Chapter 24: Knight’s from the Royal Capital

Erna attacks with a club and similarly, I also defend with a club. Her attack becomes sharper and the sound of the clubs hitting each other echoed in the miniature garden.

Erna’s sweat trickled down her face and her thin T-shirt becomes see-through. I can see her pink brassiere from time to time and my concentration was diverted. Finally, a blow from Erna hits my head.

“I did it! I finally won!”

“I want to say that it was impressive but I can see through your clothes because of your sweat. It’s poisonous to the eyes, so change your clothes quickly.”

“Eh? Kyaaaa!”

Erna runs away while hiding her chest. Perhaps she will wash her sweat in the stream and change clothes at the same time.

The reason why we are doing this is for revenge against those pair of adventurers we met the other day. Well, I won against Arvish but Erna was humiliated by the elf girl named Feria. To get back to her, I am conducting a special training for Erna.

It seems that Erna herself thinks that it is meaningless if she can’t win as a mage, so she’s very enthusiastic with the training. In the first place, if she really wants to become a great mage, it is significant to defeat Feria. Therefore considering how Erna fought so far and base from what I remembered from Feria’s status, I planned on what a Mage should aim at.

First of all, Mage does not use only magic as an attack method. Of course, since she has a cane, it is also used as a weapon. However, there’s no such thing as cane technique because it is already included in spearmanship.

When I saw Feria’s status, I speculated that it was the reason for her advanced spearmanship skill. On the other hand, Erna does not possess a spear. When asked why, she said, “I gave up because I have no talent in it.”

I became angry at this. Certainly, in this world, skills are shown as power visible to the eye, but that doesn’t mean that you would not be able to develop the skills you are not good at. Meaning, qualities first before talents.

By managing the schedule of the day, we accumulated bow and club training in between work. Of course, muscle training is also essential. I also thought about the nutritional aspect of our meals and made it with great care. Perhaps because of that, Erna’s skills skyrocketed.

【Appraisal Result: Erna Frederia: The second daughter of the Frederia family. Under intense training to get back to Feria who bullied her when she was at the Mage Academy.】

【Status】 Name:  Erna Frederia Age:  19 years old Race:  Elves Occupation:  Adventurer Magic attribute:  Fire | Light Magic:  Fireball, Fire Arrow, Flame Bomb, Flame Chain, Flame Wall, Flame Burst, Light, Stun Light Skills:  Spearmanship(Intermediate),  Archery (Intermediate), Taijutsu A (Advanced), Taijutsu B (Advanced), Hell Ears (Intermediate), Attack Prediction (Beginner), Indomitable Spirit (Beginner)

I feel that I did a little too much. Training only on bows and spears was already good enough but I got in tune so we also practiced martial arts.

And as I can see by looking at her skills’ ranks, it turns out that Erna actually has a talent for melee combat. Nowadays, she can do unarmed sparring so I think that she now has a considerable ability already.

And the terrifying part is her attack prediction and indomitable spirit.

Attack prediction allows her to instantly know the attack that the enemy will do. The current Erna seems to be able to read 1 second ahead of the enemy’s attack, but it will become scary with how much it will grow if it becomes advanced level.

The indomitable spirit seems to be a rare thing in which skills affect the spirit.

Efficacy literally grants an indomitable spirit. That said, it seems that there’s a limited duration considering the rank. For now, I can see that there’s a limit of one hour per day. There are other places where she has grown, but if she levelled up this much, she should be able to get revenge on Feria.

Yes, though she’s a mage, I thought her to be good at physical attacks. The next time we meet them, I’ll have Erna punch them on their face. Kukuku.

“Shinichi, I’m done changing!”

Dressed in her usual red robe and as she changed back to her Mage style, Erna’s face is full of confidence. Her atmosphere is different from before and there is no gap on her defence.

“Alright, let’s now head to Rodman’s weapon store.”

After I tidied out my outfit, we headed to the Temple of Teleportation.

　◆◇◆

“Oh, it’s been a while Tanaka!”

When we arrived at Rodman’s weapon store, the shopkeeper, Rodman welcomes me with a smile. As usual, many weapons are lined up in the store, and it appears that many adventurers are picking them up and thinking about purchasing them.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for coming late.”

“That’s fine, but what were you doing for almost a month? There were even rumors that Homeless would no longer appear in the city.”

“No, I was training Erna. It seems like we worried the people in the city huh.”

As I said so, I placed a leather bag on the counter.

“This is?”

“They’re magic stones. I picked up most of them in the dungeon, but we also found rare magic stones when we did the request so I also put them in.”

“Rare magic stone huh. That’s interesting.”

When Rodman looks inside the leather bag, he starts to appraise them one by one. After a while, he began to mutter, “Hmmm?”

“Hey, isn’t this a dark magic stone? Where did you find it?”

“It’s a trade secret. By the way, how about its price?”

“Hmmm…Right, the quality isn’t bad and there aren’t many scratches… how about five silver coins?”

“That’s fine with me. I’m the one asking you to buy it.”

If it costs about 50,000 yen each, it is expensive. There are more than 10 of them, so this is a big profit. Of course, the reason why dark magic stones are sold and bought at high prices is not only because it is rare.Translated by Yume Neiji

Naturally, dark magic stones have the same characteristics as fire magic stones that generate heat. It is already known that the dark magic stone has the function of blocking magic generation and it has the function of weakening the effect of magic.

Therefore, dark magic stones are useful for anti-magical purposes. I don’t need it though because I already have a robe that nullifies magic.

After receiving the money from Rodman, he notices the crystal hanging around my neck.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now but, isn’t that Saint Crystal on your neck?”

“That’s right. I found this in the dungeon and owned it. Is this also rare?”

As I said so, Erna and Rodman yelled out with surprised voices.

“Lie! Is that a phantom jewel!? I didn’t notice it at all!”

“L-Let me see it for a while! I ask of you!”

After I handed the crystal to Rodman, he look at it with trembling hands. It looks like he was really moved. Translated by Yume Neiji

“Is it such a great jewel?”

“Just so you know, Saint Crystal is a gem that is extremely rare. It is a miraculous stone that is said to be avoided by magical beasts and demon beasts, and it brings many other benefits.”

“Huh? But I haven’t seen any monster avoiding me?”

As I said something that got her attention, Erna silently begins to think.

“…It is as what you said. Hmm, I wonder if those were only rumors about it?”

Erna hasn’t noticed it yet, but I was concerned about the relationship between the Saint Water and Saint Crystal. According to Erna, Saint Water is also a very rare natural water.

Moreover, most of the water sources are managed by the royal family, making it difficult for even ordinary people and nobles to obtain it.

―However, large amount of Saint Water is flowing near the hideout…

If there is a relationship between Saint Water and Saint Crystal, there may be a lot of crystals somewhere. Just thinking about it made me shudder. ―Rare crystals in rare water.

If this information becomes known to the world, a huge number of people will rush to the dungeon. In the end, the hideout and miniature gardens will be invaded and it’s possible that the kingdom will take it from me.

Obliquely, I ask Rodman a question,

“By the way, is there any relationship between Saint Water and Saint Crystal?”

“Hn? Well… I guess they’re related because the effect and the name are similar. But the information about it is managed by the kingdom, and we, as ordinary people don’t know the exact details.”

“I see, the general public doesn’t know anything huh.”

For the time being, I was relieved. I have to speak with Erna, we have to make sure that we won’t tell anyone about the hideout. After receiving the crystal necklace from Rodman, I decided to hang it around my neck again. Though it’s strange to say, wearing this crystal makes me feel at ease.Read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

“A piece of advice though, you better not to show it to others. There are also lawless people in this city.”

“I’ll take your advice into heart.”

Just as I was trying to put the crystal under my clothes, two knights entered the store. One of which is a man with short gold hair and he also has good physique. He appears to be middle-aged and he wore blue armour. The large sword on his waist has been used, and with his atmosphere and behaviour, it reveals that he is quite a powerful person.

The other one is a woman who has medium bright red hair. Her figure is also pretty good. If there were ten people, seven out of them will look back as she has a beautiful feature. Similarly, she also wore blue armor and her waist was equipped with a weapon that should be a fine sword.Read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

As they stroll around the store, the crystal on my neck caught their attention.

“That is…!”

The man looks startled and the woman next to him calls out to me.

“Where did you get that necklace?”

“This is the one I picked up in the dungeon. Do you happen to know this?”

“Of course! That’s the property of Novan Medil, the son of Duke Medil from Rogas Kingdom.”

Speaking of which, when I got this, the appraisal result stated that kind of thing. It’s surprising that he really was the son of the Duke.

“Is that so? Then, who are you guys? Depending on that, there’s no reason not to hand this over.”

“Rude! We are knight guards of the Duke ! I doubt that you’re even speaking the truth! Where is young master Novan?!”

The female knight reaches for the handle of her sword.

“Freya, wait! It doesn’t seem to be a lie. Excuse me but, do you remember where you picked up that necklace in the dungeon?”

The male knight stops the female knight and asks me. I don’t want to say about the dump site so the question is on how to disguise it…

“I got it from a corpse in a dungeon. I’ve forgotten where it was, but I remember a man was wearing it.”

“So it’s like that……… Then, for how much can you give me that necklace?”

“Edner-sama!?”

In a sincere manner, the male knight even says that he will pay for this necklace. The female knight seems to be surprised, but the male knight is better at such negotiations. I better consider who should have this necklace.

“Hmm, it looks like you guys are really the Duke’s knights. If that’s the case, I’ll return it for free.”

“You doubted us!? Rude!”

When the female knight tries to pull out the sword, the male knight stops her again.

“Freya, we’re suspicious as he said. Moreover, according to what I can see, he is quite a powerful person. Refrain from being rude to the benefactor who found the necklace.”

“Kuh… as Edner-sama says. I was wrong.”

“That’s okay. Now then, let’s get back to it, is it true that we can get that necklace back for free?”

I remove the necklace from my neck and present it to the male knight.

“Of course, I’ll give it to you for free. However, there is a condition.”

“What is your condition?”

“I want to meet the Duke.”

As expected, the male knight has already read far ahead, he’s prepared to my statement.

“Wait, it’s not like I’ll do something to the Duke. I have a favour to ask. It will be fine if I can meet him.”

“That favour is?”

“It’s not a big deal. It’s up to the Duke himself whether he wants to listen to it or not. So, will it possible to meet him or not?”

“……”

The male and female knight started talking to each other. In the meantime, I appraised these two people. Read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

【Appraisal Result: Gregory Edner: The eldest son of Edner family, currently 44 years old. After graduating from the Knights’ Academy, he gained experience by joining the Knights’ Army, the Duke then recruited him as the chief guard of Medil family. His wife and daughter are waiting in the royal capital so he wants to finish his mission and return early. 】

【Status】 Name:  Gregory Edner Age:  44 years old Race:  Human Occupation:  Chief Knight Guard of the Duke Magic attribute:  Earth Magic:  Rock ball, Rock Arrow Skills:  Swordsmanship(Special), Spearmanship(Special), Shield Technique(Special), Taijutsu A (Advanced), Taijutsu B (Advanced), Danger Detection(Advanced), Negotiation(Intermediate), Intimidation (Intermediate), Leadership (Advanced)

【Appraisal Result: Freya Label: Label’s fourth daughter, currently 18 years old. She graduated from the Knight’s Academy with excellent grades and she then joined the Knights’ Army afterwards. She was scouted by Edner and got a job at the Duke’s family. Recently, she has lost confidence due to the difference in ability against Edner. 】

【Status】 Name:  Freya Label Age:  18 years old Race:  Human Occupation:  Apprentice Knight Guard of the Duke Magic attribute:  Fire Magic:  Fire ball, Fire Arrow Skills:  Swordsmanship(Advanced), Spearmanship(Advanced), Shield Technique(Intermediate), Taijutsu A (Intermediate), Taijutsu B (Intermediate), Strength Enhancement(Intermediate), Cooking Technique(Advanced)

It turns out that Edner is quite strong. As expected of the Duke’s chief knight guard.

I may not be able to compete with him at my current class. Freya has grown quite well, but I’m quite interested in her cooking technique. When they turned around, they state the result of their discussion.Translated by Yume Neiji

“I feel bad but I can’t come to a conclusion right away. I need to relay our conversation back and consult with the Duke first.”

“I see. Alright then, I’ll return the necklace.”

“…..Is it okay? If you hand over the necklace now, you may not be able to talk with the Duke you know?”

“I know that there’s a possibility for that too but, as someone who is a Duke, I don’t think he would do something like that. By the way, me and Erna are members of an adventurer party called Homeless.”yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

As soon as I gave out our party name, Edner and Freya’s complexion changed. It seems that even the knights at the royal capital have heard of adventurers who have been rumored on the frontier. Of course, that was my aim so I gave out our name.

“So that’s how it is, that’s why I have a certain degree of familiarity to you…..I accept. That being the case, the Duke won’t refuse you. I’ll be careful to convey your message.”

After Edner received the necklace, he left the shop with Freya in tow.

“Hey, why do you want to meet the Duke?”

I laugh while answering Erna’s question.

“Well, it’s a little insurance.”

“Insurance?”

Erna tilted her head in confusion.

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