「Gooooooo! Lightning!!」
Io released two lightning magic at the same time.
A humanoid lizard monster equipped with a shield and a swordーーthe lizardman was hit by lightning twice and was charred black.
A different lizardman attacked her from the side. She somewhat blocked its sword using her staff and was sent flying.
Her hands were numbed and she felt pain to her stomach, but Io desperately mustered her magic powers and chanted her spell.
「Lightning!」
She activated the spell the instant she landed and it turned out to be a counter blow towards the lizardman that chased after her.
The monster was hit by lightning and was charred black.
「Damn it!」
「Sidox-san!」
She heard the voice of her party member.
He was fighting against the last lizardman.
Io mustered her magic powers and shouted to her party member that was losing “for some reason”.
「Get away from it, Sidox-san!」
At the same time shouted, she released her Lightning.
It directly hit the lizardman. The man was slow at retreating so her lightning grazed his shoulder.
「Sidox-san!」
「What, don’t worry. It’s just a scratch」
Io was relieved.
「Thank goodness……」
「It’s all thanks to you, Io. You’re amazing, defeating three lizardmen」
「Not at all……I’m far from Sidox-san’s level」
「Well! I’m B-Rank after all」
Sidox grinned with a crooked smile.
Io Akos continued to train and became stronger.
And at the same time, she experienced being in many parties, but all of them did not last for long.
For some reason, no matter where she went, no one would let her fight properly.
Strong adventurers would treat her as a baggage and kind adventurers would protect her light a lovely critter.
All of them did not treat her the way she wanted.
Io wanted to be of her allies’ help, she wishes to fight with them side by side.
She thought of that as she trained and become stronger.
At night, Sidox and Io faced each other with a fire in between at their camp.
「Really, Io-chan’s amazing. You defeated those damn lizards easily. I think you defeated ten just today?」
「It’s nine. I didn’t defeat that much」
「Is that so? But it’s fine with ten too. It’s really strange that that amazing Io-chan is nameless even now」 It’s been a long time since you entered the Guild right?」
「Yes……a lot of things happened」
「I see」
Io glanced at Sidox.
Sidox’s party recruitment that was shown in the Guild’s recruitment board.
Io believed that since he is a high ranked, B-Rank adventurer, she would be treated as baggage, but she still joined.
Io is not that afraid of failures.
She does not hesitate when it comes to asking adventurer parties to let her join.
She would be refused more than ten times the cases she would be allowed to join a party.
But even so, Io was not discouraged. She did not fear failure and continued to ask parties to join.
And right now, she is in a party with Sidox.
Normally, B-Rank adventurers would not party with nameless adventurers such as Io, but he listened to her story, and after giving Io a good look, he accepted.
He took Io with him, telling her its a test after receiving a lizardman subjugation quest from the Guild.
Io felt thankful to Sidox.
Although it was a test, it was the first time Io was able to fight properly.
It was actually really her first time experiencing a real battle.
「Thank you very much」
「What’s up, so sudden?」
「U〜un, it’s nothing」
「Is that so? Well then, let’s go to sleep. Let’s sleep early and depart after the sun rises」
「Yes!」
Io laid down and used her arm as her pillow beside the fire.
Nevertheless, she is only half asleep.
As a result of wishing to become stronger, she continued to train with all of her heart, and as a result, she is not able to train her magic naturally even while she is sleeping.
She is increasing the magic powers she could muster as if it was breathing. Even when she is on a quest, even while on the camp, she continued to do that.
When she was circulating her magic powers around her body while laying down, suddenly, she felt something over her.
She opened her eyes and saw Sidox’s face at a very close distance.
She tried to escape, but she noticed that she could not move.
Sidox grabbed her hands and pinned her to the ground.
「S-Sidox-san?! What are you doing?」
「What, you say? It’s not Io-chan’s first time so you should know right?」
「Ehh?!」
「There’s only one thing a man and a woman would do at night. Rather, you followed knowing that it will be like this right?」
「I-I don’t know! I don’t know this!」
Io resisted. She felt that Sidox suddenly changed and felt disgusted with the lewd expression he had on his face.
「Let’s enjoy it together. I’m not boasting, but I’m confident in my technique」
「Stop, please stop!」
Sidox’s face approached and Io desperately tried to turn her face away.
Looking away, she saw her magic staff.
Io desperately resisted and was able to take her hands off from Sidox’ and grabbed her staff.
*Bomp!*
She swung it with all her strength and felt a dull feeling.
Sidox’s eyes turned to its whites and collapsed over Io.
「Hiii!」
Feeling an even stronger disgust, Io shoved him away.
Sidox was pushed away but did not make any movements.
Io ran away. She desperately runaway with only the light of the stars on her path.
She desperately ran, ran, and ran.
When the night is about to end and the dawn coming, she fighting returned, now able to see the town.
Seeing it, she felt the exhaustion come at once. Io fell to the ground.
Tears fell from her eyes.
It was not because Sidox tried to rape her. Everything that happened until now just suddenly came and pushed out her tears.
“I did my best, I work so hard.”
“I wasn’t treated as a proper party member who could fight, and king parties would protect me as if I’m a mascot.”
“But when I was finally allowed to fight, it was a disgusting man who aimed for my body.”
Io cried and choked, feeling so sad.
The sun has come up and she returned to the town’s Guild with a miserable face.
Io recovered.
She does not fear failure, because her life was full of it. Just another failure would not make her fall down.
However, there was no doubt that she felt desperate.
「Hey, they said Alex got injured」
「”That” Alex? What happened?」
「There’s a huge amount of undead appearing from the forest, and they say he got injured there. The monsters continue to appear, so the Guild’s recruiting lots of adventurers」
What Io heard when she returned to the Guild, was a crisis since the establishment of the Guild.
She heard their conversation and found that it was a quest filled with great amount of danger compared to her own rank.
Even so, she thought that she will be able to fight a real battle, that she will be able to fight in a place where purely power is required.
Io went there, she went there pushing her exhausted body.
「I’ll do my best!」
A hard-working girl.
A diligent girl who is pure and unchanging.
The fateful encounter that would make that girl who had desperately sprinted through rocky roads step on a high-speed one-way road.
It was only seconds away.