Incident (2)

The first day off since Allen's confession to Sebas rolled around.

Just as before, he left the mansion first thing in the morning and ran to the city gate, where the usual guard was standing sentry. Allen was impressed with how the man could keep at it this early and in such cold weather.

"You heading out again today, lad?"

"Yes, sir."

The two exchanged light banter while waiting for the 6 am bell. Last time, the guard had told Allen he did not need to show his crest anymore.

Because of that, it was now inside his Storage. Apparently the check was not as strict as it was when using train or plane tickets in his previous life.

The gate soon opened at the usual time, and Allen took off. The first snowfall had come, and the year was almost over. The casual wear that he had been issued was not very thick, but because he was moving about so vigorously, he did not really feel the cold.

The city receded farther and farther into the distance. 'All right, this should be far enough. Come on out, Hawkins.'

Six Bird E Summons appeared at the same time several dozen meters in the air. After Allen instructed them to go look for goblins, they scattered in various directions.

Allen had tried hunting other monsters but ultimately concluded that goblins gave the highest hourly rate. Only goblin groups gave more than 1,000 XP for each encounter. There were other Rank D monsters that gave more XP per monster than goblins did, but they wandered in much smaller groups. Goblins also appeared much more frequently than other monsters did, which definitely helped make it much more efficient hunting them.

'Today, let's aim to kill a hundred goblins and a few horned rabbits for their magic stones and meat. Bringing five back should be enough, I think?'

While waiting for his Summons to return, Allen decided on his quota for the day. The rate of encounter with monsters was not all that high. If he did not have Hawkins constantly scouting from the sky, he might only have three encounters a day. Hawk Eye was proving helpful in improving Allen's hunting efficiency.

Before long, one Hawkins returned, and the day of hunting kicked off.

***

Three hours later, Allen stopped to eat his lunch of steamed potatoes and molmo. Because he was running around all day long, it was important to give his body the energy it needed. The molmo fruit also served to replenish his liquids, making it a very efficient food. Of course, it did not hurt that it was delicious too.

Just as Allen was biting into a molmo, one Hawkins landed on the branch of the tree beside him.

"Welcome back. Wait a bit. I'm almost done eating."

"PII!"

'Hm? What's this?'

The bird's behavior seemed somehow different from usual. A quick look upward revealed three other Hawkins circling overhead. That meant they had found targets for Allen to hunt, but they were not coming down, almost as if yielding priority to the one that had landed.

'Huh?'

"PIIII!" The Hawkins on the tree cried out again, louder this time, and with a noticeable tone of urgency.

"Did something happen?"

Allen put his half-eaten potato into Storage and stood up. Immediately, Hawkins spread its wings and slowly flew off. When it looked down and confirmed that Allen was indeed following along, it then started flying faster and faster.

'Where's it hurrying to?'

Of the Summons, Bird cards had high Agility as a base stat. After being Strengthened, Hawkins's speed was nothing to scoff at. Thankfully, Allen was capable of keeping up thanks to the buffs he received from the cards.

'We've gone quite far. Where's it taking me?'

Fifteen minutes of running later, Allen's ears picked up faint shouts coming from up ahead.

"Run away, Milci! I'll hold them back!"

"What are you saying, Rita?! I can't leave you and Raven behind!"

"Milci and Rita, you should both go! It's too late for me!"

'Hm? Are they in battle? Wait, "Raven"?'

When Allen got closer, he spotted the three adventurers he had met before in the Adventurer's Guild. The man with the sword who had answered all of Allen's questions, Raven, was clearly wounded. The woman with the staff was supporting him, while the dagger-wielding girl was standing protectively in front of the other two.

Although two goblins lay dead on the ground, there were still four currently concentrating their attacks on the dagger girl, whose name was apparently Rita. One of her arms seemed to be out of commission, merely dangling and dripping blood. Despite this, she was putting up a good fight with her one good hand, desperately standing her ground. The goblins inched closer slowly, their faces warped in sneers.

When he got within twenty meters, Allen didn't hesitate and quickly took out an iron ball from his Storage and threw it with all his strength.

'Here goes the first pitch.'

Squish!

"Guga?"

The iron ball showed no sign of shattering even after completely caving in one of the goblins' faces. The monster immediately crumpled to the ground.

"Looks like you need some help, Ms. Rita!"

"Huh? Who're you?"

'Wha— Don't turn around! You're still in a fight!'

Another iron ball made contact with a goblin's face. This one, however, remained on its feet, albeit very shakily. Apparently the iron ball alone was not quite enough to guarantee a one-hit kill every time.

"The ones that took my attack are still alive. Don't let your guard down!"

"O-Okay..."

Rita looked taken aback by the sudden arrival of reinforcement, but there was no time to let her recompose herself. Allen threw his last ball.

Unfortunately, the goblins were now aware of him and had their guards up. The goblin he was targeting managed to raise an arm in time to block the projectile. The impact clearly broke the arm, but the monster still had more than enough vitality to pose a threat. It shifted its club to its other arm.

'There are two goblins left who can still attack. Guess I have no choice but to get personal.'

Allen had zero intention of showing his Summons to other people, so he drew the short sword on his waist and charged out in front of Rita. He had already reverted all Hawkins to card form when he had first heard the group's shouts.

"I'll take on the unhurt one! You take the one with one arm!"

"A-Alright..."

Allen's chosen opponent rushed toward him, brandishing a rusty, beat-up longsword. When Allen hunted albaherons, he had started the fights by draining their power using Insect F Summons. This time, that option was not available to him, leaving this a purely physical fight without the use of any abilities on either side.

Because Allen did not want to unnecessarily wear down the edge of his short sword, he opted to dodge all of the goblin's wide swings. As he had already reached Lvl. 12, after adding in the buffs he received from his cards, his Attack and Agility were both above 300.

He closed in on his opponent in the blink of an eye, slashed at its throat, then backed off to avoid the jet of blood. The monster crumpled to the ground, dead.

'Hm, that was easy. So I'm already strong enough to effortlessly handle Rank D monsters.'

The reason Allen never fought in person up until now was because he did not want to get his valuable outfit, which had been issued to him, dirty with blood spurts.'

When Allen turned around to aid Rita, he found her delivering the killing blow to her opponent. She was capable enough of winning the fight, though she did apparently suffer a few more shallow wounds in the process. The two then went over and finished off the two goblins who had taken iron balls to their faces.

"Raven!"

"Ugh..."

Allen took a closer look at the man and confirmed that he was indeed the same person he had bumped into at the Adventurer's Guild. Rita and Milci called his name in desperation, but all he could do was let out a weak rattle.

He was clearly on the verge of death.

'This lady called Milci looks like the party healer. Does the fact that she can't do anything mean she ran out of MP? There's no other choice; it's time to test out a Leaf of Life.'

When Allen approached, the two women became slightly wary. He was a black-haired boy clearly under the age of ten who had appeared out of the blue to make short work of an enemy they were struggling so much against.

Allen did not fault them for their caution.

"Excuse me, I have a herb. Would you like me to use it?"

"Really?!" the two women cried out in unison, their expressions instantly brightening up.

"We'll pay however much you want! Please save Raven!"

Allen pretended to reach behind and pulled out a Leaf of Life from Storage.

'I never expected the first test subject to be someone so close to dying. Hm, this probably looks different from every other commonly used herb out there, so I should probably cover it with my hand.'

The name of the item hinted at its ability to restore HP, but Allen had yet to test it out. Because he had no idea how to actually use the wide, flat, perilla-like leaf, he reached out with it clenched in his fist and attempted to press it directly against the wound on Raven's abdomen.

The two women worriedly looked between Raven's blank face and Allen's actions. They were so desperate they were grasping at straws for any scrap of hope.

'Please don't look at me with so much expectation in your eyes. I have no idea how much this can heal him. In the first place, I don't even know for sure that it's an HP recovery item.'

When the Leaf of Life made contact, it shone brightly and then disappeared like bubbles. Right after that, Raven's wound, which had been deep enough to reach even his organs, closed back up gradually right before their eyes. Soon enough, the only sign there had been a wound was all the sticky blood left around the area.

Raven regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes, his mind completely clear. He gingerly touched his stomach, then looked down at it.

"Really?" he murmured in bewilderment, realizing that he had made a full recovery.

"RAVEN!" his two companions cried, cheering with relief.

"Wh-What happened...?" The man failed to understand how he was still alive. He asked Milci if she had healed him, but she shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'm glad you're fine. Ms. Rita, was it? Here, I'll heal your arm too," Allen said before pressing another Leaf of Life against her dangling arm. Of course, he made sure to hold it in a way that it was not visible.

As all the three adventurers looked on, time seemed to rewind for the arm.

Before long, it was back to being as good as new. Some of the bones inside had been broken, but Rita had no problem lifting it up. She clenched and opened her hand multiple times in marvel.

Suddenly, all three started and shouted in unison, "Flower of Muellerze!"