He had extended the blade by writing “extend” on it, fully aware that it length was now roughly seven metre. However, no one present understood what had happened in this bizarre scene.
Hiiro reverted his sword by writing “original”. The blade slipped out spiky beanpole’s arm with a whoosh and he groaned.
He dropped his sword from the intense pain and his arm trembled. A great deal of sweat was accumulating on his face.
“Stand back, brat.”
“M- Mister… Wh- Why?”
“I get paid, so I’ll lend a hand.”
When Hiiro said so bluntly, Nies made a slightly happy sigh of relief.
“Wh- Who are you, dude!?”
Putting up with the pain, spiky beanpole frantically shouted while opening his bloodshot eyes wide.
“I don’t have to answer you. See ya.”
“Wha!?”
Hiiro leaped in with an incredible speed and spiky beanpole couldn’t react at all. Then Hiiro slashed at him with his sword.
“Take this.”
SLAAAASH!
In one swing, the blade cut from the left shoulder into his right flank, splashing blood everywhere. Like this, spiky beanpole got on his knee and collapsed onto the ground.
“Im… possible…”
Everyone thought he was dead, but he was convulsing with twitches as he was still alive. But it seemed like he completely lost consciousness. Hereupon, bald chubby finally seemed to notice that something was wrong and came out of the store.
“Ah… What’s this? Why’s Brother on the ground?”
“Keep the questions to yourself.”
Saying so, Hiiro once again leaped in towards him in a flash and swung his sword like before, but
CREAAAK!
he was stopped by a metallic sound.
(Damn! He’s wearing a chain mail!)
Although he had slashed him, there was no feeling of having cut flesh. Instead the sensation of a metallic resistance remained in his hand.
“M- My clothes. How dare you!”
When bald chubby said so, the already torn clothes ripped some more. Hiiro wanted to retort why he got angry over the clothes, but as he had figured, there was a chain mail underneath the clothes.
Bald chubby drew the broadsword from his back and swung it with a buzz.
“Mhm~ I’ll die if I take a hit from that upfront, considering my gear”
With that in mind, Hiiro took some distance for now.
“I, I’ll turn you into minced meeeaaat!”
“Shut up, pig. Bring it on already.”
“Grrrr!”
Bald chubby swung his word with all his might. Since Hiiro knew that he aimed at his head, he dodged it by squatting down and slashed at his legs without a moment’s delay. But there was a metallic sound again.
“Oh man, this pig wears a full body armour? Impressive that he can move around.”
Normally it would be too heavy to even walk around. But while his movements were dull, he still managed to move around, so he must have quite the strength.
“But there’s no meaning if he doesn’t hit. Besides, I can fight like this too.”
While saying so, Hiiro put away his sword and toyed with his opponent by moving around swiftly.
“U- Uh, where? Where’s he?”
With his characteristic speed, Hiiro had gone around to his back. The opponent was still looking around restlessly in search for him.
Concentrating magic power in his fingertip, he then wrote a word onto bald chubby’s back.
After quickly taking his distance, he recited activate in his mind, whereupon bald chubby suddenly turned bright red in the face and started to roll around on the ground.
“H- Ho- Hooot!? Wh- What’s this! Why’s it so hot!?”
He currently felt like being grilled by a fire. Moreover, his whole body was hot, not just his back.
It was a sensation like being enveloped by flames. Not something a human could endure. The word written on the back was “heat”. It wasn’t on the level of hot water as it even melted the chain mail. The flesh burned with a sizzle and a scorching smell hung in the air.
The villagers were dumbfounded at the suddenly collapse of bald chubby.
“Okay, all done.”
Looking down on bald chubby, Hiiro showed a faint smile.
“Guh… H… Hot… What did… you do…?”
“Who knows? You’ll never find out, chubby.”
He hit him into the face with all his might while saying that.
“Gueh!”
Bald chubby lost his consciousness while his body smoked. In that moment, Hiiro heard a familiar sound in his head.
(Oh, even these guys give EXP?)
Then he went over to spiky beanpole and searched his pockets.
“Ah, found it. Here.”
Saying so, he passed it to the village chief.
“Don’t come crying to me for it again.”
It was the village’s title deed.
“And call the army to take these guys away. They won’t wake up for a while, but properly tie them up.”
“Uh- Uhm…”
The village chief had no clue what was going on, gradually caught onto the current situation and looked at the defeated two once more, smiling then.
“O- Ohh…”
And then…
“YAAAAY!”
The overwhelming cheer of the villagers reached his ears. Hiiro mumbled “So noisy” with one eye closed, but no one heard him.
The village chief took his hand and thanked him in tears.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“S- Sure.”
A bit bewildered, he answered. There Panis came over as well.
“Y- You are quite an remarkable adventurer.”
“No clue. Aren’t these two just weak?”
“No, no, there are known as the ‘Harios Brothers’ and are quite skilled adventurers. Although notorious.”
He nodded short. To be honest, he wasn’t interested in their life story. Then he suddenly felt a light hit on his bottom. On a look, there stood Nies.
“Man! If you’re that strong, you could helped us from the beginning!”
“Hey, Nies!”
The village chief rebuked him, but in the next moment, everyone was surprised at Hiiro’s action. Because he lightly nudged Nies’ head with a thump.
“Oww! What’cha doing!”
“I told you, I’m no Hero. I don’t help people for free. The old man requested it this time with a reward, so I helped.”
“Wha…”
“Anyway, it was one-time thing.”
“Wha!?”
Ignoring the pouting Nies, Hiiro turned the topic to Panis. Needless to say, it was about the reward.
“Now then, can I look around your store?”
“Y- Yeah, sure.”
Panis showed an empty smile by looking at Nies, who glared at Hiiro with teary eyes and his cheeks puffed out. The village chief even offered to remit his lodging fees and he gladly accepted it.
After that, he headed towards Panis’ shop, but every time he run into a villager, he was thanked. Earlier he wasn’t welcomed, but now he was like a VIP.
(So self-interested)
Of course he could relate, but he didn’t have a favourable impression of them due to their sudden turn-around in attitude.
“This is my store.”
“Oh, you have armour too, not just weapons.”
Looking around the shop, he roughly checked the products.
“So, you said you would give me your finest weapon, but which is it?”
“Fufufufufu. I’m glad you asked.”
His laugh was a bit annoying. Not the least bit coquetted. Then he went to the back of the store and brought back a single sword.
“This is it!”
“Oho.”
“It’s called ‘Piercer’.”
It looked like a Japanese sword and had the same blade length as one. The only difference was that the blade was clear like ice. It certainly was breathtakingly beautiful.
“It’s a Katana specializing on piercing. It’s a kind of sword that was originally created by some people of the ‘Gabranth’. Unlike the swords made by ‘Humas’ which focus on slashes with all one’s might, it has a sharp blade to cut apart the prey with speed instead of power.”
Being a Japanese, Hiiro knew all that, but he kept silent.
“Of course I guarantee the sharpness of ‘Piercer’, but its speciality are thrusts. Like the name implies, it’s a Katana that can pierce anything. It may look like this, but it’s sturdy without a doubt.”
“Where did you get such a sword?”
“Through some connections. I kept it dearly so far, since I wanted to make it a heirloom.”
“I’m surprised these two didn’t take it.”
“Duh, I hid it in the basement.”
He said proudly while throwing out his chest. It must be that important to him.
“Can I really take it? I mean, it’s a heirloom, right? In other words, not for sale. I thought you would give me something from your assortment?”
As it wasn’t displayed in the store, Hiiro thought it wasn’t an article for sale.
“Well, it’s a bit regrettable, but I feel like I can entrust it to you.”
“…Aren’t you giving me too much credit? It’s not like I took these guys out because I wanted to. As I told the brat already, I ain’t a Hero.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Mh?”
“You saved this village. We are incredible grateful about that, no matter how it came to be.”
Hiiro looked at the sword once more and for some reason got the urge to hold it.
“…May I?”
“Sure, take it.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Saying so, he accepted “Piercer”. Even though he touched it for the first time, it stuck to his hand like he had used it in forever. When he put it on his waist, it was yet again a perfect fit. His face inadvertently brightened up.
As a Japanese male, it was quite satisfying to have a Japanese sword hanging on one’s waist.
(What a lucky found)
He gained a level and found a good sword, so he had nothing to complain. After Panis thanked him again, he left the shop and returned to the inn as there was nothing more to do today.
But on the way someone was blocking his path.
“Mister, got a minute?”
It was Nies. He got angry when Hiiro made a big sigh.
“Why’re you looking so annoyed!”
“……Hah.”
“Again!”
Hiiro wanted to tell him not to point at other people, but there would be no end to it once he started to pay heed to him, so he wanted to get this over with quickly.
“What do you want, brat?”
“Don’t call me a brat! I’m already seven!”
“Yeah, a legit brat.”
“Gr~!”
“…Hah. So, what’s up?”
“Tell me your name.”
“…Huh?”
“Your name! My father told me to ask you!”
“Your father? Who’s that?”
“The village chief.”
“…You’re his son?”
“Fufu, awesome, right~”
Nies said proudly, but Hiiro wasn’t the least bit envious.
He had his mouth open wide in shock, but at this rate this would really take a lot of time, so Hiiro reluctantly decided to tell him his name.
“I’m Hiiro. Hiiro Okamura.”
“Hero… So cool!”
“Huh?”
Hiiro was puzzled as he didn’t know why Nies suddenly sparkled his eyes.
“I see~ Hero~”
“….I don’t get you, but you have to report to the village chief, right? Shouldn’t you be going?”
“Ah, right! Dad’s busy tying up these guys! See you, Mister!”
“Sure, sure.”
Nies left while waving his hand energetically, so Hiiro thought how nice it must be to be young again. Although he himself wasn’t all that sophisticated, and shook his head. After all, he was only seventeen yet.
Then he returned to the inn and was treated by the inn keeper like a totally different person.
He was served a luxury dinner without ordering it, and while he was grateful for it, he wondered if his personality became twisted as he was somewhat disgusted, so he shook his head again.
After a while Nies appeared together with the village chief now. The village chief apparently came over to properly thank him again as he was busy dealing with the aftermath before.
As each villager would shower him with gratitude when he walked around the village, Hiiro secluded himself in his room in the inn, since it was annoying for him. His physical strength wasn’t exhausted at all, but he was worn out mentally.
He once again checked his ≪Status≫.
Hiiro Okamura
Lvl 20
HP 320/320
MP 900/900
EXP 5672
NEXT 520
ATK 139 (200)
DEF 100 (115)
AGL 210 (212)
HIT 112 (120)
INT 189 (193)
≪Magic Attribute≫ None
≪Magic≫ Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked, Air Writing Unlocked)
≪Title≫ Innocent Bystander, World Traveller, Word Master, Awakened One, Ripper