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CHAPTER 1
Working behind the scenes in the shadows of Baltros Kingdom, there lived the strongest swordsman there had ever been, Vampire Gain. It had been a month since Reito had defeated this fearsome foe.
Since then, Reito’s adventurer rank had risen.
However, there had since been a small change in circumstances.
He left the lodging of the adventurer’s guild and was now living on his own. His rank had risen so he was now getting quests with higher compensation. As long as he could get about one silver coin a month, he would be able to pay the rent.
Sure, it’s a bit expensive but, given the size of the home, you could actually say it was pretty reasonable.
That being said, since the house hadn’t been lived in for a while, it had considerably decayed. Just walking around the house, you felt like the floors were going to give way.
Anyway, Reito had fixed up the place using his alchemy so he had grown pretty comfortable living there.
~
“Oh, it’s already morning”
Reito began his morning by preparing breakfast.
To try and save money, he cooked everything himself. Ullr liked meat as the main part of the meal while Reito wasn’t too picky and would eat just about anything.
“I think I’m gonna grill some fish today for the first time in a while. I have some from the market the other day. Wait! That’s right! The olens in the garden should also be ripe by now”
Reito said and looked out at the garden. In the garden, there was a fruit tree that looked like an orange, except it was called an olen. Reito headed out to the olen tree and called out to Ullr, a white wolf.
“Ullr! Good morning!”
“Aahh”
Ullr gave a big yawn from his dog house and opened his eyes only to fall back asleep again right after.
Reito gently patted Ullr’s head and let him sleep. He took the olens and brought them into the kitchen.
~
Soon after, Ullr woke up and they both finished breakfast together.
On his daily agenda, he would get quests from the adventurer’s guild after breakfast. As a general rule, he would only get one quest per day.
But, today, he didn’t go to the Adventurer’s guild, he went to Faas Village.
Faas Village was the abandoned village where he had first met the princess of Baltros Kingdom, Princess Nao. It had been completely overrun by goblins and no one dared live there.
When Reito wasn’t working on quests, he was busy with reconstruction work in the village.
But, since no one was living there, Reito was feigning the role of a last remaining villager, working away at the reconstruction task.
He opened communication with Airis, venting his frustrations.
『Why do we have to do this, if no one is living here?』
『Come on now, don’t say that. Let’s clean up the perimeter of the village today. Given how talented you are, you should be able to do this even if you couldn’t use magic』
『Mmm
 Maybe, but still
』
Allegedly, if Reito could complete the reconstruction work in the village, there would be some big profits to be had. Or so Airis had persuaded him. But, he was still in a state of half-belief as he chipped away at the earth, continuing his task.
To start things off, he used his “Earth Block” spell to build a moat and large dirt wall around the perimeter of the village.
After that, he turned his attention to the buildings of the village, but they hadn’t sustained as much damage, so he went off to repair the livestock pen.
For the things that couldn’t be repaired with his magic skills alone, he would cut down lumber and do things by hand like a carpenter. While he worked on the project, he voiced a suspicion that had come across his mind.
“This is definitely not an adventurer’s job”
『Yes, you’re right. But, it will be very useful in the future, so try your hardest』
“Huh, alright” he replied to Airis with a sigh while putting more energy into the task at hand.
Ullr was also helping. While keeping watch so that no monsters would approach Faas Village, he would also go and hunt for monsters that could be eaten.
When a monster appeared that Ullr figured he could fight on his own, he’d subjugate it himself. There would seldom be a monster he couldn’t handle by himself.
When the repair of the livestock pen was complete, Reito muttered: “All right, this livestock pen looks good enough. Next, what to do about those devastated fields”
『All the agricultural products have been stolen by goblins. The nutrients in the soil has also greatly diminished. How about you raise sandwurms there?』
“Sandwurms? Princess Nao would never even approach this place after that”
If I did what Airis said and let the large earthworms called sandwurms into the field, they would till the earth and bring the field back to life. But, Princess Nao doesn’t like monsters so she would never come near here. He worked hard at the task while mulling over those fears.
“Woof!” he heard Ullr bark out of nowhere.
Reito stopped what he was doing and rushed over to Ullr.
Ullr was at the entrance to the village and was glaring outwards.
“Whiine~”
“What’s wrong?”
Ullr whimpered.
Matching Ullr, he set his sights outwards.
He saw a group of carriages approaching the village. Maybe it was a group of merchants but they sure were zooming this way at an extraordinary speed.
“What is that!”
“Woof!!”
Seeing that something was off, he used his “Far Sight” and “Observing Eye” skills to see far into the distance and check out the carriages.
He found a surprising sight.
“What in the world!”
A giant monster that looked like a mammoth was following the carriages, spurring them along.
The carriages were in danger. Not to mention the village he had just repaired. He quickly opened communication with Airis.
『Airis, what in the world is going on!?』
『Oh dear, it’s come hasn’t it. Mr. Reito, do whatever you can to save the carriage riders.』
『WHAT!』
It appears this was all in the scope of Airis’s predictions. Flustered by Airis’s sudden request, he got ready to fight.
He put both hands to the earth and used his auxiliary magic called “Magic Skill Reinforcement”. He also prepared to use his “Earth Block” skill.
Immediately after, the lead carriage came rushing into the village.
Voices came from the carriages.
“What are you doing, fool! Run away!” “You’re going to die!”
Reito ignored the voices he heard from the carriages and gave them instructions without breaking his stance.
“Don’t worry about me, just get inside the village”
After making sure that all the carriages had gotten inside the village, he set his sights on the mammoth-like monster quickly approaching the village.
He activated all his magic at once.
“Earth Block!!”
“Pawooo!”
The monster sank into a large pit that Reito had created, releasing a large trumpet sound. It was a rather colossal beast so it sank with a great force.
In a matter of seconds, the top half of the beast had been swallowed up.
But, despite being underground, the monster wouldn’t stop. It just pushed the sand out of its way and charged forward.
“Bawoooo!”
“No way?!”
Reito was perplexed but set his hands to perform another spell against the beast.
“In that case, ‘Ice Blade Bullet!!’ ‘Flame Bullet!!’”
“It’s no use. This kind of magic won’t work on it!”
On Reito’s rear side, the voices of the men in carriages could be heard but the roar of the Ice Blade and Flame Bullet shells had drowned them out completely.
The moment the spells had hit the beast, they would dissipate like mist.
The beast carried on tunneling through the ground as if it were nothing. Reito was stunned and called on Airis for support.
『That is a magical monster called a Mamou. Normally, it should only be able to live in the realm of beasts but
 At any rate, the kind of fur the Mamou is endowed with makes it very strong to magical attacks.』
『What?! What do you want me to do in that case?!』
『 Its weak spot is the space between its eyebrows. The fur is thinnest there and you should be able to get the magic through at that point.』
『All right, I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the excellent advice as always.』
『Of course.』
After closing communication with Airis, he pulled his magical sabre — the Eradicator — from his back.
He put his “Gravity Blade” attack into action and a crimson pulse of magical energy ran through the blade. Paired with the auxiliary skill “Muscle Boost” he levitated his body into the air before charging toward the beast.
“HAAAA!!”
“WOOF!!”
He used his Leap ability to fly into the air with Ullr behind him.
The Mamou, which had just broken through to the surface, was met head-on by Ullr and Reito. Reito aimed the tip of his blade toward the Mamou’s forehead and called out to Ullr.
“Ullr!!”
Ullr’s fangs pierced the Mamou’s forehead.
“Gaahah” it snarled.
“Paoo?!” the Mamou trumpeted.
Taking that as a sign to attack, Reito aimed his saber. He used two battle tactics he had learned recently in tandem, Puncture and Strike Blade, to attack the beast.
『PIERCING BLADE!!』
“Pagyaaaa” the Mamou trumpeted.
Its forehead had been pierced by the saber. It had passed through its fur and made a deep cut into its head. It ought to have reached all the way to its brain.
“Ooh, ooh!!”
“Incredible!!”
Upon seeing that sight, the carriage riders sent out cheers of joy.
Reito checked that the Mamou was no longer moving before pulling out his sword. He took a sigh of relief before putting the saber back.
Ullr ran to Reito’s side.
“Woof!”
“Who’s a good boy! We did it!”
He wagged his tail back.
“Hehe, ew! Don’t lick my face!” He praised Ullr then glanced at the Mamou he had put down. He thought about dissecting the Mamou before —
“A-a are you okay?”
“Y, you really took down such a large monster.”
“So cool!”
They were a group of elves with blonde hair and pointy ears.
They were singing praises for Reito except one who hadn’t put their guard down quite yet. He remained with their hand extended toward the weapon on his hip, glaring at Reito.
The young man turned toward Reito and asked, “I will say thanks for saving us. But, why does a human have a White Wolf following them? Are you some kind of sorcerer?”
“Huh? Oh, this pup is my family”
“Woof!!”
Reito and Ullr answered, further souring the expression on the young man’s face.
Just as the tension in the air grew worse, a young elf girl who was about the same age as Reito came running along and jumped on to Ullr.
“Wow! So cute!” The girl held on to Ullr, petting him in small circles. She hugged Ullr with her chest, which was a decent size for her age.
“Good boy!”
The dog panted, struggling to breathe because he was crushed by her large breasts.
Reito faced the girl looking apologetic.
“Ah, please don’t touch the dog
”
The surrounding elves scrambled to stop her.
“P, princess!! Don’t touch that dirty animal!!”
“Why! It’s okay!”
“Princess?”
Reito tilted his head skeptically at the word “princess”. The young man who was cutting into Reito’s business previously roughened his voice.
“Hey, human! How long are you gonna stand around doing nothing!! Kneel!!”
“I said KNEEL!”
Tension rose again between Reito and the young man.
Meanwhile, the young girl who was called princess was lost in doting on Ullr.
“So cute
 I wanna take you home!”
“Woof
”
“Uh, uh, please don’t touch the dog
”
“HEY! Did you hear me! I said kneel in front of the princess!”
The surrounding elves came to stop the boy.
“Come now, settle down, Lord Raikofu. We owe our lives to him after all.”
Noticing that everyone around her was flustered, the girl realized something was up so she finally let go of Ullr.
She faced Reito and bowed.
“Oh, sorry! Whenever I see a cute animal, I can’t help but bolt towards it
 Thank you for saving us”
“Huh?”
“Woof
”
Ullr was exhausted and trod toward Reito.
The other elves matched the young girl and bowed to Reito.
“You saved our lives, human. We owe you one. More than anything, thank you for saving the life of our princess.”
Reito was a bit taken aback and was skeptical.
“But, what even just happened?”
“Mmm
”
Raikofu was furious and cut off the stammering elf.
“Tsk. Know your place, human!! We are envoys from the Four Leaves Kingdom.”
“Four Leaves Kingdom?”
Putting aside the yelling, Reito had never heard of the “Four Leaves Kingdom” before. He wanted to check it out with Airis right away.
『The Four Leaves Kingdom is a kingdom in the middle of the Great Atlas Forest in the land of elves. It is rather far away from Baltros Kingdom. Just as he has said, they are envoys from the Four Leaves Kingdom and that girl is no doubt their princess. Before heading to the royal capital, they stopped by Adventure City Lunot and were planning to participate in the Hunting Festival there.』
It would appear that at any rate, the people in front of him were in fact envoys and the girl their princess.
By the way, the Hunting Festival is a monster hunting festival held in Adventure City where adventurers can compete to show off their skills.
Although it touched a nerve to do as Raikofu said, just as he was about to kneel to the princess, she suddenly approached him.
“Hey, hey, are you a human sorcerer by chance? I’ve never seen a wolf with such beautiful fur before! You really are taking good care of him!!”
“Ahh
”
“Princess, no! Don’t touch such a filthy man
”
Ignoring the surprised Raikofu, she grabbed onto Reito’s arm. Reito had never really interacted with girls before so he was trembling a bit.
In a panic, Raikofu went to break apart the two but he was too afraid to get close to Ullr.
“Get out of the way, mutt!”
Raikofu yelled and struck Ullr on the head, prompting it to reflexively bare its fangs.
“Grrrr.”
“Ahh!!”
Raikofu was afraid and fell on his behind.
The surrounding elves rushed to help him but he had completely lost his cool after being humiliated and pushed all of them out of his way.
“This beast!!”
“N, no!!”
The young girl came to protect Ullr.
“Woof!?”
“Princess!?”
The elves let out a shriek while Raikofu tried to stop his sword from striking her. Before that could happen Reito kicked him in the stomach.
“Oww!!”
Ullr whimpered in curiosity.
Raikofu went flying away in a dramatic fashion.
“L, L, Lord Raikofu!!”
The elves scrambled as they ran to Raikofu.
Raikofu laid on the ground, holding onto his stomach. The young girl saw that spectacle and was unsure of what happened so she just stood there with her jaw dropped.
Ullr left the young girl behind and walked toward Reito.
“Good boy. I bet it hurt when he hit you.”
Just as Reito was patting Ullr’s head, Raikofu used his sword to prop himself up and yelled.
“You bastard! How dare you touch me!! I’m gonna murder you!!”
“Lord Raikofu, please relax”
“That’s right. Also, if your sword hadn’t been stopped earlier, it might have injured the princess. You might have hurt your own fiancee”
“Shut up! You half-breeds!! He defied me, I’m gonna kill him!!”
Ignoring the calls for restraint from the surrounding elves, he raised his sword again in anger when the young girl couldn’t help but shout: “Stop!!”
The girl stepped in front of him with solemnity and said: “This was all Raikofu’s fault. You will apologize to this human. That is an order!”
“Ugh”
The surrounding elves chimed in.
“Lord Raikofu, do you intend to disobey the princess?”
“Sh, shit!!”
Raikofu let go of his sword and grudgingly glared at Reito. Pressured by the other elves, he bowed with an expression of humiliation.
The young girl also lowered her head to Reito.
“I apologize that Lord Raikofu behaved so violently”
“No, it’s fine, no need to apologize. Ullr is also okay with it, right?”
“Woof!!”
“I’m really sorry. Now that I think about it, I haven’t even introduced myself. My name is Tina!!” she said with a cheery smile.
Raikofu continued glaring at Reito all the while. Reito ignored that and began to speak to the princess.
“Princess Tina”
“Huh? You can just call me Tina
”
“But, you are a princess and all. Why is a princess like you out in these parts?”
Reito asked before one of the elf men butted in.
He heard a simple explanation from him about why the elves had come to these parts. It was just as Airis had said before. They were heading toward Adventure City Lunot when they were suddenly charged by a Mamou.
While listening to the explanation, his eyesight wandered to their carriages. A large tree design was carved into the carriages – the symbol of the elves. A large amount of wood boxes were piled inside and they appeared to be presents for the Baltros Kingdom.
After the elf man’s explanation was finished, he turned to Tina and said, “Princess, shall we head out to Adventure City soon? Promise to behave until the starting date of the Hunting Festival.”
“Mmm, mmm, okay. Bye doggy!”
“Woof!!”
“It appears he doesn’t like being called doggy, so please call him Ullr,” Reito said apologetically to Tina, speaking by proxy for Ullr.
“Really? My bad, little Ullr. Will I be able to see you again?”
“Ullr and I are part of the Black Tiger guild of adventurers. If you’d like to see Ullr again, please come visit the guild.”
“Really? That’s a promise, I’ll definitely come and play!” Tina said with a laugh.
After that, Tina rode off with the other elves in the carriages. She was waving her hand goodbye repeatedly while Raikofu just stared in anger.
~