Chapter 5: Honest, the School Town

Chapter 5:
Honest, the School Town

 

THE SUN WAS HIGH in the sky as we arrived at Honest’s southern gate. Going by the outer wall and the large number of guard towers, the town was quite large. Mr. Perrido talked to the guards, we paid our entry tax, and in we went. As we passed the gatehouse, the guards welcomed us in with a smile.

Apparently, the happenings in Landan were already a hot topic in town.

We left the carriage outside and walked in with Perrido as our guide.

“Let’s head to Duke Schoen’s residence,” he said. “He wants to meet you.”

Duke Schoen was a member of the nobility with an impressive lineage. The idea of going straight to meet him was pretty scary, let me tell you.

As we walked toward Duke Schoen’s estate, I noticed how wide Honest’s roads were, and how there wasn’t a speck of trash to be seen anywhere on them. This town really was an incredible place. There were so many shops and different kinds of people walking around. I saw all kinds of folks, from adventurers to dancers of all races and even a few beast folk. It was incredibly exciting.

The duke’s estate was much smaller than I’d imagined. Of course, it was grander than the Stardia residence, but it didn’t really hold up to Emma’s house. Perrido seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

“Surprised, aren’t you? Duke Schoen is famous for his frugality. He prefers to live as close to the common folk as he can.”

“Oh, wow.”

That spoke pretty well of him. As soon as we approached the doors, the servants showed us into a grand living room. A few minutes later, a man of around sixty burst in. He seemed to be in a bit of a panic—his long white hair swinging behind him in a ponytail. He ran over to Perrido the moment he saw him. Apparently, this was Duke Schoen himself.

“Perrido! You’re back! How did things go in Landan?”

“You can rest easy, Your Grace, Landan is safe. The monster was defeated and the petrified townspeople returned to normal.”

“Goodness! It’s a miracle!” Duke Schoen said joyfully.

Perrido shook his head and put his hand on my shoulder. “This is my dear friend’s son, Noir Stardia. He did most of the work.”

“But he’s so young!”

Duke Schoen looked me over and offered me his hand. I greeted him formally, but he just kept gripping my hand. The duke was excited to hear Perrido recount the tale. When the duke asked about my powers, Perrido graciously glossed over them.

“You are the savior of Landan—no, perhaps the entire kingdom!” said the duke. “You must be tired from your travels. Allow me to arrange lodgings for you.”

“Thank you very much.”

“In the near future, I shall require your advice on a certain matter, Noir. Would you care to indulge me when the time comes?”

“Of course, I’m always happy to help,” I said, but in truth I was painfully curious.

Perrido and the duke wanted to talk a little longer, so we asked for the location of our inn and headed out. We arrived at our lodgings without issue and took our bags to the room. It seemed like a really nice place. Even better, when I gave the innkeeper Duke Schoen’s letter, he told us that our stay was on the house.

“The duke sure is generous,” said Emma.

“Well, Mr. Noir did save Landan,” Lola said, turning to me. “More importantly, why don’t we go somewhere? Just the two of us.”

I appreciated the invitation, but I had things to do. And besides, Emma swiftly rejected it.

“No, Noir needs to go see his brother.”

“If he’s your brother, he must be pretty incredible.”

Emma and I both pulled a weird face. That was certainly one way to describe Gillan. My brother was something of an acquired taste, but we were free for the rest of the afternoon, so everyone headed out to the trade school to find him. Along the way, Leila pointed something out.

“Honest sure has an awful lot of schools. Almost too many.”

“Judging from the advertisements, a lot of them are combat-focused.”

There were schools for swordsmanship and all sorts of martial arts, and even ads aimed at people wanting to improve their magic skills. Honest was known as a school town, so perhaps the duke provided some kind of financial incentive to boost the education industry.

We headed to the residential area where the trade school was, which seemed a little odd to me. By then, it was around four in the afternoon. I figured people would be going home from school around then, so we waited by the gate but, after thirty minutes, only a few people had come out. Among them was a woman around twenty, I asked her if she knew my brother.

“What did you say about Gillan?”

“I, uh, wanted to see him.”

“What business do you have with him, kid?”

“Umm, well, he’s my older brother.”

The second the words left my mouth she slapped me across the face. Ow! That hurt! I must’ve offended her somehow.

“You’re related to that creep?! Get the hell away from me!”

She walked off in a huff, but Emma ran after her.

“That’s awful, smacking someone like that! Noir didn’t do anything to you!”

“Oh, shut up. He’s related to that slimeball. Come one step closer and you’ll get the same treatment.”

She seemed really upset. Probably best to leave things at that.

“Sir Noir, do you need a Healing Shot?” asked Luna.

“No, I’m fine. It wasn’t anything serious.”

It didn’t even hurt any more. Gillan must really have done something to upset that woman. Still, I couldn’t exactly blame Luna for being confused. She didn’t know what he was like.

“Why on earth was she so angry?”

“My brother’s always been popular with women. He usually has several girlfriends at once. Once he had over ten at the same time.”

“And, um, they weren’t okay with that?”

“Now, that’s an interesting question…”

Harems weren’t exactly unusual among people with high social standing, and polygamy was recognized in both my kingdom and this one. Gillan must have informed his girlfriends of his intent, so why did they end up so angry?

My guess was it had to do with how he broke up with them. My brother had a habit of saying things like, “I’ll keep you safe for the rest of your life,” or, “You’ll be my first wife,” or, “When I’m a merchant, it’s you I want by my side.” He led the girls on about getting married, then one day, out of the blue, he’d dump them for no reason. Historically, it had made all of his girlfriends livid. I had a feeling that the woman we’d just met had endured the same crap.

“I guess we can rest easy knowing that Gillan’s still his usual garbage self.”

“Emma, I don’t think that’s something to be relieved about.”

She was right, though. It didn’t seem like he’d changed at all. I sighed, and then the culprit himself entered the stage.

“If it isn’t Noir! Hey, Noir! My beloved little brother, you really did come!”

Gillan laughed as he jogged over. I feebly raised a hand to wave, and he hugged me as hard as he could.

“Hey! Stop, Gillan!”

“Oh don’t be like that, Noir! I haven’t ever stopped thinking about my dear baby brother, you know.”

“That’s kind of creepy…”

“Ah ha ha ha!”

My brother smiled from ear to ear as I peeled him off me. He looked at me, a little shocked.

“My, haven’t we gotten strong!”

“I have been working pretty hard.”

“I can see that. I actually got a letter from mother, saying you were growing up fast. But you’re not the only one who’s changed, Noir. I have too,” Gillan put his hand on his hip and puffed out his chest. He certainly didn’t look any different. He had always been tall and his hair was the same brown as mine. He looked strangely knight-like. What was a merchant doing with a cape and a sword on his hip?

“What does a trade school student need with a sword?”

“Excellent question! I don’t really, but it makes me stand out, and the ladies love it!”

Now it made sense. Admittedly, Gillan did have the muscle and bravery to wield a sword. He was probably stronger than a lot of the other students in town.

“But, Noir, you sure have an entourage of cute friends with you. You’re not interested in introducing them to me, huh? Oh, isn’t that you, Emma?! You’ve gotten so humongous—I mean big! I’ve missed you!”

“Your little ‘correction’ didn’t make much of a difference there,” said Emma. “Anyway, it has been ages, but I don’t think I’ve ever missed you.”

My brother didn’t hear a word of it. He was too excited.

“Anyway, Gillan, give us a tour of the famous sights, would you?”

As soon as I said that, Gillan’s mood did a one-eighty. His enthusiasm vanished and he suddenly looked apologetic.

“I’m sorry, Noir, I sent that letter at the worst time. I sent another one right after, but it must’ve just missed you.”

It did take a few days for letters to get between kingdoms. It seemed he’d told me not to come after all. Just as he was about to explain why, all the bells in town tolled thunderously.

That didn’t sound good.

“Crap, I wonder what it is this time? We should evacuate for now.”

Odd, I’d heard Rosette was a peaceful land.

“Is it monsters? Or thieves or something?”

“Monsters. There have been way more of them lately. So many that I’ve started thinking about moving to another town.”

That’s right! Ms. Elena had mentioned how this town experienced a massive monster attack once every ten years. If that was happening now, our timing really was awful.

I glanced toward the sound of the bells and saw a group of twenty to thirty monsters had already launched an aerial surprise attack. They were still quite a way off, but I could see them attacking the people below.

“Let’s take refuge in the school for now,” Gillan urged.

But I couldn’t just let this happen. What about the victims? This could end up like Landan all over again. Luna and Leila were ready to kick some monster butt too.

“Lola,” Leila said. “Will you take cover with Gillan?”

“No, I’ll go along for a bit. I want to see what kind of monsters they are.”

After all, we’d just learned Lola was unbelievably strong. With some pointers, she wouldn’t pose a problem—on the contrary. Our whole group decided to head over.

“Are you serious? Um, Noir, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re going to get yourself killed.”

Gillan was shaken, but Emma just smiled at him. “Noir’s been training in secret in a hidden dungeon. He hasn’t wasted all his time chasing skirt like you, Gillan.”

“So that’s what he’s been up to.”

I shrugged. “I can’t deny it.”

But this was hardly the time for chatting! Gillan dashed back into the school, and we started running toward the screams. We took care not to crash into the people running away and, after a few minutes, we finally reached the monsters. The attack was a public park, so it was crawling with a ton of mothers and children.

The monsters were a sort of bird people. They had human-ish faces with purple skin, wings for arms, and three large talons on their feet that they used to grab people, fly up into the sky, and drop them. Several people had already been incapacitated.

“They’re harpies,” said Lola. “Half-human, half-bird, and very clever. The guild gets requests to eliminate them from time to time, but these look like a different sub-species: purple harpies.”

I confirmed Lola’s information with a quick Discerning Eye.

 

Name: Purple Harpy

Level: 35

Skills: Eagle Grip

 

They weren’t especially strong, but flying monsters were always a hassle, and there were a lot of them. Luna would be particularly useful in taking them out. Each time she pulled the trigger of her magical firearm, a harpy’s head exploded.

The people fleeing the park kept slowing down to thank us.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Luna. “Let’s go!”

Cool as ever. Luna took her late mother’s wish to protect people very seriously. Since ranged attacks were kind of my specialty, I backed her up. The others helped guide the remaining civilians to safety.

There were about fifteen purple harpies left, all of them flying up high, out of range.

I fired off a Stone Bullet. It had a fair bit of speed, but the distance made it easy to dodge. Icicle had much the same result, and Lightning Strike only had a range of about nine feet, so it couldn’t reach. I thought Throwing might be the way to go, but it wouldn’t work if the harpies noticed what I was doing.

Wait, am I totally useless here?

Luna, meanwhile, was firing shot after shot. Even if I had her weapon, I couldn’t dream of being that fast and accurate. So, I decided I needed a new skill. Something that the harpies couldn’t predict. Something that would hit them hard. So how about this?

 

Thunderbolt — 400 LP

 

It was powerful and would be hard to dodge. I went for it without hesitation. By now, the park had already been evacuated, so I gave it a shot.

There was a boom of thunder followed by a flash of lightning. It was pretty powerful! Even though…it…missed? How did it miss? I investigated using Editor.

 

Thunderbolt: Consumes magic to produce a thunderbolt. Will not always land on the specified target. The skill is rendered unusable indoors or anywhere the sky is not visible. It cannot be used over long distances.

 

At least now I knew why I’d missed! It sounded like it might take a few shots to score a hit. Just how inaccurate was it? If I only hit one time out of ten, I’d quickly run out of magic. I looked into it with Editor.

 

Replace “will not always land on the specified target” with “will always land on the specified target” — 500 LP

 

That was more than the skill cost! I did have the LP, though, and it did seem like it would be useful. I made up my mind and immediately put it into action.

“Gyah?!”

A purple harpy shrieked and crashed headfirst into the ground. The skill worked perfectly. With the combination of my skill and Luna’s attacks, we defeated the swarm with surprising ease. I finished off the fallen harpies with my sword. About half of them survived the fall, which taught me an important lesson in not dropping my guard.

“Hm, I think that’s all of them,” said Luna.

“Your magical firearm really is powerful. And you never miss, do you?”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Sir Noir. When did you learn that Thunderbolt skill?”

“In the middle of the battle. I have you to thank for the extra LP.”

Luna hugged me, which was very useful in recovering some of what I’d spent.

“You can even get stronger in the heat of battle. You’re clever and quick on your feet. Soon, you’ll be completely unstoppable.”

“Oh, you flatter me. Of course, I appreciate the compliment. But, you know, this is a little weird though. Where are all the guards?”

“Yeah, where are they?”

Not a single one had appeared. Surely they had heard the uproar. Even if we had managed to handle the situation quickly, it was odd that no one else had shown up. Were there other monsters attacking other parts of the city? We hurried to catch up with Emma and the others.

 

***

 

Near the south gate, Leila roundhouse kicked an orc into the air and Emma slit its throat with her daggers. Meanwhile, Lola landed the final blow on a pig-like monster with the blade I’d given her.

That’s the sight that greeted me when we reached them. Several orc corpses and injured soldiers were littered around the area.

“Emma, is everyone all right?”

“We’re all fine, but some of the soldiers are injured.”

“I’ll take care of them!” said Luna.

She used her Healing Shot on the soldiers. Some of them were more gravely injured and didn’t fully recover, but she helped a lot of people. The evacuees were all safe inside buildings, so I took a look around town. Things seemed to have calmed down.

I asked some of the nearby soldiers what had happened. It sounded like the invading monsters had come in two groups: harpies and orcs. Several orcs had appeared at the north and south gates, so the guards hadn’t had enough people to send to the park.

“These attacks have been happening more often recently?”

“They have, but they’re always pretty common around this time of year.”

“So you wouldn’t say it’s out of the ordinary?”

“No, well, the frequency has been unusually high. This is what happens before they make a big move.”

If these attacks usually culminated with a large strike, this really might be the year. That was bad. I rejoined my friends and we returned to the trade school.

“You’re safe! I was so worried about you!”

Gillan rushed out of the building to greet me. I explained what had happened, and he sighed with relief.

“It might be for the best if I leave sooner rather than later,” he said. “Maybe I’ll go home tomorrow or the day after. You’ll join me, won’t you, Noir?”

“Hold up, Duke Schoen said he needed to talk to me in a few days.”

“Duke Schoen?! Wow…”

“We’re spending the night in an inn. Come get me if anything happens.”

The sun was starting to set, so we headed back. We had bear meat for dinner—apparently people often hunted them around here. Bear seemed to be a common theme in my life as of late.

We had three rooms prepared for us: two for the girls and one for me. I sat down on the bed and just spaced out for a bit. We’d been so busy since we entered the kingdom that I hadn’t had any time to myself. Eventually, I fell asleep.

 

***

 

“Hm…?”

I was awoken by a knock at the door. It wasn’t very loud.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Lola. If you’re decent, I’d really appreciate it if you opened the door.”

I wasn’t exactly lounging around in my underpants, so I did as she asked. She giggled and stuck out her tongue. Was that a calculated move to charm me?

“Would you mind if I came in?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t mind if I do!”

Lola casually locked the door as she skipped in. What was she up to? Before I could even offer her a chair, she sat down on the bed. I was a little unsure of what to do next.

“Oh, don’t hold back, come and sit with me. This is your room, isn’t it?”

“I-It sure is…”

I sat down next to her. Lola stared at me nervously for a moment, then she smiled.

“Nervous about what I might do to you?”

“No, not exactly, but maybe kinda.”

“Don’t worry. Nobody’s gonna attack you, not in the open.”

So my chastity might be in peril with the lights off? The room was illuminated with magical devices. Cheaper hotels used candles and oil lamps, but this one had light gems.

“Did you just get a bath?” I asked.

I could tell from how she smelled and how flushed her skin was. She nodded.

“I mean, we can’t exactly do it if I’m all sweaty…right?”

“D-do what exactly?”

“Don’t play coy, you know what I’m talking about. We need to earn you some more LP!”

Oh right, she was worried about that. But wait, earning LP could mean something sexual! We’re not going to cross that line, are we?

Lola turned around and touched her back.

“Why do you think this part of my uniform is so exposed?”

The back of Lola’s outfit was tailored to be open. She was the only one with a uniform like that, as far as I could tell. All of the receptionists wore green, but they had their own unique elements to their uniforms. Lola’s was the most striking of them all—with a sexy exposed back that was a common point of conversation among the adventurers.

“This is just a guess,” I said, “but you must’ve requested it to be made that way?”

“You’d be right.”

“So, you did that to attract more adventurers to manage?”

The receptionists with poor performers under their management got reduced pay and might even get fired. The most popular receptionists were either good-looking or had appealing personalities.

“You’re not wrong, that was part of it. But I have an even more important reason now.”

“Now I’m interested, why does the back of your uniform need to be so exposed?”

“He he, it’s simple—so you can lick my back.”

D-did she just ask me to lick her? I didn’t really understand.

“I see you’re a little confused. But that’s why I took a bath first. I mean…you wouldn’t like it very much if I was sweaty, would you?”

“I don’t think I’d particularly mind either wa—no! No! You want me to lick you?!”

“Shh! Shh!”

Huh?

Her attention was suddenly focused on the wall.

“Careful,” she whispered. “The walls are pretty thin.”

She was worried about the people in the neighboring rooms hearing us. My room was sandwiched between Emma and Luna on one side, and Lola and Leila on the other. I could even hear the conversation going on in Emma’s room.

“I just heard a strange sound from Sir Noir’s room.”

“It was kind of concerning. Should we go check on him?”

“Before we do that…Sir Noir, can you hear us?” Luna called through the wall.

“Y-yeah,” I said. “I’m fine.”

It was a little unsettling that we could hold a conversation just by raising our voices slightly.

“Don’t worry about Leila,” said Lola. “She’s already sleeping. But you understand now, right? Do anything funny and they’ll catch us, and that’s not gonna be pretty.”

She was right about that. Plus, it’d be embarrassing. But Lola didn’t hesitate. She turned her back to me, waiting for me to make my move.

“You want the LP, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then earn it! I prepared everything for you, you just have to actually do it.”

I didn’t have much of a choice, did I?! I brought my face close to her back. The closer I got, the more apparent it became that she took very good care of her skin.

I stuck out my tongue. The moment the tip of it touched her, the air in the room turned warmer.

“Ahh!”

Her reaction startled me so much that I pulled back.

“S-sorry. You came on stronger than I expected,” she said.

Well, sorry for that.

“Don’t worry about it, keep going,” she urged.

“O-okay.”

I ran my tongue down her back and moved it up and down. I couldn’t help imagining a salmon swimming upstream. The fish risked their lives to swim up the river. Only the fish knew the real reason but, according to my father, they spawned when they got to the other end. I’d die without LP so, in a sense, this was a life-giving act. Perhaps I was no different from a salmon, fighting the current.

Sorry, salmon, I’m not so noble! I’m probably just a regular pervert!

“Aha! Ah…nmph…ahh!”

“Lola, please keep it down.”

“B-but, Noir, you’re being so aggressive. I knew you’d be into it.”

I silently continued to work, and Lola stifled her voice so that our neighbors wouldn’t hear, but she couldn’t keep it all in.

Several minutes passed. I caught my breath and checked my LP. I was shocked to discover that I’d gained over 3,000. I told her as much.

“Good. I think I’m about at my limit, though.”

Lola flopped down on the bed. Only then did I notice how much I was sweating. Maybe LP gain worked best when I was nervous.

“I suppose I should get going,” said Lola.

“Yeah. Thanks for doing that for me.”

“I’ve got all sorts of ideas for next time. And of course, this is our little secret, okay?”

She smiled cheerfully and threw in a playful wink before she returned to her room.

Once I was alone again, I laid down in bed and stared up at the ceiling.

I bet if you looked up “coquettish” in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of Lola.

 

***

 

“You know what I found out yesterday? Prostitutes hang around outside this inn at night,” Emma said over breakfast.

I nodded without thinking, but when I lifted my head, Emma was glaring daggers at me. I almost jumped out of my seat.

“Did you have a prostitute in your room?”

“You think I’d hire a prostitute?”

“No, I don’t think you’d do something like that, but I did hear you making some weird sounds last night. What was that about?”

Blood rushed to my cheeks. Did she catch us? I looked over at Lola for help, but she looked completely undisturbed—demurely wiping her mouth with a napkin.

The message was “think fast and save yourself.” I mean…did we really have anything to hide? We were just earning LP…weren’t we? On second thought, I’d better keep quiet. I wasn’t brave enough to admit I’d been licking Lola’s back.

“I, uh, had a nightmare last night. That must’ve been what you heard.”

“Really? It was definitely a girl’s voice. Luna and I were talking about it all night.”

“Yeah. I’m half-elf, so I’ve got particularly sharp ears. I’m pretty confident that was a woman’s voice.”

This was absolute torture! Thankfully Lola finally decided to step in and save me.

“If Mr. Noir says it was him, shouldn’t that be enough? Plenty of gentlemen make effeminate noises from time to time. It sounded cute to me. No need to be embarrassed about it, Mr. Noir.”

“Yeah…”

I wished I had her mental fortitude. I was beginning to think that I just didn’t have the personality for that sort of thing.

Just then, a man in a tailcoat entered the inn and stopped right in front of me.

“Mr. Stardia, I presume? I have come on behalf of Duke Schoen.”

It was hardly unexpected. After all, Duke Schoen had said he’d need to speak to me again in the near future. Admittedly, I didn’t think it’d come quite so soon. It was fair to assume the matter was urgent. We finished eating and headed out to meet the duke. It wasn’t very far, but he’d even prepared a carriage.

When we got to the duke’s living room, Duke Schoen and Perrido were already there.

“Apologies for troubling you so soon. You must’ve been resting.”

“Oh no, we had actually just finished breakfast, so the timing was perfect.”

“Please, have a seat. Admittedly, there aren’t many of them, I know!”

So Duke Schoen was funny as well as friendly. A lot of the higher-ranking nobles thought far too highly of themselves. He seemed to be an exception.

“To be honest,” said the duke. “I’d rather start with some small talk, but it’s a bit difficult under the circumstances. Are you familiar with the monster incident that happened yesterday?”

“Intimately. We fought in it.”

“So it was you who defeated the harpies and orcs. I had a feeling it was. I must thank you for your courage.” Duke Schoen brought his hands together in gratitude. It was a common gesture in this kingdom.

It seemed like a good opportunity, so I asked him about something that had been bugging me. “Isn’t Honest a little short of soldiers?”

“The incidents started occurring while our main force was out on a training drill, so their return has been delayed. That said, even our full ranks wouldn’t be enough, should the monsters make a large-scale attack.”

“Have you considered petitioning for reinforcements?”

“Oh, I’ve already sent a request to the capital. If things go as planned, they should arrive tomorrow.”

That was a relief. The town was in a complete panic after yesterday. It would be absolute pandemonium if the real siege happened now. Duke Schoen was a capable man, and he’d done quite a bit of research on past attacks. He vowed to get through it this time.

“However, I would like to increase our chances of success. That’s why I need your help, Noir.”

Exactly what I was expecting. The chances of the siege happening in the next week or so seemed pretty high. He wanted our assistance.

“Honestly, it pains me to make such a request of people so young, but you demonstrated your skill when you saved Landan. And, of course, you would be compensated handsomely. Will you lend us your aid?”

Duke Schoen bowed until his forehead was almost on the table. I couldn’t blame him for being desperate. He was a kindly lord and wanted to do whatever he could to reduce the harm to his people. The thought of losing half the population to repel the attack was too much to bear.

I checked with everyone else, but we were all in agreement.

“Raise your head, Duke Schoen. We’ll gladly lend you our strength if you’ll have us.”

“Ohh, thank you so much. I have a bit more hope now.”

Besides, it wasn’t like the siege was set in stone yet either. There was a chance it might not happen.

We decided to meet up with the reinforcements when they arrived from the capital the following day.

“Noir, I’ll send an express letter to your father,” said Perrido. “And, of course, I’d be happy to do the same for your friends.”

“Thanks. This was only supposed to be a two- or three-day trip, after all.”

Emma, Leila, and I were in the middle of our summer break, and Lola had taken a lengthy vacation. Luna, on the other hand, had only taken as much time off as she thought she’d need.

“Are you okay staying longer?” I asked her. “I know you have work at the temple.”

“It’s fine. All I care about is helping people. Whether it’s back at the temple or in another kingdom, it’s all the same to me. I’m sure they’ll understand if I’m a little delayed.”

I did feel more comfortable knowing we had Luna and her Healing Shot to rely on.

Just like that, the five of us decided to extend our stay in Honest.

We were free for the rest of the day, so we opted to spend the time looking around. The town was divided neatly into districts, with grid-like roads forming natural boundaries between them. Each district was clearly marked.

“We don’t know where we’re going to be stationed, though I hope I’m with you, Noir.”

Emma was right—we might end up having to get around quickly if things got messy, so it made sense to learn the lay of the land.

“But why don’t the townspeople just run away?” she asked.

“It’s not that simple. I mean, maybe if they had the kind of money your family does, sure.”

No one knew exactly when the attack would come. Even if they did, moving to another kingdom wasn’t easy—especially for people who had jobs here. The situation was painfully clear from the children playing with wooden swords in the streets.

“I’m not gonna lose! I’m not scared of any monster siege!”

“Me neither! Monsters are weak!”

Whether or not the monsters were actually weak was beside the point—even the children loved their hometown enough to want to defend it. The adults’ conversations weren’t much different; none of them wanted to lose their home.

“You know, maybe that’s why there are so many martial arts schools in town.”

“Makes sense. The town would stand a better chance if every citizen was combat-ready.”

Apparently, the large-scale attacks had started over two hundred years ago. This town had experienced it at least ten times, so its residents were more prepared for it by now.

By the time we’d made it around all the districts, we were hungry, so we headed back to the inn. It was about lunch time anyway, and as we got closer, the smell of food tickled our noses. But any thought of a delicious meal was wiped away the moment we set foot inside.

“There are a lot of men in this world you just can’t trust, but I ain’t one of them. I’d protect you to the bitter end, no matter what happened, and you can count on that. I’m gonna become a soldier so I can keep you safe.”

A brown-haired man was trying to woo one of the women who worked at the inn. He fired off line after mind-blowingly cringey line, and he topped it off by cornering the woman against a wall like in some cheesy romance novel. The woman, who was in the middle of her shift, seemed at a bit of a loss. The customers around her were all visibly annoyed.

“When I strike it rich, the first thing I’ll do is buy you a new pair of shoes. Some real fancy ones to help support your precious feet.”

Did women really fall for that sort of stuff? It seemed impossible to me, but, for whatever reason, a lot of them seemed to be in love with this dirtbag. Maybe his persistence was more effective than it looked.

I sighed and put a hand on my brother’s shoulder. “You’re bothering everyone. There’s a time and a place for this stuff, and it’s not here or now.”

“Noir, my boy! Where’ve you been? I’ve been so lonely!”

Gillan hugged me and rubbed his cheek against mine. I pushed him away as hard as I could.

Urgh, Gillan, quit it!

“I’m only doing this because you ran off,” he said.

“You came to look for your little brother and ended up hitting on a girl instead? And what’s with that luggage?”

There was a large backpack on the floor. Gillan picked it up and suddenly turned serious. “I told you yesterday: I’m leaving. My intuition’s never wrong, the monsters will attack soon.”

“What about trade school?” I asked.

“I told them I’m taking a little break. By the time I get back…well, there probably won’t be much of a school left.”

Cynical much? That said, he was probably right. If I were as weak as I used to be, I would have left too. But things were different now.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but we’re staying to defend the town. Duke Schoen asked for our help.”

“The duke did?! But why would you stay behind and fight? This isn’t your home.”

Gillan wasn’t wrong there either. To be honest, I think I’d let myself get a little carried away after we arrived. Even so, if I decided to leave, I knew Luna and Leila would stay behind. Emma and Lola might come with me, but those two? They were too kind, and they cared too much about doing the right thing. And besides, this trip had been my idea to begin with. I couldn’t exactly run away and leave my friends behind because things got a little dicey.

“Maybe it’s fate that we ended up here,” I said. “And who knows, maybe it won’t happen after all.”

“Wait, wait, wait, I understand how you feel, but you’ve gotta know your limits. I know you’ve grown a lot stronger, Noir, but these monsters are serious business. Like that insane monster that hit Landan the other day—turning people into stone!”

“Yeah, I know. I was there for that.”

“Hya hah! Your joke was so good it made my laugh come out funny!”

“It wasn’t a joke,” I said.

“All right, all right, if you insist…I’ll let you prove it.”

“You will?”

“Look, I’m not trying to be mean. It’s just, of us three brothers, you were always the most, uh, lacking in talent, Noir.”

Right again, Gillan.

My father had been a swordsman when he was granted his title. His genes were passed down to his sons, but they weren’t equally distributed—his first son was a prodigy, his second fairly talented, and the third, me, completely and utterly ordinary. Clearly our eldest brother had taken more than his fair share of the family talent. With Gillan taking the remainder, there had been nothing left for me. Admittedly, I was extremely grateful for my Great Sage skill.

“Fair enough, then,” I said. “Why don’t we spar? It’s been a while.”

“Yes! I love it! You know, I’ve gotten pretty strong since then. I’ve been doing endurance training.”

Had he even been training while he was studying at trade school? That showed a level of commitment I hadn’t expected.

“There’s a small training ground nearby,” he said. “Follow me.”

We went with him into a public space established by the town government. There were already a lot of people there—exercising and practicing with weapons. Gillan struck a smug pose and drew his sword with needless flourish. It was his old faithful saber.

“Listen, Noir, I know it might not always be obvious, but I love you. You’re thoughtful and careful, but also daring at times. You always keep your dear friend Emma safe and put our family first. To be honest…I wish I could date you.”

“Ew, Gillan, stop it! You’re my brother!”

“Ha ha ha! All jokes aside, I care about you a great deal, little brother. So I won’t let you get yourself killed for nothing. If I win this match, you’re coming home with me, got it?”

I nodded and drew my sword. My brother may have gotten stronger since we’d last seen each other, but I had too. Still, it was better to be safe. Back home, the priest had appraised him at Level 38. I used Discerning Eye to check where he was now.

 

Name: Gillan

Age: 20

Species: Human

Level: 34

Occupation: University Student

Skills: C-Grade Swordsmanship

 

He’d lost levels?! I was so shocked I couldn’t find the words for a moment. I glared back at his smug face.

“Gillan, tell the truth, have you actually been training?”

“Of course! I’ve been pulling all-nighters to improve how long I can last in bed.”

“But you haven’t actually been using your sword or fighting monsters, have you?”

“I mean, I’m an aspiring merchant so…”

That was a fair point. After all, a merchant could just hire muscle if he needed it. But it was hard to give him a pass for actually losing levels. That took some true commitment to laziness. I raised my sword—inviting him to come at me whenever he wanted.

“I thought I taught you better than that, Noir. Only amateurs leave their whole torso open to look cool!”

Gillan rushed me, not even bothering to feint, and sliced at me with his sword. It wasn’t hard to match his blade’s trajectory with my own.

Ktchink!

Gillan’s sword hit the ground. In a contest of sheer power, I had the upper hand by quite a margin.

Gillan’s blade trembled. “A-a fluke, for sure.”

“Absolutely not. We can do this all day if you want, but it’s going to end the same way.”

“H-have you learned other skills beyond Great Sage?”

“I’ve learned a ton,” I said. “And I can even use the Great Sage way more frequently. I’m over Level 100.”

“I am so sorry!”

Gillan fell to his hands and knees, humiliating himself to demonstrate his sincerity. He could be so earnest sometimes. It was one of his better qualities.

“By the way, Gillan, I noticed with my Discerning Eye that you’ve dropped to Level 34. You’ve been slacking on your morning training, haven’t you?”

“I-It’s so hard to get up in the morning when you’re spending all night with pretty ladies…”

I didn’t even know what to say. To be fair, how many people would actually choose to do something hard instead of something fun? Either way, what mattered was that I’d won.

“I’m staying put,” I said. “So you go on home. I’m sending a letter, but I’d feel better if you explained the situation yourself.”

“All right,” said Gillan. “But I want you to hold onto this for me.”

He pulled out a pair of silver rings and handed one to me.

“These are Communication Rings. They’re a magical device. You can use them to send a message to the other ring.”

Apparently, they worked even between two kingdoms. However, they would only work once. Also, one of them had been used, so only one could send a message, and the other one could only receive it.

“Either way,” said Gillan, “remember it can only send one message, and it has to be short.”

“It’s really limited, huh?”

“Maybe, but it could be useful. If there’s some monster you just can’t beat, you could send me a message, and I would find a way to bring some strong guys to help out. Your big brother will find a way!”

I’d forgotten about this side of Gillan. When I was younger, he’d always protected me from the bullies. Gillan might have had plenty of negative qualities, but it was hard to hate him when he got like this.

“All right,” I said. “I’ll take it. But it seems like a pretty rare item.”

“Don’t worry, I got it from my rich girlfriend.”

That…wasn’t something he should be so proud of, surely? Either way, things were settled for now. He wanted to get going straight away, so I saw him off at the entrance to the training grounds. He’d probably be fine running away by himself.

“He’s the same shallow playboy, huh?” Emma said, watching him leave.

“He might be a shallow playboy, but he’s my big brother.”

“Aww, how cute, you love your brother,” she said. “Wait, is that someone chasing Gillan?”

She was right, there was a young woman running after him. When she caught up, she smacked Gillan upside the head, knocking him over. Then she gave him a kick in the stomach for good measure and walked off as though nothing had happened.

Emma and I weren’t surprised. Not even a little.