My Glasses Will Be Able to Conquer the Whole World, I Suppose - CH 96

Chapter 96 – Glasses boy talks to Roda

Due to the restriction of me being able to register Gifts only when they’re being used, while I was in the city, I had no opportunity to register Gifts that would only be used in battles.

After all, those types of Gifts won’t ever be activated within the city itself.

Due to that, I don’t have many registered Gifts that are useful in direct combat.

Putting aside the Gifts that strengthen the person directly, the ones that I can use that would be actively helpful in battle would be…

Flower Bolt, Shadow Hunter Sword and Sound Bomb.

Amongst those, Lisse’s Shadow Hunter Sword is definitely the best. It can enhance the power of my bow and arrows and weaken Demon Beasts, so it’s quite easy to use too.

However, as a Gift focused on swords, its effectiveness is limited when used with a bow.

Moreover, the target this time is the Obsidian Wolf. I can’t expect to deal any meaningful amount of damage to it.

Not to mention that it’s extremely hard to aim for a fatal wound when facing a prey that is this big. The arrows would surely stop penetrating long before reaching a vital organ.

There is the Flower Bolt though. Which is a Gift I have been curious about for a while now… However, I can’t really this Gift in a real battle. Not before trying to experiment with it at least.

… Should I try it out now then?

I’m at the back of the group, so nobody is looking at me. And there are no animals nor Demon Beasts around us.

If I use this secretly, nobody should be able to notice it.

Perhaps this Gift might be an immediate asset to my fighting prowess. If I can try it out at least once, I should be able to use it in combat.

… Alright, let’s try it.

I set the Flower Bolt Gift to my Glasses, then, since this is a type of magic, I activated it with magical power-

A sharp sound echoed. A numbing shock ran through my right hand that shot out thunder.

“Ouch…” It was hot… It hurts. There was a bit of smoke coming out from my hand even. It’s really hot.

“… What happened?” Lisse asked me.

Both she and the female adventurer that she was talking to turned around after hearing the sound.

“I just got hit by a branch.” I replied.

We are moving through a route that’s most likely an animal trail, and there are a lot of trees and plants around us.

Moreover, we are moving quickly, so this kind of excuse should work.

“Oh, alright.” The two of them looked forward and continued moving. Seems like I tricked them.

That’s a relief… But this is painful. It’s seriously painful.

It reminds me of the time when Horun beat me up with all her might back when I was child. It was this kind of intense pain that the shock gave me.

… Why was it that I was beaten again?

… The animal bones that she was collecting? I think… Was it because I threw them away without permission?

Oh, right, I didn’t even throw them away. I gave them to my master’s wife, because she wanted to make a soup with them.

What did it taste like though? I’m sure I have eaten it, but I don’t really remember… I only remember the pain from the beating and how furious Horun was.

She told me… She told me that she no longer had any bones to chew on.

Yes, that was it. Horun had realized that no meat would grow even if she buried bones, but she was old enough to bite the bones, so she wanted to chew on them.

… She really was a horrible sister.

But anyways… Does the Flower Bolt create thunder? Though it seems more like a self-destructive power than anything.

I mean, what even is this? The power to make you explode yourself in front of the enemy? This is far from being usable.

… Well, maybe there is a proper way to use it. I just don’t know it yet.

I suppose it’s impossible to immediately master a Gift that I have just acquired. Never mind being able to use it in actual combat.

“You really stole it from me, didn’t you?” Roda commented.

… Amazing. Truly amazing.

Unlike the city, this is a hunting ground. A place that I’m extra careful at and pay constant attention to my surroundings.

And yet. I didn’t feel anything. Before I realized it, the assassin, Roda, was behind me.

“Well, from your attitude and demeanor, I figured that you must have had this kind of Gift.” Roda lined up next to me.

… He was smiling. He doesn’t seem angry. That’s… Good?

… I don’t think this smile is real though.

Roda may give off the impression of a gentle big brother, but he is probably the strictest assassin of Haidiga, and the one most willing to get his hands dirty.

If it ever came to it, I think Roda would be more unforgiving and hesitate less than both Zant and Sorichika.

Even if he received an order as crazy as destroying the whole city of Haidiga, I’m fairly sure he would do it without hesitation.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up becoming the representative of this city.

So, well… I don’t want to get him angry.

“Your Gift replicates Gifts then? Or imitates them perhaps? That’s basically what your Glasses do, isn’t it?” Roda commented.

He really saw through it… I tried not to show it in my attitude, but I guess the viewpoint of a professional must be truly different.

Lisse also noticed that I had something related to sight as my Gift, though… She’s sharp.

But then… Maybe…

“Were you using it to make sure?” I asked him.

Since he already knows it, then I have no reason to hide, so I just asked him directly.

Because Roda is still using his Flower Bolt. It’s still visible to me.

“No, I’m using it because it’s necessary… And honestly, I don’t really need to find out any more details about your Gift.” Roda explained.

Ah, right, the same as Sorichika.

“Because you can always kill me if something happens, right? Sorichika told me about it.” I commented.

No matter what I do, I’m not a threat to them, so they don’t need to force themselves to find out the details of my Gift. That’s just how it is.

“Well, that’s a part of it.” Roda said.

Just a part?

“You see, if I know too much, I may not want to let you go.

“After all, your Gift is very rare. It would be nice to keep it handy.” Roda continued.

Eh…?

“But I can’t do that. It’s fine if you choose to stay with us, but I can’t force you to.” Roda told me.

“Is that so…?” I asked.

“Yeah. Our organization is barely standing as is. We can’t simply take promising children and force them to work for us, this would be no good for the country.” Roda replied.

… Right. This matches with what I heard in the capital from Weiss Leavant. The noble old man that introduced me to the world of assassins… He said that assassins were running out of jobs. That they were no longer needed in current times.

I was skeptical about his words, but he did say that I could do whatever I wanted in the future. That I didn’t need to become an assassin even if I joined the assassins’ school.

Well… I’m not sure if he will abide by those words though.

“Alright, Eil.” Roda wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered in a very small tone, so that only I could hear him, “I will say it only once. I have never said it to anyone else, and I have no intention of telling anybody other than you. Take this knowledge to the grave with you.

“Now listen. This is how you use my Flower Bolt.”

******

After finishing a very precious lecture that I would never have the chance of hearing or asking about again, Roda let go of me and went back to walking by my side normally.

He really is trusting me with way too much. He told me the details of his Gift. An incredibly important piece of information… He revealed his hands for free.

I suppose he feels a bit safer when teaching ‘a boy who knows how to keep his mouth shut’, but still…

“Well, that’s how it works. It’s probably impossible for you to master it right away, but with practice, you should be able to manage it somehow. Good luck.” Roda told me.

I hope so… Well, I guess I’ll have to practice plenty with it.

That said… “I stayed quiet and listened to the end, but… Why did you tell me? I would never talk about my Gift like that.” I asked him.

“There are many reasons, but the main one is accident prevention.” Roda replied.

Accident prevention?

“Just like you did earlier, I made the same mistake once.” Roda waved his leather-gloved right hand, “The thunder burned my hand thoroughly. It basically became cinders, burnt completely from inside.

“Thanks to that, I once had to say goodbye to this hand.”

Eh?

“The Flower Bolt is this dangerous? But then, what about your right hand? Did you heal it somehow?” I asked.

“It was healed with magic. We had to cut off the charred hand, then regenerate it with magic… It hurt so much that I cried, you know?” Roda replied.

I see… That would definitely be painful enough to make one cry.

Or rather, if crying was all that it did, then that just attests to how much mental strength Roda has.

“Be careful when using it at its strongest. Never try it until you’re completely used to it, or you might really die from the attempt.” Roda told me.

I see… Accident prevention… Yeah, I can see why he would want to do that.

“By the way, Eil. What kind of relationship do you have with Lisse?” Roda suddenly asked me.

Eh?

“Why are you asking such a question? Don’t try asking if we’re lovers, okay? I do not react well to this kind of thing.” I replied.

“Ah? Rejection?” Roda said.

It’s out again. That intense anger that I felt yesterday…

“Well, honestly, I don’t really care about whether or not your relationship is that of lovers.” Roda’s words helped me calm down a bit, “But it has influenced Lisse.”

Lisse?

“I spoke to her in the carriage today for the first time in a while, and I was surprised. She was a lot brighter than before. As if she was a completely different person.” Roda told me.

“Really? Hasn’t she always been like that?” I replied.

“Are you interested?” Roda asked.

“Not really.” I instantly replied.

“I supposed that’s fine. I guess this kind of unpretentious friendship is positive enough as is.” Roda said.

I stayed silent.

“From now on, please continue to getting along the way you have. I’ll be counting on you.” As Roda said that, he patted me on the back.

No, please don’t touch me like that, and I don’t want to do that either.

“I’m actually thinking of going back to the village after this is over.” I told Roda.

“Eh? You’re going back to the other side?” He asked.

Because there is nothing left for me to do in Haidiga.

“By the way. I’d prefer if you didn’t say things like, ‘I’ll be counting on you’ before a dangerous hunt. This gives off a very ominous feeling. It sounds like a will.” I told Roda, ignoring his question.

He laughed, “I don’t believe in this kind of thing.”

… Well, I don’t believe in it either, but I still prefer to not take the initiative to bring any sinister fate upon us. I prefer to play it safe.

“Besides, I can’t die yet. I have been invited to participate on the wedding of an adventurer friend, and to come up with the name for a child, then there is a woman that I like and that I think I might win over soon…

“Oh, and did you see those two women amongst the knights? Wouldn’t it be a waste to pass away before having more time to admire them? I’m thinking of asking them out after this hunt is over. I think the white one might be open, don’t you think so?” Roda started spewing one sinister phrase after another… Stop… Don’t go any further…

He stopped. Roda did stop talking.

Not because he read my mind or anything though. Now was it because we had a bad premonition.

“That’s the smoke signal! Everyone, evacuate! Eil, Lisse! You two with me!” Roda ordered.

He stopped, because we could now see red smoke rising from the area where I had seen the Obsidian Wolf.