Chapter 34

「Akira, cheer up . 」

「…haa . 」

I leaned against the dungeon wall and sighed .

Perhaps, mushrooms were growing on top of my head right now .

Not being able to defeat the Big Goblins, I did not want to immediately rush into the boss’s room when I didn’t have my own technique .

Amelia comforted me, but there was no way I would feel better with just that .

「The Adventurer Guild’s recommended level for the subjugation of the Big Goblin is seventy and above . From the start, it was an opponent that the Akira without his skills would not be able to defeat . 」

It seems that she was, more or less, doing something like following up .

However, I was also in a bad mood .

There was no way it would get better .

「Why are you in such low spirits?」

「…for a man to be protected by a woman . 」

That’s right .

What was frustrating was, the fact that I was being protected by Amelia .

I’m a troublesome man?

Then you try being protected by a woman… .

It’s a complete disgrace .

Moreover, against the monsters that Amelia killed in one blow with gravitational magic, I struggled against them until I was on the verge of death .

I wanted to die .

「…or rather, there’s something like the Adventurer Guild?」

「Un . No matter the race, it’s a popular occupation . As long as you are strong, you would earn money with ease . 」

But on the other hand, you would die though .

I unconsciously straightened my back at Amelia’s cold voice .

Commander Saran, had briefly talked about there being an occupation where the death rate was extremely high, but it seems like he was talking about the adventurers .

And, Amelia did not think well of them .

「Is Amelia part of the Adventurer Guild?」

「Un . Because I needed to earn money, more or less . 」

Amelia said that, and took out dog tags from around her neck .

The two tags were linked together with a chain and had been hanging from her neck like a necklace .

How cool .

How nice .

「I won’t give it to you . 」

「…I’m obviously going to get my own . 」

「Akira was greedily looking at it . 」

「Stop talking like that . 」

I looked closely at the tags, the first one had Amelia’s name, race, and occupation written on it, and the second one didn’t have anything on it .

Seeing the curious look on my face, Amelia properly explained it to me .

Even though I was wondering if she was an idiot at first, perhaps it was because she had a younger sister, she too had a reliable side to her .

How strange, even though I have a younger sister as well .

「This tag, shows your rank . Your rank is different depending on the color, so there’s no need for letters to indicate your rank . 」

「Hmm . What rank is Amelia?」

When I asked that, Amelia’s face stiffened a little .

It seems that it was a subject that I shouldn’t have asked about .

However, Amelia gave me an answer .

「The second from the top . The level of difficulty differs depending on the race, so the standard for humans and elves are not the same . 」

「Hee . Then is it amazing for an elf, to be ranked second from top?」

「Maa, it’s amazing . But, my younger sister is ranked first . 」

The younger sister again, huh .

Talking with Amelia, this younger sister came up many times .

And, every time we talk about the younger sister, Amelia would look like she was about to cry, just like she was now .

I wanted to try asking, but I wasn’t able to,

In the first place, it had only been a few days since Amelia and I met .

Right now, we had gotten to the point where we’re joked with each other, but actually, my fear of strangers should’ve acted up and the silent atmosphere would’ve continued .

「You are silver-ranked, but was the first rank gold or something?」

「That’s right . There are only four people who are gold-ranked in ‘Morigan’ . They were the world’s strongest . 」

「They were?」

「Akira is now the world’s strongest . … besides, truthfully, there is a rank that is above gold . 」

「What color is that?」

…I believe it’s black . It seems that it was the color that the first hero-sama liked . These last several hundred years, there hadn’t been anyone who was black-ranked, so the humans don’t remember it . Even the elves, there aren’t many who know about it .

Now that you mention it, elves lived for a long time .

Compared to the elves, humans had short lives, but they had high reproductivity .

「By the way, how old is Amelia?」

「…you can’t ask women their age . 」

Her fist came flying .

However, even if her fist with an attack power of 4000 hit my solar plexus, I would be completely fine .

Even though it was four times the humans’ maximum attack power, it didn’t hurt at all .

Rather, it felt like it would be extremely effective on the itch where I had been bitten by a mosquito .

If you thought about it like that, you would understand just how weak humans were .

They often won against the beast men .

Did they beat them with numbers .

…huh? Was I just out of the norm?

「My bad . …now then, why don’t we do it again?」

「You’re still going to do it?」

「Unfortunately, there’s a reason why I must become stronger . In order to do that, I would even be willing to fight until I’m on the verge of death, I would endure the training as well, no matter how harsh it is . 」

When I said this and smiled, Amelia’s face also turned red and she put her dog tags back and stood up .

「Then, I will also help . …s, since I said that I would stay by Akira’s side . 」

「…I see . Thank you . 」

If you looked at it from the side, it may have been a cold response .

However, even though it may appear that way, I was extremely embarrassed .

As proof, the heat on my face was rising .

I turned around, and with my back facing Amelia, I began the exploration once again .

「There’s a White Bat coming from above . 」

「I know . 」

After walking several meters, Amelia sharply raised her voice .

However, before Amelia said this, I knew that something was coming from the sound of flapping wings .

What appeared in front of us was, a white bat .

Of course, it was not a normal bat .

It was as big as a human, it was not a colony, but a single bat .

With sharp, pointed nails and strong teeth, if I were to be bitten, my upper body and my lower body would surely be eternally separated .

In terms of its level, it seemed pretty strong .

「It’s not your sense of hearing, sight, nor smell . It’s much different, intuition, so to speak, use it to read the opponent’s movements . 」

「Don’t be so unreasonable!!!」

I drew Yatonokami from my back, and slashed diagonally down .

I thought that I had defeated it, but the blade didn’t even cut into its neck, it just made a small scratch on its white skin .

「White Bats confuse their opponents’ perception . It is the perfect opponent for Akira right now . 」

「Say that earlier, earlier . 」

My companion, as well as my combat teacher, was often concerned about her student .

Until now, I used my sense of sight and my sense of hearing to perceive and fight my opponent .

Of course, I have fought with monsters that disappear before, but they were extremely close battles .

In the end, I killed them with shadow magic .

「I only sealed your skills . Your magic was not sealed . 」

「Is it, ok to, use new, magic?

TN: so the ‘magic’ in these two lines have different kanji 魔力 (maryoku aka MP) )and 魔法 (mahou) respectively . Mahou is usually used when talking about magic in general, like fire magic, water magic, shadow magic, etc . . On the other hand, maryoku is used when talking about the magic that’s inside one’s body or the amount of magic one can usesu . Usually I translate this as either ‘magic power’ or ‘MP’ when appropriate, but most times, it just sounds better to just leave it as ‘magic’ .

Even when I was talking, the battle continued, naturally .

I’m avoiding being hit in my vitals, but many scratches had already appeared on my body .

「Magic, huh… . 」

I feel like I can understand, the sensation of the movement of magic .

Ever since the time when I first willingly entered stealth in this world, I had an inkling that there was something inside of me .

And, to give an image of the stealth skill, it was a skill where one needed to align one’s magic power with the magic power around the surroundings, and the combined magic power had to be cloaked around the entire body .

…wouldn’t it be fine to release that combined magic power into the surroundings instead of around the body .

If you visualize it, it would kind of be like mist .

「…」

「Akira!? If you shut your eyes in front of the enemy!」

Amelia’s voice, did not enter my ears as I was concentrating .

I aligned the magic, and released it .

「!?」

「Oh! I got it, I got it . 」

For some reason, the white bat was restlessly looking around, as if it could not see me .

Perhaps it was the result of not fighting like an assassin recently, it’s been a while since I looked at the target from behind .

These thoughts were the worst for an assassin .

I brandished Yatonokami .

A few seconds later, the bat’s head fell down .

「Amelia, is it fine with this?」

「…」

「Amelia?」

Amelia, made a face on that beautiful face of hers, she seemed to be pondering something .

When I tapped her shoulder, she finally looked over at me .

「Are you ok? If you’re not feeling well, it’ll be fine even if you don’t force yourself to stay with me?」

「I, I’m fine . Akira, what was that just now?」

I tilted my head in confusion .

Did I do something that strange .

「What, you say, I just aligned my magic with that of the surrounding’s and then released it from my body though? 」

「Akira, normal humans are not able to do such a thing as aligning their magic with that of the surrounding’s, it’s also impossible to control it after it’s separated from the body . …except for one person . 」

I tilted my head even more .

Impossible…wasn’t it possible just now?

「Can you still control the magic around you?」

「Nn? Aah, come back . 」

When I called for the magic, it obediently went back into my body .

Amelia had a complicated look on her face .

「…is something wrong?」

Even I had become uneasy .

Did I do such a dangerous thing .

Setting aside my uneasiness, Amelia solemnly started talking .

What she said, was enough to make me speechless .

「There was a person who could do the same thing as Akira . …that was, the first hero-sama . 」

「Ha?」

It seems that, I was able to do the same thing as the ‘first hero-sama’ that the people of this world had always respected .