chapter2 · 029-ep29

Episode 29: The Long-Awaited

Unexpectedly, my head turned out to be an achievement farm.

The small Wood Wolves showed themselves between the trees.

And there were a lot of them.

Over ten of them.

Think about it normally, and this should be a pretty rough situation.

It should be, anyway.

【C: Defeat a monster in a single hit while under a self-applied Strength enchant】

At the edge of my vision, that achievement condition twinkled.

No — quit twinkering.

Now is the time to have some genuine sense of danger, right?

One part of me thought exactly that.

But at the same time, another me was saying this:

It's here.

Your chance, Ren.

The long-awaited achievement-hunting time has arrived.

"First, let's lock down the defense, 'kay?"

Even mid-all-that, Nanami immediately spread her Enchantment Domain.

The flow was the same as before.

Endurance enchant.

Enchantments to hold up Natori, Takamiya, and Rio as he pushed out front.

The small Wood Wolves were one size down from the earlier ones.

But there were a lot of them.

Each one was weak on its own, but with us ringed in like this, this was genuinely dangerous.

For this party, though, apparently none of it even counted as a crisis.

"Niiice. Gets me seriously fired up."

The first to move, saying that, was Rio.

He drew the sword at his hip and laid in one stroke, then a second.

"Don't push out too far. Rio."

Mibu put a hand to the ground, and the ground froze in a fan ahead of her, locking several of the Wolves in place.

Come to think of it, she was throwing fire around earlier too, wasn't she?

Mibu seriously has two attributes.

Also, man, attributes look great.

I don't have that entry anywhere on my screen, for the record.

Takamiya, eyes on the whole field, swatted down each one that closed in, bare-handed.

No — this man is hands-down the scariest one here.

Of course, even so the Wolves were many, and what's more, several more came in from deeper within.

Low to the ground, unhurried, they closed on the center of the formation — meaning me and Nanami.

"Ren-kun, get back!"

Nanami's voice reached me.

"Leave this to the others!"

Fall back.

And leave it to the combat classes.

That's the right answer.

Besides, I'm here as observation and assistance.

I should not be stepping out front here.

I know that.

I know that, but.

Fall back here, and the achievement is gone.

I stepped forward — one step only.

A single step.

But that step was unmistakably one that took me from the center out to the front.

At the same time, I ran an enchant through myself.

Strength.

Different from the Endurance enchant Nanami had spread around us.

A sensation like heat flowing from somewhere inside me out to the ends of my fists.

Less a swelling of muscle than the channel the force runs through thickening for exactly the instant of impact.

It was my first Ability Grant in real combat, but the way to use the skill, strangely, my body already knew.

The way a person learns to roll over after being born,

and then picks up how to stand, how to walk.

The Job Skill was the same — I could fire it with perfect naturalness, as if I'd known how to use it from the start.

A small Wood Wolf lunged.

I slipped half a step sideways.

Fangs grazed past the side of my arm.

It hurt.

A little of the skin split.

But I didn't stop.

In that same motion, I clenched my left fist.

Off-Hand Strike.

My non-dominant fist, Strength enchant still riding it, drove into the Wood Wolf's flank.

Solid impact.

A feel clearly different from any strike before it.

The light body blew sideways.

It rolled across the damp soil and stopped against a tree root.

The small Wood Wolf kicked its legs. Once.

And then it stopped moving.

Downed it.

In one hit.

I'd gone and downed it.

And.

【Achievement Unlocked】

【C: Defeat a monster in a single hit while under a self-applied Strength enchant】

Characters rose up at the edge of my vision.

It's here.

Got it.

Got it with absurd ease.

【World-First Reward will be granted】

UWOOOOOH!

Inside, I was straight-up throwing a fist pump.

In real life, absolutely never.

Do that, and Nanami's face probably turns scary that very instant.

Then again, it might already be too late.

"Ren-kun!"

"S-sorry!"

I apologized on reflex.

For what, exactly, I couldn't tell you myself.

But I did understand this was a moment that called for an apology.

Meanwhile, the battle went on.

Takamiya, Mibu, and Rio broke down their targets one by one, each in their own way.

Rio cut one down; Mibu stopped another with an arrow of fire.

The pack was big, but maybe because they were the small kind, each one's strength fell short of the Wood Wolves from earlier.

So without a single member buckling, they were able to wipe out every enemy around.

"No enemy presence in the vicinity."

Takamiya let out a quiet breath.

Catching my own, I looked at my left fist.

My first dungeon fight since Greyfish.

Excitement or terror — my left hand was still buzzing.

But it felt good.

I got the achievement.

A job-exclusive one, at that.

The best.

That one word sums it up, but —

I was probably about to get chewed out.

By one Gokō Nanami-san, my mentor(?)-figure in the Enchanter arts.

I'd just braced for it when —

"Natori-san."

Takamiya's voice had dropped a little lower than usual.

"You left your post, didn't you?"

I raised my head.

Natori.

Right — now that he mentions it.

Huh.

Where was he, just now?

When the fighting started, Natori was up front. I'm sure of it.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing Natori move.

No — less stopped seeing than had no attention to spare for noticing.

From the shade of a tree a little way off, Natori came quietly back.

His expression unreadable as ever.

Takamiya looked at him.

"I only looped around the flank."

Natori answered in brief.

"I issued no such order."

"I judged it necessary."

Short.

Far too few words.

And that was exactly why the air felt all the heavier.

Takamiya watched Natori a while.

He never raised his voice.

He just continued, quietly.

"This expedition includes an observer — Himura-kun. If you break formation, you report it. Without fail."

"Understood."

That was all Natori said.

No excuses beyond it.

And Takamiya pressed no further there, either.

But the air was, unmistakably, a little stiff.

Inside, I caught my breath.

I hadn't noticed at all.

That Natori had been gone.

Not that I'd had attention to spare — but still, our vanguard left his post?

Wait, isn't that actually pretty bad?

No.

Hold on.

Meaning: right now, the room's attention was aimed not at me but entirely at Natori.

Natori leaving his post stood out far more than my little step forward.

Could this be.

Could this possibly be.

That I get out of this without a scolding?

Saved.

Wait — am I allowed to be saved here?

"Ren-kun?"

From right beside me, a voice gone awfully sweet.

It was Nanami.

Smiling.

Smiling, but.

Her eyes weren't.

"Yes."

"You stepped out just a bit too far forward, don't you think?"

Yeah. Of course.

There was no way she'd let it slide.

"I mean — if I hadn't fought, I'd have been done for."

"Fighting as self-defense is perfectly fine."

"R-right."

"But Ren-kun — you were out about as far as Rio-kun just now, weren't you?"

"........Was I?"

"You were~?"

Nanami beamed.

Scary.

So this is what it's like when a kind person's smile is scary.

"Once we're out of here, why don't we have a nice little talk about being an Enchanter?"

"...Yes."

That was not going to be a talk. Not even close.

It was the thing known as a scolding.

But Nanami wouldn't call it a scolding.

So then it isn't a scolding?

Mm. Maybe so.

And if it isn't a scolding, then what's about to start is probably instruction by sheer overwhelming volume.

What an Enchanter actually is.

How you should move inside a party.

And an endless grilling on things like the lessons of today's incident.

Aagh — somehow that's scarier.

"You wanted to fight too, didn't you, Ren-kun. I know, I know."

Beside me, Rio laughed like this was great fun.

"Please don't understand."

"No, I get it. That step was the step of a guy who wanted to be up front."

"Please stop. Please don't analyze me."

Rio chuckled away.

This is no laughing matter on my end.

But hey — the achievement was mine.

That part's the best.

But a talk with Nanami was now confirmed.

Net it out, and honestly, the ledger's pretty murky.

"Natori-san. We'll discuss it later. For now — let's get out of here."

Takamiya said it like a man closing the matter.

From there, the formation was rebuilt.

And we started walking for the Gate once more.

Retracing our route, I snuck a peek at the edge of my vision.

【Achievement Unlocked】

【C: Defeat a monster in a single hit while under a self-applied Strength enchant】

Got it.

Got it, for sure.

There should be a reward too.

Some passive skill.

Or maybe an exclusive Activation Skill.

What did I get?

I wanted to check. Right now.

I wanted to check so unbelievably badly.

But open my achievements field and start grinning here, and this time Nanami truly snaps.

I could feel it.

So: endure.

Endure.

"Himura-kun."

Just then, Mibu drifted up alongside me.

"What?"

"Earlier. You had the face of someone who'd caught onto something."

"...My face?"

"Mm."

Eyes forward, Mibu said it flatly.

"The same face you had fighting Sakagami-kun and the others."

My heart jumped.

Please stop.

Being watched in exactly that way is the most troublesome thing of all.

"...What kind of face was it?"

"A face having fun."

"I was making that face?"

"You were."

Mibu answered briefly.

Then, just barely, the corner of her mouth loosened.

"You really are interesting. Himura-kun."

Saying just that, Mibu turned her eyes forward again like nothing had happened.

I floundered a moment over how to answer, then turned my eyes forward too.

No — what was that, just now.

Genuinely unsettling.

And getting that "I'm interested" face from her for the first time in a while makes it twice as bad.

Well — anyway.

I'd check what I'd gained once we were outside.

Thinking that, I kept on walking toward the entry Gate.