Around Houdon capital, royal road spreads out. Thanks to this road, the survival rate of travelers rose by leaps and bounds.

It was on this royal road of Houdon…

“Hey.. are you going to walk, why not take a carriage?”

Usually, it was common to ride a horse-drawn carriage by paying some money. It was faster and safer. Horse-drawn carriages have magic protection to keep weak monsters away. This journey would take them 3 days on a carriage and 10 days on foot.

“Why? Because we’re going to do intensive training from now on.”

“Eh? Intensive training?”

“Yeah. It’s a jam-packed schedule. You could say it’s special training.”

Nina has become strong recently. I have also increased my level and improved my status. However, when I was facing the ogre, I was struggling just to fight it.

“Eh.. You have been fighting the ogre?”

“Yeah.. It was terrible. My arm was broken and my head was one step away from being crushed… However, I killed it.”

“Eeeh?”

Nina was surprised to see me alive after facing the ogre. I was never getting injured when fighting against weak monsters, but that day I was one step away from the death’s door.

“Hey.. What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to see if your injury is better.”

“That arm was healed long ago. And why are you touching my bottom?”

“Don’t worry. Being touched there is calming you down, right?”

While she said that, there was no chance to make her hand, that was touching my bottom, leave.

“The reason being that monsters get stronger the closer we are to the capital. We will get ourselves accustomed to their strength, so that we wouldn’t die stupidly when we encounter a strong monster.”

“Yeah. That’s because the capital was built in the vicinity of a dungeon.”

“So, why did they build it near one?”

“Because there is a lot of benefits.”

Nina told me the reason. Dungeons have monster sp.a.w.ning grounds. Unlike normal monster breeding, monsters sp.a.w.ned are of high purity. Weapons, armor, accessories, they can be created from monster’s materials. There are also treasure boxes sp.a.w.ning inside dungeons. Treasure boxes sp.a.w.ning may sound weird, but the aim of so many adventurers is finding those boxes. From a high ranked dungeon, one could even find national level treasures inside. If one could find such a treasure, they could live the remaining part of their life in luxury.

“But there are a lot of monsters attacking.”

“Still, there are more benefits than drawbacks.”

“However, we haven’t encountered any monsters.”

“That’s because we’re on the royal road.”

That day we didn’t encounter any demons until nightfall.

“Today we will camp here.”

“Eat eat ~ ♪”

We say it’s a camp, but it’s more like a bonfire. We don’t have any tents to justify naming it as a camp. We ate bread and dried meat that was made by Stella. She taught me how to make it once.

“Stella’s bread is delicious….”

Because of Nina’s remarks, my eyes became watery.

“Yeah.. Because bread can be kept longer, don’t eat it all now. We will do the special training now.”

“Eh.. We’re going to do it in the darkness?”

“Because it is dark, it will be a special training. You can also use your full power, no need to hold back.”

“I know I have grown, but you have better Swordsmanship, Yu.”

“Don’t worry. I will spar with you without using magic nor weapons.”

“What? Barehanded and without magic?”

I dropped my long sword in front of Nina.

“Ah.. How come it’s broken?”

In the battle with the ogre, it’s state became so wretched.

“I will get a new one in the city. So I have to fight without it until I get a new one.”

“Don’t worry, good equipment can be found in the capital.”

The reason why I wanted to buy it there, was because they have A, C and D rank dungeons there. “Enrio Maze”, a B rank dungeon and “Golgo Labyrinth”, a D rank one. Many dungeons are nearby that are famous for the materials found within, which were used to make armors and weapons from.

“Of course. I will buy the best equipment available.”

“Buy an [Item bag] first. It’s the thing that makes a revolution for an adventurer.”

[Item bags] are small pouches that have magic applied on them. They can hold items much bigger than their size and their weight doesn’t change. It was an essential equipment.

“Alright, enough talk, let’s train.”

I positioned myself away from her.

“You can come at me anytime.”

The moment I said that, Nina’s dagger has pa.s.sed by the side of my face with a *ziiiing* sound.

“Nina, you don’t have to hold back, I can heal myself.”

“Ok…”

Nina was afraid of hurting me, it should lessen her anxiety.

Okay, I will cast fireball. (Tl note: i tought he said without magic?)

“What?”

I shot a fireball at Nina.

“What?”

“Nina, you have to be serious. If not, there’s no point to this special training.”

“Aaah… You saw trough me.”

Nina has finally become serious. She took a dagger and a steel knife in her left and right hand respectively.

Nina’s [Dagger mastery Lvl 3] and [Dual dagger Lvl 1] mutually enhanced their effects.

“Oh.”

At that moment Nina was aiming at my chest.

I dodged it easily.

“[Dagger Strike]!”

“You still shout it out.”

Nina activated her skill with her right hand. The moment I tried to dodge it, her left hand moved forward. She also activated [Dagger Strike] with her left hand, this time without chanting. It was a feint.

“See ya!”

I dodged backwards and took a distance using [Body Enhancement].

“Hehehe, surprised?”

It was amazing.

“You used a feint by deliberately shouting the skill name out loud.”

I was jealous at her development. I casted a fireball which expanded to the circ.u.mference of several meters.

“Wha… Yu…”

That night, special training ended with me chasing Nina using fireb.a.l.l.s.

(TL note: he felt lost then cheated by casting magic. I forget at how childish our MC was)

“Good morning..”

“Morning Yu..”

Nina was rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“You didn’t sleep?”

Yesterday, after our special training, I have been trying to increase my [Awareness] skill. A monster has been caught in my awareness area and, because of that, I couldn’t go to sleep with a peace of mind.

“I was trying to scan the area with [Awareness]. I want to get used to it.”

“But you also need to sleep.”

“Well… I want to get used to it.”

It’s because we will be entering a city soon. Comer city that we will be visiting has a population of over 100,000 people. If I don’t get used to using [Awareness], some bad things may happen.

We were walking, but Nina kept on looking at me. She was making sure that I was okay.

On the way, we saw one wagon. 5 to 6 adventurers were on it. It stopped moving a few meters away from us.

“What’s happening?” A girl got off the carriage, while the men inside were sneering at her.

“We have some company. Oy.. Pot-chan, come back here~.”

“What did you just call me? Pot-chan?”

“No.. You must have misheard me.”

Having said that, their carriage took off leaving her behind.

It was a robe-wearing girl with short, blonde hair and a face belonging to 10 to 12 years old. I looked at her status.

—–

—–

“What’s with her status? She is a magician but her physique is horrible.”

“You guys..”

“What?”

“What?”

Nina and I said it at the same time.

“You’re lucky…”

“Nina, let’s leave…”

“To have met me…”

“Quick…”

“the genius magician…”

“I’m a magician…”

“Hey…”

“Yaaa!”

I have met a strange person.