Chapter 1: Number, 1, Prologue – translated by Doza

Previously:

Due to his teacher Lorenzo Luis’s final wish, Silvester began searching for his teacher’s old companion, one of the Holy King’s two wives—the Warrior Queen.

With great difficulty, he finally managed to find the Warrior Queen, who now goes by the name of Carol and travels all around the world.

After much pestering and the use of his teacher’s name, Silvester managed to make Carol agree to become his companion, and now they travel the continent together…

“Silvester!”

A roar penetrated the forest, startling countless birds into the sky and even scaring ferocious beasts into running off one after another. The originally tranquil forest was suddenly in turmoil.

Silvester, usually shortened to “Silvie,” was presently feeling wronged as he crouched on the ground, looking up from below and giving off a bright-eyed, pitiable expression. This trick was very effective on the female gender. Whenever he was hungry, as long as he made this sort of bright-eyed expression, he would usually be able to find a female who would give him a free meal.

Unfortunately, the female in front of him had the most masculinity out of anyone in the entire world. (Formerly commanding five thousand troops to oppose fifty thousand demons, the Warrior Queen—also known as Carol—who had journeyed under countless skies with her pair of dual blades, was currently Silvie’s companion.)

However, this word “companion” was in itself only Silvie’s own acknowledgment… According to Carol’s words, if he had not been her deceased companion’s only student, he would have been abandoned by the roadside long ago, and would even have a “Stupid creature. Please do not pick up” sign stuck onto him.

“Tell me!” Carol roared. “How many times has it been that you’ve endangered yourself now?”

Silvie blinked and said, “The th-thir…” At first he thought of casually saying the third time, but faced with Carol’s eyes burning with black flames, he truly didn’t have the courage to lie without blinking. He truthfully replied, “Maybe the thirty-fifth time.”

“You’re sure?”

“… If you include slipping and almost falling down a mountain wall, stepping on the tail of a cobra, and stealing honey and ending up being chased by a swarm of bees, then it would be the thirty-eighth time.”

Carol said coldly, “Then tell me, how long have we been adventuring together?”

“I know, I know!” Silvie smiled very sweetly. “Just two more days and it will be a full month! Are we going to celebrate a bit? How about going to the tavern and ordering a banquet? That’s a bit extravagant but it is a rare occasion, commemorating a month since we’ve met. What do you think we should order? A slice of cake is a must, and then, and then…”

No! If Silvie had not been her deceased companion’s only student, she would have already killed him a hundred times over!

Carol’s face twitched, her hand on the hilt of one of the dual blades on her back, but upon further thought, killing this guy would tarnish her own blade! She then lowered her hand, clenched her fist, and growled, “Shut up or die!”

Silvie cleverly chose to shut up immediately, even crossing two fingers in front of his mouth to make an ‘X.’

Carol breathed deeply with all her might. Calm down! Calm down! However much this guy is stupid, talkative, and useless, he is also LL’s only student. On behalf of LL… LL you old b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What kind of student did you accept? Was it because of your old age that your sympathy overflowed, and so you were determined to take care of a piece of rubbish?

“Go!” Carol had exhausted all of her strength before she managed to calm down. After saying that one word she immediately continued forward, not caring the least bit whether the person behind would be able to keep up… It would be even better if he can’t keep up!

It was a pity that while the person behind her was not good at anything, his skill at following people was actually decent. Although Carol wasn’t running, her pace was not slow either, yet Silvie always managed to easily trail behind.

So having long legs gives such an advantage! Carol glanced behind her, confirming that Silvie was indeed following two steps away and, judging by his relaxed expression, was not finding it hard to follow her.

After walking for a while, Silvie finally could not help but open his mouth to ask, “Carol, how are we going to celebrate the day commemorating our month-long companionship…?”

Carol, who was walking in front immediately lifted her right hand; five fingers starting from the little finger began to curl one by one, until at last it became a fist bursting with blue veins.

Seeing this, Silvie could only close his mouth in grief and switch to mumbling in his heart. But there is only one chance to commemorate our month-long companionship! How can we not pleasantly celebrate this very important day? But seeing that Carol appears very angry, maybe I should just give up? Ah! Oh right, it’ll be okay if I wait until our two month anniversary and then celebrate both anniversaries together…

“Ahh!”

Here we go again… Upon hearing this cry of alarm, Carol stopped walking, sure that she would have to save him again though her heart only bore the wish to kill him.

She turned around. There were no traces of Silvie in front of her. Looking down, she could see him clinging to the edge of a giant pit, obviously a trap set by a hunter. But there was plainly a large pile of leaves and branches spread atop it. So long as a person had eyes, he would not fall in… However, this guy in front of her seemed to have thrown his sight out the window and fallen in, and even looked miserably at her with his pair of large, watery, blue eyes. Those eyes are so huge yet they don’t have a single bit of usefulness!

She crouched down, faced that big pair of big blue eyes, and asked suspiciously, “How could you have managed to survive on your own up until now?”

At this moment, a ball of yellow jelly poked its head out from the area of Silvie’s chest. A knowledgeable person would know with a glance that this was a slime, only a slime was normally green. This one was gold, with a strange decoration on its head, and even possessed two tiny eyes!

Its name was OhmyG.o.d, with reference to G.o.d but with the meaning of “Oh my G.o.d, what is that?”

At this moment, OhmyG.o.d’s eyes were half-opened, half-closed, clearly having just been startled awake.

“OhmyG.o.d, hurry and pull me up,” Silvie shouted.

OhmyG.o.d’s tiny eyes fully opened in an instant. It leapt from Silvie’s chest to the ground, wrapped its tail around Silvie’s hand, and then forcefully lifted Silvie up.

Carol watched as OhmyG.o.d, who was no bigger than a person’s head, used its tail to lift Silvie out… Maybe she had been making a mistake all along about who was the master and who was the pet?

Silvie finally climbed out. His whole body was covered in mud and he looked exhausted, but he lifted his head and smiled at Carol. “I’ve crawled out already! I’m fine! I didn’t get hurt!”

Silvie’s smile was of the kind between a boy’s smile and a man’s smile. When she had first seen it, Carol had admired this smile quite a lot; it carried a bit of a child’s sincerity yet was not without a man’s charm. But now, as she looked at that smile, she only felt an incomparable headache.

This guy is not a man at all; he is definitely a boy who has yet to grow up!

Silvie brushed the dust off his body and subsequently took out a comb and ran it through that head of long, golden hair. After neatening up his appearance, he raised his head and faced Carol with a smile, saying, “I’m done! Let’s go! Carol, if we don’t continue onwards the sky will turn dark soon.”

Under the light of the setting sun, Silvie’s smile was even more matchless in its brilliance. So there are still advantages for a person to be handsome. At the very least, her tolerance of Silvie had increased a bit because of it, and she would probably be able to resist killing him for a few more days. Probably.

“Mm, let’s go.”