Chapter 7 – The Wooden Horse

000

To the west of the city is an abandoned mine that is no longer used as a mine.

According to scholars, it was originally the traces of the ancient dwarves who made this place their home—

The equipment they left behind, who were hundreds of years ahead of humans, is sometimes found by monsters that have multiplied in abandoned mines.

The risk is much higher than that of guys of the same level.

A tunnel as bright as the outdoors during the day, even though there is no sunlight at all.

An area so large that it cannot be reproduced with human technology.

Thanks to the semi-permanent lanterns hanging on the wall

Adventurers who come here say things like ‘It’s nice to be able to save on torches’.

If you go deep into the depths, you will be brutally beaten by mining goblins armed with dwarven equipment.

Of course, this is a story limited to those who are unprepared for their stupidity.

For adventurers who have already experienced or are well prepared,

It was just the spice of a slightly different adventure.

“Destroy 2 of them! The other 3 went that way!”

“Okay!”

Layla’s fire magic pierced two mine goblins at the same time.

The thorns extending from the fireball, like a small sun, burn their bodies from toe to head the moment they get stuck.

Goblins scream in pain and turn to ashes.

However, with a quicker movement than expected, several of them were sent to the place where the vanguard Alvein was.

Alvein swung his sword at the running goblins.

With skillful skill, he blocks all three at the same time, tying the feet of those who try to cross over to the rear.

Then, Layla once again raises her magic for her magic, not missing her just-in-case instructions.

“Okay… Sasha, the rightmost one—”

“Saint Burst!”

The explosion of holy magic that suddenly exploded from the vanguard made the goblins stagger.

“For a moment!?” “What!?”

Due to Albein’s sudden action, Layla’s mind is distracted for the moment, and her magical incantation stops.

Incidentally, Sasha’s arrow missed when the goblin she had been aiming for suddenly fell over.

“Hey, now.”

Whether he knew it or not, Alban looked back at Layla and Sasha, and she gave a self-intoxicated look.

[Kieasaaaaa!]

OK

With a roar of rage, one of the goblins thrust a dwarven dagger into Alvein’s side.

“Keah!”

“Albein! Ah, really!”

Coming all the way here and going back to the village is unacceptable!

Lyla thought so, and the consumption of her mana was great, but she tried to prepare her magic to deal with her three at once.

Next moment-

“Chain Mana Shock.”

A guest adventurer—the black magic lightning that radiated from Gala’s hand travels between the goblins and destroys them.

Unlike Layla’s magic, which left not even ash, Gala’s magic, which fried her to a crisp inside and out, gave off the stench of her goblin being roasted alive.

`Three at the same time with such a simple magic… !?`

From the time Layla was introduced to this Gala woman by Albein, she was in for a series of surprises.

‘Let’s see her skills,’ she says, and she steps back, but each of her spells is different from her own.

Moreover, a systemic technique that has never been seen anywhere else.

Her scholarly curiosity was at the same time terrified of her unknown skills.

“Ugh…”

Alvein drops her holy sword and pulls out the dagger stuck in her side.

Fortunately, it was blocked by her hard armor and wasn’t entrenched too deeply.

The amount of her blood loss was not negligible.

Pour water into the bottomless dock

Using the potion in this state of bleeding required more than a normal recovery.

What is needed there is a healing role for the party.

“Come on. I’ll make you better now.”

Gala put her hand close to her side of her albain and channeled her magical energy.

Then, like Quon’s healing magic, Alvein’s wound gradually healed and she could see her bleeding stopped.

“God, it’s amazing…!”

Sasha, too, had seen the village elders use low-grade healing arts.

It was the basics of healing that it had to be used with more than a few lines of prayer.

A cleric like Kuon could heal small wounds just by omitting the prayer and concentrating his mind.

This woman healed Alvein’s wounds in an instant without any hint of that.

“Thank you, Mr. Gala…”

To Albein’s gratitude, Gala smiled her eyes.

Albein blushed at the reaction of a mature woman she had never experienced before.

Poo-! Until the kick that flew with a shout hit Albain’s head.

“What are you thankful for! You idiot!”

“It hurts!?”

It was Layla’s mace, angered by Alvein’s arbitrary act a moment ago.

Although it would be impossible to smash Alvein’s head with Lyla’s strength.

It was possible to inflict pain to the extreme.

“What is the one and only avant-garde consuming mana for attacking skills? And I told you not to use that Saint Burst or whatever!”

Gyaaaaagh! Layla pecked at Alvein with the momentum to spew fire from her mouth.

Saint Burst─ A technique that releases the divine mana accumulated in the body in all directions.

It can be used to create a gap in the enemy by surprise, but

Compared to having no killing power, which is a physical force, mana must be emitted in all directions.

Naturally, the consumption of magic power was inefficiently high.

Still, why is Alvein using this technique—

“Mmm, that’s cool!”

“””…”””

Alban was such a man.

Say, Sasha and Laila confirmed once more.

Eventually, Lila, exhausted from tackling her, tells Sasha to retrieve her loot.

Replenish the consumed mana.

In the meantime, Gala was to pick up Alvein’s holy sword that had fallen to the ground and return it to its owner.

After some maintenance.

Send Ranger Sasha to the front and repeat the advance of Recon-〉.

Leaving Alvein in charge.

Layla and Gala walk in the middle.

Layla opened her mouth at a certain distance from Albein.

“…Gala-san. Are you really a witch doctor?”

To be honest, Layla’s impression of the gala wasn’t great.

Not to mention the fact that Albain has his eyes on a new woman again.

He took on a new healing role without waiting for Quon to return.

And that she didn’t even consult with herself or Quon.

It wasn’t Gala’s fault.

As Lila, who had high pride, she couldn’t look good at the sudden rolling stone.

On top of that, magical events that go beyond common sense.

“If you ask me if I’m really a sorcerer… Am I really a sorcerer?”

Gala responds to Lila’s question by smiling at her without her embarrassment.

Even such a sly look could only be seen as material for suspicion in Laila’s eyes.

“I’ve never seen a shaman in person. Even so, it’s because I’m from the academy. Even if I’m not an expert, I know the basic system of magic to some extent?”

The sorcerer’s magic that Layla remembers – The use of sorcery required a high level of magical control.

This is because the shaman’s magic borrows its power from the elemental spirits of the natural world.

If a magician passes magic through his body and draws up the spell engraved on the magic organ in his heart and uses it—

Shamans use their magic organs as beings outside the body.

In other words, use spells instead of spirits.

Therefore, it is necessary to go through the penance of passing thread-like magic through the needle holes of the invisible spirits.

However, as much as it is, you can use the spells of different elemental spirits.

The characteristic of a shaman is that the range of attributes and types of magic they use is wider than that of a single wizard.

“But Gala-san’s healing art is different. She consumes too much of her mana and uses it to forcibly create phenomena.”

“…”

“It wasn’t the power of spells that healed Alvein’s wounds. It was the power of Alvein’s regenerative power, which was activated by pouring your magical energy into it. Such messy healing techniques aren’t called magic.”

At Layla’s point, Gala just listened quietly with a troubled smile on her face.

Layla, who seemed to have been heated by that attitude again, let out a loud voice for a moment.

“Um~ Even if you say that… I only know this way.”

“You don’t know… Then, you’re not a shaman after all…?!”

Lila, dumbfounded, protests to Gala as she stops her feet.

“In the first place, is Layla’s definition of a shaman really correct? You’ve never met her?”

“That, that’s… No, the academy is a place where the best talents on the continent gather. The books there can’t be wrong.”

“Then, those brilliant people are lacking in studies, so the fact that there is a shaman like me should have been written in the book.”

“Everything, you…!”

In an instant, as Laila’s patience was about to be severed at her remarks that seemed to disrespect the scholars of her proud academy, Albain grabbed Laila’s shoulders.

“What are you doing? Lila.”

“Listen, Alvein! This woman is a sorceress—”

“That kind of thing is fine.”

“——Eh?”

Albein’s expression was with the corners of her mouth raised,

Her face was like what the hell was she talking about.

It was also implied that troublesome work was a specification.

“Actually, Gala-san is helping us. She’s doing her job as a healer, and she’s also capable of attacking if necessary. There’s no talent better than her.”

“…”

“Ah, yes! Mr. Gala! If it’s okay, why don’t you form a formal party with us? When Quon returns, there will be two healers, and you can use offensive magic. I’m sure you’ll be able to take on more difficult requests.”

“──Ugh…!”

Lila felt the despair running down her cold sweat.

It didn’t matter to Albein that Gala was hiding something from her.

A proper adventure after a long time.

The usefulness of Gala showed one side.

By the way, beauty.

Is this what it means to be a blessing in disguise?

Alban had her head full of bright futures coming into her own gala party.

“That’s right… Since it’s the hero’s invitation, should I think about it? I’m getting tired of walking around alone…”

“Really?! Of course I don’t mean to force it! I expect a positive answer!”

Alvein excitedly grabs Gala’s hand.

Seeing the two of them, Lila naturally lowered her head.

`Ah.`

And Layla noticed that Albain’s groin was unnaturally enlarged.

`Ah.`

──It’s disgusting.

001

The sun passed through the midheaven and slowly moved westward.

The sunset light coming in from outside the window enveloped the entire room.

Somewhere sad yet warm, the sense of the passing day was coming to the two of them.

In such a room, only the chattering of the girl never ceases, and laughter can be heard from time to time.

“—Do you remember how Albain was seduced by a succubus? Cleon kicked him in the back with a drop kick and barely managed to come to his senses.”

Quon was talking to Cleon as if pouring out everything he had been storing.

Then, Cleon calmly listened to her story without changing her expression.

Three years ago—no, sometime two years ago, a scene like this was common.

Quon was still immature as an adventurer.

Because she was trying to show her mature side in front of Albein,

It was always Cleon, the elder of the party, who listened to her own story.

“Honestly, I’m also Layla. It was hard to hold back my laughter there… What’s even more spectacle is that, as soon as she wakes up from passing out, Albein shouts, ‘Boobs!'”

“I didn’t hear it because I was a little away from the group at the time… I wonder if it was like that.”

“Ah, that… Was it?”

Since the request could not be carried out with Alvein passed out, it seemed that Cleon, who could work alone, went to find a place where he could rest safely.

Most of Quon’s story is Alvein.

Alban’s failure story.

Alban’s success story.

His impression of looking at Albein.

To her, Alvein was a companion of destiny and an inseparable existence.

Either voluntarily or unintentionally.

“Then, how much effort did you put into hiding the demon trapping magic tool that fell out of your pocket… “

“Succubus is a devil type. I told you before that you can’t catch it with monster trapping tools.”

If you teach and walk 3 steps, somewhere in your head.

This is the only weakness of Alvein that Lyla and Cleon can sympathize with.

“That’s right. Where did you get that ridiculously cheap one from there? I didn’t even use it, but it broke by itself…”

In addition, the ears are also thin.

Is it the confidence that does not think that others will dare to deceive the hero himself?

Even if they are deceived, they are intoxicated with the role play of forgiving others and do not punish them properly.

“…Come to think of it, that was the last request I completed with a good laugh.”

After that—Alvein’s solo became stronger.

Was it to make up for the failure of the succubus subjugation request?

It was Cleon who managed to hold on to Alvein, whose momentum had grown so strong that he did not look back at the party.

As an elder in the party, as a colleague.

Although he was suppressing Alvein, who had been with him for a long time.

That must have been what Alban didn’t like.

—As a result, the party faced catastrophe.

If you think so, the fact that Cleon and Quon are talking here is itself a strange story.

An awkward silence passed between the two.

The position of the sun was lower than before.

Then. It’s time to leave.

Cleon quietly rose from his seat her.

“If you have a fever, go to bed now.”

“…Yeah. I’ll do that. Thanks Cleon. For coming today.”

Looking at the wet towel in his hand, Quon quietly thanked Cleon.

But as soon as Cleon hears that, he turns around.

“Stop.”

“…”

“I came here thinking of old friendships. The reason you listened to me was to clear my mind.”

Saying that, Cleon’s back was bigger than Kuon had seen before.

Quon turned his head involuntarily at the feeling of rejection felt on his back.

“You’d better not tell Alvein that I’m here. Of course, I won’t say anything on my side.”

“It’s okay. Alvein has never been here before.”

“…”

Cleon put his hand on the doorknob without replying to Quon’s tone as if he was mocking his own situation.

“I won’t be seeing you again.”

“—What?”

For a moment, Quon could not understand Cleon’s sudden words.

Of course, no one but Sasha expects that Albain and Cleon will reunite.

But even so, if you are an adventurer based in the same guild, you will meet face to face even if you don’t like it.

Cleon’s words seemed to deny even that possibility.

“In the near future, I will be leaving this city. I have already told the guild.”

“Now, wait. When—”

“It’s not okay to be caught and ridiculed by Alvein, so don’t tell me.”

Like Quon just before, Cleon also spat out as if laughing at himself.

“There should be no problem with this. It seems like we’ll have a fight if we face him. I’m going to go somewhere new and start over.”

“Close, Leon…”

“Goodbye. Quon. The time I spent with you… I was able to see the light even a little. ——That way, it was a misleading time.”

With those words at the end, Cleon left Quon’s room.

The speed at which the sun sets on a night in early spring is similar to that of winter.

When the light of the rapidly setting sun slowly passes through the room.

Only Quon, who was once again alone in the dark, remained.