65 - after a victory

With the disappearance of the enemy in front of him, Thor let out the breath he had been holding in one gulp.

The sword that he had been swinging so lightly just a moment ago became a tremendous weight, pulling his arm to the ground.

He tries to lift it up, but is surprised to find that he has no strength at all.

Thor's arms were radiating a tremendous heat.

Not only his arms, but also his waist, shoulders, ankles, and back are hot and heavy like lead.

Thor forced himself to sit up, his wet skin rising with steam.

He managed to sheathe his sword, but his arm was obviously swollen as well as hot.

He had probably torn muscles in several places.

As the pain slowly welled up, Thor inwardly thanked his property.

It must have helped him to be able to move normally even though he had been pierced by the water spikes many times.

As he quietly regains his breath, Thor thinks back to his movements just a few moments ago.

He had swung his sword less than two seconds after he had entered the monster's space.

He had counted up to ten, but beyond that he was not sure because he had been so absent-minded.

However, from the results, it seems that he slashed at least thirty times.

Adding to the continuous at the highest speed certainly produced a tremendous series of blows, but the recoil was also quite strong.

Thor vowed with his battered body to make sure to save one for next time.

Thor turns his head and looks back, worried about the girl who must have exhausted her magical power by four consecutive .

The girl sits up limp, and before he knows it, a child is accompanying her.

"Are you all right, little Sola?　Who the hell did this to you?"

"No, no. Don't shake ......, Moo-chan."

"Leave the kataki to me, Moo!　Now sleep in peace."

"I'm not dead. I'm still alive!

When Thor walks up to him, Moo runs up to him with a happy look on his face.

"That was great, Tor!　That's just like Moo's To-chan."

Are you okay to move?　Moo."

"Yeah, I got a thump, but Moo is fine!"

"Does it hurt?　Let me see."

The child who was asked fidgeted and touched his chest area, but then pulled something out with a flick.

It was a small leather drawstring given to him by the owner of the armor store.

It seems that the child was unharmed thanks to this, despite Sola's .

Letting out a small breath of relief, Thor roughly strokes the child's curly blonde hair.

With a laugh, Moe hugs the child tightly against his thigh.

The child, who had been smiling, suddenly became curious and loosened the drawstring of his drawstring and peeked inside.

His large purple eyes open to their fullest.

"Tomi, Tomi... ......"

"What's wrong, Moe?"

"Oh, Ohanamaru's food is ......"

"Oh, did the magic stone shatter?"

"Moo is no more, Tor-chan. Give me your sword. Give me Moo's sword.

"No, you just took it. Look, I'll fix it later, just walk on your own."

Thor finally regains his strength and tells the clinging child to walk.

If the monster broke it, we should be able to fix it with .

The girl, perhaps recognizing Thor's approaching footsteps, lifts her pale face and smiles weakly.

"You did well, Sora."

"Yes, I did my best. Please praise me more.

"If it weren't for you, we probably wouldn't have won. Thanks for saving my life."

The girl nodded her head in satisfaction, and then slumped down with a sigh.

Thor picked up the exhausted girl and stood up.

Rorolf and the others finally came to their senses and started to move.

The tent over there shouldn't be wet. There Thor's brother and his daughter can lie down and rest.

"Do you want me to hold it for you?　Brother Thor."

No, I'm fine on my own. And I don't think I have a brother.

"I've seen such a great fight. I have no choice but to call you "bro" now.

"Big brother?　Tor-chan, are you my brother?

"Yeah, Thor's brother!　No, seriously, I'm speechless."

"Yes, it is. I was truly amazed at your skill, but I didn't know you were such a good swordsman ......."

As we approached the bank with a gaggle of men in tow, the twins had already unpacked their tent and opened up the place for us.

Tapa and Tali looked relieved to see the cheerful children attached to Thor.

They bowed deeply.

"......I'm sorry for my careless move."

"...... terrific swordsmanship, I admire it."

"You're safe as it turns out. Next time, just be careful."

They gave a small nod and looked into each other's eyes when Thor replied.

Thor sat down at the entrance of the tent, leaving Sola lying limp in the mangy tent.

His whole body was tired, but the heat and the tingling made it impossible for him to lie down and rest.

In the end, Thor continued to endure, and finally regained his composure by using , which became available an hour later.

The toppled tent has been cleaned up, and the stone hearth seems to have been restored to its original state.

Roloff and the others bring us a drink of heated barley wine with green citron peels.

"You are looking well now, brother Thor.

"Yes, I was worried about you. By the way, that evil spirit of red water is ......."

That's it. I have no idea why it came up.

"I've been using it for almost two years, but I've never seen it on this riverbank."

It was said that the evil spirit of red water only occurs in places where there is a lot of spirit power, and that the riverbanks where it appears are almost always fixed.

There is a possibility that they may appear on the surface of the river in rare cases, but since they suddenly appeared on the riverbank this time, it seems that this is not the case.

I'm really sorry I got you into this mess. How can I apologize?

No, I can't help it if it's unexpected. If you keep worrying about such things, there's no end to it.

"Thanks for the ............, Brother Thor."

"Don't worry, we're going to keep on hunting river slime. It's a tasty hunting ground too."

"Oh, brother!"

"That's why I don't want a big brother like you guys."

Wiping away a few tears, Roloff and the others raised their mugs of barley wine in unison.

"Well then," said Roloff, "to the approaching completion of the bridge and to the birth of my new brother."

"To my new brother!"

"Cheers!"

As Thor chuckled and tipped his mug of beer, a small scream came unexpectedly from behind him.

He instantly turns around to see Sola getting up and staring at him with a surprised look on her face.

The girl noticed Thor's gaze and lifted up the red-bordered adventurer's card in her hand with her eyes wide open.

"Look, Thor!　I've finally accumulated it!"

Two dots of light shone from the surface of Sola's Adventurer's Card, a sign that her skill points had exceeded 2,000.