NOVEL WEB Book 1: Chapter 21
Invitation
「You are……」
When Sera called out to the blood soaked child, the wary killing intent that felt chilling like ice slightly softened. Even so the sharpness that was unthinkable for a child still didn’t vanish. She was continuing to be alert with her knife held in a fighting stance.
Sera suddenly realized when she saw that. This child didn’t trust other people……she didn’t trust “adult”.
「……That girl is safe you know?」
When she called out once more by saying that, it seemed that the girl finally judged that she wasn’t an enemy. Her remaining killing intent vanished as though it was melting into the night. That child finally turned her gaze from right in front of her toward Sera. As expected, this child threw herself into a reckless fight in order to draw away the monsters from Meena. And then she even defeated a rank 2 monster like hobgoblin until she became battered like this.
Even though this child didn’t trust other people, she still wasn’t distorted as a “person”.
(……She is similar.)
That child’s eyes that were staring at Sera right from the front felt like they were similar to Sera’s superior, his excellency the margrave, both in eye color and also in strength. Who was this child? Her mettle and killing intent were unbelievable for a child. She even felt that they surpassed even her son who had been training in combat since he had gained awareness.
When Sera unconsciously took a step forward in search for the answer, that child tried to take some distance away from her as though to run away, but her body wavered and fell down as though she was fainting.
「Tsu!」
Sera closed the distance of several meters in an instant. She caught the child’s body just before her head hit the ground.
「…………」
The child’s body was really thin and small. This kind of child fought a hobgoblin. She must have used up all her mind and spirit for it. The child looked just like an adorable kid when she fell asleep. Sera who had a child who was the same age with her wiped the blood dirtying her cheek like a mother.
「……Let’s return.」
She picked up the knife and equipment the girl dropped. Among them she found a weighted cord that was made from hair. The cord was almost coming apart from its seam. Something about it caught her attention and she put it into her pocket.
「…………」
I was in an unknown room when I woke up……if I remembered correctly……I fought a hobgoblin until it died……what happened? I didn’t really remember things from the middle, but I felt like I saw someone who seemed to be a maid at the end.
……Well, it didn’t matter I guess. I saw a dream of Okaa-san after so long for some reason. It made me felt slightly good.
My body felt slightly sluggish but there was no serious injury remaining, so I was relieved. Or rather, there was no injury remaining at all on me. Putting aside the scars from the past, all the wounds that I got within this month had vanished without any trace.
Perhaps someone had used Cure on me very thoroughly.
For now, I checked my own situation. My blood soaked cloth had been taken off from me and a simple cloth that could be bought from anywhere and usually used as night wear was put on me. My body felt clean, but not fully like when I had just taken a bath. Even though the small dirt had been removed, large filth like mud was still slightly remaining, so perhaps the dirt on my body was removed using some kind of magical mean.
There was no weapon around me. Were my weapons left on that place……. I wanted to at least recover Galbas’s black knife and Feld’s knife, but I guessed I should count myself fortunate that I at least still had my life.
But there was something that weighed in my mind more. The quality of my magic power……that wasn’t it. It played a part, but it was the magic power’s flow itself that felt excessively smoother inside me. When I tried using Appraisal on myself, I found that my status had become something outrageous.
.
▼ Aria (Alicia) Race : Human ♀ – Rank 1
【Magic Power : 107/112】△ 35 UP【Stamina : 48/60】△ 5 UP
【Strength : 4 (5)】【Endurance : 5 (6)】【Agility : 7 (8)】【Dexterity : 6】
《Short Sword Skill Level 1》《Martial Art Level 1》》《Throwing Level 1》NEW
《Light Sorcery Level 1》》《Darkness Magic Level 1》NEW《Non-Elemental Magic Level 1》
《Daily Life Magic×６》《Magic Power Control Level 2》△ 1 UP
《Pressure Level 2》△ 1 UP《Stealth Level 1》《Night Vision Level 1》《Search Level 1》
《Simple Appraisal》
【Overall Combat Strength : 58 (With Body Strengthening : 63)】△ 19 UP
.
……What’s this? I already got the feeling somehow that I learned Throwing.
But……what was this Darkness Magic Level 1? It wasn’t darkness sorcery? Was that why my magic power control became level 2? My rank was still 1 but, my magic power had also increased drastically and my combat strength also went up.
And then for some reason even Pressure also leveled up. I didn’t understand the reason.
The quality of my magic power increased……somehow I understood why from seeing my status. I was just guessing but, the 『magic stone』 of darkness element had been formed inside my body. Even though I thought that the magic stone wouldn’t be formed unless I used sorcery of that element many times, it actually could be formed from something like this too……. When I tried using Dark as a test, darkness element magic particles flooded out from inside my body even though I didn’t even dye them.
「……Well, it doesn’t matter.」
It wasn’t like it was something bad. The flow of magic power inside my body became smoother, perhaps because of the magic stone or perhaps because of my magic power control. It made me felt like my body was in a better state than before.
(……Hm?)
It was then, my Search detected the presence of someone approaching. The vibration from this careless way of walking……where it also felt like the person was subconsciously erasing his body weight…….
*Slam!*
「Yo, are you awake-」
「……As I thought, it’s you Viro.」
What were you going to do if I was still asleep? No, this was Viro, so I guessed that he had noticed I was awake on his way to here. That was why he let his presence be known in exchange of greeting.
Viro entered as he pleased and sat on the chair beside the bed as he pleased. He was sending me a gaze that looked exasperated but also teasing.
「I heard you defeated a hobgoblin? Pretty reckless of you there. Normally you will die if you take on a hobgoblin and four goblins with your combat strength.」
「I’ll do better next time.」
Viro’s face became even more exasperated when I said that without any emotion of excitement and introspection.
「……What’s that?」
Viro’s hand was holding a box that was giving off a nice smell. When I pointed that out, Viro remembered and opened the box’s lid.
「Aria. You fell asleep for a whole day again. I thought that you are going to be hungry, so I asked for your portion too when I had breakfast. Eat it, eat.」
「……Meat……」
Even though I thought that it was the morning that came after last night, it looked like it had been the next day instead. But, the 『breakfast』 that Viro had with him consisted of boiled sausages and thickly cut hams. There was also grilled lamb meat with bones still attached. It was a meat only menu right from the morning. Perhaps it was a menu that was to be expected from a bachelor adventurer, but a slightly lighter menu would be better for a stomach that hadn’t been filled with anything for a whole day. However…….
「……I’ll eat.」
Perhaps because my magic power had almost run dry once, my body greatly desired food. Besides I didn’t know when was the next time I would be able to eat, so I’d eat if it wasn’t poison. Even so the oily taste made me felt like something was rising from my stomach, so I nibbled on the ham bit by bit like a squirrel while asking Viro for necessary information.
It seemed those hobgoblin and goblins were actually 『stray monsters』. They got away when their nest at the other territory got wiped out and wandered until this area. It seemed Dandall who got that report dispatched the knights yesterday to subjugate the monsters in this area with Dandall knight order’s pride on the line.
「……And, what happens with my job now?」
I defeated a hobgoblin, but if I prioritized my duty, I should only give a warning to that maid that I found and prioritized giving a report back to the mansion rather than the maid’s safety. But I didn’t do that. Furthermore I fainted after that and skipped my work for a whole day, so it was unthinkable that slum child hater Castro would let me off just like this. When I asked Viro that about that, Viro washed down the lamb meat he bit off into his stomach with fruit wine (right from the morning) while folding his arms in thought.
「About that, I heard that there is going to be a new work for you?」
「A new work?」
「Ou, ……oh, nice timing. You can hear about it from the person herself. Is that you Sera? You can come in.」
The door was knocked at the same time when Viro called out to behind him. Entering from that door was……an astonishingly beautiful maid with light brown skin?
It seemed Viro noticed her but, I was unable to detect her approach.
.
▼ Beautiful Maid Race : Human ♀
【Magic Power : 178/220】【Stamina : 245/260】
【Overall Combat Strength : 929 (With Body Strengthening : 1126)】
.
……She wasn’t just a maid. She had combat strength that was almost equal to Viro. She was absurdly skilled.
And this skin color……a Cruzian? That word naturally floated in my mind. The related knowledge also surfaced.
Just like how there was 『dog race』 and 『cat race』 beastmen among the demihuman, there were also various types of human race based on their race.
For dwarf, there was 『mountain dwarf』 that specialized in woodworking and handiwork, and 『rock dwarf』 that specialized in blacksmithing. For elf, there was 『forest elf』 and 『dark elf』.
And then in the human race’s case, there were two races in this continent. Cruz people who had light brown skin were the original inhabitant of this continent. They weren’t really good with elemental sorcery, but I heard that they were a race that specialized in combat with high agility and dexterity.
The other race was called 『Melsenian』, the white skinned people like Viro and me. It seemed that we were descendant of people who migrated here from the northern continent around a thousand years ago. This Claydale Kingdom was made up of 70% Melsenian, 20% demihuman, and 10% Cruzian.
This Sera who seemed to be a Cruzian was sending a piercingly chilling gaze at the 『breakfast』 that Viro brought with him. Then she opened the dome shaped lid from the metal tray that she was carrying.
「Why are you giving something like that to a child who have just recovered? You there, eat this. I brought you a milk porridge.」
After she said that, she held out the porridge that had slightly sweet smell toward me. She was unexpectedly pushy and forcefully made me accepted the porridge, but this dish was far better than meat, and to be honest I didn’t have any fixation with what I ate as long as it would settle down in my stomach.
「You can keep eating while listening to me. First here is your equipments that I recovered from the scene. I’m returning them back.」
Sera watched me starting to eat in satisfaction. Then she pushed Viro aside and sat down on the chair before putting my equipment on the bedside. ……Additional information. Viro was weak against strong-willed woman of marriageable age.
「This magic steel knife is a quality weapon. Other than them there is also money that I found, so I kept them in my safekeeping. Please check whether all of them are here.」
「……And the weighted cord?」
Everything other than the black knife was replaceable, but other than the throwing knives and the spare knife, there were only the bent bronze coins. I couldn’t find the cord that was knitted from my hair.
「That cord was damaged greatly and I decided that they couldn’t be reused anymore, so I threw them away on my own discretion. There is no problem with that isn’t it?」
「……Yes.」
It couldn’t be helped if it was unusable. Even so, the remaining hair in my baggage wasn’t enough to knit a new cord. ……I had to think of something to be a new replacement weapon.
I finished eating the porridge while thinking of that, then Sera put away the bowl before facing me once more.
「Then let’s get into the main topic. I have prepared a new job for you. You are rank 1, but I heard that you are more or less and adventurer, so this is a request that I’m making directly to you and not through Viro.」
「Request?」
Sera nodded at my reply and explained the content of the request.
「Will you work under me as a maid apprentice and go through 『combat maid』 training?」