Year 7442, Month 5, Day 11
"By the way, you two are pretty amazing. Are you you considerably skilled adventurers? The way you counterattacked against that ambush just now was splendid."
Of course, it"s flattery. It"s true it"s amazing how they were able to construct a stance for counterattack in that short period of time but as expected it would have been pretty difficult for them just like that. I"m sure they wouldn"t be killed by the orks but it can"t be denied that they could have been injured depending on the situation. They were just hitting the spears with their axes after all.
Though it"s certainly true that there was a possibility things could have gone well with just destroying the spears. Depending on the situation they could have injured or killed several of them and I can"t deny the possibility it could have been enough to lure them into retreating. However, in order to get to that point it would have taken them several minutes to several dozen minutes in time and during that time they would have had to remain focused in order to evade the enemies weapons while destroying them. It can be said to have been quite difficult.
"No, though it"s true we"re eating by being adventurers we"re not that great of a thing. Rather than something like us, Al, you"re pretty amazing. Being able to use that magic in succession is quite something. I"ve been an adventurer for close to 20 years but it"s my first time seeing a magician this skilled. It"s quite significant being able to use a spell of that level while remaining composed. I"m sure you probably used quite a bit of mana right? I"m really grateful."
After saying that Zenom lowered his head to me.
Ralpha lowered her head along with Zenom this time.
"It"s fine. Since it"s fine as long as long as I can make it Foshil today, it can"t be helped being reluctant to use my mana."
After I said that the two of them exchanged glances before lowering their heads to me again.
"Thanks, honestly speaking we were really saved that you used magic there. I had resolved for that to eat up quite a bit of time. And not just the first magic but you even used {Fire Ball}..since I had heard it was common sense for magicians to leave some mana remaining so I was surprised you were still willing to use magic. You even left the orks equipment to us."
Ralpha said that. Hmm, they admit that it would have taken some time and been a difficult battle but they had no intention of losing huh. It sounds like in the past they may have experiences a much more difficult fight.
For a short while after that the three of us used our mouths for eating. After we finished eating Zenom opened his mouth again.
"Not only did you save us and leave the equipment to us but you even treated us to a meal. Just now, you said you were going to Foshil right. Since you were using magic during the fight with the orks and the soup, no, hot water, you heated it up with magic as well right? No matter how I think about it you shouldn"t have any leeway left with mana. Since you"re riding a horse I"m sure it"s fast but even if it"s a horse then it should still take at least 3 hours for you to get to Foshil from here. If you"re not in a hurry then would you at least let us accompany you to Foshil? If you run into a group of monsters like the one just now I"m sure it"ll be tough alone."
No, it"s not particularly tough at all though this proposal is just what I wanted. He probably intends to be an escort as thanks.
"I see, if you"re willing to say then I"m grateful as well. If I have the horse run then even if I encounter monsters I"m sure I can manage it but as expected it"s difficult. If I can get there by slowly walking then that"s all the better. Rather it"s almost to the point I want to ask for the favor."
I said that while lowering my head. Even if it"s only for a short period then it"s necessary to understand their abilities. I"ll try identifying Zenom as well.
【Zenom · Firefreed /5/4/7416】
【Male/19/1/7402 · Dwarf · Firefreed Family Head
【Condition: Good】
【Age: 40 Years Old】
【Level: 16】
【HP: 126(126) MP: 8(8)】
【Strength: 25】
【Agility: 10】
【Dexterity: 25】
【Endurance: 22】
【Special Skill: Infrared Eyesight】
【Special skill: Small Magic】
【Experience: 574234(680000)】
Uho...He"s level 16. It"s my first time seeing it. Even though his physical abilities should already have started decreasing because of his age, his strength is amazing~ His dexterity is higher than a humans as well. However, his speed is considerably low. The characteristics of a dwarf are strong in him. I see now, with this that method of fighting makes sense. I"m sure he can"t carelessly charge in. Zenom just firmly stands on guard and Ralpha moves around covering his blind spots.
For the time being, I can accompany them until the next village. Since he"s a reliable dwarf adventurer, I want to try listening to various stories as an adventurer. Ralpha is a reincarnated person as well and these two say they"re in a relationship of adoptive father and child. I definitely want to keep acting together with them from here on out.
Close to evening of that day the three of us arrived at the village of Foshil. Without encountering anymore monsters along the way it was a peaceful path. Thanks to that I was able to hear various stories of being an adventurer from Zenom and Ralpha.
Just as would expected from the village of Foshil being a part of the King"s direct territory, the houses are decently well-organized and you can feel that all of the buildings are somewhat new. According to Zenom and Ralpha it seems that the village only has a history of about 10 years itself. Until then it seems that this entire area was a wasteland. This village Foshil is something that a man who was granted the n.o.bility of Viscount by the King cleared up and it"s still a new village. It"s population is still only about 200 or so, as a village it"s still like a baby with how small it is.
Obviously there"s nothing as convenient as an inn and there isn"t even a shop. At the edge of the village there"s some vacant land that"s been smoothed out, it seems that caravans use that to rest. Since there"s no caravans staying here for tonight it seems that we have it reserved for just the three of us. We went to the lord"s house and after asking if we can borrow the land for the night to setup camp we started making preparations for camping out. Zenom entered the village saying he was going to get some firewood. He probably went to negotiate with a villager to sell him some firewood.
Yeah, now"s the chance. I started talking to Ralpha.
"Hey, Ralpha. You"re j.a.panese as well right? I"m Kawasaki Takeo. I was a salary man. I was riding on the train when the accident occurred. If possible I want to have a conversation and exchange information."
"..Ono Misa. I was on the bus on my way to return to school. I wanted to talk as well. Do you have any alcohol?"
Ralpha replied in j.a.panese. These past few years my thoughts have started to focus on the words used over here but I guess it"s because I talked with Mary and Kuro last month, I"ve started to think a lot in j.a.panese again. I feel nostalgic whenever I talk in j.a.panese.
"Eh? Alcohol? Sorry. I don"t have any alcohol. Why? Do you want to drink it?"
"Not me. I want to let Zenom drink. He"s normally careful not to drink too much but just on nights like these where there"s no need for someone to keep watch he starts drinking and after falling asleep doesn"t wake up very easily."
Without getting angry at my impolite misunderstand Ralpha correct me. Well, it"s not anything to get angry over. However, I see now. Since she says she was "returning to school" she must have either been a student or a teacher. If I remember correctly I think the accident occurred just after noon so if she was a student then I guess she was a college student. I"m sure that as a woman she would be happier being thought of as younger.
"Ah, I see. I misunderstood... So you were a student? Which college did you go to? Ah, no, just because it"s nostalgic."
"Hatsudai academy high school... Since I wasn"t very smart.. It"s been over a decade since I said the name of my school...It"s true it"s nostalgic."
After saying that Ralpha closed her eyes in the setting sun. I guess she"s remembering the days far in the past. The red light from the sun reflected off of her hair and was beautiful.
..So she was a high school student. Even though I"m sure it was a happy period for her, suddenly dying in an accident and finding herself reincarnated a world that"s not the Earth. Just for reference I"ll say it but I"ve never heard of Hatsudai academy high school. Just as she said herself it was probably a low standard school. However, that doesn"t really have much relation here on Orth. It"s probably much more important that the both of us were j.a.panese. Rather than something like how low or high the standards of your school were the fact that you"ve survived 14 years on this Orth is more important, or at least that"s what I think.
"But, if we don"t have any alcohol Zenom might wake up. It would probably be best to talk a bit of distance away from here. Kawasaki-san, can you wake up in the middle of the night?"
"Haha, there"s no need to force yourself to speak politely. I said Al was fine right? And we"re the same age here. It"s fine if you talk normally without restraint."
After hearing I was a salary man though it was slowly she started to talk politely so I stopped her.
If possible I want to build some familiarity after all.
"And then, I have no problems with waking up in the middle of the night. Would it be better for me to wake you up? However, I don"t have the confidence I can wake you up with Zenom noticing. He"s your father right? If it seems like I"m trying to wake you up in the middle of the night I"m sure he"d get angry."
I tried joking with her a bit. She must have felt that the atmosphere got a bit lighter with that, Ralpha said
"Yeah, then, I"ll keep watch of the fire first. And under the pretext of changing with you in the middle of the night I"ll wake you up. Then we can put in a bit of extra firewood and move a bit away..let"s talk around that area."
She pointed to the edge of the vacant land while saying that. It"s about 20 m away from here. Since we setup the campfire on the side of the vacat land closer to the village if we move to the opposite side there"s a decent amount of distance. Certainly if we"re that far away and whispering then I doubt anyone would notice it.
"I understand. That"s fine. Let"s do that. Then, let"s quickly finish preparations. After Zenom returns I need to go and see about getting them to share some fodder with me."
"Yeah, got it."
After saying that while looking at my horse that"s licking some rock salt and eating some gra.s.s in the surroundings of the vacant land and Ralpha consents before we go off to make preparations for camping.
I went to sleep after eating a simple dinner and around the middle of the night I was woken up. Since I still haven"t lost my habit of waking up once in the middle of the night even if she didn"t wake me up I would have gotten up all on my own but since it would have been a pain explaining I just kept quiet and let her wake me up.
After opening my eyes and confirming the one who woke me up and it"s only obvious but it was Ralpha. I,
"So it"s time to switch, it"s fine, I"ve woken up."
And unnaturally said that while raising my body up.
"I"ll go for a short walk."
Said that and went to sit on a rock near where Ralpha pointed in the evening.
After adding more firewood to the campfire Ralpha quietly walked over and sat next to me. In order to prevent even a bit of our voices reaching Zenom we sat with our backs facing the campfire.
"Zenom is sleeping well. If it"s a voice this loud then I don"t think he"ll wake up."
Ralpha says that when I"m nervous of Zenom opening his eyes.
"I see. Then, let"s talk for a bit."
After I said that and was about to continue talking Ralpha interrupted me saying.
"First off, let me confirm something. What"s your Unique Ability?"
Ho~ so for the time being she cut straight into one of the most important parts huh?
"It"s called Magic Acquisition. Just as you saw during the day, learning magic is my specialty."
Since the small flame from the campfire is barely reaching our backs even if I look at Ralpha"s expression I can"t tell what it is.
"I see..I thought it was something like that. My Unique Ability is called s.p.a.cial Understanding. But I don"t know how to use it. In the past, I tried asking Zenom what Unique Abilities were but Zenom replied that he didn"t know and he had never heard of them. I intended to ask when I met G.o.d but when I was confirming other stuff my time ran out..in the end I couldn"t ask. If it"s fine with you could you teach me how to use Unique Abilities?"
"Before that let me confirm several things. Around how much time did you have when you met G.o.d? And when did you meet it? Incidentally I met G.o.d when I was still a baby."
"It was a lot later for me. I think it was when I was 4 or 5 years old. Since it was the first day I was injured by a goblin. I was underestimating goblins at that time. Until then I had killed a number of goblins together with Zenom. Since I had never had a hard fight..After that, Zenom carried me to the healer of a village nearby. I think that was the first time I saw magic."
Hey there, you"re straying off topic. It seems that Ralpha intends to continue talking.
"And then, after going to sleep that I met G.o.d. I was only given 5 minutes to ask questions. I remember confirming countless times that I couldn"t return anymore and despairing over that. After that I ran out of time while asking the types of currency and things about Zenom or about the people who reincarnated. I"m sure you already know about the currency and time but since I had heard about other reincarnated people at that time I thought I wouldn"t be able to meet anyone else, so I was pretty surprised when I saw Al today. I"ve wandered around here and there for over 10 years as an adventurer but I"ve never met another person who reincarnated."
5 minutes huh? It"s still better than Kuro and Mary but it"s true that with just that amount of time the amount of information you could gain is limited. I"m sure that the way to use your Unique Ability is important but I think there"s a lot of stuff that"s more important in order to go on living that you should confirm as well. It"s not unreasonable. And she"s been adventurer for over 10 years already. Isn"t she a super veteran? Looking for my point of view with a history as an adventurer of one month she"s a great senior.
"Hey, did you know? It seems that the people who reincarnated are all born a considerable distance apart. G.o.d said that we were all born more than 100 Km apart. Since it was chosen from people who just happened to be pregnant at the same time with a minimum distance of that then it"s possible that there"s people that are a distance of several hundred Km apart as well. Have you met any other reincarnated people besides me?"
He~ I didn"t know that. I feel like I asked the location of other reincarnated people as well but they didn"t tell me right..I wonder if my way of asking was bad? Well, it"s too late to regret it at this point. However, that information for just now will be a big reference. There"s 39 reincarnated people. All of whom were born at least 100 Km apart. If I remember correctly it said I was on the edge.
"I have. I"ve already met two reincarnated people..that"s how I"m calling the j.a.panese who were reborn on Orth. Yeah, I"ve met with two reincarnated people. They"re in the capital of Marquis Webdos Territory Keel. I helped them out a bit and the two of them are now in the Marquis knight group. Of the two of them one is a woman."
After I said that much and Ralpha says,
"I want to meet them. I want to try talking to them."
that. I understand those feelings.
"I said it right, right now they"re on the lowest standing of the knight group. I"m sure you"ll be able to meet them in several years."
After hearing that Ralpha said a bit disappointed.
"I see..but, what kind of people were they? It"s nice reliably knowing their whereabouts. G.o.d wouldn"t tell me the center point. It seems that I was born a bit south of the center. According to Zenom he picked me up in a cave near the village of Ralpha in Count Hentil"s territory. That"s why he gave me the name Ralpha."
Since I was just quietly listening Ralpha continued talking to me.
"I...If I wasn"t picked up by Zenom I think probably would have died just like that in the cave. I didn"t know what the situation around me was at that time since I couldn"t do anything and I was just confused...I was a baby after all. Zenom carried me and went to look for my parents in Ralpha village it seems but he said he couldn"t find them. I think I was probably abandoned."
It"s a heavy story.
"I see, but, Ralpha had good luck it seems. Since you were picked up by Zenom and he properly raised you right?"
I said that. What else could I say?
"Yeah, I really think so. That"s why Zenom is my dad even though he"s a dwarf."
"Yeah, I guess so. Then I"ll tell my story next."
I said the same kind of story I told to Kuro and Mary.
"..That just now is the method to train with magic. At the very least using that I was able to use magic. That"s why I don"t think whether or not you"ve become an adult and whatever is related. I know other people as well that were able to use magic before becoming adults using this method as well."
"So that was the case, then I might become able to use magic as well. Also, about Unique Abilities but, how do you use them?"
"That is..I don"t know. Going off the name wouldn"t it be fine to try using as you jump into the air or something? The way to use them should just be to think of the name of the Unique Ability in your mind. However, when you use it, it uses mana. You should be careful not to overuse it."
I pretend to say it randomly while teaching her the method to use her Unique Ability. Since I don"t feel like Ralpha would become my enemy for the meantime after I talked to her for a bit. And if I say this much then putting aside right now, she should be able to confirm the authenticity of my words by tomorrow morning. And then her faith in me should go up as well. Well, if she were to think of doing it right now I"m sure she should though. Since there"s a chance Zenom would wake up.
"..I see. Also, I want to ask one thing but where is Al planning to go tomorrow? You"re an adventurer right? Are you in the middle of a job?"
"No, I haven"t accepted any jobs right now. I thought of switching my base from Keel to Baldukk. I intend to go to the dungeon there."
Come to think of it I hadn"t said it. Ey~ as a bonus. I guess I"ll try asking if she wants to come along... No, is it still too soon? But depending on the case she might suddenly say we"re separating ways tomorrow...
"Baldukk dungeon huh..Yeah, I see.."
Ralpha repeats the words I said while digesting them. Hmn, I wonder if I got ahead of myself. If we can go together partway then I somehow want to make a recovery during that time.
"Yo~to"
Huh? What"s she doing... I turn around look at the area where Zenom is sleeping. After hearing my words Ralpha suddenly stood up and starting jumping. I hurried and tried identifying her and her MP decreased by 1, the remaining amount is 2. She used it! I turn around again and look at Zenom. And I look up at Ralpha who"s in a daze. I turn around and look at Zenom. Am I pendulum?
"Hey, you.."
"Hmn, so this is s.p.a.cial Understanding.."
She"s not listening to what I"m saying.
"Zenom! Wake up!"
Why did things become like this?