Chapter 2: Volume 1, Prologue

Volume 1, Prologue

I’m begging you. Can you please not do everything on your own? The next generation can’t grow like this. I think you should at least stay away until they’ve had a chance to grow.

That conversation led to a fight which got a little carried away and devolved into an all-out fistfight. It ultimately turned into a deadly brawl using Magic, and as a result, here I am alone again with a victory I didn’t even want.

It isn’t my fault I’m strong.

It isn’t my fault I do so much.

I was filled with anger with no outlet as I left the brick inn and walked along the stone-paved road.

Really, it came down to the fact that my Job was a little special. Holy Swordswomen were quite rare. It was the one almighty Job that let one learn all of the Magic that was normally split between Jobs like Swordsman, Magician, or Magic Swordsman. That may have placed me in a more convenient role than everyone else.

But you didn’t get to choose your own Job.

Your inborn traits were applied to automatically select the Job, so it wasn’t fair to blame me for it. It was like I just so happened to have excellent eyesight and it made everyone with normal eyesight feel like they needed glasses. Did they really have to get mad at me over it?

Also, all of the items that a Holy Swordswoman could Equip were quite risqué.

What I was wearing was a far cry from the substantial full-body Western armor from the middle ages. As far as defense and armor panels were concerned, it only covered a fourth...no, maybe even less than a fifth of my body. The armor really only covered my chest, so my back was exposed, the gauntlets were like long gloves, the leg armor was like kneesocks, and it had a miniskirt. Calling it a steel cheerleader’s uniform would have been perfect.

“You With the Long Silver Hair”, “The Scarlet Knight”, “The Deadly Dancer”, “The Girl Loved by the Shining Weapons”, “The Blue Mind-Reading Eyes”, and “The Short Holy Sword”. I had a lot of titles and nicknames, but all of those names referred to the Beatrice in all the rumors everyone came up with. I didn’t feel like they really referred to me.

Hm.

This isn’t good. My feelings are getting a little harsh.

At times like this, it was often better to give up on finding a Quest and instead make a bold shift toward refreshing my spirits. The Magic that supported us was directly linked to our Willpower, so you couldn’t ignore the invisible Parameters like your mental condition and motivation.

Although to be honest, refreshing my spirits may not have been all that big a deal.

I left the stone-paved city and made my way to a green hill.

“Boo Boo.”

It was the usual place. I came across a familiar face tripping and cutely falling on the root of a large tree.

A small but bipedal figure of only fifty to sixty centimeters was cutely squealing. His face was very unlike a human’s. Based on human knowledge, it might be best compared to a baby pig with small tusks growing in.

I hadn’t actually checked with a scholar or an encyclopedia, but I was pretty sure he was a Miniature Orc. Just like a hamster, this would be his adult form.

“C’mon, Boo Boo. Don’t cry. Boys shouldn’t cry.”

“But my knee hurts...”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

Boo Boo sat down and I looked over his knee, but I couldn’t find a scrape or even a bruise. It didn’t look like I even needed to use any Healing Magic. He really was a type of Orc, so his gray body was quite tough.

All I could do was stroke it for him, but that must have tickled because he twisted around.

Yes. Boo Boo really is great.

Whether it was a kitten, a puppy, or a chick, almost any small animal was really cute. But they weren’t enough for me. For one thing, a kitten’s round eyes always gave me a sense that they were doing it on purpose. “Look how cute I am. You can’t help but take me in if I look up at you like this, can you? C’mon, give me some milk. C’mon.” That pleading look was so obvious and it was a huge minus in my eyes.

That’s what made Miniature Orcs so great. The way they had no pride at all in their cuteness was absolutely adorable. In fact, they truly believed they were hideous despite looking like a stuffed animal, so they remained innocent and didn’t get too full of themselves. Their pure innocent cuteness would last forever.

“Why are you here, Beatrice? What are we going to play today?”

“About that...”

I narrowed my eyes a little.

“To be honest, I have to leave this place for a while. I came here to tell you that.”

“Why!? Do you hate me now!?”

“That isn’t it. Now, now. Don’t cry, Boo Boo. You’re a boy, aren’t you?”

Boo Boo kept trembling no matter what I said, so I hugged him from the side and hesitated over whether I should explain my situation to him.

I was simply so strong that I was affecting the balance of the Quests.

The friction with the other humans had grown beyond acceptable limits, so I was having trouble gathering a Party.

I was reaching the limits of what I could explore and what I could accomplish on Solo Quests.

In other words, I had no more reason to stay in Ground’s Nir...that is, on “this side”.

“Boo Boo, this is only a matter of time.”

I decided to leave it all unsaid.

I only explained the final conclusion to my small friend.

“Time will solve all of this. It might be two years or maybe three. Once the next group of Top Rankers takes over, once the relationships between Quest challengers is washed clean, and once they’ve all had a chance to grow, that hurdle will naturally go away. Then I can return to this side...return to Ground’s Nir and go on adventures again. So just be patient until then, Boo Boo. You understand, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

As I hugged him, Boo Boo looked up at my face from my chest.

“I don’t understand at all, but I decided I wouldn’t cause you any trouble.”

“That’s the best answer I could hear, Boo Boo. Let’s get married.”

That sounded like a joke, but it was really no laughing matter.

If a collar was invented to allow kittens or bunnies to speak human language, I’m betting some humans would want to marry their pets. In fact, there were already some pet-lovers who troubled the government offices by submitting marriage registrations for themselves and their cats or dogs. There were also people who had the paperwork all filled out to allow their long-lived turtle to inherit their possessions. A talking animal may sound outlandish, but it was perfectly possible here in Ground’s Nir.

And if your distrust of humans grew far enough, you would begin to seriously consider a relationship with a non-human. There were apparently a lot of people who wanted to marry a mermaid or an elf, so what was wrong with wanting to spend your life with a Miniature Orc?

“Listen, Boo Boo.” I gently held his small head between my hands. “I will be leaving here for a while. But, Boo Boo, I will eventually return. So I don’t want to be disappointed when we see each other again. I want you to be the best Boo Boo you can be. Can you promise me that?”

“Yeah! I’ll become the strongest Orc. So wait for me, Beatrice, because I’ll surprise you.”

“I see. So you promise, do you?”

“Why are you holding out your pinky?”

“This is how we make promises, Boo Boo.”

We clasped our pinkies together and made our promise.

We promised to become someone who would not disappoint the other when we were reunited in Ground’s Nir.

“...”

The promised time arrived two years later.

I heard the forest’s trees being noisily and roughly knocked over. I could tell the wild birds that lost their perch on the branches were quickly fleeing into the blue sky.

It was like the advance of a dinosaur or giant monster.

But it was not.

A three or even four meter body appeared on the road after forcibly clearing a path through the forest. It had a round body and plenty of fat stored over its steel-like muscles. The Shining Weapon it held seemed to be a sword, but it looked more like a log or steel beam with a groove on the side. It was clearly meant for pure physical fights with no Magic whatsoever. The breaths escaping the face sounded like a steam engine and its pig-nosed face could not have looked more brutal with those impressive horns.

Simply put...

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?”

“U-um, no. I’m just surprised by how big you’ve gotten since I last saw you.”

Boo Boo really had become the strongest.

This was exactly what he had promised, so I couldn’t exactly complain.

So he wasn’t a Miniature Orc at all!? You’re telling me he was a legit Orc all along!?