Chapter 34: The Crab and The Spider

Before the collision, I flew while accelerating diagonally. Then, while keeping my body sideways, I tried to offset the speed downwards by pointing slightly upward.

Since I was accelerating diagonally, I managed to fly low but accidentally crashed into the ground.

The armor withstood the impact of landing, but I hit the ground strongly with my whole body. I realized the seriousness of this meaning.

If the magic armor did not work, the ground would have been like a Grater*. Moreover, I took several bouncing movements in the ground as I’ve seen in TV movies. The landing was extremely rough. But the magic armor saved me.

Of course, if I didn’t land in a diagonally way, I would have hit the ground vertically from a direct fall. Not sure if the magic armor would have saved me then.

I felt my speed was faster than a car. It may be faster than a Salamander**. Well, actually, I did not know how fast a Salamander was.

I wondered how many times I bounced through the ground until I slammed into something that looked like a tree. The tree caught my body, even though the impact was strong.

I had hit my body twice, but I was still alive thanks to the armor. Phew, I was alive…

I was a delicate being unlike a sturdy tree, so I wished the landing were a little bit gentler. I immediately healed my aching body with Healing Magic, and complained to the inner tree while standing up.

When I stood up, I suddenly noticed something unfamiliar.

I saw a girl about 5 meters away from me. Her clothes were very plain, but she was a pretty girl.

「He…Hello? 」

I tried to say hello for the time being. Smooth communication began with a greeting.

The girl also opened her mouth when she heard my greeting.

「Ah…ahh… 」

Was she scared? The quietness hurt my ears. Such an unbearable atmosphere.

Naturally. If a man suddenly flew in the air and crashed into a tree, everybody would react apprehensive too.

The girl spoke no more words and just twisted her mouth. I couldn’t hear anything else other than a weird ticking sound.

By the way, where did the ticking sound come from? I felt like I could hear it from behind me.

A shock struck my body when I decided to turn around.

My magic armor received the attack itself, so I wasn’t injured by it. However, I noticed that something scooped the ground.

When I turned around, I saw a tall crab-like or spider-like creature. It was about 10m high.

This creature had scissors with a width of 1m or more appearing from the ground. Was the girl scared of this monster?

The Rush Sheep may also flee because of this guy.

I could withstand the attacks for the time being. I wanted to do something about it and defeat it. The problem was the girl. I did not want her to be involved in the battle.

While thinking about it, the monster pulled the scissors from the ground.

Okay. I decided to get its attention for the time being. As long as it got away from the girl.

As far as I saw earlier, the attack did not inflict any damage. In fact, it was hard to imagine that there were monsters where my attacks would be meaningless against them.

I decided to draw its attention. I tried hitting it with a rock spear and a fireball at the place that seemed to be the monster’s face.

I wondered if it could be vulnerable to water, so I tried to release water while moving sideways to avoid putting the girl in danger.

It seemed that it worked. The monster had changed direction according to my scheme while ticking the scissors.

The ticking sound seemed to have been the sound of the monster using its scissors. Was it menacing?

I ran a little bit and moved away from the monster. The crab was coming at me, but it was a little slow. I ran a little further while slowing down on purpose. We finally reached a location, which was the furthest from where the girl was standing still.

Now the battle could begin. For the time being, I tried to cut the legs of the creature with my two swords. Those legs were probably 1m thick and I could reach them immediately from where I was standing.

I amputated one leg and it emitted a creepy sound. The sword-wand just bite into the leg, but the magic sword cut it off.

However, even with the magic sword, the leg felt fairly solid. This thing might have been difficult to cut without the magic sword.

But now I had the magic sword in my hand, and I had a huge amount of magical power to support its power.

The monster had eight legs. I decided to cut off the remaining legs of the monster that did not lose its balance even after losing one leg.

It took about two minutes. The monster, whose legs were cut off without resistance, swung the scissors while exposing only the torso.

It was surprisingly weak for its big and strong appearance. Only the speed of the swinging scissors was fast, but that’s it.

I did not know how to finish it, so when I climbed up the spider-like monster and stabbed it with the magic sword. It stopped moving.

When I appraised it, I read that it was dead. The name of this monster seemed to be Giant Spider Crab. The big spider crab was exactly as the named suggested.

I threw all the legs that I cut into the item box and went to see the girl.

「Ah… I killed that crab, so it’s okay now. Are you all right? 」

I said those words while showing the crab’s hand to the girl.

The girl looked somewhat confused. Then, she stared fixedly at me, and after some time, she finally spoke to me.

「Ple…Please be my husband***! 」

Eh, husband? So suddenly? A confession at this timing?

Marriage should be done after a careful consideration.

「Husband, you say…It’s a bit sudden. You see, this kind of thing has to happen after we get to know each other well…」

「I may not be very useful, but I will do my best! Please do not throw me away!」

Throw away!? Although I wasn’t even dating yet, I was already at the stage of throwing someone away!? On the contrary, how we marry without knowing each other’s names!?

I decided to introduce myself for the time being.

「Ah, I’m an adventurer. My name is Kaede. What about you? 」

「Yes, my name is Catherine. I’m a slave. Nice to meet you! 」

Did she say…a slave…?

「Huh, you said that you’re a slave…What do you mean? 」

I didn’t remember being told to be the master of a slave. However, it didn’t seem like a fluke.

「I was going to be sold to a slave dealer and carried to Tsubai, but that monster attacked the carriage on the way, and the slave dealer died. And because you killed that monster, my ownership transfers to you.」

I see, I see. Is that so? What the bandits robbed belonged to those who had defeated the bandits. Was it the same for monsters?

Hmm. What should I do? I did not feel like using a slave, so maybe it was a better idea to sell her somewhere.

No, maybe I could use her. I was not familiar with the common sense of this world and I needed manpower if I continued to do business with the knowledge I gained from Planet Earth.

I wanted to have people who could be trusted. I had a decent amount of money and I had no evident problems. In short, there was no reason to decline someone whom I could use.

「Okay. Let’s do a trial period! 」

「A trial period? 」

「Yeah, as I said earlier, I’m an adventurer, and I don’t base myself in just one place. I want to see if you can help me during my stay on the town nearby. What can you do?」

「Well…Magic Tool Production… 」

I see. Magic Tool Production sounded like something very useful as the skill of an adventurer’s partner.

「I have the knowledge about that. 」

…Knowledge?

「Do you mean knowledge because you can’t put it to practical use? 」

「…Yes, that’s right. 」

No good.

「Why did you remember a technology where you can’t put to practical use?」

「My house is a magic tool artisan’s house. I couldn’t use magic at first, so when I used it for the first time, it rewind all at once, and I ended up remembering only the knowledge. I could not use magic afterwards, so I was sold as a slave.」

What a terrible past. A worker in a magic tool artisan’s house without magic would not be able to sell magic tools. Such person would turn useless in the end.

「Can you make magic tools without using magic?」

「No. It doesn’t matter if the magic itself can’t be activated or not, but you need to pass magical power through the magic stone, and you have to use magic to control the magical power.」

「Shouldn’t you practice with a magic stone directly?」

「I can’t. Magic stones are better than other objects, but they aren’t that easy to pass magical power, so even if you use magic stones from the beginning, you won’t be able to grasp even the essence of the tool. In my case, magical power is slow and too weak. There’s nothing I can do because I lack magic…」

「Hmm… 」

In other words, was she useless because it was difficult for her to pass magical power? I felt that I could do something about it. Maybe I’ve forgotten something.

When I looked at the contents of the item box, I found out what I had forgotten.

A Wisp Core. The description said that this artifact’s magical power conductivity was good.

「Can you practice with this for a moment? 」

I asked that question and handed over the Wisp Core. Catherine received it with suspicious eyes.

「A black magic stone…What is this stone? The only black magic stone I know is a Wisp magic stone.」

「That core is a Wisp magic stone. 」

「How do you have such a thing with you? Besides, the magical power of the Wisp magic stone is very easy to pass through. I think that I can pass the magical power of the Wisp magic stone despite my incapability with magic. Indeed, this magic stone really has magical power…」

Catherine’s expression hardened upon seeing the core.

「…Then it is decided. 」

「Can I really use it for practice? 」

「I think so, yes. It will be a waste if nobody uses a Wisp magic stone. 」

I’ve heard that the Wisp Core could be charged and used many times over.

「You can practice with that from now on. By the way, do you mind if we go back to the town for the time being?」

「I’m fine with it. I’ll do my best to make magic tools, but I’m really worried about having this magic stone in my hands right now… Kaede-san, you must be a great adventurer since you’ve killed the Giant Spider Crab in a blink of an eye…」

「I’m just an E-rank adventurer, you know? Okay, I will take that magic stone with me for the time being.」

I was an E-rank adventurer, even though the reality spoke otherwise. I received the Wisp Core and stored it in the item box.

「Master, I feel that your identity has become more and more suspicious. Even though Master is a low E-rank adventurer, you are much stronger than I am…」

There’s no need to say it like that. I was not lying.

I tried to appraise Catherine on the way home.

—

Name: Catherine

Age / Race / Gender: 18 / Human / Female

Level: 4

HP: 25/25

MP: 150/150

STR: 7

INT: 8

AGI: 7

DEX: 25

Skills: Inactive Magic

—

She had many MP points. She also had a high DEX.

I tried to appraise the “Inactive Magic” skill since I had not seen it before.

—

Inactive Magic – Unique / Rank 3

Description: Inactivates the magical power within oneself. The maximum magic power increases at the cost of a significant decrease in magic power activity.

—

I walked through the forest according to Catherine’ pace while thinking her skill might be the reason why she couldn’t use magic at all.

It took a long time, but I finally saw the town.

Previous | Next

*A device having a surface covered with holes edged by slightly raised cutting edges, used for grating cheese and other foods.

** A salamander is both a mythical and real creature. The name “salamander” is derived from the Greek term loosely meaning “fire lizard”; the real animal being an amphibian, and the mythical a fire dwelling lizard (as a result of being tossed into a roaring inferno they would wake up and scamper out of the fire).

***Shujin (主人). This word can be interpreted as “Master”/“Proprietor” or “one’s husband”. The girl probably meant “Master” but Kaede interpreted as “Husband” at first.

—————–

Thank you to the Patrons for the continued support!