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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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[Achievement Unlocked: Master Healer]
Wow, finally got that one.
As I checked the new achievement notification, Lucille, sitting amidst a pile of boar-like monster corpses, gasped for breath.
“Haah… Haah…”
Her heavy breathing was a testament to the magical energy she’d expended during the fight. She could barely hold her sword.
Lucille had said she possessed exceptional talent as a child. Although she hadn’t used it since becoming a recluse,
She was supposedly skilled in both swordsmanship and magic.
Despite her lack of recent practice, she had managed to hold her own during this relatively easy quest.
“Ehehe.”
The werewolf shaman winked, grinning, as Lucille accepted my outstretched hand and stood up.
Our quest had been to gather mushrooms in the forest.
The reason we ended up in a massive monster hunt was simple.
“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve hunted so many monsters! Mr. Sage, have you ever tried monster meat? Ah, maybe humans can’t eat it? But it’s really delicious if you get used to it. If you ever visit my village, you should try our specialty, monster boar steak. My sister makes the best! And hey, Miss Lucille? You should come too! You’re Mr. Sage’s student, after all!”
Despite his friendly invitation, Lucille glared at him resentfully. The werewolf boy just grinned.
“Just mention the name Wilkers Strydom, and you’ll have all the food and drink you want in my village! I may not look it, but I’m the strongest shaman there! Oh, right, you haven’t seen my shamanistic skills yet, have you? Want me to show you? So…”
Lucille’s expression darkened. She rubbed her earlobe, as if it hurt, then looked at me pleadingly.
I flicked the incessantly chattering werewolf boy on the forehead, silencing him.
–Flick!
“Ow!”
“Would you please shut up for a moment?”
“Wah! You hit me! Even my father never hit me!”
Your father’s lack of discipline is the reason you’re like this.
If I ever visit your village, I’ll be sure to tell him.
That it’s okay to discipline his child if necessary.
Coming from me, the Sage, he’d surely take it seriously.
“…Wh- Why… I thought this was supposed to be an easy quest…”
Lucille muttered, exhausted. The werewolf boy’s grin widened.
There was only one reason we encountered so many monsters during this simple mushroom gathering quest.
This guy.
The werewolf shaman boy, with his boundless energy and deafening chatter.
Chattering away like that in a quiet forest, where the only sounds should be birdsong and the rustling of leaves…
Of course, it would attract monsters.
Oblivious to his own trolling, he remained cheerful.
I resisted the urge to flick him again.
Anyway, we had gathered the required mushrooms. I plucked a large mushroom growing beneath an oak tree, placed it in my bag, and secured my staff at my waist.
“Haah… Haah… Tutor… I’m… at my limit…”
Lucille was usually quiet. The maids, following her lead, were also relatively reserved.
But dealing with this noisy brat and the numerous monsters he had attracted seemed to have pushed her to the brink.
Tsk tsk. How was she going to survive in this harsh world?
“Let’s head back.”
“Aw, but I want to spend more time with—”
“…Let’s. Go.”
Ooh.
Lucille glared at him and spoke with surprising firmness.
Lucille, with her crippling self-esteem and self-deprecating tendencies!
She had actually told someone off!
Perhaps intimidated by her sudden assertiveness, the boy looked abashed, then nudged me and said in a surprisingly quiet voice,
“Your student is scary.”
You’re the one who made her that way.
After completing the quest, I took the utterly exhausted Lucille to the fountain in the center of the royal capital.
As she sat quietly, trying to recover with the sandwiches and juice the maids had packed, I pulled out my lute.
“Ah…”
“Would you prefer to eat in silence?”
Playing music to reduce stress was also an achievement.
And the effect was amplified when combined with a meal, so I wanted to do it whenever possible.
I tapped the lute, and Lucille took a bite of her sandwich, then smiled faintly.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I don’t usually eat lunch.”
“Hmm… Then please, go ahead.”
I plucked the tuned strings a few times. It seemed I was going to be a street musician today.
Sitting by the fountain, I played for my sole audience member.
–Ting, ting. The clear, melodious notes of the lute blended with the gentle splashing of the fountain.
Thanks to my constant practice during the main storyline, my lute playing was quite decent.
People, seemingly on breaks or dates, stopped to listen, adding to my audience.
–Strum…
The song ended, and Lucille seemed much more relaxed.
“Wow~!”
“Encore! Encore!”
“Here you go!”
Perhaps because I had played a calming, romantic piece, couples smiled and offered me coins. But I didn’t need the money. Was there any point in accepting it?
I politely declined their offerings and turned to Lucille.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes. And your playing, Tutor… it’s amazing. Even better than the royal musicians, I think.”
“You flatter me.”
It wasn’t just flattery; it was a blatant lie.
Those musicians were far more skilled than I was.
I had heard them play occasionally. I couldn’t compete with professionals.
“N- No, really.”
“They say music is perceived differently depending on the listener’s mood.”
“Ah… Then…”
Lucille hesitated, then glanced at me nervously.
“The other members of the Hero’s Party…”
Instead of answering, I simply grinned. Understanding my silent warning not to mention them, she lowered her head and shrugged slightly.
“Sorry.”
“Apologizing immediately after making a mistake. As expected of a princess.”
So many people couldn’t even do that. I thought of the people I had met so far and put away my lute.
“Shall we go?”
“Yes. Back to the palace—”
“No.”
“…Huh?”
“We have another quest to attend to.”
It was only midday. Plenty of time left in the day.
I needed to complete at least three quests. Lucille paled at my words, but I wasn’t going to let her off the hook.
“U- Um… who are we… going with this time…?”
“I’m not sure.”
It didn’t really matter who we went with.
They would all be trolls anyway.
“But… I hope it’s not… with him again…”
Lucille said cautiously, her voice laced with anxiety. I nodded. I had heard that he was taking the afternoon off.
Chatting idly, we returned to the Adventurer’s Guild.
“Crystal collection in the Triven Cave…? Participants… Case Wishtea? Where is the Triven Cave…?”
Lucille tilted her head, then froze.
A voice echoed from behind her.
“Ah! You know about the Triven Cave! The Triven Cave was discovered 300 years ago by the A-Rank adventurer, Electra. The first floor is inhabited by Giant Bats and Giant Rats. It’s not a very large cave, but the crystals found there are very useful for enhancing magical power. There are three types of crystals that can enhance magical and holy power…”
Overwhelmed by the torrent of information, Lucille looked at me with a desperate expression.
“Um… is she… Case Wishtea…?”
I glanced at the info-dumping priestess, who was pushing her glasses up her nose as she continued her explanation, and nodded.
That was her, alright.
Our final quest for the day involved a bard.
Not just any bard, of course.
“The evil within me is unleashed! Uwaaaaaah!! Kill! Kill! Kill! Destroy everything in the wake of my unbridled rage! Oooooh! Uwaaaaaah!”
The pig-headed monster writhed in agony, afflicted by the bard’s debuffing music, then collapsed under Lucille’s magic attack.
The draconian bard, with his long, flowing hair, studded black leather outfit, white scales covered in tattoos, and the draconian word for “kill” etched onto his forehead, grinned.
“Yeah, peace.”
“P- Peace.”
The bard, who had just been headbanging and screaming like a possessed madman, ended his performance with a “peace” sign.
Despite their vastly different musical tastes, Lucille managed a strained, twitching smile in response.
Then, she looked at me resentfully.
She had been relieved when I told her the last adventurer would be a bard. Her reaction was understandable.
This wasn’t the kind of bard she had in mind.
But bards weren’t just about stress relief.
There were offensive bards who used their bizarre music to inflict debuffs on enemies.
I could do that too, of course.
But it wasn’t part of any achievement, and I had too many memories of being strangled after using it, so it wasn’t a skill I used often.
“Alright, we’re done here. Let’s head back.”
“Wow~ Mr. Sage, it’s been a while since we partied together, but your tanking skills are still as good as ever.”
“It was nothing. Dreg, you worked hard.”
“Want to party again sometime?”
Before I could answer, Lucille grabbed my robe.
She shook her head. Seeing her crestfallen expression, I chuckled.
“I’ll think about it. Now, let’s gather our things.”
We collected the quest items and returned to the Adventurer’s Guild.
With the quest report submitted, our long day of “lessons” finally came to an end.
“How was it today?”
“…I… I felt… bigger, somehow…”
It was a perfectly reasonable response.
The people we had partied with today were all… excessively eccentric.
Wilkers, who had attracted hordes of monsters with his incessant chatter.
Case, the info-dumping priestess who had unleashed a swarm of bats in a cave where silence was key.
And Dreg, the bard whose music inflicted debuffs even on his allies.
They were all magnificent trolls.
I smiled at Lucille, who had just expressed her bewilderment at my choice of party members in a surprisingly polite manner.
“That’s what I’ve been telling you. You’re one of the more normal people I’ve met.”
“Haaah… what kind of people have you met, Tutor…? And the fact that you’re still sane after all that… it’s truly amazing.”
“Haha.”
“And… you’re friends with them… I can’t imagine what they must have put you through…”
By “them,” she meant the Hero’s Party.
I simply smiled, avoiding the question. Lucille didn’t press further.
“I’ve been training my mental fortitude ever since I was young, after hearing that physical strength is useless if your mind is weak.”
“Ah.”
“And our outdoor lessons aren’t over yet.”
“A- Again?!”
“Yes. This will help you improve your skills, so I’d appreciate it if you cooperated.”
“O- Okay…”
At the word “lesson,” Lucille reluctantly nodded.
As we chatted on our way back to the palace, we noticed a commotion at the gates.
I asked a nearby knight and learned that the Hero and General Leoden had arrived to collect supplies for the battlefield.
He apologized for the increased security and checks, and I waved him off.
Lucille flinched slightly at the mention of Claire’s name, but it wasn’t a problem.
“Um… Tutor… the Hero is here…”
Lucille clutched my robe tightly, worried that Claire might approach us aggressively, as she had before.
“It’s fine.”
“But still… Ah! How about you spend tonight with me? I’ve been practicing my card game… we could play late into the night… that way, the Hero wouldn’t be able to approach you…”
Lucille’s eyes sparkled as she tugged on my robe, a sudden thought seemingly occurring to her.
Playing cards late into the night wasn’t a bad idea, considering my dedication to the game, but I couldn’t tonight.
With the increased security and potential disruptions in command, the event was likely to trigger today.
“You must be tired, Your Highness. You should rest. You’ve worked hard today… Let’s resume our lessons tomorrow afternoon.”
Lucille, initially disappointed that we couldn’t play cards, brightened up at the mention of regular lessons, like a child on her birthday.
The maids, who had been following us in disguise all day, reappeared in their maid uniforms.
Surrounded by her attendants, Lucille gave me a small bow and headed towards the White Rock Fortress.
And…
As she walked away, I scanned my surroundings, finally spotting something cloaked in black moving towards the White Rock Fortress, using Hawk Eye, one of the Archer’s skills.
As expected, it was today.
Time to go.
To stop the Queen’s assassination attempt,
My task during the “Pale Moon” event within the palace.
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