Gossip: Three Heroes ~Ominous Footsteps~

Kanon, Rio, and I, along with the three knights accompanying us, continued to dive into the dungeon in order to level up, and in the end, we managed to reach the 25th level.

After getting to the level where we could best an ogre one on one, we gave the dungeon a rest for a while, and tried actually defeating monsters out in the wild. According to the three knights, monsters outside were much different from monsters in the dungeon, so it would be better to get some experience fighting outside as well. The dungeon was fun because it was like a game, but I wanted to try fighting monsters outside anyway, so I couldn’t ask for anything better.

At this point, my stats were like so:

【Name】 Kaito Saitou

【Age】 17

【Job】 Hero from Another World

【Level】 10

【HP】 1010

【MP】 978

【Attack】 988

【Defense】 961

【Agility】 953

【Skills】 Appraisal, Item Box, Holy Sword Arts, Fire magic, Water magic, Earth magic, Wind magic, Light magic, Lightning magic, Ice magic

I’d leveled up steadily, and was now at 10. My HP even passed 1000. I had heard that one was first rate if any of their stats passed 1000, so I think I’m growing pretty well. For now, I was the only one with a stat above 1000, but Kanon and Rio had similar stats, so they would pass 1000 soon. However, the more we level up, the more we feel the difficulty in leveling up further.

Even so, reaching this level after only a single month was probably because we were heroes. Having everyone praise us, saying, “Of course, you’re the hero!” was both embarrassing and a happy thing.

Tomorrow, we would finally be going outside to fight monsters. The request we’d taken from the Adventurer’s guild was to destroy a nest of kobolds. This was a request available to those C-rank and above. The knights were all C-rank, so we were able to take it, since we were partied up with them. Our Adventurer ranks were still at D, but the knights assured us that our actual fighting ability was higher.

I want to show Louise my good side too...... destroy the kobolds, huh? Leave it to me!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

We had come to a forest south of the capital. Kobolds had a good sense of smell, so there was a chance we’d be found based on our scent. While taking note of the direction of the wind, we approached the nest and took a look.

“There are two keeping watch outside the cave. Just as we expected. Now then, let’s proceed according to plan. After finishing off those two, throw Fire magic inside and thin their numbers. After that, kill the kobolds as they escape the cave. Understood?” Leonard explained the plan in a low voice, and everyone nodded their ascent.

“First, Louise and I will finish off the lookouts. After that, we’ll be counting on you for the Fire magic, Kaito, Kanon, Rio,” said Aaron. We nodded in response.

After seeing that, Aaron and Louise started moving. Taking care not to be noticed, they stood up behind the two lookouts and......

*Zllshhhh*

*Zsshhh*

When Aaron stood up and swung his sword, the kobolds head rolled onto the ground. Right after, their bodies followed suit. The kobold that Louise approached from behind was pierced through the heart by her blade and died without uttering a sound. Every time I witnessed their swordplay, I was amazed.

Leonard, who was commanding this mission, was also amazing in his swordplay, though.

Since I’d only started training in the sword after I came here, my skills with it still weren’t great, but I hoped to one day get as good as they were.

I’ll just have to try hard to get as close as I can to those three. Oh, I can think about these things later.

After confirming that the two lookouts were taken care of, Kanon, Rio, and I quickly moved in front of the cave. And then, the three of us shot our Fire magic into the opening.

““Blazing ball of fire, burn mine enemies to nothing. Fireball!!””

“Raging arrow of fire, pierce through mine enemies. Fire Arrow!!”

Kanon and Rio cast a Fireball, while I cast a Fire Arrow. Our Fire magic flew to the rear of the cave, and exploded with a loud *Boom!*

“The fire’s going to burst out! You guys move to the side of the cave!!” At Aaron’s words, we reflexively jumped to the side.

“Kyaahh!”

“Kyaaaahh!!”

“Woaahh!”

Right after we jumped to the side, a large amount of fire rushed through the entrance where we were along with a low sound. It looked like our Fire magic was too strong. We stood back up once the fire calmed down.

“Was it... too strong?”

“Looks like.”

“Yeah......”

Taking a peek inside the cave, the walls were burnt black, and there was no sign of any living kobolds. Leonard, Aaron, and Louise also joined us in checking the cave.

“Looks like we can count this request finished.”

“Yes, there’s no way any of them survived Fire magic that strong.”

“You’re right. I can’t feel anything living. We can probably count this nest destroyed.”

...Said the three of them.

“The three of you did well. We’re finished decimating the kobold nest.” With that report from Leonard, Kanon and Rio went, “Yayy!” celebrating together.

“Well, we’re heroes, at least in title. This should probably be normal,” I said, trying to look cool, but inside I was super happy. Thinking that I could fight just as well with monsters on the outside, I gained a little confidence.

Nice! Let’s keep winning!

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

The next day, while everyone was heading for the Adventurer’s guild to take another quest, I noticed a bracelet peeking out of Rio’s sleeve that she didn’t have yesterday.

“What’s up with that, Rio?” I asked, glancing at the bracelet. Rio laughed happily in response.

“Huh? What’s going on? I’m super interested.” Kanon must have noticed for the first time too, and joined in.

“To tell you the truth, I got it... from Leonard......” Rio said happily through blushing cheeks.

“Kyahh! That’s so nice!”

“Yeah.”

“How nice. I’m jealous.”

“You’ll be fine. Aaron’s looking your way all the time, Kanon, he definitely likes you.”

“I wonder~.”

Somehow, it turned into love gossip between the two of them.

I see, from Leonard, huh? Nice job, Leonard. Not only that, Rio even started calling him “Leonard,” when before it was “Mr. Leonard.” Goddammit, I’ll do my best, too! I wonder if it’s gotta be an accessory for women, after all? I’ll take that into consideration.

Taking a look at the bracelet Rio was wearing, I noticed it was silver, around 1 cm in width and densely decorated with a pattern that looked like a magic circle in gold. In the center, there was a clear purple crystal set on it.

That’s pretty nice.

After asking Rio about it, it seemed that it was a type of magic item that slightly raised her physical abilities.

“Leonard said that he was worried about me since I had less stamina than you two, and he gave this to me,” said Rio happily.

I see. So there’s accessories like this, too. I bet it’s super expensive... he sure loves Rio.

◇　◇　◇　◇　◇

“Leonard, did you manage to hand that thing over properly?”

“Of course. When I told her it was a magic tool to raise her physical abilities, she happily took it.”

“Hmph, you probably whispered something sweet to her as you put it on, didn’t you?”

“I won’t deny it. But aren’t you the same?”

“Well, yeah. They have the Appraisal skill, after all. There’s no way we could just hand them over at the same time. It’ll cause suspicion. I’ll give it a little time and give it to her when the time is right. Of course, I’ll whisper swee~t nothings to her as I slip that bracelet on. And with that, they won’t suspect a thing.”

“You’re a bad guy too, huh?”

“Stop with the slander. You’re in the same boat, aren’t you?”

“You guys sure are lucky, since you’re dealing with women. It’s not suspicious at all for a man to give a woman an accessory. Meanwhile, I’m over here with no idea how to give this thing to Kaito.”

“Well you just have to seduce him and slam the thing on, right? No matter what he says, he’s pretty head over heels for you, you know?”

“He’s right. You’ll just have to prove your skills at this point.”

“Hmph, I know already. As long as we can get these ‘dominance bracelets’ on the heroes, it’s basically as if our mission is already over. Once it’s done, I’m basically guaranteed a promotion, so of course I’ll do it.”