It’s the third day of living in another world.
Euphy and I moved out of the big inn as first thing in the morning and went to the other inn we’re staying in.
「 It’s a nice inn. Euphy, this makes you feel safe too, doesn’t it? 」
「 I’m more concerned with Daiki-sama’s safety rather than mine 」
「 As far as I’m concerned, it’s more likely that something will happen to Euphy 」
「 I’m happy to hear that, but in my position, I’m not sure if I can just be honest with that 」
Hmm, she’s being earnest right at the start of the morning.
It’s good that we got along so well last night that our hearts grew closer together.
The inn the guild referred me to was decent, compared to what I imagined.
It’s run by a middle-aged couple, and although the furnishings and facilities are modest, it’s clean and the staff is friendly and courteous, and the atmosphere is pleasant.
It would be nice if they had a bath, but it doesn’t seem possible in this price range.
I guess we’ll have to wash our bodies in the well outside.
「 Okay, now that we secured a place to stay, let’s go see the skill orb. Where we should go? 」
「 Let’s go to the stores along this road. I saw them when looking for a place to stay 」
「 Ooh, what a good girl. As a reward, I’ll buy you anything you want from the stalls around 」
「 Then, I want fish! 」
I handed a copper to Euphy who isn’t as reserved when it comes to food, and she ran.
I got three fish for one copper, isn’t that expensive?
For five copper, we can stay at an inn that’s fit for the middle class with dinner included.
Oh well, I get to see her cute face as she eats delicious food.
Wait a minute, is this a river fish?
It’s got a simple flavor.
Hmm?
Euphy’s eyes are locked on the one I haven’t eaten yet…
Sure, sure, you can have this fish too.
How much do you eat in the morning?
Walking while eating, I soon arrived at the store that sells skill orbs.
In Japanese terms, this looks like a small boutique.
I opened the wooden door and entered, then found a miscellaneous assortment of household goods and other items.
「 Hey, do you sell skill orbs? 」
「 Maybe we got this place wrong 」
I patted Euphy’s apologetic head and I talked to the old man who was on the counter.
「 Do you have skill orbs for sale? 」
「 Yes, I do. What kind of skill orbs do you want? 」
「 Oh, great. I’d like to check the price first. Just to get a ballpark figure 」
「 Err, right now, we have swordsmanship, spearmanship, and shield techniques. In production, cooking, and calligraphy. Oh, we don’t have any magic ones right now. I forgot that I sold them out 」
The old man messed around under the counter, checking his skill orbs, but he doesn’t seem to handle them carefully
「 Copying is worth 10 silver. Six silver coins for the rest. Which do you want? 」
「 I don’t have much on hand right now, but I’ll come back and buy it once I can afford it 」
「 Is that so? Then I’ll wait for your return 」
I thought he would be angry, but he seem to be cool about it.
Maybe it’s not rare to hear that.
Anyway, I’ll buy it when I get back.
We reached the forest before noon and began searching for medicinal herbs.
I looked for the herbs in the ground.
However, Euphy’s gaze is directed not on the ground but at the depths of the forest.
I kept warning her yesterday, and yet she’s still looking for it.
Well, I’ll just think that she’s just being vigilant of her surroundings.
Maybe it’s because we had the pleasure last night, I can’t help but spoil her.
Besides, she also wants to fight so why not.
Frankly, I want to have a bit more of a safety margin, but it would be easier to hunt goblins for three coppers per goblin than a bunch of morning glory grass,, which is only worth one copper coin, and I’m yet to find it, so I’m pretty much inclined to do that.
From what I saw yesterday, even I could fight a single goblin without a blade and just my bare hands, but the question is, can I kill those?
Euphy slaughtered a wolf without hesitation, and would probably kill a goblin without any hesitation. But I have no experience in killing such a large creature, so I don’t know if I could do it until I try it.
Oh well, I’m in a situation where I don’t know when I’ll be able to go home, and even though I have a slave, I’m not leaving it all up to Euphy, so I had to make sure to do it too.
I have to get used to it.
And so, I have five goblins in front of me, holding wooden sticks, threatening me with their fangs bared, and next to me is Euphy, whose eyes are shining, readied her stance to face the goblins.
「 Why did it come to this? 」
「 We lost our chance for a surprise attack so we have to fight them head-on! 」
「 That’s your fault! We could’ve run away 」
「 But they found us already, and we also saw them, so what can we do? 」
「 You saw them first, didn’t you? Stop it! If you do that again, I’ll give you hours of licking that you hate so much 」
「 Wha?! B-But that’s a rewa–I mean, what a terrible thing to do! 」
Just now, Euphy noticed something and checked that direction, and reported the presence of goblins.
That’s okay so far, but this girl, she’s probably already thinking about how to fight them, so she took the initiative and approached the goblins.
I was about to stop her, but then the goblins saw us and confronted Euphy who was pushing through the grass.
She just wants to fight.
I mean, you looked like you didn’t want the licking yesterday, but you were actually into it.
You looked like you were in so much pleasure too.
「 Argh, fine. Clean it up, Euphy. Also, leave one alive but make sure it can’t run away 」
「 Certainly 」
Taking my words as her signal, Euphy leaps out like a hound and slashes the goblin.
The goblin is slain in the blink of an eye, and the remaining one fell to the ground with a deep wound on its leg.
Euphy brushed off the blood on the sword and came to me with a refreshed look.
「 As ordered, I left one alive, what are we doing with it? 」
「 Give that sword to me. I’ll finish it off 」
「 Finish it off? 」
「 Yeah, I need to get accustomed to killing or else I feel it’ll become a liability 」
「 Is that so? Then, please aim at the heart. That’s what I was taught the first time too 」
The fact that she doesn’t hesitate to kill meant that she’s educated that way.
I took the sword from Euphy and got on top of the goblin.
I raised the hilt of the sword I’m holding with both hands, then brought it to head height and slammed it down, aiming at the goblin’s chest.
The sensation of the sword piercing flesh and the bright red blood pouring out from the puncture and the screams of despair were deafening, the sensation of having committed a taboo comes over me.
The disgust on the face, stained with fear and despair directed at me was terrifying.
The goblin’s gaze looked like it was begging for forgiveness, lost its power, and became void.
I pulled out the sword and handed it to Euphy, thinking it was finally over.
「 Haa… I didn’t have a problem with it but I still don’t like it 」
「 So I’ve heard from the knights who did it for the first time in the past. However, you’ll get accustomed to it. Even for the first time, Daiki-sama handled it calmly and only with a single thrust. That’s amazing in itself. 」
Euphy’s smile as she holds my hand gave me some indescribable feeling.
She’s affirming that I did nothing wrong.
She has such an angelic smile, yet her whispers are devilish.
No, I’ve been thinking about it.
It’s only been two short days since we’re together, but this girl shouldn’t really be exposing herself with her personality.
In this world, my thoughts are probably much more heretical.
「 From now on, I want to keep delivering the final blow, so keep them alive if you can 」
「 I understand. Leave it to me. I’ll make sure that Daiki-sama stops hesitating to strike down his enemies in the name of Adicilton! 」
「 Oh, yeah 」
After that, we spent our time hunting.
Euphy charges in as soon as she spots something.
Even so, there are quite a few things to hunt in the forest.
Most of them are goblins, and one wonders why there are so many of them.
「 Well, goblins give birth every three months, and their offspring generally grow up in about three months, so they easily multiply, and if there’s food to sustain and nobody to threaten them 」
「 Still, isn’t it too many? We’re close to the town 」
「 I feel the same way. Maybe, it’s because we haven’t seen other adventurers, this place isn’t that popular 」
「 Unpopular? Do you mean that this place doesn’t earn them money? 」
「 I think so. Normally, new adventurers and others would be gathering medicinal herbs from the outer edges of the forest, but we couldn’t find any, so perhaps they’re all gone. But if we go deeper, we find some demi-humans and wolves, I think the place has become a burden for newcomers 」
「 I see. So if it wasn’t for swordsmanship 2, we won’t make this much money either. Hey, Euphy. How does this world deal with your swordsmanship 2 skill? Tell me once we’re on a break 」
「 I can only explain it based on soldiers, not adventurers if that’s alright with you 」
According to Euphy, the highest skill level is 5, and in terms of soldier rank, 1’s a private, 2 would grant you a unit commander rank, and a soldier that can fight several privates with ease.
At 3, you can lead an organization about the size of a knighthood and deal with five or six dozen soldiers.
At 4, it’s said that you’re a knight of a count class. You’d go toe-to-toe with them easily, and you could be counted among the best in the country.
However, this is all based on the soldier ranks, the situation would change if there were competent people mixed among them.
No matter how great someone’s individual military prowess is, they can’t be unparalleled.
「 So, what about the 5th one? 」
「 There are stories that those who gained supremacy on the continent in the past, defeated the dragons with disaster level power were dealt with by people that have skills that are on level 5 」
「 So they’re legend tales? 」
「 Yes, I haven’t heard of anyone reaching 5 as far as I know 」
「 I have a feeling that with my power, it’s going to be easier than it seems 」
「 That’s unlikely, is it? 」
「 No, I’m not so sure. That’s why we have to test it out 」
I asked her about other things.
She told me about magic and other stuff that only activate if you have the skill, then the production skills like blacksmithing and carpentry. Euphy had Sewing 2, so she can mend her clothes if she has a needle and thread, and a lot more information that I don’t know.
We spent a lot of time talking.
We’re making some money, let’s go back to the capital today.