CH 1

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Reito was born as the heir to a royal family, but due to his jobs being considered “hopeless”, he ended up expelled from the capital and royal family.

He and his mother were confined to a residence far away from society, but his misfortunes were not over yet.

Aria, a maid he loved and admired like an older sister, was ordered to take his life; Reito was forced to flee the residence and survive alone in a forest teeming with monsters.

Living on his own, he focused on training and acquiring skills: he lived in the forest for four years, together with Ullr, a White Wolf he befriended.

He finally decided to visit a human settlement when the bounty on his head, known throughout the kingdom, was retracted.

On his way, he encountered Nao, the first princess of the Baltros kingdom. She was the captain of the Valkyrja order of knights and also Reito’s cousin.

Reito joined the Valkyrja knights and traveled with them to the nearest town. He was brimming with excitement, thinking about the adventures that awaited him.

CHAPTER 1

Reito stood before a city surrounded by enormous walls.

Its name was “Adventure City Lunot”. The reason for such a moniker was that it was the city with the highest population of adventurers in the whole world.

Reito slightly bowed and thanked Nao.

“Thank you for accompanying me all the way here.”

“Don’t mention it. You’ve helped us in more ways than one…I can make a proper report to father now.”

“…? Father…?”

“Ah, it’s nothing…forget it.”

Nao’s father, the previous king, was supposed to already be dead.

Airis, the “manager” of this world, told Reito that the father who had exiled him also took Nao under his protection.

Reito started thinking quietly, then Nao shook her head and changed the topic.

“Anyway…I think you have talent. With your strength and knowledge, you will surely become a fine adventurer.”

“Eh?”

“Well, it all depends on you. Make sure you don’t lose the proof of identity I gave you, all right? You’ll need it to work anywhere. Take care of yourself…you too, Ullr.”

“Yes…thank you very much.”

“Woof!”

Reito and Nao shook hands and parted before the city gates.

The Valkyrja knights intended to return to the royal capital. They had to report about the band of goblins who attacked the village as quickly as possible.

Nao, riding last behind the Valkyrjas as they left, turned around.

“Goodbye!”

“Thank you for everything!”

“Wooof!”

Reito, looking at Nao disappear into the distance, felt nervous. He had lived by himself in the forest for a long time: it was his first time in a city too.

The soldiers guarding the gate called him.

“H-hey, you…those were the Valkyrja knights, right!? What’s your connection with them!?”

“I can’t believe my eyes…”

“Er…excuse me, can you let me in…?”

Reito, rather displeased with their approach, showed the proof of identity received from Nao. The document was proof that the kingdom’s first princess vouched for him.

The guards went wide-eyed and hurriedly saluted him.

“Our deepest apologies, milord!! P-please, you may pass freely!!”

“A wonderful day to you, milord!!”

“Er, thank you…”

“Woof!!”

Reito successfully entered the city, but something else worried him: Ullr’s presence.

Taking a monster into town would definitely attract attention, he thought.

Surprisingly enough, however, tamed monsters were pretty common in the city: they were used as horses, to pull carriages and luggage.

“Hey, look…isn’t that a White Wolf?”

“Whoa!! Did that boy tame it!?”

“Look at that glossy fur…how much do you think it’d be worth?”

A rare species like the White Wolf Ullr was an uncommon sight even in the city. Reito and his partner thus attracted the attention of many unsavory types.

“Grrrr…”

“Quiet.”

Reito admonished the growling Ullr.

Thinking of a way to protect him, Reito started looking for lodging.

They eventually arrived at a street dotted with open-air stalls.

“Hey boy!! Yes, you! Come taste our Horned Rabbit skewers!”

“Cute doggie, you’d love this smoked Orc meat, wouldn’t you?”

“What a cute young man and puppy we have here…won’t you play with me a bit?”

“No thank you.”

“Whiine…”

At that moment, Reito’s “Detect Presence” activated. It meant that someone with hostile intentions was approaching.

Reito immediately contacted Airis, the world’s “manager”.

『Airis.』

『Someone has been following you. Their target is probably Ullr.』

『Are they thieves?』

『Apparently so. There are also wanted criminals among them. If you want to take them out, I would suggest turning left into that alley. Conveniently, there’s an empty lot. There』

Reito, following Airis’ advice, turned into the alley together with Ullr.

He could have used the skill “Leap” to jump on the roof of a building and run away, but decided to fight when he heard that there were wanted criminals among his pursuers: he needed money to cover his future travel expenses.

“Here we are…Ullr, get ready to fight.”

“Woof!!”

Reito used “Detect Presence” and confirmed that the hostile presences were approaching. The two alleged thieves followed Reito inside the alley.

“Hee hee hee…looks like we’ve been found…”

“That makes things simpler. Hey, boy!! Give us that wolf and scram!!”

The two men appeared, carrying pirate cutlasses on their backs.

They approached Reito, slowly but surely — but he perceived a more dangerous presence behind them. A woman was standing on the roof of a building, observing the situation.

She probably realized that Reito detected her presence: the woman suddenly jumped down from the roof. The moment she landed, a tremor shook the earth.

The woman was rather short, roughly the size of a child, but her appearance suggested she was middle-aged. Both her hands were equipped with daggers.

Her muscular body, despite her short stature, suggested that she might be a Dwarf. She seemed to weigh at least 100 kilos.

“Are you with them too?”

“What?”

The woman ignored Reito’s question as she walked closer, a grin on her lips.

When the two thieves saw her, they started shaking immediately.

“W-what!? Why…why are you here!?”

“This is bad, boss!!! I saw the bounty before, that’s Mira the Ripper!!”

The two men, their faces pale as death, started slowly moving backward.

Ullr was in maximum alert mode, his hair standing up.

“GRRROWL!!”

“Easy, doggie, I don’t have any business with you, just these guys here.”

The woman named Mira then lowered her waist.

The next moment—

“Eh!?”

“P-please wait!! What did we even— ”

“Shut your filthy mouth, now!!”

Mira’s daggers flew from her hands.

They were shot, straight and true, through the men’s throats, piercing them just like bullets. The two men slumped down to the ground and died, without even a whimper.

Mira then spat words full of spite.

“Hmph, acting like you didn’t spread rumors about me, saying I slept with goddamn Simon of all people…anyway. It’s your turn now.”

Mira’s eyes turned towards Reito.

“Kh…!!”

Reito, shocked to see people killed in front of his eyes, couldn’t make his legs move. Ullr stepped forward, to protect him.

Mira took out a small bag from her breast pocket and tossed it at Ullr’s feet.

“Time to say goodnight!”

“Get away, Ullr!”

“Woof!?”

Reito finally got a hold of himself and jumped away, while Ullr leaped in the opposite direction. When the small bag hit the ground, a cloud of blue smoke puffed out of it.

Reito immediately contacted Airis.

『Ai-Ai!』

『That’s new, I’m a panda now? Don’t call me like that again, I even liked it a little. Anyway, that small bag contains powder from Slumbergrass. If you breathe it even a little, you will be knocked out for at least half a day.』

Reito cut off the communication and looked in Mira’s direction.

The woman was nowhere to be seen, however. Time was supposed to stop during Reito and Airis’ communication, but she had somehow vanished.

Reito used “Detect Presence” and found her behind himself.

He took the bow he carried on his back and threw it at her.

“Take this!!”

“Whoa.”

Mira was about to strike Reito with the cutlass she carried at her waist but had to quickly use it to deflect the bow that suddenly flew at her instead.

Reito activated “Leap” to put more distance between himself and his enemy.

Mira, impressed, whistled.

“Those movements…you’re an assassin too? Not half bad, boy.”

“I was raised by an assassin, yes…”

The word “assassin” made Reito think about Aria. He had learned the “Leap” skill while running away from her, after all.

Thinking of going on the offensive, Reito created ice longswords with both of his hands.

“Iceclad Sword!!”

“Ice swords…? Tch, so you’re a magic-user.”

“Growl!!”

Mira clicked her tongue at the sight of the ice swords. At the same time, Ullr pounced her, his fangs bared to strike. Her cutlass, however, was faster.

“You stay back!!”

“Graah!?”

“Ullr!!”

Ullr’s fangs and Mira’s cutlass clashed: eventually, she won the power struggle and tossed Ullr away.

She seemed to have enough muscular power to easily blow away the White Wolf, despite the fact that his current size was close to that of a horse.

Reito was wary of his foe, but knew he had to attack: he charged Mira with his Iceclad Swords.

“Haah!!”

“Hm? What’s the plan here, boy?”

Mira frowned as she easily dodged Reito’s attack. He continued to attack, however, in a furious frenzy.

“Shaah!! Haah!!!”

“Your speed with the sword isn’t bad, but…could it be that you’ve never fought another person!?”

“Kh!?”

Mira dodged Reito’s swords once again, circled in front of him, and kicked him.

Reito managed to parry the kick with his arm, but, despite the “Break Fall” and “Resilience” skills, he couldn’t endure the impact.

Reito was blown backward, as Mira laughed heartily.

“Hahaha, this is rich!! I saw those ice swords and thought I was going to have it rough, but…you’ve only fought monsters until now, haven’t you? Even beginner adventurers can handle a sword better than that!”

“Kh…can’t deny that.”

Reito, breathing heavily, clenched his teeth.

What Mira said was indeed true: he had plenty of battle experience against monsters, but very little against other human beings. Excluding the sparring matches against Aria, he had only fought against a trio of thieves.

“You got to use your hips more, boy!!”

“Damn it…”

“Grrowl…”

“Told you to stay out of this, doggie!!”

Ullr tried to jump between Reito and Mira, but she moved first and dodged.

The White Wolf Ullr was definitely faster than her, but she was apparently more skilled as a fighter. She saw through Ullr’s attacks completely and dodged effortlessly.

Reito imagined that, while one of Mira’s jobs had to be “Assassin”, the other was surely “Swordsman” or “Martial Artist”.

With just her cutlass, Mira could deliver attacks faster and heavier than Reito with two swords.

“Whirlwind!!”

“Hah!!”

Reito activated the Battle Art with both swords, but Mira deftly shifted her upper body out of the way. From that stance, she took the dagger hanging from her waist and threw it.

The scene of the thieves’ demise at Mira’s hands flashed in his head.

Reito crouched to dodge the dagger and Mira smiled.

“You fell for it.”

“…string?”

Threads indeed stretched from Mira’s fingers. They were ted to the dagger’s handle: when she clenched her fist, the flying dagger changed trajectory, heading straight towards Reito’s neck.

“Spin Strike!”

“What!?”

Reito activated the Battle Art “Spin Strike”, which had a wider range of attack than “Whirlwind”, and literally spun on his axis and deflected the dagger.

The threads attached to the dagger’s handle were forcefully ripped off, consequently digging into Mira’s fingers and twisting her face in pain. The dwarven woman then angrily grabbed her cutlass.

“You little brat!!”

“Whoa!”

Reito activated “Observing Eye” on the cutlass swung towards him and managed to calmly see its path.

Mira was pretending to swing it from the front, while she planned to change the trajectory, as she did with the dagger. Just before she changed the cutlass’ path to stab Reito in the neck, he dodged with precision.

“!?”

“Time for payback!”

Mira, surprised to see her attack dodged so easily, could not dodge Reito’s kick into her stomach: the same attack she had used on him a little while before.

Mira, taken by surprise by the unexpected weight of Reito’s kick, retreated and coughed heavily.

“Kah, wheeze…you damn brat…!!”

Mira was too furious to think clearly: she swung her cutlass again from the front.

Believing her sword skills to be superior to Reito, she had become arrogant: on the other hand, Reito thought he couldn’t win if he faced her head-on.

Reito let go of his two Iceclad Swords and thrust his arms forward.

“Ice Shield!!”

“Whuah!?”

Reito had learned this Craft Skill during his life in the Abyssal Forest: as the name said, it used “Ice Block” to create a shield made of ice.

The large shield created by Reito repelled Mira’s cutlass.

Reito took advantage of the opening in Mira’s guard: he let go of the shield and created another weapon.

“Iceclad Sword!!”

“That again…!?”

Reito did not create longswords like before, but a massive broadsword. It was easily longer than Reito was tall.

Mira’s instincts warned that the situation was getting dangerous.

“H-hey, wait a— ”

“Spin Strike!!”

Reito ignored Mira’s words and unleashed the rotating slash.

Mira knew she wouldn’t be able to block it, so she used the “Leap” skill to jump backward, out of the sword’s range.

“Rraaahhh!!!”

“….!!!”

The gust of wind raised by the slash, however, blew her away.

Successfully moving outside the sword’s range had made her feel safe, but the feeling did not last long: Reito was coming closer, still spinning.

“Haah!!”

“What!? That can’t…gwah!!”

Reito continued spinning and accelerating, finally reaching Mira.

The woman’s cutlass was shattered as she was blown away again.

“Gwaaahhh!!”

“Whoops…that was close.”

Reito stopped the rotation. Still a bit unsteady on his feet, he looked at Mira, sprawled on the ground.

Reito did not make the broadsword vibrate, as he had done against the Blood Bears, so Mira’s body was not severed. She had definitely suffered considerable damage, however, as her muscles twitched. She had completely lost consciousness.

The reason behind her defeat was that she thought Reito was just a novice swordsman. Had she observed his abilities more thoroughly, without losing her cool, she could have probably won.

Reito tied up Mira, then called Airis.

『Ai-Fi?』

『Eh…? Oh, is it a pun on Wi-Fi? A bit forced, you know..』

『More importantly, this person was really strong…』

『Of course. She has 15 gold coins on her head, after all.』

『15 gold coins!? Which means…1.5 million yen!?』(*Note: approx. 14,250.00 USD)

Reito was shocked by the incredible amount of money.

Mira’s strength sufficiently justified her bounty, though. Reito managed to win because she underestimated him and “Spin Strike” worked well, but if they fought again there was no guarantee he’d win: that’s how superior she was to him.

『You could have told me that she was this tough…I almost died.』

『Well, you didn’t, and you won, all’s well that ends well. Spin Strike served you well, didn’t it?』

『Yes, but…I made that skill to defeat opponents with large bodies. It’s not something to use against people.』

Spin Strike allowed the user to rotate and unleash a boosted attack: Reito meant to use it against large monsters like the Blood Bears. He had never even thought of using it against human opponents.

He had used it against Mira because he thought that he couldn’t gain the upper hand while fighting normally.

『In any case, this battle has let you find out a weakness: you lack battle experience against humans. You should focus on that for the time being.』

『It was totally different from the other times I fought against people…I never thought that I’d one day fight another person to the death…』

『You managed to win this time, but if you don’t fix this weakness soon, you will be in serious trouble. Let’s focus on training your sword skills.』

『Sword skills…right.』

『Okay then, you should bring that wanted criminal to the guild. They can act on behalf of the kingdom, so you can hand her over and receive your reward. No matter how dangerous a criminal may be, if they’re surrounded by the guild’s adventurers they have no way of escape.』

『I see. So I can entrust her to the guild and register as an adventurer too, since I’m there.』

Reito recalled Nao telling him that he could become a capable adventurer. His resolve to become one strengthened even more.

『Hmm, will it be okay for a “hopeless” job holder like me to become an adventurer, though? I hope they don’t think it’s weird and I end up standing out the wrong way…』

『A classic development in other world novels, isn’t it? I think you could take care of such troubles with ease, but…it won’t be good if you stand out too much. Someone might figure out you are the person from the bounty four years ago too…oh right, we could do it like this: when you do the adventurer registration, you should— 』

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