Vol 1 Chapter 11 (1/2)

LEVEL 1: A Whisper, an Aria, a Prayer, an Awakening

Chapter 11: Don’t Go

“Ranta! One headed your way!” Fro

“I know! No need to tell me!” From Ranta, an immediate reply

Mogzo and Manato were positioned ahead, while Yuoblins that Mogzo and Manato fought had slipped past theone for Yume and shi+horu Ranta was closest to the one that broke through; though he and Haruhiro supported the front lines by staying behind and attacking enemies on the back and sides, they were there to defend the two in the back as well Ranta moved to intercept

Even though Ranta would still so, their teamwork had improved in the thirteen days had passed since they first caoblins And today he was right in step with the rest of them

Ranta let out a battle cry, “[ANGER THRUST]!”, and attacked

Or oblin with his newly learned skill, but froe It missed spectacularly

“I oblin!” Ranta declared

“Of course it’s a norlance with Manato

Manato and Mogzo could definitely hold their own against two opponents, so Haruhiro rushed to oblin attacking Ranta with its rusty sword

“da at Haruhiro as he deflected the goblin’s blows

Quit looking at ht even as tried to decide on a point to target

It wasn’t just Ranta who had learned a new fighting technique Everyone had returned to their guilds and came back with one new skill each However, they were all still at a level where they only understood how to use it in theory; none of them had the confidence to ht yet But without at least trying to actively using their skills in a fight, they would never reach a practical level of proficiency

Since he had paid a good auild to teach him the new technique, Haruhiro was determined to make use of it

Easier said than done The goblin had somehow suspected hi its sword at Haruhiro in an atte sneak attacks He had a hard tiet its attention… but that was too uy like hiht an enemy head on and Haruhiro was the same

They were both afraid to face an ene to attack from the back or at the very least from the side Because of that, both Haruhiro and Ranta circled the goblin, trying to get into position behind it The goblin, of course, didn’t want any enemy at its back, so it circled too and soon, no one had any idea as going on any more

“Sooblin

Taken by surprise, the goblin stoppedfor a fraction of a second, and Yume slashed with her kukri in a crisscross pattern “[CROSS CUT]!”

The goblin shrieked and quickly backed away, bearing a shallow cut from shoulder to chest It now had its back to Haruhiro

Now! And even as he thought it, his body ap between theoblin donned only soft leather as arood four inches into it Grunting in effort, he pulled it back out and retreated just as the goblin twisted around

The goblin coughed blood, looked like it was preparing to do so It was still alive, but finished If not, then it would have kept fighting

“Huh?” Haruhiro stared at the downed goblin It stared back at hiuess a bad spot?”

“Gotta kill it!” Ranta jusword “YESSS! Got my Vice!”

Yu every ties”

“I’hts do the bidding of Lord Skulheill ‘Inhuhts bloodless, tearless, our foes will blades mar’”

“Oolyph with her staff “Vel dash!+”

Mages used the power of s called elementals, and the shadow elemental that shi+horu had just summoned in front of her had the appearance of a frizzy black strand of seaweed It was the [SHADOW ECHO] ic spell and it fleith a peculiar voash!+ sound

shi+horu could have chosen to learn Alev, the ic of ice, or even Pfatlz, the ic of shadow Haruhiro had a distinct feeling that that was perhaps shi+horu’s personality starting to reveal itself

The shadow ele square in the back of the head However, it didn’t only affect its head; its entire body began to tremble

“Gah! Gah!” The goblin cried in a strange voice

[SHADOW ECHO] wasn’t e through high frequency waves As expected of Manato, he followed up with a blow using his short staff, then kicked the goblin down

“[HATRED’S CUT]!” Ranta viciously attacked the fallen goblin

Attacking so while it was already doas one of Ranta’s “special” abilities Cohting techniques on already weakened and nearly finished enesword slashed through the air and… didn’t finish it It had been deflected, having hit the gobin on the hard, boney side of its head Ranta was ied

“bastard!! Who do you think you are! Take this! And this! And this!” Ranta screaain

While Ranta abused the dying goblin, Mogzo was still fighting the single one re They had to finish it But it didn’t seeoblin attacked with a wild cry, slashi+ng at Mogzo with its rusted blade Mogzo intercepted the attack perfectly, using his bastard sword to lock blades with it, and stopped the goblin’s movements

It was here that Mogzo had the upper hand He had a good ath and had learned a follow-up technique With a grunt, Mozgo spun the goblin’s sword around using his, then used the tip of it to cut into the goblin’s face; [SPIRAL SLASH] Mogzo didn’t have speed, but he was fairly agile The goblin winced and retreated back

Haruhiro shouted in encouragezo went

He stepped forward, then slashed diagonally with all his strength, shouting “THANKS!!”

Mogzo’s technique, [RAGE CLEAVE] was theafter their initiation into the Warrior’s Guild It looked like so and i, but it wasn’t a skill that was easy to land The reason why Mogzo shouted “thanks” when using [RAGE CLEAVE] was because it stood for “thanks for letting st Warriors

But behind such a seeth Mozgo’s bastard sword had cut the goblin from the top of the shoulder to the oblin was lifted into the air by the bastard sword, still stuck in its chest Then, with a grunt of exertion, Mogzo hurled it away, sending it flying as he pulled the sword back out

Ranta ran after the goblin, letting out a loud cry of triu sword Yue What he was doing was cooblin’s body, he used a knife to cut off one of its pointed ears

“Three Vices in a row!” He laughed with glee “That rade to s in the enemy’s ears to distract it! Awesome!”

“What do you hed “So a Dread Knight’s demon is useless in reality”

“Hey! I heard that, Haruhiro!” Ranta shot back “Don’t openly diss my Zodiac! I’ll have it curse you!”

Apparently ‘Zodiac’ was the naiven to his demon Or was that its real name? Perhaps a pet nae the fact that it was useless

“I’ the daytime,” Haruhiro said

“Idiot! After I collect eleven Vices, it levels up! I can now summon it at sunset and sunrise!”

“We’ve returned to Altana by sunset and no one’s awake at sunrise”

“That’s right But” Yume had joined in; her cheeks were puffed out in annoyance but her eyes glistened A complicated expression to read “Since it’s master is all bumble-brained, it’s probably kinda cute in that way too”

“I’m not its master! Demons aren’t like pets! Zodiac sort of possesses me It’s a demon after all!”

“So thatRanta’s gaze, “that before you can use it to curse Haruhiro, you’ll be cursed yourself”

“Yeah, I guess that’s right Wait, WHAT?! Seriously?! Zodiac, is that true? Answer me, Zodiac! Oh, it’s still daytime so he can’t hear me…”

“Good work, everyone,” Manato said, looking at everyone with a smile “Is anyone hurt? Doesn’t look like it but I’ll heal anyone who is If everyone’s okay, then let’s take a look at the goblin pouches”

“Me! Me me me! I’ll do it! Let me!” Ranta instantly volunteered

Inside the three goblin pouches were seven silvers, two precious-looking stones, three fangs and bones which no one was sure could fetch a price or not, and a few pieces of junk that were definitely not worth anything Depending on how much the stones would sell for, that meant that they had earned around ten silvers—or, at the very least, eight silvers

They had left Altana at seven in the ht o’clock and noas past noon They proceeded to bury the goblin corpses in shallow graves then took a lunch break in an area a little ways away Everyone had packed lunches consisting of bread, dried ht it with them It was an enjoyable time for all

“Need to give thanks” Yume cut a little a few thin strips off the driedher eyes and folding her hands together, she prayed “Thanks, Eldritch Here’s an offering for your continued protection”

“Is praying anda bite of bread, “before eachthat’s required by the Hunter’s Guild?” He had bought it from Tattan’s Bakery just outside of Nishi+machi It was hard as rock, but cheap and tasted fine

“Yes,” Yuaze towards Haruhiro “The White Goddess Eldritch is a giant wolf and there’s bad blood between her and the Black God Rigel, who is also a giant wolf It’s because of the protection of Eldritch that we can hunt and pass our days in safety”

“In other words, Hunters worshi+p her, right?” Haruhiro said “The Goddess Eldritch, that is Is it really okay to pray so informally and offer so little?”

“It’s fine,” Yuet et mad about”

“I think…” shi+horu was holding soel or other donut-like bread delicately in her hands “The Goddess Eldritch understands Yus Or at least I believe so…”

Manato took a drink froreement “Sure, words and such are is behind the words When we Priests use light , but that’s not really the same as Yume’s prayer to Eldritch”

“Yu out both arht, Eldritch comes to her in her dreams Yume asked if she could ride Eldritch and Eldritch said yes Yume climbed onto her back and Eldritch ran so fast! It was incredible!”

“So,” Ranta said, frowning as he chewed noisy on a strip of jerky, “where’s the punchline? I’ve been listening to that silly story this entire ti for the punchline, so where is it? If you haven’t prepared a good punchline, I swear I’ll punch you!”

“Punchline?” Yume blinked and tilted her head to one side “There’s no punchline”

“What!?” Ranta tipped himself over dra story without a punchline?! What are you going to do when I drown in a doard spiral of shattered expectations?”

“How is that a bad thing?” shi+horu said in a tiny voice “If you just go drown and die”

“Hey!” Ranta pointed his finger at shi+horu “Hey! Hey! I heard you! I heard what you said, shi+horu! You want me to die!”

“I was just saying How is it a bad thing if you were to die by drowning?”

“If you suggest the cause of death it doesn’t matter if you do it politely! You’re the worst! The worst hu ever! The worst rotten villainess in all of history!”

“Just ignore hiently petting her on the head “No need to listen to anything the lowest of lowlifes says shi+horu hasn’t done anything wrong It’s the lowlife who’s bad He’s so low that he can’t even be considered human, really”

“I am human!”

“A curly-haired human?” Haruhiro said and Ranta affirlared at Haruhiro as he caught on

“Curly hair has nothing to do with it!” Ranta said, pulling at said hair “In fact, a curly-haired person is a good person! People without curly hair aren’t people at all, so there!”

“In that case,” Mogzo sed a mouthful of bread the size of a fist “It’s okay if I’m not human”

“Yume too,” Yume said

“…Me too,” shi+horu added

“Sareed

“Hold on,” Manato said, his expression almost, but not quite, solemn “Let’s think about this rationally Is curly hair really the proble with curly hair in of itself In fact, curly hair ht even be the victim here…”

“Huh?” Ranta pulled on his hair “Victim? My hair? So does that mean I’m the criminal?! And it’s because of !?”

“Ranta, I’”

“God darin on your face so I can’t tell when you’re joking or being serious! You’re a masked black-bellied traitor!”

“H-h-he’s not!” shi+horu suddenly stood up, her face a bright red She looked so outraged that steam seemed to rise from her head “Manato’s not black-bellied or a traitor! You take that back right now!”

Ranta flinched “H-hey, I have a point though, right? If you think about it, if I have to take it, I have the right to dish some out too”

“Take it back!” shi+horu demanded

“Fine, fine! I get it I’ll take it back Manato’s doesn’t have a black belly His belly is white I see it in the baths every day, so I know it’s white It’s white, that Manato’s belly Seriously White For a guy Even for a girl, it’d be a high level of whiteness”

“White…” shi+horu swayed back and forth a little “Manato’s… belly… baths…”

“Whiter than a girl, huh?” Manato lifted up his Priest’s outer robes and then the shi+rt underneath “I don’t really think so, but Haruhiro, is my belly that white?”

“Er, well…” Haruhiro looked from shi+horu to Manato, then to shi+horu, then to Manato again

Indeed his abdomen hite, but shi+horu’s skin was fairer But that wasn’t really the point Haruhiro already somewhat suspected, but now he knew for sure shi+horu liked Manato Was Manato pretending that he hadn’t noticed? If so, then Haruhiro felt bad for her; however, he also had a feeling that wasn’t the case

“I guess it’s pretty white, now that you mention it Yeah, white And your skin is very smooth too,” Haruhiro said

“S to fall over at any moment “Skin… smooth…”

“shi+horu… are you okay?” Yume ood to fantasize too much all at once It’s better to fantasize a little bit at a time shi+horu? shi+horu?”

shi+horu sighed heavily and leaned against Yume, in a complete daze

Oops, Haruhiro thought Maybe I overdid it… But at that , that is to say cute, shi+horu was

Ranta scoffed in apparent disgust and turned away He began to eat his lunch, putting on an air of general disinterest Was it possible that Ranta liked shi+horu? And shi+horu seemed to be interested in Manato, so Ranta was upset over that?

If so, Ranta should rethink a great irl like hiirls hate him

“We’ve really becoood team,” Manato whispered

“Oh?” Haruhiro replied

“We’re able to take on three goblins at a ti ere able to defeat the a kukri than a bow; in fact, she’s quite good with it If we plan carefully, we can probably take on four at a time”

“I see…” Haruhiro thought about it for a moment

Mogzo and Manato could take one each while he, Ranta, and Yume would handle the other two shi+horu could immediately disable one with her [SHADOW ECHO] skill and if they could finish it off quickly, then he had a feeling four was eable

“Yeah, we can probably handle four,” Haruhiro agreed

“Mogzo’s beco that just his presence in a fight intimidates our opponents He also handles that blade with a fair as it, hits tend to land”

“I think so too,” Haruhiro said “Mogzo’s swordplay is pretty skillful”

Mogzo sed another mouthful of bread “R-really? I don’t know about that, but I do like handling jobs that require precision”

“That doesn’t suit you!” Ranta burst out angrily for no apparent reason, zo flinch “Or at least that’s what I think”

Haruhiro glared ood for nothing juvenile delinquent, unlike someone else here”

“Oh?” Ranta shot back “Are you talking ’bout ht?”

Yuly, peered at Ranta coldly “Yume is sure no one has ever called Ranta that, not even once”

“Ranta’s a,” Manato’s sole around this ti all out He’s not afraid of failing, so he will probably master skills faster than anyone Everyone else, myself included, we’re averse to risk If it wasn’t for Ranta, we’d never be able to keep advancing”

“Is that so?” Ranta’s expression looked uncertain “In that case, my nickname’s ‘Advancement Cyclone Machine’?”

“What happened to ‘Precision Whirlwind Machine’?” Haruhiro reht-man

“And shi+horu…” Manato paused He hts, Haruhiro guessed “shi+horu has a good understanding of the bigger picture The majority of Das spells confuse or stun enehts She chose to learn shadow ht, shi+horu?”

shi+horu looked awestruck with surprise for a ht it was rather fitting of shi+horu to choose the rather specialized Das over easier to understand fire, ice, or lighting ic Maybe it didn’t exactly suit her, but shi+horu didn’t siht things out for the sake of the tea

I’ht I don’t really know her at all

Manato shi+fted his gaze to Yue than any of us As a healer, I so happens, Yume wouldn’t hesitate to jump in to help”

“Yume wouldn’t?” Yume pointed to herself Her expression softened “Yuhts, but Yuht Sorry for not being good with a bow, even though Yume’s a Hunter”

“Everyone has areas where they’re weak and things that they can’t do well,” Manato said, more to himself than anyone else “There’s tiht become fatal flaws for one lone person, but we’re a team We cover each other’s weaknesses”

“True,” Yume nodded several times “Very true Fro the team down”

Ranta scoffed “You ht? ‘Brestest’ sounds like some sort of special type of breasts”

Yu brestest breasts would be like They’re probably a completely different type from Yume’s small ones”

It was too good of an opportunity not to interject, so Haruhiro said, “Maybe it’s a sub-type”

Yume looked at Haruhiro, her expression completely serious “Haru, you really think so?”

“Err… maybe Who knows?”

“What kind of sub-type? Brestest It does have a cute ring to it”

“B-br…” Mogzo started to say Everyone’s attention suddenly turned to him Sweat suddenly started to run down his forehead and he wiped it aith one hand “U-uh… Nevermind Really, nevermind”

“Now I’zo

Mogzo turned his own gaze to the ground and after a while, finally said, “S-sorry”

With his apology, no one else pursued it any further but… what in the world was it that he wanted to say? shi+horu wasn’t the only one as curious…

The chit-chat went on for a while longer as they finished their lunches Then the afternoon portion of their goblin search began It was only after they had started off that Haruhiro realized so Manato had plenty of praise for everyone else, but didn’t say a word about Haruhiro Maybe Manato had just forgotten about hi about hi

Did Manato have a low opinion of hi more than someone to make small talk with? It made hio up to Manato now and ask, ‘Hey, what aboutfor compliments was just too pathetic

Forget it, he told himself

Manato had either just forgotten or the direction of the conversation had changed before Manato had gotten to him It had to be one of those two reasons, Haruhiro decided He felt a little, just a tiny bit, better

Concentrate He had to concentrate on the task at hand

Haruhiro raised a hand, a signal for the tea’s there…”

Reconnaissance went first so everyone quickly concealed themselves behind cover while Haruhiro, as usual, went ahead alone Ranta would also co on rare occasions, but to be honest, it was easier when he was just by himself and the only person he had to worry about was himself

Of course he was doing his best not to h money, the Thief class skill [STEALTH WALK] would be one that he wanted to learn There was definitely so able to move silently and he wanted to learn it He wanted Master Barbara to teach him

The goblins were inside a cru made of stone The balcony-like second floor was basically non-existent and a portion of the walls on the first floor had collapsed On the second floor was a goblin in plate-aroblin was sitting on the ground on the first floor It was big for a goblin

Norht of huoblin that reached four and a half feet was considered a giant for the species That goblin sitting on the first floor, though, was somehow different It was hard to tell froer than the goblin on the second floor

It was the first tioblin like that, and he couldn’t quite see what kind of weapon it carried, though it earing chainmail ar, but no other goblins were around—so then it was only the plate-ariant Haruhiro returned to the others

“Bad news,” he reported “There’s only two but one is huge Alht as us”

Manato’s eyes widened ever so slightly “A hobgoblin A sub-species of goblin but bigger and stronger than a norent Goblins use them as servants sometimes”

Ranta licked his lips “If it has a servant, ita bunch of valuables”

Haruhiro scratched his chin with the tip of a finger “You oblin earing chain enough for one of us to use”

Mogzo sighed loudly For Warriors, the ones who had to face their opponents head on in fights, protective gear was especially iear was out of the question, so the only other options were only to chance upon used aro to a blackset the size of used arzo included, were still using the second-hand gear their guilds had provided

“Two goblins” Manato cast his gaze doards, deep in thought

Yuhtly skyward as she said, “If it’s just two, Yume thinks we could take them”

“If I can bind one with rip on her staff “It should be easy after that”