CH 10.1

Litty, Receives Practical Training

When I mentioned to the couple at the restaurant, where I’ve been staying this whole time, about the achievement of officially becoming a swordsman, they prepared a feast for me, to show their best wishes: beef stew, omelet rice, and chicken pizza, which Litty had when she first got here.

The portions were unusually big for that of a single person, but for Litty, that was just the right amount.

In the end, she cleaned up her plate without leaving a single grain of food.

“Thank you for the food! It was delicious!”

“Fufufu, you’re welcome, Litty-chan. I’m glad that you enjoyed the meal so much!”

As the couple had no offspring, the cute and high-spirited Litty was like their own daughter. They would like to cook lots of food and spoil her to no end.

However, Litty had always helped out before the meal, cleaned up afterwards, and even helped out in the store whenever she had spare time. There was no room for either of them to object.

On the other hand, they were also worried about her, as Litty wanted to be an adventurer. It was the same feeling of concern that Litty’s parents had.

“You are going to start practical training tomorrow, right? Will you be fighting demons?”

“Yes. We are adventurers, so it’s inevitable.”

“I see…”

The couple had heard about many stories of humans getting killed by demons. In some cases, even entire towns had been destroyed.

Fortunately, the city of Topas was safe because strong adventurers consistently hunted demons.

Even so, stories of life-threatening beings were still being heard from time to time.

“Litty-chan, if in the future you can’t continue on and want to find a safe place, come back here. Don’t force yourself too much, we’ll always be here for you.”

“Yes, I know. I will make sure to survive by all means.”

“That’s right. By the way, take this allowance.”

“I already told you that you don’t have to pay me. It’s money that the shop has earned.”

“I’d like you to take it, since you’ve been a big help to us.”

This exchange was a common occurrence. In the past, after some pulling and pushing, the couple had to give up. For the couple, who were neither young nor had any children, they didn’t think they needed a lot of savings since living normally didn’t cost them that much.

They were more concerned about Litty, who had long years to come. Even though the couple had such thoughts, Litty’s determination had always gotten the better of them.

But today was different.

“Listen, Litty-chan. We are wishing for your safety. So if that money could help you, even a little, we’d be more than happy for you to receive it.”

“…Uncle?”

“You don’t need to worry about us. We’re fine over here. There are still people who come to our store.”

As expected, Litty had no choice but to give in and accept the money after being told like this. She hesitated a lot because they had already gone through the trouble of preparing a feast for her in order to celebrate her success.

However, in the end, Litty decided to accept the money as their well-wishes.

The kindness of the elderly couple reminded Litty a little of her parents back in her village.

***

The training took place on the property of the Swordsman Guild. The training included preparing camp equipment, choosing a campsite, and preparing means of transportation and meals. The wide variety of the practical training made the rookies feel like they were in a lot of trouble.

Adventurers not only had to fight demons, but nature as well.

All the training was to be done by forming a pseudo party and dividing the tasks between them. There were many things an adventurer needed to do, but sometimes the most troublesome thing was to handle their own party members.

“Instructor, I don’t want to be in a party. I’m fine solo.”

“I’m experienced in this field because of my parents’ work. I’m used to this kind of work.”

The loner Jester and Daniel, whose parents were both high-ranking Rangers, were one of such troublemakers this time. The former was reluctant to work with a team while the latter wanted to take charge of the team.

These types of people would naturally affect the work of the team as a whole. Unfortunately, Litty was unlucky enough to be in the same party as these two.

“I don’t want to hunt demons. I merely want to hunt for a bounty, so I don’t have to learn this kind of work.” (Jester)

“You would like to be a bounty hunter? That’s amazing…” (Litty)

“Right? In other words, it’s pointless to learn how to camp out. So, if you understand that, then you guys can do it on your own.” (Jester)

“Then, Jester-san, could you keep an eye on the surroundings for us, so we can be prepared in case of an emergency?” (Litty)

“Oh? Yeah…”

Jester could not tell whether Litty’s behavior was genuine or sarcastic.

There was no way there would be any demons entering the Swordsman’s Guild premises, but this was a training exercise based on a real situation.

So, Litty asked Jester, who was competent, to keep an eye on things. However, this was hardly the real practical training.

Under the instructor’s watchful gaze, Litty hurriedly started to prepare the campsite.