Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Qualifications of a Hero (5)
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Kalt looked straight ahead.
"Urraaat!"
Mabel darted around on her own, nimbly dodging the ogre's attacks left and right while swinging her sword.
Still just afterimage scratches, but definitely drawing blood.
Before those afterimage wounds could heal, Ianna's wind blades followed up, dealing just a bit more damage.
"Mabel! That's enough!"
"Huh?"
At Kalt's voice, Mabel turned around.
Seeing the flickering, incomplete Mana Blade rippling along Kalt's sword, Mabel's eyes widened in surprise.
"Whoa, it really worked?"
('You told me to do it!')
"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get over here! Show 'em the power of Kalt, awakened thanks to me!"
"What do you mean 'thanks to you'!"
Irritated by Mabel's words, Kalt kicked off the ground.
"I told you to awaken, and it happened!"
"That doesn't make any sense!"
Kalt kicked off the ground.
With his Blessing still active, he closed the distance to the ogre in an instant.
-Kuoooo!
Maybe figuring attacks on the slippery Mabel were pointless, the ogre swung its axe down at Kalt, who had appeared right in front of it.
"This is all... the result of my hard work!"
Twisting at the waist, Kalt swung his sword upward in a crescent arc.
The ogre's arms, caught in the path of that blue crescent...
Sschwick!
Were sliced clean off.
-Kuoooo!
('This is Mana Blade? Even in this unstable form?')
There had been no resistance when he swung—no snag or catch at all.
It felt just like slicing through thin air.
Now Kalt finally understood why vanguards went on and on about Mana Blade.
"Yes! Sliced 'em!"
Mabel's eyes gleamed as she seized the opening.
"With all that flesh and muscle exposed! Easy pickings!"
Mabel channeled her Blessing to its maximum.
Leaping high and twisting at the waist, she spun her body like a top.
Shaaaaack!
Empowered by her Blessing, her sword whirled at blinding speed, burrowing into the fresh stump where Kalt had severed the ogre's arms.
The ogre's hide tore from the inside out, starting at the cut surface.
Not from the outer layer, but from deep beneath the skin—Mabel's blade at full Blessing ripped it to shreds.
"Urraaaaa!"
Like a salmon battling upstream, Mabel climbed all the way to the ogre's shoulder.
Arriving right beside its head, she used the momentum of her lingering spin.
"Haaap!"
And smashed the flat of her blade into the side of the ogre's face.
"Fall... downnn!"
The ogre, reeling in agony from its severed arms courtesy of Kalt, had lifted them in pain—its balance already shaky.
Mabel's strike in that moment...
Kuuuung!
Toppled the beast's massive bulk.
"Kalt! Neck! The neck, quick!"
"I know!"
The first Mana Blade he'd ever formed.
He hadn't noticed much in the heat of the first swing, but when Mabel spun like a top and carved into the arm, Kalt felt it.
('Lose focus, and it fades fast! And it guzzles mana!')
Lacking proficiency and proper control, the unstable Mana Blade drained his mana at an alarming rate.
Kalt focused on holding the blade together as he rushed to the fallen ogre's neck.
"Haaat!"
Sschwick!
Before it could rise, he swiftly severed its head.
And from that day on, Mabel's party earned the title of veteran party—and their fame began to skyrocket.
"Wow..."
Nellis stared at Kalt with wide eyes, her excitement refusing to fade even after hearing his full tale.
The story wasn't just about Mabel's party ascending to true veteran status.
('It's Kalt's very first Mana Blade experience!')
It was the exact awakening scene she'd been dying to witness for herself.
And thanks to Kalt's deep, resonant voice, it hadn't been boring at all. His vivid descriptions made it all too easy to picture in her mind.
As Nellis drowned in awe and thrill, Scarlet crossed her arms with a dissatisfied frown.
"Hey, Kalt."
"Yeah."
"That Mabel—the Fastest Hero. From the story... isn't she basically just a kid who never grew up? All her actions sound like a spoiled brat throwing tantrums."
"Spot on. She's had that same childish personality since we were kids."
"Ugh..."
Scarlet recoiled in disgust at Kalt's confirmation.
She'd secretly admired Mabel's party too, as a fellow slacker outfit.
She wanted that kind of strength for herself.
From Kalt's account, Mabel clearly had the skills.
Even with her Blessing, fighting by leveraging that speed was proof enough of her power.
But learning that the Fastest Hero she'd idolized was really just a muscle-headed kid?
Her imagined image of a cool, dashing hero shattered completely.
"So that Hero Mabel's always been like that? No, seriously—why didn't you ditch her first?"
"Told you. My parents died in the epidemic, and her folks took me in. No matter how bratty she is, she's the precious daughter of the people who saved me. Couldn't just let her die."
"Kalt..."
Aria gazed at him with respect and affection, moved by how he cherished old favors.
"Well... she ended up kicking me out anyway."
"Are you okay with that, Kalt? Getting expelled."
"Hahaha, like hell I am. Even now, it still boils my blood."
"Ah..."
His smile was friendly enough, but the aura rolling off him was downright murderous.
Sensing it, Nellis's party all thought the same thing:
Old stories are fine, but never bring up the expulsion.
"Anyway, that's the end of the story."
Kalt stood up.
"So today, everyone just relax and—"
Bang!
"H-Hey, big trouble!"
The village baker burst through the inn door.
"...?"
"Bakery?"
"What's wrong?"
Nellis, Scarlet, Aria, Nadia, and Lunia all blinked in confusion at the sudden intrusion.
Kalt went straight to the baker.
"What happened?"
"K-Kobolds! Packs of 'em invading the village right now!"
"What!?"
"Kobold pack?"
"S-Suddenly?"
"How'd you know?"
"D-Deco's on the watchtower, yelling it to everyone!"
There was a tall wooden watchtower at the village entrance.
"H-He spotted a whole kobold pack heading our way from afar! H-Help us! At this rate, the village is done for—wiped out!"
Right on cue.
"Everyone, kobolds! Kobold pack! They're coming!"
The panicked shouts of the man they assumed was Deco rang out toward the villagers.
And they were drawing closer!
"Nadia! Lunia! Kobold pack incoming! Hero party's here ri—... Oh, Bakery."
"D-Deco! I just told the hero party."
"Got it. H-Heroes! Please, we beg you!"
Deco looked like a fresh-faced young man.
"You're all we've got right now. Please, save our village!"
Seeing the baker and the watchtower youth in such desperate straits, Nellis's party grasped the gravity of the situation.
"A kobold pack—how many?"
"Even from a distance, over fifty easy."
"Fifty?!"
Nellis's party had slain more than fifty kobolds total up to now.
But that was fifty picked off steadily day by day. A sudden swarm of fifty was a whole different level of threat.
Bakery and Deco's faces fell into despair at the trio's shock.
Even a hero party had limits.
Could they stand against fifty kobolds?
In the worst case, they might abandon the village.
Sadly, this village had never produced a hero.
The kingdom had never sent proper aid—no reinforcements to the palisade, no stationed adventurer parties.
No one to hold onto, so without Nellis's party, the village truly would've been doomed.
Yet even they—who'd guarded against the sudden kobold surges for nearly a month—were stunned and panicking.
Is this it for our village?
As that thought hung in the air.
"Got it."
A deep, reassuring voice cut through.
Deco and Bakery turned to Kalt.
He hadn't panicked, recoiled, or despaired.
Kalt just flashed the warm smile of a good-hearted young man and clenched his fist.
"Leave it to us. We'll protect the village for sure."
"Ah..."
"R-Really?"
"Yes. Just one thing..."
He paused, chuckling softly, then turned to Bakery.
"After we wipe 'em all out, some fresh-baked bread would be great. We'll be starving by then."
"Y-Yeah! Of course! The best bread of my life!"
"Can't wait."
Kalt whirled to face Nellis's group.
"Nellis, Scarlet, Aria. Gear up—now."
"Y-Yes, Kalt!"
"On it!"
"Right, Kalt!"
Nellis's crew bolted for their rooms and gear. Kalt dashed up to the second floor.
"Ah..."
Bakery owner Bakery and watchtower Deco.
"Kalt..."
And Nadia with Lunia.
In the eyes of the villagers, Kalt's back looked utterly reliable.