Chapter 23: Level 3

The next morning, I didn’t oversleep.

I carried my laundry into the backyard and washed it.

Then I returned to my room, hung it up to dry, took my wooden sword, and went back outside.

“Hah!”

I swung the sword.

Just as Ryan had taught me, I focused on balancing my legs and waist while teaching my body how it should move.

I still couldn’t do it unconsciously, so I trained while thinking through every movement one by one.

◇

[Swordsmanship] training completed.

1 EXP acquired.

EXP until skill acquisition: 65/100.

◇

I’d trained for about an hour, and it had risen by that much.

Since learning how to handle a sword, I was gaining EXP more readily.

While looking at the skill EXP, my Status screen caught my eye.

“…Come to think of it, Ryan said attributes can also be increased through training.”

I’d only learned this after coming to the royal capital, but it was possible to raise attributes through training.

For Strength, you trained your muscles.

For Magic, you continued using magic.

For Stamina, you ran.

For Agility, you performed rapid movements over short periods.

For Dexterity, you performed delicate work.

Ryan’s explanation had been rather broad, but that was the general idea.

“Let’s test it.”

I couldn’t help becoming curious.

Just how much did my special skill cover?

To find out, I began doing push-ups right there.

Back in the village, a man who enjoyed building his muscles had taught me how.

I’d thought he was doing it simply because he liked it.

However, perhaps he’d actually been trying to raise his Strength.

◇

Strength training completed.

1 EXP acquired.

EXP until attribute increase: 1/100.

◇

“…Seriously?”

To be honest, I’d begun half-convinced that nothing would appear.

However, the text on my screen had unmistakably updated.

I’d also accumulated EXP after only about ten minutes of push-ups.

Perhaps I could acquire it even faster if I learned to perform them more properly.

With that thought, I decided not to do any more today.

“[Swordsmanship] comes first. Acquiring a skill will be the greatest weapon available to me right now.”

I stood and resumed my [Swordsmanship] training.

A little later, Amanda came into the backyard. I stopped training and helped her with the laundry.

“The rental period hasn’t expired yet, but I still want to use the equipment. Maybe I’ll stop by Harold’s shop before going to the guild.”

After breakfast, I paid to extend my stay and decided to renew my equipment rental too.

This time, I’d extended my room for another two days.

I really wanted to pay for many days at once, but doing so would wipe out my savings.

Thinking about that, I arrived at Harold’s shop.

“Oh, if it isn’t the boy. What brings you here? It’s not due back yet.”

Harold was surprised that I’d come before the deadline.

“I want to rent it for another week, so I came to pay while I still have the money.”

“I see… Tell me, boy, do you like that equipment?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. It’s mass-produced, but it fits me perfectly, so I like it very much.”

“Then would you hear me out on a favor? As your reward, I’ll give you the entire set of equipment you’ve been renting.”

The completely unexpected request left me confused.

Higher-ranked adventurers sometimes received such offers from acquaintances or people they met through requests.

However, Harold and I were only connected as the person lending equipment and the person borrowing it.

Amanda had introduced us, but our relationship still wasn’t close enough for him to make that sort of request.

“…May we involve the guild? I’m still a novice adventurer. If the guild says this violates a rule, I could lose my occupation.”

“I intended to do that too. Let’s go to the guild now.”

Harold put down his tools and came outside with me.

He locked the building’s entrance, and we went to the Adventurers’ Guild together.

After we arrived and explained the situation at Reina’s counter, she led us to another room.

“Harold, may I ask what kind of request you wished to give Erik?”

“…The truth is, my warehouse broke, and it’s in a terrible state. Then an acquaintance told me the boy could finish the cleaning quickly and repair the shelves too.”

“…Harold, would that acquaintance happen to be…?”

“Yes, the alchemist Marina. She happened to visit my shop on the day I was despairing over the broken shelves. When I told her about it, she mentioned the boy.”

I was surprised to learn that Marina was involved yet again in work finding its way to me.

I thanked her silently.

“I see. Erik’s cleaning ability has indeed received high evaluations in the reports. However, he’s still a novice adventurer, so arranging this as a designated request would be difficult.”

“I know. That’s why I came to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

The restriction on designated requests was also a system meant to protect lower-ranked adventurers.

Long ago, there had been a time when even lower-ranked adventurers could accept designated requests.

Hiring a high-ranked adventurer for one was expensive, so some people had used lower-ranked adventurers as cheap labor instead.

The rewards seemed unbelievably generous to those lower-ranked adventurers.

Many accepted the designated requests, and most of them lost their lives.

Adventurers risked their lives for a living, but even so, the Adventurers’ Guild could have prevented those accidents.

Conditions had been placed on designated requests immediately afterward.

A new rule was added stating that only adventurers of Silver rank or higher could accept them.

“We’ll process Harold’s request as an ordinary public request. It will take a little time, and if we begin now, it will be posted first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll keep it aside as a request to recommend to you, Erik.”

“Um, are you allowed to do that, Reina? Isn’t that effectively the same as a designated request?”

“Requests within the city aren’t popular to begin with. Household-assistance requests in particular receive very little interest. There’s nothing wrong with recommending one to Erik, who currently handles many of them. Even if a problem does arise, I’ll take care of it.”

Reina smiled sweetly.

Neither Harold nor I could find anything to say in response.