Chapter 41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Cliché
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Let me get straight to the point. It failed. Or should I say it half-failed?
Last night, after returning to the inn, I kept fondling and "tasting" the disposable magic tools I'd bought, trying to build up my understanding of them, but I failed to duplicate any of them.
'I didn't really expect to duplicate them in just one day.'
Now that my Duplication capacity had grown quite a bit and my senses had developed evenly throughout my body, it had become a little easier to build understanding when observing something. But my Duplication ability wasn't the kind that could be used so easily from the start.
Lately, I'd been succeeding in Duplications on the first try every time, so I'd gotten too complacent about it.
"Well, the things I've succeeded in duplicating lately on the first try were already ones I'd built up some understanding on..."
For two years of constant hunting, goblins had unknowingly built up understanding in me, and I'd mistakenly thought these would be the same as humans, the easiest to build understanding for.
Not to mention, this was different from the simple weapons made of common iron materials I'd handled often before.
Ah, but it wasn't like I had zero results.
"Why did that one succeed?"
I pondered the one and only case from last night where I'd succeeded in duplicating a magic tool amid all the failures.
Among the magic tools I'd bought, it was the most expensive one.
But compared to its high price, it had the least magical elements of them all—a peculiar item.
'Was it easier to build understanding because it had fewer magical elements? And I'd handled similar things before... But that was experience from Earth? Does Earth experience count toward understanding?'
"What're you thinking so hard about?"
"Ah. Master."
I'd come down to the training grounds first and was warming up when Karen emerged from inside, yawning and looking a bit tired.
"You look tired."
"Ah... Last night, I got too boastful and it lit a fire under me."
"Boastful?"
"It's nothing. Anyway, before we start today's training, I have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Nothing big. Tomorrow morning, something came up, so we'll have to skip training for the day."
Since coming to Phallos—except for the first day—Karen had trained me every single day, but now she informed me with a slightly apologetic look that she couldn't tomorrow.
"What happened?"
"Hmm... Since you're the one involved, I guess it's okay to tell you. That Black Sacred Relic you found. I'm going to see the real thing."
"...The real thing? Wait, it was here this whole time?"
Hearing Karen's words, I shuddered slightly as I recalled that horrific demonic sword that had nearly half-devoured me back then.
I still occasionally had nightmares of being eaten by that sword.
Come to think of it, I hadn't even cared what happened to it after that.
Well, if they'd recovered it, they probably did so long ago.
Master had said she had business at the Magic Tower... Did the Magic Tower recover it? Then Laila's master?
"But could they even move it? It tore off and ate your arm just for grabbing it."
"You used it yourself, right? There's a way. Gula devours mana-like energies or living flesh easily, but it can't properly digest inorganic matter."
Inorganic matter, huh... Yeah, if it ate that too, it would've chewed right through the ruins' floor from the start.
"Anyway, I can't tell you the location. It's a special place... So because of that, no training tomorrow."
Hmm. Well... She'd warned me from the beginning that there might be a few days without sword training after arriving here.
Still, going to see that Black Sacred Relic was nagging at me a bit.
'No. Don't get curious. I'm sick of getting tangled up in that stuff.'
To suppress my rising curiosity, I charged at Karen, who had raised her wooden sword.
As if to make up for tomorrow's skipped session, Karen met me with movements faster and stronger than usual.
-Crack!!
"Oho... Your movements are even more efficient now... And occasionally, your gaze drifts upward unconsciously—looks like you've been facing big opponents lately?"
"Orcs... Ack!"
In just a brief clash, Karen had figured out what I'd been facing lately. She ducked my wooden sword swing in a surprise move and thrust upward toward my chin from below.
"Ack?!"
To dodge the strike from a perfect blind spot, I hurriedly backpedaled, but Karen predicted it and followed right after me, aiming her sword at my throat.
"...I lost."
"Mm. Facing the same opponents over and over can ingrain bad habits, so be careful."
Karen pointed out how I'd unconsciously guarded upward from dealing only with orcs these past few days, smiling.
She was critiquing, but her expression brimmed with pride.
"Still, you've grown a lot. Real combat really is the best teacher, huh? Just now, you tried to kick me while retreating."
Karen pointed to her abdomen where my ankle had swung.
As she'd said, I'd attempted a counter-kick to her body while evading.
She'd read it and smoothly deflected, so it had no effect.
"The idea was good, but when countering with your legs like that, wear shin guards. If they target your leg instead of your chin, it'll get sliced right off..."
Repeating today's advice to myself, I finished sword training.
Thinking about tomorrow without Karen, I started planning loosely when she approached after wiping her sweat and said something.
"Ah. You said you're still taking requests every day?"
"Yes. As I mentioned, mostly orc hunts."
"Hmm... This is just an old lady's needless worry, but be careful when taking requests and heading out of the city."
"...Be careful how?"
It was surprising coming from Karen, who usually approved of my requests as honing real combat sense without discouraging me.
"In that request you took before, they found a necromancer hiding underground in Revil, right?"
"Yeah. They did."
"Yeah. Because of that, other cities are doing massive internal sweeps now... Not just Revil—Evil God followers have been spotted in other cities too."
Karen spoke of the Evil God followers with chilling coldness.
"Tch. Cockroaches... Anyway, they've found hidden Evil God followers in other cities too, and in the process, ordinary citizens and low-rank adventurers have been sacrificed sometimes."
"Like in Revil?"
"Yeah. Normally, even the grunts don't get found this easily, so is their discipline slipping... Or has their scale grown so much they're getting exposed...?"
Karen's expression turned serious for a moment before she regained her cheerful smile to reassure me.
"Well, Phallos just did a sweep recently, so you probably won't run into them... Just be cautious since it's happening."
"Hmm..."
I debated whether to tell the cheerfully smiling Karen one thing.
That this kind of worried warning was such a cliché.
"A different request?"
"Yeah. Tomorrow morning's free too."
"Hmm."
During today's joint request with her. I made a proposal to Laila.
With Karen away tomorrow, my morning would be free, so how about meeting a bit earlier than usual and taking a request different from the norm?
'I've been taking only orc hunts daily partly because they're the most available... but also because there aren't any I can finish in the afternoon.'
As Karen pointed out today, fighting the same opponents repeatedly doesn't help my growth much.
With some extra time now, I suggested trying a request that takes longer.
Karen had added some needless warning after...
'Even if she says be careful, there's not much I can do anyway.'
Strictly speaking, holing up in the inn would be safest, but I had no intention of wasting time like that in this crucial period.
And if we're talking danger, fighting monsters outside is just as risky, Evil God followers or not.
'Most of the magic tools failed to duplicate, but there's one I succeeded on, and I want to test it in real combat.'
"Sure, whatever. Before you came to Phallos, I was doing requests from morning alone anyway."
Anyway, after proposing that to Laila amid those thoughts, she thankfully accepted readily.
Good. Would've been awkward if she'd refused.
"So. What request are you thinking?"
"Something that takes longer but pays more... How about this one?"
I explained a request I'd eyed at the guild beforehand to Laila.
The request was to hunt magical beasts inhabiting a rocky mountain about an hour's distance from the plains where we usually hunted orcs and bring back their byproducts.
'Stone Beetles? What weird magical beasts they have.'
From the request description, they lived in rocky areas, eating rocks as their name implied, and their stone-hard shells were used in various materials.
Seemed tough to fight with a sword, but that made it even better for improving my skills, so I picked it.
'Guild info says even swordsmen can handle them by targeting the shell joints precisely... Perfect for honing technique.'
A bit tricky, but manageable even for D-rank adventurers.
Laila nodded readily after hearing the details, settling our plans for tomorrow.
At that moment.
-Drip. Drip drip.
"Yaaawn... I'm staaarving..."
In a place filled only with colorless boulders and dust, a woman with swaying pink hair scowled and grumbled.
"Ugh... Why are the Magic Tower and Temple suddenly crawling all over the city? I can't even go hunting!"
-Flap flap.
Flapping black wings no human, elf, dwarf, or beastman would have, the woman badmouthed the Magic Tower and Temple holy knights busy with city sweeps lately.
"Should I catch some orcs...? Eek, they taste awful..."
Imagining a hideous green beast briefly, she dry-heaved and banished the thought.
Clutching her hungry stomach, she grumbled complaints into the air.
"Sigh... Will no mana-rich mage or virile man show up?"
A sigh poignant enough to stir any man's heart.
The moment it spread, the magical beasts wandering nearby halted all at once.
-Sssss...
As if entranced, they slowly began approaching her location.