If I’d been searching alone, I would’ve had to comb through this area a little bit at a time by leaving town in the morning, climbing to the summit, searching the terrain, then climbing back down in time to get back to town before nightfall. Maybe I would’ve found the mana pool eventually. But I had no way of knowing if I would’ve done it in time to harvest these flowers. The only reason we made it here so quickly was because of Liluetta.
“F-Finding it was only natural,” Liluetta stammered. “Magia is all-powerful, after all.”
I was just thanking her for using that spell, but she looked flustered like she was embarrassed. It was actually kind of cute, and I ended up chuckling again. But then Liluetta puffed up her cheeks and planted her hands on her hips.
Oh, she’s definitely upset. That’s not good.
“Ah, um. Kiri-o, how do we collect this herb?” Yune asked. Her timing was perfect—that question gave me the perfect excuse to get myself out of this.
“Oh, right. We need to hurry, or the sun will set before we’re done,” I said. “We only need the flower petals, so...”
There really wasn’t much time left. It would take us a while to climb back down the mountain, and we needed to get back before sunset. We couldn’t afford to waste a single moment.
Liluetta had seemed like she was about to say something. Instead, she let out a small hmm sound followed by a sigh. It looked like I had successfully dodged a problem. I exhaled in relief.
“The harvesting method is simple,” I continued. “Just use a knife to cut the stem. But we need to leave behind about a quarter of the flowers so they can reseed for next year. Be careful not to take too much. Also, we need to keep the flowers in good condition until we bring them to the adventurer’s guild, so don’t get greedy and stuff the basket too full.”
“I see, I see.”
As I explained the process, something occurred to me. Hadn’t they both studied harvesting methods beforehand? Maybe Yune was just pretending not to know so she could help me out. Liluetta was a mage who already knew a lot about herbs, though. I stole a glance at her out of the corner of my eye while I was crouched down and teaching Yune how to harvest.
Liluetta stood motionless, gazing at the field of purple flowers. A gentle breeze blew, and she held down her fluttering cherry-red hair with one hand. Her delicate lips trembled as she murmured, “So this is adventuring.”
For some reason, those words lingered in my ears.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Heh, so it’s the old man’s treasure hunt? Sounds kinda fun.”
Instead of an answer, the small kid in front of me stepped forward with a shout. He’d been making tricky, crafty little feints with his eyes, pretending to aim for my face, but then he stopped short and swept his weapon at my torso instead.
This was the third day of training. Maybe he was starting to get used to it, because he wasn’t holding back with his attacks anymore. His aim wasn’t bad either. But his technique? Still sloppy. His movements weren’t smooth enough, and he left himself wide open between attacks. I could react after seeing his strikes and still have plenty of time to counter.
More importantly, his intent was obvious. I wasn’t scared at all. The moment his stance collapsed from an overextended attack, I stepped in and struck his browplate.
“Guh!” he grunted.
Even in the dim night, I could see the frustration on his face. Good. Kids like that have a lot of potential. At this age, all they do is grow. After all, I used to be the same way.
“Treasure hunting? It’s just herb gathering,” he said.
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked. “That mana pool place is supposed to be special, right? Tracking down treasure based on clues an old man left behind sounds like a real adventurer’s job to me.”
Honestly, it did sound pretty damn fun. Hell, I wouldn’t mind tagging along. Treasure hunting? Gotta be a blast. Not that I’d actually go, though. I’d be useless in any sort of exploration, and I’d rather die than be dead weight for some Rank F adventurer when I’m about to hit Rank C.
“Well, yeah. I guess when you put it that way...” He trailed off.
Don’t make that complicated face, I thought. Adventurers don’t overthink things. We just roll with it.
“Anyway, Waine. You’re cheating when you hit me.”
“Wha?”
Crap. He’s on to me.
“Right before you hit me, you pull the twig back into your hand. It’ll never break, because you’re just hitting me with your fingers.”
He actually saw that?! I figured it would take him longer to get over his instincts. Keeping your eyes open while being attacked was a hard habit to break. Crap. I didn’t have anything planned for the next stage of training. I hadn’t even thought about it.
“W-Well then. Not bad,” I told him. “You’ve got a sharp eye.”
“I kept wondering why that tiny twig wouldn’t break, no matter how many times you hit me. I never thought you were cheating, though.”
So his curiosity outweighed his body’s reflexes?! I figured he was smart, but damn, this was a pain. Warriors were supposed to be idiots who couldn’t do anything except fight. This was way too much trouble. When I’d gone through this training myself, I’d never even questioned anything. I only found out after it’d been explained to me.
“Uh, well, you see, this is... Yeah! This training is only complete once you figure that out. That was just the first step! You’ve still got a long way to go before you can use this in real combat, so the next stage...”
“Is that really part of the training?”
Damn it, this kid is a real pain! Lies don’t work on him.
“Q-Quit doubting the effectiveness of training! In the vanguard, you need to keep your eyes open even when you’re getting hit! Otherwise, the enemy will slip past you and go straight for your allies behind you!”
“Mm...”
Oh? Looks like that got to him.
Now that he was in a party with those two magic users, he was their vanguard now. He must’ve realized how dangerous it would be if he let something get past him. Man, good thing I pushed those troublesome rookies on him.
“But they’re going to join another party soon, right?” He said that casually, like it was just a given. “I heard that mages and clerics are pretty rare, so I’m sure there are plenty of parties that would want them.”
Ah. Well. Yeah, that’s probably how it’ll go.
Having a party member who could use magic made a huge difference. The smaller one had a bit of an attitude problem, but there were definitely people who’d still want to team up with one or both of them. So there was no real reason for those two to stick with a guy who could only do herb-gathering jobs. And the kid understood that.
“You don’t sound the least bit disappointed about it,” I said.
“Well, if I’m on my own, I can always run away at full speed if things get dangerous,” he explained.
So he knew that wasn’t an option when you had allies. Being a frontline fighter meant that, even if you decided to run, you were still responsible for covering the party’s retreat. That was just what you did when you were the one wearing heavier armor.
“Hmm...” I get what he’s saying. It’s easier to be alone, huh. Is there something I should say to him? Some advice I should give? A lesson he should learn? I thought about it for a bit and realized, nope, there was nothing.
It was a party formed on a whim, and it was gonna disband on a whim. Those two probably got some good experience before jumping into real adventuring. And the kid? He found the place he was looking for, so he was happy. If both sides get something good out of it, that’s all that matters.
“Well, if you’re gonna keep being an adventurer, you’ll have to party up with other people sooner or later,” I told him. “Better start getting used to it now.”
“I get it. It’s something I’ll need to be ready for someday.”
Oh, so he got that too. He was a smart kid. I’d always hated the whole train steadily now for your future’s sake thing.
“But instead of ‘someday,’ could you teach me something I might actually need right now?” he asked. “I mean, you’ve only shown me thrusts and sweeps so far.”
“Oh, huh. You’re right.” Now that he mentioned it, I hadn’t actually taught him any attack techniques. I’d just been making him swing randomly and whacking him on that browplate when he messed up. No wonder I was starting to feel like something was missing.
Crap, I got nothing.
“A-All right, I got it. Today, I’ll, uh, I’ll teach you...that. That thing.”
“What thing?”
“Uh, that thing. Yeah, that thing.”
I kept repeating “that thing” over and over, desperately stalling for time, until a single phrase finally popped into my head. I latched onto it like a drowning man to a lifeline.
“A secret technique.”
I regretted saying that as soon as the words came out of my mouth. Yeah, it’s way too soon for that.