~~Along Iverialtown North Highway, One O’clock in the Afternoon, Seventh Day of the First Month, Ninety-First Year of the War Demon Calendar~~

After splitting up, I have come here to slay Goblins. Considering how low-rank they were, I could easily take care of them even without magic.

With just my staff, I charged at a pack of five Goblins — Well, that number might be smaller than what one would expect from a ‘pack’.

“Bam, Bam, Bam!”

“GYAH!!”

“All right… that’s a wrap.”

I checked the request paper’s bottom section and confirmed that the section with [0/5] written on it has changed to [5/5], then prepared to go back to Iverialtown.

That section of the paper had been written with special ink, which made it so that the number changed automatically as the corresponding target monster was defeated.

“Still, having come across stronger things on the way to these Goblins, it really feels like I’m missing something important…”

On the way to encountering these Goblins, I had fought other creatures such as Slimes, Man-eaters, and Frilled Dragons. Those being E-ranked monsters, one could say that this area was a good fit for training beginners.

“As for our funds, we have… 23,700 Gold. These Goblins will get us 100, and Lina’s job another 100, so we’re up to 23,900… A night’s stay at the inn for us three will cost 300, so overall we’ll be down to 23,600. Enrolling into the Magic University will cost 10,000 for one, so only about 3,000 is good for spending. Looks like we better get our ranks up soon. Now I wish I’d taken multiple quests at once… There’s still time until sundown, so maybe I should go back and take on a few more hunts.”

“Ei-yah! Dah!”

“…Hmm?”

As I walked along the highway, the sound of quite an energetic shout entered my ears.

“Haahh! Wha-whoawhoawhoa!?”

“The voice came from this way… Oh.”

On a path that branched off the highway, a red-haired boy, looking to be around Lina’s age, was surrounded by six Frilled Dragons.

The things one should be wary of in these E-ranked monsters were their sharp fangs and the occasional fire breath. With proper caution, even a beginner would have a relatively easy time defeating them in one-on-one combat.

But in this case, there are six of them, and I’m willing to bet that the boy’s abilities are on Rank E or D… If so, it would certainly be a difficult fight.

“Ah, you there, sir! Little help here!? Bah–! Orah!!”

“Boy, you sure cut to the chase, eh?”

“Kuh– Dah! My Master said… no one’ll know what I’m thinking… if I keep my mouth shut! Ahh, fire!?”

Not to jump to conclusions, but isn’t he misinterpreting what his Master must have meant?

Looks like he’s having trouble finding openings because he’s watching out for the fire attacks.

“I have to save my energy, so I can pull out just two of them.”

“That’ll be plenty, sir!”

Atta-boy. That was what I’d expected to hear in ruling out that number.

Pampering an adventurer in the making by putting them in low-risk combat is a detriment to their growth, after all.

“Bam, Bam, Ba-bam!”

“GRRUH…”

With a few smacks of my staff, I made quick work of the Frilled Dragons.

“With their numbers, I gotta use this… Aerial Dancer!”

What in blazes!? Boy, it was quite surprising to see that he already had that skill at his level.

Taking advantage of the space opened up by the lowered number of enemies, the boy made a swift leap and felled three of the Frilled Dragons in one stroke.

Then, without leaving himself prone to a counter-attack, he immediately proceeded to finish off the last one remaining.

“All right, level up! Ah– I mean, thank you for the help, sir. My name is Egd. And you?”

“I’m Asley. A pleasure to meet you, Egd.”

“Yes, Sir Asley, the pleasure is all mine!”

“Still, it’s quite surprising that you can use Aerial Dancer at your young age.”

At an age that has yet to hit puberty, and also his apparent level, he could already use such a special technique… That goes to show how skilled and effective his aforementioned Master was.

“That is thanks to the teachings of my Master, one of the Six Braves!”

“Now that’s amazing… Would you mind telling me which one of them was he?”

“Heh heh… My Master is none other than Sir Dragan of the Six Braves!”

I’ve heard about the Six Archmages and Braves before, courtesy of Reid.

Dragan… A warrior whose weapons of choice is always a perfect match for each situation, and whose strategies account for every minute detail, who wore the strange moniker of ‘The Dainty Tiger’.

“Hmm, so, do you happen to know where Sir Dragan is now?”

“He should be at the Iverialtown inn! I’m actually headed there myself!”

“Oh, I’m headed there as well. Shall we go together?”

“Yes, sir!”

With that all set, Egd and I quickly made our way back to Iverialtown.Pochi and Lina, seeming to have completed their request before me, had already reported to the Guild.

As we headed to the inn, Pochi and Lina were waiting for me at the entrance.

“This is what differentiates you and I, Master!”

Pochi flaunted with quite the bloated pride.

“You can say some cruel things out of the blue sometimes, you know that? Well, I’ll leave that aside for now. How did Lina do out there?”

“Bah, now you’re calling me just ‘that’!? Who’s the cruel one here, Master!?”

“…Look, let’s leave you aside for now. How did Lina do out there?”

“Ah, she did perfectly fine!”

So that one switch was enough? Really?

“By the way, who might the young man be?”

“Umm… I think… he might be starting at me a bit too much…”

Suddenly, Egd rushed to straighten up his attire, scrambled to fix his hair — then he proceeded to stare at Lina.

…I can read you like a book, boy.

“Ehm — Aye’m — I’m — My name is Egd! Miss Lina, I am so very pleased to make your acquaintance!”

“Um, yes… It’s nice to meet you.”

In the face of Lina’ response to him, Egd stood his ground, frozen solid.

Egd’s blushing was probably due to a reason different from Lina’s blushing from all the awkwardness. They are at quite the emotionally sensitive age, after all.

“I am Pochi, Sir Asley’s Familiar!”

“Your hair is lovely! Glittering red-ish brown… like a Red Dragon’s discharge!”

That’s… not quite an example you should have brought up. Be aware of your surroundings, boy! Look, Lina’s totally distressed!

And look! Pochi is visibly saddened from getting her introduction ignored!

“I! Am! Pochi!”

“And your beautiful pale skin! As pure as a toxic swamp purified with High Cure!”

So he’s the type to go bonkers in the face of girls, eh.

“M-Master, why’d you have to cast a transparency spell on me…”

“I didn’t! I swear, it’s gotta take some special spark of genius for you to come to that conclusion…”

“You — Who are you!?”

“Knock it off! We’ve been through that before!”

Bah, it’s about time we bailed Lina out of there.

“Eh–“

“Egd, are you in the middle of something?”

Who’s this big guy?

“Huh… Ah, Master!?”

A burly man, clad in Greenmetal armor, has appeared. He was practically towering over all of us.

His neck was thick, his build identifiably solid under all that armor, and he had quite the bushy eyebrows to go with his intimidating, sharp countenance… And he’s even more than 2 meters tall, I think?

So this is Dragan, one of the Six Braves. He looks more like a bear than a tiger, though… maybe… the people thought calling him a bear would sound disrespectful.

Egd proceeded to explain everything up to this point to Dragan.

“Oh-ho, so you have provided Egd with much-needed assistance… Pardon my belated introduction. I am Dragan, officially titled Dragan of the Six Braves.”

“It is an honor to meet you, sir. I’m Asley, a traveling mage. This is Pochi, my Familiar, and she is Lina, an apprentice mage.”

“Oh-ho, you are a mage capable of employing a Familiar… Are you perhaps a Magic University graduate?”

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the impeccable honorifics of Mister Bear here. I just can’t shake his wild-ish first impression off my head — Aha, so that’s where he got the ‘dainty’ in his title from.

And that aside, shouldn’t it be relatively easy to employ Familiars? Has it now turned into something only ones on the level of Magic University graduates could do?

“No, sir, we’re actually on our way to enroll there.”

“Astounding… Perhaps in a few years’ time, you may be one to upset the ranks of the Six Archmages.”

I don’t particularly care to become that big of a deal, though.

But wait, I might want that title for its beneficial effects on my statistics.

“As for you, Egd, when you present yourself to a lady, you should tilt your head forward an additional two degrees. Ideally, your heels should be close enough to almost click together — only almost. Your eyes should be opened a millimeter wider and the corners of your mouth raised two millimeters higher… As, yes, that is perfect. Do keep that in mind from here on out.”

“Yes, sir!”

So meticulous!

“I usually take up residence in Beilanea, so we may very well cross paths once again. “

“Ah… The pleasure is all mine, sir.”“Now, then… If we may excuse ourselves.”

“Ah — Yes, sir…”

I saw Egd and Dragan off as they headed back to their room.

Curious of the Six Braves’ strength, I invoked the Appraisal Glasses at the last second before they went up the stairs.NAME: EgdTITLES: Six Braves Pupil, Apprentice Swordsman, Apprentice Archer, Apprentice Spearman, Apprentice Boxer, Apprentice Axe Troop, Jack of All Trades, Rank ELV: 15HP: 136MP: 33EXP: 11,201SPECIAL SKILLS: Fortify StrengthAerial DancerNow that’s a lot of apprenticeships for one boy.NAME: DraganTITLES: Warrior University Graduate, Six Braves, The Dainty Tiger, Dragon Slayer, Teacher, Great Warrior, Specialist, Rank SLV: 100HP: 3,250MP: 680EXP: 9,999,999SPECIAL SKILLS: Fortify StrengthFortify ResilenceAerial DancerHigh-frequency BladeBeast King FistStealth ShotEarth SplitterFlash ThrustWhoa, he’s a beast!

What’s with the long list of special techniques!? From his appearance, he shouldn’t be past his thirties… is he one huge hunk of talent or something?

“Is something the matter, Master?”

“Oh, y’know, just revelling in how large the world is…”

“So you’ve broadened your horizons, sir? Come now, let’s go for another hunt or two!”

Urged on by the optimistic Pochi, we ended up going on three more hunts that day.

Afterwards, we took a moderate amount of slaying requests as we went from town to town on the way to the Magic University, the enrollment deadline of which was the last day of the Second Month of the year.