The day after going on an adventure with Doldos’s party, I was having a mock battle with Father in our backyard.

The reason being that today, Father, who was off from guild work, had muttered, “I want to get some exercise…”. After overhearing him, I asked him if he wanted to have a mock battle to which he happily agreed before taking me to the backyard. I was delighted to have a mock battle with him after such a long time.

We decided on rules where we’d only use wooden swords and no magic, and the match began.

I immediately swung my wooden sword at Father. “Hmph!”

“That’s a pretty good move, Lark!” Father shouted, barely dodging my attack.

“You’re amazing, Father. That was a serious attack, you know?” Admiring his strength, I attempted to attack in succession, “Ha! Take this!”

However, he easily repelled all of my attacks. I realized that the difference wasn’t just in our simple ability scores, but also in our levels of swordsmanship and experience. We continued to spar for several tens of minutes, but I failed to land a single blow. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t hit him, and eventually, I fell to the ground, exhausted.

Father dropped a towel he had prepared onto my face and sat down next to me.

“I still have no chance against you, huh?”

“No, Lark, you’ve grown quite a bit. Speaking of which, what kind of adventurer do you want to become?”

“Umm, I think I’d prefer to be a support fighter. I feel that if I were a main fighter-liner, it would be difficult for me to support others when forming a party.”

“Oh, so you want to form a party, Lark?”

“I do want to have companions. I’ve heard about troubles with reward money and disputes within parties, but I think adventuring together as a party seems more fun.”

Upon hearing my words, Father seemed to gaze into the distance. “Even Lark has such thoughts, yet why is that person so stubbornly alone…?” he muttered quietly.

Who is he talking about?

At that moment, the person who saved me and became my benefactor came to mind. That person seemed to be an old friend of Father’s. I had asked about it before, but since Father didn’t seem to want to talk much about it, I never pressed further.

However, I was sure he was talking about that person.

“Are you talking about the person who saved me?”

“Yeah, that’s right. That person never formed a party because he[1] claim they can do everything alone…”

Afterward, he told me more about how incredible my benefactor was. My benefactor was top-class in swordsmanship, magic, and physical techniques. Not only could he handle all elemental magic, but he also possessed several difficult-to-learn skills.

However, when I asked for the benefactor’s name, Father still refused to tell me.

“You can ask when he returns. I’ve sworn to keep my mouth shut.”

“I see…”

I don’t understand why that person needs to keep his name a secret, but I’m curious and want to meet him as soon as possible.

“Speaking of which, it’s already been two years since I came to the royal capital, but I haven’t heard any rumors about my benefactor.”

“Right now, he’s on a journey for some purpose. He said it would take some time and wouldn’t be able to return immediately… Well, there’s no need to worry.”

After that, I challenged Father again, ending our break.

That day, we spent the entire day sparring.

◇

The next day, I arrived alone outside the royal capital early in the morning. I accepted a request from the guild again today.

Today’s request was to collect a few pieces of a mushroom called “Magic Mushroom” that grows near the forest. The rank of the request was low, but Father remarked, “You need incredible observation skills to gather Magic Mushroom.”

“Hmm, where could it be…”

According to the map, they should be growing around here, but just as Father warned, I couldn’t find a single Magic Mushroom.

As I was pondering what to do—

“Grrrrrrrr!!”

“Ahh!”

“!”

A monster-like roar followed by a woman’s scream could be heard. Thinking this wasn’t a trivial matter, I ran towards the source of the scream. Then, I found an adventurer woman lying on the ground, and a boar-like monster staring aggressively at her.

It was a Red Boar.

It had sharp fangs and was a ferocious and unpredictable monster.

“Grrrrrr!”

“Ugh!”

When the Red Boar saw me, it ignored the woman and charged at me with great momentum. I reflexively created a thorn-covered earth wall using earth magic, blocking the Red Boar’s charge.

With a loud crash, the Red Boar collapsed to the ground, dead.

“Phew, that’s unexpected. But this is the first time I’ve defeated a boar-type monster.”

The monster guidebook I read before stated: “Boar-types tend to charge in a straight line, so you can easily defeat them by leading them into a tree or wall and making them crash.”

Remembering that, I hastily created the wall to guard myself and was glad that it worked. I collected the Red Boar into my “Useful Box” and approached the fallen woman once again.

At a glance, she looked about 15 or 16 years old. She seemed to be unconscious, not moving an inch even when I came close. Around her neck hung a copper plate, just like mine. In other words, she was a D or E-ranked adventurer.

“…Was she attacked while gathering materials?”

I couldn’t just leave the unconscious woman, so I decided to wait for her to regain consciousness.

I created walls on all four sides using earth magic and sat down beside her. Afterward, I healed her injured leg with holy magic, but she showed no signs of waking up, so I decided to read a book while waiting patiently.

After about thirty minutes, the woman stirred awake, “Uh… where am I?”

“Ah, you’re awake? How are you feeling? I healed the visible wounds, but—”

“Huh? …Oh! What about the Red Boar?!”

The woman suddenly stood up and exclaimed, taken aback, “What is this wall of earth!?”

She seemed energetic despite having just regained consciousness. Anyway, I needed to explain the situation. I calmed the woman down and briefly told her what had happened.

After listening to my explanation, she bowed her head slightly, “I see… Thank you for saving me.”

“No, I’m just glad you’re safe. Phew, I was worried about what would happen if you attacked me the moment you regained consciousness.”

“Come on, I wouldn’t do something like that to a child! If you were an adult man, I might have misunderstood and attacked you, though…” the woman paused for a moment, cleared her throat, and resumed speaking in a calm tone, “Besides, that unique silver hair… I’m quite familiar with you.”

“With me? …Um, have we met somewhere before?”

“Not directly, no. My name is Leticia. My father, Maurice, is a teacher at the academy you attend. He told me about you, Lark, son of Guldo-sama.”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words, unable to comprehend what she had just said.

“Wait, you’re Maurice’s… daughter?”

“Yes.”

Come to think of it, her sharp eyes resemble his. Her hair’s also the same shade of brown as Maurice’s.

“Hahaha… I didn’t know Maurice was married.”

“Whenever I mention my father, people tend to be surprised. He doesn’t talk about himself much. But I guess Guldo-sama didn’t tell you either, did he? He should’ve known that my father was married.”

“Ah, well, my Father doesn’t really like to talk about Maurice. I don’t bring it up either. There seems to be some past issues between them, and I think it’s best for them to resolve it on their own.”

“Yeah, that’s for the best. People who can’t change themselves will never improve. I want my father to change soon.”

Then, I asked Leticia about the circumstances that led to her being attacked by the Red Boar. Like me, she had come to this area to gather magical mushrooms for a request but had the misfortune of encountering the Red Boar along the way.

I then proposed that we cooperate in gathering the mushrooms since I was looking for them as well. Having obtained Leticia’s agreement, we set out to collect the Magic Mushrooms together. She had an incredible knack for finding them, which was truly helpful. In about an hour, we had gathered the target amount and returned to the guild.

As Leticia and I approached the reception desk where Father was, he looked surprised and asked, “Lark, who’s this girl?”

“She’s Leticia-san. I found her being attacked by a Red Boar outside of town and saved her, that’s how we met.”

“A Red Boar? …Did you manage to escape?”

“Not quite, I was lucky enough to defeat it. I brought the whole thing back in my ‘Useful Box.'”

As I laid the Red Boar carcass on the reception desk with a thud, Father smiled warmly, “Good job, Lark. There was a request to subdue that Red Boar.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Can you give me one of its tusks as proof of subjugation?”

As I nodded, Father killfully cut off one of the Red Boar’s fangs and went to store it in the back of the reception area. Minutes later, he quickly returned and handed me a leather pouch containing the reward money.

“You’re free to do what you want with the other parts, but what will you do? The guild pays a lot for Boar meat, you know?”

Hmm, what should I do?

When I glanced at Leticia, she expressed, “You can do whatever you like, Lark-kun.”

“In that case, I’ll keep it and cook it this time. I was thinking this Boar’s meat looked delicious.”

“Alright. Just make sure to save some for me,” Father grinned.

After leaving the reception area, Leticia and I moved to an empty table. I offered her half of the reward money.

However, Leticia refused, shaking her head, “No, I can’t accept this reward money.”

“It’s a thank you for helping me collect the Magic Mushrooms. Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to return so quickly.”

“That’s a separate matter. The Red Boar subjugation was your accomplishment alone, so I don’t have any right to accept it.”

Hmm, looks like she’s pretty set on her decision.

To avoid causing a scene in the guild, I yielded on the matter and instead invited her over for dinner. Leticia gladly accepted my offer, and we both head to my house together. Once we arrived, I asked her to wait in the living room while I start cooking in the kitchen. An hour later, the meal was ready. I got carried away and put a lot of effort into it, so it took quite a while.

What I made this time is a braised dish with Boar meat. Since Leticia had mentioned earlier that she hadn’t eaten many vegetables recently, I cooked it with plenty of vegetables. When I bring the finished dish to the living room, Leticia’s eyes sparkled brightly as she was gazing at the braised meat.

“I’ve never seen such a delicious-looking dish!”

“Thank you. I hope you’ll enjoy the taste as well.”

Then, we sat down, joined our hands together, and took a bite at the same time.

It’s delicious. The flavor has seeped into the vegetables nicely. I wonder if Leticia-san likes it?

As I watched Leticia’s reaction, she suddenly froze.

“…Leticia-san?”

“…Ah! I was so lost in the taste that my mind went blank. Lark-kun, this is the first time I’ve ever had such a delicious meal!”

“I’m glad to hear that. There’s plenty more if you want seconds.”

Leticia happily nodded and quickly finished her first plate before getting seconds. However, after finishing her second plate, her stomach appeared full, and she collapsed onto the table, looking pained.

“If only my stomach were bigger, I could have eaten more…” Leticia said with a frustrated expression, which I found amusing.

“Haha. Feel free to come over and eat again whenever you have time. It’s always just my father and me, so today had been a lot of fun. You’re always welcome.”

“I’ll definitely come again! I’ll even drag my dad along!”

“Please don’t force him too much.”

As I calmed down an excited Leticia, we washed and cleaned up the empty dishes. With her help, the task finished quickly.

As we took a break and drank tea, I asked her a question that had been on my mind for a while.

“By the way, Leticia-san, are you always doing adventurer activities?”

“Yeah. I graduated from the academy last year and became an adventurer right away. I just became D-rank recently. Well, I was knocked out by a Red Boar today, though…”

I see… Well, it must be fate that we met today. Maybe I should ask Leticia-san.

“Would you like to form a party with me, if you don’t mind?”

When I asked, Leticia-san looked surprised. “Eh? Are you sure you want someone like me? I think you, Lark-kun, could form a party with much more skilled adventurers.”

“But you’re an amazing adventurer too, Leticia-san. You have the observational skills to instantly find the extremely difficult-to-find magic mushrooms. Besides, I think it would be more fun to team up with someone from the same age group.”

“…Thank you. I don’t see any reason to refuse. So, let’s start taking requests together from tomorrow!”

And so, Leticia-san and I decided to form a party. Since it was already late at night, I walked Leticia-san to her house and decided to apply for the party registration at the guild tomorrow.

Footnote(s)