CH 98

About three months had passed since the battle with the Angry Wolves. Since then, I had been eating Dumbbell Weed curry and training every day. Once a month, I would go plant gathering with [Iron Gear] at Mount Cornello.

After that quest commission where I had slaughtered the Angry Wolf in one hit, we hadn’t been attacked by Angry Wolves on Mount Cornello since. In the end, I never found out if it was just a series of unfortunate events or if I was being targeted as a result of the first Angry Wolf I had killed. No matter which one it was, if I was attacked again, I was sure that I’d be able to put up a fight with no problems. Thanks to the experience I’d accumulated from fighting against other monsters and the three months of training, I was confident in taking on an Angry Wolf in a one-on-one fight. I still hadn’t been able to replicate that perfect slash I did that one time though.

And… the biggest change in these past three months was probably [Iron Gear]’s growth. It seemed that in these three months, [Iron Gear] had devoted all of their time to training without taking any unnecessary quest commissions. Also, they weren’t just wasting their time training randomly. I’d heard during the last gathering expedition with them that they were receiving special training from Edward, the leader of [The Egg Club], which was that party that had been recommended to me once before. Thanks to his mentorship, each time I met up with them, they continually surprised me with improvements in the stability of their teamwork and, even more than that, the growth of their individual abilities. The improvements of Byrne and Lyra were especially noteworthy, with agile movements that could match up to an Angry Wolf. In fact, just two weeks ago, the members of [Iron Gear] succeeded in defeating a C-rank monster called a Bloodhorn during a quest commission.

Honestly, seeing their absurd growth rate made me feel a little restless. In terms of the amount of effort, I certainly didn’t lose out to them. But even though I had been eating Dumbbell Weed the entire time, the growth rate of [Iron Gear] in these three months was definitely faster. I was wondering if it was the difference of having a mentor, but… Ahmed and the others from [Azure Alliance] hadn’t visited Grezesta since leaving the city. It had been a long time since I had last seen them, and after having trained a lot, I had a lot of questions that I wanted to ask them.

As I was thinking that, I went out for my morning training as always. I felt like I had gotten pretty good at this morning training routine already. I was in front of the rundown inn, swinging my sword at a good rhythm… She came again today, huh?

The woman from the Knights of the Royal Order was staring at me again from the shadow of the building directly across from the inn. At the beginning, she would jog by while ignoring everything, and I would be the one looking over at her as she passed by. One day though, she started looking at me every time she ran by. It had gradually escalated to the point where she would stop and watch me from the shadow of the building across the street.

I had not a single clue as to why this woman from the Knights was watching me. Since she was watching me every day at this point, that probably meant that she was curious about me after all… Honestly, that was pretty much the only reason I could come up with as to why she was watching me. But I was afraid that she had noticed me staring at her in the beginning, so I didn’t approach her. Plus… it was hard to talk to her because she was always staring at me so intently… She was always directing such a strong, wide-eyed gaze at me to the point that I didn’t dare to make eye contact with her. If Ahmed could be described as rough and wild, then this woman from the Knights would be considered cold and dignified. But somehow, she gave off a similar feeling as Ahmed.

―Not good, not good…

I was thinking so much that my sword swings were all out of whack, and my concentration was a mess.

Let’s just swing my sword and pretend she isn’t there.

Then, trying my best to not be conscious of it, I finished my morning training and ate my usual Dumbbell Weed curry. There were times when I got bored of eating the curry every day, but when that happened I would transform the dish by swapping out the spices or using the stock of the Glutamate Herb as the base. In particular, adding Glutamate Herb to the dish allowed me to enjoy the wonderful sensation of bitter flavor turning into umami. When eaten individually, Glutamate Herb couldn’t win against Dumbbell Weed, but, when it was combined with other ingredients, the potential of Glutamate Herb surpassed that of the Dumbbell Weed. Also, Clive had been very enthusiastic about his research on Glutamate Herb, and every time I saw him, he would tell me about how in just a few more years, he would be able to create a seasoning that would go well with any food. As I finished my curry, I thought to myself that I couldn’t wait to try that seasoning one day.

Now then, what should I do after this?

Last week, I requested the grandma to make Magic Potions out of the Magical Grass I had gathered on the last gathering expedition, so I had to go to Elf’s Tears to pick them up. I had been using Glutamate Herb in my Dumbbell Weed curry lately, so I wanted to raise my magic power capacity as soon as possible. And while I was at it… I should ask the grandma if there was anyone who could teach me how to use a sword.

The grandma was a really well-informed person, so perhaps she would be able to introduce me to someone.