CH159: Advice 1
(This is a simulation. This is a test to see if my tactics will work on Warren.)
Calm your upset mind by telling yourself your purpose.
“… [Seal Relaxation: 8th Layer Restoration Octuple].”
Then he boosts his physical capabilities even more and runs head-on into Mr. Warren again to close the distance.
I’ve been doing a lot of magic.
So next time, I dare to use my improved physical abilities to my advantage and choose to fight with pure force.
Mr. Warren seems wary of a sorcery surprise attack based on my fight earlier.
You’ve been so focused on the magic that you’ve been unable to keep up with my movements… I’m not surprised… and he intercepts my high-speed swings with his own sword.
I was planning to push through with force, but Warren’s sword was different from the one I’d seen earlier.
If the sword that you just used to wield was described as ‘hard’, then the sword that you just used was truly ‘soft’.
“… Ggh!”
We’ll use the blast to get away from them again.
I was able to quickly put up a magic barrier to offset the explosion to some extent so it wasn’t too much damage, but this was the first time I had been attacked in this mock battle.
Mr. Warren tries to close the distance without a pause, so you activate [Reflective Barrier Reflective Wall] to block him.
Mr. Warren stayed where he was when he saw the [Reflective Barrier Reflective Wall] appear in front of him.
“Your attack just now was another step up in sharpness of movement. Have you also… reached the essence of the six basic types of support magic?”
With the distance now established, Ms. Warren opened her mouth again.
The six basic types of support spells are those that use magic to forcefully activate the ch’i of a buffed target.
The essence of the six basic types of support magic is “ki”.
“… Yes. Did Master Warren learn this on his own?
“Well… I’ve never been able to get anyone to believe me, and even if they did, no one’s ever been able to learn buffs on their own, so I thought maybe this was my gift, but I guess not.”
It’s been nearly a decade since I became an explorer… and the only time I’ve heard of non-magical support magic… The only other time I’ve heard of the existence of Ki, aside from now, is from Hurt of the Reddish Bronze Haze.
As far as I know, Hurt, Fuuka, and Warren are the only three people who know about Ki.
I did some research to find out if Hurt and Fuuka were famous in the eastern part of the continent since they were from Kyokuto, but it didn’t seem that Ki was well known even in the east.
I have experienced firsthand that mastering Ki requires a great deal of practice, but I believe it is worth the effort.
And yet it hasn’t sunk in, and Mr. Hurt even made me promise not to tell.
There are several hypotheses as to why this is so, but none of them is well-founded.
I wish I could get more information out of Mr. Hurt.
… I’m getting sidetracked. We need to focus on fighting Mr. Warren.
“I’d like to hear more about that later.”
“Ha ha! “All right. If you can beat me!”
***
And then I put every tactic I could think of into Mr. Warren’s head.
There were some good ones, but they were all dealt with and none were decisive in the fight.
I was able to deal with all of Warren’s attacks, so we both took some damage, but it was no problem for us to continue fighting.
“… Hmm. Well, I guess that’s about it.
After quite a few attacks and defenses Warren-san suddenly muttered something like that and changed the atmosphere from one of combat to one of normal.
Does this mean the simulation is over?
I’ll ask Mr. Warren when I’m ready.
“Yeah. I’m pretty happy with that. I guess the only thing left for both of us to do is keep ・・・・・・・・・ quiet. If you still want to fight, I’ll go with you.
I could tell that Ms. Warren was hiding things.
The main difference between soldiers and explorers is that soldiers and explorers use a number of magic tools in battle.
It’s no surprise that he’s so close to the heart of the kingdom that he’s in possession of state-of-the-art magic tools developed by the government.
So at least we know he’s not serious about this fight.
On the other hand, I had also decided not to use [Instantaneous Ability Super-Rise Impact], [Demon Sword Combination Ortration], or [Unsealed Cultivation].
The purpose of this simulation is to gain experience in warfare.
I didn’t want to expose your inner workings.
“No, I’ve tried everything I wanted to try, so I’m fine here. Thank you, Mr. Warren, for this valuable opportunity.”
“I’ve enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Thank you… Selma, can I see you?
“Yes, sir. I was only watching the battle, so if both sides are satisfied, then I have nothing to say.”
Although the final result was a little disappointing, the mock battle with Warren ended in a draw.
***
After the mock battle with Warren, we decided to move up the final meeting for the ninety-third layer attack that had originally been planned.
The meeting ended some time after the sun went down and I was waiting for Warren in a private room of a restaurant in Tutrail.
After the simulation, Warren asked me to have a private conversation with you, so we’re going to have one.
Hey, sorry to keep you waiting.
A little while after I got to the restaurant, Mr. Warren came into the private room.
No, I just got here myself.
“Good. That’s good. Come on, let’s get a drink. We’ve been moving around a lot since the simulation ended so we should have some good drinks today.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll go with you.
When the drinks arrived, Warren tipped his mug back and slurped them down with gusto.
“Phew! I knew an after-work drink would be special!”
We began our meal with a casual conversation with Warren, who was in a good mood.
“… Well, I think it’s time we had a serious talk.
Mr. Warren tells me in a serious tone after a while.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, don’t you? I’ve had a nice drink. I’ll answer as many questions as I can.
“Thank you. I’ll take your word for it. First of all, why am I the only one invited here? It’s a great honor to be invited, but is there a reason you didn’t invite Selma and the other members of the First Squadron to join us?”
“Well, I’m sure you’re curious about that. That’s simply because I didn’t want Selma to hear too much of what we’re going to talk about here. It would be a pity to invite the other four, so I’ve decided to invite only you.”
“…”
I’m surprised at the unexpected response.
Does that mean I shouldn’t share what I’m about to tell you with Selma?
I am getting more and more nervous about what kind of things are going to come out of it.
“You said before the mock battle that if I won, you’d want me to tell you why I signed up for the mock battle as well?”
Yes, sir. I didn’t think Mr. Warren would take the time for no reason at all.
“I was going to tell you about this originally, and I’ll tell you why right here. I can’t explain it in a few words because there are many reasons, but the main reason is that I’m an explorer… But more importantly, as a senior member of the Brave Spirit… I wish I could offer you some advice.”
“… <As a hero? Or is it about how you feel?”
<The term “hero” is a title given to party members who have reached a new level in the Southern Labyrinth.
By the way, there are different titles in other labyrinths.
In the Northern Labyrinth, he is the Champion, and in the Eastern Labyrinth, he is the Knowledgeable One.
<The word “brave” doesn’t mean much.
The real heroes are the ones who were called the <King of the Aliens> in fairy tales.
Now there’s a party of heroes… <Since the Golden Dawn has disappeared, there are no more explorers called “heroes”.
If we, the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky, can conquer the ninety-fourth layer and reach the ninety-fifth layer, then we’ll be called ‘heroes’ by the world.
I thought Warren was advising me to behave appropriately as a person who had reached the ninety-fifth level, but he shook his head in response to my question.
“No…no…no… It doesn’t mean anything. Just because you’re called a hero doesn’t mean you’re obligated to be a good soldier. Don’t you understand that? What I meant earlier is that you should assume that you’ve already been targeted.”
“Target… Does this mean that a third party is maligning you?”
Ah… There’s no need to be coy about it, but the organization that knows you as targets is the explorer’s natural enemy, Amuntsaas.”
