My sister came out of the hut with the boy Marco.
　She is crippled in her legs, so she is holding onto the boy's shoulders and a cane in one hand.
　She is a thin girl with thin lines, not much like the boy.
　Her hair is shaggy and her body is too thin, probably because she doesn't have enough nutrition. Her skin was pale and unhealthy, probably due to the fact that she had been living in these tunnels and not getting any sunlight.
　They are pale and unhealthy, and in this world they would have been old enough to start working by now, but they can't work outside, either. At best, he can do an inside job.
　As long as he's living in the slums, I can see that life isn't easy.

...... boy. You've been protecting this sister all by yourself?

　I can't help but ask that question.
　'A boy much younger than I am, who has been providing for his crippled sister all by himself?

'That's right!　We're family.

　Family, huh?
　It would be a waste of time to ask what happened to their parents.
　It's a good thing that you're not going to have to worry about the fact that you're not going to be able to get your hands on any of these things.　

It's a good thing that you've heard about White in the guild, brother.　Why did you help me?

　White is the ore I bought from this Marco boy.
　I was told by the guild that it is a mineral that is mixed with gold, and that in Luclaera it has to be sorted out by hand to prevent it from being mixed with gold, and that it is treated as a nuisance.
　Marco had been tricking travelers into believing that the ore was rare and valuable.
　When I said I had business with the guild, he rushed away.
　In fact, the guild had a number of men at the entrance sorting the gold from the white, and it's pretty obvious.

　Well, I bought it because I have appraisal skills and it didn't look so bad, so I don't feel that I was cheated. But from the boy's point of view, he knows that the person he tricked knew that he was tricked and came to his rescue - that's how he feels.

'It's because they asked me to. And, well, it's just another fate.

　He's alerted me to the surroundings, pointing to Marina and the others.
　And there's a saying, "once in a lifetime". I don't hate this Marco boy either. How can I dislike a man who is struggling to survive in a world like this?

Let's get the hell out of here. You never know when there's going to be another monster on the loose...
Jirou!　Watch out!

　Rebecca's screams.
　Reflexively, I threw myself out of the way as I pulled the boy Marco and his sister down.
　A wind noise hit my ears, as if something was passing right beside me at a great speed, and the next thing I knew, the walls of the boy's house crumbled away with a powerful burst of sound.

''Oh, my God!

　Brushing away the dust, I sit up and look deep into the tunnel.
　There he finds--

O......... oak............?

　A pig's head and a burly, depressed body like a wrestler's.
　Apologies for the metal armor that covered only part of his body.
　It was the appearance of the promised race that often appears in games, Orcs.

'Seriously? Next to the goblins, a huge man like that: ......

　Orcs are in a very "I just finished throwing rocks" stance.

　After confirming that I've avoided the attack, he finds the next round and throws it without hesitation in an overthrow.
　The rock flies in the direction of the day after tomorrow, perhaps not so well controlled.
　But it's a simple and powerful attack. If something like that were to hit me directly, I would die lightly.

　However, it's a straight line. If you watch them throw it, you can avoid it.
　However, I can't believe they're monsters and they're throwing things at you. ......
　Maybe they have some intelligence when it comes to things a certain amount stronger.

　Boo hoo!　Boo hoo!　And the orcs are angry.
　It seems to have thrown a tantrum.

　Perhaps in response to that voice, several more orcs appear from the back.
　There are roughly four of them.
　All in all, five of them are in trouble. If they throw rocks in succession, we're stuck.

　But we have to do it.
　If we retreated now and they threw rocks at us from behind, we wouldn't have the confidence to deal with them.
　It's the hard times that are the hardest, and that's what Shero-san taught me: ......!

Rebecca!　You have to let these kids go first!　We've got to do something about that swine.
Okay, but what about Jirou!　We'll fight you, and Jirou will run away with you!

'No!　I'll do it alone!

　I can't let them fight.

'What are you talking about?　Suddenly such a brave thing. You're going to die!
The Lord wants you to wait in a safe place!　It is Marina's job to fight!

　Rebecca and Marina are both very motivated.
　But .......

'But no. ......!　Female knights and orcs are ......!

　Marina, Rebecca and Elepippi are all knights.
　They are female knights.
　And her opponent is an orc.
"...... d*mn it, kill it! That means you can be assured that you will be .......
　I just hope we don't lose!

　.............
　Well.
　All jokes aside, let's cooperate and take them down quickly.
　Orcs are probably not as skilled as the goblins, seeing how powerful they are with the stones they throw.
　He's also a Sekitori-grade man.
　His weapon is a club.
　He can be a pitcher, a batter, a smoother wrestler and a busy guy.

　We've decided to leave the boy and his sister to Elepippi, and me, Rebecca and Marina will fight the orcs.
　Rebecca's and Marina's chastity is at stake, and we can't afford to lose.

Jirou, Marina. The weapon is a club, but if you hit it, it's just as dangerous as a blade. It's a good idea to think of it as a blade, because it has a big face, which is more troublesome than an inferior sword.

　Rebecca's advice. I'm surprisingly calm even with that thing. Isn't that the natural enemy of a female knight ...... that's no longer the case?

I get it! Yes, sir!

　Even as she replies, Marina screams a bullhorn and runs into the orcs.
　Brave as ever. How can you ...... a pig-faced old man with a body like that Musashimaru?

　It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with your friends.
　Even just grazing him would have done a lot of damage,.......

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work for you. I'm not as scared as I'd like to be, either.
　Maybe it's because it's natural to fight such opponents, but the goblins felt unusually weak, and the orcs look like 'normal monsters' when I see them.
　But common sense dictates that even orcs are probably bad enough monsters.
　Thanks to Shero-san and Rebecca-san for putting on the training for real battles.

　However, there were five enemies.
　A certain amount of coordination is probably necessary.

　Rebecca-san and I will also draw our swords and run.
　The orcs seem to have chosen to fight with their weapons as well, and they are coming at us, buzzing and screaming.

　It was Marina who attacked first.
　She strikes the halberd that swung at the upper level, hitting it directly with tremendous force.
　The orc reacted to the attack, trying to match the club--

　Thump!

　And it was comfortably cut in half. The club made of thick wood.
　-- and in the next moment, the unstoppable second blow was unleashed into a kesa-slash.
　The halberd's axe section dug deep into his shoulder, and the orc was doomed - turning his figure into a Kobushi-sized magic crystal.

''Oops. Marina, even against an orc, it's easy. What the hell is that guy?
'Hmph. I work out. I work out so hard I could spit blood in my mouth.

　Well, I've certainly spent most of my mornings training since I hired Etowah.
　He'd been attacked once by a wildlife thief, so he'd been doing some training that was too serious to be a hobby, and Marina in particular had been particularly enthusiastic about it.
　Sometimes we trained together, but Rebecca was in charge of the girls, and we often trained out of sight, and when I asked Marina before, she said, "Tycho-dono wears a cat where the Lord is! So he must be training very hard.

　But I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought, "Oh, he might not be the type of person who can't use common sense," with Mr. Shero.　You could be killed by accident!　"No!　I've killed him! I'm going to say that! I'm training for a real battle with fear.

　I'm not going to lose to an orc!

　I'm curious about the battle between Marina and Rebecca-san, but I want to take out at least one of them too.
　It's partly because I want to see the results of my training, and maybe it's the tendency of a swordsman's vocation, but it's the adrenaline rush that gets me excited.

　The orcs are fleshed out.
　It's huge.
　It's huge both vertically and horizontally.
　A club is as big as my torso.
　It's not an exaggeration to call it a small giant.
　It's a pig.

　I can understand why Rebecca told me to use two-handed weapons when I first chose my weapon.
　You are too lazy with a one-handed sword against such a big guy. And you can't kill him with a dagger, much less a dagger.

　I held up my magic sword.
　The special abilities of the magic sword are "Absorb", "Increase Evasion Rate" and "Anti-Monster Plus Compensation".
　I've actually experienced all of these abilities when I fought bears, but they are all useful. Absorption is especially bad. Even a half-hikinito who isn't confident in his physical strength can continue to fight endlessly.
　This is because it sucks up your opponent's energy and makes you tired. It's unclear in the middle of the unknown what the principle is, but it's probably sucking out something physical. It's 100 times more effective than a bad nutrition drink.

'Boohi!

　An orc swings a cudgel that could be called a log.
　Apparently, they are not intelligent enough to speak human language.
　Good. 'Orc kook! I didn't know what to do if I was laughing at him.

　He avoided the orc's attack by back stepping.
　The orc slammed the club into the ground as it was.

　Huge.
　And powerful.
　It's an honest-to-goodness threat.
　......, but that's all I can say. It's manageable.

　The orc chase.
　A miscellaneous attack, swinging the club with a buzz and a sideways swipe.
　When I avoided this, he couldn't kill the momentum and showed his back.

　I quickly slammed the sword into its unprotected, oily back.
　The demon sword is an exceptionally sharp sword.
　The black, wet sword blade is not affected by the blood glue, nor does it cause the blade to spill when cutting through hard objects.
　It slices through the backfat with a nuttiness and the jet-black blade goes into the pork.
　By the time the sword passed through to the other side, the orc transformed into a magical crystal.
　It was a single shot up.
　Monsters are easy to fight because they don't bleed.

　Now I killed one of them and Marina killed one of them.
　There are three left.
　If possible, I'd like to retreat before reinforcements, or rather, more monsters, appear.

'Yes!　I'm going to pick up the Demon Crystal and go home!

　Rebecca's voice.
　Looking at it, not a single orc had already survived.
　It seems that Marina and Rebecca-san were able to defeat them all. Oh, shit.

Wow. I missed seeing how Rebecca-san fought!
'What?　Nothing out of the ordinary.　Go up to him and sniffle.
Okay.

　It's amazing that you can do that against a monster that big: .......
　But if you've beaten it, it's good. There's no need to stay for long, let's just go back.

　The amount of Demon Crystals for the goblins and the orcs is quite a bit.
　This would be very profitable in a somewhat managed hunting ground, but right now we don't know what kind of things will come up, and I heard that the Hitotsutsuzuki-class ones are springing up too.
　It's a good thing that there are some good ones now, but if you get greedy, you'll get hurt.



　◇◆◆◆◆◇◇.



"Lord.
Hmm?
"This is the Lord's. I want you to receive it.

　On the way out of the tunnel.
　Marina tries to hand me the spirit stone she just obtained.
　It's proof that I've cleared Marina's instruction "Let's defeat the monster" a long time ago.
　Marina lost her First Spirit Stone in the fight against the bear (technically, Deanna used it as a source of energy for her spirit magic to treat Marina's injuries).

　Originally, it seems that many people keep the "first spirit stone" with them as a memento of themselves.
　I'm not that conscious of it either, but I still have my first spirit stone (Lapis Lazuli) with me.
　For Marina, this stone that she got today should be the first one she's ever had in her senses.
　...... You really want to have it yourself, but you can't force ...... it.

I'll leave it with you. I'll leave it with Marina then. Can you take it with you so I don't lose it?　One day I'll tell you when I need you.
...... Is it okay for Marina to have ......?
'You let Deanna have a lot of it. That's a slave's job. And she keeps the spirit stone.

　Marina smiles at those words.

Is it work? Then it is not a choice. It's your job, then.
Yeah. Thank you.

　If you tell Marina that you don't need it, keep it yourself, she won't listen to you.
　If I told her like this, she'd keep it safe for a long time.


　On the way, we met up with Elepippi and the others.
　Your sister has bad legs and can't drive fast enough, you know.
　We can't even use a wheelchair in these bad tunnels. I don't know if they have a wheelchair or not.

...... Are you okay, young master?

　Elepippi is a rather unreadable child with a rather unreadable expression, but even to the untrained eye, that orc would have looked like a threat. He asks with concern.

'Surprisingly. You've managed it.''
Does that mean you beat him?

　I pull out a Kobushi-sized demonic crystal from my pocket and show it to you.

'Erepipi, Rebecca-san and Marina are both super strong.
I know ....... I have to keep up the good work.
Well, Elepippi is just the beginning, and it's just the beginning.

　I wonder if Elepippi really wanted to fight too. She even borrowed a weapon from the blacksmith shop.
　If it wasn't for Marco boy and his sister, just showing her that battle might have been a harvest for her.
　Well, as expected, I can't put Elepippi, who's only trained for a few days, into a real battle.
　A goblin would be fine, but not an orc. We're going to lose without even having the chance to say "f*ck it," and that's it.



　We left the tunnels at about the same time as a huge bird swooped down from the sky.
　Atop the bird is a brown woman in Arabian sensationalist clothing.
　Ivory hair. An unrealistic head horn.
　It's Shamash, the demon race, the Nightmare race.
　They said they've already sealed up a tunnel. You work fast.

　Amidst all the attention, Shamash alighted from the bird in a graceful gesture and walked straight to me.
　I controlled the wary Marina and Rebecca with my hand and stepped forward to talk to them.

'Good evening, Shamash-san.
'You too, Ayase-kun. I'm sorry it took longer than I expected. It's hard for the people on the ground to understand the situation. I've hit them with four lightning bolts.
It's the same here. We've managed to evacuate the building, but they don't understand that we're just getting started.

　They say it's late, but it's only been about an hour since we left.
　I don't know what kind of distance to the tunnels Shamash-san has sealed off, but I'd say it's fast enough.

I'm not sure what the distance to the mine is, but I can tell you that it's fast enough. I'm not sure how far away it is, but it's fast enough.　We are like the Turks, sir.

　Marina said curiously.
　I don't know if brown is a characteristic of the Turk race, but it's true that their physical characteristics may be similar.
　I don't know if brown is a trait of the Turks, but their physical characteristics may indeed be similar.
　Shamash's ears aren't elf ears though (though they are a bit pointy).

''Hm?　Is she a slave to you, Ayase?　Aren't you a Turk?
That's right. My name's Marina. Say hi to Marina!
"This is the Lord's slave, Marina!　My vocation is to be a knight!

　Marina is fine. That's a virtue.
　I mean, she has a really unafraid personality .......
　The kind of guy who'd ride a giant bird with antlers.

'Thanks for the introduction. I'm Shamash of the demon tribe. My name is Shamash Aureole.
'What is the demon tribe ......?　I feel a bit like Marina.
'The color of their skin. The Turk race has the same skin color as the demon race and the same ears as the elves. They are a hard race to live with in this world. ...... but you look happy.

　Shamash's eyes narrowed and he stared dazzled at Marina.
　Was that the reason behind the persecution of the Turks?　Not just because they're fake elves, but also because they have the same skin color as the demon race - or something like that.
　In fact, I've never heard of it, so now it might be a pattern that the first reason has been forgotten and only discrimination remains.

'Marina is very, very happy. I can't even begin to describe this feeling at ...... marina.

　Marina has a melting smile that even I'm used to seeing on a regular basis, which makes my heart skip a beat.
　I could see Shamash-san's breath catch in his throat when he saw her.
　I wondered if he hadn't expected Marina, who is a Turk, to be so happy.

'I see. ....... I see. This is a miscalculation. But a pleasant miscalculation: .......

　I mutter to myself and to no one else.

...... I wonder if there will ever be a time when I can laugh as much as you do.
Isn't it funny?
No, ...... that's not what I'm talking about. ......

　He shoves me straight in and makes my eyes swim.
　He shakes his head and holds out his hand to Marina for a handshake.

'Anyway, I guess that makes me your junior slave. I don't know the rules of the game and may cause you some trouble, but please take care of me.

　I said.

'I said it!'

　No way in hell I'm timing this!　I was going to cut it out when we had a breakthrough!

...... which one?　Is it?

　Marina with the scary face.
　Yeah. You're right. I don't get it. I don't know what you mean.

I'm going to be Ayase's slave. That's what it's all about in exchange for you doing a little favor for me. What, I'm totally willing to do it. It's the first time I've ever felt like this before. Well, I can't even begin to describe the feeling: ......

　Shamash crossed his arms and spat out a smear.
　Marina, in contrast, was stunned, her lips shivering.
　Maybe she wasn't thinking about more slaves or something.

'...... ma, it was because Marina took her eyes off him. I had a vague feeling that this was the case. They are upwardly mobile, and they have no chance of winning.
She said she had a sneaking suspicion: ......

　It's like I'm some kind of motherf*cker who hooks a girl every time I let him out of my sight!
　...... No, I guess it was almost a pick-me-up at Elepippi.
　Again, it's not just Shamash, it's Aeon, too, and there's no excuse for the duck .......

　Well, but.

'Please don't go out of control, Shamash-san. The matter is not yet completely settled. I told you.　He said he'd talk to his friends first.
That too. Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on you, ....... I was totally in the mood for it.

　Hmmm. I'm weak when you say it like that.
　I don't feel like I can say no now.
　But if Marina doesn't want to, I guess I'll have to say no .......
　I still have to persuade Rebecca-san and, above all, Deanna to do so .......

　I glance at Rebecca-san.
　Rebecca-san seemed to be listening to our conversation, although she kept her eyes on the entrance of the tunnel.
　She evacuates the boy Marco and his sister, telling them to go away from the danger, and smiles.
　A grin and a big smile.

　That ......?　Why am I feeling the pressure!
　It's as if I'm some kind of a rogue who hooks up with girls as soon as I take my eyes off them!

'Well, aside from that, Mr. Shamash. What shall we do?　Do you want to seal the mine first?
'Yeah, I know. I had better hurry, I'm going to go for a bit. We need to go a little further back, it's too big to set up a Twilight mimic.
Do you need our help?

　Monsters still spring up.
　It will be dangerous, no matter how much Mr. Shamash,' he said.

'No, it's nothing to worry about. I can tell from my senses that there aren't any strong guys nearby.

　After saying that, Shamash-san walked briskly into the tunnels.

　Me, Marina, Rebecca-san and Erepipi, who stayed behind.
　I can also feel the painful gaze from Deanna, who is a little further away.

　I'll have to explain .......