Ossan Boukensha no Jimichi na Isekai Tabi - CH 25

Winter Lodging

It’s now been over half a year since I came to Kijidore village. It was just as we were nearing the end of autumn that the time finally came.

“Congratulations, Mr. Ajifu. You’ve reached the requirements to be promoted to F Rank.”

“Alright!”

I had persevered for half a year. It had felt so long.

While it was something that I started in order to make money, it was also a good goal to have, and I had been striving towards it.

The early days in Kijidore village had been spent fighting monsters and living in the forest. But recently, the number of monsters had gone down, and I was not able to make as much.

On top of that, the number of medicinal plants went down as the temperature dropped, so it was in the nick of time.

I accepted the Adventurers plate, which was now silver, and left the Ilrak guild.

Recently there were no monster attacks in Kijidore village, but as I had been giving them monster meat quite regularly, they had plenty of it preserved in storage.

However, I had not been able to go to the library at all, when that had been my original goal.

I had decided to make money while I could during the seasons with prey, and then when the snows came and there was nothing to hunt and travel would be difficult, I would shut myself up in the town.

It was an inn that I had stayed at occasionally, and they recognized my face when I asked to stay long term. It would be for a full month with breakfast and dinner. One day would cost five silvers and four bronze. I got a twenty percent discount. But I had to pay in advance, and there would be no refund if I canceled.

And so I left my things at the inn and then rode Emma back to Kijidore village.

This was so that I could have them take care of Emma at the farm until spring. She wouldn’t be able to get any exercise in town, and the stables were expensive. And I didn’t want to ride her in the winter, as it was so cold.

I told Naki where I would be staying, and then I walked back to Ilrak that next day.

During the past half year, I had fought many monsters, and my level had gone up quite a bit.

Name: Ajifu

Lv: 13

HP: 126/126 (+25)

MP: 37/37(+15)

STR: 38(+6)

VIT: 36(+6)

INT: 16(+3)

MND: 23(+3)

AGI: 28(+5)

DEX: 15(+3)

LUK: 9(+2)

Skills:

Eralt Lv2, Reverse Age Lv3, Farming Lv3, Carpentry Lv2(+1), Carving Lv4(+2), Leatherworker Lv2, Gathering Lv2(+1), Shield Art Lv3(+1), Magic Manipulation Lv1, Everyday Magic(water/earth), Sword Art Lv2(+1)

Title

Visitor From Another World, Farmer

Shockingly, I had gone up 4 levels in just half a year. It was probably because I could hunt efficiently, with so many E rank monsters around the village. Of course, it had also been quite tough, but perhaps due to that, my skills had also gone up.

And likely due to using the bow so much, my DEX had gone up as well. Yes, being able to attack first from far away was quite useful. I felt that now that I started to try different things, my stats were going up on average.

If it meant that I could get stronger by training, then perhaps I should train more with my hands. Unfortunately, I did not acquire any bow skills.

Also, surely it’s about time I gained a new title after Farmer? What was up with that?

In any case, my winter vacation has finally begun. It would last for around four months. Why was the prospect of not having to work making me feel so excited? Well, I did need to go to the library.

I practiced swinging my sword in the morning, visited the library, and then trained with magic energy at night before going to bed. I lived like this for about one week. And then it happened.

“I’m bored…”

And that bothered me.

The first thing that I looked up at the library was the acquisition of magic. The most common way to learn magic was to ‘study at the magic academy.’ The next was to become a ‘magician’s apprentice.’

But only those between twelve and fourteen could enroll at the academy, so anyone fifteen and over had no chance. This was because it was best to train while you are young, because your skills grew at a much faster rate.

None of the writings had any details, but it seemed like they had to train to control magic energy every day for a year, and then under a special tutor, they learn to cast their voices into the magic.

Once this ‘magic language’ is chanted, they will acquire the ‘Chant’ skill. And if you use this magic language for curses or chants, you can acquire spells that you have the right attributes for.

Those who had healing magic might work for the church or temples. And after they have worked there long enough and their faith is considered to be strong, they will be allowed to undergo baptism.

If from the church, the baptized can use magic energy and chant the holy verses of light and acquire the Prayer skill. If from the temple, the mantra of darkness is chanted. This too requires you to train so that you can manipulate magic energy with your voice.

If you use holy verses or mantras to turn Curses into Prayers, followers of the Church will acquire light magic, and those of the temple will acquire dark magic. And so there are even seminaries for this.

In spite of what it sounded like, dark magic was categorized as healing magic. While light magic was superior when it came to the stronger healing spells, dark magic had a variety of support magic, such as Sleep, Paralysis, and Barrier.

Those who acquire light magic are given the rank of Apprentice Cleric and those who acquire dark magic are Apprentice Priest.

To be honest, I had completely underestimated magic.

I just thought it would be easy, like everyday magic. But even young children who were quick to grow had to practice all day for at least a year!? It can’t just be before going to bed!?

I finally understood why my skill level with magic manipulation was not going up.

I walked down the streets where the snow was starting to pile up. And then I decided to go to the guild in order to kill some time. Perhaps there would be a quest that I could do as a diversion. As I scanned the quest board with such thoughts, someone called me from the counter.

“Mr. Ajifu. Do you have time?”

“I do.”

“We do have some training for bad Adventurers who don’t work during the winter. What do you think?”

She even smiled as she said this. She might be pretty, but she had thorns.

“What kind of training?”

“Combat training and technical training. It really depends on what instructor you have that day. And these instructors are high-ranking Adventurers hired by the guild.”

I would be taught by high-rankers! That was good!

“Is it for free?”

“It’s three silvers for half a day. As the instructor and lessons will be on the quest board the previous day, you should come in the morning if you’re interested. Tomorrow is… B rank Adventurer Gyuntel. Swords. And Niccoto, also a B ranker, will be teaching bows.”

Three silvers for half a day. That wasn’t cheap. But this was a good opportunity, and so I would like to participate.

The next day, I got my gear ready and headed to the guild. There were five participants for the sword training. Three younger boys of various ages, and one youth who seemed to be in his twenties. And then one old guy.

“Are you here to train too, old man? I don’t know. You might hurt yourself.”

One of the boys said to me.

“I don’t want to hurt myself. But I also don’t want to die.”

“I see. Well, just do your best.”

Apparently, he was kind-hearted enough to encourage an elder.

And then the two Adventurers came with a guild worker. It looked like our training was about to begin.

“Today’s training will begin now! Those who are participating for the sword, please pick up a wooden sword. Those who are here for bow training, pick up the arrows and move over to the targets!”

I obeyed the guild worker’s order and picked up a wooden sword. In spite of appearances, it was heavy and the blade was wrapped in leather. It seemed like there was iron inside.

“I’m Gyuntel, a B ranker. I’d like to see what you’re capable of. I don’t care about the order, just come at me. It can be all at once.”

Gyuntel was a tall, heavy-set warrior. He used a two-handed wooden sword with just one hand, and held it ready.

“Haahh!”

He blocked the boy’s attack easily and thrust it aside. Even if there was a feint, he reacted as if it was nothing. When the swing became broader, he tangled and then knocked away the sword, and the boy fell.

“Your blows are too soft. You’re swinging with your hands. Beware of your feet and allow all the strength in your body to go to your sword. You still need to practice swinging. Next!”

The young man slashed and swept, but with a light clang, his sword went flying into the air.

“These obvious and weak feints will only be used by the enemy. There is no flow or intention to kill in them. They are useless! Next!”

Well, this was definitely different. I would give it my all as if I meant to kill. First, I would target his sword and swipe with all my strength in order to entangle them.

There was a clang and the swords bounced off each other. This was expected. But I was a step closer, I bashed my shield forward with my whole shoulder and…was crushed. Ouch.

“No feints or tricks. You need more than brute force. Next!”

After fighting each of us twice, he gave us all some advice.

“I can tell that you’ve been using your sword to fight common monsters. While there is a good weight to your attacks, you don’t have the skill to go up against humans. If you stay like that, you’ll get killed one day.”

“What should I do?”

“Either train against other humans, or start killing. You could find a master, go to a training hall, join a war, fight in the colosseums. Those are your options. But to be honest, all of them will be tough for someone your age. So my advice would be to put down the sword and avoid fighting anyone.”

Obviously…