13, within a 200 meter radius」
「We’re all set for the experiment then. Make sure to use Accel while catching the Killer Rabbits. Moreover, I’ll be applying two buffs on you, so in that state, catch one or more Killer Rabbits within 10 seconds. Well, repeating it three times should be enough. Based on the results, we’ll find out the amount of training needed to adapt to the buffs」
「Understood」
「Then, let’s start the experiment」
Talk Skill: Battle Voice
The buff was applied using my announcement to start and it reinvigorated Alma’s body.
「How does it feel?」
「It’s a mysterious feeling. Energy is flooding out endlessly from the depths of my body」
「First, I used a Skill called Battle Voice. Under the effects of my buff, Alma’s current stamina and magic power as well as their recovery speed are all raised by 25 percent」
「In other words, I won’t get tired easily, is that about right?」
「Exactly. And the next Skill is the real test. Talk Skill: Deploy Tactics. So long as Alma is following my instructions, all of the results and effects of your actions will be increased by 25 percent. For now, just ignore the minor details and think of it as a buff that raises all your abilities by 25 percent」
I stepped back a fair distance so that Alma could start easily.
「Stack your Accel to the limit. A simple calculation shows that the effect of the five stacks will be boosted to more than that of six stacks. When I tell you to go catch them, that’ll be the signal to start. That order will have the Deploy Tactics buff on it. Don’t worry, even if you get injured, you’ll heal right up with the potions I’ve brought」
「Got it.——But, a quick timeout」
Alma threw off her robe forcefully. Under her robe, she wore a white leotard-like leather suit. It had a suggestive design that showed a lot of cleavage. Alma’s big breasts were emphasized even more because of the corset belt.
At first glance, it was clothing that provided no defense at all, but the material was probably Vampire skin. It had the characteristic of deploying a barrier whenever magic power was passed through it. Because of that, there would be no meaning in increasing the suit’s defenses, so it was designed with an emphasis on mobility and breathability.
She had on long gloves on her hands and long boots on her feet. And a large knife was in the sheath secured on her waist belt
In addition, she had small item pouches and cases of throwing needles equipped all over. She had an eye-catching appearance because of the high exposure of skin, but in actuality, the way she was dressed was very Scout-like. This setup looked agile and seemed to be predicated on being taking out enemies from the shadows.
「Now I can move much easier. Bring it on」
I pulled up my left sleeve and put my finger on the stopwatch button on my watch.
「If your preparations are done, use Accel」
「Got it. — Accel — Quintuple!(5x)」
The same time that Alma stacked Accel five times, I shouted.
「Order! Go catch the Killer Rabbits!」
At that moment, a gust of wind hit me and Alma disappeared.
Super high-speed movement exceeding the limit, brought about by the effect of Deploy Tactics. Despite me trying to follow her movements, her speed was so fast that it gave me the illusion that she had disappeared.
I pressed the button on my watch and the display showed the time to one decimal point. –Two seconds had passed. Three seconds had passed. Four seconds, five seconds, six seconds, seven seconds, eight seconds–
「I’m back」
I stopped the stopwatch the instant I heard her voice.
「Here, Killer Rabbits」
Alma, who had appeared behind me with a strong gust of wind, dropped the pile of Killer Rabbits that she had in her arms.
「All 13 Killer Rabbits. I made them unconscious」
「……13? No way, did you catch all of them?」
「Yup. Oh? Was I supposed to catch only one?」
「No, I said one or more, so you didn’t do anything wrong」
「That’s good, that’s a relief. And the time?」
「8.6 seconds」
「I made it within the time limit, didn’t I? Are we still going to continue the experiment now that I’ve caught all of them?」
I smiled wryly at Alma, who had tilted her head.
「No, the experiment ends here. With this kind of result, there’s no need for any training」
Good grief, she’s quite something. It’s the first time someone had such an easy time adapting to my buffs. Now I felt like an idiot for purposely arranging this experiment.
Is this what it means to have succeeded a legend…… I’m so envious……
「Now that there’s no need for Alma to train, we’ve got an open schedule. So I was thinking we should do a request as a party」
「Ohh, our first request. It’ll be my first time exploring an Abyss」
「Unfortunately, it’s not Abyss-related. No matter how strong you are, Alma, it’s too dangerous to go into Abysses without a Tank. This is the request we received」
I took a letter out from my pocket and showed it to Alma. It had arrived from far away by owl mail this morning. The paper quality was bad and it smelt a little of horse dung
「Hmm? Let’s see…… Dear Mr Noel Stollen, a group of bandits have appeared near Mintz village. Therefore, I would like to request that you subjugate them. From the village chief of Mintz village」
Alma finished reading the letter and looked up with a puzzled look.
「A group of bandits?」
「Yes, our first job is to subjugate a group of bandits」
†
†
Hunting Beasts was not the only job that Seekers did.
Treasure hunts, exploration of uncharted regions, Monster hunts and criminal or bounty hunts.
The first two were rarely requested but the latter two were very common. Monsters and criminals, which always sprung up no matter how many times they were crushed, were threats to the good citizens.
Of course, the reward was less than Abyss-related requests, but as long as you got the money, it was still a good way to make a living.
Even with my former members, we didn’t go into Abysses from the start, but earned money and raised the proficiency of our party by doing such small work.
These types of requests were usually posted directly on the bulletin board in the central square. The clients varied, but most were from the villages.
The lords who should be protecting their people were always too slow to react. If they waited patiently for the lord’s help, the village would likely suffer a huge blow or in the worst case, they would be destroyed before the lord came. So they had to hire Seekers on their own to eliminate the problem.
The connection with the village chief of Mintz village was made when we had accepted a request like that. The request at that time was Monster subjugation. After that request was fulfilled, it was Lloyd, who was now a slave, who had promised to help if there ever was a problem.
The village chief of Mintz village, who remembered the promise, probably judged that it would be faster to make a direct request to us in order to solve the problem swiftly.
In truth, I had intended to send a letter of refusal. However, Alma’s training was no longer necessary, so there was time for party activities.
I likely couldn’t expect much from the reward, but it was a good request to test the power of our new party.
Let’s make the bad guys who bothered good villagers pay for what they did.
With everything they own.
That last line! Is evil Noel going to make an appearance!?
This chapter, while a plain training(?) arc, really shows why I like this author. Doesn’t it make sense and seem more realistic that no one can adapt to sudden bursts in strength unless they trained and prepared for it? I know Alma cleared it easily but she did train for adapting to Accel before so she has an excuse.
Early reveal of Alma’s profile this time. Many fun looking skills. I wonder, since no one commented on it, if anyone noticed back in chapter 9 when Noel’s profile was revealed that there was a skill there that Noel hadn’t used yet? The characters in this novel don’t learn skills willy nilly like certain other novels, so there is a certain purpose that this author has when he does reveal their skills…(edit: Like before, Alma's profile has been taken out to conform with the changes to the WN)
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