ch61-ch80 · 093-ch77

Chapter 77

In the tavern attached to the Adventurer's Guild in the trade city 'Hexaria' of the Tuare Kingdom.

Young adventurers were having a conversation like this.

"The instructor's strength? He's upper-rank, so he's gotta be strong, right!"

"But compared to special-class adventurers, he's weaker, isn't he?"

"Well, I mean, that's true. But for rookies like us, we'd never even meet a special-class. The instructor's upper-rank, so we can actually see him. Though I heard he hasn't been around lately — went off on some adventure."

What they were talking about now was the so-called 'strength debate.'

Which adventurer is strong. Which adventurer is the strongest.

They talked about such things, dreaming that one day they'd become that too.

It was a childish conversation common among youths in both Earth and the other world.

They drank ale, faces flushed, evaluating this and that.

But that day was different.

"I mean, c'mon. The instructor's old now, gotta be past his prime, right?"

"Yeah, compared to like, Hero Canaan and that crowd, he's several rungs below, huh~"

"Right. The instructor? I'd take the hero any day."

That was when the young adventurers reached that conclusion.

"Hey now. Sounded to me like you were saying I'm stronger than my master."

An adventurer nearby approached them and spoke up.

The young adventurers were stunned when they saw his face.

"Huh? Who... BA—!"

"Bwuh... Ka-Ka-Ka-Canaan-san!?"

He must have gotten ale in his windpipe.

The young adventurers coughed and sputtered, looks of shock on their faces.

A handsome man. A superstar. A hero.

There stood Hero Canaan — a man with achievements that young adventurers could only envy.

"Wh-wh-why are you here..."

"Why? I'm from here, you know..."

Hero Canaan. He was a hero born and raised in the trade city, but because his ongoing heroic tales were more famous, many fans didn't even know he was from the trade city.

"So, about that bit where you said my master's several rungs below me..."

"Uh, m-master...?"

"We were talking about the guild instructor, not Canaan-san's master...!"

The person they'd been discussing was the instructor of the Trade City Adventurer's Guild.

Not Hero Canaan's master at all.

That's what they thought, but...

"The one who taught me how to fight is an upper-rank adventurer who works as an instructor at this guild. Sai-san is my master."

The young adventurers were shocked that Hero Canaan had actually been taught by the familiar neighborhood instructor.

Their expressions said, "That old man, for real!?"

And then it hit them.

They'd just said that the strength of Sai, his master, was several rungs below him.

Weren't they about to get seriously chewed out?

Thinking that, the young adventurers watched Canaan's reaction.

Canaan took a sip of wine and continued.

"Well, if my master and I fought, a hundred times out of a hundred, I'd win. I can say that with confidence."

They'd expected him to deny it, but that wasn't what happened.

The young adventurers were dumbfounded.

They exchanged glances, then looked at Canaan's face.

What's this hero trying to say?

That was the look they had.

"But that doesn't mean I'm stronger than him, you know?"

"Huh? But you just said you'd beat the instructor..."

"Yeah. Because that's how he trained me. If I, who was trained by my master, couldn't surpass him, what would be the point?"

The young adventurers didn't quite grasp the meaning of his words and looked confused.

"Uh, right..."

Seeing their expressions, Canaan gave a small, wry smile.

"Besides, the essence of strength isn't really about being strong in a fight."

"Huh, but if you're strong in a fight, that means you're strong, right...?"

"Haha. Might be hard for young adventurers to get, but for an adventurer, strength isn't just about the power to defeat monsters."

"Huh, then... what is it?"

"It's being able to properly complete your requests."

For adventurers, requests were promises to be fulfilled.

Defeating monsters that appear in villages and on highways.

Protecting and helping clients who are at their wit's end.

Carrying the baton of a request to completion and passing it on to the client or the next person.

"That's true... the instructor said that too."

Canaan's words were something the young adventurers had also heard before.

"Right? When it comes to request completion rates, my master's several times more impressive than someone like me."

In fact, Canaan had seen his master complete requests time and time again, even when it meant pushing himself recklessly. Using forbidden magic that was said to be dangerous to use. Calmly employing booster magical crests to get the job done.

"And also. I said earlier that I'd beat my master in a fight — but that doesn't mean my master is weak."

They had no idea what he meant.

The young adventurers couldn't say anything, just thinking that.

"You look puzzled. But you know, I've worked with my master a lot, and I've never once seen him fall without getting back up."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Hehe, that's a secret. But Sai-san really is amazing."

With that, he wrapped up the conversation, finished his wine, and walked toward the Adventurer's Guild.

The reason this man called a hero had returned to the trade city.

It was to take the place of Sai and Hexaria, who had apparently been sent to another world. He'd rushed over because he'd heard that coming here might let him get in contact with Sai and Hexaria, who had gone to that other world.

It was a few days after that encounter that the young adventurers ended up being taught combat by Hero Canaan, who had come as a substitute for Instructor Sai.

◇

In a far-off other world, while one of his disciples was talking about Sai.

Sai had been knocked down by Brad's hand.

Staggering, he somehow managed to stand.

A single blow had dealt him a terrifying amount of damage.

'Guh... damn. You really never lose your edge... for an old geezer...'

'Hah! I taught you the essence of magic power, didn't I?'

The essence of magic power.

That was the magic control training he was teaching to Earth's adventurers.

In the other world, it was standard training that everyone did, but the person who popularized more efficient methods to the world was none other than the man before him, Brad.

Even if your internal magical power was small, if you trained and mastered it, you could gain the strength to slaughter even dragons.

Magic power, the more you trained it, the more it could be converted into stamina and physical strength.

In other words, as long as your magic power didn't run out, your stamina and physical strength wouldn't decline either, and even an old man could display tremendous ability.

That was the nature of magic power.

Sai cast recovery magic on himself and stood up.

'That's why I'm standing here now.'

Sai's answer made Brad grin.

If you looked at Sai from the perspective of an other-world adventurer, to be honest, he was 'weak.'

If the average other-world adventurer's internal magical power was a hundred, Sai's was less than fifty.

Even so, having been transported from a world without magic — Earth — to the other world with almost no magical power at all, he'd desperately increased his internal magic to reach even that level.

That was a remarkable result, even by other-world standards.

But the one who taught him that method was his master Brad, standing before him now.

And that Brad had a naturally enormous amount of magical power, on top of having done magic control training for even longer than Sai.

The Body Enhancement woven from that vast magical power had already reached divine levels.

He couldn't win with ordinary methods.

Sai readied his blade and continued exchanging strikes with Brad.

None were fatal, but Brad's blade kept cutting, hitting, and kicking him.

He tried to counter, but none of his attacks landed effectively.

'What are you doing! Is your strength only worth that much, huh!? At this rate, you can't even take down one old geezer like me!'

'Gnngh!'

A barrage of strikes pierced through Sai's Hexa Shield, continuing to wound him.

The light armor made by Hexaria kept getting damaged.

He was covered in blood all over.

To make matters worse, his enhanced five senses also alerted him to Hexaria's predicament on the other side.

It was a scout's habit — he couldn't help but pay attention to his surroundings.

But that was a battle between special-class adventurers.

A single move, a tiny gap, could decide their fate.

Cyril's 'Raiga' seemed to turn her entire body into lightning — meaning she could approach and attack at a speed that couldn't be perceived.

On her end, she'd gone into turtle-mode with multiple layers of Hexa Shields.

He'd be fine, though. Even if she was in a pinch, there shouldn't be a problem.

She was his partner, so there was no need to worry.

...No. That wasn't right.

He was fighting his master right now. What was he looking at?

He was up against a superior opponent, and yet he was worrying about his surroundings...

How arrogant could he get?

He should focus on the fight with his master Brad right now.

'We're trying to kill each other here! Forget what I taught you, have you, you idiot disciple!?'

He was cut again.

Hastily, he cast recovery magic on himself.

Seeing that, Brad raged at Sai.

'What is an adventurer's fight!?'

That's right. When he was young, hadn't Brad told him this countless times?

——An adventurer's fight isn't a simple comparison of strength! Stake everything you've got to accomplish what must be done!——

That was what he'd been taught.

What Sai had to do right now was break through the twenty-fifth floor... in other words, defeat the Floor Boss before him.

Stake everything you've got!

Sai sheathed his beloved blade.

'Huh? What are you doing?'

Brad looked puzzled at his disciple's actions.

'Haaah...'

First of all.

The Great Hero before him was a master of the sword.

A great hero who wielded two blades and could single-handedly slay even dragons.

What was he thinking, fighting a master like that on the same terms?

He activated a Magical Crest to boost his mana.

He absorbed the mana from his surroundings, refined his internal magical power, and devoted all the magic power he'd been accumulating in daily life to 'Body Enhancement.'

Mana was rampaging through his body.

Normally, if you took in more mana than your internal magical power could handle, you'd lose control, backfire, and self-destruct.

But precisely because Sai recognized himself as weak, he could perfectly take in and manipulate an amount of mana that would normally cause self-destruction.

Sensing the change in his atmosphere, the Great Hero's expression shifted.

'Hah! Looks like you've finally gotten serious.'

'I think seeing your face made me a little off-balance.'

He'd thought he would never see the man before him again.

And yet, here they were, reunited on Earth.

Maybe it was because of the joy that his heart had grown soft.

'Master.'

'Hm? What?'

'Don't die.'

'Haha! As if, you idiot disciple!'

Sai charged straight ahead.

For a master swordsman and great hero, the concept of a blind spot didn't exist.

Circling around was meaningless.

He'd completely forgotten that, having been apart for so long.

Then aim for the shortest, fastest route.

Brad thrust both blades forward to kill Sai.

Brad's skill activated, and a thrust-type magic flash flew toward him.

Sai deployed a Hexa Shield and angled it to deflect the trajectory.

Just a little. Enough for his body to slip past the magic flash.

From there, Sai leaped, brought both feet together in the air, and poured all his magic power into them.

Then he aimed a kick at Brad's head — a flying kick.

'Gwaah!!?'

Brad took Sai's kick head-on and was blown backward without resistance.

'Name that one the Ra〇der Kick!'

'Guh... Kicking your master...! But that's my disciple for you!'

'Obviously, you idiot master. What's the point of a disciple who can't surpass his teacher?'

Sai said that and grinned at Brad.

================ Thank you very much for reading.