âThat aside, what did you really want to talk to me about?â (Rarashik)
Rarashik said as she tilted her head and looked at the three of them while she settled into a chair.
âYou guys came here hear about the war. However, thatâs not all youâre here for, right?â (Rarashik)
âAa. Actually, I have favor to ask.â (Arnold)
âFavor? What is it?â (Rarashik)
âItâs about this girl hereâŠâ (Arnold)
Arnold placed his hand on top of Muirâs head.
âHer name is Muir, right? Whatâs on your mind?â (Rarashik)
âI want you to be her mentor.â (Arnold)
âEh-?â (Muir)
Muir exclaimed her surprise. This was not because she was opposed to the idea, but because she never even dreamed that she would be taught by Arnoldâs master.
âNah, it looks like a pain.â (Rarashi)
Muirâs shoulders drooped the moment Rarashik rejected it.
âHow could you, master!? Iâm begging you! We struggled so much to get you the honey. The honey that you love. The honey to make your alcoholâŠâ
âWell. This and that are completely unrelated. First of all, you ignored my orders and left. Then you suddenly come back with a child in tow. And now, you want me to take care of that child!? Youâve gotta be kidding me!?â (Rarashik)
Arnorld was unable to refute her argument. Everything she said was undeniably true. Nonetheless, with her ability and guidance, it was clear that Muir would grow up to be strong under her care.
âI was young and adventurous then⊠I mainly wanted to test my strength.â (Arnold)
âThatâs what I expected you to say. Youâre still a greenhorn, afterall.â (Rarashik)
âE-even if I look like this, Iâve become a bit stronger, you know! Go ahead and see for yourself!â (Arnold)
âHou~?â (Rarashik)
Rarashikâs eyes lit up instantly. Feeling an uncomfortable atmosphere coming from her, Arnold started panicking.
âIâll accept under one condition.â (Rarashik)
âC-conditionâŠyou say?â (Arnold)
âAa. Spar with me. If you can touch me during the spar, even if itâs just a graze, then Iâll take up your request.â
âJustâŠa gaze?â (Arnold)
âAa, of course, it goes without saying that Iâll be given a handicap.â (Rarashik)
Hearing that, Arnold thought that if he tried his best, he believed that he could honestly touch her. However, his hopes were betrayed when Rarashik continued her explanation.
âHowever, the one whoâll be participating will only be Muir.â (Rarashik)
ââŠpardon?â (Muir)
âYou got it? She gets 3 days. Iâll give the little miss the right to spar against me for 3 days. I donât care about the method. If her fingertips can even graze me, she will be declared the victor.â (Rarashik)
âY-yes!â Muir
At the moment, they were currently in a room within the basement. A basement where monsters and creatures of all kinds were brought in for experimentation. It clearly had more than enough space and durability to withstand a simple spar.
(The space closely resembles that of a small gym, huhâŠTo top it off, itâs a basement. To be able to make something like this, that chibi-usagi really has a lot of free time on her handsâŠ)
Hiiro folded his arms as he examined the room with admiration. He determined that it must have taken a very long time to build something like this.
âUu,Do you think Muirâs gonna be okâŠ?â (Arnold)
It seemed that Arnold was the most worried about the situation. When Rarashik presented her condition, Arnold was puzzled and unsure what to do. The person who responded immediately to the challenge, however, was Muir.
It went without saying that Muirâs response was âPlease let me do it!â Obviously, Arnold was surprised, but Rarashik seemed to also be taken aback. Seeing the weak and frail Muir displaying such bold determination would surprise anybody.
Rarashik, however, simply smirked at her response as she motioned everyone to follow her.
Rarashikâs strength was overwhelmingly clear. Even with a handicap, it seemed unfathomable for Muir, who just became a novice fighter, to be able to even scratch an SSS ranker.
Imagining a tattered Muir breaking down and bawling her eyes out, Arnold could not help but be concerned.
In contrast to Arnold, Hiiro thought that such a turn of events was quite interesting. Even though he had just been screwed around with by Rarashik, he was now able to slowly and carefully observe her movements. Objectively speaking, this would be a great opportunity observe her ability see just what she is truly capable of.
âWell, little miss. In regards to the handicap, I will be deprived of any means of attacking. This means that I wonât be using my hands and my <<Binding>> skill will be restricted. Feel free to attack me all you want.â (Rarashik)
With this kind of a handicap, Arnold or Hiiro might have been able to do something. However, for Muir, the level gap was despairingly large. And even without taking level into consideration, the difference in their combat experience would be like the measuring the distance between the ground and the sky.
âMuirâŠâ (Arnold)
âWell, all we can do is just see how this plays out.â (Hiiro)
As the two were watching, the game known as sparring had begun between Muir and Rarashik.
âEei!â (Muir)
Muir honestly rushed towards Rarashik. However, as expected, she had missed. The moment Muir drew close enough to hit, Rarashik immediately vanished. Reappearing behind her without anyone noticing, she laughed.
âHa ha ha, little miss, youâre gonna make me sweat at least a little bit, right?â (Rarashik)
Those words seemed to flip a switch within Muir. She also had the blood of the Gabranth running through her veins. She was not one who would simply accept being made fun of on the battlefield.
âIâll definitely get you!â (Muir)
However, no matter how much Muir dived towards Rarashik, it seemed pointless. Rarashik seemed to purposely wait until Muir drew close, waiting for the point where she would almost touch her. Immediately following, before that moment would classify as a âtouchâ, Rarashik would vanish and reappear in a completely different place.
This spectacle continued itself over and over. Muir rushed in countless number of time but each time Rarashik would do the same thing as if she was just playing with her. Eventually, Muirâs shoulders drooped.
âHah, hah, hahâŠâ (Muir) (E: Panting.)
âWhat, you done already?â (Rarashik)
Muir continued intently, as if she was trying to grab onto a cloud. Muir was sweating profusely, her entire body being drenched in sweat, The climate of the basement may have partly contributed to her unfortunate state.
âPoor MuirâŠâ (Arnold)
Arnold stared anxiously.
(As expected of the chibi-usagi. Even while moving around to such an extent, sheâs not even breaking a sweat. On the contrary, her smile has never faltered even once.â
The fact that Rarashik was enjoying herself so thoroughly that she was grinning wholeheartedly meant that she had a substantial margin for error. Being unable to even wipe that smile off of her face, it seemed that Muirâs chance of winning was nonexistent.
(Hn? Actually, this is great timing. Now would be the perfect opportunity to investigate her statsâŠ)
Thinking this, Hiiro wrote the word <<Pry>> and activated it. He didnât have a chance to try it before, however, now he was free to do so.
Thus, Hiiro opened Rarashikâs <<Status>> screen. The moment it appeared, he was startled by what he saw.
Rarashik Fanânaru
Lv 123
HP: 7065/7065
MP: 696/696
EXP: 1884421
Next: 74980
ATK: 1211 ()
DEF: 1178 ()
AGL: 1119 ()
HIT (DEX?): 989 ()
INT: 800 ()
<<Binding Type>> Ice
(TL: Iâll need help here to come up with viable names)
<<BInding Techniques>> Ice Fang | Assault of the Absolute Ice Beast | Roar of the Ice Beast | Absolute-Zero | Ice Prison | Final Fang |
(E: Hereâs my interpretation on the list of the techniques with their corresponding Japanese.
(æ°·ăźç) â Frozen Fang
(ç”¶æ°·çŁæ â ăăŁăČăăăă ăăă) â Assault of the Absolute Ice Beast
If anyone has any better suggestions, theyâre welcome to say them. Frankly, Iâve almost given up.)
<<Titles>> Companion of Ice | Little Girl | Binge Drinker | Blade of the Wild | Researcher | Demon Slayer | A Weirdo born from a Weirdo | The Creator of the <<Binding>> technique | A Gabranth Fighter | One who can influence Phenomenon | A Determined Person |
(E: The last title can also be interpreted as an arrogant or unusual person. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to make them. Jap: æ„”ăăè )
Hiiro was dumbfounded. The level difference was clearly overwhelming. Lining up all of the numbers of her stats, it was easy to see that she had optimized her stats to be fairly balanced.
(Her stats exceed mine by over 100, huhâŠso these are the stats of an SSS rankerâŠit certainly is one heck of a surprise.)
He wasnât expecting her level to be this high. However, looking at those numbers, Hiiro took comfort in the fact that he was overwhelmed by her earlier.
(HoweverâŠI kind of expected her to have it, the title of âLittle GirlââŠ)
Although he was aware that Rarashik hated being called that, no matter how he looked at her, the title of âLittle Girlâ was the one that seemed the most fitting.
(But looking at these numbers, isnât this a bit too harsh for the chibiâŠ)
(E: Hiiroâs referring to Muir. He uses chibi when referring to her. If you donât know what chibi means, go google it?)
Contemplating such thoughts in his mind, Hiiro continued to watch the two sparring. With this difference of ability, unless something unexpected occurred, Muir had no chance of winning.
Muir herself had started to take notice of the lack of progress. Needless to say, it was taking its toll on her spirit.
(S-sheâs fastâŠcompared to Ojisan or Hiiro, sheâs fasterâŠ)
Muir could somehow follow her movements, however, her body was unable to react quickly enough. Even though she had suddenly levelled up substantially, she felt that she was unable to grasp to what extent her physical ability had grown.
(Sheâll keep avoiding me if I just rush in blindly..if I could just use the <<Binding>> skill from that timeâŠ)
After seeing the images from Hiiroâs <<Projection>> she was able to see what had occured at that time. She saw herself using that skill. She was sure that she would be able to do something if she could freely use that skill. However, after looking at the <<Projection>> of herself using the ability, she still didnât believe that she was that triggered the skill. This prevented her from activating that ability.
(Ojisan told me about it before. That <<Binding>> is actually the power of beliefâŠhowever, do I really have that kind of power inside of me?)
She tried to use <<Binding>> skill several times before, yet, each time was devoid of any response. In the first place, since Muir had not been told how in any great detail how to invoke the skill, she had absolutely no idea how to apply it, let alone use it.
âCâmon, hurry up and catch me. Or what, are you giving up?â (Rarashik)
At those words, Muir forced strength into her gaze.
âI-I wonât give up!â (Muir)
Placing strength into her legs once more, she rushed towards Rarashik.
âThatâs the way! Come at me! If you donât even reach out your hands, youâll never be able to grasp at what youâre trying to catch!â (Rarashik)