One-handed Sword: Magic Sword Ragnarok
Required Stats: 850 STR
Stat Bonuses: 555 STR, 250 DEF
Special Properties: Imbued with darkness.
“Cool!”
But she had nowhere near enough strength to use it.
Even if I do get stronger, I’m not sure I’ll ever get to 850 strength... Maybe I should find something more basic... But I wanna use this one! She was starting to understand why adventurers got so proud of powerful weapons. When I visit a guild for real, I’ve gotta have a cool sword to show off in front of all the adventurers!
She began imagining a place filled with brawny fighters and veteran mages showing each other their best weapons and trading tales of heroism. Then she imagined herself there with them. That was her dream, and she couldn’t wait to make it a reality.
I’ll just have to up my level!
And so her next stop was the training hall.
As Mil had already learned from the lizardman, fighting the demonkin within the castle was a quick way to level up.
She took a breath then opened the iron door. She was met with a gust of thick, warm air.
“Oh, back again, human princess?” One orc, considerably larger than the others in the hall, came walking over to Mil while wiping his sweat with a towel.
He’d said “again” because Mil had already visited a few times during the past month as part of her exploration of the castle.
Orcs sported hoglike snouts and tusks, and were noticeably bigger than humans. Since Mil was as small as a child, this creature was like a hulking tower by comparison.
This same orc had been here during her previous visits. He was the captain of his unit and the strongest of all the castle’s orcs.
“Um... Could I train with you today?” she asked.
“Ha ha ha! You, Princess? Sure, why not. But we’ll have to get you a weapon.”
“Actually, I’ve brought my own.”
Mil showed him the large ring she’d brought—the same one that had fired the lightning spear at the lizardman.
“An enchanted item? You won’t learn much training with that.”
“I don’t mind. I just want you to stand there and let me use my attack on you, Mr. Orc. Would you mind? Am I asking too much?”
He’s not going to just let me attack him, is he? No way he’s going to agree to be my punching bag.
“Ha ha ha! Sure. I can take it. Do your worst.”
He was a merry orc, and luckily for Mil, his heart was as big as the rest of him.
“Here goes!” Mil channeled her mana into the ring, sending a lightning spear flying at the orc.
“Whoa. That smarts.”
The orc took damage, but unlike the lizardman, he didn’t pass out. He wouldn’t be a captain if he wasn’t tough.
Hopefully I can still level up even though I’m not knocking him down.
Mil checked her stats and saw that her level had already increased by 1. “Ooh!”
“Hm? What’s wrong, Princess?” the orc asked. He had no idea Mil was looking at a status window full of her stats.
Now Mil had a proven way to gain experience. It was slow compared to knocking out a lizardman, but she could do it over and over.
“Can I do it again?!”
“Bring it on! We’re on break right now, so I’ve got nothing but time.”
How kind. If he was willing to use his break from training to help Mil, she was determined to make the most of it—it was an opportunity too good to waste!
“I’m gonna fire one after another!”
“Just try it!”
“Yah!”
Fzz!
“Ooh. I felt that one.”
“Yah!”
Fzz!
“Oh-hoh, now you’re getting the hang of it.”
“Yah!”
Fzzz!
“Ugh. That one made my hand cramp up.”
“Yah!”
Fzzz!
“Wh-Whoa there. Let’s not overdo it.”
“Yah! Whew. My arms are tired.”
Fzzzz!
“Oof. My leg’s tingling.”
This went on for thirty minutes.
“W-Wait! Let me rest a little!”
“Huh?”
Mil had attacked the orc over fifty times without pause, taking her to level 30. Needless to say, that didn’t even get her close to 850 strength.
“Haah, haah... It felt like you got stronger with every attack, Princess.”
Her stats at level 30 were way higher than at level 15. Mil hadn’t realized it until now, but it seemed enchanted items were more effective with higher stats.
The orc put his hand to his abdomen. “Yowch...”
Looking at the orc’s charred stomach, Mil realized she’d gotten a little carried away. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it. A lick of spit’s enough to fix this up. Bwa ha ha.”
Although he was laughing it off, Mil couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “No no, please, I’ll heal it properly.” Mil put her hand to the orc’s stomach and cast a simple healing spell. “Heal!”
A faint white light appeared around the injury, which disappeared in no time at all.
“Well would ya look at that.” The orc scratched at his stomach, rather impressed.
“Ooh, was that healing magic?”
“Isn’t that the human princess?”
“Hey, use some on me too!”
Mil was quickly surrounded by orcs with light wounds from training. If they usually relied on ointments and natural recovery, then they were sure to appreciate a healer.
“Okay. Get in line.” Mil set about healing the orcs one by one.
“Look at that! I’m good as new!”
“That’s sure soothing.”
“She’s just like a saint.”
“Yeah! Like a healing saint.”
“Our saint!”
The orcs were so impressed, some began to cheer, “Saint! Saint!”
“Teh heh heh. Thank you. But I’ll have to stop now. I’m all out of mana.”
“Oh...”
“What a shame.”
Some of them had wanted more.
Knowing some magic’s nice too, Mil decided.
This felt like a good use of her skills. She was leveling up for the sake of using Ragnarok, but now she started to wonder whether she could perfect her healing magic and learn a few magic attacks while she was at it. That was when she remembered that the Demon King’s Castle was full of spell books she’d never seen in the library back home. Once her intelligence was a little higher, she could start learning from them.
I guess it’ll be worth paying the library another visit after I’ve leveled up a little more. Though I still wanna be a frontline fighter.
I wanna take on orcs and fire-breathing dragons as big as mountains with a weapon in my hand. I wanna stand at the front of my party and tell them “I got this.” Not that I have a party...