I look at the wooden boards.
There were various missions, but I was looking for the specific ones that needed me to kill some monsters.
'Maybe this one?'
I took the wooden board that said "Ogre Canine Teeth needed, min 6, max 18. Level: 4. Pay: five bronze per tooth."
Five bronze per tooth looked way too appealing. Considering that every ogre had two canine teeth, that was one silver per every kill.
'A single night at the inn costs two silvers. Two kills is basically one night.'
That felt way too profitable to pass up.
"You might wanna rethink that, my friend."
I turned to the speaker behind me. It was an old bald man with a mean face, he was sitting together with two others.
"Yeah, Level 4 is way too high for a newbie like you."
"You should start with something simple, like goblins."
All of them smiled. I smiled back.
"Thanks for the advice, but next time when you warn a new adventurer, try to sound less condescending. You sound like you're making fun of me, especially when paired with those smiles."
All of their eyebrows rose.
"Wait, that's what we sound like?"
"Yeah, even I at first thought you were looking down on me just because I'm a newbie."
All of them awkwardly scratched their heads.
"Is that why that girl cussed at us today?"
One of them mumbled in thought.
I stood in line with that same wooden board. I turned to them while I waited.
"Next time, I wouldn't recommend smiling. I don't want to sound mean, but you guys have scary faces."
All of them looked at each other. One of them stroked his beard in thought.
"I guess we did forget how scary we look. We've spent so much time together that we got used to our scariness."
All of them nodded.
"Okay, we'll try that next time. Thanks for pointing it out."
"No problem."
It was my turn now. I registered with the cute receptionist that I would be taking on the ogre mission, and walked out of the Guild freely.
'Think before you act.'
Emotions always get you into problems.
***
I had to take significant breaks between most kills, but it wasn't too difficult.
If I got lucky, I would kill the ogre before it even noticed me. If I got unlucky, I would be forced to fight normally, and I would have to take a break after the fight due to using a lot of mana.
Right now, I was recovering that said mana.
"Wow, strong."
I watched a girl about my age taking on six wolves at the same time, all by herself. So far, she has killed two, and hasn't gotten a single injury.
"Her balance is weird though."
She was using a sword. She was fast, ferocious and strong, but it didn't look like her technique was all that good.
Don't get me wrong, she was miles more skilled than me, but she wasn't as good as some of the hunters back in Abut.
Just like that, the last wolf fell on the ground.
"What are you watching for? You a creep or somethin'?"
She looked in my direction. I jumped down from the tree.
"I'm not a creep, I was just surprised by how strong you were, that's it."
"Then fuck off."
"Sure."
I walked away. No reason to pry into someone's business.
***
I brought the maximum amount of eighteen ogre canine teeth, and got nine whole silvers.
'Just in one day...'
It was a huge amount, but I doubted all my days would be like this one. I'm pretty sure I just got lucky with the mission being profitable and easy.
'Well, it's not like I'm doing this for money, so this is mostly a bonus.'
I put the money away.
My main mission in Toride was to get good enough at magic to get accepted into Mahogrand on my own efforts.
Being an adventurer, gaining money. ―Those were just byproducts. Useful byproducts, but byproducts nonetheless. The main mission was to get stronger.
'As such, I won't be leaving Toride for quite a while.'
I closed my eyes and went to sleep.
***
The next few days weren't much different, except for having slightly less profitable missions.
Today though, I didn't walk from the forest straight to the city. Instead, I waited outside it.
After some time, a small black dot appeared on the horizon.
Slowly but surely, that dot became a blob, which became an outline, which eventually ended up as a black cat.
With speed I couldn't achieve, that black cat rammed into my chest.
"Hoo!"
I fell on my back from the force.
"That hurt, you cute little bastard."
I started petting Ispra, who was purring louder than ever.
"Did you miss me that much?"
I involuntarely smiled.
***
With Ispra in my backpack, I got past the main entrance and arrived at the inn. She was probably going to be let in without me hiding her, but better safe than sorry.
The moment I let her out, she jumped on my bed and curled into a ball.
"Are you really that tired?"
It wouldn't be surprising if she was. I mean, she spent four days straight running here.
But at the same time, it was kinda weird to see her exhausted. I've never before seen her even a bit tired after all.
I started petting her, but for the first time ever, I could feel mild displeasure from her.
I immediately retracted my hand.
It was the first time she recoiled at my touch, but instead of surprised, it instead made me more calm.
'So you aren't just a machine with one emotion.'
With that, I took my backpack and went to the Guild.
***
I gave twenty-five left goblin ears to the receptionist lady.
'A different one today, huh? Well makes sense. Everybody needs breaks.'
This receptionist was more beautiful than cute, but she still retained that relaxing smile.
"Your kills have been confirmed."
I took the five silvers offered to me, but didn't walk away.
"Say, why are we rewarded for killing goblins? For every other monster, it's the materials that cost money, but for goblins we just have to prove we killed them. Why is that?"
"It's because goblins don't have any useful materials, they are very weak and worthless. But despite that, they are extremely numerous. If the amount of them gets too high, it could pose danger. So to incentivize killing them, we have no choice but to reward money for it."
Interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a tragedy behind that decision, like a city being overrun by goblins due to their numbers being neglected.
"Thank you for the answer."
"Anytime."
Just like always, that smile was pleasing to look at. I smiled back to return the favor.
I started walking torwards the exit, but was called out to by the bald man from a couple days earlier.
"Hey, if you want a little tip, every couple of months, the Guild will issue a mass killing of goblins. At that exact time, goblin kills are worth more."
So he was basically saying to kill goblins only during that period, and take other missions in the meanwhile.
That was a good tip.
"Thanks for the advice. Also, yeah, not smiling definitely works better. Instead of condescending, you just look serious."
I gave my own tip and left.
***
I got back home, but there was a problem.
Ispra was still on my bed, right in the middle of it.
No matter how I twisted my body, I couldn't possible fit on it with Ispra.
"But I really don't want to sleep on the floor..."
What to do, what to do...
***
I slept on the floor.
There was no way I had the heart to disturb Ispra in any capacity.
I wasn't going to bother someone who worked their hardest. Unless it was for revenge.
I was a little sore, but that was nothing new. I trained every other day, so the feeling of sore muscles was very familiar for me.
And I already slept a couple of times in Paul's carriage, so I was used to sleeping on wood too.
'Well, maybe not used to, but it's not the first time at least.'
That said, I still slept more than usual, it was a bit later in the day than I would've liked.
With Ispra still peacefully sleeping, I got ready for the day.
***
"Why the hell is the Spear Valkyrie here?!"
"I dunno man, but if she's here, that means we get a chance of that too, right?"
"Shit, you're right! We can't miss that!"
The Adventurer Guild was very noisy the moment I walked in.
From the conversations around me, it seemed like a famous adventurer had arrived in Toride.
I pretty much ignored that information and went straight to the 'mission wall'.
While I was looking through it, a hand patted my shoulder.
I looked back and saw a face that I shouldn't have been surprised to see.
"I thought you looked familiar. You really are Faun."
It was the adventurer boy from that team of three adventurers back at Kyoku.
I rose my eyebrows.
"You three are here too?"
The calm girl from beside him answered.
"This is our original city, where we grew up and where we completed missions until we took that mission to take down the bandit group. This is our city of operations so to say."
After a small pause, she continued talking.
"By the way, have you seen the Spear Valkyrie?"
"No, I haven't. Why?"
"No reason."
She tried to play it off, but I quickly guessed the reason. She was a spear user, so it wouldn't be surprising if she was somewhat of a fangirl of this 'Spear Valkyrie'.
The nervous mage girl smiled mischievously like a cat.
"Don't try to act nonchalant, Mitsuki. It's easy to guess that you gush about Spear Valkyrie."
Mitsuki's ears went red.
"I-I do admire her a bit, but to call it gushing..."
The boy chuckled at the interaction of the two and looked at me.
"I feel like we should be the ones surprised. Where did you disappear to?"
"I got teleported to Toride."
He looked at me with questioning look, before shrugging his shoulders.
"Since you don't wanna reveal your secrets, I won't pry."
He completely misunderstood me, which is what I wanted to happen in the first place.
The mage girl looks me up and down.
"So you were actually an adventurer too. I was thinking you were an assassin or something."
"I wasn't an adventurer back then, I only became an adventurer as soon as I got to Toride. And also, please don't assume people are assassins just because they have the qualities of one. Don't judge a book by its cover and all that."
The boy looked at the mage girl.
"Wait, you thought he was an assassin? I thought he was a leader of something."
At that, even I was taken aback.
"Me? A leader? Never. I'm way too lazy for stuff like managing people."
"But your plan was really well-made, and the instructions you gave were clear and precise. Aren't those the qualities of a leader?"
"Like I said, don't judge a book by its cover. How many times do I have to repeat that? In the first place, how could a fifteen year old be a leader of anything?!"
The boy turned to Mistuki.
"Mitsuki, who did you think Faun was?"
"An adventurer. He was all over the place in his priorities. The only profession where that works is an adventurer."
Thank god there's a person in their group who actually uses their head.
The boy turned to me.
"Do you mind showing me your card? I'm interested in it, since we didn't really see you fight."
"Sure."
I took my card out of a very small bag on my belt. Fun fact: that bag was specifically made for the adventurer card by Angelica, so it was only big enough to carry it and it alone.
All three of them looked at my card.
"Level 4, huh?"
"Four types?!"
"Better at fighting humans..."
All of them reacted to different things. I couldn't help but mentally note what each of them reacted to.
The boy rubbed his chin.
"You've got a pretty rare evaluation. Normally, cards like that are 1 in 10000."
"Four Types is that rare?"
"It's not the Four Types that is rare, it's the Note."
I looked at my card.
Indeed, now that I think about it, a Note was a pretty weird addition for a card like this.
In the first place, the adventurer card was made with the idea of generalizing things.
Levels aren't an accurate measure of strength, but they work. Types can never fully reveal your fighting style, but they give people an idea of it. Trust can never fully reveal how trustworthy you are, but it's good enough for a job.
All of that makes it easier and faster to digest.
But a Note breaks all of that. Instead of generalizing things, it gives an idea completely outside the scope of that generalization.
Instead of fitting in nicely with everything else, a Note adds more layers and complexity.
'But just because my evaluation is rare, doesn't mean I'm strong or anything like that.'
It's just another evaluation, that's it. Doesn't matter how rare it is, it's just an evaluation.
"Can I look at your cards?"
"Sure."
I took the three cards and looked through them.
All of them were Level 7, and there wasn't anything special unlike mine.
I nodded. From my calculations, I could beat a Level 6 in a fight.
'Unlike Ranks in traditional novels, which go in descending order or use letters, Levels in this world go in ascending order. Makes sense.'
This way, if a new level of power was reached, they could just do a +1. In most other systems, when a new Rank is reached, the system just can't support it.
'It's how you get ugly things like SSS or Z ranks.'
I gave back the cards.
"Level 7 is really impressive. What Level did you start at?"
"We all started at Level 3."
I noted down not only the Level they started at, but I also realized that whenever I asked a question about the three of them, Souma would be the one who always answered.
Was he the leader despite Mitsuki being way more coolheaded and smart...?
'But Level 3, huh?'
"That makes it even more impressive."
"Really? I think it's pretty pathetic that we started at Level 3. I mean, most adventurers start at way higher Levels."
I shrugged.
"From my perspective, it's not impressive to start with a high Level. Yeah, you're strong, but there are a lot of strong people in the world, you aren't special. Instead, it is growth that is impressive. It is about how much you pushed your limits and rose above yet another obstacle. That is the kind of thing that makes me go ― Wow."
All of them looked at me weirdly, but their morale was seemingly higher than before.
"You're weird."
Thanks, Leila. I totally didn't know that already.
"So, what are you three planning to do today?"
"We were planning to take on a mission, but since the Spear Valkyrie is here, we are probably going to cheer on Mitsuki as she takes on her trial."
My eyebrow couldn't help but rise.
"A trial?"
"You haven't heard?"
"Well, I do come from a very remote village. I don't know much about the world right now."
"Ah, right, right. So, the trial is a type of event that Spear Valkyrie has been hosting recently in every city she visited. For a small amount of money, you get a mock fight with her. If you manage to hurt her or impress her, she will personally train you for a week."
Mitsuki took over.
"I will be taking that trial on. I don't have much of a chance, but the cost is honestly cheap for the reward that you can get."
I thought about it for a bit.
"What are the rules of the mock battle?"
"Both will use real weapons. The Spear Valkyrie will allow three attacks before she starts fighting back. That's pretty much it."
"Aren't real weapons dangerous?"
"So far there haven't been any serious injuries. She's good at holding back."
I Thought about it for a bit.
'Yep, it's useless for me.'
Just five days with the spear wouldn't be enough for me to get the hang of it, even with a good trainer. And it's not like I ever planned to use a spear in the first place.
I would just be wasting time and money.
That said...
"Hey, Mitsuki, do you have any ideas for the first three hits?"
"Ideas?"
"Wait, you're going into the trial without a plan?"
I was dumbfounded. Wasn't she supposed to be the smart one?
"Well, I never thought about it as something that needs a plan... I will probably just use a moderate amount of mana on the first three hits to judge her speed, and go from there."
...
I facepalmed.
"Listen, in a fight against her, you won't last a second. You know that, right?"
"That's... yeah, it's true."
"That means you have to bank everything on the first three free hits, and give up after those."
"I guess that's the best way to do it..."
She rubbed her arm with a guilty look.
I sighed in exhasperation.
"Throw that chivalry out the window. Whenever you get an opportunity you cannot miss, you must do whatever it takes to get it. Now, let me tell you something."
I gestured with my finger to bring her ear closer. When she stuck out her ear, I put my mouth next to it and whispered.
When she pulled her face back, she had a confused expression on her face.
"Will that really work?"
"If the Spear Valkyrie is an experienced fighter, then yes. I suggest practicing before taking the trial though."
Leila butted in.
"What? What is it? Tell me."
I smirked.
"Just wait until the trail, you'll be pleasantly surprised."
I took a mission board and went to the same receptionist lady as yesterday.
Before I could fully walk away, Souma grabbed my shoulder.
"By the way, why did you whisper and not tell us?"
I looked at him with an impassive face.
"To look cool, of course."
***
My heart was beating fast, and sweat was covering my body.
I was nervous, extremely so. I could feel my grip tightening around my spear.
But I took a deep breath and calmed down.
'Use everything on the first three hits.'
I didn't like that plan. It sounded way too wrong, it wouldn't even a battle at that point.
But it was the biggest chance I could get at passing this trial, so I pushed those feelings aside.
I gripped my spear, put mana into my muscles, and thrusted.
The Spear Valkyrie easily dodged by slightly tilting her head at the last moment.
I tried my best to stop the smile from spreading on my face.
I thrusted again, this time, with a feint. She still dodged all too easily by slightly tilting her head at the last moment.
'Everything on the next one. Faun, I'm trusting you.'
I prepared once again, and my spear shot out with the same speed as before.
The Spear Valkyrie slightly tilted her head at the last moment.
...
A drop of blood fell on the floor from her cheek.
Her face was painted with anger.
'Eh? What do you mean anger?'
Before I could process the situation, she grabbed my shoulders tightly, and with a calm voice asked―
"Where did you learn that?"
I froze with fear.