Chapter 26: The Power of a Unique Skill

“What happened?”

“Sorry. We spotted a group of monsters up ahead, so we’ll stop for a moment. It appears that another carriage is being attacked by several monsters.”

Yuuka opened the window at the front of the passenger compartment and asked the coachman about the situation. Looking in the direction the coachman was pointing from the window on the side of the carriage, I could indeed see several gray objects moving around a brown carriage.

What are those…? I couldn’t see them clearly enough with my own eyes, but were they some kind of silver wolves or something?

“We’re planning to change direction and take a detour to the royal capital. What would you like us to do?”

“………………”

The coachman made a cold decision without hesitation. In this other world, there were dangerous monsters and bandits, and since preserving one’s own life came first, such a decision was reasonable in a sense. Besides, this coachman had been hired to safely deliver us to the royal capital, so it was only natural that he would prioritize our safety.

However, as someone who had been Japanese in my previous life, I couldn’t help but feel that I didn’t want to abandon people in a situation like this.

“I’ll go. Yuuka, please look after Kakeru.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

While I was hesitating over what to say to them, Aoi seemed to notice what I was thinking. She grabbed her staff and prepared to leave the carriage.

“Aoi, be careful!”

“Yes. They aren’t much of an opponent, so please don’t worry.”

With those words, Aoi stepped outside the carriage and used flight magic to soar through the sky.

From high above, far beyond the reach of the people and monsters on the ground, she raised her staff toward the carriage below.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

“Wha—!?”

A shocked voice escaped my mouth.

With an ear-shattering roar, multiple golden pillars of lightning released from Aoi’s staff descended upon the ground in an instant.

The strikes were so incredibly fast that all I saw were flashes of light raining down and the silver-colored monsters instantly turning black. Their charred bodies stopped moving completely.

Aoi then approached the carriage, checked on the people inside, and after confirming that there were no problems, returned to us.

Against that many monsters, she had apparently ended the battle in a single instant…

“There were no problems. Neither the people inside the carriage nor the guards suffered any serious injuries, so we can continue.”

“Y-Yes! We’ll proceed!”

After Aoi returned to the carriage and informed the coachman, the Sleipnir began running again, and the carriage continued forward.

“As expected of you, Aoi. That was only about an intermediate-level spell, wasn’t it?”

“Lightning Blast, a lightning spell. Its power is decent, but its speed is its strength. Of course, against someone at the level of a master like Yuuka, even that would probably seem slow.”

“That may be true, but from a swordsman’s perspective, your flight magic is the troublesome part… Without magic tools that create footholds in the air, it would be difficult.”

“I do have countermeasures for close-range combat, but opponents specialized in close combat are difficult.”

T-this was the battle power of a Blessed One with a cheat-like Unique Skill…

It was overwhelmingly powerful. Absolutely overwhelming!

“That was amazing… Aoi, you were incredible!”

“K-Kakeru-sama?”

Overcome with excitement, I unconsciously grabbed Aoi’s hand.

“I’ve never seen magic that amazing before! So that’s real magic, isn’t it!? All those monsters were taken down with a single attack, and it happened instantly! I couldn’t even see what happened!”

It was partly because I had stayed shut inside the city where I first reincarnated and had never gone out, but I had never seen anyone use magic on the scale Aoi had just displayed.

Besides, in this other world, people capable of using magic were extremely rare.

When I registered as an adventurer at the Adventurers’ Guild, they had measured my magical power by having me touch something like a crystal, but I was told that I had no magic power.

At the time, I had only just reincarnated, so I had secretly hoped that maybe I would have some kind of cheat-level magical ability too… Needless to say, I was quite disappointed.

I had seen adventurers use magic before, but it was usually on the scale of creating a fireball or water ball about the size of a basketball.

Compared to that, Aoi’s magic just now was truly the kind of magic you would expect in a fantasy world.

“The magic tools you made were amazing too, and if that spell wasn’t even your full power, then your real magic must be incredible! I’m really glad you’re protecting us, Aoi. No matter what kind of monsters or bandits appear, I feel completely safe now!”

“I-I-I’m honored!!”

“……!”

I had thought her magic tools and flight magic were amazing when I first saw them, but magic like what she had just shown was exactly what I imagined true magic to be.

Only now did I truly understand the incredible power of a Unique Skill.

Of course, Aoi had also spent years training and refining her magic, but this truly was the power of a Unique Skill.

And Aoi’s face had turned completely red as she shyly looked away.

Even though she could use magic this powerful, was she perhaps not used to receiving praise?

“Aoi, if monsters or bandits show up next time, I’ll handle them!”

Perhaps inspired by seeing Aoi’s performance, Yuuka seemed incredibly motivated.

Come to think of it, when Yuuka and I encountered that group of thieves while walking through the city, she had restrained them in an instant, but I hadn’t actually seen it happen with my own eyes.

I’m looking forward to seeing the sword techniques of her Unique Skill, “Sword Saint,” for myself.

That said, I really wouldn’t mind if no more monsters or bandits showed up from here on out…

After that, our journey continued smoothly, and we safely arrived at the town we had planned to stay in.

We stayed at an inn that was incomparable to the one I had used in the first town after my reincarnation.

We ate luxurious meals, soaked in a large bath, and were able to rest both physically and mentally.

It was almost too comfortable. I found myself thinking that traveling around the cities of this other world like this might actually be quite enjoyable.

We were scheduled to arrive at the royal capital tomorrow.

But what kind of city would it be, and what kind of person was the Fourth Prince?