CH 50

Eh? No, I didn’t say anything weird there, did I?

Could it be that Bryce-kun isn’t used to getting praised?

Or was it because he told me before that he’s twenty-eight years old and he thinks that I’m younger than him? Did he feel that what I said to him was condescending, and now he was in a bad mood?

I’m sorry. I completely forget that Bryce-kun was twenty-eight, even when he told me before. I treated him the same way I treated Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun…

Not to mention the fact that I really am older than him, making things more complicated…

「I’ll become a great adventurer as soon as I can so I can take you away from here!」

Bryce-kun thanked us for the meal, stood up, and washed his plates with speed.

Take me away?

「Let’s go do the special training, Rofas-san! My MP has recovered completely!」

What? What special training?

「Oh, you’re all fired up all of a sudden. Alright, let’s do it, hahaha! Thanks to Yuuri’s cooking, my HP has recovered completely as well. Not to mention, my agility doubled! Prepare yourself, I’m going to be a lot harder to take down compared to this morning!」

Rofas-san scooped up the remainder of his rice and stood up.

「Rofas-san, you can’t do that! You have to clean up first! He who does not work, neither shall he eat!」

Rofas-san, who tried to leave the dining table without putting away his dishes, got stopped by Kirika-chan.

「Ah, yeah, that’s right. Bryce, give me a second.」

Rofas-san excitedly picked up his dishes which looked smaller due to his large body, and washed them. What was it now? Looking at his back as he washed the dishes felt like watching a raccoon washing a potato, it was strangely cute.

「Status open.」

While Rofas-san was washing the dishes, Bryce-kun checked his own status.

「The soy sauce potion increased defense, the cooking sake option increased attack, and the mirin potion increased HP. I got +10 for each of those. Also, the vinegar potion increased agility. That is also +10. That means for Rofas-san, his agility should have doubled. 」

Rofas-san had a big grin.

「That’s right, it doubled. That means the ability of the shoes that I’m wearing has increased.」

Ehh… So agility goes up by the shoes you’re wearing. Is it similar to how track and field members get different time records based on the shoes they’re wearing?

Since it’s difficult to shorten one’s time by even just a second, it’d be amazing for there to be a pair of shoes that shortens the running time by one second to turn into two seconds.

Hm? Maybe that’s not entirely correct?

The two of them left the hut right after, and we could hear blasts even louder than this morning outside.

Huh? What’s happening out there?

Even after Kurtz-kun, Kirika-chan and I finished eating, we could still hear the noises outside.

「Hey, does your level go up if you do special training?」

If so, maybe it would be a good idea if I did some special training too.

「Oh, Yuuri-neechan, you don’t know about that, do you? You gain levels by slowly accumulating experience through everyday life. Most people, when they reach adulthood, get to level three or four. Every time you level up, you need more experience to get to the next level. From that point, it gets harder to level up. If you live your life regularly, then you’ll likely die at level five or six.」

Eh?

At most you’ll only be at level five or six at death?

「You can only start using magic at level ten right? That means I can’t use magic…?」

「Um, but with experience points, you can increase it by defeating monsters in the dungeons. If you take down a strong monster, you get a lot of points. That’s why, um, adventurers kill monsters to raise their level.」

S-so that’s how they do it!

I barely enter the dungeon! At this rate, getting to level ten really would be a dream!

「Hey, so, what happens if you do special training?」

Kurtz-kun and Kirika-chan gave me the same answer.

「「You get stronger.」」

Stronger?

「Umm, so what about your level? Does it go up? Do you get experience points?」

「Hmm, it’s not like you won’t get any at all, but I think it’s a lot less compared to the amount you get from killing monster.」

I don’t understand the point.

「Then why are Rofas-san and Bryce-kun doing special training?」

Again, Kirika-chan and Kurtz-kun gave me the same answer.

「「So they can get stronger!」」

Umm… Maybe my question was phrased poorly…

「What happens after you get stronger?」

「Um, you get stronger, so you can defeat stronger monsters, and by doing that you get a lot of experience points, so you level up, and you get stronger.」

Ah, I get it now.

I see. So getting stronger means it’s easier to take down monsters. That means among people who are level five, there are strong ones and weak ones. I get it now.

That makes sense then. Even if Bryce-kun, who is good at magic, was at the same level as muscleman Rofas-san, that didn’t mean they were at the same level ability-wise.

I see, I see. Doing special training makes you stronger.

…Alright then.

I’ll do special training too, so I can defeat a lot of strong monsters and raise my level!

I left the hut, ready to ask the two outside to let me join them…