Volume 2Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Freinil’s Past

“I’m really sleepy.”

We’d left the inn well after sunrise, and I was still dragging. That was the banquet’s fault; I’d stayed until late last night.

The banquet was officially for “the success of the mass subjugation mission,” meaning we’d taken the undead castle and come back to town in one piece. I was only an E-rank adventurer, but I’d killed one of the boss monsters, so they’d treated me like the guest of honor. Which was exactly why slipping out partway through had been so hard.

“Perhaps we might as well have taken today off, too.”

Freinil, walking beside me with her golden hair in twin tails, looked up at me with her blue eyes.

“Right, but we should at least go by the Guild and hear what they have to say. Mariane will want to get her work out of the way, too.”

“Soshi-sama, you even spare a thought for the people at the Guild. I think that is a wonderful attitude.”

“It’s not that big a deal.”

Perhaps out of consideration for me, Freinil found a way to praise me at every opportunity. It made me squirm, but telling her to stop would have been strange, so for now I let it slide.

“Besides, it’s smarter to grab the reward early. Fewer problems that way. And who knows, there might even be some promotion talk.”

That was Rani on my other side, the wolf beastfolk girl, with ears poking up through her long purple hair. She had her hands clasped on top of her head and her fluffy tail swaying slowly from side to side.

“A promotion? If anyone gets one, would it be you, Rani?”

“I didn’t make much of a name in my old party, so it’d be you, Soshi. You killed a boss this time.”

“I think that was everyone’s doing. Well, it depends on what the field commander decides.”

We reached the Guild in Euron still talking, went in, and made for the counter.

“Soshi-san, and the rest of you, good work on the mass subjugation mission.”

We were greeted by Mariane, the beautiful blue-haired receptionist with the bob. Maybe because her manner was always so curt, I almost never saw another adventurer standing in front of her.

“Thanks to everyone, we made it back safely. Please file the completion report for the mission.”

“Understood. Also, Soshi-san is being promoted to D-rank, so I will handle that procedure as well.”

“That’s… isn’t it too soon for me to be promoted?”

“No. You have more than enough achievements to your name, so this is entirely in order. Now, your Adventurer Cards, please.”

She took our cards and moved briskly through the paperwork. Rani patted my shoulder a couple of times as we watched.

“See, I told you. Now that our leader’s D-rank, we can get into D-class dungeons too.”

“Right. With D-class dungeons on the table, maybe we should visit Tolson sometime.”

“Tolson? The little town next door?”

“That’s where I became an adventurer. There’s a party there called ‘Silver Wheel’ that looked after me, so I thought it might be nice to see them.”

“If they are people you know, Soshi-sama, I would like to meet them as well.”

When Freinil said that, Rani chimed in with “Sounds good to me,” so it looked like we’d be heading to Tolson before long.

Just then the Guild got a little noisy. An elf swordswoman in crimson armor had come in at the entrance. She had silver hair, and when she saw us she crossed the floor in long strides.

“Soshi-dono. Viscount Barius has ordered that you be brought to him. You may come as you are. I would ask the entire party to board the carriage over there.”

The speaker was ‘Crimson Anatoria,’ the commander of the mass subjugation mission, who had turned up out of the blue. So the three of us were hauled off to an imposing noble’s mansion in the middle of Euron.

We were shown into what looked like a reception room. As you’d expect in a noble’s house, everything in it was top quality, but there was nothing showy about it, so even a commoner like me wasn’t too uncomfortable.

The three of us sat in a row on the sofa, tense all the same, until the door opened and a man who looked to be in his thirties came in, wearing a noble’s outfit that was clearly expensive.

Behind him stood Anatoria and one other person: the Viscount’s steward, a middle-aged man I’d seen before in Tolson. The man in front was probably Viscount Barius himself.

He was solidly built, more warrior than nobleman, with brown hair combed straight back and a sharp gaze. He had the air of a former adventurer through and through.

Freinil and I stood and bowed, and Rani, flustered, jumped up and bowed energetically.

“Forgive me for summoning you so unreasonably, and thank you for coming. I used to be an adventurer myself, so I do not worry about etiquette. Make yourselves comfortable.”

His voice was gentler than his looks promised. He sat down on the sofa across from us, with Anatoria and the steward standing behind him on either side. It looked just like a textbook audience with a nobleman.

“I am Macluhan Barius, viscount of the Vermilian Kingdom. I understand you contributed enormously to the capture of the undead castle. First, my thanks.”

“Ah, yes. I am honored.”

I tried to recall the manners I was supposed to have picked up as a working adult. But I’d never had to deal with a nobleman in a society built on rank, so I could only do so much. He’d have to forgive the rest.

“Hm…”

Maybe my manners had caught his attention, because the Viscount’s brow moved slightly. What did that mean?

“Anatoria was right: you seem to know your etiquette, Soshi-dono. Were you with some large merchant house before this?”

“Yes, I was a merchant before. However, dealing with the nobility was never part of my duties, so I apologize in advance for any discourtesy.”

“Heh. There is no need to be so formal. Now, I asked you here not only for your achievement, large as it was, but because I am very curious about the magic she used. I would like to know what skill it comes from.”

With that, he turned to look at Freinil.

“The magic she used” probably meant the ‘Divine Attribute Magic’ Freinil had cast in the mass subjugation mission. It was apparently a rare magic, so I’d half expected something like this if word got out that Freinil, ‘a girl with baggage,’ had picked it up. But a nobleman getting involved in person was, frankly, more than I’d bargained for.

I nodded to Freinil, who was looking anxious beside me, and then answered the Viscount.

“That was ‘Divine Attribute Magic,’ a spell called ‘Divine Halo,’ I am told.”

Anatoria and the steward exchanged a glance, and the Viscount let out a low “Hoh.”

“So that is what it was… Thank you for telling me something so important about your party.”

He turned back to Freinil.

“Freinil-sama, is what we have just heard true?”

“…Yes. It is true.”

Freinil had glanced at me for a moment before she answered. But the Viscount calling her ‘Freinil-sama’…

“May I take it that no one else knows of this yet?”

“Not yet. Only Soshi-sama and Rani know.”

“I am glad to hear it. But I never imagined that Freinil-sama would be in my domain. I assume your father is not aware of it either?”

“I do not believe he is. To that house, my existence never meant very much.”

“That cannot be true… But I must tell your father about this immediately…”

“Please never tell him. I am just Freinil the adventurer now.”

“But that is…”

Going by how they were talking, Freinil seemed to have been born into a high-ranking noble house and thrown out for some reason. She sounded genuinely set against going home. Had her family treated her that badly?

The Viscount shut his eyes for a while, looking deep in thought. If my guess was right, he was being forced into a very hard choice. Then again, a nobleman probably didn’t have the option of ‘not telling her father’ at all…

“Rodan, what should I do? Freinil-sama having ‘Divine Attribute Magic’ is no small matter for that house, either.”

He was addressing the steward, Rodan, who answered with a “Let me see.”

“In your position, my lord, you cannot choose to say nothing. But given the state of that house, telling them will most likely bring assassins for Freinil-sama, not an escort to take her home. I see no point in telling them.”

Rodan’s words hit hard. He’d just said “assassins.” Was ‘Divine Attribute Magic’ really the kind of thing people sent assassins after?

“I see… Very well. Soshi-dono, and Rani-dono, is it? I would like what has been said here to stay within this room. We will not breathe a word of it, and I ask that you keep strictly silent as well.”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

After hearing all that, we couldn’t very well say anything else.

“Let us say the earlier magic was a high-level ‘Holy Attribute’ spell. Since ‘Divine Attribute’ has always been kept secret, nobody should know what it does, so it is unlikely that anyone would recognize it in what Freinil-sama used.”

Freinil, looking relieved, clutched my arm, and across from us the Viscount, Anatoria, and Rodan twitched. This couldn’t be getting misread, could it?

“Hmm. Then does Freinil-sama wish to continue as an adventurer with her present party?”

“Yes. I have decided to follow Soshi-sama wherever he goes.”

Freinil clutched my arm harder. The Viscount and the other two looked even grimmer. Rani was giggling, but I had a feeling this was no time for that.

“I understand. If there is anything you need to carry on as an adventurer, you need only say the word. I will do all I can. And Soshi-dono, I would like a word in another room, if that is acceptable.”

“Yes, understood.”

Looked like I was under suspicion, and for something I hadn’t even done.

I followed the grim-faced Viscount out of the reception room. We ended up in what looked like his study, and he got straight to it.

“Forgive the personal question, Soshi-dono, but what is your relationship with Freinil-sama? Start with how you met, if you would.”

“Of course. The first time I saw her was in Tolson—”

I had nothing to hide, so I told it all honestly. He seemed moved, at least a little, when I got to our first meeting. “Poor girl…” he murmured.

“Then it is no wonder Freinil-sama clings to you the way she does, Soshi-dono. And you, Soshi-dono, what do you intend to do about Freinil-sama?”

“For my part, I intend to go on adventuring with her as a member of the party. She is highly capable in that role as well, and I expect her to become an excellent adventurer in time.”

“Well, of course… but that is not what I meant. At your age, you must understand what I am driving at.”

“Ah, so that is what you meant. I doubt the age gap would allow anything between a man and a woman to come of it. She does have a tendency to depend on me, though, and I think that is what lies behind how she acts.”

The Viscount scratched his head. Hardly a noble gesture, but I supposed that came with being a former adventurer.

“I get the feeling you can be trusted, Soshi-dono. Not that I’ve got a shred of evidence. Anatoria would chew me out if I said so.”

The Viscount had dropped into casual speech without warning, which threw me. Was this the real him?

“And if I told her to leave you right now, Soshi-dono, Freinil-sama might end up laid up in bed. That clinging of hers is probably a skill, you know. Did you notice?”

“Pardon? No, I had no idea…”

“There are a few skills that only show up under very particular circumstances. One of them’s called ‘Dependence.’ It’s a skill that makes no sense: depend on one particular person and your abilities go up.”

“Is there really a skill like that?”

“So they say. It’s as rare as ‘Divine Attribute,’ too. It’s the only explanation, really. An E-rank adventurer can’t be casting magic that works on B-rank monsters otherwise.”

“True. Then could the skill be what is intensifying her dependence?”

“Could be. Though nobody can say which came first, the skill or the feeling.”

“I see. In that case, all the more reason to stay with her for now. While her abilities are boosted, I would train each of her skills as far as they will go. Once she can manage on her own, she can choose what to do.”

“Mm. I could pair her with Anatoria and get her stronger, but I can’t keep her at my place. Still, Soshi-dono, even after hearing all that, you’ll stay partnered with Freinil-sama?”

“About that, could you tell me what you can about her situation? It changes how I should handle things.”

The Viscount heaved a sigh and scratched his head again.

“Figures. All right, I’ll tell you what I can.”

He gave me three points.

One: Freinil is the daughter of a certain high-ranking noble house.

Two: Freinil was a saint candidate of the Ashuram church.

Three: Freinil was caught up in a power struggle between that noble house and the church, and was exiled because she’d become an ‘Awakener.’

“The last one’s my own guess, but it’s almost certainly right.”

“But… are you saying her parents just let it happen?”

“There are circumstances there too… Freinil-sama’s mother passed away several years ago. And her father has taken more than one wife, so… that’s how it is.”

Noblemen with several wives I could understand. So someone who wanted their own kin to inherit had probably been pulling strings behind the scenes. I’d have thought a girl like Freinil wouldn’t be the heir anyway, but the saint-candidate business probably had something to do with it.

Still, Freinil a saint. She looked the part, sure, but you never know where life will take you. Same goes for me, I suppose.

“The thing is, ‘Divine Attribute Magic’ means a lot to the Ashuram faith. If it got out, Freinil-sama could get propped up as a saint candidate all over again, and then the side that exiled her wouldn’t stay quiet. So that’s the problem.”

“That makes Freinil’s background clear. But unless you tell me which house it is, I might wander into that house’s territory without knowing.”

“What, you plan on hitting dungeons all over the place?”

“Yes. I am aiming to become as strong an adventurer as I possibly can.”

“Huh. People who say that straight out are rare these days.”

He took a breath, scratched his head once more, and spoke.

“The Armando ducal house. Freinil-sama has royal blood.”

After that we were given some special reward, and a carriage took us from the Viscount’s mansion to the front of the Guild.

We drew some looks when we stepped out of a noble’s carriage, which couldn’t be helped, I suppose. Still, I’d killed a boss on the mass subjugation mission, so people apparently didn’t think it that strange for the Viscount to have sent for me.

“Soshi-dono. I am counting on you,” Anatoria had told me at parting, but her gaze was sharp enough that it might have meant “Do anything to Freinil and I will cut you in two.” Not that I had any such intention.

Rani let out a long breath. “Whew, I was so tense. I never thought I’d get invited to a noble’s house after becoming an adventurer.”

Freinil dropped her gaze.

“I am sorry. It is because of me…”

“Huh!? No, no,” Rani said. “I think it’s lucky, if anything. I mean, normally there’s no way we’d ever get in there.”

“Truly…?”

“Right, right. But Freinil’s a nob—mmph!?”

Right in the middle of the street, Rani had been about to blurt out exactly the thing she shouldn’t, so I clapped a hand over her mouth in a panic. ‘Reflexes’ earns its keep.

“Don’t say that. Let’s go back to the inn and talk about what comes next.”

Rani nodded vigorously, so I let her go. I decided I hadn’t noticed the slightly envious look on Freinil’s face.

Back at the inn, I gathered the two of them in a room and filled them in on the day’s talk, keeping the details of Freinil’s background to myself. Rani folded her arms and nodded.

“Hmm, so basically all we have to do is keep people from finding out Freinil can use ‘Divine Attribute Magic.’”

“More or less. Ideally nobody would learn she’s Freinil, either, but…”

“Can’t fake a name on an Adventurer Card, so there’s no way around it, right?”

Rani was right. Some mystery technology apparently kept an Adventurer Card from carrying a false name, so there was no way to keep Guild staff from learning the name ‘Freinil.’ About the only mercy, I supposed, was that the ducal family name, Armando, had disappeared from her card, perhaps because she’d been exiled.

“Right. The most we can do is change what we call her day to day, maybe?”

“Yeah. Something short’s better in an emergency, so how about Frei?”

Freinil gave a small nod.

“Yes. Please call me that.”

“Then it’s settled,” Rani said.

So we had a plan for covering Freinil’s background, loose as it was. The most important thing was to stay out of any land with close ties to the Armando ducal house, but as long as nobody learned she could use ‘Divine Attribute Magic,’ we should be fine.

Besides, if the people who resented her existence had been serious, they’d have done away with her from the start instead of exiling her.

“So, Soshi, what do we do after this?”

“Obviously we go into D-class dungeons now that I’m D-rank. I know of two here in Euron and one in Tolson next door, so we start with those.”

While I answered Rani, I was thinking back to the mass subjugation mission.

At the Viscount’s mansion I hadn’t been able to ask about the person who seemed to have planted those ‘Summoning Stones.’

If humans were behind the undead outbreaks, there had to be some intent. With an undead castle in the picture, this was an organized conspiracy, and at worst a national one. Come to think of it, Anatoria had dropped a country’s name, too: ‘Mekarinan.’ It wasn’t likely that a lone adventurer party would get dragged into something like that, but if it came to a fight, we might get called up. I needed to get stronger, strong enough to protect myself.

From the next day we went back to being a regular adventurer party, starting with our first D-class dungeon.

One of Euron’s D-class dungeons lay half a day’s walk to the west. We ran, of course, and got there in about an hour and a half. What an ‘Awakener’ body can do never stops amazing me: running at nearly full speed for over an hour, for one. And I was only D-rank, which is a frightening thought.

In the middle of a grassland stood a rounded mound that looked like an ancient tomb, with a stone-built entrance opening in its slope. Two other parties were there, and both had the look of veterans.

“All right, let’s go in. Usual order.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

I went first, then Freinil, then Rani. Inside, the corridor was stacked stone again, like every dungeon so far.

About ten minutes in, ‘Presence Sense’ picked up six monsters at once. Rani’s ‘jinx’ was in top form.

What came out were ‘Orcs,’ pig-faced humanoid monsters. They stood maybe 1.6 or 1.7 meters tall, a size that was probably intimidating for the two girls, if not for me.

Spotting us, the orcs raised their one-handed axes and charged together.

“Casting ‘Holy Light’!”

Freinil’s beam caught two of them and cut them clean in half. Same power as ever.

“Two are mine!”

Rani triggered ‘Sprint’ and blinked out of sight. An instant later the orc on the right lost its head, and a sword went into another one’s heart from behind.

The last two swung their axes down at me, and I knocked both aside with my shield. When I drove the mace into the wide-open midsections, the fat bellies blew apart. My mace seemed to be overkill even against D-rank monsters.

“Hmm, is this all D-rank is?”

Rani had said exactly what I was thinking, but a leader can’t say that.

“Let’s not get careless. I’d be fine, but you two wouldn’t get off easy if you took one of those axes, would you?”

“True. I might just survive it thanks to ‘Steel Body,’ but Frei needs to be careful.”

“Yes. I will not let them get close.”

“Well, that’s my job. Okay, on we go.”

We collected the magic stones and the orc meat and went deeper.

That day we pushed to the back of the third floor and called it there. From the third floor on, big tigerlike monsters called ‘Assault Tigers’ showed up, but their only attacks were claws and fangs, so they gave us no trouble. All I had to do was wait for one to pounce and turn it into ground meat with the mace.

Rani brought it up over dinner that night.

“Being in this party is going to wreck my sense of things. D-class dungeons can’t be this easy, right?”

“Maybe it’s partly you, Rani. Taking an orc’s head off in one hit isn’t nothing.”

“Well, orcs are slow. I couldn’t do a tiger in one hit, anyway.”

“Normally you get three tigers at most, from what I’ve heard, and several people split them up and take them down. With us it’s one person taking on several, so it’s no wonder it goes differently.”

Up to seven Assault Tigers had come at us at once, after all. An ordinary D-rank party might well have been wiped out. Even Mariane had looked startled when I brought in a big load of pelts to sell.

“Frei going first with her magic helps a lot, too. Getting a sure preemptive strike on two of them is big.”

“Is it? I do not know much about other people’s magic…”

Freinil said so, but she looked a little pleased. Killing D-rank monsters before they could act really was a major advantage.

“Frei’s magic is a big help to me. And being able to heal injuries with ‘Life Attribute’ matters too.”

“But I would think you hardly need it, Soshi-sama?”

“Well, I have ‘Regeneration.’ But Rani’s potion use has dropped, which saves money, so it counts for the party.”

Rani was nodding along.

“Frei’s healing is strong, too. Things don’t heal that fast normally.”

“Really?”

That was news to me. Come to think of it, the only magic I’d ever seen from other adventurers was the ‘pebble-type magic’ at the mass subjugation mission and the pressure-washer water magic when we fought the zombie dogs.

“Yeah. It’s slower, usually, and sometimes one cast doesn’t heal it all the way.”

Was that thanks to the boost from the ‘Dependence’ skill? Or maybe Freinil just had a high aptitude for it to begin with. She’d been a saint candidate, after all.

“Still, the scariest thing here is Soshi’s mace. A monster dying from a graze isn’t normal.”

“I think Soshi-sama’s strength is truly wonderful.”

“Ah, that…”

One time I’d missed my aim and caught an Assault Tiger only on the front leg, and it had died anyway. Apparently a big enough impact can kill an animal through shock alone, so maybe that was what had happened.

It showed how far from normal our party was. I should keep that in mind and at least try not to stand out for the wrong reasons.

That night I was lying in bed at the inn when there was a knock and Freinil came in. She was in her nightclothes, as proper as you’d expect of a former noble’s daughter.

“What is it?”

“I am sorry. I would like to talk a little.”

“Sure, that’s fine… Have a seat.”

Now that I was D-rank the inn was a notch nicer, and the room had a table and a chair as well as the bed. I had Freinil take the chair and sat on the edge of the bed myself.

“Is this about the talk at the Viscount’s house?”

“Yes. How much did the Viscount tell you about me, Soshi-sama?”

“Ah, that—”

There was no reason to lie, so I told her honestly, and Freinil looked sad for some reason.

“Um… what did you think when you heard it, Soshi-sama?”

“Hm? Well, life’s full of surprises, I figured. I can’t even imagine what a noble house is like, but I felt for you, Freinil, and I was glad we’d ended up in the same party.”

“Is that all…?”

“I guess it would’ve been a problem if the Viscount took you away. I got lucky it didn’t come to that.”

“And about my having kept silent all this time… and, um, about having been a member of a ducal house, did you not feel anything?”

“Keeping your own secrets is only natural, isn’t it? I’ve got things I can’t talk about, too. And the ducal house thing… honestly, it doesn’t register with me. Where I come from, there were no nobles.”

“There were none?”

“Right. So I don’t think of you as that special, and I don’t intend to treat you that way from here on, either. More to the point, is that all right with you?”

Freinil’s face lit up. She pressed her hands together in front of her chest and nodded.

“Yes. I would be happy to be treated that way. I am Freinil the adventurer now.”

That smile made her prettier than ever, to the point of looking almost sacred. I could see why the church had made her a saint candidate.

“I will do my best, so that someday you will tell me your secrets, Soshi-sama. Please continue to look after me.”

With that, Freinil went back to the room next door.

A little heavy, as always, but… I really couldn’t tell how much of it was the skill. Maybe I’d need to do something about it myself, so that someday she could stop depending on me.

The next day was another D-class dungeon run.

We got through the third floor without real trouble, though not completely unscathed, and went down to the fourth. According to the guide, Assault Tigers came in larger numbers from there. But maybe Rani’s ‘jinx’ already had them near the maximum: never more than seven showed up at once.

A small problem turned up in front of the stairs to the fifth floor.

Rani lowered her stuffed pack. “Hey, we can’t carry any more loot, can we?”

“True.”

Mine and Freinil’s were just as full. That was the downside (?) of Rani’s ‘jinx’ keeping the monsters at nearly their maximum number all the time.

“From here on, we’ll probably have to give up everything but the magic stones. If something that looks valuable drops, we’ll take that first.”

“I wish I could carry a little more…”

“No, you’re too small for that, Frei. It’s not your fault.”

I was fine, but Rani and Freinil had ordinary girls’ builds, and there were limits to the packs they could carry. If only we had something like a pack frame… I’d look for one at a general store next time.

“Anyway, the goal today is to clear this dungeon. Let’s go on.”

“Yes, Soshi-sama.”

“Okay, let’s do this.”

This D-class dungeon bottomed out at the fifth floor, like the others so far. The other D-class one, from what I’d heard, went down fifteen floors, and for that one the ‘Item Box’ skill would be a must, for our party too. D-class dungeons and above were apparently where people picked it up. I hoped my ‘Bad Luck’ would do its job here.

The fifth floor was nothing like the floors above it. Instead of winding corridors there was one wide passage, ten meters or more across and as tall, stretching far into the distance. The monsters were the reason for that. The new ones, ‘Hunter Crows,’ were flyers that looked like oversized crows.

“Finally, it’s time for my ‘Leap’ to shine!”

Rani was raring to go, and fair enough: ‘Leap’ didn’t get much use in dungeons. I wanted her to have her turn here.

We hadn’t gone far down the passage before ten Hunter Crows were closing in. They were crow-types, but once they got close they started hovering overhead, very much the dungeon-monster thing to do.

“Casting ‘Holy Light’!”

Freinil’s first strike cut two of them in half, and they dropped. The rest fired feather-shaped projectiles at her all at once. Flying with a ranged attack is an annoying combination.

“Frei, get behind me. Rani, it’s up to you.”

“Yes.”

“Leave it to me!”

While I blocked the feathers with my shield, Rani went up on ‘Sprint’ and ‘Leap,’ shot into the air and cut down two in an instant. The crows scattered and kept firing, but my shield, my mace, and ‘Steel Body’ gave them nothing to break. Rani kept up her high-speed leaps and brought them down one at a time. The last two came at me in desperation, and my mace’s counter-swing blew them apart.

“Good moves, Rani.”

“Thanks, the practice paid off. With ‘Leap’ I think I can handle flyers. Rare skills are the real deal.”

Rani and ‘Leap’ seemed to be a good match. Giving her the Skill Orb a monster had dropped for us had been the right call.

We met Hunter Crows a few more times, and apart from a few feather hits I took, we went down the passage without trouble. At the far end stood the usual big door to the boss room.

“The boss was a minotaur, right?”

“Yes, Soshi-sama. According to the guide, it is a bull-headed giant with a large axe.”

It was a monster famous from the myths of my old world. The guide put it at two and a half meters, not all that huge, but one full-on hit from its axe would send a man to the next world.

And with us, there was something else to watch for.

“Let’s plan for a higher variant, and for more than one boss. Either way, Frei, get ‘Halo’ ready right away. Boost it with ‘Charge.’”

“Yes. I will prepare it.”

In the boss room there was no worry about other parties seeing us, so we could use ‘Divine Attribute’ without holding back. Fighting a weakened boss was nothing to brag about as far as experience went, but we could make up for it later, once we were used to it.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Past the door was the boss room. There seemed to be more black mist welling up than usual.

“Isn’t this the two-bosses pattern? Lucky!”

Rani’s optimism was reassuring. Getting two skills in one go in a D-class dungeon would be a gift, but…

“Soshi-sama, I think that minotaur looks a little different from the picture in the guide.”

Freinil was right. One of the minotaurs that had appeared was the classic type, bare-chested, but the other wore reddish-black armor and was clearly a higher variant. Both kinds at once was more than I’d predicted, I had to admit.

The two minotaurs let out an ear-splitting roar and came straight at us, each with an axe in one hand.

“Frei, ‘Halo’! Rani, draw the normal one. Don’t push it, just keep moving.”

“Yes! Casting!”

“Got it, leave it to me!”

‘Divine Halo’ flashed, and Rani used ‘Sprint’ to land a blow on the minotaur and draw its attention.

So far so good. What came next depended on how strong that higher variant, the ‘Armored Minotaur,’ really was.

I couldn’t let it near Freinil, so I stepped in front of the Armored Minotaur. Weakened though it was, could I really stop a hit from a high-grade variant like this one—

Bumoh!

It swung its axe down with a roar. Giving ground, I tried a light block on the shield. The force told me I could just barely stop it.

“Hit me again!”

At my taunt, the Armored Minotaur swung the axe sideways. I stepped in and caught it on the shield. The impact was tremendous. The shield crumpled, and it nearly lifted me off my feet.

But ‘Stability’ and ‘Brute Strength’ held me where I was, and I swung the mace back, aimed at the arm holding the axe.

The moment the mace touched it, the minotaur’s log-thick arm exploded, gauntlet and all, and it coughed up blood. The shock must have gone through its whole body. Even to me, that was an absurd amount of force.

When I slammed the mace down on the staggering Armored Minotaur’s head, the headless giant toppled forward.

“Soshi, this one too!”

Rani dodged the other minotaur’s blow and ran toward me.

Freinil’s call came just in time. “Soshi-sama, ‘Holy Light’ is ready!”

“Rani, jump sideways!”

“Right!”

Rani leapt sideways as ordered, and in her place Freinil’s ‘A Single Ray of Holy Light’ pierced the minotaur’s chest.

Bumooooh!

The minotaur groaned and dropped to its knees. Rani didn’t waste the opening. She flashed past on ‘Sprint’ and slashed its neck, and it went down with blood fountaining from the wound.

“Are you all right, Soshi-sama?”

Freinil came over, looking a little worried. She must have been shaken; I’d taken that blow full on the shield.

“Yeah, no problem.”

“No problem? Your shield is totally wrecked.”

Rani looked a little exasperated.

“I figured we couldn’t drag it out, so I pushed harder than usual,” I said. “Anyway, you were both great.”

Looking back, it felt as if we’d won in an instant, but without Rani’s decoy work or Freinil’s weakening, it would have been a dangerous fight. I should go over exactly why it worked, or it would bite me someday.

“Heh. Sure. It’s easy to stall when I know it’s only until you drop one, Soshi.”

“That lets me focus on one, so thanks. Frei’s magic is as strong as ever. Has ‘Holy Light’ gotten stronger too?”

“Yes, it seems to have gone up a little more. It will grow stronger still.”

I praised her, and Freinil beamed.

“The question is what skills we get! We killed a Rare Boss, too… ngh, it’s coming…!”

As Rani spoke, skills flowed into my head.

First came the one I’d been after, ‘Item Box.’ ‘Bad Luck’ seemed to have done its job. The second was ‘Shockwave,’ which seemed to turn a weapon’s destructive force into a wave and send it out. Wouldn’t that be ridiculous with my mace? I was a little excited.

“I got ‘Barrier Magic’ and ‘Double Magic.’ Amazing. It seems I will be able to cast two spells at once.”

‘Double Magic’ was probably the rare one, and it sounded powerful. It would likely make Freinil stand out even more, though, and using it in front of people could be dangerous, so we’d better avoid that.

“Looks like I got ‘Cutting’ and ‘Air Kick.’ I wanted ‘Cutting’ so badly. And ‘Air Kick’… what’s this, it sounds fun!”

With that, Rani jumped straight up on the spot. I assumed she’d come right back down, but in empty air she made another jumping motion and rose higher. It looked like the video-game ‘double jump,’ made into a skill. Used well, it could be nasty. I had a feeling it would pair especially well with ‘Leap.’

“You got ‘Item Box’ too!? Amazing, amazing, now deep dungeons will be a breeze. Our party’s getting way too strong!”

“That is Soshi-sama for you. I will train even harder to be of use.”

All three of us seemed to have come away with skills that suited how we fought. Was that ‘Bad Luck’ at work again, or just individual talent? Whichever it was, we were getting stronger and stronger, well past what our rank called for.

Back at the Guild, I laid the rare boss’s magic stone on the counter along with its material, a fine glossy black horn, and Mariane’s eyes glinted.

“Soshi-san, did you encounter a Rare Boss again?”

“Yes. And it showed up together with a normal boss.”

I took out the normal boss’s brown horn too, and Mariane’s eyes glinted even brighter.

“I would like to hear about that in the back.”

So I was in for another debriefing. Apparently this was a first for them.

When the report was finished, Mariane closed her record book.

“Soshi-san, you may have some kind of special skill.”

“You mean a skill that raises the encounter rate with rare monsters?”

“Yes. Unless we assume so, Soshi-san’s subjugation record cannot be explained. A relatively diligent party will meet two or three rare monsters in a year, at the most. The Guild’s records show this statistically.”

“I see. Put that way, my encounter rate is certainly abnormal.”

“However, I believe no such skill has been confirmed to exist so far. Skills that raise the encounter rate with monsters, or the number that appear in a dungeon, have been confirmed, though.”

Mariane glanced at Rani. So the ‘jinx’ skill was already known.

“Where would I go to have that skill confirmed?”

“It can be confirmed at the Ashuram Temple in the royal capital. However, a donation of ten million roms is reportedly required.”

“What, that’s a rip-off!?”

It was Rani who reacted, but I felt the same. Freinil sighed and lowered her eyes. Was she embarrassed, as a former saint candidate, by the church’s greed?

“Why is it so expensive?”

“The church says it is because a very valuable magic tool is used. That tool reportedly needs a large number of magic stones to operate.”

“Is that part of why the guide has no details about skills?”

“That is correct. In practice, what we know about skills comes only from what certain high-ranking people have chosen to release, plus the experience of adventurers.”

So that was why adventurers knew only fragments about skills. And I could sort of see why our method, training while picturing a specific skill, hadn’t caught on.

“Understood. I may well have such a skill myself. I intend to carry on exactly as before.”

“Yes, the Guild would prefer that as well. I know of no party as diligent as Soshi-san’s. Please continue as you are.”

With that, Mariane stood and bowed.

I hadn’t expected anyone to think that highly of us, but being recognized feels good even at my age.

The next day we held off on a new dungeon to go over our gear and test the new skills.

I started by replacing the shield that had been smashed. I had strength to burn, so I bought the kind of thick tower shield a B-rank tank would carry: laminated iron plates, impossible for an ordinary person to hold. It looked like it would stop even the Armored Minotaur’s axe with ease.

While I was at it, I finally decided to order a custom mace. I put in the request with the dwarf shopkeeper who had helped me before, and he looked exasperated and said, “You mean that mace isn’t enough for you already?” It was due in a week.

Freinil needed no new staff or armor, so we bought her several extra outfits. With ‘Item Box,’ carrying more luggage was no longer a worry.

Rani liked the wide-bladed sword she was using, so she kept it and moved her armor up a grade to something lighter and sturdier. She bought a few new outfits too, of course.

Overall we ended up very well equipped for a D-rank party. A middle-aged man with two pretty girls already turns heads, so I’d have preferred to keep a low profile, but gear is a matter of life and death.

In the afternoon we went back into yesterday’s D-class Grassland Dungeon to test the skills.

First, my ‘Item Box.’ When I activated it, a black void opened in the air in front of me, and I could put things in and take them out, more or less what I’d expected. What I hadn’t expected was that it wasn’t unlimited: my stamina seemed to drain in proportion to the weight of what I put in.

The cost was far lower than carrying things normally, though, and not having to deal with bulk made it an incredibly useful skill. When I put in three Dark Metal rods the cost shot up, but that seemed like good training for ‘Stamina.’ It was a very good match for a man with strength and stamina to spare.

Next, ‘Shockwave.’ When I swung the mace, an invisible shockwave flew in the direction I intended. At a low skill level it didn’t seem like much. Even at full swing it only blew away two or three orcs standing five meters off, every bone in their bodies broken… no, that was plenty of power. Once the level went up, culling trash mobs looked like it would be easy.

Freinil’s ‘Barrier Magic’ does what its name says: it makes an invisible wall. By default it seemed to raise a hemispherical dome around her. At this level it would still vanish if I so much as hit it, but it should get sturdier as the level rose. In game terms, it feels like it would hold up against things like the ‘breath attacks’ of monsters we’d meet later.

Once it was up it stayed up until something broke it or she dropped it deliberately, so it might be useful for camping, too. The drawback was that it worked both ways, so nobody could attack out of it either.

‘Double Magic’ lets her cast two spells at once. Cast ‘A Single Ray of Holy Light’ with it and you get two beams. The concentration time stays the same, so the effect seems to simply double, but the stamina cost looks to be twice as much or more, and she apparently can’t yet cast two of something like ‘Divine Halo.’

In any case, two ‘Holy Lights’ as an opening strike were terrifyingly useful. If word got out, people would start fighting over Freinil, so we couldn’t use it freely in public.

Rani’s ‘Cutting’ raised her weapon’s cutting power, plain and simple, and apparently swordfighters coveted it. Rani already liked to kill with one slice to a vital spot, and now that she could cut an orc or an Assault Tiger clean in two, she looked formidable.

‘Air Kick’ was what she’d demonstrated the moment she got it, and with practice it might open up three-dimensional fighting. Combined with ‘Leap’ it could take her very high, so in some situations it might be a cheat skill.

We tested things like that as we cleared the D-class dungeon again. We collected every scrap of the mountain of materials, and even the boss, a normal minotaur, dropped dead to a double ‘Holy Light.’ By then it was clear how far out of the ordinary we were.

The rare skills mattered most, and they came from ‘Bad Luck.’ Sooner or later I’d have to think about how to use that power. And now that Mariane had pointed it out, the Guild would be keeping at least a little more of an eye on us.