Magic Warrior Chapter 74 (Patreon)

The Boy's Troubles

The boy happened to be at the guild.

He was surprised to hear that he had achieved D Rank in only two days.

The request he received by himself yesterday was treated as a success, but the result was not as good as he expected, and he wanted to consult us who seemed to be doing well.

Since we had some time, it would be okay to at least listen to what they had to say.

Rilfana seemed to be a little interested, and Clare seemed to be less interested because she didn't know us, but she didn't seem to be against it.

“We're just starting out, so we'll probably just listen, if you don't mind.”

“Oh, well, that's great. That would be great.”

“Is the diner upstairs okay?”

We decided to sit at the end of the upstairs bar and diner and listen.

He was refusing to have a drink, perhaps to save money, but I felt bad that only one of us didn't drink, so I decided to buy him a drink. I had to buy him a drink because he was the one I had asked to go there.

The boy's name was Steve. It sounded like he was good at making things.

We also introduced ourselves.

Steve has shaggy reddish-brown hair and gray eyes. He has a pair of fishy eyes that give him the look of a kid general. His hair was not dirty, but rather clean and unkempt, so I guessed he kept it in good shape. His hair is a little disheveled, as if he had been somewhere else today.

His height is a little short for an adult male.

He seems to have come from an orphanage in town.

The orphanage is guaranteed by the government, so he has no problem with food, clothing, and shelter, and he also receives an allowance once a season, although it is not much. Instead, there are some service activities for the town, such as picking up trash and helping out at the year-end and New Year's festivals, which the children can do.

When they reach adulthood, they can choose or find a job as an apprentice. After coming of age, it is common for children to leave the orphanage or live for a while helping out at the orphanage.

Children who have decided to become adventurers are likely to help out at the orphanage while earning money through short-term employment until they reach adulthood. It would be almost the same as a part-time job.

Steve chose to become an adventurer while remaining at the orphanage for a while.

He says that there are a good number of kids who choose to become adventurers because they earn a lot of money if they do well, although more than half of them give up within a year and get a job in town, and about 10% disappear.

“I thought I'd be able to get to D Rank right away and be on my own. But when I actually did the commission, I realized I wasn't good at all.”

Steve says he received a request yesterday to collect medicinal herbs.

He had heard in town that there were various medicinal herbs growing along the western road that were being purchased in addition to the requested ones, so he headed that way.

However, he did not know which of the medicinal herbs he could use at the stage of actually trying to collect them.

Well, it is not like in games where the target herbs are shining. Without knowledge, there was no way we could do anything.

I had no choice but to collect all the weeds in the area, but they were almost all useless.

In the end, I think I only ended up with about one small silver coin and a few small copper coins for accomplishing the request.

“I tried to go to the request to defeat Conilia today in the morning, but she ran away right away...”

Conilia is a rabbit monster. Unlike the Killer Rabbit, it can be easily defeated, but it is sensitive to signs and runs away as soon as it is spotted.

In SeveChro, it is a monster that you fight at the beginning of the game, just like the Wolf, but it was seldom hunted because you don't have to chase it around as much as you do with the Wolf.

Steve had at least practiced with a sword and thought he could defeat a rabbit, but it didn't go so well and he seemed depressed. He must have been clinging to straws when he talked to us.

Is this the first time you've fought or collected monsters?

Clare, who was listening to the conversation, suddenly muttered. She didn't mean to imply it out loud, but she had a “I did it” look on her face.

“Yeah, kids rarely leave town.”

Steve nodded in agreement.

If this was the norm in town, even a simple E Rank request would be surprisingly difficult for us.

“Then I think you should study first. If you're a kid in town, you can get into the library for free, right?”

“Studying...I'm not good at it, that's why I thought of becoming an adventurer.”

“I don't know what I went to collect. It's not safe to not know the characteristics of the monsters you've defeated.”

“Is that so?”

“I think it's better to remember the names of the medicinal herbs and monsters mentioned in the request and check them in the picture book before heading out. Even we bought an illustrated book about six months ago and studied it.”

Perhaps thinking that what he had said was inevitable, Clare did his best to explain it, even bringing out his notes and other notes he had made so far.

I guess it is normal for people to feel that studying something in an illustrated book is a form of study.

For me, it was like looking at a strategy book.

...I don't need to mention that Rilfana and I have a lot of knowledge from the game era that we can learn while playing.

Come to think of it, Clare rarely looks at me funny when I teach her new things these days. Maybe she thinks I am learning from illustrated books or something.

It's good that Clare is keeping Steve company, but Rilfana and I don't have anything to do.

“I see. I understand.”

Clare seemed to have remembered the request form and told him about the types of medicinal herbs that grow on the west side of town and the characteristics of the Conilia.

I might be able to give her some advice on how to fight.

“If it's a fleeing opponent like Conilia, I think it's easier to fight with a dagger than with that two-handed sword.”

“But with this one, I think I can take him down with a single blow if I hit him.”

“That's true. But it's an 'if you hit it' thing. Conilia is a coward, so she doesn't get attacked frequently, but other monsters might get attacked when they are tired from wielding their weapons and get seriously injured.”

I say badly injured, but if it's a bad bite, it could even kill you.

If the bite was on his arm, he might not be able to wield a weapon, making it difficult for him to find work in town, let alone as an adventurer. He might be able to get a recovery spell at the church, but he knows that it won't be free.

“Well... I'll think a bit about changing weapons.”

“I don't think you'll have to buy another one if you gradually get used to handling it. If I were to buy more, I would use a one-handed sword, and if I were to replace it, I might as well use a one-handed half-sword bastard sword.”

With a one-handed half-sword bastard sword, you can use it with one or both hands. It can be used for both cutting and poking, so it is well-balanced.

I don't know if Steve, being an orphan, has that much money, but if he's willing to think about it himself, then maybe he can afford it.

“For now, tomorrow I'll go pick the medicinal herbs you taught me. After that, perhaps the library.... Thanks!”

Steve seemed a little more positive now that we had listened to him, and he had some idea of what he wanted to achieve.

He gulped down the rest of his tea and left the cafeteria with a bright smile on his face.

Since she seems to be able to listen to other people's opinions, it might be a good idea to find a good senior colleague and ask him or her for guidance. 

I don't know if the guild has such a system.

“Hmm, you seem to have good qualities.”

Rilfana, who rarely interrupted the conversation, smiled.

I think Rilfana has a good eye for people, perhaps because she was born a noblewoman, although she doesn't seem to have gone out to social gatherings.

Rilfana was an excellent judge of people.

During dinner at the inn, it occurred to me that in SeveChro, water and ice are unified with the water attribute.

In SeveChro, water and ice are unified as water attribute, but in Virtuari, they are different attributes, which was revealed by the spider riot. However, Rilfana used fire as the anti-attribute of ice.

Has the anti-attribute of water changed? Or has the trickster's “Saints and Demons” ability changed somehow?

I asked Rilfana when I returned to my room.

“I had a flash of inspiration and tried a few things when I was in the village. I was doing many things and I learned a water attack magic, but it appears that the anti-attribute of both water and ice is fire.”

“Does that mean that if you had another attribute, it might work better?”

“Another attribute? If there is ice, there might be other attributes. I didn't think of that.”

I think that in SeveChro, lightning is light, but in this world of Virtuari, I think there is a lightning attribute.

If you noticed that, I wish you would have told me about the water attack magic...