Magic bags had greater capacity than ordinary bags of the same dimensions, but they didn’t eliminate one hundred percent of the weight and volume of their contents. We usually had ample room for all the loot from our adventures, but still, it seemed pointlessly risky to let a sword that none of us could use take up that much space.
As I glared at Touya, demanding an explanation, he averted his eyes.
“...Well, we’re going to explore a new area, so I figured sooner or later I’d get an opportunity to go, like, ‘I’ve got the perfect thing for a situation like this!’ and bust it out.”
“Seriously? I remember you saying at the time that we might need a weapon like that someday, but still.”
If you ever found yourself in a situation where the only way to beat a monster was brute strength, wouldn’t it be better to retreat than to “bust out” a weapon you’d never used before?
“Well, your wish did come true, kind of,” said Yuki. She casually took the sword from his hands and proffered it to Kaho. “Lookee here, Kaho, I’ve got the perfect thing for a situation like this! If the sword you have now is too weak, you can borrow this one.”
“That’s my line,” Touya muttered to himself.
Kaho didn’t seem to have heard him; she was looking back and forth between Yuki’s face and the sword.
“A-Are you quite certain about this? That appears to be a sword of superlative quality...”
“I mean, we could probably get over a hundred gold coins if we sold it, but it’s just a white iron sword, so I doubt if we’ll ever use it,” Yuki replied. “’Sides, we wouldn’t be able to sleep if something happened to you guys ’cause you didn’t have good enough weapons.”
“Nay, it would not be right for me to accept such a thing free of charge... Ah, yes!”
Kaho rummaged through her own bag just as Touya had earlier, then produced a small leather pouch and placed it on Yuki’s hands.
“This is hardly a substitute for rental fees, but pray accept it. I believe it can be used in alchemy, correct?”
Yuki and Haruki both peeked into the pouch.
“Huh? Oh, pieces of wardstone! Yeah, we can definitely use these for something,” said Yuki.
“Indeed,” said Haruka. “Yoshino, Sae, is this exchange acceptable to you as well? Wardstone can fetch a decent amount of money.”
The two of them immediately nodded.
“Yeah, we don’t mind,” Yoshino replied. “You’ve already let us borrow magic bags and a portable toilet.”
As Yoshino said, we’d lent Jade Wings a number of useful tools and inventions of our own. One of the three in particular had been especially pleased.
“It’s a wonderful tool,” said Sae. “It’s basically a necessity for girls.”
“Yeah, as a girl, I can totally relate,” said Yuki. “I never wanna have to dig holes in the ground with a hoe ever again in my whole entire life...”
Clearly Yuki was still haunted by the memories of our earliest adventures in this world even after more than a year had passed. She must have felt sorry for the Jade Wings girls because of her own experiences.
For their part, they were just confused, naturally.
“A-A hoe? I have no inkling what you mean, but regardless, I humbly accept this sword,” said Kaho. “In exchange, pray let us slay the monsters along the way to the dungeon.”
“Are you sure you’re up to the task?” Natsuki asked. “As we mentioned before, some of the monsters in this area are exceptionally strong...”
“That’s actually perfect for us,” said Yoshino. “We’re only tagging along until the dungeon entrance, so we’ll have to get ourselves back to town. It seems like a good idea to figure out early if we can actually fend for ourselves in this area.”
“I’ll work hard too,” said Sae. “My stomach has finally settled down.”
We had crossed the grassy plains and were almost to the woods. The Jade Wings girls hoisted their weapons and took the lead.
★★★★★★★★★
Jade Wings had slain orcs as their primary source of income, and they swiftly proved their prowess in combat. Kaho sliced through multiple goblins with a single swing of her sword, Sae burned bind vipers to a crisp with her magic, and even Yoshino proved herself capable of beating orcs to death with a mace. They fought as if this was routine for them, and they were able to fend for themselves just fine on the outskirts of the forest and for the first quarter of the path to the dungeon entrance.
“I must say, I’m quite taken with this new sword,” said Kaho with a laugh and a smile. “It’s very satisfying, carving through ranks of foes like this.”
The words she was muttering to herself made her sound like a psychopath, and her cute face made them even spookier.
It was certainly true that she’d gotten more comfortable with her new sword in no time, but the monsters in this area were pretty weak. Stronger ones awaited us closer to the dungeon.
“Pretty soon we’re going to be running into monsters that are way stronger than orcs,” I said, “so just be prepared.”
When they heard my warning, the three stopped in their tracks and turned back to face us.
“Okay, thanks for the heads-up,” said Yoshino. “By the way, as far as you’ve seen, are there any problems with our combat skills that stand out?”
“You’re very good at the role of healer, Yoshino,” I said. “As for you, Sae, there’s— Fire Arrow.”
A bind viper had been lying in wait in the trees ahead of us, but I blasted off its head, and its body fell to the ground. The Jade Wings girls gasped in surprise as they stared at it, then at me.
I pointed at the dead bind viper and continued. “So, first of all, Sae, you’re not being efficient with your mana. If you fine-tune the potency and penetrating power of your magic, a Fire Arrow is enough for most enemies—there’s no need to resort to higher-level spells. If all you’re planning to do is slay a couple orcs and head back to town, there’s no need to worry about conserving your mana, but now that you have magic bags, it’s a different story. You’ll be out longer, so you’ll run out of mana if you don’t conserve it.”
“I see,” said Sae. “If we’re out longer and taking down more monsters to bring back with us, we’ll be in more battles.”
“No doubt we’ll have to be careful not to squander mana or physical stamina. But, more importantly, Nao, what was that just now? Your precise control of your mana was, of course, impressive, but how were you able to spy the monster before us, standing behind us as you are?”
Normally, it would have been difficult for me to detect monsters before the people on the front line did, but...
“Yeah, that’s another thing I wanted to point out. You guys are a bit slow to detect monsters. There are monsters that will ambush you and go for your legs first, so you’ve got to be wary of that. I recommend learning the Scout skill as soon as you can.”
“Is that how you were able to detect the bind viper just now?” asked Sae.
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s a great skill—it’s done a lot to keep us safe.”
“Honestly, we would probably have called it quits really early on if Nao hadn’t had the Scout skill,” said Yuki.
Kaho had a troubled look on her face. “I never imagined such a convenient skill existed.” She glanced at us awkwardly. “And yet I fear it will be no easy feat for us to follow your advice.”
She must have been self-conscious because she had far fewer skills than anyone in our party—an inevitable consequence of her decision to go with a more specialized build. Given how strong she was already, it was also possible she would struggle to learn new skills. I understood her mild bewilderment at my suggestion, but...