Chapter 44
When I stepped out into the guild dining hall's backyard, the adventurers warily made room for me.
With spectators gathered around, I gestured to a nearby adventurer to lend me a sword.
I snatched the sword out of the air.
Since the magic sword would be cheating, I drove it into the ground and picked up the ordinary sword.
"Draw your sword."
Elena drew her sword from its sheath.
"B-but it's a live blade."
"Come at me."
Elena moved first.
Unlike her earlier hesitation, once she started, her eyes changed and she closed the distance.
Fast.
It was hard to believe she had only been a rookie for less than two months.
But I predicted her next move from the position of her feet and the direction of her blade.
I parried it.
I moved ahead of the path of Elena's returning sword and slipped into her guard.
I grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the ground.
"Guh...!"
"Is that all you've got?"
Elena got up and went on the offensive again.
Clang!
I knocked Elena's sword aside.
She twisted her sword as it was knocked away and followed with a second strike.
A combination attack.
Third, then fourth. The more blows we exchanged, the sharper Elena's sword became.
Having hunted bulky monsters like trolls and Crown Goats, she swung her sword in wide arcs and came around to my flank.
Her hard-earned practical experience was steadily being etched into her movements.
But,
"That won't work against people."
The moment Elena's fifth strike missed, I tripped her.
Elena lost her balance and staggered, and I lightly pressed the flat of my sword against the crown of her head.
"Gueck!"
Elena crouched down, clutching her head with both hands.
"One more time."
"All right. Keep going."
I held my sword upright and caught Elena's blade.
But the result was the same.
The next exchange was no different.
Elena's sword cut through empty air, and after my sword blocked it, I battered her one-sidedly.
Even with tears in her eyes, she gritted her teeth and held on.
Even so, she eventually sank to the ground.
"Huff... huff..."
Her breathing was ragged.
Elena landed hard on her backside in the dirt.
She let out a long breath.
"Uncle, you're really strong."
"You're just weak. Your overall ability has improved, but you lack attention to detail. And don't use your full strength in a spar like this."
I looked back at the spectators.
Some were astonished by Elena's movements; others were stunned after seeing me fend off every attack. The adventurers' eyes and ears were measuring my strength.
It was fine to show that I was moderately strong, but revealing everything would only cause trouble.
Elena nodded and returned her sword to its sheath.
"I'm happy."
"Even though you lost one-sidedly?"
"If you're strong, that means I can become even stronger."
"...."
How much longer would I remain stronger than Elena?
Less than a month remained before Elena overtook me.
Even so, I couldn't stop Elena from growing stronger.
"Elena, you lack technique."
"Technique?"
"Your swordsmanship is fine. Your stamina isn't bad, either. You can use mana, so no one will call you weak wherever you go. But..."
I held my sword horizontally.
Mana gathered along the blade.
I swung it toward the center of the backyard.
A slash shot from the tip of the blade and cleaved across the backyard.
"...."
Elena fell silent.
She could feel that I hadn't merely imbued the blade with mana and sent it flying.
"Paying attention to detail is important, but this is the technique you'll learn from now on."
"What was that?"
"Long-Range Slash. It's a basic sword technique that uses mana."
Elena's eyes widened.
"Are you going to teach me?"
"No."
I shook my head.
"I have pitifully little mana compared to you. I never properly learned it, either. This is just something I taught myself. Someone else can teach you."
"Who?"
"Sir Varie."
Elena fell silent.
"If Sir Varie sees your skill, he won't refuse my request. And..."
My voice lowered.
Elena perked up her ears.
"In two days."
"In two days?"
"Until then, focus on planting potions in the Northern Mountains. You don't need to search."
"What's going to happen?"
"Only you need to know."
I leaned close and whispered so only Elena could hear.
"Monsters will pour out of the dungeon. The work you're doing now will buy us time. Whether or not the city has time to respond is in your hands."
"...!"
I straightened up.
"Understand?"
"Yes!"
Elena's expression hardened with resolve.
***
Two days later.
The cold air of dawn brushed against my cheeks.
Elena and her party members had set out for the Northern Mountains early that morning and began planting the potions they had brought across the plain.
The magic backpack was packed full of potions from Dorea's shop.
They dug into the ground with shovels and planted the potions.
They repeated the process until they ran out of potions.
They maintained the spacing between the potions and spread them as widely as possible.
'Be careful two days from now.'
Uncle's words echoed in her mind.
Today was that day.
'It's only the first day of the period he told me to be careful, but...'
Elena gazed across the plain, letting the wind sweeping over it buffet her body.
Just as she felt a wind tinged with ominous energy, Mira called out to her.
"Elena, over there."
Someone had come to the plain in the Northern Mountains.
They were dressed in matching white clan uniforms.
Daril of the Yasmelo Clan stood at the front.
"Were you playing in the dirt out here?"
Daril snorted as she looked over the holes Elena's party had dug.
She picked up a potion planted at her feet.
"Is this your secret?"
"What are you talking about?"
Daril's eyes reddened.
"Mana grass. We already knew you delivered several pieces every day, so we came here! We wondered if you had a magic tool for finding mana grass, but it turns out you were growing it yourself?"
Daril's face gleamed with greed.
"I've learned something useful. Elena, if you don't want this secret becoming known throughout the city..."
The corners of Daril's mouth stretched into a long grin.
"Hand over some mana grass. If you give me thirty percent every time, I'll keep it secret."
"What kind of nonsense is that? Besides, we found it ourselves in those mountains."
"Don't lie to me."
Daril held out the potion that had been buried in the ground.
"Then what's this potion? And what are you doing right now?"
"....."
Elena's eyes narrowed.
A sense of pressure surged through her sixth sense.
When she turned her head,
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-!
A bizarre vibration, like the cry of a beast, rang out from beneath their feet.
"W-what is it?!"
Daril stumbled, losing her balance.
A ripple that made it difficult to remain standing even on level ground.
The epicenter of the earthquake was close. Elena's gaze had already found it, confronting the fiercely surging ripples of mana.
A savage breath of mana, sharp enough to strip away her skin, swept over her entire body.
The grass rippled, and the air beyond the plain twisted.
The things that had been sleeping beneath the ground awoke under the influence of the massive amount of mana.
"M-monsters!"
One of Daril's party members screamed.
Monsters stirred and stretched all around them.
The monsters rose and glared at Elena's party and Daril's party, who stood among them.
"W-what is this...?"
Daril fell hard on her backside in shock.
"Run! Aaaagh!"
"W-what is this?!"
"I don't want to be raped!!!"
Having learned from last time, Daril's party was made up entirely of women; with so many of them, the monsters seized them and toyed with them like playthings.
Daril trembled as the sight made her relive the terror of the past.
Her knees weakened, and warmth spread between her legs.
The orcs' reaching hands were sliced clean off as they reached for Daril.
Elena's sword had cut in between them.
The monsters holding Daril's party members fell one after another.
Elena shook the blood from her sword.
"Daril! Get up!"
"Huh? Y-yeah!!"
Daril gathered her party members and fled from the place where the monsters were awakening and surging toward them.
As the monsters awoke, the potions shattered.
The grass grew and ensnared the monsters. It shot up to the height of a person in an instant, bloomed at its tips, and bared its teeth.
A plant-type monster that had gone to sleep long ago, waiting only to awaken, came to life.
Even if its flowers were torn apart or cut down, as long as its roots remained, the plant monster would continue growing without end, seize the monsters by their ankles, and use them as its nutrients.
Once the potions ran out, the monsters' blood became the plant monster's nourishment.
But some of the monsters escaped the plant monster's restraints.
Wolf monsters that ran faster than people, along with high-speed creatures like Iron-Armored Boars, caught up with the party members.
"Daril, how much will you pay us if we help?"
"Huh?"
"Hurry!"
"A-a hundred gold coins!"
Elena rushed toward Daril's party members as an Iron-Armored Boar was about to overtake them.
She imbued the blade with mana.
Details.
'Is this what Uncle meant by details?'
The 'threads' visible before her grew more intricate.
A single thread, the easiest to cut as a whole.
And thin threads, broken into pieces, in the gaps between them.
I can cut through that gap.
Elena's sword cut through the Iron-Armored Boar, and the creature, now missing a leg, rolled across the ground.
"Mira!"
Three of Mira's arrows flew out in succession, embedding themselves in the wolf's neck and flank.
"What?!"
"Go first! Tell them when you get there!"
Elena drew a deep breath.
"The dungeon has appeared!!!"
She faced off against the approaching monsters with her back to the party members whose movements were slower.
The ominous mana spreading from beyond the teeming monsters made Elena's skin tingle as though it were being pricked.
What Uncle had told her.
She had never doubted him.
"This is beyond anything I imagined, Uncle."
She faced the horde of monsters of every shape and kind with cold sweat running down her face.
The monsters awoke beneath the ground or poured from some hole, their numbers instantly swelling to dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands.
Anything beyond that no longer registered in her eyes.
It was like the apocalypse.
"Run!"
Elena barked at Daril's party members, and they ran on all fours to escape the horde of monsters.
But some of Daril's party members were slow on their feet.
They were about to be attacked by monsters that had quickly broken out of the horde.
Each time, Elena stepped in.
Each time, she thought.
'Would Uncle have told me to abandon them?'
Judging from what she had heard about Uncle's past actions, she couldn't imagine the Uncle she knew now.
But if that past version of Uncle had been part of the path that led to who he was now, shouldn't even his violent past be worthy of emulation?
Every adventurer is responsible for themselves.
We mustn't pity those who couldn't save themselves.
That was what Uncle had said.
She had demanded money from Daril, but at this rate, the massive horde of monsters would catch up with them. The horde itself was slow, but the fast monsters that had overtaken it threatened the party members.
Every time they were attacked and forced to stop, they drew closer to the horde.
'...I can't!'
They hadn't done anything to deserve death yet!
She still had enough strength to help them, so she couldn't bring herself to look away.
Then it happened.
Krrrrrrrroooaaarrr!!!
A gigantic plant monster raised its head and awoke at the rear of the horde.
Most of the horde's attention shifted toward the plant monster.
"As expected!"
So binding their ankles with grass wasn't the end of it!
That's Uncle for you!
Let's escape while we have this opening.
Elena forcibly pulled Daril's party members to their feet and ran toward the city.