CH 46

New Skills

“Kyaaa!”

I ran in the direction of the scream that echoed through the forest.

This was the middle of a D-Rank quest. An orc settlement extermination.

What kind of fool wanders into a forest where some orcs have settled!?

The village who had hired me had also announced that no one must enter it.

I saw figures rushing through the forest. A man and a woman. Adventurers. And they were being chased by…yes, multiple orcs. Two or three?

“Nebby! Keep running!”

“Haa…ha…”

“Fugo-fu!”

And so I adjusted my route and concealed myself in their path. Yes. They were getting closer. Almost there.

As soon as the two Adventurers had run past me, the orcs appeared.

Rustle.

I jumped out of the bushes and targeted the first orc.

“Haa!”

With a diagonal slash, he was cleaved into two. And then…

“Argh!”

“Bugyaaa!”

I turned my wrist and slashed in the opposite direction. But it was not a deep cut.

Still, blood sprayed from the orc as it fell to the ground. Then the last orc arrived and I turned to face it.

“Fuga!”

But the orc stopped when I raised my sword in front of it.

My sword was a lot sharper than I expected. It was no wonder it cost so much.

“Hyaaa!”

I shouted as I raised my sword and took a step forward. The orc met me with a swing of his club.

However, while I had raised my sword, I hadn’t swung yet. And so as the orc was left open, I slashed its stomach…but it was heavy!

“Haa!!”

My whole body moved and rotated with the swing.

“Gugyaaa!”

And then the blade cut all of the way through.

What I saw behind it was the other orc. Covered in blood, but with a lighter wound. It was still alive.

“Gah…!”

Without losing momentum from the spin, I cut down over it.

Then I waited. But there were no other pursuers.

I wiped the blood from my blade and sheathed it before turning around.

“Are you alright?”

I asked the two who hid behind a tree.

“Th-thank you.”

The Adventurers said awkwardly as they stepped out.

They seemed quite young… Perhaps not even seventeen.

“Is it just you two here?”

“There was another, but the orcs…”

So it was too late. There was nothing to be done now.

“I see. We should leave this place.”

“You aren’t going to take the orcs back with you?”

“We are too close to the settlement, and they have a good sense of smell. There is no time to carve them up. Let’s go.”

As the two stared at the orcs, I forcefully led them away from the scene.

It has now been three years since I came to the royal capital. Three years of training and completing quests.

I had reached the required number of quest completions for E-Rank, and my promotion was just a matter of time.

After that, I worked as a solo D-Rank Adventurer, which was quite unusual. Right now, I was in the middle of one of the quests.

Once I felt that we were in a safe enough area, I talked to the two.

“So, why were you in such a place?”

“We heard that orcs had been sighted here, and Biledo suggested we should hunt them, as their meat is delicious. An-and…I had killed one before! So…”

Said the boy. There was no innocence left in his eyes as he looked down at the ground.

“What is your rank?”

“F-Rank. We are Fosite and Nebby.”

Challenging E-Rank orcs when you are F-Rank. Well, if you were in a party…

“I see. I’m Ajifu. D-Rank. So you didn’t know there was a settlement?”

“We just meant to hunt a single wandering orc. And then we would leave.”

“And yet it is your recklessness that got your friend killed. You must never forget that. The sun will set soon. We will return to the village.”

I had meant to attack the settlement tonight, but the forest was already getting dark. And now that the orcs were alerted, it was better to wait.

I pushed the back of the boy, who bit his lip.

The three years of training and working as a solo D-Ranker had brought definite growth.

Compared to E-Rank, the reward for D-Rank quests were very high, and since I got to keep everything as a solo Adventurer, I did not lack money for living expenses. And so the pace at which I completed quests slowed down even further. Because of this, compared to two years ago, my level did not rise much. However, I did spend that much more time training, and my skills had shown a lot of growth.

Name: Ajifu

Race: Human

Age: 26

LV: 22(+3)

HP: 171/171(+15)

Skills

Eralt Lv4, Reverse Age Lv4(+1), Farming Lv3, Carpentry Lv3(+1), Carving Lv5(+1), Leatherworker Lv2, Gathering Lv2, Shield Art Lv8(+3), Magic Manipulation Lv9,(+3) Everyday Magic(light/water/earth), Sword Art Lv12(+5), Night Vision Lv1, Parallel Thought Lv1

Title

Visitor From Another World, Farmer, Blessing of the Ability God, Adventurer, Creator’s Blessing.

Compared to my first year, my sword skills have not risen as quickly, but it was only natural for the speed to drop once you reached a certain level. However, I did pass level 10, which is where you were considered to be a full-fledged fighter, and I also passed the first level of training at the school. Now, I even helped with training new students.

As for carpentry, I helped the church with their charity work, which sometimes involved repairing things and making wooden swords for children. That was how it went up. Thanks to this, I earned the Creator’s Blessing title, and also acquired light magic.

The problem was, ‘Parallel Thought.’ Now that was a dramatic acquisition. I had been training at the dojo, and was able to use magic manipulation while doing the sword art forms at the same time.

Would I acquire a body strengthening skill!? Or some magic skill? I wondered with expectation as I looked at my status.

At first, I was very disappointed. Had all that magic manipulation while spinning the pen and training not counted as magic training?

However, this skill was actually quite useful.

After all, I could train with magic manipulation even while walking. However, doing two things at once was very tiring.

“I, um…”

The girl started to talk to me.

I stopped and turned to look at her.

“Thank you for saving us. I just wanted to thank you properly. It was amazing how you killed those orcs so quickly!”

The girl…Nebby, was it? She bowed deeply. Her hair was a bright blue color.

Oh, dear. While she was F-Rank, she must have only just been promoted from G-Rank. We were in a dark forest, and yet she didn’t even think to keep her eyes peeled.

“If only Biledo hadn’t fallen so quickly, we would have been just fine!”

Fosite said angrily. His red hair seemed to emphasize the strength of his will.

Apparently, he had killed an orc before, but by the looks of him, it might have been more of a coincidence.

“You let your guard down too easily. Keep your voice low, unless you are trying to call the monsters. It’s this ignorance that puts others in danger.”

I said as I unsheathed my sword.

“Though, it’s too late now.”

I said as I raised my sword towards Fosite.

“What!?”

Clang.

As I swung my sword towards the shadow above Fosite’s head, there was a metallic clang and the thing jumped back.

It could block this sword. It was hard. And light.

The thing was a giant spider. A two-meter beast that lurked in the shadows. And it had rained down from above.

I had never seen a giant spider before, but they were well-known and feared in these lands. I believe that their fangs were poisonous. And they were D-Rank. Dangerous.

As Fosite stood there, stunned, I pushed him away and swung my sword again. The giant spider jumped back and landed on one of the trees.

Yes, it was so light on its feet. As if it didn’t weigh anything. Perhaps it was due to webs that I couldn’t see.

Clang.

The giant spider jumped between the trees, and every time beast and sword met, a high-pitched ring echoed. It jumped as soon as it landed, and bared its vicious fangs at me. It was all I could do to keep it off of me.

Shiiiiiiii!!

However, it suddenly stopped on one tree, and let out a hiss as it opened its mouth.

A sense of dread fell over me as I raised my shield, but then something pulled it.

“Woah!?”

It happened so suddenly that my legs moved forward, but I managed to stop myself from tripping. It had spat out webs from its mouth!

…Huh? But spiders don’t do that?