Ossan Saikyō Chapter 9 Part 08
When we entered the guild, the atmosphere was noticeably tense.
But the moment we showed ourselves and Kaim shouted, “Old man!”, the tension instantly melted away.
Judging by the number of adventurers gathered there, the guild had probably been organizing a rescue party for us.
“Sorry for taking so long. We managed to defeat that monster.”
“Good... that's a relief.”
The four members of〈Silver Ring〉all visibly relaxed.
Seeing that, a veteran looking adventurer nearby walked over to me.
“Kaim was making such a fuss that we all gathered here. Was it really that dangerous of a monster?”
“Yes. It was a very strange creature with extremely high defenses. Oddly enough, its corpse disappeared after it died, but its magic stone remained.”
As I spoke, I took the magic stone from my【Item Box】.
Its gaudy marbled colors made it look as suspicious as possible.
The surrounding adventurers frowned or widened their eyes when they saw it.
“What in the world is that...? I've never seen a magic stone like this before. Judging by its size alone, I can tell the monster must've been incredibly dangerous. But you defeated it with just your party?”
“Yes. As long as I have this mace, I can usually finish most monsters in a single blow.”
I realized I sounded a little full of myself, but if people underestimated or doubted our strength, that could become trouble in itself.
Sometimes, showing off your strength was necessary.
“R-Right… That mace is about as ridiculous as the magic stone. Alright, I believe you now. Sorry for doubting you.”
With that, the gathered adventurers gradually dispersed.
Only Kaim's party and the receptionist Kisara remained.
Looking around at us, Kisara bowed apologetically.
“I'm terribly sorry, but if possible, I'd like you to give us a report...”
So it looked like we still had a little work left to do.
Since everyone was exhausted, however, they agreed to let only Kaim and me attend the questioning.
◇◆◇
The following day, we decided to finally take a day off.
I used the opportunity to catch up with Kaim's group.
Well, catch up might have been overstating it considering we'd only known each other for a short while.
In reality, we were just eating together in the inn's dining hall and chatting.
I'd told Freynil and the others to spend the day however they liked, but since they didn't have anything else planned, it ended up becoming a joint meal between our two parties.
After talking about what we'd all been up to recently, we naturally split into two groups.
The three men.
And the five women.
“To be honest, I was seriously shocked when you showed up to rescue us, old man. Especially with three girls that cute.”
Kaim said with slightly flushed cheeks from the alcohol.
Raberto, sitting beside him, nodded repeatedly.
“Seriously. All three of them are unbelievably cute. You don't see girls like them in this town. They just... feel refined somehow.”
“I've noticed that too... but honestly, it was all just coincidence. I'm still surprised myself.”
“Come on. You didn't actually pressure them into joining you or something?”
“If I'd tried that, they'd have run away at full speed.”
“Heh. Yeah, you're probably right.”
“There are girls who prefer older guys, you know. Maybe they just feel they can rely on someone like you, Soushi.”
“Who knows. Anyway, you guys really had some terrible luck this time. Running into a monster even the Guildmaster had never heard of.”
Kaim drained his cup while Raberto shrugged.
“I've never even heard rumors of something that creepy. Though maybe it's just because not much information reaches this town.”
“If you hadn't shown up, old man, we would've been done for. So... just how strong was that thing?”
“Honestly, I'm still not sure. Sphenia's C-Rank, and she thinks it was probably B-Rank. Personally, I didn't think it was quite that strong.”
“Wait, Sphenia's C-Rank!? Seriously...?”
“So it really was that dangerous? But then... what the heck are you?”
“Well... my skills are heavily specialized toward physical strength and offense. So people say my attack power alone is probably B-Rank or higher.”
“Well, you can actually swing that mace... no ordinary adventurer could ever use something like that.”
“Man... you've left us way behind.”
Kaim looked genuinely frustrated.
That was understandable.
If some middle aged newcomer overtook you in rank, it'd sting any man's pride.
“Kaim.”
“What?”
“I honestly think〈Silver Ring〉can go much higher. At the very least, I think you should leave this town once and gain some more skills.”
When I said that, both Kaim and Raberto closed their eyes in thought.
Truthfully, Meribe and Ranan had probably been thinking the same thing for quite some time.
“You don't have to tell me. I've been thinking about it for a long time. I just couldn't bring myself to take that first step.”
“But maybe we really should now. If monsters like that exist out there, we've got no choice but to get stronger.”
“Yeah. Maybe it's time we talked it over with Meribe and the others again.”
“I think so too.”
“If you're serious about aiming higher, I'll teach you the training methods we use to level specific skills. We're heading back to Euron the day after tomorrow, though, so if you're interested, we'd have to start today.”
When I said that, Kaim set down his cup and scratched his head.
“Never thought I'd be the one learning from you this soon, old man.”
“Well, Soushi's older than you. That's how it's supposed to be.”
Raberto had a point.
“Yeah... I guess you're right.”
Kaim stood up and went to talk with Meribe and the others.
It looked like our supposed day off was going to turn into a training session after all.
Still, we were adventurers.
There was nothing wrong with that.
If anything, people who couldn't seize an opportunity the moment it appeared weren't likely to survive very long.
◇◆◇
In the end, we spent the afternoon outside town, teaching Kaim's party how to train each individual skill.
Before long, we'd ended up training ourselves too, but that was beside the point.
Kaim's group was deeply impressed by what we'd taught them.
Kaim even exclaimed,
“Old man... this is totally unfair.”
Right afterward, Meribe pinched him.
In any case,〈Silver Ring〉would definitely become stronger now.
And before long, they'd probably stop being satisfied with their current rank.
As an old man, all I could hope for was that young people would keep striving upward.
The following day, we entered Tolson's D-Rank dungeon one more time.
The goal was to raise the levels of our newly acquired skills and gain experience defeating the boss without relying on『Divine』attribute weakening.
Apparently, defeating that grotesque monster had greatly increased our adventurer levels.
The ordinary monsters were no longer any challenge at all.
Naturally, the Boss posed no problem either.
Incidentally, the treasure chest on the 5th floor still appeared after clearing the dungeon, but the quality of its contents dropped significantly.
This time, it only contained a third grade potion.
We cleared all 10 floors in a single day and returned to the surface via the teleportation device.
By then, evening had already fallen.
We had dinner with Kaim's party, and the day ended peacefully.
The next morning, we left Tolson.
This time,〈Silver Ring〉and the receptionist Kisara came to see us off.
Personally, I found it a little embarrassing.
The girls, however, had clearly become close friends and were already promising to meet again.
Seeing the bright expressions on Kaim and the others' faces as they watched us leave, I was sure they'd finally made up their minds.
As an old man, seeing that kind of determination in young people was dazzling indeed.
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E/N:
Good on Ossan for sharing how to grow stronger free of charge, it's usually a trade secret, isn't it?
Stay tuned!
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