Evil Avalon - Volume 1 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Power Leveling

I’d spent the day before making more orc lord trains, which had brought me up to level 8. That also helped me max out Newbie’s job level at level 10 and obtain the Plus Three Skill Slots skill.

My skill slot allocation currently looked like this:

Glutton

Basic Appraisal

(Empty)

(Empty)

(Empty)

Plus Three Skill Slots did what it said. When I’d played DEC, I’d always hated choosing which skills to make room for in the insufficient skill slots. So, Plus Three Skill Slots was essential for me.

Ideally, I would’ve loved to switch to a new job and begin enjoying myself. But signing up for a new job at the Adventurers’ Guild would update my stats in my terminal, letting all my classmates know my current level. I’d have to be patient and wait until I reached a high enough level to enter Granny’s Goods on the tenth floor.

My physical enhancements were coming along nicely as well. At level 8, I could run much faster than the first time I’d created a train at level 5, and I could keep my fat, debuff-ridden body well ahead of any chasing monsters. It would be intriguing to time myself in a hundred meter dash. I could even get a gold medal if they held the Olympics inside a magic field.

The increase in my speed was also partially due to the fast progress of my diet. I’d recently realized that my basal metabolism was unusually high, just like my strange sense of hunger. My required daily calorie intake was extreme, so skipping and skimping on meals burned fat quickly as long as I could stand the craving. I had dropped to just over a hundred kilograms despite the increase in my muscle mass and was keen to see the results of my diet continue.

Dieting and increasing my physical enhancements had caused a dramatic increase to my running speed that showed how screwed I would’ve been if I’d created an orc lord train when I’d been level 1. When I first arrived in this world, I contemplated going straight to the fifth level. I was glad I hadn’t done so because my out-of-shape body and likely fear would’ve made me easy prey for the orc lord.

Still, I planned to reserve judgment on the Glutton skill until I could get it appraised on the tenth floor. That would tell me how big the HP and vitality buffs were and what the three question marks hid. I wouldn’t erase the skill until I knew that, and hunger would be a constant enemy for now.

***

“Flask, check! Lunch box, check! Pruning shears, check! And let’s not forget the candy! I’m good to go, bro! How do I look?” Kano gave a twirl, showing off her brightly colored anorak and casual denim shorts.

“Fine, I guess,” I replied. The choice of clothes didn’t matter as long as it didn’t restrict movement. Kano could’ve worn a simple tracksuit and been fine. I kept that thought to myself since her mood would’ve worsened if I’d said it aloud. “All right. Let’s get going.”

“Compliments cost nothing, bro,” said Kano, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, how are we getting in?”

Our entryway was the school’s gate room, though Adventurers’ High’s security staff kept vigilant in that area. Even so, I knew of other places we could use to sneak in. We turned off of the main road I used for my morning commute and walked up a narrow path on a hill.

Today, I was going to power level my sister. Although I could wait a little longer for quicker and more efficient ways to level her up, I needed to get my family involved so we could become a party. Solo adventuring wasn’t enough, as there were event items I couldn’t get while monsters were getting difficult to slay. The protagonist might also be stirring up game storylines that could endanger everyone, so I wanted to prepare my family.

“Huh? Can we really get in from here?” asked Kano.

“Yep,” I replied. “We’ll be out of the hills soon, so hang in there.”

We trudged along the steep roads behind the school that were little more than animal trails, as the land here was state-owned and undeveloped. The dungeon had first appeared at the foot of this hill when the government excavated a large portion of it during the school’s construction. I planned to use the extra elevation of the remnants of the original hills to sneak into the school. The overgrown grass of the spring season slowed our progress, but the terrain wasn’t impassable. After a few minutes, we got inside the school grounds.

“God, these tiny bugs are all over me!” whined Kano, spitting out a bug that had gotten into her mouth. “I wish you’d told me we’d be walking through a field so I could’ve brought my bug spray!”

I ignored her, scanned the school grounds, then said, “Okay, nobody’s around. We must get to the back of the school building to enter.”

We accessed the school building through an emergency exit I’d left slightly ajar the day before, then descended the stairs and headed for the unused classroom on the first basement level.

“Wow!” whispered Kano in delight. “You can tell this is the country’s top school. Everything looks way more expensive than at my middle school. Oh my God, look at this awesome trophy!”

“Just relax, okay! And get a move on!” I said.

Kano yelped as I grabbed her anorak’s hood and pulled her away from the trophy case she’d been gawking at, down the stairs, and into the gloomy gate room. I made sure nobody was inside before we entered.

“What is this place?” asked Kano. “Why’s there a pattern on the wall?”

“I’ll show you,” I replied. “Watch this. I’m gonna channel my magic into the pattern.”

I gathered magic and slowly funneled it into the magic circle to activate the gate. Kano’s eyes widened as she watched.

“We go through this to get to the fifth floor,” I said, keeping my explanation brief so we could move quickly. “Follow me.”

“We can go straight to the fifth floor?” Kano asked. “Ah, wait for me!”

Rushing air passed through the portal, and the scenery morphed into that of the fifth-floor gate room. Soon, my sister emerged through the gate behind me, glancing around nervously.

“Are we inside the dungeon?” she asked. “On the fifth floor?”

“Yep,” I replied. “Stay close to me. We might run into monsters.”

“Gotcha.”

We encountered a goblin soldier on the road, so I faced it head-on and sliced it in two. I’d rented a heavier sword because I was at a higher level now and had no trouble using it.

“Gross!” complained Kano. “Could you make it less gory? Remember that you have a lady with you!”

“Don’t be stupid,” I shot back. “This is the sort of thing you’ll have to get used to if you wanna raid the dungeon.”

I slew three more monsters before we reached the bridge-dropping point.

Kano’s initial complaints soon became an intense fascination with the dungeon. She zipped from one thing to another, patting the walls and rolling the magic gems around in her hand.

“So, I’ll lead a bunch of monsters here. I need you to cut these two ropes and drop the bridge the second I cross it,” I explained.

“That explains why we need pruning shears,” said Kano. “But the ropes are so thick. Will I be able to cut through?”

She had a point. Would she be able to cut them? The ropes were thick, and she was a delicate level 1 girl in her third year of middle school.

“Let’s go to another bridge and test whether you can cut the ropes there,” I suggested.

“Okay.”

Another bridge thirty meters lower than our current location was the perfect spot for the test. Since there was no paved path to get there, we had to cross huge boulders and uneven terrain. It took Kano a while to traverse it, and I would’ve also had trouble if not for my physical enhancements.

“Okay. Have a go at cutting this,” I said.

“’Kay!” Kano said. “Take! This! You...! Ughhh, so tough!” Kano squeezed the shears for five seconds and finally cut through the first rope. We couldn’t wait that long to cut both with a train charging at us.

Maybe I should give her my hatchet to use? But could she handle a hatchet? I gave her one and asked her to try again.

“Jump and slice!” shouted Kano. “Oh, it worked. The move I used just now is actually one of Kotarou’s ultimate attacks and—”

“Good, we can use the hatchet,” I said. “Let’s go back.”

“Hey, I was saying something!”

For safety reasons, I decided I’d cut the first rope while Kano took care of the other. I tried cutting the rope with the shears to see how hard it was, and it required a lot of strength. Sticking with the hatchet was the best option.

Monsters wouldn’t spawn near bridges, so it was safe here as long as you didn’t lead them from elsewhere. I told Kano to hide by the bridge and wait for my return. My biggest concern was that she’d wander off, so I emphasized that she had to stay put.

“Okay, I’ll be off,” I said. “Oh, and just so you know, there’s gonna be a ton of orcs chasing me. It might be scary, but you need to stay calm.”

“I will. Now I only have to cut one rope,” responded Kano.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said. “Whatever you do, don’t leave. Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

“See you!”

I headed briskly to the orc lord room, checking any traps and slaying any monsters I encountered. When I was about a hundred meters away from my destination, I spotted an orc soldier wandering around the area.

That’s weird, I thought.

The only orc soldiers on this floor were the ones summoned by the orc lord—they didn’t spawn. Someone must have caused the orc lord to do this. Were there people fighting it?

Just then, I saw a downed adventurer! It was a woman huddled against the inside of a cavity in the cave wall as if hiding from the wandering orc soldier. She was sitting perfectly still and trying not to breathe, but her arm looked injured.

The orc soldier would attack if I called out to her, so I’d have to kill it first. I circled to its blind spot to take it by surprise and moved quickly to be as quiet as possible. When I was five steps away from the orc, it heard my footsteps and swung its body to face me. But it reacted too late.

With a one-handed thrust, I plunged my sword into the monster’s unprotected neck. The orc made a gurgling noise as it tried to scream, then slumped to the ground. I felt its dead weight dragging my sword down.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

The woman groaned with pain. “Over there... Th-There’s an orc... But I’ve never seen anything like it... My friends are...”

She didn’t get up, instead looking at me. Still, she remained huddled because of the pain in her arm.

I inspected her injury and noticed part of her arm was black and swollen. She’d broken it, but it wasn’t fatal. When she said, “over there,” she probably meant the orc lord room. Why had they taken on the orc lord? Hadn’t they seen the warnings the Adventurers’ Guild posted? There’d be time to figure that out later.

“I’ll go take a look,” I told her. “Can you get somewhere safe?”

“Yeah...” she replied. “Thank you. I’ll be all right. Please, please help my friends.” Although she pleaded, her friends could already be dead. In any case, I needed to hurry.

I jogged stealthily and reached the entrance to the orc lord room. As I poked my head through the entryway, I noticed blood splatters covered the room. While I saw two corpses, there were survivors too. Three adventurers remained standing, surrounded by the orc lord and ten orc soldiers it had summoned. Among the survivors, the one that seemed to be their tank appeared to have his left arm broken. He was entirely on the defensive, doing nothing more than holding up his battered shield. The other two were hiding behind him, cowering in fear and despair. The orcs could’ve killed them but toyed with their prey, enjoying the torment.

All righty, then. What’s my move? I thought.

I might be level eight now, but charging into a pack of orcs was still incredibly risky. How could I sleep at night if I didn’t try saving them? I needed to act quickly for their sake and that of my sister. After all, she might grow bored, wander off, and get into trouble if I were gone for too long.

Here’s the plan, I thought. I’ll kill as many and try to lead the rest away. Otherwise, I’ll run for the hills if it all goes to shit.

The orc soldiers were so preoccupied with their tormenting that they hadn’t spotted me. From the looks of the survivors, taking on a lone orc soldier would be too much for them. I decided to take down a couple of the soldiers. I crept over to the nearest orc soldier and stabbed it through the back of its head.

One down.

That was when the orc standing next to the first spun around, and I cut it open from the left hip to the right shoulder with a slash of my sword. It screamed in agony as it fell, still alive.

My attacks alerted the orc lord and all its soldiers to my presence. A club fell toward me from the left, so I dodged it and stabbed my attacker’s throat. Then, a fountain of blood spurted from the wound when I pulled out my sword.

That makes two.

I finished off the orc I’d slashed a second ago, taking my kill count to three.

“Ooh gaaaaaar!!!” roared the orc lord, activating its War Cry skill. Black clouds formed and let loose four more orc soldiers. A red glow surrounded the original orcs, signifying that the War Cry skill had strengthened their attack abilities by two levels.

When the orc lord became enraged by this interruption to its fun, it swung its log-like club toward me. Yet the blow struck a nearby orc soldier who was in the way at a wall. The orc lord’s strength was immense.

Two more orc soldiers charged toward the trespasser in their midst and swung their rusty swords down toward me, but I...

Well, I bolted. I didn’t want to stick around any longer!

“I’ll lead them away!” I shouted to the surviving adventurers. “Run as soon as you see a chance!”

Momentarily, the orcs stood fixed to the spot, stunned that I’d turned tail and fled. I lit the fuse on three firecrackers and threw them at the monsters, who now snapped out of their daze and rushed after me in a frenzy.

“Ooh gaaar!!!” they roared in unison.

“I’m still not ready to take on such a large number at once,” I admitted. “But I sure got their attention!”

The orc lord repeatedly activated its War Cry skill as it chased me, increasing the number of orc soldiers on the train. It was more than those on any of my previous attempts.

By this point, fleeing down this route to the rope bridge was second nature, so I focused on guiding the train and ensuring no passengers would get off early. I did this by managing my pace and throwing the occasional firecracker.

I was nearly at the bridge-dropping spot.

“Over here, ooooh my God!!!” yelled Kano.

“Get ready to cut the rope!” I shouted at her.

She had good reason to be frightened. I was trailing over fifty monsters... That was a new record!

The bridge still wobbled, but I knew I could keep it stable by lowering my center of mass and counteracting it with my lower body. That was the safest way to cross. My bridge-dropping technique was leagues better than on my first attempt.

At last, I reached the other side and pulled out the pruning shears, but it wasn’t time to cut the rope. “Cut yours when I cut mine,” I instructed. “Wait for it!”

“O-O-Okay!”

The pack of orcs, twenty meters away, was close enough to see the crazed look in their eyes and hear their heavy breathing. The rope bridge swayed tremendously, and a few orcs tumbled over the side while the rest charged forward. All they cared about was taking my life, so I focused on the rear of the train... And the final orc stepped onto the bridge.

“Now, Kano!”

“Jump! And! Slice!!!”

Kano unleashed her so-called ultimate attack on the rope and successfully cut through. The orcs let out a parting scream as they plunged to their doom.

“A nice, big haul,” said Kano, whistling as she gazed down at the pitfall. “I didn’t think there’d be so many of... Wait, what’s going on? I can’t...breathe...”

“It’s a sign you’re about to level up,” I said.

“Ughhh... Huh? Hmm, I feel...so much stronger!” Kano swiveled her arms in circles. She was likely experiencing the invincibility that followed the physical enhancements from a sharp, sudden level increase. Defeating the orc lord and all the other orcs at level 1 was probably worth enough experience points to get to level 3 or 4.

“You haven’t learned the Basic Appraisal skill yet, have you?” I asked.

“Basic Appraisal?” asked Kano. “Ah, now that you mention it, I feel something! Do I need to assign it to a skill slot?”

“Yep,” I replied. “The plan is to keep the Newbie job until you reach job level 10.”

“Gotcha.”

She had Basic Appraisal, which meant bridge-dropping today’s train had bumped her to level 5 and increased her job level to 7.

“Oh, and did something go wrong, bro?” she asked. “You’re covered in blood.”

“Those orcs were attacking another party of adventurers,” I said.

I explained that I had to ditch the plan of provoking the orc lord into chasing me and instead fight some monsters it had already summoned.

“Though, I’m pretty sure they got away safely,” I continued, “but I’m gonna go take another look to make sure.”

“’Kay,” replied Kano. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You can come with me, but we’ll need to get the loot first. Otherwise, it’ll disappear.”

I was sure I’d gotten all the orcs from the room to follow me. If the first adventurer I’d come across had called for a rescue party, there was nothing more we could do to help, but I wanted to see for myself.

Before that, we needed to descend eighty meters to the bottom of the valley. My sister proceeded carefully, appearing surprised by her physical enhancements.

“My body feels super light,” she remarked.

“Don’t get cocky or you’ll trip and fall.”

We arrived at the valley floor, where the monsters’ magic gems were scattered. I could see the bridge dangling from the cliff edge when looking up.

“This is awesome!” exclaimed Kano. “How much is it worth? Ooh, what’s this sparkly coin? Look over there! It’s an item!”

“Calm down,” I said. “Let me have the magic gems. I’ll sell them, and we can buy you some armor.”

“’Kay!”

I picked up the item she’d pointed out since it was unique. When I used Basic Appraisal, I discovered it was called “Crest of the Orc Lord.” It was a badge with the image of a pig that provided plus ten percent to damage dealt and minus ten percent to damage received when fighting humanoid monsters. Countless humanoid races showed up at all depths of the dungeon, so items with effects relating to them would be helpful in the long run. This badge was partly why bridge-dropping the orc lord had been so popular in the game.

Unique items were only available in treasure chests or as loot dropped by floor bosses. These items fetched a high price in the game, and players often fought over them.

“Here, this item’s yours. Inspect it with Basic Appraisal,” I said.

“Sure.” Kano paused and spoke up to activate the skill, “Go! Wow, this is powerful, right?”

“Put it on. It’ll keep you safe, so don’t lose it because that badge is rare.”

My sister danced and started singing, “I’m rich, rich, rich!”

I knew I’d need to reiterate that she couldn’t sell it.

Besides the badge, we picked up about fifteen magic gems and three dungeon coins. I calculated the conversion and concluded that single train had netted tens of thousands of yen. A part of me wanted to turn this into my day job, but I resisted that thought. I had bigger dreams.

“Cool,” I said. “I’m gonna head over to the orc lord room now. You coming?”

“Yep! Beats standing around,” said Kano.

The fastest route to the orc lord room would usually be the one I took to get here, but the bridge was gone. That meant we’d have to take the long way, so we set off once we’d retrieved all the loot and replenished our flasks with water.

Along the way, I knocked the metal weapon of a goblin soldier from its grasp and let my sister experience combat. She put up a valiant effort swinging the hatchet I’d given her but fell short of dealing fatal damage. All the minute cuts she inflicted on the monster covered her in blood and were a gory sight. Yet, she looked back at me teary-eyed.

Seeing she was getting nowhere, I stepped in and chopped the goblin’s head off with a single swing.

“You have two options,” I said. “Either aim for a vital spot like the neck to kill it or go for the arms and legs to incapacitate it.”

Goblin soldiers wore leather armor, so swinging your sword would barely deal damage. They would eventually succumb after enough cuts, but the risk was that other monsters might link* and you’d have to face them all at once. Monsters could appear randomly in the dungeon, so it was best to finish fights quickly. She’d have to get over her aversion to gore.

*TIPS: Linking is when nearby monsters join an ongoing fight or call for reinforcements. This situation forces players to fight multiple opponents at once.

We arrived outside the orc lord room in ten minutes using that detour. I looked inside and didn’t see anyone, so it was safe to assume the surviving adventurers had escaped. Someone must have retrieved their friends’ bodies because there were no corpses. The fifth floor had a resident rescue party and a resident body-retrieval party. One of the adventurers had likely called them to help.

“So this is where the orc lord spawns?” inquired Kano. “And we just have to lure him to the rope bridge?”

I explained the orc lord took an hour to respawn, and the bridge also repaired itself in an hour. If one killed the orc lord using bridge-dropping, they had to look at one or the other to know when to restart the process. I also told her about the need to inspect traps, clearing monster routes, and checking for nearby adventurers. Most importantly, I told her not to try the plan until she’d reached level 7 due to the running speed needed for the chase.

“Oh, and one more thing,” I said. “Anything you learn about the dungeon, you keep secret. Other adventurers might steal the best raiding spots, and bad guys could use it for the wrong reasons. The really bad guys might hunt you down to find out what else you know.”

“Got it,” answered Kano.

“Okay then, let’s bridge-drop a few more times before we go home. Now that I think about it, I meant to ask if you had any starter skills.”

I began as an adventurer with the Glutton skill. Starting with a skill was rare, so I assumed she didn’t have one, but in fact—

“So,” she started, “other than Basic Appraisal, I’ve got this thing called ‘Dual Wielding.’”

After a pause, I said, “You’re kidding me?”

Dual Wielding was a high-level extra skill learned from the Samurai job that increased attack power and critical hit probability when wielding a weapon in each hand. It also increased the number of attacks unleashed by a burst of a weapon skill. When it got combined with the Double Attack skill, it quadrupled the number of attacks, making it harder for enemies to hit you.

You could only get extra skills after maxing out the job level of advanced jobs and completing a particular quest. Having this skill from the get-go was an advantage over going through the regular means. In the game, you’d need to travel to the fortieth floor to complete said quest. A player could request a high-level player to escort them, but in this world, you’d have to find your way since no one ventured past the thirty-second floor. Even the leader of the Colors Clan, Tasato, a Samurai, didn’t have the Dual Wielding skill because he couldn’t complete the special quest yet. He’d used a single sword as his main weapon on the broadcast I’d seen, meaning he hadn’t reached the pinnacle of the Samurai job.

Practitioners of the Dual Wielding skill had multiple fighting styles to choose from. DEC’s players had favored two: The first was a brute-force style where players stacked points in their strength stat and carried a two-handed weapon in each hand. Conversely, the other style had players specialize in the agility stat and unleashed rapid combos.

I asked Kano which one she preferred.

“Uhh,” she said. “Dunno. I’ll try it out when I get a good weapon.”

“We can try it out with the hatchet you’re using and...these shears, I guess,” I said. “How about trying them against a goblin?”

“Using Dual Wielding?” she pondered. “I dunno if it’ll work. I’m not sure I can swing this heavy hatchet around with one hand... Oh, scratch that. Turns out I can.”

She might be a little middle-school girl, but she was as strong as the average adult male despite only being a level 5 adventurer.

I sent her to fight a goblin soldier like before, and her movements were like nothing I’d ever seen when she struck it. Her fearsome fighting intuition made me doubt whether I had any right to act like a teacher!

We continued power leveling, remembering to squeeze in time for a lunch break, and we called it a day after the third train. Kano was still as lively as ever, experiencing the high of her first-ever dungeon visit. But I didn’t want to push her too far; whether she felt it, the day’s events had tired her and worn down her nerves.

***

Fortunately, the gate room made the journey home relatively quick. Minimizing travel time freed you to be more productive, giving you an edge over everyone else. The office job I had in my old world taught me that.

My terminal displayed 2 p.m. There was plenty of time to get more done, so I decided that we’d go to the armory in the Adventurers’ Guild and pick out some armor for Kano.

“Come on in!” said the bearded manager. He wore the same apron when he’d sold me the demon wolf jacket. “Hmm? Ah! You’re the kid that bought the demon wolf armor.”

“H-Hello,” I said.

“How can I help you today?”

“Do you have any light armor for my sister?” I asked. It might be worth requesting a demon wolf chest protector for her if he still had pelts of the material.

“Ah, wait!” interrupted Kano. “It has to be cute!”

“Cute?” I repeated. “If it’s frills you want, they are all made of leather, so it’ll be extra heavy.”

Leather armor used thick pelts to protect against physical attacks, and that increased the weight. Though I tried to talk her down, she made herself look silly by asking the manager whether he had any nice flair skirts. She said that she would stitch some frills with cloth.

I tried to explain to her that frills would get in the way and that no one in their right mind wore a skirt to battle. Apparently, she wanted a cute dress like her favorite anime characters wore.

Forget cuteness and frills. Start worrying about what you’re doing to my wallet! I thought.

“Leather armor does have a nice, snug fit,” the manager pointed out, “but I’ll have to lighten the load as it might be too heavy for a level 1 adventurer like yourself—”

“I’m actually level 6!” boasted Kano.

“What?!” exclaimed the manager. His eyes grew wide, and he nearly fell over backward.

Kano had a childish face and was shorter than the average third-year middle school girl at a hundred and fifty centimeters tall. Clearly, the manager had never seen a girl like that who turned out to be a level 6 adventurer.

“I-In that case,” he said, “you won’t break a sweat wearing five kilograms of armor.”

“Kano, listen here,” I said. “You can have a chest protector and a pair of gloves, but that’s it for today.”

“Ugh! But I want some boots! Some nice, cute boots!”

Eventually, she talked me into buying her a pair of knee-high demon wolf boots to go with her demon wolf chest protector and gloves. She had wiped out my dungeon earnings from today and yesterday.

Kano hummed as we walked home, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

This is an initial investment. I can make that money back, I thought.

I rented two weapons for her from the school’s factory and just needed to use my name on the paperwork.

My mind turned to Akagi as his duel with Kariya was fast approaching. Had he leveled up? I sincerely hoped that it would go well because Class E might become depressing. I wondered how he’d fare...

***

Kaoru Hayase

I arrived at school five minutes before the start of homeroom, wanting to get in early since today was special. Today, Yuuma would represent Class E in a fight against our foes in Class D.

The events of the club fair the other day were still fresh in my mind. All the other classes had made it clear what they thought of Class E, and my classmates had fallen into despair, seeing their dreams and hopes of a bright future at Adventurers’ High crushed. A few had recovered, while most were despondent, suffocating the classroom with depression and inescapable hopelessness.

That was why Yuuma had to win. We needed to show the school that Class E had what it took and that we weren’t losers to get picked on and laughed at. The class could use this victory to hold their heads high and aim to be better.

Over the last month, we’d raided the dungeon into the dead of night and hunted monsters. We had even practiced dueling at school and discussed our strategy during our breaks. Yuuma and I had done everything, but a seed of doubt and pessimistic thoughts rushed in. Whenever this happened, I remembered our rigorous training and how we’d simulated how the duel would go.

Kariya was no pushover either, as the strong Aura he’d emitted made that clear, and it was obvious he was at a higher level than Yuuma. Even Naoto had heard other first-years boast about Kariya’s prowess with his longsword. Based on that, Kariya’s fighting technique would be superior to anything Class E had ever experienced.

We’d be stupid to challenge such an opponent with no preparation. Raising Yuuma’s level and studying Kariya’s fighting style were necessary to pave the path to victory.

Despite my lifelong study of sword fighting, I’d never fought against an opponent who wielded a longsword. But we lived in the age of adventurers, and videos of combat with longswords were all over the internet. So we all got together and studied the videos closely.

Longswords were heavier and had a greater reach, unlike ordinary, one-handed swords. In kendo, the standard practice was to keep your wooden sword pinned on your opponent’s chest until you could land a proper strike. This close quarters fighting style wouldn’t work against an opponent who could strike down with such a heavy weapon.

At the same time, most longsword attacks were slow and downward slashes that left the attacker vulnerable. Thus, Yuuma needed to focus on counters, initially observing Kariya’s attack patterns and habits. He’d have to be on the move to keep out of reach, then switch to the offensive and aggressively attack the enemy’s weak spots. Yuuma would also feign vulnerabilities of his own to lure Kariya into traps. The most important area for Yuuma to improve in using this counter-focused style was his speed in moving around and launching strikes.

Nobody in Class E could wield a longsword well enough to make for good practice, so I’d volunteered and acted as Akagi’s sparring partner. Still, I wasn’t pleased with my performance. Although I’d gained physical enhancements from leveling up, swinging around a ten kilogram sword required a surprising amount of technique.

Handling such a weapon would alter one’s center of mass, making it easy to lose balance. Leveling up had increased my strength but not my body weight. Maintaining a stable center of mass during a fight against a fast opponent was incredibly tricky. Imagine you had no trouble holding a hundred kilogram weapon with one hand, and your body went in the opposite direction of where you swung it.

Great experience, technique, and physical strength were necessary to counteract that phenomenon. Reducing your speed to preserve stability would make you an easy target for counterattacks, and swinging too quickly would allow your body to get thrown around. All in all, I’d learned a lot through sparring with Yuuma.

As such, we fumbled through training sessions and watched recordings of the sessions to analyze my movement patterns and plan how to counter them. Yuuma said that he’d gotten used to fighting against longswords, and I hoped I’d been helpful to him.

Our training didn’t cover everything, though. Yuuma still hadn’t felt the full force of a longsword because I didn’t want to hurt him. The practice blades were dull, and a skilled person could hit the wrong place and still inflict injuries.

Also, we hadn’t leveled up as much as we’d hoped. Kariya’s level wasn’t viewable from the terminal’s database; he must have been around level 10 based on the strength of his Aura on the day of the entrance ceremony. He’d probably learned some skills from his Fighter job. Fortunately, we’d changed to basic jobs despite not learning any skills.

His weapon skills were also a concern since he would probably use the sword skill Slash. I didn’t know how to use it, so we had to settle with watching videos on repeat and visualizing it.

While there was much to worry about, there were even better reasons to be hopeful. Yuuma had an innate skill called Sword Mastery, which gave him talent in sword fighting, and his intuition in duels was outstanding. We also had a trick to use against Kariya that might guarantee victory if it worked. Seeing Yuuma confident made me think everything would go well, and I had to trust him as his friend.

***

For the last few days, I’d been stuck in a cycle of playing a simulation of the fight in my head, becoming anxious only to reassure myself. I missed a lot of sleep, and it was stupid because getting worked up wouldn’t change anything. The only thing in my power was having faith in Yuuma and sending him off with a smile so he could go into the battle confident.

I tied my long hair up near the top, checked that my uniform looked neat, and left to pick up Souta, like always. His house was a ten-second walk from mine, so I didn’t have to go far.

Once there, I pressed the doorbell beneath the old, yellow sign with black writing that read “Narumi’s General Goods.” A pleasant, musical chime rang out.

“Good morning. I’m here to pick up Souta,” I said.

“Oh, morning, Kaoru,” said Mrs. Narumi, cheerful. “Give me a second.” She turned back toward the stairs and called out loudly, “Souta! Kaoru’s here!”

Souta’s younger sister walked through the door. We rarely crossed paths in the morning, but I’d arrived early today.

I smiled brightly at her. “Good morning, Kano.”

“Oh, err, hi...” she replied curtly, giving me a brief nod before scurrying away. What a shame since it would’ve been nice to chat with her. Maybe she was in a hurry, but I did think she didn’t like me anymore. It was depressing how she barely looked at me.

Souta came lumbering down the stairs, yawning. Given his carefree look, he must have forgotten what would happen today. Not that it surprised me.

“Okay. Let’s go,” I said.

“Roger,” he responded.

I walked in front as he followed behind, our usual formation. Most days included no conversations, but I wanted to find out something.

“So...” I started. “I saw it.”

“Saw what?” he asked.

The evening before, I’d been staring blankly out of the window and thinking about the duel. Then, I spotted Souta and Kano walking home.

“The black armor,” I said.

“Black armor? Oh! The demon wolf chest protector.”

That was it. The leather armor made from the pelts of demon wolves on the dungeon’s sixth floor was essential for mid-level adventurers. I had a full set to help with my raids. It was weird enough that the guy who struggled with slimes had been wearing one, but it got weirder.

“Why was Kano wearing it?” I asked.

Kano was in her third year of middle school and would take the entrance exam for Adventurers’ High next school year. Why had a girl that couldn’t enter the dungeon been wearing armor designed for dungeon combat? Nobody would bear the weight of demon wolf gauntlets or chest protectors just for a fashion statement, so what was happening?

Souta’s eyes darted nervously, then he turned his head to the side and tried to whistle nonchalantly.

“Stop whistling and answer me. Also, your whistling sucks.”

Souta choked.

“Are you hiding something?” I asked.

“Uhh, the thing is...” he started. He then spat one of his usual evasive explanations. According to him, Kano wanted to get used to wearing armor for next year, and she’d become jealous of him wearing a set. That wasn’t implausible, but it sounded like a horrible excuse.

“Okay, so why did she have a weapon strapped to her waist?”

Souta choked again, but I’d known him long enough to recognize that the sweat drenching him now was out of fear. His expression was the one he’d always worn when keeping secrets, and I knew he hadn’t changed a bit. He was arrogant enough to think he could put up a poker face, which never worked because he was terrible at hiding his emotions.

“Oh, look, it’s Oomiya!” he said. She was walking a little ahead of us. Souta rushed over to her and continued, “Good morning.”

“Oh, Narumi?” said Oomiya. “Umm... Morning.”

That was to get away from me, I thought.

Oomiya was universally kind, intelligent, and had talent that landed her a leading position in Class E, in a slightly different way to Yuuma. Yet she spent a lot of time with Souta, which I couldn’t wrap my head around. I initially thought she’d reached out to him out of pity over how our classmates had ostracized him, but that wasn’t it. Was she blind, or had Souta really changed since joining the school?

He might have, I thought. For one, he’d lost a lot of weight since the term had started. That feat was monumental for a lazy lump of meat that devoured meals by the plateful.

But his evasiveness and tendency to run away were the same old Souta.