Chapter 55 (1/2)

Volume 1

CH 29

「Now then . 」(Kaito)

I’ve had various things on my mind, but no matter how much I think about them, it doesn’t seem like I’ll come up with any answers .

As if to change my pace of thinking, I focus on how I’m going to distribute my experience from now on .

Even after we left the royal capital, I’ve been turning the monsters appearing on the highway into experience and distributing the gathered experience .

For now, I’ve paid back my experience debt, just enough so that I won’t level up . With that, I’ll be able to increase my level immediately whenever I need to .

I have to think carefully about the timing of when I’m going to level up, because unlocking Soul Swords alone is causing my stats to increase .

There’s a Soul Sword that temporarily decreases my stats and increases the experience I gain, but that reduces the attack power of all my other Soul Swords to zero when equipped .

Therefore, I would have to defeat monsters using only my own strength and if I used it now, I’d simply become unable to defeat anything due to a lack of offensive abilities .

And now I have about 25,000 experience points left .

「Hmm, what to do…」(Kaito)

The monsters around here are quite strong so the experience I’m earning from them isn’t bad, but unfortunately we don’t encounter them very often .

We’re planning to stay in Ermia for a while, so spare experience will be hard to come across .

Considering that, I’m finding it difficult to come to a decision even after narrowing down the possible candidates for where I should spend my experience, and Minnalis even asked me in a cold voice,『Are you incompetent, Goshujin-sama?』

I almost cried . I’m not being stingy .

「Actually, Minnalis has been pretty strict lately, hasn’t she?」(Kaito)

She’s acting humble as usual despite the positions of slave and master having been abolished, but she’s overwhelming . Actually, from time to time, I feel an aura coming from her that tells me that I absolutely can’t disobey her .

I have no intention of making her obey my every command, but I don’t know how I feel about this .

With a small sigh, I light the campfire .

During my first time through this world, my eyes hadn’t been open to the things around me until the last part of my journey to defeat the Demon Lord .

I didn’t care about what I ate as long as it was edible, and I didn’t have the time to be looking around at the scenery .

Whenever I tried to buy mysterious toys being sold in shops whose functions I didn’t really know or get tempted to buy some clearly overpriced food being sold at a stall, Minnalis would get angry and give me a cold smile, as if to say,『Are you an idiot, Goshujin-sama?­』Maybe because of the values she had from having lived in a poor village, even though we have money, she won’t allow any wasteful use of it .

The only times she shows a nice smile lately was is we’re coming up with ideas for our revenge, testing out torture methods that we could carry out on Goblins and other monsters that we come across or on days where she is simply in a good mood or when her head is spinning from mana intoxication .

Leaving that aside, it seems that if I don’t come to a decision soon, this will drag on for too long .

So after all this time deliberating, among the three Soul Swords that I’ve been considering, I unlock the【Adversary’s Kidnapping Blade . ]

It’s likely that my stats will be lower than those of my enemies for a while, so there will be a lot of opportunities to use it .

I can simply use other Soul Swords against opponents that have lower stats than me, so the fact that there are no disadvantageous side-effects is a huge thing .

I spent 15,000 experience, so I have 10,000 left .

I consider unlocking a fast sword that enhances my MP, but I decide against it .

I could use the 10,000 experience I have now to increase my level into the lower twenties .

It’s best to keep some in case something happens so that I have it available to use freely if I’m forced to .

「I guess this is fine . 」(Kaito)

I look down at my hand to see that the sand in the hourglass has fallen .

It seems that more time has passed than I’d thought .

「Goshujin-sama, it is time to change places . 」(Minnalis)

I go to wake Minnalis to tell her that it’s time to switch, but she’s already awake .

「Oh, you were awake?」(Kaito)

「Yes… Goshujin-sama, you seem to talk to yourself a lot . 」(Minnalis)

「Wha –?!」(Kaito)

No, well, I can’t help it, right? If you’re on a long journey and you’re alone, you talk to yourself a lot .

It’s just like talking to yourself when you’re living alone .

「It is fine during the day, but if you do not take care at night, it bothers me and I cannot sleep . 」(Minnalis)

Is she using some kind of skill to make this blank poker face? Is this her way of showing that she’s irritated?

「I-I’m very sorry…」(Kaito)

「No, it is not a problem if you will take care from now on . 」(Minnalis)

Being subject to this cold treatment, I dejectedly pull the blanket over my head and close my eyes .

I kind of get the feeling that our relationship is starting to reverse .

She obeys the general rules that I set and big decisions that I make as long as nothing unexpected happens, but the everyday things apart from those… No, it’s not that she’s disrespecting me or anything like that . It’s not like that; in fact, I know that the things she says in a cold tone are things she says out of concern and she’s just being overly cautious, but still…

As such thoughts run through my mind, my consciousness slowly submerges into the depths of sleep .

「It seems that Goshujin-sama is asleep now . 」(Minnalis)

Confirming that Goshujin-sama is asleep, I run my fingers through his hair gently as usual while I undo my Audacity skill .

「Aaaah, jeez, why does Goshujin-sama’s voice sound so comforting to my ears? Perhaps he has Siren blood in his veins . 」(Minnalis)