Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 1
Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 1
You can grab the PDF here.
After getting the fox cub to settle down, Shin turned towards the direction of the kingdom and began walking. It has only been a short while since he managed to persuade the cub to retract its claws. Previously, he had been completely unable to walk straight due to the prickling attacks accompanying the incessant paw punches.
Unlike his journey to the shrine, the forest was now filled with the presence of the creatures that lived here. Perhaps the Skull Faces had already been approaching by that time. There had been too many of them for Shin to believe that they had appeared naturally.
The only places where such numbers could spawn were designated undead spawn zones where miasma gathered, like gravesites and underground dungeons.
Shin continued walking while sighing about how he had to report this incident too. For now, he decided to keep the Elemental Tail’s race a secret, so he called out to the cub leisurely sprawled on his head.
“Aah, there’s something I need to talk about with you.”
“Kuu?”
The cub responded with a bark that distinctly included a question mark. Based on their exchanges so far, Shin knew that the cub was fully capable of understanding human speech.
“It might be troublesome if other people see your true form, so would you like to form a contract with me?”
In this case, ‘contract’ was referring to the ability of the Tamer job to contract partners. Unlike Summoners and their summons, each Tamer was limited to a maximum of only five partners, and leveling up a partner required earning XP separately from the player. Even those of other jobs could form contracts if they had experience as a Tamer, so many players contracted a monster as a pet or as support. Those whose main job was not Tamer could only contract one partner at a time, but that was not a problem here.
Shin had his support NPC characters, and thus had never felt the need to contract. However, a member of Rokuten, Cashmere, who had been the guild’s Tamer and Summoner, had half recommended and half coerced him into becoming at least able to form contracts.
“I’m not a Tamer, so you won’t get any stat bonuses, but other people would become unable to check your name and level as they please, and we would be able to communicate with each other even without using any items.”
In order to see a player’s partner’s status window, one had to be capable of seeing that player’s status window first. Although a player’s level, which was openly visible, was not necessarily an accurate indicator of his or her stats, back in the game it had been common practice to quickly judge another player’s strength by whether it was possible or not to see that person’s status window.
Incidentally, the ability to communicate with each other was so that the partner could understand the player’s instructions. Also, it provided some privacy, as anything said in the Partner channel could only be heard by the player and the partner/s.
“Kuu?! Kukuu!”
As if saying “Really? Let’s do it!”, the paw punches resumed with renewed vigor. For some reason, though, Shin and the fox cub already seemed able to communicate with each other.
“I got it! I got it already, so stop moving around!”
So saying, Shin took the cub from his head and held it up such that both of their foreheads were at the same height, then intoned the required words.
“I wish to walk together with thee.”
“Ku—......”
The cub barked in response to Shin’s words. If it had been a monster capable of speech, then the proper response would have been “I swear to be by thy side.” As the bark faded away, a tattoo in the shape of a peregrine falcon emerged on Shin’s left arm and the cub’s left foreleg. This was a symbol of the contract, and distinguished a partnered monster from a normal monster. The design was, of course, up to the player’s preference.
“ ‘K then, once again, more formally, yoroshiku.”
“Kuu!!”
The cub patted Shin with its right paw a few times and gave a bark that seemed to say, “Yoroshiku too!” It was a truly heartwarming scene.
“Alright, since we are now contracted, there is something that I must do first.”
“Your name. You are currently named ‘Elemental Tail,’ but that is your race. Now that we are partners, isn’t it a given that I must give you a name that only belongs to you?”
“Because of that ...... Calm down first! You’re shaking my head!!”
As the cub seemingly hurried Shin while asking “Really?! What is it?!?”, Shin announced the name that had come to his mind.
“What do you think about ‘Yuzuha’?”
“Ku~ku~kuu ...... Kuu!”
Hearing Shin’s words, the cub sank into silence for a while, as if it was turning the name over in its mind. Then it raised a high-pitched bark that seemed to say that it had taken a liking to it.
Back during the game, the Elemental Tail had, true to legend, appeared to the players in the form of a woman, so the name that Shin was suggesting was also a girl’s name.
“Well, you don’t actually have a gender.”
“Nothing. Well, when you appear in the form of a boy, then you can be called ‘Yuzuto.’”
Though he had given it a girl’s name, Shin remembered that as a monster, Elemental Tails were not restricted to a single gender, and could appear as either male or female. The one involved with the Kyuubi Quest had usually been in the form of a woman, but the walkthrough sites said that it had also appeared as a man every once in a while. He had never seen its male form firsthand, though.
He didn’t know if there were other Elemental Tails in this world that could similarly appear in human form, but if so, he secretly hoped that they would all choose to be female. Elemental Tails ranked pretty high in his list of favorite monsters. He sincerely prayed against the curveball of all of them choosing the form of a man.
In light novels, anime, and manga, it was a common pattern to fall asleep with a fox cub in one’s arms and wake up next to a naked beautiful girl, but if it turned out to be a guy, then that would be a total nightmare. He had no intention of denying the people who swung that way, but he had even less intention of stepping into that world.
(My LUC is low. I hope it’ll turn out alright.)
“Kuu?”
The fox cub, no, Yuzuha, tilted its head quizzically at Shin, who had been muttering things like “I hope I don’t have any strange luck” to himself for a while. Though the cub felt a tinge of unease at Shin’s suspicious behavior, it decided to stop thinking about it with an “oh well.” Though it was an Elemental Tail, it was still just a cub. It was not good at thinking too deeply about complicated things.
Having obediently retracted its claws, Yuzuha was now lightly patting Shin’s head with its foreleg, eliciting a “What’s up?” from Shin. For a long time, Yuzuha had been all alone while enduring the poison and the curse, so even Shin’s simple response filled its heart with delight.
♦♦♦♦
“Nn?”
When they had neared the edge of the Northern Forest, a familiar electronic ‘Pon!’ sound rang in Shin’s ear. It was a sound that he had heard many times before, as it had accompanied level ups, message notifications, and event announcements.
Judging by how Yuzuha did not react, Shin inferred that he was the only one who had heard it.
“I got a message. Oh right, is it from Tiera?”
At the same time as the electronic sound, the half transparents words “You have received a message” had also appeared at the edge of his vision. Having spent only a few days in this world, this blatantly unrealistic occurrence momentarily gave Shin the delusion that he was still inside the game.
“The way the system is still halfway in place is seriously weirding me out.”
It didn’t feel weird seeing the game windows back when it was VR, but here in reality it gave Shin an out of place feeling that he couldn’t shake off. “This is what you get when you mix the game with reality?”, thought Shin with a grimace. However, it was still an extremely useful function, so he had no choice but to just get used to it. With a sigh, he opened the message.
『To Shin
I do not know if Master has a message card with her, but when I get a
reply from her I will contact you again.
P.S.
Is it possible to send items along with a message card?』
It seemed that Tiera, having met Schnee before, was able to successfully send a message. This possibility had completely slipped from Shin’s mind.
“Oh well, she was able to contact Schnee, so that’s fine then.”
Thinking “all’s well that ends well,” Shin wrote a reply and tried to attach a few more unused message cards with the mail. The attached message cards turned into particles of light and were sucked into the writing paper. Though there was a weight limit to the kinds of things that could be attached, this was quite convenient in its own way.
“Is this how it works over here?”
Though he had easily accepted things like that back in the game, he couldn’t do so in reality. Shin made a mental note to inspect all of his items later. While the usage of some might have been relaxed a bit, some others might now work in ways completely different to his expectations.
Remembering the large number of items in his inventory, Shin’s motivation took a sharp nose dive. However, he told himself that he must wade through it all, for the sake of when he truly needed to use them.
“I guess ‘I’ll count on you for the heads up when Schnee gets back to you’ sounds about right.”
Shin finished up his return message with instructions on how to attach items, then sent it off before starting to walk again. The eastern gate that he had been aiming for was now right in front of his eyes.
Despite wanting to hide Yuzuha, he couldn’t very well not report the host of almost a hundred Skull Faces, so he decided to head towards the guild.
“Yo, Shin. This time you’re back with something unusual riding on you, eh?”
The person who had called out to him from the eastern gate was Beid. Perhaps due to seeing each other everyday, the stiff formality from their first meeting was completely gone.
“This is my new partner, Yuzuha. I want to confirm, are there any regulations related to bringing in partner monsters?”
Shin doubted that the country would so easily let a monster in, even if it was accompanied by a Tamer.
“There are lots of regulations on aggressive and large monsters, but there aren’t many that would apply to that little squirt with you. There are a few documents that you will have to fill out. Then I will need to make a record of the tattoo that represents your partnership. After that, you’ll be good to go.”
“That’s surprisingly lenient.”
Having expected a more rigorous process, Shin now felt slightly let down.
“We are stricter on ones that look like they would get pretty dangerous if they went on a rampage. Besides, whenever a partner monster causes a problem, the owner will have to bear full responsibility. But because of that, there are places where people would purposely rile up your partner and then demand compensation, so be careful.”
“Enough to give us a headache. If we limited the powers of the partners too much, then they would get directly targeted. It’s pretty hard to find the right balance.”
“I had thought it was just a lenient system, but it sounds like you guys have actually given it a lot of thought.”
There are people who would catch and sell off rare monsters, so Shin now understood what Beid had said about it being dangerous to thoughtlessly over-regulate everything.
It was apparently permitted to attack back if someone tried to straight up capture someone else’s partner. However, the cleanup was annoying, so Beid recommended Shin to do it somewhere out of the way and do a thorough job. Though Shin had misgivings about a city guard giving him this kind of advice, the people who would lay a hand on partner monsters were either members of trafficking rings or criminals of that type, so there would be no need to go easy on them.
“Name is Yuzuha, race is demon fox. Next is ......”
Shin filled in the required documents that Beid had brought over.
While Elemental Tails were top-tier bosses, they were still a type of demon fox. It’s just that they had been given a different racial classification of ‘Elemental Tail.’ It was similar to how high humans and high elves were classified separately from humans and elves.
Thus, what Shin had written on the form was not a complete lie. It simply wasn’t the entire truth either.
“...... Alright, I’m done filling them out. Please confirm.”
“...... Fumu. No particular problems. All that’s left is to register the symbol of the contract. Please touch this with the arm or leg that your symbol is on.”
After confirming that there were no problems with the documents, Beid handed them over to another guard, in exchange receiving a purple sphere the size of a baseball.
Shin and Yuzuha laid their respective left arm and left foreleg on the sphere. When they did so, the sphere glowed weakly, then their peregrine falcon symbol appeared within.
“With this, the entire registration is over. Also, knock on wood, if your partner dies or is abducted, then there will also be formalities for canceling the registration. Remember it just in case.”
“Understood. I’ll pray to never have to deal with that.”
After nodding to Beid’s business-like explanation, Shin left the gate behind.
He walked on while ignoring the people sending occasional glances at Yuzuha on his head. He had expected the attention. Even little kids were pulling their parents’ hands and pointing over while exclaiming “It’s a Fox-san!”.
While enduring the attention from the people around, Shin passed under the signboard of the Adventurer’s Guild. Even in the guild, Yuzuha continued to draw people’s eyes, and Shin felt their inquisitive stares every step of the way towards the reception desk.
At the reception were two reception ladies who looked like two peas in a pod. They were Selica and Silica.
“Excuse me. There’s something I want to report.”
“ “I will receive it.” ”
Both people responded at the same time. Their timing coincided perfectly. Though both of them also glanced at Yuzuha, their gaze was more for confirmation than for curiosity. As expected of these two.
“Umm, who do I ...... ?”
“I will receive it!”
“What is it?”
“Eh~, isn’t it fine even if I receive it?”
“Your personality seems a bit different from normal ......”
“Never mind, I understand. I will behave myself.”
From an outsider’s perspective, the two of them looked like an older sister who had it together and a flippant younger sister. Shin could only tell them apart by their hairstyles, but he had apparently guessed right.
It seemed like they had been disputing over who would receive the report, but eventually Selica emerged the victor. Their fierce exchange had been carried out in tiny voices, so Shin had missed some of it, but he decided to not worry about it. It made no difference to him who he reported to.
“...... Ah, may I give my report?”
“I’m here to report an encounter with a large number of Skull Faces in the vicinity of the central part of the Northern Forest. I have already defeated all the ones that I could confirm in the area, but I don’t know if there are still any stragglers elsewhere in the forest.”
“I don’t have a specific number, as I didn’t have time to count, but there were almost a hundred of them.”
“Wha ......”
Almost a hundred Skull Faces. As he had reported subjugating the strange Jack class yesterday, reporting that he had defeated more Skull Faces again did not elicit much of a reaction from Selica. However, when he supplemented with the number, she could not hide her shock.
“I don’t dare to think this, but were they like the one from yesterday?”
“A building, you say?”
“Yes, a Shinto shrine. Um, it’s a place that enshrines a god.”
He didn’t know whether they were familiar with Shinto shrines, so he gave a rough explanation.
“Shinto shrine ...... I’ve heard that there are such places in Hinomoto, but I didn’t know that there was one inside the Northern Forest.”
It was probably because there had been a barrier that repelled all living creatures. Moreover, it hadn’t been a very large area, so he could understand how no one had noticed it before.
“I had approached the place because it had caught my interest, but when I got close, I heard the sound of something breaking. At the same time, the Skull Faces arrived and began closing in. I think something like a barrier had been originally in place.”
“I didn’t really notice any objects in the building, but there was a drawing that looked like a magic circle. That’s all that comes to mind.”
He had decided to keep Yuzuha a secret, so he instead raised other points of interest.
“Thank you for reporting to us. We will look into it together with the matter of the Jack class from yesterday. Please contact us again if you realize or remember anything else. There are things that only Shin-sama would know, since you are the only one who was there.”
“Understood. I’ll come again if anything else comes to mind.”
His gaze swept over the bulletin board with requests stuck all over it. When he had chosen the Hilk grass request, he had only looked at the G rank ones. On a whim, he decided to also check out the high reward requests beyond his current rank. To his surprise, he found a separate bulletin board at the side. It was placed almost like it was being hidden behind the main one.
This other board was about 30 cemels in height and width, and most of the requests on it looked handwritten. He couldn’t help comparing the two boards that were side by side, but the difference in appearance was too great.
With his curiosity tickled a little, Shin decided to give the requests on this board a cursory scan. When he did, a certain one seemed to jump out at him. He grabbed it with a hand and gave it a second, more detailed, read.
—— A request for a Skill Inheritor.
——The compensation is negotiable.
After reading the content of the request, he noticed that it had not been given a rank.
When he had asked why such a system was in place, the response that he had gotten was “because everybody is free to make requests.”
“It looks like this board is where all those unranked quests are posted. Judging by the other requests, there might be a bit of truth in that rumor after all.”
While voicing his impression, Shin also recalled a piece of information that he had gathered with【Listen】. Though it was only on the level of a rumor, it was also a pretty interesting piece of information.
Furthermore, the rumor also said that public guilds had a nonintervention policy on requests made to dark guilds to purge oppressive clients and nobles who shoved unreasonable demands on adventurers. Shin didn’t know how much of it was truth, but he would not be surprised if “something” was really happening.
“The orphanage, huh? If I remember correctly, isn’t that where Millie is?”
He recalled what Wilhelm had told him before they parted the other day. As Millie was the one who had arranged the meeting between Shin and Yuzuha, Shin considered that she might be involved somehow. Leaving things as they currently were would leave a bad aftertaste.
“...... Guess I can drop in.”
In the first place, he had already planned on visiting the orphanage to ask Millie about Yuzuha, so he could inquire after request on the way. So thinking, Shin set off for the orphanage.
♦♦♦♦
Following the directions from Selica, Shin found himself in front of the church roughly ten minutes later.
Aside from worshipers, there were only two Sisters, and no sign of anyone resembling a Father or Reverend.
(I see a few differences in the decorations, but this looks exactly like the『Church』from the Architecture skill.)
Shin stood still and surveyed the interior of the chapel. True to its name, the Architecture skill is a necessity for building buildings. Higher levels in the skill unlocks greater scale buildings and more intricate interior design.
His analysis was that though the interior design was slightly old, everything was diligently maintained. That alone was enough to tell him the character of the person currently managing the church.
“Did something happen?”
“Nn? Ah, sorry. It’s just that I’ve never been to this kind of place before.”
Shin had been blatantly checking out the church while standing right outside the doors. One of the Sisters had called out to him, mistaking him for someone who was coming to the church for the first time and currently confused about the way things were done. She was a young lady with black eyes and brown hair in a chignon hairstyle.
(T/N: For those too lazy to look up ‘chignon,’ it is “achieved by pinning the hair into a knot at the nape of the neck or at the back of the head.”)
In anybody’s eyes, someone who came to a church and was not praying but only stood in front of the building for no apparent reason would appear quite suspicious. Despite that, the Sister’s tone and way of speaking indicated a complete lack of wariness against Shin.
Shin had no business with the church, so he asked her about the orphanage, which was apparently not visible from where he currently was.
“I’m here for business with the orphanage.”
"Oh, you’re here because of the request!”
The Sister’s reaction seemed overly surprised. He wasn’t sure if it was because very few people came for that request, or if it was because they had not expected anyone to respond in the first place.
“Umm, for now I want to listen to the issue first. Also, is there a beast child called Millie here? I want to talk to her about Yuzuha, this little guy here.”
So saying, Shin pointed at Yuzuha, who was still on his head. Having only just noticed Yuzuha, the Sister’s eyes became as wide as saucers. Then she answered Shin, but now with a bit of wariness in her eyes.
“What do you want with that girl?”
“She said something quite odd when I saw her yesterday. I decided to look into it a little when I was on a request earlier today, and ended up meeting Yuzuha.”
From the Sister’s attitude, Shin thought that there might really be something about Millie, so he replied in a smaller voice to prevent nearby people from listening in.
“...... Very well. Please come this way. Sister Rashia, I will leave this place to you.”
For some reason, the Sister was being wary of Shin, but after quietly mulling over what Shin claimed Millie had said, she left charge of the area to the other Sister and prompted him to follow her.
The Sister stepped outside the large doors, and headed to the back of the church. What he saw there was an old, detached building that closely resembled a traditional Japanese apartment. Though there were signs of repair here and there, the overall impression was not seedy at all. This was apparently the orphanage.
“I will call Millie over, so please wait here a while.”
Entering the orphanage, he was brought to a place that looked like a reception room. He sat down on the sofa and looked around the room. Before long, the Sister returned, bringing Millie with her.
“...... It’s Shin-nii!”
She had been hiding behind the Sister, but when she saw that the person sitting on the sofa was Shin, she trotted over with small steps and plopped down next to him.
“...... It seems that you really aren’t a bad person after all.”
So saying, the Sister sat down on the opposing sofa.
“It’s a bit embarrassing if you look at me with a charming smile like that ......”
“Wilhelm mentioned something along those lines too. Ah, my name is Shin. I’m an adventurer.”
“Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for listening to Millie’s request. My name is Thoria Serias. I’m a Sister of the church and the manager of the orphanage.”
This Sister turned out to be a person in charge. Shin wasn’t familiar with the distribution of roles in the church, so he accepted that at face value.
“I came here today because there is something that I wanted to confirm. So Millie, is this little guy the Fox-san that you were talking about yesterday?”
“You’re welcome. Yuzuha, you should thank her too. I was only able to save you because of Millie.”
“Kuu!”
While rubbing the head of Millie, who was tightly hugging Shin in gratitude, Shin also reminded Yuzuha to not forget to say thanks. In truth, he didn’t know what would have happened to Yuzuha if not for Millie’s words.
The Sister had been warmly looking on the exchange between Millie and Yuzuha. When Shin turned towards her, though, she fixed her position and met his eyes.
“There is one more thing that I wanted to confirm. It’s about the request posted at the guild. If it’s alright with you, may I hear more about it?”
“Yes, Shin-san appears to be a trustworthy person.”
Thoria nodded with a serious face. It seemed that there really were some special circumstances behind this unranked request.
“Since you’ve come after reading that request, am I correct in believing that Shin-san is a Skill Inheritor?”
“Yes, something like that.”
He was actually not, but he nodded anyways, as it would get complicated trying to explain everything.
“We are looking for an Inheritor of a specific skill. I know how impudent it sounds, but if possible, we want that person to teach that skill.”
From what Tiera had told him, anyone who possessed a skill would get favorable treatment just by merit of that alone, so anyone willing to teach it would usually demand a lot of service and/or money. There was also a weaker version of skills called ‘arts,’ but Shin had yet to see it himself.
If it was a skill that a Sister would go to such lengths for, Shin could think of a few.
“Since you’re a Sister, I’m assuming that what you want is something from the【Heal】or【Cure】trees?”
“Circumstances, you say?”
Shin had expected her to say something like “As someone in a profession related to recovery and healing, these are the very basics, so can you teach me something like those?”, but apparently he had guessed wrong. The other skills that he could think of were either resurrection skills or holy elemental attack skills, but even he would not agree to teach those so readily.
“In that case, then what is this skill that Thoria-san is looking for?”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that clearly.”
“Aah,【Purification】.”
There was a faint note of resignation in Thoria’s voice, as if she had added, “As I thought, it’s impossible, isn’t it?”
“Now that she mentions it,” thought Shin as he realized that he had completely forgotten about that option.
“I am aware that it is an absurd request, but ......”
“Eeh, ‘hassle’ ...... ‘to get’ ...... eehhh?”
For the first time, Thoria realized that Shin’s reply was very odd.
A few seconds passed in silence. Then Thoria raised her face like she had heard something strange.
“Sorry, what did you just say?”
“I just said that it would be a hassle to get.”
In contrast to Thoria, who had a “Hah?” look on her face and was desperately trying to come to terms with what she had just heard, Shin had answered in a really relaxed manner. It was a scene that seems to have happened somewhere before.
“Umm, do you perhaps know the method to acquire it?”
“...... Then would you be willing to take up the request?”
“That would depend entirely on you.”
With those words, Shin’s expression became serious.
Though Shin had so far been speaking with an carefree attitude, he had actually done some digging on the church before. He was convinced that there was something about Millie, but wasn’t able to find any information on her. All he got instead was information about the problems of the church. He didn’t hear enough details to realize ahead of time that it was the【Purification】skill that they wanted, but he did not mind revealing the information about【Purification】in exchange for knowing. Of course, though, regardless of how much he lacked the common sense of this world, he was not stupid enough to freely disclose the fact that he could actually use the skill to a Sister that he was meeting for the first time.
“If it’s about the reward, may we have a bit more time?”
“No, money is not my aim. Instead of that, there are a few conditions that I want.”
Thoria stiffened at the word ‘conditions,’ almost as if she knew what Shin was going to say next.
“Conditions, you say?”
“Yes. Firstly, I want to know about Millie’s power. Secondly, I want you to provide me with all the information that you gather from inside the church, effective for one year. Lastly, I want you to keep it a secret that it was me who took up the request. That stands even if it is the top brass of the church that’s asking. You can write it up as someone’s voluntary service if you like.”
The church was a place where all sorts of people gathered, be they young, old, male, or female. Shin thought that it could become a source of unique information, the kind that would be revealed only in front of God. The people of this church were all good people, though, so he didn’t hold much expectation.
What he was truly after was the power that Millie had demonstrated. Shin had naturally guessed that it was something like predicting the future or sensing crises, but that was because he was a gamer. In his original world, that kind of thinking would have been laughed down almost immediately.
It wasn’t like Shin couldn’t just listen to what Thoria had to say, take pity on the children, and just demand a little bit of money in exchange for directly teaching the skill. However, Tiera had warned him of the demerits of giving people skills so easily. With that in mind, it would be more natural to demand a more significant reward.
Depending on the point of view, the presented conditions were not worth so much. However, in Thoria’s eyes, it was a very big risk to reveal Millie’s power to a complete stranger whose background she didn’t know. There was also no guarantee that Shin would not turn around and reveal that information with other people.
It was also noteworthy that this agreement might, depending on the situation, require her to defy her superiors. Even if it was in exchange for the【Purification】skill, this trade might be too much for her. There was also no proof that Shin really did know the way to acquire【Purification】. If influential people or very greedy people heard that Millie had the power to see the future, then she would be in danger. Thoria could not easily acquiesce to these conditions.
“These conditions are what I want as compensation.”
Thoria was hesitant on what to do. Though Millie had let her guard down against Shin, that was that, and this was this. It did not mean that he could be trusted with everything.
Silence filled the reception room.
“...... It’ll be fine.”
Shin was waiting for an answer, and Thoria was holding her tongue. As if slicing through the silence between the two of them, Millie spoke up.
“Millie?”
“............”
It’ll be fine.
Millie was looking straight at Thoria when she said that. Her eyes were filled with a mysterious sagacity that did not belong on such a young child.
Thoria had been keeping quiet while deep in thought, but she seemed to feel something from seeing how Millie was and made up her mind. Her mouth slowly opened.
“Very well. We will accept those conditions. However, we are amateurs when it comes to information gathering. The things that we find out might not be of much help to you.”
“No need to go to great lengths. What I’m expecting is only on the level of telling me about people at the church with something unusual about them. What I value more is hearing about Millie’s power.”
Shin explained that he was not asking them to become like information brokers. Rather, it would only bring danger to them if they did it without proper training. Having clarified that and put their worries to rest, he pressed her to go into the main topic of Millie’s power.
“...... Ever since birth, Millie has had the Gift『Star Reader』. The way Millie tells it, she suddenly sees scenes that are different from what her eyes are seeing at the time. To my knowledge, her predictions have never been off. I think that her request to Shin-san was most likely also because of something that she saw.”
“Yes ...... Do you perhaps know anything about it? I myself actually know almost nothing about this Gift. Those with a Gift are even rarer than Skill Inheritors, so almost none of them ever publicize information about themselves. Everything I know is only what I’ve heard from Millie.”
Fumu, thought Shin. Here was an obvious deviation from THE NEW GATE.
He couldn’t be completely sure, as there were still items that he had not verified yet, but it seems that there were things here and there that were different from how he remembered them.
This was especially true for Gifts, of which there are those that could be activated at will and those which are permanently activated. The player was always given the choice whether to activate『Star Reader』or not when beginning a quest, so it lied somewhere between the two types.
(So there are changes to Gifts too. Just learning that makes this worth it, as it’s really hard to verify Gifts that could be activated by will. The effect of 『Star Reader』is not so much predicting the future as ...... Wait, I’m not getting any visions.)
『Star Reader』had originally been a Gift that gave the player a simple hint when they began a quest. Though it was kind of a rare Gift, not having it did not pose much of a handicap.
Of course, Shin himself had it, but he had not experienced the effect described by Millie and Thoria. Shin guessed that there might be certain additional requirements, but had no clue what they were.
He had no clue, but ——
“Kidnapping, abduction, confinement. It would be pretty terrible if word got out about this. What countermeasures do you guys have in place?”
Instead, all that filled his mind were troublesome words like these. If his tone sounded a bit too light, it was because he had experience with all of them.
By the way, they were carrying out their current conversation while covering up Millie’s ears.
“We are extra careful to not bring it up carelessly, so word wouldn’t get out so easily. Also, there are people who used to be at this orphanage and became adventurers who are helping us out.”
“Yes. There are others too, but he is the one who plays the biggest role in protecting this place. People are scared of his nickname, so there are very few who would dare to lay hands on the children here.”
The fact that children were easy targets for crimes was apparently the same everywhere.
The problem might lie in that people with a grudge against Wilhelm might purposely target the orphanage for that reason, but that’s where the other adventurers step in. There aren’t a lot of things that could be done by only one person.
“Well then, since I’ve already received my reward, then I will now officially accept this request. Is Thoria-san the one who is to acquire 【Purification】?”
“Is that so? I had been sure that it was supposed to be Thoria-san.”
“That girl is the grandchild of the Father who used to serve here. It would make for a much smoother transition if the succession was decided by heredity.”
It appears that there was something else going on aside from simply wanting【Purification】. “With the quality of this information, the deal is already starting to pay off,” thought Shin with a wry smile as he petted Yuzuha.
(T/N: The web novel version does not have the scene with the children playing with Shin and explaining why Rashia needs Purification. From what I can gather, it’s because there is a really greedy priest also aiming for the succession. If he wins, he plans on shutting down the orphanage to pocket the extra money. He already has Purification, so he’s ahead, but if Rashia also gets Purification, the fact that she is the grandchild of the previous serving Father would clinch the seat for her.)
With the help of Millie, Shin quickly broke the ice with the children, which led to several hours of playing together with them. When Thoria returned to the orphanage, the entire group, with the exception of a few older ones, was fast asleep.
“I’m sorry for having you look after the chil ............ Looks like they have all lowered their guard down with you, eh?”
“I certainly hope so.”
Thoria had been about to say something, but stopped mid-sentence. She looked greatly relieved to see the children sleeping so easily. It seemed that she had been quite apologetic for asking someone that she’d met only today to look after them.
Behind Thoria was the figure of the girl called Rashia from the church. Her gray hair was done up in the same chignon style as Thoria. Her brown eyes looked steadily at Shin, but she was obviously quite nervous.
“Is this person Rashia-san?”
“Y-Yes! For this occasion, yoroshiku onegaishimau#......ihyai.”
She had apparently bit her tongue.
“Umm, are you alright?”
“She has a bit of a careless side, but I can vouch that she is a very hardworking girl.”
Thoria was trying to cover for her, but her laughter sounded a bit strained.
“Uu, I’m sorry for showing you my unsightly side ......”
“Yes!”
Her reply this time was a lot crisper. Her eyes were the very image of the word ‘serious.’
“Let’s get straight to it. First of all, do either of you know of a place close by where a large number of undead monsters would appear at? If not, I can go back and ask at the guild.”
It could even be said to be a requirement for learning【Purification】. Based on the place, he would be able to tell roughly how long it would take.
“The most infamous one would be the Wraith Plains, I think.”
“Wraith Plains?”
Shin tilted his head quizzically at the name from Thoria’s mouth, as he had never heard of it before.
“Yes. When you leave the country and go straight north, you’ll eventually reach it. It seems that it used to be a dungeon, but was brought aboveground by the cataclysms and then fused with the plains. Now, there are lots of undead always roaming about over there.”
“I’ve heard of a few other similar places, but I don’t know much abou ......”
“No, all we need is a lot of undead monsters, so it sounds more than sufficient.”
It was almost too conveniently located, but he decided to not worry about it. Rather than checking out those places one by one, it would be much faster to just go to the one they knew. In the first place, the request did not feel like it had a lot of time to be fulfilled. It would be best to get it over with as soon as possible.
“So, how long would it take to get there?”
“Around five to six days by carriage.”
“...... Oh hey, Wil. You’re back.”
The person who had interrupted Thoria turned out to be Wilhelm, whose figure could be seen at the entrance to the room. Venom was in his hands, and he was silently pouring out fighting spirit.
“Yo, I came.”
“So you’re the adventurer who accepted that request?”
On the surface, Wilhelm looked calm, but Shin could tell that he was in a battle-ready pose.
“Aah, I’ve already received my reward, so I don’t mind also letting you in on the information about【Purification】.”
“............ What did you hear?”
Wilhelm immediately understood that the reward that Shin had received was not money. His eyes were declaring that he would not forgive even the tiniest lie.
Shin took a breath before replying.
“...... Millie’s Gift and its power. And that people who came from this orphanage are working to keep it under wraps.”
“Aren’t you guys placing too much trust in him?”
It was Thoria that he had directed his question to. Considering the faces from the orphanage’s side, he didn’t even need to think to know who it was that had performed the negotiation. Even Shin didn’t think that Rashia could take up the role of a negotiator, so in some sense it was only natural.
“It’s alright. He doesn’t seem like a bad person. And Millie also vouched for him. It’s fine, don’t worry.”
Wilhelm knew about Millie’s power, so he muttered “No way!” and looked at her.
“...... Did you see something?”
“............ Is that so.”
At Millie’s response, Wilhelm shut his mouth after a short reply. He looked satisfied with that.
“So, are you guys done?”
“I’ll also say it, to clear up any doubts. I have absolutely no intention of spreading around the things that I heard, and I am not thinking of using Millie’s power for anything bad.”
“You got that right. Just try it, I’ll drain you to death with this thing.”
Wilhelm waved Venom around in a joking way, but his eyes were completely serious. His aura broadcasted his readiness to brandish the spear at a moment’s notice.
“Mu~, fighting, bad!”
“Tch.”
Picking up on the atmosphere that was sparkling with tension, Millie decided to mediate. Wilhelm did not look like he was going to do anything more, and stopped sending out fighting spirit.
“I’m really sorry, he’s been short-tempered ever since long ago.”
“Wil-nii, hasty.”
“You bastards ......”
Thoria and Rashia had casually helped cover for Wilhelm. Rather than cover up, though, it sounded more like they were just badmouthing him.
Those two were fine even though there was enough fighting spirit directed at them that would scare any normal person, which caused Shin to consider reevaluating his impression of them as normal people.
“Tch, whatever. You already heard a lot, right? So start telling us the information about【Purification】.”
“Don’t worry. We would be in deep trouble too if we go around revealing the secret method to acquire one of the church’s famous skills.”
The others also nodded emphatically to Wilhelm’s words. It appears that the church had a lot more influence than he had thought.
“To be on the safe side, I will now cast an anti-eavesdropping spell around the room ...... Alright, let’s get down to the main topic. The way to acquire【Purification】is to defeat at least 200 undead monsters of level 150 or higher while holding onto an item called【Sacred Orb of Prayer】. Only the final blow is needed for it to count, so I will weaken them first while Rashia-san continues to hit them with as much magical power as she can deal.”
“I’m sure. Actually, the more annoying part is procuring the【Sacred Orb of Prayer】, but I already have one, so we can just use that.”
Shin announced all that in a relaxed manner.
He was not aware that in this world, monsters with more than 150 levels were extremely dangerous to normal residents. Though she only had to deal the final blow, just hearing that she had to face 200 of them left Rashia so shocked that it almost seemed that her soul had jumped out.
“Oi, Rashia!”
“Oi, oi, you alright?”
The dazed Rashia came back to her senses when Wilhelm started patting her shoulder. There was no other way, so Rashia had no choice but to work hard at it.
“Oi, Shin. I’m coming along too.”
“Sure, I don’t mind. It might be more reassuring for her to have someone she knows come along.”
Rather, it might be a bit much to travel with only the two of us, thought Shin as he put in due consideration for Rashia’s mental state.
From Rashia’s reaction earlier, Shin was reminded again that there weren’t a lot of adventurers in this world who could so casually meet such requirements. He had accidentally slipped back into the game’s paradigm, so he muttered “Self-restraint, self-restraint” to himself.
“Well then, work hard at it, Rashia.”
“Yes, I will!”
While Shin had been deep in thought, Rashia had recovered. With the future of the church on her back, she had no choice but to overcome this.
After Rashia had built her up resolve, they discussed the finer details of the trip until the day ended.
Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 2
You can grab the PDF here.
After Shin left the church, everyone remaining began making their own preparations for the next day. Rashia and Thoria also took the time to tell the children about the trip.
While following the main road and buying everything needed, he also called out to the adventurers with ties to the orphanage. There was no guarantee that the priest aiming to shut down the orphanage would not take advantage of his absence to start something.
Though there were quite a few adventurers from the orphanage, the number of people who knew about Millie’s power was very small. There was the possibility that this trip might take quite a while, so he told all of them to be on their guard. In the midst of all this preparatory work, Wilhelm continued thinking about a certain man.
Their first meeting was when they had happened to share a table at his favorite restaurant. Though Shin claimed to have only just started as an adventurer, he had not been intimidated at all by Wilhelm carrying Venom, and had talk to him normally. Because of this, Wilhelm had remembered him immediately when he saw him again at the orphanage.
At the church, when hearing that Thoria had revealed Millie’s power, Wilhelm’s first thought was that she was letting her guard down too much. However, even Millie had vouched for him, so it was good enough. Millie had even said that she had seen ‘something.’ She didn’t elaborate on what it was that she saw, but at least it was proof that he was not someone trying to get close to the church to cause them harm. Otherwise, Millie would not have advocated him so emphatically.
None of that changes the fact that he was still a complete mystery.
There were very few people who would talk to himself normally, and that guy’s words and actions just happened to remain in Wilhelm’s memory. The more he thought about it, though, the more strange points he noticed.
It was the same for the requirements to acquire【Purification】. Shin had said “defeat at least 200 undead monsters of level 150 or higher.” Right afterwards, he had said “I will weaken them first, so Rashia will only need to deal the final blow.” From the way he was speaking, he had not intended to bring Wilhelm along when he accepted the request.
If what he said was not a lie, then it would mean that he was strong enough to take on a level 150 by himself. And that would be even while bringing along Rashia, who would only get in his way.
(Has he really become an adventurer only recently?)
Someone who could single-handedly take down a monster above level 150 easily belonged in Rank B. Making Rank A would not even be strange.
How could such a person have remained under the radar so long?
(Could it be, that guy is ......)
A certain title floated into Wilhelm’s mind. It was a name known only to a select few.
That phrase represented a group of existences who wielded power beyond the limits of normal people.
Those with this title were born with numerous skills and varying amounts of knowledge already inside their head. This world’s concept of ‘levels’ cannot be applied to them. They were, in general terms, ‘ones who were chosen from birth.’
“Is he ...... a Chosen One?”
Nobody heard what he had unthinkingly voiced out loud; it disappeared into the usual clamor of the city.
The sun dawned on the next day.
Shin finished his breakfast quickly, then told Tsugumi that he would be out of town for a while and got back the rest of his unused deposit. All his luggage was inside his inventory, so he didn’t need any time for packing, which allowed him to set off before long. He wasn’t able to set off immediately though, due to Tsugumi not wanting to part with Yuzuha. Shin felt that her eyes had become those of a hunter with a prey in sight. Was it perhaps because her last name was Bear?
He walked through the relatively uncrowded roads with Yuzuha riding on his head as usual. Due to there being less people than there would be when the city completely woke up, he reached the eastern gate faster than expected. Shin was thinking “Aww, I’m a bit too early,” but he noticed that there was already someone else by the eastern gate.
“Mornin’. You’re early.”
The way most people in this town told time was by the bells that would peal every hour. Therefore, it was really hard to time anything precisely, so if two people agreed to meet up, one person would invariably have to wait for the other. Merchants had clocks, so they were a lot stricter on time with each other, but adventurers were surprisingly lax about it. According to Tsugumi and Douma, it was not rare at all for people to be just barely on time.
According to Shin’s ingame clock, there were still 20 minutes before the meet-up time. He had been regretful about being so early, but it appears that it had not been a complete waste of time after all.
“No, it’s just that there’s something that I wanted to confirm before the trip. Lend me your face for a sec.”
Shin was bewildered at the inexplicable gravity with which Wilhelm was speaking. He followed behind while wondering what had happened. Yuzuha continued to lull on his head. It had probably decided to leave the situation to Shin to handle.
“Off on a little errand that I asked of her. Well, she’s late half the time anyways.”
So this was a talk that he didn’t want Rashia to hear.
Judging by the signboard, it was a restaurant. The picture of a glass and a spoon did not make it clear what this place served, though.
After knocking the door three