Chapter 137: The Raging One Comes, Part 1
*
Right, this is what happened after we safely raised our Adventurer Rank to 2…
To put it simply, we worked ourselves to a surprising degree.
As a result of the mass exodus of adventurers from the City of Hecate, the Guild was flooded with requests. If anyone were to ask whose fault that was, we couldn’t utter a single word in our defense.
Cornered by the perfectly sound argument from Lana-san, the Guild Staff member, I grumbled internally, dragged Shara along, and tackled the requests around Hecate one after another.
The busy days spent working while listening to Shara’s complaints about being too busy were actually quite enjoyable, but that came to an end after about a week as adventurers gradually started returning.
It had been a little over two weeks since we defeated the Jewelhead Dragon.
I still hadn’t been able to give Erica the Flower.
*
We departed Hecate early in the morning, completed requests from three villages, and returned to Hecate just as dusk approached.
Looking at Shara, who was gasping for breath, I thought maybe we had slightly overworked ourselves.
Until just a few days ago, we had been handling five requests a day, so perhaps my sense of normalcy had gotten a little skewed.
“Ah, are you okay?”
I called out to Shara, who was bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.
Shara glanced at the queue waiting to enter Hecate ahead of us before turning her face towards me.
“Did you know, Shin-san? Humans aren’t built to run around while maintaining Physical Enhancement all day long, you know?”
“Yeah, my bad. I just picked them randomly; I didn’t think the villages would be that far apart.”
“That’s way too random!”
Shara shouted loud enough to startle the Merchant lined up in front of us, but immediately after shouting, she groaned “Guh…” and crouched down.
“Allow me to apologize as well,” Erica said with an exasperated look, moving closer to Shara and gently patting her back. How enviable.
The blonde Sister, exhausted from just running around all day using Physical Enhancement, let out a pathetic “Erica~” and hugged her. How enviable.
“You managed to keep up, didn’t you?”
A sulky tone slipped into my voice.
“That’s the kind of thing you say, Shin.”
“That’s the kind of thing you say, Shin-san.”
They both looked at me as if thinking, Are you serious?
“Not ‘managed,’ okay? It was barely! I pushed myself harder than I ever did even during church training! I mentally apologized to my strict senior, realizing she was actually kind!”
Shara, looking at me with eyes that completely doubted my sanity, drew a line on the ground with her foot.
What’s this? Shara answered the question conveyed by my gaze.
“This is the border between the civilized world and the barbarian world.”
This girl…!
I could feel my cheek twitching.
Erica laughed, “Oh my, so I’ve finally entered the civilized world.”
Shara laughed back, “Erica-san is far too beautiful to be left in the barbarian world.”
Seriously, what is this? I’m so envious.
While inwardly grinding my teeth—or rather, gums—with envy, I knew saying anything here wouldn’t be right, which only fueled my frustration.
“How about it? Won’t you ditch that Barbarian (Barbaroi) and come join us at the Church?” Shara said something that would likely make her big boss (the Pope) back in Faltar roll his eyes back in shock.
To which Erica replied with a smile, “There is a simple beauty to barbarians as well, you know.”
And so, ultimately, just seeing Erica looking happy was enough to make me feel happy myself.
Ah, I really do love her, was all that filled my mind.
Which is why, the next moment, I was utterly bewildered by the emotion that overwrote the brain filled with my love for Erica.
I’m going to die.
Eh? I’m gonna die?
*
Thanks to a conditioned reflex ingrained down to the instinctual level, I managed to avoid dying.
I only realized this fact when Erica and Shara’s figures had shrunk to the size where my thumb could hide them.
I had no idea what possessed my body to move like that, but the decision to abandon my left arm without a second thought was likely due to “habit.”
What an unpleasant “habit.”
Pushing the fact that my left arm from the elbow down was no longer intact to the back of my mind, I clung to the sanity held back by the pain and regained my composure.
Landing on the ground, I thanked my mangled left arm for preventing my upper and lower body from parting ways.
Before my thoughts could catch up, my body intensely activated a double-layered Physical Enhancement.
In a world where I could even hear the sound of grass rubbing against the air, it came into view.
Amidst the smell and sound spreading beneath my feet, like the grass crushed under my soles was boiling.
It met my eyes and smiled happily.
As if saying, “Well done,” it smiled with satisfaction.
Damn it, I’m really going to die.
Even taking a step forward, neither the clever me nor the me honest about my desires emerged—meaning, there was no time for any emotion other than I’m going to die to surface.
I won’t make it, I’ll die. If this keeps up, my head will be crushed, and I’ll die.
My body, acting ahead of my emotions, made an outrageous decision.
Seriously, me? Am I really serious?
My body, continuing to act on impulse, even interrupted the Healing Magic constantly running during the double-layered Physical Enhancement, concentrating all Magicka into Physical Enhancement.
I’ll die before I’m killed.
Not just my rampaging organs, but the muscles of my entire body screamed.
But thanks to the concentration, my right arm, moving just a tiny, tiny bit faster, did its job.
The thing I grabbed, intending to crush it, didn’t even flinch in my palm.
But still, I had managed to prevent it from crushing my head.
My right hand, inserted at the last possible second, was gripped with all its might by my own palm, yet it still wouldn’t let go of my face, and unbelievably, it shouted with a smile.
“CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MARRIAGE, DISCIPLE!”
I screamed back.
“THANK YOU? MASTER!”