”GrrRrrRRrr…”

“This is bad. That’s a kobold.”

“But what’s a kobold doing here?”

“I wonder… As far as I know, there aren’t any monsters on this forest.”

Right now, we’re in a dangerous situation. A kobold is in front of us. I was told that kobolds were relatively weak five-hundred years ago. With a height ranging from sixty centimeters to eighty centimeters and with their small and weak arms they wield a small club as a weapon. A level three adventurer would have no problem dealing with it.

I already saw most monsters on an encyclopedia before, including their before and after but, this is… a really big change. The one standing in front of us is over two meters. It’s pretty much the same size of an orc now. They are clearly burly— it even looks like their muscles would pop any second now. Now then, what do to do? If I leave her alone, she might get targeted.

“Please, don’t worry about me. Considering that he’s been staring at you for quite a while now, I doubt that I’m his target.”

That’s true…It’s kinda creepy when it’s staring at me while drooling. It looks ready to make a meal out of me.

“Alright, I want you to step back for a little bit. Don’t go too far.”

“I understand. I could somewhat use healing magic so I’ll go where my magic could reach you.”

Oh?

“That helps. I’ll leave it to you.”

As soon as she distanced herself, the kobold charged. Despite its size, it’s pretty fast. Within three seconds it got in front of me and swung down its huge club with its might. I took a leap backwards thinking that it was enough to dodge its first attack. While I was still mid-air, the kobold’s left fist came into my vision. I managed to block the punch but its blow is still heavy. It sent me in front of the girl.

That was bad. If I didn’t put up a physical barrier, my arms are probably useless by now. It’s swollen but it’s alright. This is why you don’t underestimate your enemies. Especially if they are monsters. A single miss can end your life.

“Light Heal! Are you alright?”

The pain is gone… Such great healing.

“Yeah, thanks. I didn’t expect that punch.”

That caught me by surprise. That won’t happen twice.

I stood up and took out the dagger from my waist.

I should limit its movements first.

“Swamp!” It’s a tier one spell that turns a dirt into a swamp. I turned the dirt below the kobold’s feet into a swamp and is slowly sucking the kobold.

It would at least take ten seconds for this monster to get out.

While thinking so, I dashed towards the kobold.

Once again, it swung down its club,” Grrraaaahhh!!!!” But compared to the first one, it’s weak and slow. I’m guessing that it needs some kind of momentum to do its powerful attacks. I dodged it by simply jumping to the right. Followed by its club attack, is a large swing of its left hand, I ducked to avoid its left hook and then went in and thrust my dagger into its stomach.

The kobold shrieked, “Guuuuooohhhh!”

“Wha-! Your skin is too hard!” The stab that I did wasn’t deep enough even though I did it with full force.

I should step back for now. It’s about time it gets out of the swamp.

“GRaahhhhh!!!”

What a loud monster.

It’s getting ready to charge again. I hope this one will at least stop its movement so we could run away from here.

“Hey, can you cast any buff magic too?”

“I can give it a try. Is there any specific buff that you need?”

That’s a surprise. Is she a support mage? In any case, this might really work.

“Something that could raise my magic even for a bit.”

“I understand.” She then held her hands together and casted, “Magic Up!”

“Thanks!”

“GRaaaaaaaAAaahhhHHhhh!!!”

The kobold continues its charge with greater speed than the first.

Works for me.

Pointing my dagger towards the charging kobold. I released my tier two spell, “Earth Spike!”

A pointed stone emerged diagonally towards the kobold. I specifically aimed at the stab wound I did earlier. With the help of its own speed and weight, the earth spike cleanly penetrated the kobold’s abdomen.

“GRRRAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!

The dying kobold crushed the spike penetrating its body but it was already too late. It died right after doing so, its body went down with a thud. A few seconds passed and its body started dissipating. This is one of the characteristics of the monsters, their body disappears after being killed leaving only their round magic stone behind.

This kobold’s magic stone is four inches in diameter. We can sell this at the merchant guild later.

With my low magic power, that shouldn’t have been enough to kill it. At best, its power is only enough for us to give us time to run away. Just who is this girl?

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Hah… I guess that’s it…”

“You really defeated it. That’s amazing.”

“Not without your help. I’m pretty tired. Let’s rest here for a while before we continue.”

*****

We rested for ten minutes and continued making our way out of the forest.

“That reminds me. I forgot to ask this earlier. What’s your name?” I should’ve asked her much earlier.

“Ah, I’m sorry. It seems I also forgot to introduce myself earlier. You can just call me Aelee.”

Is she hiding her last name? She probably has a lot of things going on. Let’s not ask too much.

“Aelee. That’s a beautiful name. I’m Greo Astral. I just started yesterday but I’m an adventurer. Nice to meet you.”

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

After introducing ourselves, I asked her how she got into this forest.

She told me that she ran away from their home without letting anyone know. She did not say the reason why nor did she say from where. She kept running until she reached the place where I first met her.

Something is weird though. She should’ve encountered at least wild beasts or bandits but, looking at her clothes there isn’t any part that is torn nor ragged.

But still, she sure is taller than me. My height is 183 centimeters so she must be at least 187 centimeters.

*****

It’s already dusk when we arrive at Luminus town.

“Oh, we’re almost there. You see that wall? That’s the Luminus town.”

“Such a big town.”

When we approached the gate, Glen spoke to me.

“Oh? You’re back early. You already finished your quest?”

“Yeah. It’s only a gathering quest after all.”

“I see, I see. So?”

“’So?’”

Glen pointed to my right and asked, “Who’s the lass beside you?”

“Ah, she’s Aelee. I saw her at Helva forest. Aelee, this is Glen, a knight guard.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Glen, I’m Aelee.”

“Likewise. So,” Glen turned my way and asked, “What happened to her?”

I answered, “Apparently, she was lost.”

“Lost huh… Sorry but, I’ll need some verification before we let her pass.”

I almost forgot. I live in this town so I could just go in and out without any problems but that’s not the case with the outsiders.

“Aelee, do you have any card on you?”

“Ah, yes. Here it is.” Aelee then reached out her palm and a small light shone. After the light disappeared, a card— an adventurer card appeared. Both Glen and I were surprised.

“Aelee, you’re an adventurer?” I asked.

“That’s what surprised you!?” That was Glen. He took Aelee’s card and then went to check Aelee’s records. The way they check it is by placing it at the top of a crystal orb. This orb will then check if a person is a wanted criminal, recently killed a person or if they committed any other crime.

“Ahaha… I’m sorry I hid it from you earlier.” She replied, bashfully, scratching her cheek.

Cute.

“No, I don’t really mind. But why?”

“It’s um… I just wanted to be escorted, that’s all.”

What a cute reason.

“Sorry for the wait. She’s clean. You may enter the town. Normally you’ll have to pay a fee of 100 oires but since you’re an adventurer, you will be exempted from the fee.”

“Thank you, Mr. Glen.”

“Thanks, Glen. Alright, let’s go to the guild first, Aelee.”

“Yeah, enjoy the city. Maybe go on a date with Greo. He’s a thirty-three-year-old man but still has no experience with love. AHAHAHA!” Glen joked and heartily laughed.

“Glen! That’s unnecessary.”

“Yes, I will.”

You will!?

*****

“This town is pretty lively, isn’t it?” Aelee noticed.

“Yeah, especially since we’re at night market district and— “The smell of barbeque wafted out of the restaurant nearby.

I’m getting hungry. That reminds, it’s almost dinner, Aelee must be hungry too.

“Is something wrong, Greo? You suddenly stopped walking.”

“Ah no, it’s nothing. More importantly, we should eat first before going to the guild. You must be hungry too right?”

“That’s true. But I lost my money at Helva forest yesterday so… Please don’t worry about me, I’ll wait here.”

So she’s been at Helva forest since yesterday. Does that mean she hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday?

“Don’t worry about it. I was the one who invited you so I’ll pay.”

Although surprised by my invitation, she replied “I will take you up on your offer then.”

Alright. Dinner with a beautiful girl.

*****

After we stuffed ourselves with delicious food, we went out and headed to the guild. Good thing I’m getting a reward tonight. She can really eat a lot. But well, she looks happy so it’s fine.

“Thank you for treating me tonight, Greo. The dishes were delicious, especially the pork stew, I can’t get enough of its creamy soup.” She cheerfully described.

“You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed yourself.”

After a bit of walking and window shopping, we arrived at the guild. Sure enough, Aelee stands out. I mean who wouldn't notice her? She's beautiful and her walk is elegant.

Ignoring their stares, we continue walking towards the receptionist desk.

“Greo, isn’t this line shorter?”

That’s true, the lines for desks one and three are short but, “It’s fine, it’s fine. This line is much faster.”

The queue gradually became smaller and after a while, it’s now my turn.

“Good evening, Miss Bel. I’m here to turn in the materials for the quest that I took yesterday. Here.” I handed over a small pouch containing the leaves along with my card.

“Good evening, Greo. I see you already completed the quest. Let me verify the contents… Mmm, there’s no problem. It’s all here. Please wait for a minute, I’ll get your reward.”

“Oh, can you also please give this letter to the guild master?” I handed an envelope to Miss Bel. The content of the letter is about the monster we encountered earlier. I wrote it while we were taking a break. He’ll probably let me rest for tonight then question me tomorrow.

“Certainly.”

“Hmmm… Is that your type, Greo?” Aelee asked. Hm? She looks jealous for some reason.

“Ah no, that’s not it. Look, the lines on the other desks are small right? But look closely, there are still some familiar faces.”

“That’s true.”

“Yeah, Miss Bel does the process fast so even if there’s a long line, you’ll be fine.”

“I see. I understand.”

While I was convincing Aelee, Miss Bel came back. Wait, why am I even trying to convince her?

“Sorry for the wait, Greo. Here’s your card back and your reward of 5,000 oires. Keep up the good work and you’ll rank up in no time.”

“Thank you, I will.”

We went outside of the guild after I took my reward and thanked Miss Bel.

Looks like they just updated my quest success rate and didn’t check my monster kill log. That or Miss Bel handled it personally. Either way, I’m thankful.

I forgot to mention that the adventurer card has a back side. At the very top is the experience points needed to move on to the next level in the form of a “progress bar”. The kobold that I fought earlier made me level up two times. Although it became harder to level up thanks to the terrestrialization virus, monsters give a lot of experience points in exchange. You can also get experience points from wild beasts but they do not really give that much.

At the bottom left is the quest success rate. Currently, mine is at 100%. That’s all.

Now then, I should go home but before that…

“Aelee, there’s an inn nearby, I’ll take you there. I’ll pay for your lodging for three days for now. Tomorrow, we’ll sell the magic stone and let’s take a quest together.”

I won’t be able to afford the skip-rank test with this but, the quest tomorrow should be able to cover it.

“Is that… really okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. You can pay it back whenever you want.”

“You’re a generous person, aren’t you, Greo?”

“Ahaha, I guess I am. A lot of people helped me before so, it just felt right to help other people too.”

Aelee smiled, “I see…” She then muttered something, although I couldn’t clearly hear it.

“Did you say something?”

“It’s nothing. Please lead the way.”

“Alright.”

*****

H-how could this be…? All of the inns are fully booked.

Ah! That’s right. Tomorrow is the tournament so a lot of people came into this town earlier.

“Um… Greo? The last inn we went to earlier had a stable. I don’t mind sleeping there for tonight.”

“That won’t do, Aelee. That’s for horses.”

“Well then, this might be presumptuous of me but…”

“What is it?”

“How about… your house? I’m perfectly fine sleeping on the floor.”

Oh. That works. Although, I won’t let her sleep on the floor.

“I guess we have no choice. Alright, let’s go to my place.”