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Training Inside the Forest
It seemed this good natured big man Feld would spend a whole day to beat the basic into me.
I didn’t understand how he reached that conclusion. I more or less trusted Feld, but the fact that it didn’t feel like I would be able to escape with how strong Feld was and my uneasiness in regard to close quarter combat just by relying on that woman’s “knowledge” made me decided to obediently accepted his offer.
We woke up together in the morning of the next day. Feld shared his black bread with me and we lightly toasted it over the fire before having breakfast. The children in the orphanage often complained 『Black bread is hard and taste bad so I want to eat white bread』. Certainly black bread was so hard that it felt like you were biting a leather sandal when nibbling on it, but I didn’t really hate it.
It didn’t have softness like white bread, but the inside was sticky and it had proper taste when you bit into it. If it was made from properly grinded flour and baked carefully, the result wouldn’t be that bad. Black bread tasted bad usually because of the fault of the maker because they used bad quality black wheat flour and cut corner in the cooking. ……Even then the black bread at the orphanage was the worst though.
「First boy. Have you ever seen your status before?」
Feld stood up imposingly after breakfast. I shook my head at his question. In the first place I couldn’t instantly understand the term 『status』 and I only finally understood it when the information surfaced from the “knowledge”.
It seemed that status didn’t exist in that woman’s so called previous life, but in this world there was a convenient technique to display your 'strength” in numerical value based on your life force, magic power, ability, etc.
Status was the information of your personal capability that could be seen through 《Appraisal》.  But there wasn’t anybody who could do such thing near that orphanage, and I also had no memory of having my status checked when my parents were alive.
But according to that woman……or rather according to the lesson from that woman’s teacher, the commonly used Appraisal wasn’t any great sorcery that connect the mind to the information of this world or peeking at the information of the opponent’s soul, but something that sensed the opponent’s strength through the user’s sight, smell, skin, and magic power, revised the information, and converted the information to numerical form. That was why what Appraisal could find out was only the opponent’s current magic power, stamina, and their overall combat strength in numerical value.
Other than that it seemed there was also Complete Appraisal that could perfectly read the opponent’s information, but that woman’s teacher told her that even if by some chance she got the chance to learn it, she absolutely mustn’t do so. The reason was that taking a peek at the information of other person’s soul and the world would put a burden to those who had limited length of life. It seemed the cost of performing Complete Appraisal for such person would be their “life span”. One couldn’t such skill properly unless they were dragon or high elf who possessed eternal life span.
It seemed that in the past there was someone who obtained such appraisal ability through 『Divine Protection』, but that person held strong suspicion toward other people and he didn’t tell anybody else about his ability. Because of that it seemed his life span was decreasing pointlessly without he himself realizing it.
Convenient ability that could be used without any visible compensation that needed to be paid in exchange for it……especially the special ability(cheat) that woman was longing for. When facing something like that, it would be better to think that there was definitely something hidden behind it.
「Can Feld use it?」
「Yeah, not long ago I finally became able to use it as skill. This is your capability from my perspective. Can you read letter?」
Feld said that while writing on the ground using a wooden stick.
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Magic Power : 8/13   Stamina : 22/26
Overall Combat Strength : 21
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「……Well, you’re just a kid so it’s only this much. Have you memorized the numbers?」
It seemed that my numbers were really weak. I compared the letters with my knowledge and adjusted while nodding with a conflicted expression. Then Feld threw something at me.
「……This is?」
「That’s called 『Appraisal Crystal』. It was created by processing a special crystal that reacts to magic power. By peering using that, it will assist you in reading and quantifying a living creature’s strength and magic power. After you use that many times, you will naturally become able to use Appraisal by yourself, but for now peer at your own body and think 『I want to see strength』. It should be good for around two more uses, so use it while firmly imagining your own numbers just now in your head.」
「…………」
A tool to assist you in appraising huh. I did as I was told and peered at my own hand using the crystal while wishing to appraise, then some kind of letters and numbers floated in the crystal.
「Compare the numbers there with the numbers from before. ……Are you  able to match them successfully?」
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▼ Alicia   Race : Human
【Magic Power : 8/13】【Stamina : 21/26】
【Strength : 3】【Endurance : 4】【Agility : 5】【Dexterity : 5】
【Overall Combat Strength : 21】
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After I nodded saying that 『It matched』, Feld suddenly activated his 【Body Strengthening】 while telling me to Appraise him next.
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▼ Feld   Race : Human
【Magic Power : 177/210】【Stamina : 354/370】
【Overall Combat Strength : 1378 (During Body Strengthening : 1764)】
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……The difference was too wide that I couldn’t even grasp how strong he was. Was it Feld who was strong or was it me who was too weak? Even while being dumbfounded, I read up the numbers before he silently nodded.
「Well, the numbers are mostly matched. There will be minute differences in the number between each person depending on how they read the numbers, that crystal I’m using should be engraved with 『the commonly used way of reading in this continent』 that the adventurer guild decided on, so if you remember it then it should be easier for you to do a comparison with other people.」
I stared at Feld’s numbers for a while before the letters vanished. Then the appraisal crystal also lost its radiance.
「How many times you need to use this before you can learn Appraisal?」
「Let me think……it was around 60 times for me, but well, normally you can’t learn it until you use it a hundred times.」
「You can buy this?」
「Usually one of it can be used for around ten times. Its market price is around three silver coins per piece.」
「…………」
So expensive. No, perhaps I should consider it as cheap if you could see how strong the opponent was with this. But, a silver coin could be used to stay in a normal inn for three days with breakfast provided, so I guessed that the average adventurers would rarely use this.
「With this you have learned the basic of using appraisal crystal. Also based on your combat strength, it looks like you don’t have any combat skill at all. Well, that’s just what I expected. We are going hunting next.」
「……eh」
Feld suddenly carried his large sword on his back and charged into the forest. I hurriedly followed after him.
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「Crouch. Don’t make any sound.」
Feld who was going ahead suddenly crouched down inside a bush. I had to give it my all just to follow after him. It felt like I almost lost sight of him for an instant when he crouched down in the blink of eye and his presence thinned down.
「This is……」
「Lower your voice too. I’m also not specialized in stealth, even so I have experience huntin in the forest so I have stealth skill in level 1. Also don’t use body strengthening okay? A sensitive prey will sense you. I’ll teach you the way to use magic power later, but first sense the “magic particle” that the forest is teeming with.」
「……Yes.」
Perhaps, there was the prey that Feld mentioned nearby. I also calmed down my breathing that had gotten slightly ragged to not make any sound while focusing to sense the magic particle in the surrounding.
「Use the magic particle to feel the flow of the wind. Sniff the scent in the air. It’s fine even if you’re unable to do it right away, just focus. Your learning speed will be very different depending on you focusing or not focusing.」
「……Yes.」
For now I just nodded, but I was unable to really understand what he said. I had become able to sense my own magic power somehow, but I could only sense the magic particle at the surrounding hazily. I couldn’t differentiate between the plant’s magic power and the animal’s magic power.
「Feel the difference between your own magic power and the magic particle of the surrounding. The animal will notice you if you simply move silently. Match the nature of your magic power with the surrounding magic particle. Your presence will grow faint if you match the flow and size of the surrounding magic particle.」
「……Understood.」
Was he really planning to beat the basic into me in one day? I noticed that the day would end with me still being unable to do anything if I just stayed in a daze, so for now I focused in trying to sense the magic particle of the surrounding. I read the wind using the flow of magic particle. Did it mean that magic particle was filling what was called 『atmosphere』 like in that woman’s knowledge? In that case rather than reading the wind using magic particle, was the magic particle flowing within the atmosphere the flow of wind itself?
I focused my mind trying to sense the magic particle moving at the surrounding. It felt like I was sensing something moving, but I still didn’t feel it clearly. I followed behind Feld even while concentrating and desperately advanced inside the forest.
「Stop boy. Look over there. Can you sense that something is there?」
「…………」
Perhaps he was pointing at the bush ahead, but I couldn’t sense at all whether there was something there.
「As long as there is no obstacle then plants will grow spreading to the side. If there is sunlight then branches will grow with the leaves turning to that direction. With that in mind, can you see whether there is unnatural branch here?」
「……Ah.」
Certainly when I looked closer there was a branch that was bending unnaturally. After I noticed that, the unnatural parts within the forest became noticeable to me.
「If you notice then look at the movement of the leaves. There is a part that’s different from the wind’s flow.」
The wind was flowing and leaves were swaying from right to left like a wave. When that flow ended, there was a branch that was making a slightly different motion.
「The prey is there. Can you feel it? The sensation is like when you performed Appraisal.」
……He was asking for the unreasonable. But after he told me that something was “there”, certainly I got the feeling that something was there.
「It’s a rabbit. We’re going to hunt that first.」
Suddenly Feld readied his hand axe and threw it into the bush. A faint cry entered my ear. Feld immediately headed to there and I followed behind him. There we found a rabbit that died instantly from the axe that was embedded deeply into it.
「We’ll process it before heading to the next.」
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After that we spent the morning hunting continuously in the forest without paying attention to my understanding and stamina. Feld hammered various lessons into me despite my bewilderment, like bleeding and skinning the prey, or how to remove the organs.
「Oi, boy! We’re going to roast the meat-」
「……Yes.」
I stood up while frowning. Rather than because of the fatigue I was feeling, I was frowning because of the bad nutrition balance of eating only meat since yesterday.
「Fire」
Feld’s daily life magic lit the dry leaves on fire. After that he burned some small branches on it before tossing in thick branches next. He could use sorcery but it wasn’t his main expertise. He could only use Fire, Water, and Light.
I arranged the skewers around the bonfire while staring at the flow of the daily life magic’s magic power that I had never seen from nearby until now. That woman’s teacher made her continuously watched burning fire while single-mindedly kneading magic power as training for Fire. She done it for many hours every day until she even saw fire in her dream when sleeping.
Was this the same with what Feld said about reading the flow of magic particle? The existence of spirits was tightly connected with the physical phenomenon of this world. The believers of spirit faith claimed that fire was burning because there was fire spirit at that place, and in fact flame could burn by consuming only fire magic particle.
Putting aside whether there was really spirit there or not, physical phenomenon was also related to magic particle. Could it be that magic particle that was non elemental at the beginning became 『elemental magic power』 by coming into contact with creature or object that possessed element, and became the fuel of that elemental magic?
Did human who possessed element converted the magic particle they absorbed into their own element? That was why……could it be that perhaps, the daily life magic that someone learned would grow to become that person’s 『magic power’s elemental attribute』? ……No, that woman was able to use all six daily life magic, more or less. That woman’s teacher also said that learning all six types of daily life magic was a requirement to be an accomplished sorcerer. From that, was it a mistake to think that daily life magic was connected to 『magic element』?
But the sorcery that Feld could use was light sorcery and fire sorcery. It was almost exactly the same with the daily life magic that he could use. Perhaps magic power’s element was merely a matter of affinity, you could still use magic outside of your element, only that it was harder to learn.
Fire was the one that woman learned first. It was the one that she spent the most time and effort to learn. And then the sorcery that woman could use was fire and water, so perhaps that was simply because it was the sorcery that left the most impression in her. But……why was there only few people who could handle multiple elements? There were also people who had interest to all elements, even if their affinity was bad and it was harder to learn, there should be people who persevered and attempted to learn multiple elements.
Could it be……, by possessing a lot of magic power 『magic stone』 of that element would be formed in your heart. But by possessing multiple elements, it might cause some kind of harmful effect that even that woman didn’t know about.
「It’s cooked already boy. Eat, eat.」
My thought was interrupted by the skewered rabbit that Feld held out to me. I accepted it. Honestly speaking I was too tired that I didn’t have the slightest bit of appetite, but there was no guarantee that I would be able to obtain proper food after this so I forcefully ate it even if I had to wash it down into my stomach while searing the movement of magic particle inside the burning fire into my eyes.
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「Get up boy-! We’ll start with the next training-」
Feld’s voice roused me as I was dozing off with full stomach.
It seemed that he was going to teach me the way to use weapon next. He asked me what kind of weapon I wanted to use and I answered him that it was knife. Hearing that Feld pondered for a bit before nodding in understanding.
「Right. That’s not a bad choice because you can learn the level 1 of spear skill or short sword skill relatively quicker. The skill I’m using is sword skill, but the Battle Skill will differ depending on the type of the sword so I can’t use the Battle Skill of one handed sword. It’s said that sword skill and short sword skill are separated from each other despite both of them being bladed weapon because the handling of short sword is even more different than great sword and one handed sword. But, it’s only the Battle Skill that is outside of my reach. I can still use knife or baton to some degree.」
In other words, even though Feld only had sword skill, it didn’t mean that he was an amateur in using baton.
The skill you could use was seared into your soul, so if you were powerful to some degree, even if your weapon wasn’t the weapon you specialized in, you wouldn’t be reduced into an amateur in battle. To be more specific, if you had level 3 in sword skill, you could also handle weapon that had similar way of usage with the proficiency of level 1 at least.
「What is Battle Skill?」
If the “knowledge” was accurate, Battle Skill was the 'special move” that was used by warrior type combatant. But that woman didn’t have any Battle Skill despite possessing short sword skill.
「You will be able to use it with an application of Body Strengthening. Battle Skill is considered as non elemental magic with one monosyllable chant. There are also monsters that can use Battle Skill with their roar so I don’t really know about it in detail, but Body Strengthening and Battle Skill are pretty much treated as advanced level non elemental sorcery that rivaled element magic.」
「How do you learn it?」
「H~m……recently you can ask to be taught Battle Skill at adventurer guild if it’s just rank 1. You will need to pay though. Other than that the only way is to take lessons from someone who can use it or becoming a disciple at somewhere.」
「Hm~m……」
So it was the same like magic, you needed to learn it from someone else……troublesome. After that Feld instructed and corrected my knife holding form, my slashing form, my thrusting form, blocking form, etc. From there I understood how that woman’s short sword skill was pretty half-baked. I got impressed instead that she was able to acquire short sword skill with that.
He taught me of several basic forms while correcting my movement by hitting my arms or waist. But there wasn’t any time for me to perfectly learn them, so after seeing that I had become able to move somewhat properly, Feld trained my hard through practical training.
I was using the knife while Feld was only using a wooden stick, but in the end my knife couldn’t even snap the stick. After that I got thrown many times to learn the way to fall safely. Feld himself was teaching me with earnestness, but was it really alright to train a seven years old child in this way?
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After continuously training with everything I had, I became unable to move again from fatigue. Felt poured water on my head with Water and forcefully recovered my stamina using Heal.
「Originally it isn’t good to use Heal too much like this in training because you won’t build up your stamina this way, but we have no time, so it’s fine I guess. You are really determined boy so I think that you will be able to become quite strong. After you learn the short sword skill, if you also learn Body Strengthening……wait, you can use it already aren’t you? Anyway just be careful of running out of magic power.」
「What will happen if your magic power run out?」
「You will simply faint. Normally your magic power will recover after sleeping for a night, but if you faint from running out of it, you won’t wake up for half a day. Besides you will get starved if your magic power decreases until rock bottom. If you’re unlucky you might even die from emaciation while you are unconscious, so never use all your magic power unless it’s really an emergency.」
「……Understood.」
Certainly that was dangerous. Especially in my case, there was a risk of getting killed by wild animal while I was unconscious. I should be careful of that if there was even the slightest risk to my life.
After that I was taught of the way to use Body Strengthening and the points that I should be careful with. Originally you would naturally become able to circulate magic power to your whole body in the process of obtaining close range combat skill level 1, and from there you obtained Body Strengthening.
Also, Body Strengthening would consume 1 magic power for around every count of one hundred, though there would be some degree of variation depending on the individual’s proficiency in controlling magic power, so I was taught to bodily learn how long I was able to fight. In my case I was already able to do the basic of body strengthening, so it seemed that I would be able to learn short sword skill relatively quickly if I was able to perform the forms properly.
I seriously trained so that I could remember every single thing that Feld taught me. Feld also seemed to feel my earnestness and treated me not as a mere kid but as a person. Perhaps……both of us was sensing that the time of parting was approaching.
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「Well, I only taught you the basics of the basics and it was in a rush on top of that, but I think that I’ve at least crammed the minimum into you. I need to get back onto the road already, boy. Stay in good health-」
Feld said that when he ran out of time with the evening approaching. He shouldered his luggage on his bag.
「……Yes.」
It was a sudden encounter and harsh training. But, there was kindness and warmth of an “adult” that I never felt since I became an orphan from his words and large hands. I looked down because the “kid” side inside me felt slightly lonely, then Feld rubbed my head that was covered with ash and sweat roughly.
「Bye. Be stronger the next time we meet.」
「……Yes.」
With such parting words, Feld turned his large back on me and started walking toward the direction of the town before night came.
「…………」
The good natured and kind large back……. Seeing that back, the figure of Otou-san who I thought of having the largest back overlapped with it. I saw off that back until it was completely gone from view under the evening sun. I took a deep breath and swallowed the loneliness of my heart into myself together with it.
Normally nobody would bother with an orphan. But even though it was only for a short time, Feld had taught me the way to live. I held nothing but gratitude for him. I held the rabbit meat wrapped in leafs that Feld left behind for me and stamped out the bonfire before another traveler came. Then I hid myself inside the forest.
I checked whether the food that was hanging on a branch had gotten swarmed by insect or small animal, then I climbed on a tree and focused my hearing to the sound of the small river’s flow nearby from on top of a thick branch.
I had put out the bonfire so that nobody could find me, but I already didn’t need it anymore.
「……Fire……」
I held my hand forward and chanted the daily life magic. A small spark lit although it was still crude. And then I listened to the water’s flow while chanting Water. I slurped at the water that dripped from my fingertip. To regain my stamina and magic power, I had a light nap while every few minutes I would be on guard against the surrounding that was growing dark.
A certain “incident” became a hot topic in the town where the orphanage that Alicia was living in was located.
In this country, influential nobles with the rank of count and above would act as caregiver that managed some dependents, which were nobles with the rank of viscount and below who were possessing territory in some distance around them. One of them was Count Taurus. There were two murder incidents that occurred in a town in his territory that was governed by Baron Horace that was located at the north near the border.
One of the victims was a woman who seemed to be an adventurer sorcerer. Looking at how her possessions were stolen, the murder was thought as a robbery crime.
The territory of Baron Horace was located at the countryside, but there was a forest at the north where monsters lived in large scale there. The area around here was bustling with a lot of adventurers. It was rare for those adventurers to visit this small town. Even so for the citizens who were aware of the temperament of wandering adventurers, they considered this incident simply as a result of a quarrel between adventurers and didn’t pay much attention to it.
But, it was a different story when the victim was a citizen of the town, which was the old woman who was managing the orphanage. It wasn’t because the citizens looked up to the old woman, but because she was a necessary person who undertook the troublesome job of taking care of the orphans while only getting small sum of donation. Because of that even when the old woman went a bit too far when disciplining the orphans, the adults of the town would pretend to not see anything.
With the murder of the old woman, the mayor who was governing this town investigated the orphanage. There he found proof that the old woman was selling children as sex slave to fill her own pocket. The mayor suspected that perhaps the old woman was murdered with the involvement of a slave trafficking organization, so he tried investigating where the children were sold to, but he couldn’t even grasp how many of the orphans had been sold, so in the end the incident was treated as an unresolved case.
Baron Horace who received the report from the mayor asked his caregiver Count Taurus to introduce him to someone who could manage the orphanage. Until that person arrived, it was the baron’s servant who took care of the orphans. Their temporary caretaker assigned the orphans to do voluntary labors for the town.
Among them, a seven years old girl who was assigned to clean out the mud from a ditch picked a half chipped 『magic stone』. Her eyes sparkled as though she was mesmerized by its bewitching radiance.
「……Yes. I……, want to be the “main character(heroine)”.」