Duran exhaled in a huff and let the tension out at the same time.
'At last--'
　To Duran, the fangs of the Black Wolf are of no importance.
　The only reason Duran is here is because the blessings of his mad warriors tell him that a strong man will emerge and that he should do as your heart tells him to do.
　That's why I was only hired by Eisen through a filthy nobleman in town to do it. That fool would think Duran was following, but he wasn't. Rather, he would not overlook the bandit who was a traumatizing presence for Duran.

　The blessing of the mad warrior gives only vague information.
　A strong man will appear, now fight him. That's all he told them.
　That's why Duran wondered if the strongman was the A-ranked adventurer with two names, the Ice Emperor Christa Niese Bran Richter.

''That was a good fight too--''
　The twin swordsmanship of the flashing fine sword and the mighty ice magic. The entire forest was about to be frozen.
　It's not just a matter of how much blood is being shed.
　There is no doubt that this was a bloody battle for Duran as well.
　But even more than that, Duran was envious of the girls. It's a face that believes itself to be right. It's a good expression of determination. It was a far cry from the dry Duran.

　If it wasn't for Duran, he had the ability to annihilate a bandit group of this magnitude in a few minutes, but compared to Duran, he was slightly inferior in some areas.
　His inexperience due to his youth and the absence of a wallflower in close combat.
　Duran did not miss it.

　In the end, the winner was Duran. The blood that was shed was also very little.
　So, surely this was just the beginning.
　Flowing, circulating, meeting, and dying with the strong.

"Haha--
　The elation in his body became a voice.
　Only in this moment did Duran feel raw.
　It was also a curse that continued from that day onward.

　Duran, who was from a poor villager, had his village attacked by bandits when he was seven years old.
　There were, I believe, twenty or more of them.
　There were only about five vigilantes in the village, so it was inevitable that the vigilantes would be defeated because of the difference in numbers and the village would perish unceremoniously.
　But it was not to be.
　As many of them sank into a sea of blood, Duran smiled ferociously. While everyone else was despairing and screaming, only Duran was able to grasp the current situation.
　Yes, Duran was a genius in battle by nature.

　Then, he calmly accelerated his thoughts.
　The strength of the battle, the remaining troops, our superiority, the gaps to take advantage of, and the ones to protect, were just quietly recognized.

　What would it take to overturn the adversity--
　Duran's conclusion was that he had the advantage of the ground and the bandits' carelessness.

　Even though he was blessed with a good physique, he thought of such a method, where his seven-year-old self would annihilate the bandits of higher rank.

　First of all, he slit the head of the bandit who had raped his mother with a knife.
　It was easy to kill the bandit, who was laughing happily, taking off his pants and even his sword on the floor. If he didn't make a sound and approached the bandit from behind, the knife would reach the neck of the bent bandit.
　It was the first time I had killed someone.
　Fresh blood pooled, and a tidal wave of nausea and elation swept over me like a tidal wave.

　As it was, I snatched my dagger and long sword and went around killing bandits one by one.
　The terrain of the village where I spent seven years is all in my head.
　The roads and hidden rooftops used during hide-and-seek were the perfect place for a surprise attack.

　Sometimes the villagers thrust their blades into the backs of their attackers, and sometimes they used their height to dive down to their feet and slash their tendons. At other times, he smashed a stone into their heads from the roof, and made sure to destroy each one of them so that they were never at a disadvantage.
　And the next thing you know, the annihilation was already complete.

　Duran was just desperate. Utilizing his natural physical abilities, he used his carelessness to the best of his ability to annihilate the bandits.
　It was to survive, to protect his mother and father, and to receive praise from those around him.
　He was just selflessly trying to keep his father and mother's love alive.

　But Duran's feelings were betrayed.
　Everyone recognized Duran as an anomaly.
　The strange looks directed at Duran, who was a child and killed all the bandits.
　The twisted smile directed at him by his beloved parents, who had raised Duran with a gentle smile.
　Duran could not forget that gaze for the rest of his life.
　An illusion that floated in his head. If the gentle smile was so dirty and distorted, Duran no longer knew what he had fought so desperately for, suppressing his nausea, risking his life, enduring his fear.
　All that was left was the immense sense of loss and the elation of battle.

　Then Duran abandoned the village and put himself in the middle of the battle.
　Seeking a little stronger elation, he sought to escape - to escape.

　At some point, there was a foreign body that had taken up residence in Duran's distorted mind.
　I found myself at the mercy of such a foreign body.
　I felt like I couldn't live without it, I couldn't live without it--

　It was an escape for my weak self to survive.
　If you don't fight, you can't live.
　If I don't get uplifted, I can't live.
　I don't know what I'm living for.
　The battlefield somehow became an everyday life, and the everyday became a nightmare before he knew it. For Duran, fighting has become life itself.　

　He exhaled and clenched his fists so hard that his blood seeped out.
　Duran's body pulsed and his muscles expanded through his clothes.
　He didn't work out. He had just gained it while moving from one battlefield to another.
　The strong muscle fibers were bunched together and took on a steel-like appearance.

　In his hand, he held a large, single-edged sword. At a glance, it would appear as if he was holding a mighty knife.
　However, it was stubborn and emitted a sharp light that could not be compared to a kitchen knife. It was a rugged, long, life-sucking, crimson phantom of a blade that reflected such a blade.

　It was an acquisition he had inherited from the man he had cut down during the coup at some point in time. He was a joke who ordered the mercenaries to save the princess.
　Duran had said such a thing even though he had been an enemy at that time.
　Duran had no way of knowing what had happened to the frightened and unintelligible little girl since then, but he had a vision of the smile he was looking for between the light reflecting off the blade.

'This time, this time,'

　Duran believed that if he met and fought the strong, his void would be filled.




◇



Nacht, my dear Nacht, are you sure we shouldn't do this?　It's reckless - we can't just walk into a bandit's hideout by ourselves!
　Bandits come in all sizes, but for Aisha, who was only a single villager, it was the fear that was closest to her heart.
　Even during her time in the pioneer village, she had been attacked by small-scale bandits a few times.
　When she saw her father returning wounded, a chill had come over her that made her cringe.
　How could he not be afraid?

'It's a little late for that now, Aisha. Just the other day you were about to kill a dragon if you made a mistake.　Don't freak out over a bandit.

"Mmm, this is ridiculous!　To me, dragons and bandits are as scary as they are to me........
　For a moment, Aisha shuddered as her mind wandered back to the time the dragon had been closing in on her.

'Well, sure - it's not a good idea to keep this up, okay -'
　Aisha is only a child of the half-eared chief race (half-elf), and although she has plenty of potential in terms of magic power, she's just a child now.
　It's only natural to remain anxious if you have no way to protect yourself.
　So, if that's the case, Nacht has only one choice.

''--Aisha.''

Yes, sir.

　Nacht told Aisha, who looked up at Nacht with a nervous look on her face.

'Take off your clothes.'

'Yes, sir!　.........Heh?
　Aisha responded with a conditional reflex, and after regaining her senses, Aisha's eyes fluttered, and then steam erupted from her head as if she had exploded with a bong.

'Oh, um, no - no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, I mean, no, of course, if you think it's too much trouble, Nacht-sama, I'll undress you in front of me, but I'd like to experience it for the first time, at least in a deserted place, alone with you... and preferably in a castle with a roof over your head... ...How...
　Aisha's words, which had gone out of control in a big way, almost made Nacht almost hold her head up.

''Wow, as for me, I was going to have you eat more, you know, after the part that comes out, but if Nacht-sama says it's better as it is, then it's always okay, yes!　I don't care if it hurts, I'll put up with it!
　It was Nahat who was short on words.
　However, I couldn't imagine that she would be so wrong.
　The reason is that in the gaming days, asking someone to take off their clothes was a cloak of speech to show you the performance of their equipment, and although it was considered s*xual harassment if you were a novice player, it was usually acceptable. It just came out of my mouth out of habit.
　Before Aisha could blow herself up any further, Nacht hurriedly corrected her.

''No!　I'll give you the equipment and I just want you to change - the only equipment you have now, by the looks of it, is linen clothes and ragged shoes - so I'm going to give you the armor.


"Heh!　What?　So, then, what did I ever say to you... ha ha ha!
　Needless to say, it took quite a while for the soulless Aisha to regain her ego.


'So, have you calmed down?'

Yes, yes.

Very well, then, let's start with this--
　That said, he took out a pair of pumpkin pants for children.

'A shape of underwear I've never seen before - but, hey, something about it - I feel like I'm being treated like a child.
　I wonder if my sixth sense has sensed something, and I muddle my tea with a deliberate cough to Aisha, who is staring at Nacht with her zit eyes.
　It's not that I gave it to her because it looks good on a child.
　These shabby pumpkin pants are also a magic item. It's a Halloween-only item that you can get when a female character completes a quest called Halloween the beginning.
　Anyone can get it by participating in the event, but because it's an event-only item, it's a valuable piece of equipment in its own right.
　It is a unique level. In addition to a high level of magic resistance, it also contains special abilities.

　Basically, game era equipment is general, rare (rare), idiosyncratic (unique), legendary (legendary), and ancient (Ancient). On top of that, there are not without exceptions, the Ultimate (Ultimate), but these are mostly event-only, top-tier quests, and there are only a small absolute number of them that can be counted. Therefore, it is common knowledge that the highest level is the Ancient Level (Ancient).

　The reason why ancient-grade (Ancient) armor was not given is because there were only a small number of them, but there were also complex requirements to equip them. All armor of the Legendary class (Legendary) and above have conditions, such as requiring the ability value required to equip it, and there are rarely any that Aisha can equip.

''So, this is the next--''

'It's frilly and pretty!　Even if I really do wear it!
　What I took out was a maid's uniform, which is labeled as a woman's formal wear.
　This, of course, is also a special class magic armor.
　It has a high level of physical defense and virtually no magical defense, but it has two special abilities instead. One is to nullify the lowest level of magic. The other is resistance to the four major attributes.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this and this, and also this--
　The shoes of a floating horse with levitation effect.
　A dreamer's necklace with hallucination resistance.
　A flower ornament from another dimension with resistance to all attributes.
　And lastly--

Legendary-level (Legendary) item with lower-tier restrictions removed for paid items: the Teardrop Ring of the Fertility God (Freartiers).
　There is a rare item in the Limited Time Event Gacha prize that can counteract the restriction of equipping it only to lower levels with smaller restrictions.
　This ring, which removes the lower level restriction of level 70 or more and LUK value of 250 or more, is a ring that nullifies almost all of the poison, paralysis, and sleep disorders and slightly increases the resistance to all disorders, an unbelievable effect.
　The ring is carved in gold with lines reminiscent of waves, and at the top is a seven-colored gemstone, a crystal of the goddess's tears enshrined in a gold hand.

　All of these items were undoubtedly more expensive than Aisha could have imagined, due to their elaborate workmanship and magical surge of power.
　But even so, it wasn't enough for Aisha to appreciate them.
　Naturally, it can't be said to be all due to its performance, but the magic tools of the idiosyncratic level are the goods of a great nation's secret treasure level.
　It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
　Of course, Nacht himself doesn't know that. But even with this, I thought I had carefully selected items whose value was difficult to understand at a glance, and that's why Aisha, though hesitant, would equip it if I strongly recommended it.

　But that ring is an exception.
　Just by looking at it, even Aisha could understand that it was unusual and expensive.

''Ugh, I can't accept it!

"...?　But this will come in handy, okay?
　Nacht was also a great help to me when I was low level.
　It's a good idea to have a ring that covers all of the state's abnormality resistance, so it's worth equipping it, even if you have to get rid of the annoying LUK limit.

But--this beautiful ring--I don't deserve it--
　I can't even imagine how many people can live and play with just the gold in the circle.
　And moreover, how much is the central jewel worth?

''But it's an unnecessary item for me. There's no point in using it as storage manure, can you take it?
　Still, Nacht adds to Aisha, who hasn't reached out to him at all.

'Besides, it's a small price to pay if it's only a ring like this that can save your life, right?　Aisha should understand her worth a little better.
　Aisha slowly chewed those words in her head as Nacht's words were chewed out.
　It took a few seconds for her to fully understand them.
　Nacht said.
　Aisha was far more valuable than this, this hidden treasure that he had never seen or heard of.
　If that was the case, then it was my duty to protect this body - my life.

It's not fair - I'm so happy that you said that, I have no choice but to take it...!
　Aisha, still powerless at the moment, could only cling to Nacht's mercy.
　Aisha, who had received it slowly, slowly fitted it into her finger as if she were biting down on happiness.

''Why, without hesitation, left hand ring finger..........''
　No answer came back from Aisha, who looked at the ring happily.