Chapter 24
Translator: Kell Editor: Weasalopes
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Why the Heart Moves
Forest Barbarians were three-meter tall giants that moved in pairs . They were similar to humans except they had four arms, only one eye, the surface of their body was smooth and greenish, and they didn’t wear clothes .
They were also called “Green Giants” or “Forest Guardians” – not much creative thought went into naming them .
But they posed a great threat . One could tell by their ripped body that they were much stronger than humans . Plus they had four arms . To take one down, it was standard practice to have two people with shields to pin them down . That was what the book in the reference room said .
However, Paula’s party had Pia on the front lines who had a long sword as a weapon . While excellent at landing a blow at the tall Forest Barbarian, it wasn’t suited for a defensive battle . As a matter of fact, as Pia blocked the monster’s club with her sword, its other arm swung a log that hit her right in the gut and sent her flying .
「Pia!!」
「Paula, go heal her!」Priscilla cried .
「I-I know!」
Paula ran over to Pia and started chanting a healing spell . In the meantime, Priscilla drew the attention of the Forest Barbarian with her bow and arrow . The monster, however, simply shot a glance at Priscilla before charging to Pia .
「Tsk . 」
Priscilla fired an arrow at its defenceless back . It was a direct hit – or at least it was – but the tip just barely managed to stick to its flesh . It fell off immediately afterward . Forest Barbarians had tough skin . Only a powerful blow or a particularly sharp blade would have any effect on it .
「Pia, Paula, run!」
Priscilla’s warning came too late . Paula had her back turned, reciting the healing spell incantation . Pia was too hurt to move . The Forest Barbarian was behind them, swinging its club down .
「Run… Paula…」Pia said as tears streamed down her face .
If Paula didn’t get away, she would die with her . Paula knew this as well . But she didn’t stop reciting the incantation – she didn’t stop pleading to the gods for a miracle .
「………」
“You said you’d protect me, so I’ll protect you as well” was written on Paula’s face . She even smiled a little .
「No… you can’t… you must go, Paula…!」Pia begged .
Paula simply shook her head . The monster’s club swung downward— .
「…Huh?」
But the blow never came . Slowly, its arms dropped and so did the Forest Barbarian .
「H-H-How…?」
While Pia was baffled by what happened, the healing magic came into effect . This magic – the magic to bring about a miracle in someone else’s body – required a prayer to the gods . The incantation itself was long, like the so-called ritual prayers in temples . The weakness of healing magic was that the user was vulnerable while reciting the spell . In exchange, it was extremely effective .
Pia felt her crushed ribs reconnecting themselves . While healing magic was indeed powerful, Paula’s high aptitude to it played a part as well . However, now was not the time to think about her injuries . How did the Forest Barbarian just collapse like that?
「You girls have been on death’s door twice now in just a span of a few days . Do you have a death wish or something?」
A boy with black hair and equally black eyes stood there . Hikaru .
Let us go back in time for a bit .
As soon as Hikaru saw the Forest Barbarian, he left the sack with the Red-horned Rabbit with Lavia and started running . He could’ve used Group Obfuscation so they could both get closer . But to kill the tall Forest Barbarian with one blow, he needed to jump . It was much faster for him to go alone . One hit at its spinal cord and the creature was dead . Hikaru felt his Soul Rank increase .
「Hikaru-sama…!」
Paula was exhausted from using her healing magic, yet she made an effort to look cheerful . She tried to get on her feet only to fall over .
「Paula! Don’t push yourself too hard . 」
「You’re the one who pushed herself too hard, Pia . 」
「Ugh… I’m sorry . 」
Priscilla ran over to them to help Paula up . Meanwhile, Lavia just made it to Hikaru’s side, breathing hard as she dragged the heavy sack with her .
「Ah, sorry you had to bring that all the way here . 」
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「Hikaru, are these your friends?」
「Uh, more like acquaintances . 」
「Hmm…」
Lavia cast a glance at Priscilla’s ample bosom, narrowing her eyes, but Hikaru didn’t notice .
「Pia, Paula, can you stand? Can you get back to Pond?」
「Y-Yeah, we’ll manage . Sorry about all this . You saved our lives not once, but twice now . 」
「You guys are too rash . Why were you facing a Forest Barba—」
Hikaru stopped mid-sentence . A Forest Barbarian this close to town? Strange . The girls thought it was weird as well .
「We were out to collect materials and hunt smaller monsters so we’d have money for the time being . We didn’t expect to encounter a lone Green Giant out here . 」
「Lone? It didn’t have a partner?」
「We’d be dead by now if there were two of them . 」
「So you didn’t take down one . Hmm . 」
Hikaru had his hand on his chin, thinking .
…Ah .
Then it hit him . He killed a Forest Barbarian back in the forest by the lake . It was operating solo back then, but he thought nothing about it . In hindsight, that might’ve been this one’s partner .
The forest was huge – so huge in fact that it was connected all the way to the one near the lake . The Forest Barbarian thought it was a human who killed its partner so it came all the way here for revenge .
So they were attacked because of me?!
Cold sweat trickled down his back .
「What’s wrong?」Lavia asked .
「N-Nothing . 」
Hikaru tried his best to look calm . Of course, it could all just be him overthinking things, but the guilt wouldn’t go away .
「Hikaru-sama, you may take all the materials you can get from this monster . Of course, you have the right since you took it down . 」
「N-No, I can’t . You’re the ones who fought it . 」
「It was you who killed it . 」
「That may be true… but I can’t! And that’s final . 」
「…What’s wrong? You seem to be flustered . 」
「I’m not flustered . 」
While thinking about how to refuse Paula’s offer, he looked at Lavia and at the sack she was carrying – dragging, rather .
「We already got ourselves a kill . We can’t bring any more with us . Besides, the Forest Barbarian has plenty of injuries . It won’t fetch much, so paying for someone to carry it is not worth it . 」
「Okay . How can we thank you, then?」
「It’s okay! You don’t have to do anything! Anyway, let’s go back to town . If you want to, you guys can take the materials from the monster . I only ask you to not give my name . I seem to attract trouble . 」
The girls didn’t seem to agree at first, but they gave in after what he said . The Forest Barbarian’s skin could be harvested as materials . Tough and smooth, some processing will make it easier to dye . The standard price for the skin from one Forest Barbarian was 50,000 gilans, but “standard” in this case was a deceptive term . The standard price referred to the price ceiling for a spotless skin . It was natural for monsters one fought to have injuries . Plus the girls seemed to have had a drawn-out battle with the Forest Barbarian so they would probably only get around 10,000 gilans .
Priscilla, who was relatively fine, started peeling off the skin from the back of the Forest Barbarian .
「…Hikaru-sama . 」
「Hmm?」
「Who’s that?」
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「Oh, right . His name is Renclaw . My… partner . 」
Hikaru introduced Lavia to the girls (as Renclaw) . She felt just a tad bit embarrassed from being called his partner, lowering her cap over her eyes .
「P-Partner… A pretty boy partner?!」
Paula was strangely excited .
The town was close, so Hikaru and Lavia went on ahead first . It was almost sundown when Priscilla finished peeling the skin off .
「Let’s hurry . Can you run, Pia?」
「Yeah, no worries . Priscilla?」
「………」
「What’s wrong? Why are you spacing out?」
「I’m not spacing out . 」
Priscilla was staring at the Forest Barbarian’s corpse . On its nape was a wound from when Hikaru stabbed it .
「What? Is something wrong?」
「It’s nothing . Let’s go back . 」
「If you say so . 」
The three of them hurried back to town .
As soon as they got back to town, Hikaru and Lavia headed for the Adventurers Guild .
「…Hikaru . 」
「Yes?」
「Who was that Paula girl?」
「Hmm… A novice adventurer who uses healing magic, I guess?」
「That’s it? You’re acquainted with her, right?」
「Yeah . Is something bothering you about her?」
Wait, was Lavia’s identity exposed? Hikaru wondered, stopping in his tracks .
「Hikaru…」
「Y-Yeah?」
「…I felt something . 」
「What?」
Gulp .
「I’m sure that girl likes you . 」
「…What?」
「I just know it . A woman’s instincts are often right . 」
Hikaru sank down on the ground, feeling exhausted . You had me worried there for nothing .
「I think well of her, but that’s it . Nothing more, nothing less . 」
「Really…?」
「You don’t have to worry . You’re the only one I see . 」
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Lavia’s face turned beet red .
「Uh… that’s not fair . 」
「What are you even worried about? That I’m making eyes at her? I don’t really intend to do that . 」
「No . I’m sure you’re popular with the girls because you’re cool . 」
「Yeah, no . Nuh uh . 」
Back in Japan they called me cocky, a smart-ass, cocky, that I had a philosophical outlook in life, and that I was cocky, but never “cool” .
Oh wait, there was actually that one time Hazuki-senpai said “You’re a cool guy, Hikaru-kun”, thought it was more like she was making fun of me . Nothing more .
「I said we were acquaintances, but I actually saved her life once before . So there’s a possibility she idolizes me . 」
Basically what she felt was similar to the suspension bridge effect in which someone mistook the increased heart rate from fear to be that of love .
「Well in that case, I guess it’s all right . 」
「I’m glad you understand . Now let’s go to the guild . Here . 」
「We’re holding hands? I thought we weren’t going invisible while in town . 」
「I just want to hold hands . 」
「…Jeez! Like I said, that’s not fair…」
Sulky and flushing from embarrassment, Lavia held Hikaru’s hand .
「But isn’t it weird for two boys to be holding hands?」
「…You’re right . There’s not a lot of people around anyway so I guess we can hide ourselves . 」
In the end, Hikaru used Group Obfuscation . Lavia moved closer to Hikaru until their shoulders touched . She giggled .
「…You’re the one being unfair . 」Hikaru said .
「Hmm? Did you say something?」
「No…」
It was closing time when they arrived at the guild . Most adventurers had already left and Gloria was the only one at the counter . Apparently, it was Aurora’s shift from early morning until noon, Jill’s from morning to just past noon, and Gloria’s from noon until sundown . Gloria was able to shoo the adventurers away quickly so it made sense that she was the one in charge of closing the guild .
「So this is the Adventurers Guild…」
There weren’t a lot of adventurers left so Hikaru brought Lavia inside . She looked around restlessly . Her clothes weren’t exactly cheap, so they seemed quite out-of-place .
「Oh, if it isn’t Hikaru-san . 」
「Is Unken-san around?」
「He is, but I don’t think he can see you today . Is this perhaps about a Red-horned Rabbit?」
I’m glad she’s quick on the uptake, Hikaru thought .
「I’ll just dress the meat and hand it over . The assessment can be done tomorrow . Is that all right?」
「That would be great . I’m sorry for all this . Unken-san is the one who wants to assess them and yet you’re the one making a compromise . 」
「It’s okay . I can practice dissection as well . I’m not really good at it yet though so the meat might not be all that great . Oh, and I’m taking the innards . 」
「Okay . The guild doesn’t buy those anyway, but what are you going to use them for?」
「The manager over at Pasta Magic wants them . 」
「…I see . 」
Hikaru failed to notice Gloria’s eyes shine for a brief moment .
「I’ll be using the dissection area at the back if you don’t mind . 」
「Of course… Ah . 」
「Hmm?」
「Are you taking your friend with you?」
「Yeah . Over here, Renclaw . 」
Lavia quickly went over to Hikaru and bowed her head at Gloria . The receptionist looked like a saint with her bright smile, but Hikaru knew she was a scheming woman . He was not buying it .
「Do you want to become an adventurer, Renclaw-san?」
「Ah, yes . I want to . 」
「Would you like to register, then?」she asked cheerfully like she was simply asking one out for tea .
Lavia’s eyes sparkled from Gloria’s suggestion, but Hikaru interrupted them .
「Whoa, whoa . Don’t just decide things without me . Didn’t you say your parents haven’t given you permission to register for the guild?」
「Ah, that’s right . 」Lavia said .
「Is that so? The Adventurers Guild is a legitimate and proper organization, though . 」
「Sure, the organization itself is proper . 」
「You seem to be implying something, Hikaru-san . 」
「Unfortunately, there’s a receptionist who sends a novice adventurer to the Thieves Guild for errands . An organization might be proper, but its employees could be crooked . 」
「Oh, my . There’s a receptionist like that around?」Gloria said, smiling .
How can she even smile like that? Hikaru thought, smiling back .
「So anyway, we’re headed to the dissection area . Later . 」
「Okay! Let’s have a nice, long talk next time, Hikaru-san . 」
「If I’m free . 」
Hikaru made his way to the dissection area with Lavia . As always, he had no idea what went on in that woman’s head, which terrified him .
「…I’m sorry, Hikaru . 」
「For what?」
「I can’t even register for the Adventurers Guild…」
If she registered here, her name Lavia would come up and things would go horribly wrong .
「You can’t . Not in this country, at least . 」
「…What?」
「They’ll be looking for you only within the kingdom, right? It should be all right once we’re out of Ponsonia . The Adventures Guild network spreads far and wide even beyond the kingdom’s borders . You can simply register abroad . 」
「So we’re not staying in this town forever?」
「Nope . Only until the heat dies down . Once it does, we can go anywhere so cheer up . 」
「…Hikaru . 」
At the back of the guild, where it was dark and no one was watching, Lavia moved closer and held his arms .
「…Thank you . 」Lavia whispered in his ears .
「No problem . 」Hikaru answered curtly, feeling nice and warm inside .
After that, he dissected the Red-horned Rabbit like crazy .