15 - worry

I wonder if he's okay.

The guy from earlier?

"Yeah. Your arm was burning like crazy. ......"

"If it's that bad, have a waterman take a look at it, it'll heal up in no time."

"Then you're in good hands. Whew! I'm getting hungry now that I think about it. Oh, they sell Momoyaki!　Tall girl."

Thor and the others, having paid for today's hunt, were on their way home, perusing the stalls in the plaza at Sola's request.

Immediately, the girl who had found her favorite grilled pointed beak momoyaki let out a cheerful cry.　

"So, what did you mean in the end?"

"I guess you were more popular than I expected."

"I see. I'm kind of embarrassed.

Sola's lips are shiny with bird fat, ruining the whole scene.

Thor, in case you are wondering, has a good reason for this.

It is a little strange to be killing goblins within a few days of becoming an adventurer.

The reason for this is that some of the adventurers have noticed the superiority of Sora's unique skills.

So, it is highly possible that they tried to separate Thor and Sora by using the excuse that they were guiding new adventurers, which is forbidden.

"Well, it's not because of me, but mostly because of Thor-chan, isn't it?"

"No, Sola's is quite attractive. You should be aware of that.

"Well, attractive? You praise me too much, Thor!

At Thor's words, Sola wriggled her body happily.

However, she still had a firm grip on the bird's thigh in one hand, so even though she is a beautiful girl, she does not have a trace of s*x appeal.

"But if so, will those people come again?　It's kind of disgusting."

"Well, if you've done all that, you should be fine for a while."

"Really?"

"Adventurers are a world where competence counts. If you have a reputation for being strong, you won't be able to attract half-baked people.

Thor is not opposed to standing out.

He has been in the spotlight in a bad way so much in the past that he feels it is too late for that.

However, he was concerned that the power of would be so overpowering that it would make it impossible for him to go on adventures.

Therefore, I thought that I should show my ability to avoid unnecessary probes.

As a matter of fact, it was possible to refuse the mock battle.

Even if he did not have to prove his innocence there, he could have brought it to the court temple of Gigilo, the god of thunder, who presides over judgment and honor, and the righteous judgment would be made.

But that private fight was also a good opportunity to show his strength.

Thor, thinking this through, dared to beat a B-rank adventurer in front of the audience.

He did this in order to make Thor's power of restoration less conspicuous, and to let everyone know that he was an adventurer of unknown strength.

"But if they find out that Thor-chan is strong, they're likely to go for the girl!"

"It's not just about strength there, it's also about looks. ......"

Then it's even more dangerous!

"Don't worry, they don't take to old men as much as you think they do."

Thor is of medium height, dark hair and dark eyes, with no particular standout elements except for his somewhat gray eyes.

He may be handsome, but his appearance is rather ordinary.

However, from the point of view of Sora, who is close to him, it would be strange not to be attracted to his sharp eyes that he sometimes shows, and his serious expression when he is thinking over something while scratching his chin.

And the gentle sound of his voice when he sometimes worries about me is so pleasant that it almost melts my ears.

However, since a while ago, Thor's voice has had a slightly heavy tone to it.

Sora is secretly concerned, but her smile turns into a smile as soon as she spots the baked apple stall.

"Huff, Atsutsu, that man you just saw had a silver plate, was he really a strong man?　You didn't look like much to me."

"That's still second from the top, by the way."

Thor gives a brief explanation of the ranks of adventurers to the girl whose face seems to be melting under the sweet-scented sugar flavor.

In the border town of Dadan, with a population of over 3,000, there are only about 300 active adventurers registered.

Every year, the number of applicants reaches nearly 500, but fewer than 50 remain until the following year.

The elite three hundred were ranked according to seven different colors.

From the bottom to the top: green oak, bronze, red iron, white hard iron, black steel, silver, and gold.

Only one party had a golden plate, the top of the ranks.

There are only three parties of the true silver class.

Therefore, Razzel was a fierce competitor who had passed through a considerable amount of odds.

However, much of their strength lies in the skill trees they have cultivated.

They also have friends to fight alongside them, and support in the form of high-performance weapons and armor.

Thor had none.

He had no skills to slaughter with a single blow, so he swung his sword as fast and as hard as he could.

Against monsters who would not fall simply by hitting them, he learned to aim precisely at the vital points while spitting blood.

Because they had no one to turn to if they were injured and would die, they spent a lot of time trying to avoid being injured perfectly.

There is no way that Thor, who has been studying so hard, can win in a sword fight alone.

The point of this victory or defeat was how he managed to win the match with only his sword.

"Oh, I see. Thor did something, didn't he?

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, the first time he lifted the sword, he looked so surprised, and that was because he couldn't do the sword burning thing.

Thor nodded lightly and urged Sola to continue.

"And your attitude, Thor, was very deliberate. I've never seen you make fun of someone like that before. Did you do something naughty?

"Yeah, I saw that a lot."

The reason why he intentionally questioned Rassel's weapon before the mock battle was to get him to hand it over to Thor.

The same is true of the light tapping on his shoulder with the sword during the fight.

At that time, Thor was a part of Razzel through the wooden sword.

"Actually, I did a little tinkering with his skill tree," he said.

"Wow, wow, wow!　You can do that?"

The trigger was a point that came to mind as I looked at Sola's skill tree a few times, and I could see the history of its growth.

Being able to see the past means that it is possible to the tree.

When Thor himself tried it out, an interesting fact came to light.

When we shortened Thor's branch just a little, to his surprise, the skill points he had spent came back.

In other words, a tree of skills does not exactly return it to the past, but only changes the state of the tree to that of before it grew.

The important point of this is that you can restore the tree as much as you like without losing a single skill point that you have accumulated up to this point.

Normally, it is not possible to re-grow a branch once it has been selected.

However, by using , one can grow various branches at will and acquire the necessary skills according to the situation.

This is an event that could shake the adventuring industry to its very foundations, but unfortunately, it is a treasure trove for Thor and his friends, who now have only one branch skill.

"Well, it's not a very useful move since it can be easily dealt with if the seed is discovered.

"That's why I went to the trouble of making them angry."

If you check your skill tree calmly with doubts, you will soon realize that your branch skill level has been lowered.

It was a tactic that only worked by confusing the opponent.

In the first place, when using Thor's in the battle against a foe, there is a big restriction that it is necessary to make contact with the foe.

It is possible to activate it by touching the opponent even through a glove or a sword, but it is difficult to operate it in a short period of time.

This is what he meant when he said that it was too fast for Raszel when he put a sword strike on her.

Also, when he was tangled up with someone at the Adventurer's Bureau, he had once his opponent to a drunken state, but that was a trick he was able to pull off because he knew his state the day before.

It still requires a certain degree of concentration and familiarity to search for the necessary state in a short time from a vast amount of history.

A technical tree can be teased in a short contact, but it is easily noticed.

In order to make the body in such a state that it cannot fight, it is necessary to touch it for a certain length of time.

Thor thought to himself, "How to overcome these weaknesses will be a problem to be solved in the future.

"Here, Thor, have a bite.

While Thor was lost in thought, a sweet smell suddenly jumped into his nostrils.

He turned his eyes to see Sola holding out a piece of baked apple on a spoon.

When Thor opens his mouth, the girl lets it cool before feeding it to him.

Thor's eyebrows are scrunched up. Are you okay?"

"You made me feel bad. Sorry."

Thor gives a reassuring look to Sora, who has become a little more serious.

"No, I hope you're okay. ....... Thank you for the food. I'm going to return the plates.

Sola hurries to hand the empty plate of baked apples to the owner of the stall.

As Thor looks at her, he remembers the man's hair, which was reddish like an apple.

And the face of the man who united them.

"......It's a hassle, but I'll show my face in the near future."