Skills
Danger Sense, Rough Road Traversal, Rage, Dash, Hardening (NEW)

《Summoned Monster: Aegis has been cla.s.s changed to Hardened Goat》

Naturally, he was cla.s.s changed to a Hardened Goat. And with that, his stamina caught up with Boparu"s agility.
Somehow his stamina is now the same rank as Boparu"s agility! Maybe it even comes with a heart of steel...?

「Meeeh?」
「Kyui, Kyui!」
「Hoh-!」

Now then, the appearance is quintessentially Aegis, but the body has become about one size larger, hasn"t it? Also, the hair color that was pure white has become slightly gray and in some places gives a hardened impression.

There"s no gain in not stroking it to confirm how it feels.

「Meh?」

Aegis twisted around to try to look at his body that had changed size, and fell down after twisting too much. So, I sat down beside him and ruffled his flank.

...hmm. The ends of the fur are a bit stiffer, but if you insert your fingers into it, it"s fluffy and warm, isn"t it? If I shampooed and brushed it, I wonder if it would become entirely fluffy...? If it"s a racial characteristic, and not just stiff and dirty, then it might be impossible...

Ruffle, ruffle, fluff, fluff, ruffle, ruffle-ruffle-ruffle-ruffle-ruffle

「Meh, eh, EH, EH, EH, EEH~!」

Hah! The ruffling had been done quite innocently.
I love cute ones like tiny Pomeranians and such, but big-bodied ones like Retrievers that can be ruffled with full strength are good, right? Boparu and Mizuki"s backs aren"t much larger than the palm of my hand...

「Kyui, Kyui!」
「Hoh-!」

Just as I was thinking that, Boparu, who was being neglected, came and unreasonably shoved his head between my hand and Aegis"s body that I was ruffling. And at the same time, Mizuki, who landed on my shoulder (the claws dug in a bit, but not to the extent that I received damage), rubbed his head against my face with an *uri, uri*.

「That"s enough already! You"re getting in the way!」
「Kyui～」
「Hoh～」

As I switched over to rubbing each of the two who came and got in the way with both hands, Aegis, who had stood up, pushed with his side, hoping to be rubbed too.

Since our party"s body color was biased toward white, if seen until the moment we detached, we must appear as just a white furball.

It is still in the future, but for the next Summoned Monster, let"s try something other than white. Yeah, let"s do that.

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「Huh? Onii-faan, Gooh Morn"n~」(TN: popsicle talk: onii-faan => onii-chan = big bro)
「Miss Good Morning. Even if you say that, 4 o"clock in the afternoon is well past noon...」(TN: おはようさん -- Possibly a reference to a 1975 NHK morning drama.)

Tsubasa, who had descended to the living room while wearing a loose T-shirt and hot-pants, was flapping her legs while lying on the sofa.
She was holding a popsicle in her mouth and her gaze was fixed on the portable terminal held in her hand which was emitting "blip, blip" sounds as she operated it.
Judging by the scent of shampoo drifting about the room and Tubasa"s wet looking hair, it was likely that she had taken a bath or showered.

Immediately, I boiled some water, poured it into a soba noodle cup, and set the timer.

...Tsubasa was of the red udon noodle faction, but as for me, I was firmly of the green soba noodle faction. When I was little, I preferred udon noodles, but how I came to feel that soba was tastier is a mystery.

「...say, onii-chan, are you free today?」
「Nn? What"s this all of a sudden? I was planning to play FWO all day today.」

As I was cleaning up the breakfast meal while waiting for the noodles to be ready, I was called to a stop by Tsubasa who had finished her popsicle while “blip, blip”-ing the whole time.

「I"m free today. Why don"t we go together to raise our levels in the desert? And it"s been a long time since I last saw Boparu-chan!」
「*Sigh.* The desert, is it? I haven"t gone to the desert yet... Is it good for raising levels?」

If I"m not mistaken, the desert ought to be west of the starting town. North is mountains, and east is the forest. South is the ocean, isn"t it?

「Un. It is grueling if your level isn"t high enough, though... It’s hot on daytime, and cold in the night, so it’s not very popular. Well it is a game, so things like catching a cold don"t happen though. And with The Martial Arts Tournament is coming up soon, I"m eager to level up as much as possible now. The goal: subjugation of the area boss!」
「Ooh, good luck with that, since the area bosses are strong and have crazy levels, you know! So, we won"t be going!」

Because the despair from that bear still remains in my heart... I don"t want to battle area bosses for a while. Well, it"s possible my motivation might sudden suddenly come back...

「Ah! Onii-chan, has already experienced a suicide attack against an Area Boss, right? Then, let"s raise our levels together without fighting an Area Boss. It is decided! So, I"ll be waiting at Ria-san"s place!」
「Yeah, yeah. Since I"m deep in the forest at the moment, expect for it to take a good "ole amount of time for me to get back~!」
「Roooger that. Since I"ll be waiting, please come quickly～～～!」

All of a sudden, Tsubasa, whose tension was soaring, seemed to be skipping as she went back to her room on the second floor. (Editor"s Note: In j.a.pan, the first floor is the ground floor.)
Good grief, is it because she wanted to meet Boparu that much? Well, it is because Boparu is the cutest in the world, right?!
...Hah! Boparu, even if it"s Tsubasa, don"t do it! Since father won"t forgive it, okay?!

-- Ads -- (Chapter continues below)

「Kyui!」

I have logged in.
Let’s head for the town… or so I’d like to say, but even though I’m sorry for Sylph, I’ll keep hunting a little longer.

I want to get a grasp of Aegis"s ability and since I haven"t yet obtained anything...
Well then, CUT! (TN: I think the author means this as when a director shouts "Cut!" to indicate a scene change) 

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【Item: Raw Materials】 Treant Wood  Rarity 2
 Wood taken from a treant.
 Wood imbued with magic power, st.u.r.dier and with better magic power
 conductivity than ordinary wood.

All right! Wood GET! Isn"t it only natural that something like wood drops from treants?
To be honest, since coming into the deep part of the forest, haven"t I not really been doing much at all...? With this, I can probably raise my attack power, too, more or less.

「Meeeeeh!」

As a result of the hardening* (that"s not a joke, you know!), a lead-colored aura was rising up from Aegis. (TN: Word play: hardening: kouka, result/effect/effectiveness: kouka)
Quickly verifying the impression, the effect of the hardening (this is not an old-man joke, you know!) is increased defense, and a 50% strength reduction... Strength has certainly been halved, but for some reason the defense hasn’t doubled, nor has it increased by the amount that strength was decreased. Perhaps, the effectiveness of the hardening (it"s not a dirty joke, you know!) will go up with skill level increases?

...incidentally, in order to verify this I had Boparu kick Aegis as many times as needed.
And so, to clear away the resentment, he was munching on a treant. It"s gross, don"t eat the monster! Won"t it mess up your stomach?!
Ah, but since rabbit stew like dishes are tasty, treant might also be tasty.

...but I won"t eat it, right? It"s not as if I"m a goat!

Now then, I"ve made quite a detour, but it"s about time to head for town. Sylph is likely to be eagerly awaiting us, isn"t she?
If I return with a full power dash, the wait shouldn"t be to the extent that she gets mad. And I said that I"d be late beforehand.

「Alll right! Then, toward town, lets g-!」

「「「「Shyaaaah!」」」」

「...Haah.」

Each and every time, what’s up with these guys?! Are they always aiming for this timing to appear? Are they bored…? And not only that, but in such inconceivable numbers…
It would be alright to ignore them and escape to the next area, but… or rather I should to that, BUT…

「No matter how many Poison Snakes come out, we’ll defeat them!」
「Kyui!」
「Hoh-!」
「Meeh!」

Somehow or other, because I lost my patience, I decided to annihilate them.
And if I returned holding a full serving of poison sacs, Fia-chan will probably be delighted as well.

「「「Shaaaah!」」」

They were doing their best to overwhelm us, but for us who had acc.u.mulated lots of battle experience with Poison Snakes, such Poison Snakes which only have poison were no longer anything to fear. Poison Snakes can"t do anything to us!!