CH 78

“Kukkoro VS Rolando”

Translated by Dawn

Edited by Dawn

“Kukkoro VS Rolando”

“Huh…”

I squinted at the situation that was happening right now, my mouth agape with frustration in my voice. ……How did this happen?

Currently, I was standing on a stage dedicated to mock battles on the training grounds of the Adventurers’ Guild. That much seemed fine. The problem, however, was that I had an opponent in front of me.

She stared at me with a fearless smile on her face like a ravenous beast that had found its prey. …Wow, she’s licking her lips.

I wouldn’t say that all female knights are like that. Still, statistically speaking, female knights usually had an aggressive nature, and were often muscle-brain, as if fighting was their greatest pleasure. Kukkoro-san in front of me was no exception to this rule and seemed to be anxiously awaiting the start of the battle.

“Listen, if I win, you will go with us to the Duke’s estate and receive our hospitality.”

“If I win, don’t try to get involved with me again. And when you lose, don’t ever say, ‘Kuh, kill me.’”

“I don’t know what that last one means, but okay.”

You might remember the situation, but let me explain it once again. Kukkoro-san, or Kukko, had challenged me to a duel, and we were going to fight a mock battle. After winning the duel, I offered my opponent a condition that if she won, I would go with Fahren to the duke’s residence, and if I won, they would stay out of my life.

The duel was to take place at the Adventurers’ Guild training grounds, where adventurers could train and engage in practical mock battles, etc. Adventurers who had heard the exchange between me and the girls were in the audience, watching the duel as spectators.

Naturally, bets were placed here and there, and odds-wise, Kukkoro-san’s result was higher. Well, it was inevitable that such a result would happen, given that I was a child in appearance, but why did it piss me off somehow? Oh, I get it. It was because Kukkoro-san was making the biggest smug face when she heard the betting multiplier.

(Fine. I’ll make that smug look disappear on your face…)

Pushing down the negative feelings that had been rising in me for quite some time, I decided to first use Analysis to check out my opponent’s strengths. It was always my policy not to let my guard down, even if they were a lower-ranked opponent.

[Name]: Kukko Laurier

[Age]: 17 years old

[Gender]: Female

[Race]: Human

[Occupation]: Knight

Physical strength: 4800

Magic power: 1700

Strength: A

Endurance: A

Agility: B-

Dexterity: C+

Mental Strength: C

Resistance: B-

Luck: B-

[Skills]: Physical Enhancement Lv7, Swordsmanship Lv8, Hand-to-hand Combat Lv7, Focus Lv3-, Limit Breakthrough Lv2

I see, it seems that why she has a big attitude is because she’s quite strong. But if she is a vice-commander with this strength, how strong would a commander be?

As a knight, she seemed to specialize in physical skills and stats. What caught my attention was the skill called [Limit Breakthrough], which I saw for the first time. Naturally, I looked up the details in the Analysis.

[Limit Breakthrough]: Raise all stats by X levels for a certain period, where X depends on the skill level of the Limit Breakthrough.

…Huh!? What the heck is this broken skill? That’s a cheat! What does that mean? Are you saying that if this girl uses her Limit Breakthrough, her strength and endurance will jump up to S- at that point?

If that skill were to be maxed out, it would go up ten levels, and that alone would make her strength and endurance SSS+. Even the lowest mental strength will be S+. ……I want this skill too, please?

Furthermore, since her stats were set at that level without physical enhancement, they would be considerably stronger if physical enhancement was used.

Although I was inwardly astonished at the information I was suddenly confronted with, it was not as if I had done nothing for the past several days. Let me check my stats for the time being.

[Name]: Roland

[Age]: 12 years old

[Gender]: Male

[Race]: Human

[Occupation]: Adventurer (B-rank), Former son of a lord

Physical strength: 11000

Magic power: 15100

Strength: S+

Endurance: S+

Agility: S+

Dexterity: S+

Mental Strength: S+

Resistance: S+

Luck: S+

[Skills]: Analysis Lv3, Physical Enhancement and Reform Lv3, Scouting Lv 3, Stealth Lv2, Magic Mastery Lv2, Four Elements Magic Lv2, Flame Magic LvMAX, Ice Magic LvMAX, Lightning Magic LvMAX, Earth Magic LvMAX->(Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth magic merged) Higher Elemental Magic Lv1 (NEW), Mist Magic Lv4 (NEW), Storm Magic Lv2 (NEW), Wood Magic Lv2 (NEW), Sand Magic Lv2 (NEW), Light Magic Lv7, Dark Magic Lv7, Space-Time Magic Lv3 (NEW), True Swordsmanship Lv2, True Hand-to-hand Combat Lv2, Focus Lv8, Increased Skill Acquisition Rate Lv4, Increased Skill Proficiency Lv4, Increased Growth rate Lv2 (NEW), Separate Dismantling Lv4

……Un, I’m steadily turning into a monster. However, this was just a prediction at the moment, but my personal opinion was that even this would still be no match compared to that Female Demon. That was how much of a monster the female demon tribe was at that time.

My physical strength had reached the five-digit mark, and my magical power was growing steadily. All the various stats were at S+, and the next step will probably be SS.

The skills of higher-level elements such as fire, ice, lightning, and earth were raised to the maximum level, and they were newly integrated into the Higher Elemental Magic skill. While the combined magic had also risen steadily, it was difficult to use it because it was powerful magic. Well, the same could be said for the Higher Elemental Magic……

The only other things missing would be recovery magic to heal abnormal conditions such as poison and paralysis, and resistance-based skills to prevent such conditions from happening to me. ……Should I try eating poison mushrooms next time?

Then I was also happy to see that the storage capacity had increased from 100 tons to 453 tons due to the increase in the level of space-time magic. and the level of Separate Dismantling had also increased to 4, increasing the amount of material that could be taken from one animal. I wondered if the amount of material available per animal was fixed from the beginning, but I convinced myself that it was just fantasy. I thought it was nonsense to bring the common sense of the real world into fantasy.

In addition, with the newly learned [Increased Growth Rate] skill, the growth rate of each stat had also increased, allowing me to become even stronger.

However, the monsters that appear in the dungeons I was currently trying to overcome were only useful as targets for long-range magic at best, so I thought I could gain more experience by training myself through self-training than by defeating the monsters.

Therefore, I thought that even if Kukkoro-san were to use [Physical Reinforcement] or [Limit Breakthrough] and seriously confront me, I would be able to handle it, given my current strength.

However, this was only a prediction based on status alone, and I could not tell for sure until I fought her.

“Are you both ready? Then…begin!”

After confirming with me and Kukkoro-san, Murian gave the signal for the start of the mock battle. Murian, who knew what was going on, was to serve as the referee, and her deftness made me wonder if the whole thing had been set up from the beginning.

While I was thinking about this, Kukkoro-san suddenly rushed forward. The weapon she was using for the mock battle was a wooden sword that didn’t sharp. As expected from such high stats, her momentum was quite strong, but since I had a higher ability, she couldn’t be a threat to me.

“Ha!”

“Whoops.”

“W-what!?”

She didn’t expect her attack to be avoided, and when I showed her that I had evaded her attack, she shouted in surprise.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me that you only have this much ability?”

“You, you’re getting carried away. Then how about this!”

(Hm, wild boar warrior. I see you’ve used the physical enhancement right away.)

Kukkoro-san, who easily fell for my provocation, attacked me using her physical enhancement. However, since I could also respond to her movements by using physical enhancement, her attack didn’t hit me as it did before.

The others, seeing this situation, were making a lot of noise, as if they thought the game would be decided in a short time. In the midst of all this, Kukkoro-san, who was getting impatient, used her trump card, probably the [Limit Breakthrough].

“Never thought I’d be forced to use this……. Here goess!”

The attack that was swung down from the upper level with a ferocious voice was truly an S-class attack. Just by looking at the sword’s line, one could tell that the blow was quite a powerful one. However, she overlooked one important thing.

“Hoo”

“Wha!? You’re avoiding that too!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. No matter how powerful the attack is if it doesn’t hit, it doesn’t matter, right?”

“Kuuh. D-don’t underestimate me!”

Then, Kukkoro-san, in a fit of anger, launched an attack that focused on a single blow. However, since such attacks were usually large, of course, they would never hit me.

I, on the other hand, would hit her with smaller, finer attacks, steadily accumulating damage. Since I was usually only able to trace the pattern of an attack, I rarely practiced this kind of practical training. And if I were to engage in a mock battle with someone as skilled as Kukkoro-san, it would probably be something like Gyrmzak and his party that I met at Rendark.

(Right, left, slice up, swing down. It’s a pretty good attack, but it’s too unconventional. I guess I can avoid this one even if I close my eyes. I won’t, though.)

While watching the opponent’s attack and avoiding it without fail, I looked for the opponent’s next move. Never letting my guard down, I would assess the opponent’s moves one by one and avoid them by using the best avoidance method for each move.

On the other hand, she had none of the composure she had before the fight, and was beginning to feel impatient and frustrated. She looked like a child who had not yet reached adulthood, so I assumed that she was not that strong, and this was the result of that assumption.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn ittt!!”

“I’m not impressed that a woman would use such vulgar language.”

“Guha.”

Spewing a rude comment, I flanked Kukkoro-san, who was wielding a wooden sword as if she didn’t know what she was doing, and thrust the hilt of the sword into her side. The impact and the pain of the blow caused her to expel all the air from her lungs, and she dropped to her knees.

It was obvious to everyone that I had the upper hand, but she still stood up, unwilling to give up. She was less aggressive than before, but she never stopped attacking, and I could no longer believe that she was just being stubborn.

“Why? Why can’t my attacks hit!!!”

“It’s simple. Because I’m stronger than you.”

“I can’t believe that! There’s no way I, I, will lose to a child like youuu!!”

“Haa!”

“Gofu.”

Kukkoro-san completely lose her composure at my words and raised her sword while screaming. However, there was no way I would miss such a gaping attack, so I countered with a blow from my wooden sword to her torso.

She received the blow and was blown several meters away, her body slamming into the ground. However, it seemed that she was still unconscious, and she stared at me as she raised her upper body.

Her fighting spirit was remarkable, but it was obvious to all that the situation couldn’t go on any longer, so it was quite natural that Murian, who was serving as the referee, signaled the end of the match.

“That’s enough! Winner, Rolando!”

Murian’s declaration determined the winner of the duel. I walked up to Kukkoro-san and declared again.

“I won. As promised, don’t ever get involved with me again.”

“Kuuh. Kill—”

“Don’t say that!!”

“Gobo.”

As Kukkoro-san was about to say her line, which I had previously made her promise to not said that, I silenced her with a short uppercut to the jaw. Of course, there was no way she could simply stand it, and she finally lost consciousness and passed out.

After confirming that she had passed out, I approached Kukkoro-san’s owner, or master, Fahren, who was watching the fight.

“As you can see, I won the duel.”

“Yes.”

“However, this was a useful training exercise. I don’t mean to thank you for that, but as a result, I’ll drop my restriction against further contact with me.”

“Eh?”

In other words, this duel was between Kukkoro-san and me, and I made no promises to her master, Fahren. Therefore, I had decided to apply the “never to contact me again” rule only to Kukkoro-san (Kukko Laurier), and to exclude Fahren from that rule.

That didn’t change the fact that I wanted to have as little to do with her as possible, but from my first-hand view of her personality, I could see that she would probably try to force me to have anything to do with her.

In that case, it was a compromise based on the thought that it would be easier for me to have a certain degree of preparedness and readiness if I widened the openings from the beginning.

“T-thank you very much!”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t come to me for no reason, okay?”

“Then, does that mean I can come to you if I have a reason?”

…This is why. I don’t know if it’s her education as a noble or not, but it’s this kind of shrewdness that makes me not like noble daughters very much.

I left the place without answering her question. But her face was satisfied. Perhaps it was because my silence was an affirmation of her question.

The duel with Kukkoro-san ended in a convincing victory for me, and after preventing her from saying “Kill me,” I headed for the dungeon.