Translator Corner
This is Yukkuri
demasu!
Sorry for being
really slow translating this part. Work is really busy and I don’t have much
free time. This is actually finished way way way back in September… But yeah…
Also, turning Kumon
into Cumont. Since Cumont is a more valid European sounding name (Wallonia
Belgian). Though I basically grasping at straws for this.
DISCLAIMER: There is no
guarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I was
wrong.
Author:
Fujima Miya ふじま 美耶
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor, Proofreader:
So-Chintzy
Volume 1
Chapter 3 Coltea
Part 3
The next day, Cumont and I met by the city gate at the Morning Bell and we decided
to go to gather the materials together. Our destination was the eastern grasslands.
Since the gathering site of the Macacari Leaf was by the riverside, the foothold
would be very bad for two people who have never fought together before. That's
why we decided to head towards the eastern grasslands once more and try to practice
combat combinations before braving the riverside. Cumont, of course, was bringing
his horse with him.
Cumont and I exited the city together. I also place a 『Protection Membrane』 onto the horse. We would be fighting
together all day, after all. In addition, since he let me ride his horse, this
was the least I could do in return. However, I didn’t set a really powerful barrier
like what I did back in Camiazure. For today’s purposes, a relatively light barrier
will do. It doesn’t mean that I don’t trust Cumont, I just don’t want to stand
out.
「Wow, magician is really
convenient to have.」(Cumont)
「Indeed.」(Reene)
Then, I activated 『Search』.
「Ah!」(Reene)
「What’s with the sudden yell?」(Cumont)
「Ah, sorry, it’s not important.」(Reene)
「Did you forget something?」(Cumont)
「No, it's not. It’s not a big
deal.」
I was surprised. 『Search』was…… it displayed Cumont as a blue marker.
I guess that allies would be marked in blue. Since I was travelling
together with Van-san and the others, I never activated 『Search』, so I didn’t notice this until now. I see. How easy to understand.
“Well, shall we go?” Cumont mounted his horse with a leap and then presented
his hand to me.
「Sit behind me.」(Cumont)
He pulled me up and then I mounted the horse behind him. Cumont was shorter
than Van-san and the Knights, so if I was sitting in front of him, then it would
have been hard for him to see. I carried my bag on my back and circled my hands
around Cumont’s belly. It was a bit scary because I had a narrow field of vision
when riding a horse like this, but if I clung at his back, then I would be safer.
Because Cumont wasn’t wearing a hard armor like a knight, but a leather
armor instead, it didn’t hurt even when I collided against it. Since both of us
were wearing thick clothes, I also didn’t worry about my chest hitting his back.
We didn’t want to do any “kyakya” “ufufu”, after all.
「Here we go. Make sure you hold
on tight.」(Cumont)
「Un.」(Reene)
It was much better travelling this way than by using 「Acceleration」. Perhaps it would be better to go with 「Tan-kun」, but I won’t demand for any luxuries here.
We came to the grasslands in about half an hour and we didn’t even encounter
any monsters on the way.
Since we exited the gate as soon as it was open, it was still early in the
morning. The light mist that covered the grasslands kept it moist as it was
still a bit wet from the morning dew.
When Cumont parked the horse, he attached a monster repellent magic tool to
the horse and then released it. It didn’t work for strong monsters, but it could
repel low level monsters. I was worried that it would run away, but since it
was a tamed horse, it seemed that it would be fine.
If we wanted to go home then, then we could call it by whistling and it would
return to us immediately. What a clever horse.
「Then, shall we start to gather
『Cat’s Flower Stalk Grass』 separately? Let’s not be too far from each other. Also, I’ll leave all the Killer
Bees to you. For the Poison Cats, we will fight together, okay?」(Cumont)
「Okay, let's do our best.」(Reene)
「Yeah.」(Cumont)
And so, we started to gather 「Cat’s Flower Stalk Grass」 while making sure we weren’t too far from each other.
―― Noel ―― Help? ――
Noel asked from the shadows. It’s fine, thank you……sorry. I can’t take you out
because Cumont was with me.
Last night, I had spent a lot of time with Noel at the inn. I tried to give
it a bath, but Noel didn’t stink like an animal at all. It looks like that any dirt
on it would disappear through simply entering my shadow, so his coat stayed glossy.
I had been told that for his meals, he only needed the mana that filled my
shadow, but that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t eat anything else. The food that
he ate using his mouth would be converted into mana inside his body and be absorbed.
It seemed that it was usually more efficient to obtain mana directly, so he deliberately
didn’t eat anything. He had been eating the mana from the defeated monsters
until now. By the way, he also didn’t need to go to the toilet.
The structure of his body is different from a Human’s. Even so, this doesn’t
mean that all of the Magic Race was also like this. There were some members of
the Magic Race who ate normally, and there were others who used mana as their
nourishment.
Then, was there a digestive organ inside their body? Do they still have organs
even when they don’t use them?
As expected, as a Healer, I was a bit interested in this matter. If, for
some reason, Noel got sick, I wouldn’t be able to cure it if I didn’t know how
his body works.
I continued to ponder while gathering grass for about 30 minutes, when red
markers appeared. They were Poison Cats.
「Cumont!」(Reene)
When I called him, Cumont also noticed them immediately. There were three Poison
Cats.
If it was only three, then I could one-shot them all with my magic, but I
mustn’t defeat them all. Cumont's share would disappear.
I decided to attack them one by one unless the situation became dangerous.
Noel was going to jump out from the shadow, so I say, “It’s fine, so please
remain in the shadow”, to calm him.
Cumont said 「I leave the right one to you」as he leapt upon the leftmost Poison
Cat.
「Un, 『Fireball』」(Reene)
I quickly defeated one Poison Cat. Cumont also had defeated the left Poison
Cat with two attacks, and then he turned his blade and cut at the one in the
middle with his sword. However, the smallish sword only made a shallow wound and
it gave the Poison Cat a chance to counterattack.
I panicked when I saw the Poison Cat swoop down on Cumont. If he was bitten
by it, then the poison will……
『Fireball』(Reene)
「Uwaa!」(Cumont)
Cumont, who was trying to parry the Poison Cat’s attack with his sword, was
surprised at the flame that was burning in front of his eyes and fell backward as
a result.
I was also surprised. Did I mess up? I shouldn’t have hit my ally with magic
when we were fighting together.
“There might have been a possibility that it would hit my ally! I am such a
fool!” or so I had thought. But, even though he was really close to the burning
Poison Cat, Cumont was unharmed.
「……Does my attack magic not
affect allies?」(Reene)
「Don’t ask me that!!」(Cumont)
「I'm sorry…… This was my first
time fighting together with other people. I'm glad that you weren’t hurt. I'm
really sorry.」(Reene)
I see. Just like I had made it so that there wouldn’t be any burn marks on
the grassland even when my magic flames were burning, the attack wouldn’t affect
my ally.
「Geez…… Well, I guess you
panicked since I was about to be attacked. You saved me from trouble.」(Cumont)
Cumont said these words as he took the core of the Poison Cat that had
collapsed down in front of him, and with a “Here”, he threw it to me. I didn’t
have the skill to catch it stylishly with one hand, so I hastily cupped my two
hands to catch it. Seeing my actions, Cumont was needlessly exhausted.
「Out of the three, I had defeated
two of them. I'm sorry. I will leave the rest to Cumont.」(Reene)
「Okay, then how about if we
take turns?」(Cumont)
While saying this, he was cutting up a Poison Cat in front of his eyes.
「I-I’ll pick 『Cat’s Flower Stalk Grass』 over there!」(Reene)
I decided to search for 「Cat’s Flower Stalk Grass」 a bit away while trying not to look at what Cumont was doing.
Even if I was slightly away from him, I felt safe since there was a blue
marker within the Search range even when I couldn’t see him. Yes, having an
ally is nice.
Midway, we took a lunch break and brought out our respective lunches.
Since Cumont was with me today, so I took out my bento from my bag.
Naturally it had become cold, but it would be strange to show a still puffing
hot bento in front of other people. Still it was sufficiently delicious. 「Red Long Boots Inn」’s dishes were also very delicious.
While we were eating, Cumont taught me about many things, such as the river
with the Macacari Leaf. I was told that, “Because it was a riverside with slippery
footing, you are surely going to fall”, but I couldn’t refute it.
Darn. I’ll be careful. If I really fall, then Cumont will absolutely laugh
at me.
✦✧✦✧✦
So far, it had been a smooth sailing ever since our lunch at noon.
Killer Bees also appeared. 「Because I won’t join, just
finish them off in one attack」, was what Cumont told me, so
I defeated them all at once with 『Freeze』. I then asked Cumont to collect the stingers just like we had arranged
before. An individual Killer Bee bounty was one piece of Copper coin.
A Killer Bee wasn’t that strong individually, but since they came in a
swarm, it was troublesome.
Of course, I didn’t want to see Cumont do the ‘collection work’, so I will
search for 「Cat’s Flower Stalk Grass」 away from him. Because Cumont had been working on them in my stead, the
time for him to search for 「Cat’s Flower Stalk Grass」 had decreased. That's why I thought that I ought to gather more of it.
In order to remove the feeling of unfairness about that, I suggested that I
will incinerate the Poison Cat corpses that Cumont had defeated. Even if the
carcasses were incinerated, their cores would remain.
It was easier to retrieve the core from an incinerated carcass than from cutting
the corpse open. Also, if you scratched the core just a little bit while
dissecting the corpse, it will be worth less and the Guild won’t even buy them.
Of course, my cores had no scratches at all.
The gathered stingers were stored in my collection box. I don’t want to
touch them, so I’ll let Cumont take them out when we went back to the Guild.
Afterward, every time Poison Cats appeared, Cumont would yell 「One and Two」, 「Two and One」, 「One and One」. If they appeared when we were away from each other, the ones closer to them would defeat them
alone.
「We had gathered a lot.」(Cumont)
Cumont spoke this as the sun was sinking in the west sky and then he whistled.
With a galloping sound, the horse came from the other direction. We had
been in this place all day today, but the horse had been staying around this place
without leaving the grasslands. The monster repellent magic tool is really
useful. Poison Cats and the like couldn’t approach and if a stronger monster
appeared, the horse would realize and properly escape.
Just like how we traveled this morning, Cumont pulled me up to mount the
horse.
We had quite a harvest today. Furthermore, this was fun. Un. I still feel bad about defeating the
monsters, yet it was fun to work together with someone like this.
We returned to the city and went to the Adventurer Guild while still on
horseback. Before we went to Quest Completion Counter, I would receive quests
for 「Killer Bee's Stinger」 and 「Cockatrice Beak」 that I have not received before. Then, both of us went to the Quest
Completion Counter.
My results for today were 7 「Poison Cat's Cores」, 20 「Cat’s Flower Stalk Grasses」, and 23「Killer Bee’s Stingers」. There were the leftover 「Poison Cat’s Cores」 from the other day, so it became exactly 5 x 2.[1]
The amount of rewards were 10 Silvers for the 「Poison Cat’s Cores」 and 2 Silvers for the 「Cat’s Flower Stalk Grasses」and 1 Silver for the 「Killer Bee’s Stingers」. Just in one day, I had
obtained 13 Silvers. But for the Poison Cat’s reward, it was also thanks to the
leftover three cores from the hunting the day before yesterday.
Cumont was also given about the same amount of reward money.
After that, we left the guild, and had a drink from the Kecha stall, as a work-well-done
party for today.
「Even in the guild, the tea is
one Copper. And here, the Kecha is also one Copper. It’s strange, right?」(Reene)
「What do you mean?」(Cumont)
「A story of how I like Kecha
more than tea, perhaps.」(Reene)
In this place, tea was basically more expensive than Kecha. The tea leaves that
could be drunk in the Middle Class District like what we did was still nothing
much, but there were good tea leaves that would cost several Silvers.
By the way, the lowest denomination of money, the Copper coin, was worth
about 100 yen, right? It felt that it was really strange for a stratified
society like this to not have money that was worth less than 100 yen. There
should have been a lot more cheaper things in the Lower Class District.
When I asked about this, it seems that goods worth less than one Copper
would mostly be traded through bartering.
「Ah, this is the gathering fee
for the stingers, 23 Coppers.」(Reene)
「Thanks.」(Cumont)
Since the reward was 1 Silver, my total reward money for the Killer Bees would
be reduced to 77 Coppers, but rather than money, I was happier with the points.
After all, I wanted to become a D-rank adventurer quickly.
「Hey, Reene.」(Cumont)
「Hmm?」(Reene)
「Why is a high-ranked magician
like you only an F-rank adventurer?」(Cumont)
「What do you mean by
‘high-ranked’?」(Reene)
「No matter how many Poison Cats
appeared, you defeated most of them with just a single attack one by one. Your
magic is too strong.」(Cumont)
Yeah, I thought so. He found out that I had held back earlier to defeat
them individually.
「I lived in a small rural village
that is very secluded and I only arrived at Coltea about a week ago. That’s why
everything is a first to me. Since I wanted to try many things by myself, I
then became an adventurer.」(Reene)
「There is such a high-ranked magician
in a rural village like that?」(Cumont)
「Well, sort of. Since it’s a rather
strange village…… Cumont too, is pretty strong, right?」(Reene)
Yes, I was a bit curious about this. Cumont is strong. For me, who was
familiar with the Blue Knights, while I don’t think that he is as strong as
them, I believe that an F-rank adventurer should be weaker. Although, this was
not something that I should say. For the whole day today, there wasn’t any danger
at all. Even though, I had applied Protection Membrane on him just to be safe, Cumont
didn’t get a single scratch. He might not feel that this job was dangerous,
thinking that it wasn’t a higher rank job after all. Even his difficulty in
dealing with the Killer Bees was because he didn’t want to damage the corpses for
gathering the materials and he should have been able to defeat them with Sword
Magic if he was being serious.
「Because I have always been in the
vigilante group of my village. My father was the Captain. He was really strong.」(Cumont)
It seems that Cumont’s father was originally a Knight of the Coltean Militia.
The Militia are temporary hired knights who aren’t regularly employed like
regular knights, but are instead selected from strong commoners and are tasked to
maintain the city’s public order or to be deployed in cases of emergency. Cumont's
father returned to his birth village with his family when he retired from an injury.
Then, he formed a vigilante group to protect the village from the threat of
monsters. Since there were only few people in the village with magic power,
they really appreciated his efforts.
Since Cumont’s mana was on the fourth rank, he intended to go to the city and
enter the Militia after his sword training was over.
「My village was called Maino. It
was a small village, but it was a nice place. However, not long ago, a monster appeared,
and before long the village was completely destroyed.」(Cumont)
Maino. It was the village near Camiazure. The village that was destroyed by
that pseudo-Stegosaurus. Cumont was a survivor from that village.
「To defeat a monster like that,
a Militia is useless…… I will become stronger and become an S-rank adventurer.」(Cumont)
It seemed that his father and the men in the village had died. At that
time, Cumont was driving the carriage that carried the village’s women and children
to evacuate, so he was able to survive.
He escaped to Coltea and lived in the city for a while with the low mana
ranked villagers, but after listening to the news that the Blue Knight Order had
subjugated the monsters and it had become safe, the villagers returned back to
their homes. It seemed that they would live in the nearby village, Camiazure.
Cumont remained in Coltea to become an adventurer.
「I see. That must be hard on you,
Cumont.」(Reene)
「Well, yeah.」(Cumont)
「Do your best! Cumont is
strong, so I’m sure you will become an S rank adventurer!」(Reene)
「Yeah!」(Cumont)
I couldn’t talk about the things related to the pseudo-Stegosaurus or about
Camiazure. I also didn’t want to tell Cumont that I am a Healer, if possible. Even
though we seemed to get along well, I didn’t want him to treat me differently if
I told him about those things. I just want to be friends with Cumont.
Therefore, I absolutely couldn’t tell him about everything.
「I also want to quickly become a
D rank adventurer, so let's do our best together.」(Reene)
When he asked me about what my next week's schedule was, I told him and we
ended up scheduling another meeting at the gate on Earthday (Thursday in Earth
terms) and then we bid farewell to each other. Even though I spent the whole
day as an adventurer, since the monsters that appeared on F ranked quest are
weak, I only used no more than 200 MP. In comparison, while working as a
Healer, I depleted more MP and mental power.
Furthermore, it was refreshing to work outdoors.
✦✧✦✧✦
On the next day, Lightday, I took a slow relaxing rest in the Inn. On the
day after that, Darkday, was another day of work as a Healer. The escort for me
that day was a Knight named Wedge.
He participated in the subjugation at Camiazure, we often talked while I
was in the carriage on the journey to Coltea, and he was a Knight that I got
along with well.
This was my first time meeting him in Coltea. When I told him, 「Whoaa, Wedge-san, long time no see」, and he replied with a joke, 「I haven’t seen Reene-dono for quite some while, and you have become taller」. He was like a distant-relative ojii-san type of guy.
I was enjoying this easygoing exchange. The other knights were too tense,
after all.
While we were travelling to the Clinic, I told Wedge-san that today, I want
to practice riding horses in the afternoon.
The two days last week seemed to have made my name became a bit well known,
and now I was receiving appointments specifically requesting my services.
As usual, I would treat them while addressing them according to the
servants, 「Please refer to the following gentleman as Viscount」 or 「Please refer to this lady as Countess.」
The fact that I was able to converse with many kinds of people, I earnestly
thought that my translation function was magnificent.
Japanese words that didn’t have exact equivalent words in this world would
be translated into words that had meanings close to them. If there were no words
that had meanings close to them, then it would be just be pronounced without
changes. Even idioms would be automatically translated into similar idiom.
For example, if I said 「Can't judge a book by its
cover」[2], this idiom would be translated as 「The young lady is a witch」. You couldn’t guess the age of people with high mana, so someone who you thought
as childishly cute would be revealed as an elder high ranked magician when you became
more acquainted with them.
Since there were people with fast magic power growth in rare cases, there
were some old people with very young appearances. About 16 or 17 years old in
appearance. People like this would usually have very high mana. Hence, the
idiom 「The young lady is a witch」.
That the written words were also translated was wonderful, too. When I wanted
to write a word for my clinic work, I was thinking about what I should do if I
couldn’t write it, but when I tried to write it, I was surprised that the
letters of this world emerged inside my mind and I could smoothly write them out
without a problem.
When the Noon Bell rang, I ate lunch with the Green Princess and the
others. After that, Wedge-san brought me to the castle.
The Blue Knight Order's station was called the 「Blue Order Administrative Hall」 and it felt like a
combination of a station, an office, and a mess-room. I could enter the castle
grounds, although I couldn’t enter the castle itself, and easily pass through.
Naturally, it wasn’t a place where I was allowed to wander alone. I went
accompanied by Wedge-san and passed through the castle’s gate after presenting my
identification card. In Coltea, I was regarded as someone authorized with the
Blue Knights Order, so no one prevented me from being inside the Administration
Hall.
My aim for today was horse riding, but Wedge-san informed me that Van-san
and Cyan-san were present in the Hall, so I decided to greet them in the
Administration Hall first.
The Blue Order had six divisions and their main duty was as His Highness’
personal guards, but other than that, they would also go out for subjugations.
It seemed that they also had people who were doing secret intelligence-like task
in the city, like checking whether or not a spy had infiltrated in Coltea or for
collecting top-secret information.
Naturally it was prohibited to enter all the areas of the Administration Hall
unless you were authorized, so even though I could enter it, it was only a
small part of the station that belonged to the Second Division.
「Why haven’t the contents of
this unprocessed box decreased in any way?」(Cyan)
Just as I entered the station, Van-san was being harshly scolded by Cyan-san.
Etto. The division commander is Van-san and the vice division commander is Cyan-san,
right?
When I threw a glance at Wedge-san, he replied in a joking manner.
「My commander’s hobby is to accumulate
documents and then be bullied by the demon vice-commander.」(Wedge)
「Who has a hobby like that?」(Van)
「Who is a demon?」(Cyan)
Van-san and Cyan-san both made a retort at the same time. Cyan-san, you
didn’t deny the bullying part.
「Sorry
for disturbing.」[3](Reene)
「Oh, welcome Reene. Thank you
for the hard work, Wedge. After you finish reporting, please take a break.」(Cyan)
Wedge-san made a firm Knight’s salute and after saying, 「Until next time」, to me, he entered another room. I
wonder if he would write a report over there too. Perhaps there was plenty information
from the talks of the nobles in the examination room.
「Welcome Reene. Have you gotten
used to your job as a Healer?」(Cyan)
「Yes, I have gotten the hang of
it. I intend to have a horse riding lesson today.」(Reene)
「Horse riding, if only my hands
were free.」(Van)
「Can you really be saying that your
hands are free, Van?」(Cyan)
「Not at all. I am terribly
sorry for this as a division commander.」(Van)
Van-san hurriedly excused himself, so that he wouldn’t be scolded by
Cyan-okaa-san more than this.[4]
「Because I am free now, I will
do it.」(Hugh)
Hugh-san, who was nearby, nominated himself. Un. It was easier to ask Hugh-san for this. I will do our best in
learning. I have to be able to ride alone by myself soon.
“Ah, of course if Noel gets bigger, then I will ride on Noel”, was what I appended
in my mind.
Actually today, when I said that I wanted to practice horse riding, Noel
was jealous. It was unavoidable when I was traveling horseback with Cumont or
the Knights, but he seemed annoyed since practicing horse riding looked like I
was playing with the horse instead of him.
―― Noel ―― Ride ―― Noel ―― Fly ―― Noel ―― Fast ――
That the small Noel was jealous of the horse was really adorably cute. Noel
is still a child, but it looks like if he had grown into adult, then I could ride
him and fly.
―― More ―― big ――
Uh-huh, I will absolutely ride you when you have grown up. Until then, I
will diligently continue the horse riding practice. I will be waiting until Noel
becomes an adult.
And so, it was a long and grueling hour of practice. Hugh-san had been
working really hard.
Although one might say it was difficult for an unathletic person like me to
coordinate my body movements when riding a horse, even after an entire stound, all I could do was practicing mounting and dismounting
the horse by myself and to have the horse walk at a slow pace. Still, it was major
progress since I was finally able to mount and dismount a horse by myself.
✦✧✦✧✦
The next day, Fireday, after the clinic’s work had finished, I asked the
Blue Knights to teach me horse riding again, and then on Waterday, I spent the
whole day in the library.
Even if I had scrounged over all the magic books one by one, there was no
clue about transfer or summoning magic.
But I became quite informed about magic power as a whole in the process.
For the people of this world, other than 「Magic Power」 or mana, which is MP, there is also something called 「magic quality」. Each magic quality had individual peculiarities like a voiceprint or a
fingerprint and Gaia’s Note was able to perceive these individual differences. There
was not differences in just the quality, there were also distinctions between in
high and low magic qualities. Someone with higher magic quality would have
greater results even if they used the same spells as another person. Perhaps it
could be considered similar to the 「INT」 or the 「Wisdom」 in the games.
This also applied to Gaia's Children, as they not only had high MP, but also
high magic quality, which is why they could use powerful magic. In the past, a
Son of Gaia had destroyed some countries with his fire attack magic. The term 「high magic power」 means 「the numerical value of MP, which means their Rank is high」, and 「high magic quality」 means 「the power of their magic is strong」.
The quality would also influence the lifespan, too, and it seems that
people with high quality can live longer than their peers of the same Rank.
Since from time immemorial, people with high magic power had conquered the
lands, resulting in many royalties and high ranked aristocrats having high magic
powers, and many of them had high magic quality, too. Because His Highness Leon
had a really high magic quality, although Jin-san had said that he was just a Sixth
Rank, he would probably remain be youthful until about 250 years old.
Humans with 「high magic power and high magic quality」 could cast many magics with high offensive power, so they are more useful by
a wide margin than numerous ordinary magicians.
People with high magic quality seemed to be able to distinguish those with
high magic quality similar to them. It seemed that this is also a species preservation
instinct, that they would feel sexual attraction to members of the opposite sex
that had high quality. That’s why high quality people would marry other high
quality people, and produce high quality children. As the result, the Houses thrived
and prospered.
Of course, they could be attracted to people with low magic power, too, so there
were other couples similar to Van and his wife.
On the next day, Earthday, I met with Cumont and we headed towards the
riverside on the south. It was the place that had the Macacari Leaf.
We left the city walls and headed south, and after travelling on horseback
for a while, there seemed to be a large forest. Because Cumont had gone there several
times before, I didn’t need to worry about getting lost.
Just like the last week, I applied a 「Protection Membrane」 and mounted the horse. After about thirty minutes had passed, I could see the
forest.
There was a road for a horse to travel on in the middle of the forest, but
as we approached the river, there were big rocks scattered around and the terrain
became worse, so the horse had to travel slowly. Because it was called a river,
I expected that it would be small and have a gently flowing stream, but it was a
great torrent with whitewater rapids instead.
Of course, we would walk around the river on foot. 「It’s a bit slippery, so be
careful, don’t slip and fall.」 Cumont warned me again.
It was a mountain stream that had originated from the mountain deep inside the
forest, and it had numerous small and large waterfalls. Since many people had come
to pick up the grass growing on the riverside, there were something like an
esplanade alongside the river.
It was a beautiful scenery that could become a tourist attraction. Clear
air and the murmuring waters created an absolutely nice atmosphere. There were places
where trees were densely grown and large moss-covered rocks gathered, where the
sunshine couldn’t reach and the water splashed into the air from the fast
flowing rapids, so the entire place was quite humid.
「There are many water monsters around
this place, so don’t take your eyes off of the rivers as they could suddenly jump
out from the rapids.」(Cumont)
「Un, I’ll be careful.」(Reene)
I will be completely fine since I had 『Search』 on. I hadn’t told Cumont about my skill yet, so I didn’t say anything.
「Macacari Leaves are growing up
around the area beyond this waterfall.」(Cumont)
Even though it was called a waterfall, the size was small. The height was
no more than one meter, but since the river was very wide, it felt like a Petite-Niagara
Falls. I could hear loud pounding sounds and splashes coming from it.
When we were about to ascend the road beside it, I could see red markers
appearing one by one in 『Search』. They were inside the waterfall.
「Cumont! They are in the waterfall.」(Reene)
Cumont stood up holding his sword and chanted. It was a Sword Magic. Flickering
flames appeared and clad the blade. Aquatic monsters weren’t the subject of material
gathering quests, after all. Cumont also decided to finish them off with one attack.
「Reene, could you lure them
out?」(Cumont)
What should I do? It would be better if I could made them leave the water
without killing them. Shall I let loose a weak lightning? Ah, but I can’t. I had
decided that my attribute were fire and water.
『Ice Needle』
I tried to launch some ice needles near the red markers.
Immediately, fish, that looked like large-fanged flying fish, jumped out
and flew towards us.
『Fireball』
The ones that came towards me were incinerated. Because they were wet, there
were sizzling sounds. Cumont also slashed them down with a single sword slash.
「Three more are coming!」(Reene)
「Ok!」(Cumont)
『Fireball』
Cumont also moved in a way that wouldn’t make him lost his footing and brought
them down without a problem.
It was finally over. Because they were small monsters, there were no cores.
After we ascended the waterfall, we would take a rest and then begin to search
for Macacari Leaves.
I had studied about them in the 『Low Rank Monsters and Herbs
Illustrated Reference』. Macacari Leaves had a maple leaf-like shape and a deep blue color. A blue
maple leaf. If you rubbed it, it would produce a sap that had a scent similar to
that of mint and could be used as a poultice. It seemed that it was effective for
bruises and the like. Five pieces of leaves were worth one Silver. So at the
very least, I needed to find five of these.
When we found the herb, it usually had five or six leaves. It was written
in the 『Low Rank Monsters and Herbs Illustrated Reference』 book to take only one or two leaves at a time, lest it would wither.
They wouldn’t purchase the small ones. So I would choose only the full-grown
leaves.
We took our lunch a bit distance away from the riverside.
「So Reene could notice when monsters
approached.」(Cumont)
As expected, he noticed it again. Should I say that it was a magic or that
it was a skill? Oh, the term 「Skill」 was unknown in this world. it would be translated as “Arts”.[5]
I was a bit worried, but I honestly answered by altering the truth just a bit.
「It was the Arts 『Search』 I’ll know if enemies are
approaching.」(Reene)
「How convenient. How can you obtain
it?」(Cumont)
「I obtained it quite easily. I deliberately
searched for the enemy’s presence and whether or not they would come, and then I
obtained it.」(Reene)
「Even I have always been doing that,
too.」(Cumont)
「That’s also true.」(Reene)
Skill acquisition was something that some people could obtain while others
couldn’t even when they did the exact same thing. I didn’t think was from a
talent. If it was just simply perceiving presences, then surely Cumont was better.
Even among the Knights, none of them had it.
Even for 『Compounding』, I believe that the number of people who had this was low. Even if they
had accumulated lots of work experience, it didn’t mean that they would obtain
the skill. Not everyone could obtain the same skills.
This was just a conjecture, but I believed that whether or not a skill could
be acquired by someone had already been decided from the start.
No one with low mana had skills. For people with 200 MP, there was few
people with skills, but this doesn’t not mean that they don’t exist.
There should still some chances for Cumont. Furthermore, he was still 17 years
old. It was still a growth period for him.
「Surely there would be an Arts that
could only be performed by Cumont. So I think it will be good for you to study
various types.」(Reene)
「I wish I had a fire Arts or
something.」(Cumont)
「Yeah. It sounds strong. Cool
and Strong, perhaps it will be better if it had a stylish name, too.」(Reene)
「What do you mean?」(Cumont)
「Like Dancing Flame, or Crimson
Blade, or Inferno Bird.」(Reene)
I tried to remember the Chuuni names and mentioned them to him one by one.
By the way, Cyan-san’s skill was called 『Dance of Ice Flowers』. I haven’t seen him use it
yet, though. Perhaps it was a very beautiful and strong skill. I wanted to see
it for a bit. As expected from the 『Icy Prince』.
「Also, Cumont is light-weight, so
speed-oriented Arts would also be good.」(Reene)
「Ah, the ones who battle with speed.」(Cumont)
「Un. How about an Arts that combines both fire and speed?」(Reene)
「Oh. That sounds nice.」(Cumont)
「It’s like Cumont’s own winning
formula.」(Reene)
It was like aiming to pass the exam.
「An Arts, right? …… Yeah,
that's true. I also need to try many things, too.」(Cumont)
「Un. This is just a conjecture, but if it an Arts that
you could obtain, then you could easily perform it.」(Reene)
When the sun was leaning towards the west, we went down the mountain river and
returned the way we came.
The horse we released in the morning was also safely waiting for us. It was
thanks to the magic tool.
Today's results were only the Macacari’s leaves. Twenty two leaves meant two
silver coins. As I thought, the income from gathering the Poison Cat’s cores on
the grasslands was larger. This was what we had discussed while travelling on
horseback, when suddenly a group of Wardogs came out. The Wardogs had figures
like large-sized shepherd dogs. They were agile monsters with sharp fangs. Five
of its cores was worth 6 Silvers. The guild point for them was also high.
「Be careful, because these guys
are fast on their feet.」(Cumont)
「Un.」(Reene)
「Since it’s just the four of
them, let’s go with 2 for each.」(Cumont)
「Gotcha. Be careful, Cumont.」(Reene)
「No need to ask!」(Cumont)
At the same time as his reply, he unsheathed his sword and jumped high.
Meanwhile, I was the same as usual. The two Wardogs were burnt into
oblivion with 『Fireball』.
I watched over Cumont, who easily killed the fast Wardogs. His body wasn’t big
like the Blue Knights, but because of that, he was very nimble.
Just like with the Poison Cats, I incinerated the Wardogs that Cumont had killed.
If we were loitering around here too long, then we might encounter even
more Wardogs. Wardogs were monster with the highest points amongst the F rank
quests. We had discussed whether or not we should wait around a little bit longer,
but we were running out of time today. We decided to do this at another time, and
so, we mounted the horse and left the forest.
As soon as we left the forest, we encountered cockatrices. It was also a target
monster for F rank material gathering. We were on horseback this time, so were able
to evade them if we like.
「What a coincidence. Should we
get them?」(Cumont)
「Un.」(Reene)
「Two for each.」(Cumont)
「Okay, 『Protection Membrane』.」(Reene)
Just to be on the safe side, I put another protection membrane on Cumont. After
all, if the Cockatrice successfully attack, then that means petrifaction.
Cumont helped me to dismount the horse.
A Cockatrice was a monster in the shape of a giant chicken, but it was also
fast on its feet. They rushed at us and jabbed their hard beaks at us . Their
beaks were the materials that we needed to gather. I used 『Freeze』 on the two cockatrices in my
share at the same time and then it was all over.
I looked at Cumont and he had also defeated them without any trouble. It was
with a single hit.
Cumont's sword swung at the Cockatrice’s neck quickly without losing its
mark. Blood was splashing. The body which had lost its neck fell after running
for several steps. Whoa, I shouldn’t have seen it.
「Sorry, did it gross you out a bit?」(Cumont)
「Yeah. Sorry, for being an adventurer
like this.」(Reene)
Since as expected, I couldn’t look directly at the work of removing the
beak, I was waiting a distance away. It took more time and labor to remove the beaks
than it did for the bee stingers, so the fee for Cumont would be 5 Coppers this
time. Five Cockatrice's beak will be worth 1 Silver. To gather five beaks, then
I will need to hand over 25 Coppers to Cumont, so my share of rewards would be
smaller than it was from the Killer Bees. But I should pay 5 Coppers for this
task, right? Since it was bloody gorey stuff..
✦✧✦✧✦
The next day, we headed out to the grasslands.
Poison Cats often appeared, so we were happy since it was easy to collect points.
Since none of us got injured today, too, I was able to keep my Healer
profession as a secret.
Perhaps if it wasn’t a serious injury, then I’ll bring out a potion instead.
Cumont was easy to talk with and it was really easy to get along with him.
The money for the fees for retrieving the materials from the monsters – it wasn’t
so cheap that it made me feel bad and it also wasn’t too expensive. Since our monetary
senses of value were similar, this was another reason for our very good
relationship.
He had treated me to tea in the guild when we had first met, but it was
because he thought that he had snatched the points from me. Since then we had
been splitting the costs evenly, we paid for our own shares. After all, we were
on an equal terms relationship.
Talking about trivial things and laughing, teaching me an adventurer’s
know-how as my senior, even though the difference was ever so slight, and fervently
discussing which food stalls had the most delicious Kukru, Cumont gave out a feeling
similar to that of a school friend. Until now, it was only Cumont who gave out
this impression, so I really treasured this moment. After all, Agnes was more like
an onee-san.
After we went adventuring for two consecutive days, we headed towards the quest
completion counter in the adventurer's guild while chatting about our good vibes
towards each other. This time, Cumont ranking up to E-Rank. This wasn’t
strange, considering that he started as an adventurer earlier than me and he
was doing adventurer tasks every day.
「That’s wonderful, Cumont. Congratulations.」(Reene)
「Yeah!」(Cumont)
「Reene-sama is also close to a Rank
Up.」(Staff)
The receptionist onii-san told me so.
「Reene would also have one soon.
Good job.」(Cumont)
「Yay!」(Reene)
We received our rewards and then we exited the guild. We bought a Kecha at the
food stall and had a Rank Up celebration.
「Cheers!」(Reene)
「Cheers!」(Cumont)
「Congratulations. Have you seen
what the E-rank quests will be?.」(Reene)
「Oh, they aren’t that different
from F-rank. E-rank quests will also call for collecting materials or medicinal
herbs near Coltea. It’s still the same basic thing. The difficulty will start
to increase when upon reaching the D-rank.」(Cumont)
「I see. And there will be escort
and delivery quests for D-rank, and there may be tasks that would take a few
days.」(Reene)
「Yes, E-rank quests are is still
only single day trips.」(Cumont)
「Even though we were finally able
to work together, this is just a temporary farewell.」(Reene)
「Yeah, the gathering locations are
different between E–rank and F–rank quests. But you will Rank Up soon, right?
Let's go together again when Reene becomes an E-Rank adventurer.」(Cumont)
「Un, you’re right.」(Reene)
I couldn’t say, “please wait until I Rank Up, so I could travel with you
again”. Unlike Cumont, who was working as an adventurer every day, I had my
Healer work and the research at the library. Three days a week was my limit. In
addition, Cumont's goal was to become an S-rank. Beyond that point, there were
gigantic monsters like the pseudo-Stegosaurus that had destroyed his village.
“I will surely be E-rank soon. Let’s meet again that time”, We exchanged
this promise and parted away that day.
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
End of chapter 3.
[3] CULTURAL NOTES: Ojamashimasuおじゃましますliterally means "I'm going to get in your
way" or " I will disturb you", it is used as a greeting that you
said when you enter someone else’s home. Like itadakimasu,
gochisousama, ittekimasu, itterashai, tadaima, okaeri, and yoroshiku onegaishimasu,
it was phrase that was rather hard to translate literally into English. When
you leave, you will say “Ojamashimashita”.
[4] Cyan was just
elevated into the mother’s position. Okaa-san is mother if you don’t understand
Japanese.
Thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDelete“I will surely be E-rank soon. Let’s meet again that time”, We exchanged this promise and parted away that day.
ReplyDeletemy flag sense is tingling
Thanks for the chapter! I have to say that "Kumon" was way better than "Cumont" though. That's my opinion at least.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the new chapter!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter. Changing names is fine but please make the same change to earlier chapters
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the chapter.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about Cumonts and Reenes adventuring ^-^ though I liked the name Kumon more...
Could you please tell me how often you will update this? Because I have been waiting years for the manga scanlation and nothing happened so I am happy to finally find someone who translates this *-*
Omg! Waaaa! Thanks for this chapter!~ I hope you update this soon :3 GAMBATTE NEE!~
ReplyDelete... he's gonna die isn't he.
ReplyDeleteThe flag is coming
Delete