Volume 3 Chapter 1

Raptor was running towards Rumberg where Phil awaited. I felt the pleasant wind breeze past my cheeks. Among the monsters, Raptor is much faster than a horse and had much more vitality. Although raptors were extremely ill-tempered monsters, Raptor has been taking good care of my cargo whenever we had to carry supplies. Raptor continued to run while I was regularly drinking a physical recovery potion. By doing this, we should be able to travel several times the distance a caravan would travel in a day. This was too costly a method for us to do when travelling in a party however it is possible if there were only two of us.

[Whenever I’m riding with you, I always remember the olden days.] (Youya)

[KUEEE]

I purchased Raptor back when I had just left the party with Leonard and the rest. Since I had based myself in a small village, I had to make trips out of the village to purchase various things, requiring me to obtain a means of transport. At the time, I bought Raptor who was only capable of carrying two people at once since I had never considered entering another party. Initially, he was only a mode of transport however after accompanying for all these years, he got attached to me and so did I to him. He could had been the reason why I was able to bear the solitude all this time.

[Now then, let’s go.] (Youya)

Raptor began to speed up after hearing my voice. If possible, it’ll be nice if I could arrive by noon tomorrow.

.

.

.

Right as the sun began to set, trouble came.

I began chanting as I turned behind me, watching the monster who has been chasing us rush directly towards us. It was a large wolf called a Wild Wolf. Its level was about 20 midway to 30 and had excellent dexterity. Although Raptor’s legs were capable of shaking off most demons, it wasn’t capable of escaping from them.

Unlike a caravan, travelling privately required us to defend ourselves. When I was heading to Rumberg with Luna, I decided to travel with a caravan instead of using Raptor directly because at the time we had low levels, making it extremely dangerous.

However, this time it’s different.

I am currently level 30, I could easily repel a monster of this level. While looking behind my shoulder, I set my aim on the wolf. Since Raptor has joints and muscles more flexible than a horse, it shakes less than a horse. However since we were running it was still shaky to an extent. It could be dangerous if I were to miss without aiming carefully.

After completing the chant, a bullet of lightning began to form in the palm of my hand.

Superconductive Bullet.

It is a customized version of the intermediate level magic, Lightning Storm, condensing it’s rain of lightning into a single bullet and delaying its cast time to improve it’s range and power. The moment Raptor’s shaking stopped, my aim was completed and I released the bullet.

[GYAAAAAA]

The bullet flew at lightning speed, immediately penetrating the Wild Wolf and burning a black hole through its body. However, it didn’t just stop at its body and continued to penetrate the subsequent monsters behind it. Two monsters were killed instantly as the Wild Wolf turned into blue particles, dropping the blue fur which is its unique drop item. The remaining group of Wild Wolf kept a distance, being wary of the previous blow and stares directly at us. I hoped to pick up the dropped fur however, I wouldn’t risk jumping into the group of monsters. It is unlikely that I would lose the battle here, however there is the possibility that Raptor may get attacked during the battle. Looking at the situation, we have no choice but to run away. Raptor began sprinting away as the Wild Wolves stood still, showing no intention of chasing us.

Looking at them, they were a clever species, knowing that it would be safer to give up hunting a dangerous prey and search for another easier prey. The next moment, the group of Wild Wolves became invisible.

[You did great.] (Youya)

[KUEE]

I threw Raptor’s favourite fruit, an apple into its mouth and it happily chewed on the fruit as it continued to run. Meanwhile, I drank another physical recovery potion. At this pace, we should be able to reach Rumberg by noon tomorrow.

.

.

.

We finally arrived in Rumberg at noon the next day. Although our travelling pace was good, there were many monster ambushes on the way here. As a result, our arrival time was delayed by quite a bit. I went to the stables to rent a room for Raptor and fed him plenty of apples before heading towards Phil’s apartment.

On the way to Phil’s apartment, I dropped by the weapon store where I purchased the black sword and left both my swords there for maintenance. I paid an extra fee in order to get the repairs done by that night since my departure time was going to be tomorrow morning.

Following my memories, I walked towards Phil’s apartment when I felt someone’s eyes on me

[Youya, you are here earlier than planned.] (Phil)

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw Phil sticking out her window waving her hand towards me.

[I wanted to see Phil so bad that I rushed over here as fast as I could. Isn’t that the same reason why that Phil was looking out her window?] (Youya)

[Was I caught? Hurry up and enter. I’ve been lonely forever here!] (Phil)

Phil looks happy even when saying something that embarrassing. It was finally our reunion. We were only separated for a month but I’m not able to endure it any longer. Let’s hurry up and enter her room soon.

.

.

.

I arrived at Phil’s front door as Phil opened her door.

[Welcome back, Youya. I’ve missed you.] (Phil)

[Me too.] (Youya)

Phil looked at me with intense eyes as she didn’t replied me with silence. In response, I leaned towards her and kissed her lips. Tasting her lips after such a long time, it felt sweeter than usual. After releasing our lips, Phil had a regretful look.

[Phil, is everything fine with your work?] (Youya)

[Yes. There were some troubles but things managed to calm down. The rest depends on how everyone does from now on.] (Phil)

[Well, to be capable of settling the problems in such a short amount of time, as expected of Phil.] (Youya)

[Even if you sang me praises, nothing will be given out you know.] (Phil)

I laughed at Phil as she guided me into the room and served tea.

[It’s a delicious tea.] (Youya)

[I still have plenty more stored for visitors, however I will have to vacate the room today. If possible we should make use of them as much, even a magic bag with large capacity has a limit.] (Phil)

As Phil mentioned, her room looked empty as most of her things were cleared up. Phil’s magic bag, much like mine was capable of accommodating up to 200 kilograms of items. However once furniture was placed inside, the capacity would very quickly be used up. It was necessary to get rid of some stuff.

Suddenly, the air around Phil changed as I drank a cup of her tea. Although she looked like she was smiling, her eyes were terrifying.

[Now then. Youya. Do you mind telling me about this baby-making with Til and Luna-chan? Explain it in a way that I understand. Leaving Til aside, Luna wouldn’t lie.] (Phil)

Phil was suddenly placing an immense pressure onto me.

However that is weird, I should have sent a letter to her previously. Was the delivery interrupted due to trouble? I guess even birds can encounter trouble in the wild every now and then. However, since it was an expected question I wasn’t surprised. I said the answer that I had prepared beforehand.

[We managed to get the Magic Egg in Greenwood. And right now, in order to hatch the eggs we are taking turns to warm the egg every night. Since I had also taken a turn in hatching the egg, the girls call the Magic Pet that is supposed to come out our child. There is no way in hell I would lay a hand on those children. They are still children you know.] (Youya)

Phil stared directly at me with laser eyes as if she was staring into my soul. And heaved a sigh of relief.

[I’m glad. I thought that Youya was indulging himself with Luna-chan and Til in a place I couldn’t see.] (Phil)

[I’m not a lolicon. I’m your boyfriend aren’t I? It’s fine to trust me you know.] (Youya)

[I’ve loved you ever since I was the same age as those girls you know. I didn’t say it back then, but if those girls were capable of speaking it out loud, they might even pressure you to answer back. Then, since it’s Youya, you might even give in and accept them.] (Phil)

Phil turned away with a sad face as she said those words and I flicked her forehead.

[Ouch, what are you doing?] (Phil)

Phil was rubbing her forehead while staring at me begrudgingly.

[Trust your boyfriend a little more. I won’t do anything that would make my lover sad.] (Youya)

[Sorry for doubting you.. Although I’ve already heard about it, is there really nothing between you and Princess Lutra? Ever since back then, hasn’t she always been clinging onto you. Plus she has always been glaring at me. It isn’t wrong of me to think that she has been trying something when I’m not around.] (Phil)

[There isn’t anything happening between us. Right now she is my disciple. In the first place the other party is a princess, there is absolutely no way I would lay a hand on her.] (Youya)

Phil finally muttered a word of relief

[Now I can finally relax on our journey. Youya, you must be hungry right? I’ll introduce you to the delicious stores here.] (Phil)

[That sounds delicious. However more than that, I want to eat Phil’s cooking. To me that is the most delicious dish in the world.] (Youya)

[Mou.. Even though I went to the trouble of storing them, I’ll have to bring them out again. I’ll have to go and get ingredients now too, since Youya is so selfish.] (Phil)

Contrary to her words, Phil appeared happy to cook, and watching her delighted face makes me happy too.

[For ingredients we could use some of my things too, I have some basic seasoning for camping out and eel meat.] (Youya)

Although having seasoning takes up space in the Magic Bag, it’s better to carry some with you wherever you go since food can always be secured by killing monsters. However it will be bad if there wasn’t any seasoning since no one would be happy with bland and tasteless meals when you are in a dungeon for multiple days.

[Eel meat you say?! Uwah, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten it. I’m looking forward to eating it. I’ll finish it quickly.] (Phil)

Phil received the ingredients from me and heads to the kitchen. The figure of Phil cooking in an apron gave me a sudden urge.. However, I’ll resist the urge to attack her from behind since I won’t be able to eat her cooking if I disrupted her preparations.

.

.

.

I enjoyed Phil’s home cooked eel dish. After chopping it into pieces and boiled, it was sauteed with lots of special sauce. I have always been a sucker for sweet and salty foods. On the other hand, Phil kept chuckling in embarrassment whenever she saw me enjoying her cooking. Then, we ended the meal with idle talk. Just by being together I feel happy with her. I’ll like to indulge in this atmosphere a little longer but there are some things we have to talk about.

[There is something I wish to apologize for. I’ve been lying to you this entire time.] (Youya)

[A lie..? Could it be that this entire time about loving me..?] (Phil)

[I’m not so trashy to lie about a thing like that.] (Youya)

By nature, Phil has always been a pessimist thinking negatively about herself. As an adventurer, although she is capable of surviving on her own for a long time, she is still extremely vulnerable to trivial things in her daily life.

[The lie is about my level reset. I mentioned previously that my level was reset due to encountering a monster with Level Drain. However, truth is that there is a dungeon with a hidden room that can only be opened by a max-levelled adventurer. In that room it is possible to reset your level to level 1 and have an additional 20 skill points and 10 bonus points to all stats.] (Youya)

Phil recoiled in shock as she was a first-rate adventurer. She knew how amazing having those bonuses would be as an adventurer.

[Isn’t that a huge cheat? Wouldn’t every adventurer gather for that room?] (Phil)

[It isn’t just that. One of the dungeons in Rumberg has a hidden room which fixes your status gain every level to the maximum. Using those two rooms, I managed to reset my level back to 1 and increase my status by the maximum values every level.] (Youya)

[Indeed, I thought that Youya was always too strong for your level. So that was that case. It was god’s reward for Youya who has always been suffering, a reward for all your hard work.] (Phil)

Phil was holding her chin in her hand and digesting the information I just told her. She must be thinking of things.

[Sorry for keeping silent about this.] (Youya)

[Don’t be. That is how important this information is. This isn’t something you can talk about unless it is someone that you have travelled for awhile. And? Why are you suddenly talking about this now.] (Phil)

[I want Phil to reset your level as well. Although it’ll erase all the levels you have obtained up until now, but if we are aiming to become the strongest then I think you should do it. However it is your decision and I’ll leave the final decision to you.] (Youya)

[I’ll do it.] (Phil)

It was an immediate reply. I always knew that if it was the strong Phil who always looked forward, that she would choose so.

[Tomorrow, we will head to the hidden dungeon.] (Youya)

Actually, the dungeon is somewhere between Rumberg and the village that I used to stay in. If we are to leave early in the morning, we should be able to arrive before sunset.

[I understand. I’ll have to do several preparations for the journey as I have not put on my adventurer equipment in a long time.] (Phil)

Phil took out her adventurer equipment from her magic bag. They were all top-class items as Phil hadn’t sold any of them.

[As expected today is too early, we’ll leave tomorrow morning.] (Youya)

[I agree, I don’t feel very energetic now.] (Phil)

Although Raptor was capable of travelling at night, I wouldn’t be awake to control him. Aside from the dangers, Raptor has already been running for two days and it’ll be better to let him rest. Above all, is my situation.

[Well, there is time before morning comes. You’ll have to vacate this room by today right? If it’s fine with you, let’s head over to a good inn for the night. I’ve been hungry for Phil’s cooking, but I am still hungry for something else.] (Youya)

Listening to my words, Phil’s ears became red as far as the tip of her elven ears. With a completely red face, she nodded.

Afterwards, we cleaned Phil’s apartment, returned her key and received the swords I sent for maintenance before heading to the inn and made love to each other.

It’s been a while and it was extremely passionate. After we had loved each other plenty, we discussed about the future.

[Youya.] (Phil)

Phil who was sleeping naked next to me called out my name. I stroke that Phil’s head.

If Phil were to reset her level tomorrow, then temporarily she becomes extremely weaker than me. Then she wouldn’t be able to protect herself, and only I would be able to protect her. I have to work hard in the future so as to not lose this warmth I feel in my hand.