Chapter 24: Joint Training
“It seems you’ve been following me. What business do you have with me?”
“You know full well why.”
“We heard you’ve got plenty of cash.”
“You look shabby, but rumor has it your earnings are insane.”
“If it’s food you’re after, I’ve got plenty. But I’ve no intention of sharing.”
“Cheeky brat. We’ll have you crying soon enough.”
“Sorry, but it looks like you won’t have time for that. Maybe you should pay a little more attention to your surroundings…”
“Ha! Just a big pack of goblins. We can handle those in seconds.”
“Yeah, and there’s better prey right in front of us. We should enjoy ourselves first.”
“Too bad. I’m not into that sort of thing. You lot can dance with the goblins instead.”
I started by wrapping the man licking his lips at him with a ‘Whirlwind!’ spell.
Adventurers might not have much female company, but there sure are too many of that kind of guys around.
“Wha—what the hell!?”
“Damn it, is this that whirlwind magic I heard about!?”
“This pathetic little breeze—”
“Whoa, s-stop! I can’t—aaahhh!”
The racket drew the goblin horde closer. I dispelled the magic to prepare a proper welcome.
The other group, hidden a bit away, seemed to realize a direct fight would be bad for them and started firing arrows—but too bad for them.
They couldn’t see the air shield, so they were shocked when their arrows bounced right back just before hitting.
They were bunched up about forty meters away—perfect range. I wrapped them in a ‘Tornado!’ and sent them flying into the sky.
Meanwhile, the goblins descended on the dizzy men, pummeling, biting, and tearing into them. Screams and curses echoed around.
Some tried to fight back with swords or knives, but staggering and vomiting, they stood no chance.
A few goblins lunged toward me too, but they were blocked by my barrier, twisting their necks in confusion.
To make it look like the men had simply been attacked by goblins, I speared a few of the monsters through the barrier—dead, as witnesses.
That should make it seem like the men were slain by the goblins.
I had no desire to watch the carnage until the end, so once I confirmed no one was still alive, I left quietly, letting the goblins feast in peace.
“P-please… help… me…”
I turned toward the weak voice—it was the one who’d said, “Cute face like that… let’s have some fun with him.”
“Go let the goblins have their fun…”
I spat, turning his back.
I had no interest in watching that grotesque show; with those wounds, the man wouldn’t last long anyway.
Two days later, I went to the guild, but Olga’s party wasn’t there. I left town separately from Jake’s group and met them later on the plains.
Once outside the city, we hunted together near the forest edge. Any monsters we encountered—horned boars, elks, small buffalo—I caught with whirlwinds, spinning them until they were dizzy.
Then, while the monsters staggered, the others finished them off with bows or spears. Simple work.
Buffalos served as good practice targets for Lindy’s Stone Lance spell.
“Lindy’s getting better—it’s a lot easier to hunt now. But with Leon around, it’s almost unfair to the prey.”
“Yeah, he just spins everything around and—poof!”
“And then he doesn’t even keep the kill.”
“Well, just the birds alone bring in plenty of money.”
“At this rate, his skill rivals even Gold-ranked adventurers.”
Just five birds earned them over 200,000 dara that day.
I didn’t want to hog all the hunting income, so I avoided taking too many large monsters.
I was truly grateful now to Lady Félicienne, who had granted me the power of wind magic.
Once I had enough money for a proper shelter and decent clothes, I planned to travel from town to town for a while.
That evening, he returned to town, went straight to the guild, and spotted Olga’s “Strong Arm” party drinking ale in the dining hall.
“Hey, Leon! Long time no see!”
“Heard you were looking for us—what’s up?”
“I thought we could do the final round of training.”
“I heard you’ve been with another party.”
“Yes, I wanted to finish things off together, so I was waiting for you.”
“Huh, something going on?”
“Not really. I just wanted Bord to see their magic and give some advice.”
“In that case, go call them over! Let’s grab a drink.”
But the dining hall was packed, so we agreed to meet the next morning for breakfast and then head to the plains together.
At the dismantling station, Leon handed over the birds.
- Chickki-chickki Birds: 2 × 68,000 = 136,000 dara
- Runner Bird: 1 × 41,000 = 41,000 dara
- Green Bird: 1 × 30,000 = 30,000 dara
- Red Chicken: 2 × 25,000 = 50,000 dara
Total: 257,000 dara
Prices had dipped a bit after fulfilling the guild requests, but still plenty satisfying.
He collected the full payment and headed to his usual hotel.
But of course, as soon as the “little guy” left the guild with 250,000 dara in hand, a “lone wolf” started tailing him.
Annoyed, he waited until the man got close, then hit him with a dust-filled Whirlwind, coating his face in dirt and blinding him.
Ignoring the screams behind him, he cut the spell and walked straight to the hotel without looking back.
He was confident in his detection and sensing skills now, but his Camouflage and Appraisal practice hadn’t progressed much.
Once his magic lessons were done, he resolved to focus on them.
The next morning, he arrived early at the guild. Jake’s group was there, tense but visibly relieved when they saw him.
After breakfast, they left quickly, and outside the guild, Jake’s group bowed deeply to Olga’s team—showing the difference in rank firsthand.
“Heh, so Olga and his crew are really that important, huh?”
“They’re way higher ranked than us.”
“That’s right. We’re all Bronze rank, but their party has Gold and Silver members.”
“Don’t worry about rank. We’re all adventurers — talk casually.”
“Leon, you should change the way you talk too. You don’t sound like an adventurer, and people will think you’re easy to push around.”
“But if I use rough language, my mom would scold me, you know.”
Pffft! “M-Mom!? Seriously?”
“Think about your age, kid. If you go around saying ‘mom’ even after becoming an adventurer, people will laugh at you — or worse, target you.”
“I’ll be careful, but you’re laughing a bit too hard. Should I show you a dance right here in front of the guild?”
“Stop it! If you make yourself dizzy in a place like this, you really will be a laughingstock!”
“Well then, shall we head to the plains?”
“Oh yeah, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again. I’ve been practicing — I can cast about thirty shields now.”
“If you keep that up, I think you’ll be able to use twice as many soon.”
Once we left through the eastern gate, I asked Jake to take us somewhere with fewer monsters.
When we arrived in a sparse area, Bord and Lindy began showing each other their magic.
Lindy was amazed at the speed of Bord’s Ice Lance.
Bord admired Lindy’s Shelter, but was downright envious of her dome for camping.
They began comparing the strength of each other’s shields and domes, but since that looked like it would take a while, I asked them to postpone it.
First, I had Lindy create a wall to serve as a target, and told the two of them to stand twenty meters away and watch how fast the arrows passed by.
Garv, the strongest archer in Olga’s “Strong Arm” party, fired arrows from forty meters out.
After two or three shots, Leon noticed their heads were following the arrows, so he instructed them to keep their heads still and just memorize the arrows’ crossing speed.
“Bord, try not to forget how fast those arrows were. You and Lindy will now take turns firing your lances.”
Bord nodded once, then faced the target. “Lance… ha!” — the Ice Lance shot forward.
Next, Lindy called out, “Stone Lance… ha!” and released hers.
She tried to match the arrow speed in her mind, but even though it was faster than usual, her lance was still clearly slower than Bord’s.
“Well, it’s natural you can’t match it right away. When you practice, keep that arrow speed in mind.”
I then had Lindy make two sets of samples for Stone Arrow and Stone Lance.
The Stone Arrow was about 3–4 cm thick and 1.3 meters long.
The Stone Lance was adjusted to be about 7–8 cm thick and 2.5 meters long.
He handed one set to Bord and told him to use them as models for his Ice Lance.
“Do we really need them this big?”
“The arrows should be plenty strong for anything up to a wolf. If they feel weak, just make them a little thicker. As for the lance — that’s for taking down big prey.”
“I think the regular Stone Lance works fine for me.”
“That’s fine for something like a big horned boar, but for smaller beasts, it’s overkill. Try to be able to form both ‘arrow’ and ‘lance’ types at will. Finally, about strength: just like a strong bow needs a heavy, hard arrowhead, magic arrows and lances also gain power from being heavier, harder, and faster.”
“That makes sense — and that’s why you had us memorize the arrow speed, right? But what about hardness? How do we make it stronger?”
“Well, you already imagine ‘hardness’ when creating your shields and shelters, don’t you?”
“That’s true. A flimsy one wouldn’t stop a beast’s attack.”
“For you, Lindy, think ‘hard as solid rock.’ But since even rocks vary — some soft, some brittle — use the hardness of your sword at your waist as a mental reference.”
“Hmm… Leon, your wind magic feels that solid too. Do you imagine a sword when you make it?”
“My wind magic works differently, but I still wish for it to withstand a monster’s attack.”
I thought it might be faster to have them make it rather than explain further — practice would convince them better than words.