CH 27

RAW:

Xant: Please somebody stop 9…

“Avangard Tougi Taikai?”

“Yes! You’ll participate, right?”

Avangard Tougi Taikai seems to be an event that is held once every year. Several days have passed since Siegel woke up and he’s completely recovered, It seems he’s gotten over his depression was well since he’s calling out to every girl he sees in the area… By chance we were passing through and he saw us.

“It’s the first time I heard about it, how about you Roel?”

“Yeah I have, but if I remember right it’s not a normal festival.”

“Oh? What kind of festival is it?”

“Hmm…how to explain it…”

“A lot of people gather from all over, it’s really fun! And there are a lot of girls! Anyways, the festival has a main event. All the adventurers gathered there can participate in a tournament to decide who is on top. The champion receives 1 million gold! How about that? You drooling for that reward? Want me to escort you there?

“The Imperial capital is a little far, but Ryua-chan wanted to go there. Should we?”

“Well, considering it’s only once a year, if I don’t go now I’ll have to wait a whole year to see it again. Let’s go.”

We had been confirming quest details up until now, but since we’re going to the festival we won’t be able to complete any of them. We quickly returned the documents to their original locations.

“Wait a minute, how do you plan on getting to the Imperial Capital? There’s only way way to get there, through the <Kizel Canyon>. It’s danger level is 10, you know? Ryua won’t have any problems, but lack of preparation is one’s greatest enemy so I will assi-”

“Oh! I overheard you’re going to the Imperial Capital? Perfect timing.”

Cynthia from the item shop came and interrupted Seigel.

“I also have some business at the Capital and I was thinking of making an escort quest. Would it be possible for you two to take it? When we reach the Capital I’ll pay you the reward. Your rank should also raise to B, no?”

“The road to becoming a B rank is rather harsh, you know. It’s one of the obstacles that an adventurer must eventually face. There are a lot of people that have become frustrated while trying to reach that rank. At any rate, it’s a totally different world from being a D rank adventurer. The guild will only recognize you after you’ve done a lot of dangerous quests such as escorting and getting materials from a floor monster, even this upcoming event has merit to them.

“Ryua-chan, how about it?”

“Yeah, the timing couldn’t have been better.”

“Then it’s decided. Rintei-san, please do what you need to do.”

While the procedures were being completed, Siegel wasn’t giving up and kept talking and talking. Nobody responded to him.

[Please escort me to the Imperial Capital!] [Client: Item Shop’s Cyntha] [Reward: 1400G]

“S-so messy…”

It was a pretty sketchy looking quest document, it even caught Siegel’s attention.

“It’s fine~. This much will suffice. I would write the details but it would end up being skipped over anyways.”

“No, isn’t something like that…adventurers like it when you write the details.”

“Well, since you’re not taking the quest it’ll be fine.”

“Eh? I’m being left behind?”

We decided to leave for the Capital tomorrow after some deliberation. (TL: なんやかんやでボク達は翌日からアバンガルド王都を目指す事になった。)

/ / /

It took us one day to get from Kwimill to the <Kizel Canyon> by coach. There’s some fencing here and there along the road. I thought it was going to be a more harsh journey but I ended up being disappointed. However, even if you look over the fence you can’t see the bottom of the Canyon. If someone slipped and fell off the cliff I’m not confident that I could save them in time. The pebbles and stones on the road made it rugged, but the coach just kept moving on.

“Ryua-chan, looking down isn’t a good idea~?”

Cynthia was eating some kind of sweet while waving her hand at me. The coach was unexpectedly large on the inside, even with the 4 of us sitting inside there was space left. Why did I say 4 people? Siegel ended up coming along but he was frantically trying to lead the coach.

“That guy…I’ll be honest for a second: he isn’t that helpful. He’s just controlling the horses pulling the coach. (TL: 「あの人、チャラいけど役立つじゃない。まさか馬車馬を引けたなんて」)

“He is a famous A rank, you know…”

Roel was perplexed at Cynthia’s ability to go at her own pace. At any rate, is an escort really needed? There doesn’t seem to be many monsters. I usually don’t need to take a break, but this shaking coach is making me drowsy…

“Fuuuaa~…”

“Oh, are you sleepy? Since you’re an escort you have to stay awake. Here you go.”

Cynthia gave me something red. Without hesitation I instantly put it in my mouth and swallowed it. Suddenly my throat and mouth were assaulted with an extremely painful and spicy burning.

“NNN! Wa-water! Water!”

“Ryua-chan, get a grip! Here, water!”

Thanks to Roel giving me water I was able to stop the pain. Cynthia was laughing merrily at my reaction.

“That only happened because you’re so careless. Just because monsters haven’t appeared in this place yet doesn’t mean they won’t. That yawn that you just did now, during that brief moment your escort target might get injured and cause the quest to fail, right?”

“I’ll do my best…though what was that just now?”

“Spark Chili Pepper.”

I wonder why she would be carrying something like that? She’s been giving a lot of affection to Roel and myself…probably because she’s a little older than us. Though if I had to choose between Cynthia or Ai as a sister, it would be Ai.

“You know, if the floor monster appears I can do something about my boredom.”

“Aww~ I’m sooo sorry~”

Seigel seemed to be looking forward to fighting while Cynthia was just joking with him. Quite contrary to what they had been talking about, we were attacked by normal monsters.

【<Raging Monkey> x2 appeared! HP:73】

From above us on a cliff there were large monkeys descending.

“Oh! These guys are actually kind of tough due to a higher physical strength than you’d expect. I saw some beginner adventurers crying because of these things. The floor monster is the chief of these guys.”

“Okay, wake yourself up and get ready.”

“Don’t be so carefree!” is what I wanted to say, but that’s just how those two are it seems. But these monsters are so slow it might make me fall asleep regardless. I pulverized one of them, and saw Roel was in high spirits as she grilled one with her <Fire Rod>.

【Roel used <Fire Rod>! <Raging Monkey> received 301 damage!】 【<Raging Monkey> was defeated! HP:0/73】

I noticed that she’s been doing more damage than before. ‘She has outrageous talent’ is what I’ve been thinking about Roel lately.

“Wow, neither of you are lacking…especially Ryua-chin, just what was that?” (ED: ‘chin’ is a suffix for a cutesy nickname)

“chi..chin?”

“How improper!”

Even though I had responded to that nickname Roel still spoke her mind.

“Hahahahaha! Both of you are really strong! You don’t need me it seems!”

“Yeah, really.”

“Ah, please don’t say it like that…”

Siegel has become pretty pitiful lately. I don’t think he’s a bad person, but he’s quite vain. We kept advancing until the sun had completely set.

“It’s really dark, as expected of a canyon at nightfall. We should sleep out here tonight.”

“We should light a fire in that case. I’ll use my <Fire Rod>…”

“In this canyon there are no monsters afraid of fire. Just the opposite, actually. It’ll just give away our position. Also there’s no need to use your staff for small things like this.

“We’ll need someone to be a lookout while the others are sleeping.”

I don’t know if we trusted each other yet but being with Cynthia and Siegel seems to be really fun.

“Sure, I’ll do it. I’m good at noticing presences since I’m used to situations like this.

“So you’re like a cat? You can sleep but if something approaches you’ll quickly get up? Like that?”

“Y-yeah. pretty much.”

Cynthia used a weird reference for comparison but it was like that in the <Caves of Hell> pretty much all the time. No matter where or when I slept I was always attacked. Suddenly I felt Siegel look at me. It was different than when he was kidding around, he seems serious this time. Instantly he went back to normal.

“Making a lady be the lookout is something I can’t agree with. Rely on me for a while and let me do it.”

“Siegel watching over us is reassuring but…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We should get some sleep.”

“You really don’t have any worries, huh?”

“If you assault any of us I will kill you.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Why would Siegel assault Cynthia? I wonder why she said that?

Roel and Cynthia fell asleep quickly. Silence fell upon the inside of the coach. It was truly nighttime now.

“Ryua, are you by any chance awake?”

“…How did you know?”

“Your fighting skills are top notch but you’re rather bad at pretending to sleep.”

“Pretending?”

“…hey, Ryua, just how high is your level?”

“It says <Overflow> so it seems like it’s over 100.”

“It sure is……over level 100 huh? With your strength alone you’re on par with S rank adventurers…”

“S rank?”

A, B, C , D…going by that order S should be way lower than D. I’m the same as those guys?

“There are only 10 of them in the world. Each nation has their own elite adventurer…no, they aren’t adventurers anymore. All of them are over level 100, a group of monsters. Most humans end up hitting their level cap and retire at that point.”

I recalled Grundom and what he told me. I understood my limit at that time, and when someone reaches that it seems they end up breaking. I don’t want to end up like Grundom who was dragging others down with him.

“Well, I’m still happy that I haven’t reached my level cap yet. Ryua, just what kind of guy did you defeat at the <Caves of Hell>?”

“Hmm well…<King of Destruction>, Ba…no, Va…Van-something.”

“<King of Destruction>?”

“Yeah, he made a lot of circular orbs of light that evaporated whatever they touched. There was also that large snake and dog, they sure were strong…”

I kept advancing inside of that dark cave, relying on the fire I lit. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t recall why I worked so hard at that place. Really, I just can’t remember.

“<Caves of Hell> huh…”

After mumbling that he fell silent for a while.

“Ryua, why don’t you have a match with me?”

Siegel suddenly suggested that, smiling at me.

=======================================================

Monster Book

【Raging Monkey HP:73】

A ferocious monkey that lives in <Kizel Canyon>. Due to its strength and physique, many beginners end up being buried by it. It also like to steal luggage so be careful.

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