Bonfire

One morning in mid-October. It was around six.

Splash.

Allen woke to the sound of water being poured into the water jar.

"Morning, Papa."

"Oh, you're up."

For a long time, Allen hadn't been able to wake up early, but recently he'd finally learned to get up at six without an alarm clock. Rodan went through his morning routine.

"Here you are, dear."

"Thanks."

Telesia was up, too. She handed Rodan a burlap sack containing dried meat, dried sweet potatoes, and a leather waterskin. He slung it over his shoulder.

The living room with the hearth held an unusual sight: a pole about two meters long, with a large, thick blade attached to its end. It was a spear made for taking down boars. Rodan had carefully checked it the night before to make sure nothing was wrong. He'd borrowed it from the weapons shop on the eve of the hunt.

Rodan picked up the spear.

"Well, I'm off."

"Will you be late?"

"We've got newcomers today, so we're planning to hunt nearby. I won't be too late."

With that, he set off, even though it had gotten quite cold.

(Boar hunting, huh? I'd like to go someday. I want to level up, too.)

Six years had passed since Allen's reincarnation, but he was still Level 1. He couldn't leave the village because of the magic beasts outside it. Serfs needed the Village Chief's permission to leave, but Allen had heard that permission was rarely granted. It was generally only given for things needed by the village, like this boar hunt. Serfs also had restrictions on where they could travel.

He did his quota of throwing stones.

(Looks like I can take it as confirmed that I'll have to throw a million stones before my next Skill level. I've already thrown 200,000 since the last level-up, and it still hasn't gone up.)

He kept throwing the stone, now rounded from all that throwing. Rain or shine, he continued to hurl it. Rodan and Telesia never imagined he would throw stones every single day. When Rodan asked Gerda about it, Gerda had said, "My daughter plays knights at home every day, too!" So Rodan had decided it must be normal.

(Regular Skills really aren't suited to me. The return on time invested is too low.)

Swordsmanship and Throwing were both Skill Level 3. If he raised a Skill from nothing, it took 10,000 uses to go from Level 0 to 1, and another 10,000 to go from 1 to 2. It took 100,000 to go from 2 to 3, and the number would increase tenfold with each level after that.

At this rate, even devoting his whole life to it, reaching Level 5 seemed difficult. Level 4 was probably his limit. If each Skill level had a tremendous effect, doubling his power every time, then grinding Skills might be worth it, but the increase didn't seem that significant.

(The power definitely has increased since before I had the Skill. Going by feel, it's probably about doubled at Skill Level 3.)

Since no damage numbers appeared, this was only his impression, but it felt like he did about twice as much damage as before he had any Skills.

(As expected, I'd be better off mastering my Summoning Skills. I'll keep Swordsmanship and throwing stones at a modest level for self-defense, in case something happens. Plant F wasn't just good for its smell, either.)

He looked at the tree about a meter tall growing in front of him. It gave off an aroma like essential oil, a soothing scent without the slightest unpleasant odor. He could smell it forever.

He checked the Grimoire's memo function.

(Hmm, just as I thought, my Magic recovery time has shortened from six hours to five.)

After he grew a Plant F tree in the yard, the number of times he could gain Skill experience by using his Summoning Skills increased from three to four.

For five years, he'd kept gaining Skill experience every six hours. Since six hours divided neatly into a day, he could gain Skill experience four times in a single day: once in the middle of the night, once early in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once at night. But with this method, he would inevitably get three or fewer times on the second day.

Once he grew a tree using Plant F's Special Ability, Aroma, he managed to gain Skill experience four times a day for three days in a row.

(So five times is too much. Four hours is impossible, then.)

He tested how much the recovery time had shortened and confirmed it was five hours, not four. This should speed up his Skill experience gain.

(That about covers Appo's effects, right?)

He summarized his test results for Plant F while looking at the Grimoire's memo.

・It smells good and lets you sleep soundly

・Magic recovery time is reduced to five hours

・After using its Special Ability once, both the card and Summon disappear (it becomes a tree)

Unlike other Summons, Plant F could use its Special Ability only once. After using it, it couldn't be turned back into a Summon or a card. It became a tree permanently. Of course, other people could see and touch it. And the trees kept multiplying.

"Alleeeen, dinner's almost ready!"

"Okay, Mama!"

It had been almost half a month since Rank F was unlocked, and there was still a lot to test. In particular, he couldn't test Beast F's Bite on another person, and he couldn't exactly let it bite him, either. It was difficult to measure its power.

"Big bro, no moooore..."

"Mash, okay, okay."

Allen had been outside by himself for over two hours, so Mash clung to him as soon as he came inside. Mash would turn three in another couple of months or so. If Allen spent too long alone in the yard, Mash got fussy.

(Throwing stones for over an hour every day isn't paying off. It'll be more than five years before my Skill goes up again. And with Mash around, maybe it's time to stop.)

He ate steamed sweet potatoes, wondering if there was something he could do with Mash.

"Allen, today was fun too!! Did I get stronger or something?"

"Yeah, you did."

(I can't compete with her at all, though. The Sword Saint is way too strong. D-damn it!)

Their afternoon game of knights was over. Krena ran back to her own house as she had for the past three years. Only when permission was occasionally granted did she have a sleepover at Allen's house.

Allen could now store up to 30 cards in his holder, and he increased his collection until all 30 slots were full. While considering his tests and increasing his Magic, he'd also raised his strength to a reasonable level.

・11 Beast F cards

・2 Insect F cards

・2 Bird F cards

・15 Plant F cards

The increase to his Attack from blessings had reached 55. Krena, who had played knights with Allen every day for three years, noticed the change in him.

After he finished testing the Rank F Summons, he put most of his Skill experience into Enhancement. He wanted to Enhance all his cards and get Enhancement from Level 1 to 3 as soon as possible. He'd hardly worked on Create or Synthesis.

(Enhancement Skill Level 2 is almost there. It might go up tomorrow.)

He was delighted by how quickly he gained Skill experience thanks to Plant F.

"He's late."

As Allen helped prepare dinner, Telesia muttered beside him. Rodan was indeed late. He'd said he would hunt nearby. There had been days when he went hunting and was already home by now.

"Yeah, Papa's late."

They'd planned a somewhat lavish meal to celebrate the hunt's success, but Rodan still hadn't come home. Mash couldn't wait that long, so they had dinner without him.

Dong.

Dong.

Dong.

Another hour passed. The bell announcing six o'clock rang.

"I wonder if he's still not back."

Telesia was starting to get worried. Mash had gone to bed, so Allen came into the living room where she was.

"Allen, you don't have to wait up. Papa's come home late from hunting before, remember?"

"But he said he'd be back early today."

"That's true. You're such a sweet boy, thinking of your papa."

She patted his head.

Another two hours passed. Outside was completely dark.

"Oh, is he back?"

They heard a voice outside. Telesia peered out from the earthen-floored entryway, and Allen peered out with her.

A lone light was visible in the dark. It looked like a torch. They could hear voices, but the light was very small, as if it were still a long way off.

(Dad's late. But I'm glad he's coming home safe.)

The light drew closer.

There were two lights now.

(Huh? He's not alone?)

The lights became three, then four. As they drew nearer, what he'd initially thought was one light became four, then five, and eventually more than ten.

They heard shouting. Something made Allen uneasy. When he looked to the side, Telesia seemed just as uneasy.

Once they were right nearby, Gerda's voice became clear.

"Rodan! That's your house! We made it back!!!"

Reacting to Gerda's shout, Telesia unconsciously ran toward the lights. Allen did, too.

Telesia stopped. She stared at something unbelievable, her body trembling.

"Huh? Papa?"

Several men were carrying Rodan on something like a stretcher. The torches illuminated him. The ragged linen cloth was soaked in blood that had already dried black.