"Zeeyaaaaaaah!

　He swung his sword down with all his might.

　With a dull thud, the head of a demon called the Kuro Wolf fell off.

"Kate, behind you!

　Aria warned me.

　Just as she had said, another one of the creatures I had defeated attacked me.

　But don't worry. I'm aware of it.

　Twisting to turn around, I place my sword on the ground and make a pause. Concentrating, I sense the approach of the fang that's trying to kill me from behind. I timed it just right...


"Deaaaaah!

　I spun around and slashed up diagonally.

　Gah!

　It must have thought it had killed me.
　The black wolf, whose body had been cut in half, opened its eyes.

"Thanks, Aria.
"Yeah. Two of them got away!

　We were given the task of destroying the black wolves.
　So we're not going to let any of them escape.

　I'm not very good at close combat, and I'm a wizard. There was a black wolf heading for her, but Aria didn't try to intercept it.

　Because she trusts me. I have to defeat the demon that's trying to attack Aria.

　...... Don't worry, I can do it!

　I'm not sure what to do.
　My body is falling to the ground.

　When my body fell forward, I put all my strength into my legs.

　I turned the downward acceleration of my body into a force to move closer to Aria.

　Kicking the ground, he ran as fast as he could...

　He thrust his sword into the torso of the black wolf that was about to sink its fangs into Aria.

　The demon's attack was almost upon her, but Aria's gaze was fixed on the two fleeing black wolves. Magic flows out of her. Even I, with my limited ability to sense magic, could see it, so thick was the magic swirling around Aria.

"Ice Lance, pierce through and kill my enemy, Ice Lance!

　The magic power turned into countless ice lances, all of which flew at high speed.

　I heard the scream of a demon in the distance.

"Yes! You've hit it!
Nice work, Aria.

　It seemed that she had deployed countless spears at the same time to make sure that the fast-moving wolf demon didn't escape, but the first two spears that flew were each killing their targets.

　The first two that flew were each able to kill the target, even though they were quite far apart.

The first two that flew were each able to kill the target even though they were quite far apart. The accuracy of your magic is also amazing.

"Kate also always made sure I could cast my spells without worry, even when there were so many monsters. The way she moved when she finally defeated the demon was also amazing.

　Being praised by Aria makes me happy. When I praise Aria, she seems to be happy about it.


Let's go report to Mr. Shiliu then.
"Yes!　Yes! Let's get a lot of praise.

　We retrieved the part that would prove that we had defeated the demon, and began to head towards the city. It was just the two of us, Aria and I. We had been asked to take down a pack of black wolves, a D-rank medium demon.

　Originally, this was a request for a party of four or more D-rank adventurers. Incidentally, it had been about a month since we had registered with the guild.

　The first two weeks were spent at a training center owned by the clan (Notorious), where Silu taught us how to fight demons.

　Since we left our home village, we had the ability to defeat D-ranked demons. But that was just to defeat them. We didn't use any particular technique.

　Silu and the other adventurers in Notorious taught us the techniques and knowledge to defeat demons efficiently, safely, and without diminishing their value as materials.

　By learning these things, Aria and I feel like we've become many steps stronger.

　In today's defeat, I left some food containing paralyzing poison near the nest of the black wolf in advance. Several black wolves ate it, so it was quite easy for me. One of the adventurers in the clan taught us how to prepare a poison that the black wolves would not notice.

　Clans are amazing.

　Adventurers with all kinds of skills and knowledge are willing to help us. That's what made us strong and helped us grow as adventurers.

"Hey, Aria. I'm really glad I joined Notorious.

Me too, Kate. I used to think that chanting magic was just a pain in the ass, but joining the clan helped me realize that I could waste less magic and increase the accuracy of my attacks!

　In the beginning, I had always planned to be an adventurer alone with Aria. She's rather shy.

　But lately, I've been seeing Aria chatting with the wizards of the clan about magic.

　We've only been adventurers for two weeks, but we've already been promoted to E rank. Our guild points had accumulated quickly, and the day before yesterday, Silu had recommended our promotion to the guild, so we were able to advance without having to take the required exam.

　He told us that if we had taken the exam, we would have passed it. That made me happy too. I'm sure he'll praise us again today when we report that we've done our job.




I'll work even harder. I'm going to work even harder, and one day I'll be an adventurer who's called Mr. Siryu's right-hand man!

Then I'll be Kate's right-hand man.

Aria is strong, and she'll get stronger. You're strong and you're going to get stronger, so why don't you become Siryu's left-hand man instead of mine?

Hmm, that's good too. ....... But I still prefer to be with Kate.

　I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that.
　Actually, she's a skinny type.

　So, you know. The softest one is .......

　I couldn't help but concentrate on my right arm. I can't stop thinking about my right arm, but Aria is talking to me.

So Kate, let's keep working together!

"Uh, yeah. I'll do my best.

"What's wrong?　Are you feeling down?　Did you hurt yourself in the battle?

No, no, no. That's not true!　I'm unharmed!　Look at that.

　I'll spin around on the spot and show that I'm not hurt anywhere. I also escaped from Aria's restraints. If I don't, I might be in more trouble than I was when fighting the demon.

Is that so?　I hope so. ....... Just don't take any chances.

Oh. If anything happens, I'll definitely tell Aria. Let me know if you need anything, Aria.

Okay.

And good luck in the future!

Yeah!　Good luck!

　I'm going to keep working with Aria at Notorious.
　We're going to be stronger than ever!