Heart (4)
Ask anyone what the most common monster is, and most people will name the goblin. These little creatures would appear out of nowhere in any remote field or mountain, and they were so weak that a reasonably fit adult man could drive them off without much trouble.
But even the weakest monsters could become a problem if they gathered in numbers. That was why adventurers had an unspoken rule: hunt down even trash like goblins whenever you spotted them. They were so insignificant that commissions to deal with them almost never came in.
And yet, on the road to face those very goblins, there was a man whose face was set in a grim, tense expression.
"Ain, aren't you worrying a little too much? They're just goblins."
A black-haired woman called the man's name with a grin. Jina walked along as if she were out for a stroll, carrying nothing but a pair of leather gloves, her mood so light it was almost insulting.
"They're just goblins! Nothing's going to happen!"
"Don't say that!! That's foreshadowing if I've ever heard it!"
"When we get back, let's have that wedding we've been putting off. I'll be such a happy bride."
"I said stop!"
Ain shouted like a man having a fit, and Jina burst out laughing at the sight of him. Watching the two of them from a step behind, Er spoke up.
"That's enough teasing. Ain, we should be getting close. There are footprints."
"Yeah? Then first..."
Ain rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a glass bottle filled with a brown, sludgy liquid. It was a swamp potion, synthesized from slime mucus mixed with various other ingredients. He held it up.
"Alright. I'll give it a shot?"
"Yes. Be careful."
"We'll wait here."
Hearing their replies, Ain headed deeper into the forest to lure the goblins himself. Jina and Er had only come along to support him. Following his wish to be able to do something on his own, they planned to offer only the bare minimum of help. Their job was simply this: if things went south, they would finish off the monsters in Ain's place, since he couldn't land a killing blow.
Watching Ain's retreating back — the back of a man who had insisted he would handle everything else himself — Jina muttered without thinking.
"Ain's all fired up."
"Can you blame him? He never said anything, but I think this has been eating at him for a while."
"With that temper of his, it's a miracle he didn't just storm off on his own."
Better to give him something he could do himself than watch him keep running off and causing disasters every time he did.
"It would've been nice if we had a trapper or a mage we could ask for advice."
"Yeah. Haru went back to the Guild again because of last time."
There were types of magic that could hinder an opponent's movement, so advice from a mage would have been invaluable. Unfortunately, Haru was currently occupied as a Guild-affiliated mage, conducting investigations and searches related to the mana that had surfaced during the robbery incident. She could have refused if she wanted to, but they still needed to recover Jina and Er's strength and purchase new weapons for them before they could take on commissions. There was no real reason to turn the Guild down right now.
"Well, whatever. Ain can figure it out as he goes, and so can we. Experience is experience."
"Still, both of us are the type who fight up close. Not sure how useful we'll be with this."
"Heh. If you don't think you can handle it, you're welcome to go home."
"...No. I'm not leaving you two here by yourselves."
"Jealousy is so unbecoming."
"I'll take all the criticism you want if it means I can get in the way of you and Ain!"
Er glared at Jina as she said this. Jina just smirked right back, refusing to yield — until the sound of Ain's return cut their staring contest short.
"Er, Jina! Come over here!"
"How did it go?"
Following Ain's voice a little deeper into the woods, they found two goblins sunk into the ground up to their calves, drooling and wailing.
Kieeeeeek!!!
Kreeeh!!
"I tossed the potion at the feet of the ones chasing me, and they got stuck just like that."
"So it worked?"
"Yeah. The paralytic poison in the potion didn't do anything, though."
The potion had been laced with a toxin meant to paralyze anyone it touched, slowing them down — but it didn't seem to have any effect. The way they were wildly swinging their stone axes and screaming, there wasn't a trace of poison to be found.
"Ain, just in case, want to try throwing a poison vial too?"
"Already did. Didn't work."
"You already tried?"
Hearing that, Jina examined the trapped goblins.
"Did you test anything else?"
"The wire trap worked too. They tripped right over it."
"...Ain, there's something I'd like to try."
"What is it?"
"...It's hard to explain. Let's just do this."
Er pulled out a rope. She gathered a few heavy stones from the surroundings and handed them to Ain.
"Let's tie these to the monsters and throw them in the river. See if they live or die."
"What about shoving them off a cliff?"
"That could work too."
And so the two goblins, sacrificed to the trio's experiments, met their end a few hours later in a state that could only be described as thoroughly wrecked.
"Alright, let's go over what I wrote down."
"Er, your handwriting is really nice?"
"Th-that's not important right now? Let's focus on Ain."
Er brushed off Jina's admiration for her handwriting and began reading from the paper.
◈ Drowning — Effective
◈ Falling — Effective
◈ Strangulation by rope — No effect
"Looking at this, it works as long as Ain isn't the one swinging it himself."
"Same with traps. As long as Ain didn't set them himself, shoving a monster into one and killing it works."
Ain spoke up to his companions.
"So as long as I'm not hitting them with my own hands, or with something I made specifically to hurt them, it works."
"That's true, but there's a problem."
"A problem?"
"Using tools to bind their feet and support from the back is fine, but can you actually afford the consumable costs?"
"..."
Wires could be reused, so those were fine. The swamp potions were the problem. True to the name "potion," even the offensive varieties produced by mages and alchemists commanded a hefty price. They were cheaper than healing potions, which were expensive and inefficient to begin with — but those costs would add up, and when they did, the burden would be real.
"Oh, for fuck's sake. A pay-to-win money sink...?"
"...What is he even saying?"
"I have no idea either."
Unlike Ain, who clutched his head in despair, his companions spoke in calm, even voices.
"Still, at least we found a method. That's better than just standing around in the back doing nothing, right?"
"Er's right. And you never know — we might find another way..."
"...Yeah. We got something out of this, at least."
Ain nodded as he said this, a little strength returning to his voice.
"Yeah, this is something! At least now I can actually do—"
"But would this even work on stronger monsters? Or dark mages? Or the undead?"
In that instant, Ain went rigid. Jina, who had simply spoken the thought that had crossed her mind, continued.
"Goblins are dumb enough to fall for it, but high-tier monsters and dark mages won't get caught that easily. And the undead? Against those things, cheap tricks like this..."
"J-Jina!"
"Why are you suddenly calling my name like that... oh."
Jina looked at Er in confusion as she urgently tried to stop her — then she saw Ain's face right beside her, and broke out in a cold sweat.
"Haha... yeah... I guess so...?"
"A-Ain?"
"Of course. What was I even thinking, trying to do something... haha, yeah... I'm a healer, so I should just sit in the back like a healer and throw heals. Supporting? Attacking? Who was I kidding. Hahaha!"
"Wh-what do we do? Ain's lost it!"
"J-just wait. There has to be some other way...!"
The two of them trembled at the sight of Ain, who looked thoroughly unwell. Ain himself, his eyes utterly lifeless, spoke.
"What's with everyone? You look like somebody died."
"A-Ain?"
"I'm fine. Nothing happened. It's just... something inside me stopped breathing, that's all."
"W-wait, Ain, that's not—"
"Don't bother comforting me. Shall we just head back? Let's stop wasting time on this pointless crap."
He added a hollow little chuckle at the end, and he looked so unstable that the two of them said nothing, and simply followed behind him.
"Ain...? You're back?"
When they returned to the mansion, Haru was just coming up from the basement, her voice as vacant as ever.
"Where. You go?"
"W-wait a moment, Haru."
"Hm?"
Er approached Haru in Ain's place and spoke in a voice too quiet for him to hear.
"Let's not talk to Ain right now if we don't have to."
"...Jina. Why's she like that?"
Haru pointed a finger. There was Jina, trailing after Ain and talking at him with desperate enthusiasm.
"A-Ain? Aren't you hungry? I was going to try out this mushroom soup recipe I picked up in the frontier village—"
"...Experiment?"
"A-aah!? That's not what I—! I'm sorry, I said something pointless..."
"...Pointless?"
"Th-that's not what I meant!"
Watching Jina flounder in a way she never normally did, Haru spoke.
"...Got something on her?"
"Something like that, yes. Ain was testing what he could do himself, and..."
Er explained the whole story in a low voice. Haru tilted her head after listening.
"That's... a problem?"
"Of course it's a problem. Do you have any idea how shaken Ain must be..."
"Not Ain. Consumable costs. That's the problem?"
"Haru, no matter how much money we have, if our expenses keep growing, it's going to be a problem..."
"Potions. Don't need to buy them."
"...What?"
Er's eyes went wide at Haru's unexpected words. And she wasn't the only one. Ain, who had been standing a short distance away with a vacant look on his face, turned toward Haru as well.
"That much. Possible with magic too."
"Haru, if you're not trying to mess with Ain right now..."
"Probably. Ain can too."
"...What do you mean?"
The light returned to Ain's eyes. He furrowed his brow as if he must have misheard.
"Magic is possible? You said it wouldn't work last time."
"The magic I use. Impossible. But... if you apply the principles to create a new method, lock in the result and the image, and systematize it—"
"Sorry, can you say that in plain language?"
Haru spoke to Ain.
"Ain's skills. Just expand them."