The castle gates slowly lowered behind them. The townspeople outside stared in shock at Naofumi Iwatani, who was awkwardly clutching a heap of equipment.
"Let's go. Time to grind levels first."
Kiriko took the lead and strode forward.
Naofumi hurriedly caught up, holding the still-warm armor close to his chest.
But for some reason, he subconsciously stayed exactly one step behind the girl instead of walking beside her.
He looked at Kiriko's back with complicated feelings.
The equipment he carried belonged to none other than Myne—the gear he'd purchased for her just yesterday.
Now it had returned to its original owner. As for Myne, who had betrayed and falsely accused him, she'd suffered quite a severe punishment.
Naofumi had only ever heard rumors about an ancient punishment called "tongue-severing" from the distant country across the sea, but he'd never personally witnessed it.
This was his first time seeing it in person.
Honestly, when he saw Myne writhing in unbearable pain, Naofumi didn't feel pity or sympathy.
Perhaps there had been a little at first, but the moment he remembered that without Kiriko, he'd be bearing the stain of a crime he didn't commit, any remaining sympathy vanished instantly.
Soon, they'd left the busy town behind and stepped onto the vibrant, grassy plain.
Kiriko, walking ahead, suddenly paused.
"Hey, Naofumi, after seeing this vast green grassland, are you feeling nostalgic?"
Naofumi failed to catch her meaning at first.
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Just pretend I didn't say anything. Anyway, show me what you've got first."
Truthfully, Kiriko had no intention of playing savior from the very beginning.
And after experiencing everything in the audience hall, she felt even less inclined to help this rotten country withstand the Waves.
She had no desire to end up like a second revolutionary martyr.
But the main reason she'd brought Naofumi here to grind levels was simply to make sure he survived.
Among the Four Cardinal Heroes, he seemed like the only normal person.
Motoyasu Kitamura didn't even need mentioning—that guy hit on every girl he saw and had even ended his previous life stabbed to death by a yandere.
Don't laugh at how early he died; he'd mock how few women you've slept with.
Itsuki Kawasumi was your classic self-righteous chuunibyou type, always eager to lecture others about justice from his narrow viewpoint.
As for Ren Amaki...
Kiriko didn't know why, but he always gave her a subtle sense of déjà vu she couldn't quite place.
In short, among the Four Cardinal Heroes, Naofumi Iwatani was the only one she found tolerable.
Kiriko never considered herself a good person, but if possible, she wanted her friend to live a bit longer in this messed-up world.
Balloon A appeared!
Balloon B appeared!
Balloon C appeared!
Balloon A charged straight at Naofumi, while Balloons B and C lunged toward Kiriko.
Kiriko placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. The next second, Balloons B and C were already torn to pieces mid-air.
"I'll leave the last one to you, Naofumi."
"Got it!"
Naofumi let out a spirited yell, resolving that no matter what, he couldn't disappoint the girl in front of him.
She saw him as a companion—he absolutely couldn't drag his teammate down!
At the very least, he had to kill this Balloon with one hit.
"Go to helllllllllllll——!"
Naofumi threw a punch with all the strength he'd usually reserve for something more private, slamming it fiercely into the belly of the Balloon charging toward him.
Perhaps due to the accumulated resentment and fury from all the injustices he'd suffered since arriving in this world, the Balloon he struck flew straight up into the sky, quickly vanishing from sight.
"Whoa, pretty nice hit."
Kiriko clapped approvingly.
Even if it was just a beginner-level monster, using game terms, that punch had to have been a critical hit.
"Oh, it was nothing special, just a little—"
Naofumi scratched his head sheepishly.
Then, the Balloon he'd punched into the sky fell back down, jaws wide open, landing perfectly atop Naofumi's head with a loud bite.
Now he looked like one of those bacteria-infected cells straight out of Cells at Work.
"Pfft—"
Kiriko hastily covered her mouth but still couldn't hold back a laugh.
With a defeated sigh, Naofumi tugged the Balloon off his head.
The Balloon immediately bit onto his hand instead.
He decided to just let it keep biting, then used his free hand to repeatedly bash the Balloon.
Yet the more he punched, the livelier the Balloon seemed to get.
Watching this monotonous beating, Kiriko couldn't help but yawn.
"Are you playing Taiko no Tatsujin or something? Isn't that enough already?"
...
After five full minutes of frantic punching, Naofumi finally managed to kill the Balloon.
Kiriko hadn't lifted a finger to help from start to finish.
After all, this had been her plan—she'd wanted to see Naofumi's attack power.
And now she saw clearly: his attack was indeed pathetically weak.
His defense was likely excellent, as getting bitten by a Balloon seemed to have no effect on him, but perhaps precisely because of that, his offensive capabilities were abysmal.
Not only was Naofumi's attack power awful, but the only companion he'd previously had—Myne—had malicious intentions and definitely hadn't put in any real effort...
No wonder he'd only reached level 2 yesterday despite grinding all day.
Clearly, letting Naofumi grind on his own wasn't going to work.
As for power-leveling him personally...
Setting aside the boredom of dragging a grown man around while grinding...
When Balloons A, B, and C appeared earlier, Kiriko had swiftly dispatched two of them, yet received no experience points. Likewise, when Naofumi finally defeated Balloon A, she still got nothing.
She'd heard before that the Legendary Weapons repelled each other, meaning the Four Cardinal Heroes couldn't form parties with each other. They had to assemble separate teams to gain EXP.
Kiriko knew about this rule, but as the extra fifth person summoned alongside the Four Heroes—and without possessing a Legendary Weapon herself—she had hoped she could bypass it.
Clearly, that wouldn't be possible.
In that case, she'd have to find someone else to power-level the Shield Hero.
"Let's go."
Kiriko called out to Naofumi as she turned back toward the town.
"Eh? We're done already?"
Naofumi froze for a second, then quickly picked up the gear he'd left on the ground and hurried to catch up.
---
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