Chapter 185
Closeness
Translator : PolterGlast
Nagi and Ran
lay sprawled out on the ground in the shape of a star. Wiping away my sweat, I
approached the two I had somehow managed to defeat.
"You've both gotten considerably stronger. I thought I
was dangerously close to losing."
"So
frustrating! I was sure we could win this time!"
"Graham is retired, so this was a match we
absolutely shouldn't have lost. It's really frustrating."
Both of them were frustrated, but there were several moments
where I almost got taken down; they really have become strong. I thought Ginia
and Aoi had gotten stronger, but I can't hide my surprise at how strong Nagi
and Ran have become as well.
"I may be retired, but I fight monsters here and there,
you know. I haven't gotten rusty, have I?"
"Yeah! You were just as strong as before! Even though Graham
only has one arm, we still lost in a sword fight!"
"But if Ran had held back a little more, there
were moments where attacks almost hit."
"That goes for you too, Nagi! If you had just
followed my lead a bit more, we almost had a clean hit!"
"Nn-nn. Ran was attacking without
thinking."
"I'm telling you, Nagi was thinking too
much!"
From my perspective, their combination was outstanding, but
it seems they each had their own grievances and started arguing. It was getting
hard to tell if their coordination was good or bad.
"Where Nagi wouldn't step in, Ran went to
cover, and where Ran went too far, Nagi held back to support. If
you ask me, I thought your coordination was perfect."
"I can't accept that! If we lost while fighting our
best, that just means it's a total defeat for us!"
"Right. This time it was just Ran's fault, so if
we do it again, there's a possibility we can win."
"So you just can't accept that you lost to me. ...We
can go another round right now if you want?"
"...It's still too soon! We're tired!"
"Yeah, yeah. We're going back for now."
Saying that, the two started heading back, walking
shoulder-to-shoulder. There were moments where I almost lost, but I think I could
win more easily next time. I wouldn't have minded a rematch as many times as
they wanted, but I guess they'd rather wait until they recover their stamina. Seeing
the two of them—who were just arguing moments ago—now amicably discussing
strategies to beat me, I walked back to Furo
Village with a smile on my face.
After returning to Furo Village and resting for a
bit, we decided to head out again—not for patrol this time, but to investigate
the surrounding area. I had originally gone to find Nagi and Ran
because I wanted them to come with me, but we got completely sidetracked by the
mock battle.
"I wanted to plan a few more countermeasures against Graham,
though!"
"Sorry to drag you along. Monsters around here are
scary to face alone, after all."
"I don't mind. We should be more familiar with the
local situation anyway."
"Exactly! I'm happy to be in a position to protect Graham!
We'll call it even since you agreed to spar with us again!"
Chatting like that, we left Furo Village and decided
to approach the Demon King's territory. Since I basically tried to avoid
getting near it, even I had only been near the border of the Demon King's
territory a few times.
"It sure has the
atmosphere! But there might actually be fewer monsters!"
"True. When we came before, monsters were
rampant."
"I wonder if their numbers are decreasing? Graham
did defeat a ton of them!"
"Furo Village being peaceful might be because of
that too. That dragon and everything was insane."
"I still see it in my dreams! If Graham hadn't
defeated it... everyone definitely would have died."
"Nn. Undoubtedly dead."
"Even I thought I was a goner when I was fighting it."
Recalling the nostalgic Ancient Dragon, we decided to
get a little closer to the Demon King's territory. Even if their numbers
had decreased, monsters were still present, so we observed the situation with
extreme caution.
"Ah, Graham! That monster over there... I feel
like I've seen it somewhere!"
"Isn't that the guy who ran away as soon as the dragon
was defeated?"
"You two remember well. I have absolutely no memory of
that monster."
The monster Ran pointed to certainly had an
appearance different from ordinary monsters. While humanoid, it was clothed
just like a human, and more importantly, it appeared to be giving orders to
nearby monsters. It looked somewhat like a high-ranking monster; it might be
worth capturing.
"Mind if I... capture that monster?"
"Of course not! In that
case, Nagi and I will handle the nearby monsters!"
"Just be careful not to let it escape. It'll be a
hassle if it gets away."
"I know that. If I judge that I can't capture it alive,
I'll shift to taking it down immediately."
"Nn. Guess I didn't need to tell you that, Graham."
After a brief strategy meeting, we moved out to capture the
monster located several hundred meters away. If we couldn't get any information
because Furo Village was peaceful, we had no choice but to extract
information directly from a monster.
Considering Furo Village's safety, we couldn't make any flashy moves, so we should capture that humanoid monster without alerting the others. Leaving the monsters receiving orders entirely to Nagi and Ran—I decided to focus solely on capturing my target.
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