Chapter 6:
The Little Person and the Copy
I HAD ONE MORE FLOOR to go before I reached the fifteenth, but I was sure that things would only get harder. I had to focus on making myself stronger. After class the next day, I went to the teachers’ lounge to speak with Ms. Elena.
“Is there some sort of super-strong, all-purpose skill? Something you would want?”
Ms. Elena crossed her legs and drummed her chin with her fingers. There was something sexy about how she did that.
“I get the idea you’re someone who can get things done, even if you’re not particularly adept at them,” she said. “A sort of jack of all trades, master of none.”
Oof! Straight through the heart!
I guess she was just trying to say I was an all-rounder, but “master of none” was hardly flattering, was it?
I started to think about whether I should start using Get Creative to specialize, but Ms. Elena had another suggestion.
“Don’t try to force yourself to become something you aren’t,” she said. “For now, I think some kind of sword skill would suit you best. Like how your friend Leila has Demon Fist.”
That skill was exceptionally powerful. Leila could use it to take out weaker monsters in one shot. Since I generally used a sword, maybe Ms. Elena was right. Was there something that would do the same thing for swordsmen?
“Have you ever fought anyone who used a sword who you found especially difficult to defeat?” I asked.
She must have thought of someone that she didn’t like, because she grimaced. “I once fought someone with a great dodge and an extremely powerful slash attack. We were interrupted before we could finish our fight, but I don’t think I would have won.”
Someone who could drive Ms. Elena into a corner? That sounded promising. I asked her about the skills she mentioned, already determined to acquire them.
Willowy Dodge — 800 LP
Power Slash — 1,000 LP
Looking into them, Willowy Dodge required a high level of concentration and could fail in specific situations, while Power Slash boosted your offensive power and speed with a blade but at greatly increased stamina cost. What’s more, the movement itself was rather expansive, so I’d be leaving myself open to attack. Timing and judgment would be critical.
I wanted to pick up some midrange skills, but those two would do for now. After all, I needed to do some more training in the dungeon.
Today, however, I had some adventuring work with Emma and Luna. They were likely already at the guild hall, so I headed out. When I reached the school gates, I found Leila waiting for me.
“I wanted to thank you again for yesterday,” she said. “Is there anything I can help with?”
“I mean, we’re going to pick up a quest and hunt some monsters,” I said. “But I’m not sure if your guild would be happy if you joined us.”
Leila shook her head. “No. I think it will be fine. I’ll help.”
With that decided, we headed to the Odin guild hall. It wasn’t a good idea for Leila to come inside, so I headed in alone. I soon found Emma and Luna and headed toward them to explain the situation, but something seemed off. Even Lola looked flustered.
“Emma, did something happen?” I asked.
“Yes! It’s really bad! A little girl was kidnapped just outside town by goblin thieves!”
That was really bad. Goblin thieves did abduct children for food from time to time, and it generally didn’t take long for them to tuck in. We were officially in a race against time. Fortunately, the request had only just come in. Her parents were even still in the guild hall—the mother was crying, and the father was trying to comfort her. Apparently, the girl had only been taken half an hour ago, at the foot of the mountain near town.
“We’ll do it,” I told Lola.
After all, most of the other adventurers were off on other requests.
“Of course. I expected nothing else of you, Mr. Noir.”
If I had Emma and Luna with me, I figured I could handle it.
The girl’s father bowed his head to us. “Please, save my daughter!”
“We will. Can you please tell us her name?”
“Sena Hitaru,” he said. “She’s five years old. She wears her hair in pigtails. Please help!”
We had everything we needed. We headed out of the guild hall and explained the situation to Leila.
“I’ll help you,” she said.
I didn’t argue with her. I’d never fought goblin thieves before, but I’d heard they could be troublesome. It would be better to have her with us. The four of us hurried together to the mountain where the girl had been abducted.
Great Sage, where is the girl, Sena Hitaru, who was taken by goblin thieves?
<She is 723 yards to the northeast.>
Now that we knew exactly where she was, all we had to do was come up with a plan. Unfortunately, none of us had any experience fighting these kinds of monsters.
“I’ve heard they steal all sorts of things.”
“Yeah, me too. Apparently, they take weapons and even skills!”
“They must have some kind of special skill to do that.”
“Which means that we can’t drop our guard.”
That made things tricky, but time was of the essence. We hurried in the direction the Great Sage had indicated. But before we got into this, I wanted to check everyone’s current abilities.
Name: Emma Brightness
Level: 68
Skills: Dual Wielded Daggers (Grade A); Wind Strike; Wind Slash; Run Like the Wind
Name: Luna Heela
Level: 74
Skills: Magical Firearms (Grade B);
Energy Shot; Healing Shot; Increased Magic Capacity (Grade A); Fainting Spell; Lift Curse
Name: Leila Overlock
Level: 160
Skills: Boxing (Grade A); Kickboxing (Grade A); Hand-to-Hand Combat (Grade A); Stoneskin; Stealthy Step; Demon Fist
Weapon: Magic Glove (Magic Conductivity)
It looked like everyone had leveled up on our trip, not to mention all the work they’d been putting in. Luna had even increased her magic pool, so she wouldn’t have to worry about passing out unless she really overdid it. Leila’s Hand-to-Hand Combat skill had leveled up too. That was Leila for you. We were in pretty good shape for this!
We slowed our pace as we saw smoke rising in the distance and crept toward the clearing where the goblin thieves were camped. There were eight of them in total—all around five feet tall. They had long, pointed noses like normal goblins, but they also had thick heads of greasy hair. Half of them were unarmed, and the other half had clubs.
The biggest one was probably the group’s leader. I watched closely as it gestured at the other goblins, giving out orders. They had a fire going and were setting up a spit to cook Sena on. I was too far away to use Discerning Eye, but I could hear Sena crying, and we didn’t have time to spare.
“Let’s go!” I shouted, jumping out into the clearing.
The others were right behind me.
“Reeee!”
The goblins snarled and swarmed around us, emanating hostility.
“I’ll get Sena!” Emma shouted.
“Good idea!”
Meanwhile, I focused on taking out the goblins. I drew my sword and charged toward their leader. If I could figure out a way to deal with him, the rest of this would get easier.
“Reeee!”
“Huh?”
My sword disappeared, clean out of my hand! Curiously, it somehow reappeared in the goblin’s hand. What kind of trick was he using?!
Name: Goblin Thief
Level: 53
Skills: Gambler’s Pilfer; Superhuman Strength (Grade B); Jumping (Grade B)
I couldn’t let my guard down. Its stealing ability was clearly a skill.
Gambler’s Pilfer: Consumes magical power to randomly steal a weapon, tool, skill, or memory from a target. Weapons are the most likely steal, whilst memories are the least likely. If the pilfer fails, it consumes a large quantity of magic regardless.
That was terrifying. And risky! If the skill failed, you could easily burn through all your mana and pass out. But goblins weren’t very smart. Did it even realize the danger?! Either way, I needed to get my sword back. I also needed to make sure that everyone else was safe.
Looking around, I saw Emma split the goblin nearest to Sena clean in half with a Wind Slash, while Leila was busy exploding goblin heads, one after another. Meanwhile, Luna had snuck around behind the goblin I was facing.
Bwing!
My double-edged sword went flying.
“Augh?!”
The goblin collapsed to reveal Luna standing behind him. She’d shot my sword straight out of his hand!
“Thanks!”
But it wasn’t over yet. The goblin and I both grabbed for the sword at the same time. I kicked him away as hard as I could but, before I could grab my sword, one of his friends launched toward me.
Pew! Pew!
Luna took it out with covering fire. I seized my sword triumphantly and charged toward the goblin leader. He staggered back and I whipped my blade around, cutting him down with a single swipe.
There were only two left, and one was already fleeing, with Leila in hot pursuit. I went after the other. It snarled and pointed its club at me, probably imitating some human it had fought in the past. It seemed like a good time to try out my new skills. This guy was the last one, and even if I failed, my friends were here to back me up.
I rushed forward and performed a Power Slash. It was a huge, extravagant swing and gave the goblin plenty of time to raise his club and block it. Unfortunately for him, my sword sliced both him and his club cleanly in half.
“Oooh, that’s powerful, but I can feel my heart pounding.”
I would probably struggle to use it more than once at a time. By the time I caught my breath, Leila was back with the final goblin corpse in tow. We rushed over to Emma, who was carrying Sena in her arms.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” I asked the little girl.
“No, the soft and fluffy lady protected me.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said. “She has always been very kind.”
Emma looked embarrassed by the compliment. “I-I guess I can’t argue…”
Before we went back, we made quick work of taking apart the goblin thieves for materials. They were rare, and I wanted to make sure we got anything that might be useful. Afterward, we took Sena back to town. She was very brave and never cried once the whole way home, although of course, the tears came pouring out as soon as she saw her parents again.
“Mommy! Daddy! I was so scared!”
“Oh, Sena! I’m so sorry! It’s okay!”
We watched them and smiled. This really was one of the perks of the job. Emma even gave me a little high five in celebration.
“Be careful around the mountain in the future,” I told Sena’s parents. “There are certain times when monsters are more likely to appear.”
“We will. Thank you. Thank you so much for saving our daughter!”
We said goodbye to Sena and her parents, then headed into the guild hall to collect our reward.