Chapter 27: These Guys Again

This is the first morning that I’ve woken up at an inn.

Murmuring 『I don’t know this ceiling…』 was simply a matter of course. Well, I didn’t lie down because I don’t sleep, but…

I move Fran who seems like she’s weak to mornings, and proceed to change her clothes. I clean her with Purification Magic and wash her face using water — also created by magic. Fran’s hair is shortcut with curls swaying often move at the ends, so I don’t forget to fix her terrifically disheveled morning hair with water as well.

After I’ve finished, Fran finally awakes.

「Good morning.」

『Did you sleep well?』

「Very.」

Next, we head out to the dining room for breakfast.

「Got it. Please look forward to our morning special!」

A wooden plate is placed in front of Fran with a *don*. The meal consists of an omelet atop a firm piece of brown bread, 2 sausages, and a serving of boiled carrots. There’s also a soup with a couple of other ingredients within.

『How is it?』

「Delicious.」

To Fran who was formerly a slave, this meal must be incredibly delicious — or so I think such while watching her eat with gusto. There, there. Eat a lot to grow big and strong.

（However, Teacher’s cooking: more delicious.）

During yesterday’s dinner she said the same thing.

『Haha, what a nice thing to say.』

（It’s true. I want Teacher’s Cooking.）

Well, my Cooking Skill has reached the counter stop. Because of that, we’re now in the mysterious situation of a sword being the best chef in town. In fact, even though Fran has the same Cooking level as me, I’m a better cook — likely due to my memories of my past life. Even with the King of Cooking Title and the best abilities, it’s impossible to match up to food that’s never been seen on this world it seems.

It might really become necessary to give thought to preserving large quantities of food created through my Cooking Skill…

『If we get a request that requires us to leave the town, I’ll cook some lunch.』

「Looking forward. Must go immediately.」

『Then you’ll have to look for a request.』

「Nn.」

We left for the Adventurer’s Guild after the meal.

「Hello.」

「Good morning. Have you come to find a request?」

「Nn.」

「The request board is that one over there. Make sure to remember that G Rank Adventurers can only receive G and F Rank requests.」

First, we take a look at the G Rank requests.

There’re few G Rank Adventurers here early in the morning it seems, so there’s no one in front of the board.

『Harvest Medical Herbs, Hunt Wild Boars, Pluck Weeds from around an Estate, and Pick Garbage off the Road…?』

「Dull.」

『Yeah. The compensation is low, too.』

Next we look at the F Rank requests.

『They’re better, but……』

Subjugate 5 Goblins, Exterminate Fang Rats, and Gather Mushrooms from the Forest.

The fact that they’re all dull hasn’t changed.

Well, it can’t really be helped that only requests of this level are present. Besides, Fran’s level is low, so it would be best to raise Fran’s level by hunting small fry.

「Then, this.」

『Medical herb harvesting. It’s our first request, so that would be for the best, right?』

In more detail, the request consists of gathering medicinal herbs used for fifth grade Potions: Heal Grass. There’re a lot of them grown in the forest, apparently.

「This.」

「Yes. This request, then. I’ve confirmed it.」

「Nn.」

「Do you know what Heal Grass looks like? There’re documents you can look at if you’d like.」

「I’m OK.」

「I see. You’ll need to complete 5 requests in order to rank up, so do your best.」

「Nn. Thank you.」

「Yes.」

We made a big commotion yesterday, but it seems that the Adventurers’ favorability towards Nell was high enough to cover for it. Good, good.

『Alright. Let’s go!』

「Nn.」

After arriving at the gate, we showed our Guild Card and easily passed through. The gatekeeper seemed to remember Fran and was surprised to see that she was an Adventurer.

『So, which way shall we go?』

「Nn…… That way.」

『Following your heart?』

「Intuition.」

That’s a good answer. There’s no hurry to complete the request, so it’s fine to behave like this.

『We should pick up medical herbs other than Heal Grass along the way. Then, if another request comes out for different herbs we can complete it immediately.』

「Teacher: genius.」

『Hahaha! Praise me more!』

「Teacher: amazing genius.」

◇◆◇

We continue advance through the forest at a leisurely pace. We’ve already harvested enough Heal Grass at this point to complete the request, alongside other herbs, mushrooms, and nuts in large quantities.

Using the Harvesting, Herbalism, and Cooking Skills I can distinguish whether any of the herbs will be useful. Danger Perception also helps in the, because it allows me to sense dangerous mushrooms and herbs even without knowing their name or effects. In other words, it allows me to distinguish materials that can be used for poisons.

Everything’s stored in Dimensional Storage, so the only thing that could be considered a problem is the fact that we have to harvest them one by one. Fran seems to be satisfied with the meal that I cooked, so she’s walking in high spirits.

「Teacher.」

『Ou.』

Abruptly, Fran stops. But I’m not surprised. I noticed too, after all.

『Goblins. There’re no more than 10 of them.』

「Nn.」

『There really are a lot of Goblins around here, huh.』

Fran’s hand is already gripping my handle in preparation for a fight, and I don’t stop her. Goblins can be hunted safely, and grant decent EXP, so they’re fine.

I wouldn’t recommend fighting off these numbers for common beginners, though.

『Is an Adventurer surrounded?』

「There.」

『3 Adventurers, huh. As for the Goblins……』

「13.」

『They’re high quality ones, too.』

A Soldier, Thief, and Archer seem to be leading the flock of Goblins.

Their opponents seem to be only novice Adventurers. Standing against the flock of Goblins dressed in cheap armor, they can only scowl with pale faces.

『A Soldier, a Ranger, and a Magician. The party’s balance is alright, but if the rearguard is approached too closely things would easily take a turn for the worst.』

All of the party’s members have received damage to some degree; the Magician in particular seems to have suffered a serious injury.

「I’ll rescue.」

『Understood.』

「Shave off with Magic, then break through.」

We both chant spells from Soil Magic in unison. My chant was for the spell Stone・Barrett, which fires off a small stones like a buckshot. Because my MGC is about 5 times higher than the average person, my stones have roughly the same power as bullets. If enemies are grouped up, it’s possible to hit multiple bodies at once.

My ability to guide the Skills also seems to be due to Sorcery, but because I can’t share it with Fran, she’ll have to use magic the normal way.

As for the reason we didn’t use Fire Magic, it’s because of our location. Forest fires are dangerous.

「Stone・Arrow.」

『Stone・Barrett!』

Fran’s magic defeats one, and mine takes out five, so a total of 6 were defeated — one of which was the Goblin Thief.

〈Fran's Level has risen to 6〉

Level Up has come! Well, we have no choice but to ignore it for now.

While both sides are confused about what happened, Fran rapidly approaches the Goblins.

「Hah.」

She slides between the Adventurers and Goblins and cuts down two Goblins as she passes by. Of course, I’m also participating in the battle. I take care of the Goblin Archer that would provide the most difficulty for the Adventurers with Stone・Arrow.

「Eh? A child?」

「S-Strong!」

The Adventurers are surprised. The Goblins were as well, but recovered and attempted to strike back with the Soldier Goblin as the lead.

「GyaGYAOU!」

Hou. Understanding that their opponent was strong, they attacked with all of their members without hesitation. In spite of being a Goblin, it has good judgment.

『But it’s futile! Stone・Barrett!』

I’ve continued chanting throughout the entire battle. I don’t even need to breathe to do so, after all. Because of that, the chant for Stone・Barrett was already complete.

Two Goblins to the right are impaled with stones, causing them to lose their lives after vomiting up blood.

As for two on the left, they aren’t even close to a match for Fran.

「Slow.」

Double・Slash is released, and the final two are cut down in an instant.

The situation had been turned on its head within just 20 seconds, so the Adventurers can only watch with befuddled expressions on their faces. I feel like continuing to stare at their goofy faces for a while longer, but it would be bad to leave the injured person as-is.

『Recovery Magic is already making itself useful.』

I check over the Magician’s status and find that his HP is simply decreased. There’re no physical defects or abnormal states.

『Just a regular Heal will do just fine.』

「――Curing light, Group・Heal」

That spell is the wide-range Lv7 Recovery Magic: Group・Heal. Because the other two were more or less damaged, they were recovered with it as well. What a kind girl, using such a spell for their sake!

「Group・Heal? From such a small child?」

「Uah! This isn’t some second-grade Magic!」

Astonished, the male Warrior and female Ranger let out words with wide eyes.

「Moreover, is that a Magic Sword…?」

Ah, I’ve been noticed. Well, there’s a clear difference between my appearance and regular swords, so my identity would be revealed to anyone who sees me. Ahhー, how troubling.

「That aside, Eustace, are you alright?!」

「Huh? My injury was healed?」

The Magician doesn’t seem to have any problems. If he tries to coax Fran to buddy up with their group due to this situation, I might get angry, you know?

「Alright?」

「Y-Yeah. I’m saved.」

「Thank you very much. Hey, you too!」

「Eh? T-Thank you?」

Bowing should come first, that’s just the basics. The fools from the other day seemed to have thought differently, however.

「You are…… An Adventurer?」

「Nn.」

「Um, may I ask your name?」

「Fran.」

After that word was spoken, the Adventurers turn to each other and start whispering to one another.

（Do you know that name?）

（I don’t. But it’d be impossible not to know of such an outstanding child…）

（Yeah.）

（I don’t know either.）

Their conversation was probably along those lines.

「I’m Kral. She’s Lily, and he’s Eustace.」

The Warrior gives a polite introduction, but Fran seems to have already lost interest in them.

「I see. Then.」

It seems that she wants to confirm her Status as soon as possible.

『Is that alright? We might get a reward, you know?』

（Compassionate. Want to see Status.）

Is that so. These guys look visibly inexperienced, so we couldn’t really expect a big reward from them anyways. However, while Fran was about to leave, the Warrior leader Kral quickly speaks up.

「Ah, please wait.」

「 ? 」

「These Goblins were the ones that you defeated.」

「Eh? This girl took down all of these Goblins? What are you talking about?」

「Just be quiet!」

「You’ve already saved our lives, we can’t possibly accept anything more than that.」

He has good intentions, so a bad impression might be left if we decline him here.

『Perhaps just taking the materials from higher quality Goblins would be fine?』

「Understood. I’ll take high quality.」

「Eh? Highbreeds[1] were mixed in?!」

Hey, hey, you didn’t even know that? It might be hard to tell looking at their basic appearance, but they’ve got bigger physiques and have larger horns.

「Nn.」

Fran ignores the surprise of the three people, and proceeds to strip the Highbreeds of any usable materials at her own pace. The faces of the Adventurers become a bit odd as we do so.

Fran takes the horns and Magic Stones into the bag hanging at her waist. It’s a dummy bag, of course. It’s simply used as a cover for the items to be put into Dimensional Storage.

「There were three of them?」

「Isn’t that a bit dangerous? We should notify the Guild……」

「No, no, wait. Are those really higher kinds?」

「Probably. Their bodies are obviously a bit bigger than the rest.」

We seem to have made them more flustered than expected. A problem of some sort seems to have arisen.

「What?」

「Well, three Highbreeds appeared at the same time, so it has to be reported to the Guild!」

「Why?」

「Huh? You don’t know?」

「 ? 」

「If Highbreeds are present, there’s a high chance a King has been born.」

「Nn.」

The Adventurers describe in detail, but here’s a rough summary:

When a Goblin King rises to leadership, the combat power of all of the Goblins increases significantly. I knew about this fact as well.

Becoming able to hunt more Demonic Beasts as a group, individual Goblins don’t die as often and more Highbreeds can come into existence. In turn, this increases the combat power of the horde and a terrible cycle is born.

In fact, once the horde grows big enough a Queen is born. A Queen was once born in the Plains, too. I suspect that the reason for its existence is to help unify the outskirts of the group when it’s grown really big.

Most importantly: children born to the King and Queen Goblins are all Hobgoblins. If the Hobgoblins breed with normal Goblins, their children are Hobgoblins as well.

A single Hobgoblin has a Threat Level of F. A group of them led by a King seems to surpass Threat Level D.

「Things get out of hand if it gets like that. It would become a disaster due to an outbreak of Demonic Beasts.」

「I can’t even imagine how many villages would disappear…」

Indeed, for the local Adventurers this would be a matter of life and death. I can only looks at it it as a clump of delicious EXP, but for the present Fran the situation would pose quite a threat. That being the case, we should nip it at the bud.

「We’re going to immediately report it to the Adventurer’s Guild.」

Saying so, they each pick up a corpse of a Highbreed. Without the bodies, there would be no material serving as evidence after all.

「Nn.」

「Then, please excuse us.」

「Thank you for your help, really.」

「It seems like I was saved by you, so thank you very much!」

And so, we helped some young people and ended up getting the rest of the materials from the Goblins for ourselves. It’s not a bad result.

『Now to absorb the Magic Stones.』

After moving away from the novice Party, I take out the Magic Stones and absorb them. I already have all of their Skills, but the accumulation of small things add up eventually. I received them gratefully.

「Hey, Status, look?」

『Yes, yeーs. I’ll look now.』

「Nn.」

Name ：Fran Age ：12

Race ：Black Cat Beastman

Job ：Magic Swordsman

State ：Contracted

Status:

Level ：6

HP ：80 MP ：71 STR ：45 END ：34 AGI ：46 INT ：30 MGC ：36 DEX ：47

The Status values are raising steadily. In particular, STR and MGC both rose by 4. That’s most likely an effect from being a Magic Swordsman.

Actually, the effects of being a Magic Swordsman are like this:

Magic Swordsman ：Intermediate Job

Requires Sword series Techniques & one Magic type at Lv6 or higher to acquire.

Effects:

When leveling up, STR and MGC will be more likely to raise. Acquisition efficiency for Sword and Magic Skills will increase. The power of Sword and Magic techniques will increase.

It’s a very well-balanced Job. I’ll tell Fran about the rises in her Status values.

「Good feeling.」

『That’s right. Do your best, and it’ll keep increasing like this.』

「Ooー!」

The expressionless Fran punching her fists into the air is too cute~ Alright! Let’s put in some fighting spirit and look for more prey!

((There's an Author's note regarding a change made to the Receptionist confirming Fran's request. Seeing as the change is already implemented, I've omitted it.))

[1] 上位種 keeps appearing, and has done so ever since C10 when talking about the Goblins with Jobs, so I’ve been translating it based off of the context (into things like Higher Species, Higher Quality, etc.), but now I’m just going to use “Highbreeds” as the official title — seeing as that’s what they are. Higher (as in superior) members of their species. As for whether I’ll change all of the past stuff: Nope. Just consider “Highbreeds” an official title that wasn’t declared until now (because Sword-shisho didn’t know the official title ’till now). Convenient, amiright?

Other suggestions are welcome, so leave a comment!