Chapter 7
After finishing the registration for Share, I opened the display again.
"Come to think of it…"
"What is it?"
"I was wondering if I could see your abilities, too, Felicia-san."
"My abilities?"
"It would be useful to know how much of my ability was transferred to you."
I focused on Share.
The display changed at once.
【Shared Member Information】
【Name: Felicia Roth】
【Strength: 8 + 11】
【Endurance: 9 + 10】
【Agility: 11 + 12】
【Magic: 30 + 1】
【Note: Average adult baseline: 10】
"I can see it."
"Really?"
"Yes. Your abilities are shown as numbers, too, Felicia-san."
"Can I see them, too?"
As if answering her question, a new display appeared.
【Shared members can view their own ability information】
"Looks like you can. Try focusing on wanting to see your abilities."
"I'll try."
Felicia closed her eyes.
She opened them again almost immediately.
"Oh, there it is!"
As Felicia studied the display, her brows slowly drew together.
"…Strength: eight."
"Yes."
"The average adult is ten, right?"
"That's what it says."
"Am I below average?"
"Just a little."
"Even a little below is still below."
Felicia looked at her arms.
"I am bad at physical labor, that's true…"
"More importantly, look at your Magic. It's thirty."
"Thirty?"
"Mine is eighteen."
"Huh?"
Felicia looked up.
"Mine is higher than yours?"
"By quite a bit."
"…That makes me a little happy."
She'd been worrying about her Strength just a moment ago, but her mood quickly improved.
Maybe her high Magic was part of why she could fire dozens of Magic Bullets.
"The numbers next to mine are what I got from you, right?"
"Probably."
"Then my current stats are Strength: nineteen, Endurance: nineteen, Agility: twenty-three, and Magic: thirty-one?"
"That's right."
"My Strength more than doubled all of a sudden."
Felicia opened and closed both hands.
"Can I move around a little?"
"Be careful not to fall."
"Okay."
Felicia started running between the trees.
Her first few steps were awkward, but she soon slowed down and adjusted to her body.
She ran back and forth once, then returned.
"This is amazing. My body moves just the way I want it to!"
"Your Agility went up quite a bit."
"What was yours again, Allen-san?"
"It's 108 while Share is active."
"…………"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
For some reason, she gave me a distant look.
◇
We decided to head back to town.
As we left the forest and walked along the road, the bushes to our right rustled.
"There's something there."
Felicia raised her staff.
A moment later, a Horned Rabbit sprang out.
"Squeak!"
It pointed its horn at us and kicked off the ground.
"Felicia-san!"
"Yes!"
Before I could step forward, Felicia moved to the side.
The Horned Rabbit's charge cut through empty air.
"Magic Bullet!"
Smack!
The first shot struck its side.
The Horned Rabbit turned around.
Felicia quickly put some distance between them and aimed her staff again.
"Magic Bullet!"
The second shot.
The same spot.
The Horned Rabbit charged again.
Felicia dodged to the side.
"Magic Bullet!"
The third shot.
"Squeak…!"
The Horned Rabbit fell to the ground.
"I did it…"
"You handled it on your own."
"Yes!"
Before, I had been the one on the front line, but this time Felicia dealt with it all by herself.
"Share is amazing."
"Maybe it works especially well with you, Felicia-san."
"Works well?"
"When you get faster, you can keep your distance on your own, even if something gets close."
"Oh…"
Felicia looked at her staff.
"If I practice more, I think I could change the way I fight."
"That would help me, too."
"I'll do my best."
We took the Horned Rabbit's horn and disposed of its body.
Nothing appeared in front of me.
◇
In the evening, we returned to the Adventurers' Guild.
"Welcome back."
The receptionist greeted us.
"How did it go with the Armored Bear?"
"We defeated it."
We presented the claw as proof of the kill.
"…Yes, that's definitely an Armored Bear."
The receptionist looked back and forth between us.
"You only just became E-rank, and you've already defeated an Armored Bear?"
"There were two of us."
"Even so, that's very quick."
Just after we received our reward, a display appeared.
【Request completion confirmed】
【You acquired 100P】
【Total P Acquired: 1,120P】
【Your points: 260P】
"Two hundred and sixty."
"Is that your P?"
Felicia asked in a quiet voice.
"Yes. I got a hundred more."
"So you're going to use it again?"
"Of course."
"I knew it."
Felicia smiled.
Then the two of us headed to the request board.
Now that we were E-rank, there were more requests we could take, but there still weren't that many.
"Are there only this many E-rank requests in this town?"
"That's right."
Felicia looked over the board, too.
"This is the largest Adventurers' Guild in Valdis territory, but it's nothing like the ones in big cities."
"Big cities?"
"There's Belgrant to the west."
"Belgrant…"
I knew the name.
When I'd been raised to inherit House Valdis, I'd studied the major cities of the Kingdom of Sahar.
"That's the trading city of Belgrant, right?"
"You knew about it?"
"Only the name."
"The Adventurers' Guild in Belgrant is quite large. It's not unusual to see D- and C-rank adventurers there."
"Is it really that different?"
"There are lots of weapon shops, too, as well as stores for mages. Some adventurers move to Belgrant once they rank up."
"I see."
It might be worth remembering that.
"Belgrant, huh…"
◇
That night.
After returning to the inn, I opened Membership as usual.
【Membership Rank: Silver】
【Your points: 260P】
【Total P Acquired: 1,120P】
I checked the benefits.
"…Huh?"
The display had changed.
【Strength Enhancement (Medium): 50P】
【Endurance Enhancement (Medium): 50P】
【Agility Enhancement (Medium): 50P】
【Recovery: 50P】
"Medium?"
That hadn't been there when I was Bronze.
And the P required for enhancements had gone up from thirty to fifty, too.
I focused on Strength Enhancement (Medium).
【Strength Enhancement (Medium)】
【Required: 50P】
【Increase: +30】
"Thirty in one go…"
As a Bronze member, I'd gotten ten for thirty P.
I remembered a display I'd seen before.
【Your benefits expand when your membership rank increases】
【Existing enhancement benefits expanded】
"So that's what this is."
The benefits besides Share had changed, too.
I had 260 points.
Even if I kept enough for one use of Recovery, I could spend 200.
"Four times."
Once each on Strength and Endurance.
Twice on Agility.
【You purchased Strength Enhancement (Medium)】
【You used 50P】
【Strength: 110 → 140】
【You purchased Endurance Enhancement (Medium)】
【You used 50P】
【Endurance: 100 → 130】
【You purchased Agility Enhancement (Medium) twice】
【You used 100P】
【Agility: 120 → 180】
【Your points: 60P】
"…!"
Heat spread from deep within my body.
When I clenched my fist, it felt even easier to put strength into it than before.
After raising my Endurance, my whole body felt a level tougher.
And then there was Agility.
Even just standing up, my body seemed ready to move ahead of me.
"I probably shouldn't test this in my room."
I checked my abilities.
【Strength: 140】
【Endurance: 130】
【Agility: 180】
【Magic: 18】
【Your points: 60P】
Then I opened Share, too.
【Shared Member: Felicia Roth】
【Sharing Rate: 10%】
【Your shared values have been updated】
【Strength: 14】
【Endurance: 13】
【Agility: 18】
【Magic: 1】
As for my own abilities while sharing,
【Strength: 126】
【Endurance: 117】
【Agility: 162】
【Magic: 17】
"That should be plenty."
I closed the display and lay down on the bed.
◇
The next morning.
Felicia was already waiting outside the Adventurers' Guild.
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Allen-san."
Felicia walked over to me.
She stopped along the way.
"…Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"I feel like your body is different again."
"Oh."
"Did you use your points last night?"
"Two hundred P."
"Two hundred?!"
Felicia immediately checked her ability information.
【Name: Felicia Roth】
【Strength: 8 + 14】
【Endurance: 9 + 13】
【Agility: 11 + 18】
【Magic: 30 + 1】
"It really did go up!"
"That's because I got stronger."
"I was just sleeping, you know?"
"That's true."
"And yet I've gotten stronger."
"Share sure is convenient."
"Is it really okay to just call it convenient…?"
Felicia gave me an exasperated look.
"But the numbers went up by a lot more than yesterday, didn't they?"
"My enhancements changed when I became Silver."
"They changed?"
"Now I get thirty for fifty P."
"Thirty?"
"Yes."
"From one use?"
"From one use."
"…………"
Felicia put a hand to her forehead.
"I was going to stop being surprised, but…"
"Couldn't do it?"
"Nope."
We laughed as we entered the guild.
We looked over the request board for a while to find one to take today.
"How about this one?"
Felicia pointed to a request form.
"Road escort?"
"It's nearby, so we could do this today—"
Just then.
"Brother?"
A voice came from behind me.
I recognized it.
I turned around.
"…………"
A boy stood at the entrance to the guild.
"It really is you, Brother."
"…Kyle."
My twin younger brother.
The person who'd driven me out of the house was looking at me in surprise.
Behind him stood a knight wearing House Valdis's crest.
"What are you doing here?"
"That's what I should be asking you."
Kyle walked toward me.
"I'm on my way to the capital with Father. We stopped in this town to rest the horses, but I never expected to find you here, Brother."
"I see."
"What about you?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"You became an adventurer."
"I left home, after all."
"…………"
Kyle's gaze returned to my face.
He silently looked me over.
"What?"
"Brother…"
Kyle furrowed his brows slightly.
"Have you changed somehow?"
"Not really."
"No…"
He stepped closer.
The casual expression had disappeared from Kyle's eyes.
"You're different from before."
"Am I?"
"Yeah."
Kyle looked at me.
"Brother, did you get stronger?"
"…………"
"What did you do?"
"That's none of your business."
"Huh."
Kyle smiled.
Seeing that smile gave me a bad feeling.
"Allen-san, who is this?"
Felicia asked in a quiet voice.
"My younger brother."
"Your younger brother…"
Felicia looked at Kyle.
"Is he the one with the Sword Saint Skill?"
"Yeah."
Kyle heard that and looked at Felicia.
"Who's she?"
"She's my companion. We take requests together."
"Brother has a companion now."
"Is that strange?"
"Not really. I was just a little surprised."
After saying that, Kyle turned his gaze back to me.
"But this worked out perfectly."
"What did?"
"I didn't think I'd get to see you before going to the capital."
"I didn't particularly want to see you, though."
"You're as blunt as ever."
Kyle laughed, looking amused.
"Since we're here, why don't you humor me for a little while, Brother?"
I had a bad feeling about this, and nothing else.
Total P Acquired = 1,120P