Chapter 32 – It Was All a Comedy.

“Ha, how should I report this to the guild…”

“Can’t I just report it?”

Tia Ran responded to Lucia’s complaint by wiping away the Sword Eater with her oil-soaked handkerchief, and she looked at her with a puzzled look.

“It’s not easy to say! The whole territory is a mess right now because of what happened yesterday?”

They were planning to go straight to the guild to report the completion of the request.

“Nimaka! Didn’t you say you went to Arunel with Rayna?”

“How do you know that?”

As I was returning to my accommodation to unpack first, an adventurer approached me with a surprised expression and spoke to me.

“How do you know? Raina knows how popular she is! Don’t you know she’s keeping it a secret?”

Perhaps it was because there were more than one adventurer who secretly admired Raina, and it seemed like someone overheard and started a rumor.

“More than that, is Reina safe? She’s causing an uproar not only in the territory but also in other villages because of what happened nearby.”

He said that yesterday, near Arunel, an enormous black energy was visible to the naked eye not only in the territory but also in the village furthest from the area, causing an uproar in the territory.

“The lord has now dispatched the private soldiers to investigate.”

“… Thank you for letting me know, but what are you doing, pretending to be friends?”

“… Tell me Raina’s house.”

“Ask yourself that, man!”

Anyway, after hearing such a story, Lucia could not go to report with peace of mind.

‘If it was just a demon, I could have asked the guild leader to moderate it like I did with the Incubus…’

The problem is that two of the five evil stars were involved in this incident, and one of them, Targon, was defeated. At the very least, there were facts that made it difficult to even report it to the church.

“If you’re worried, you don’t have to report it, or it’s not too late to think about it later, right?”

“Ugh, I can’t help it.”

When they finally arrived at the guild, a strict-looking investigator was waiting for them. The investigation ended so quickly that it seemed futile.

“Nimaka, did you see anything during the request?”

“That’s right. Even if they don’t exist, that’s true. I was fighting a monster near Arunel back then, right?”

When asked by an investigator who came to see them after hearing the news that they were in Arunel, he explained to it that way, and he just nodded and left.

“It’s strange. It was such an incident that the entire territory was in an uproar?”

Asta tilted his head and looked at the back of the investigator leaving. Lucia also agreed. At this point, wouldn’t there be more to Tiaran’s backstory that they don’t know about? I was getting suspicious.

“It’s no big deal. It’s because I’m Nimaca.”

“Nimaka…”

Did you say that he is called by that derogatory name because everyone doesn’t have Maca? It seems that the investigator’s attitude was because he did not even feel the value of the investigation.

“Then what about us?”

“In the first place, even Gold-level players are ignored as they don’t have any Maka, so how can a Silver-level adventurer who barely got off the label of a beginner be a Jap?”

As Lucia listened to the conversation between Tiaran and Asta, she couldn’t help but make a strange expression.

“But doesn’t Tiaran know how to use buffs?”

“That’s right. But there’s no Maka?”

Lucia also confirmed that there was no Maka in his body, but what was strange was that Tiaran was able to use powers that could not be explained unless he was Maka.

“I don’t know that. If I had known, would I have been called Nimaka? I would have been living as a proponent by now.”

Certainly, Maka, who uses buffs that amplify the power of his companions in many ways, was rare despite being in considerable demand.

Even though Lucia, who met him for the first time, considered many risks, she did not recruit him first as soon as she found out that he had a unique method but used buffs.

‘I didn’t know I would rely on something other than buffs.’

Lucia watched Tiaran drink the beer he ordered. Who would have known? A person who knows how to use buffs would have the strength to defeat one of the five evil stars.

“Then how have you lived without Makado until now?”

What is certain is that until Tia Ran met them, she didn’t even know that she could use the buff.

“I lived my life doing whatever I could. It’s not like I’m going to die right away if I don’t have Maka.”

“You might think so. Tiaran is amazing, after all.”

“It was amazing. Although it was uncomfortable, it was worth living in.”

Asta was just sipping his share of juice with admiration, perhaps because he had soaked the bean pod properly, but Lucia couldn’t help but look at him even more strangely.

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea to just say it’s great or uncomfortable…’

The more I looked at Tiaran, the more strange he seemed. Maka’s innate ability is nothing short of a talent. Just as Maca that is useful in battle becomes a soldier or adventurer, and Maca that is useful in cooking becomes a chef.

-Snap!

Even the cold beer and juices they were drinking right now were impossible to lower the temperature or use ice unless you had a Maca.

That’s why people were obsessed with good Maca, and if a child was born with useless Maca, many people would throw it away or kill it, so much so that laws were even created to punish them.

‘A truly strange person.’

Lucia, on the other hand, was different from him in everything. Her Maka was lucky enough to be born with the qualifications and talent to become Makasia and was able to grow up with a lot of love and support from her parents.

That’s why we know how important and how valuable maca is to people. It is natural that a person born with good Maca becomes rich, and a person born with a bad Maca becomes a vagabond on the side of the road.

Nevertheless, he was now a gold level adventurer. He may not be a platinum level adventurer, but how much did he have to do to get to a position where he can be treated with respect wherever he goes?

‘What did he do for a living?’

Lucia felt that the more she was with Tiarán, the more her curiosity about him grew.

‘I’m curious to see you wearing your armor when it’s shattered like that.’

My face isn’t particularly ugly. It was when she was watching Tiaran and growing curious whether there was a special reason why she kept wearing the helmet.

“Huh?”

“?”

At that moment, Tiaran and Asta were looking towards Lucia, no, to the right, and when she turned her head to her right, what she saw was an unfamiliar man who was freely exposing her maka along with her rugged muscles. It was

Lucia frowned slightly at the sight of him coming so close to her nose, and when she looked up at him, she grinned and revealed her white teeth that contrasted with her skin.

“Hey, girl! She’s my type. Won’t you join our party?”

Lucia was very annoyed by this man who attacked her even more boldly. Somehow, I was concerned about Tiaran’s reaction, so I glanced at him.

“Munch!”

‘Ha, really.’

I got excited when I saw him taking a large handful of popcorn from the center of the table and chewing it, without hiding his interest as if it were someone else’s business. I wonder how something like that is possible while wearing a helmet.

“Hey. Is that what you’re going to say in front of my party members?”

“Party member? If you want to come in together, I’d be fine! This girl is cute too.”

Even though she showed off her displeasure by tapping the cup containing her juice on the table, the adventurer smiled bitterly at Asta and brought a chair between them and sat down.

“What do you think? If it’s okay, you both have the same party as me…”

“What? I guess you can’t even see me?”

Only then did Tia Ran put down her popcorn and open her mouth. Then the unfamiliar man frowned and glared at him as if he was displeased.

“Ha, is Niemaka too lazy to talk to me?”

“Gorum. He’s of the same gold level as me.”

“Tsk! What happened to the guild as well? How can they rate Nimaka at the same gold level as me?”

“It’s the opposite. You have Maka, but she’s on the same level as me without Maka.”

He spoke dismissively, but Tiaran’s voice didn’t even change. Suddenly, the unfamiliar man gritted his teeth as if he had noticed that he was turning.

“Tsk! He can’t even fight properly, so he’s wearing armor like that!”

If I knew who made Tiaran’s armor look like that, I wouldn’t be able to say something like that.

“At least it’s better than someone walking around bare-chested because they don’t have money to buy armor.”

“Phew!”

Lucia was just about to tilt the cup filled with juice when she saw Asta bursting out laughing at something funny.

“This pathetic guy…!”

“Fuuuuup!!!”

When he got up and pulled out his weapon. Lucia ended up spitting out all the drink she was drinking.

“I know the rumors about you! What? I heard you were always stuck at a gold-level party and got kicked out?”

“Wow, look at him.”

“Crazy. He’s a real man?”

Perhaps he thought the voices coming from around him were admiration for him, so he stretched out his chest and shouted louder and more confidently.

“Now that you have no place to rely on, are you planning on borrowing from girls lower in rank than you…?”

He continued to shout, and his voice trembled as if he realized something was strange, but Lucia could no longer see him. She couldn’t bear to look at something that had popped up in an unexpected situation, so she put her head down on the table.

“Yuck.”

Asta nauseated and hurried back to Tiaran’s back.

“Uh, huh?”

“Did you want to show off to the girls?”

“I didn’t see it that way. That kind of hobby…”

The unfamiliar man’s body trembled, perhaps because he realized only then that the surrounding voices that sounded like exclamation were filled with ridicule and pity rather than admiration.

“Oh, I don’t have the guts to show off my pretzel to everyone, do I?”

Clap, Tia Ran clapped, and then he realized that not only his pants but also his underwear were in pieces and his feet were on the table, and his face turned red.

“T-Tiaran, you…!”

Lucia had a hunch that it was him who did it, so she carefully turned her head towards him and shouted softly, and his secretly raised thumb responded in return.

“Kwaaaaa!!”

In the end, as if the unfamiliar man couldn’t bear the shame, he hurriedly ran out of the guild, hiding his crotch using pieces of his trousers.

“Well, it’s a great elephant shogu. It would have been more perfect if it had turned on a windmill.”

“I never wanted to know that such a show existed!”

That day, a story spread around the guild about an adventurer who liked to show off.