Chapter 74: An Unexpected Participant

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Whatever the case, we’ll have to bring Alec along to even get this started.

It’s a good thing that we still have time to spare.

We couldn’t use a return magic circle with our carriage, so it was going to take us ten days to get back.

We’ve basically been using this carriage for more than three years, so I’ve grown attached to it.

The details of what we’re doing weren’t explained to Forest Bear, because I would feel bad about it. They were only told that what she informed us of is pulling us elsewhere, as she is seeking our assistance.

—There’s no lie there, right?

Haster and I were riding in the driver seats, and Yig and miss Levy rode in the luggage area as the carriage strode along.

Of course, our party composition was on my mind.

I’m fine for short fights, but long battles are something I can’t do.

Consequently, the only role I can fulfill well is acting as magic firepower in the rear. Alec is the reverse; he’s specialized only for the front line.

Haster and miss Levy can switch positions freely, so our attack power could be considered quite substantial.

Next is…

“We really need someone for healing.”

Currently the only ones who can use recovery magic are Haster and myself.

Miss Levy has “Peerless Magic,” so if I teach her, she should be able to use it to a decent extent, but I can hardly see her as the religious type.

“Is there anyone that might be like that around? A skilled healer.”

“Right… You don’t have much in the way of religious beliefs after all.”

“That’s just how I was raised, so I can hardly help it.”

“What kinda upbringin’ would that be like? Did ya actually come from a different region?”

“S-something like that. The region and races really were quite a bit different I guess.”

It’s a secret that I’m from a different world, so I can’t say anything in detail though!

Actually, if people in this world are especially religious, then Haster should be able to use healing magic, but…

“Oh, I’m kinda of the thought that god is dead. I hardly had room to rely on gods while I was on the battlefield.”

“Now that you mention it, you were a mercenary after all, huh?”

“Yeah, I was on the battlefield from early childhood. The captain set his sights on me, told me to go to school, and threw me into the knight school. I got a taste of magic there, and switched over to that.”

“In a sense, he must have had an eye for people.”

“Didn’t have an eye for work, though. That incompetent commander charged into a herd of trolls and got annihilated.”

I’ve heard there aren’t many wars in this world, but in their place are many forays against monsters and magic beasts.

If you can’t see whether a job is good or bad, then you could be used as a sacrificial pawn against monsters that are far stronger than people.

“Well, I will protect you, so you can rest easy, okay?”

“I appreciate it.”

“Tch!”

As I said that, I puffed out my chest. He hugged me around my head in response, and roughly stroked my hair.

I ignored the vulgar tongue click that I heard.

“Ahh, sure would like a nice boyfriend for myself. Ain’t one gonna drop for me down somewhere?”

“I don’t think they just fall out of the sky like that, do they?”

“Yuuri, could ya’ll rent out Haster to me?”

“Screw off. Want me to kill you?”

I gently denied her pleasant suggestion.

But in spite of many of her appearances, she’s quite the pretty girl… It would probably be best to draw a line in the sand right here.

“Haster, if you should happen to lay a hand on her… I’ll have you be my partner without the ring on.”

“You’re going to completely dry me out?!”

“I’ll suck all the juices out, and then have you faint right before you receive any fatal injuries, of course?”

“That’s friggin’ scary…”

Well, I don’t think he would betray me, but… Actually, I can’t really tell with how weak-willed he’s been lately, can I?

Naturally he would never toss me away, but there’s plenty of possibility that he could lose to his carnal desires…

“… Hum, maybe I should give you a little taste of what you’ll go through?”

“Hey now?!”

“Well, joking aside, are either of you acquainted with any good healers we could use?”

“Ain’t none that I know. Hard to make friends in the whole family business of phantom thievery.”

“Same here… Actually there are two that… Come to mind?”

“Oh, so there are some!”

They came to mind, but Haster grimaced for some reason.

As if remembering something, he shook his head.

“No no no, let’s not. Their skills are top notch, but there are too many problems personality-wise.”

“We can ignore some personality issues at a time like this, you know?”

“We can’t. Acting in a party is already plenty impossible with that. In fact, being pulled in with them would increase how dangerous things are.”

“If you’re going to go that far… Just for reference, who are we talking about?”

“The “Saint of Water,” Ondine Blanche, and her apprentice plus granddaughter, Marielle Blanche.”

Saint… A “Sage” other than us?!

But what kind of personality problems are there?

“So what’s the problem then?”

“Ondine is… She sees me as a rival. Her water magic and healing arts are beyond comparison, but…”

“Rival? But I mean, you’re kind of a muscle brain, right?”

“That was mean, and you said it like it was nothing, huh? Eh, my achievements are mainly from the battlefield though. Opposite that, she mainly deals in healing—support from the back line. Well, since I was on the front lines, I got some flashy results, and attention tended to focus far more on me, so she started hating me for that.”

“But she should have gotten plenty of respect for being a healer.”

“Yeah, when she was young, she was called “The Blue Angel” by some, too.”

“On that subject, did you have any other names?”

“… “The White Sword Saint”. Even though I didn’t have any gifts for it.”

Upon hearing this alias for him, my eyes sparkled.

“That’s awesome, isn’t it?! The name sounds like something a 14-year-old would make!”

“What the… That’s not actually a complement, is it?”

Come to think of it, Alec is 14 now too. How about Haster goes ahead and passes that “Sword Saint” title over to him?

“I wouldn’t recommend it, you know? Swordsmen are all a hot-blooded bunch. I was challenged a bunch of times to sword fights too…”

“But you won, right?”

“Not that this is something to brag about, but I hardly ever won by sword fighting. Before they got close, I would deflect their swords and send them flying with a [Wind Blade], and if they dodged that I would step in close and beat them down with martial arts.”

“So you were better at martial arts than you were with swords…”

So the reason he suddenly started my training with physical techniques is because he had that kind of background?

“Those are the experiences I had. So I don’t recommend calling Alec a Sword Saint.”

“S-so what problems does the granddaughter have?”

“Oh, she… Well, she’s a good kid…”

He seems to be having a lot of trouble getting it out. What’s gives?

“So “good kid” means she’s pretty young?”

“Yeah, age-wise I think she would be about one year younger than Alec?”

If she’s 13, then she should be at the height of eighth grade syndrome. So is that the kind of “problem” she has then?

“So uh, she kind of fell for me, like big time. I mean, she’s tried making advances on me a bunch of times.”

“… Haah?”

… Did you say she made advances on you, Haster?

“I understand. First off, let’s kill that Marielle bitch.”

“Calm down, it was a long while ago.”

“You expect me to keep calm about this?!”

I stand up in the driver seat and swing my arms about, as an expression of protest.

Since I was standing in the confined driver seat, my head rammed into the awning, and I smacked my arms pretty good too.

“Owowow… This pain is Marielle’s fault too.”

“Uhh, pretty sure that’s some unjustified resentment.”

“Ya’ll are actually kinda stupid, huh Yuuri?”

“Shut up, or I will violate you in every possible way.”

“If ya’ll are gonna do it, Yuuri, then… I wouldn’t be mindin’ it, y’know?”

“Uwah, stay back!”

Miss Levy drew closer with a strange and menacing feeling, so I kicked her away.

I was pretty serious with my kick, but even so, my strength was too little to make more than a pathetic sound.

“She was at that age for falling in love I suppose. Ondine raising her in a sheltered environment may be to blame as well, but in any case she approached a man like me fearlessly.”

“I definitely can understand the feeling of falling for you at that point in time…”

He was a stoic, dandy, and cheat of a sage, after all.

Now his “Sage Mode” is totally on the chopping block, though.

“Well, Ondine has those particular feelings towards me, and Marielle is in love with me, so I have no idea where either of those would lead us. As such, we should avoid calling on them as companions. If things go poorly, then one of them might even fall for the Demon King.”

Yeah, a healer falling in love with the Demon King… That situation alone feels like it could happen.

No matter how competent, we wouldn’t want someone who could betray us for the enemy.

“So there’s nobody conveniently lying around for us then…”

“Actually, the ones we have are already too convenient.”

While continuing to converse, we continued our trip back to Mareba.

~*~

After arriving at our familiar cottage and unpacking our luggage, we headed toward Alec’s house.

It was pretty late, and the sun had already completely set, but we’re bringing him dinner and souvenirs, so I’m sure he’ll forgive us.

Sure enough, we found him with hanging around the house with Marle, and explained the situation to them.

When we opened the door, the two seemed to jump away from each other, but let’s not worry about that.

“Yeah, sure?”

“That was a simple reply. You know our opponent is someone who’s called the “Demon King,” right?”

“It’s not like we’re fighting him directly. The most important thing is to climb the World Tree first, grab the sprout, and run away.”

“Well yeah, I guess.”

That’s right. Our goal in the end is to make sure the Demon King doesn’t claim it for himself. There’s no actual need to fight.

As long as we meet up five years from now, when the sprout appears, and if we arrive at the summit with good timing, we can get there way ahead of him.

And as long as we keep it confidential who took it, the Demon King will have no way to pursue it.

“But I’ve heard the World Tree has some terrible traps, right? Are we okay on that front?”

“This woman… Miss Levy, despite her appearances, has the “Trap Disabling” gift. As long as we find them, she’ll be able to manage something.”

“Hmm, quite a guy, but he ain’t quite as good as Haster, huh?”

“Miss Levy, are you listening? And please stop looking at him like that. Marle is getting a scary look in her eyes.”

Actually, that line just now… Let alone Marle, are you trying to pick a fight with Alec and me too?

“Ah, yeah. Is fine, all good! Just leave it to little ol’ me.”

“So that’s what’s going on Marle; we’ll be borrowing Alec for a while. We’ll stop back here regularly, so—”

“I’m coming too!”

Huh?

“What are you talking about? It’s dangerous!”

“But the labyrinth isn’t the only thing in Novelius. There’s supposed to be an academy too. I want to enter there as a healer.”

“Wh… What’s this about?”

“I learned something. There’s no healer in this village. If someone gets hurt, then they have to get potions from sir Haster or recovery magic from Yuuri.”

“Well, yeah…”

“We’re a pioneering village, so there are a lot of dangers. If I become a healer, then I can lessen the burden of those injuries, can’t I?”

It’s true, since it’s a pioneering village, there are plenty of injuries from magic beasts and monster attacks, or from exterminating vermin.

Besides, if she studies healing magic, she might even be able to heal Alec’s arm.

Actually, in her case that’s probably her real intent. But the result is the same either way.

“It certainly would be beneficial to the village if they have a healer, but… It’s not something you can become just because you want to, you know?”

“If I end up not having the talent, then I don’t mind if you return me to the village.”

If she has talent, she’ll be trained as a healer, and if not she’ll go home… Hum, there’s no disadvantages for the village here either.

As far as money goes, we can just take on that burden without any problems.

And if I install a teleportation circle here, then we can come back to the village regularly.

The problem is her safety, but… Well I mean, with us around, she’ll be pretty safe. I can have Yig watch her too.

Besides, she still has a trump card with her. She hasn’t used the “Dragon Blood” yet.

With a quick glance over at Haster, I could tell he was probably thinking the same things. Our eyes met.

With a single nod, I told her.

“Very well. Then let’s go to Novelius together. However, you must get mister Halt’s permission first.”

“Hooray!”

The next day…

Apart from the problem of not being able to see his daughter for a while, the village chief, mister Halt, thought it a good suggestion.

The result from the family meeting was, she received permission rather easily.

As such, our traveling companions increased by one.