CH 176

Proficiency

Following that, Bors continued dodging every single magic attack that was thrown at him.

I don’t know whether it was intentional, but almost half of the magic he dodged would hit the Blue Ogre, and finally after getting pelted by the Imp’s magic over and over, the Blue ogre finally fell dead to the ground.

The remaining Imps, as if it wasn’t obvious from how Bors had been avoiding their magic assault from behind, weren’t able to do anything to Bors and were cut down swiftly.

Since he didn’t possess any kind of strong attack, the battle lasted long, not to mention Bors’  fighting style was dangerous beyond belief.

Honestly, I really didn’t think of him more than just another old shaggy haired adventurer with lots of years under his belt with not much to show for it but……..this man had his feet solidly stuck to the ground, as in, his experience as an adventurer was nothing to make fun of.

I should know better that to not judge people and their ability by their appearance.

I should have learnt that from Alyazi-san but unconsciously, I ended up underestimating him anyway.

“Maan! These Blue Ogres sure are tough eh! But……..Ehehe, I managed to beat them!”

“Bors-san, that was awesome! I really couldn’t take my eyes off you!!”

“I see, I see! If Ralf says that much, I guess it was worth all the effort then!”

Ralf didn’t hold back in his praise for Bors as he came back, making him scratch his head while looking all happy.

“But still, how did you beat them? From what I could tell, you didn’t even use any skills.”

“How, you ask, well………just, normally? I guess? I really don’t know how else to answer that!”

Both me and Esta tilted our heads to the side due to the vague answer.

Perhaps I’ll figure it out if I fight him directly but, this isn’t the place for that.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to give a proper answer. Regardless, I know now that Bors, you are capable fighter that’s all.”

“I’m glad as long as you think that!——-On that note, I was thinking but until you lot get promoted to Platinum, how about making a temporary party with me? I’ll take 1/4th of the rewards……….No, I should also count Snow in it, so I’ll take just 1/5th of the reward. And you guys will be able to take Platinum rank requests like today! And I’ll have a hell of a lot easier time finishing these requests as well! Not a bad deal for both of us eh?”

Perhaps after showcasing his own prowess, he suggested this to us.

Certainly, he doesn’t seem like he’d hold us back in anyway, and it’s really useful to be able to accept Platnum rank requests for us as well.

If he’s alright with just a fifth share of the rewards, it’s not like we’d be losing out a lot.

……….Above all, I’m still curious as to how Bors was able to fight the way he did so it might be alright to accept his offer.

“I don’t mind personally. Ralf, Esta, what do you think?”

“I do not mid it either. He seems knowledgeable regarding the area as well, and as we saw, his platinum rank is not just for show either.”

“Works for me too! It looks like I could learn a lot from Bors-san anyway!”

“………Then that’s that. We’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Alright! Then, we’re a temp party for now! You three, and of course Snow as well, I’ll be in your care!”

And thus, we decided to form a temp party with Bors.

It’s not a bad idea joining hands with a platinum rank adventurer who was also well versed in things about Edestor.

Soon afterwards, we refocused ourselves, and restarted our Blue Ogre hunting.

.

2 hours later

After efficiently hunting Blue Ogres in that time, our final kill count had reached up to 8 in the end.

Bors continued finding more while avoiding other monsters, and me, Ralf and Snow would quickly take them down.

Whenever there were other monsters in the area, Esta would eradicate them with her magic. This was more or less how we went on our business Quite efficient for a temp party, I must say.

“Damn, you lot are hella strong! Seriously, how are you guys still just Gold rank!?”

“We just promoted to gold actually. Can only blame the guild’s ranking system really…….Well, if they started making exceptions things would get out of control pretty quickly so I don’t blame them for being strict with it.”

“If only there was something like a promotion test or something! We’d be able to raise our rank asap!”

I thought of the same thing actually.

Conversely ,that would also help in not creating Platinum rank adventurers like Greath who never actually cleared a platinum rank request and only did gold ones.

“But well, with this pace it won’t be long before you lot are at Mithril rank even!…….By the way, we really just hunted 8 Blue Ogres huh? Since it’s a gold coin per kill, that’s 8 gold coin total for our reward. So about 1 gold and 6 silver per person right? That’s insane man!!”

True, this might be the first time we’ve made this much in a single request since the emergency request of course.

Well there was also that one time I earned 5 gold for just one Stary Cow bird but the encounter rate with those things was way too low to be comparable.

“If they are showing up in this many numbers, we could earn this much every day honestly.”

“I know right! And it only took, what 3 hours total, and we could keep going but……….is it really that bad to do so?”

“Honestly, with how strong you three and Snow are, even I think we could keep it up for longer but……….for today, it’s better to get off the mountain! Underestimating Barbadd mountains is a quick way to lose your life.”

Bors spoke that with a very serious expression.

I’m sure he’s seen countless adventurers lose their lives like this over the 20 years he has worked as an adventurer here in Edestor.

“If that’s the case, then sure, let’s stop here for today. We know you have both knowledge and the ability to back it. I think it’s better to trust what Bors says for now.”

“I agree! Not to mention, by the time we go back to Edestor, it’ll still be afternoon right? Bors-san, why not show us around the city!”

“Oh, sure why not! If that’s the case, I might as well introduce you to my party members as well!”

“Ah right you did say they were injured or something right? Your actual party that is.”

“Not injured, just ill. It’s not easy for us old folk you know!”

With a genuinely troubled expression, Bors spoke with a sigh.

No living thing could win against the flow of time. Age catches up to us all.

“So is Bors-san’s party just two-man team? Or did multiple people get sick at the same time?”

“It’s a three person party. One of them is seriously ill, the other one is only just slightly sick.”

“Ohh, and that’s why you came to the guild alone eh?”

“Pretty much! Well, we can talk in detail after we return, so let’s start heading back to Edestor first!”

While chatting about various things, we left the foot of the Barbadd mountain and headed back to Edestor.

I didn’t have much expectations, but Bors turned out to be a nice man and was quite knowledgeable on top.

As far as first days go, this had been quite the successful one.