NOVEL NEXT chapter 27
Chapter 27
“I’ve cleared this side! Bre, in three seconds!”
“Got it! 3, 2, 1– [Parry]!”
Bre-kun deflects the head of a giant boar called a Confusion Boar with his round shield, then falls back as Misaki-chan moves in.
[Parry] is a defensive skill.
Normally, it’s used to deflect an opponent’s attack and stop their momentum, but Bre-kun uses it to create an opening in the enemy’s defense.
Taking advantage of the Confusion Boar’s recoil, Misaki-chan steps in and unleashes a flurry of attacks, whittling down its HP.
“These young ones are so full of energy.”
“Indeed they are, old man.”
Sitting next to Gobuzou-san and the others on the driver’s seat (my Dendrobium carriage has a spacious driver’s seat), I find myself holding my breath at Bre-kun and the others’ skillful performance as I sip my tea.
It’s amazing!
“I can’t finish it off! Tatsu-san!”
As Misaki-chan steps back just as the boar recovers from its recoil, and Bre-kun tries to move in to replace her, a spear of flame pierces through the Confusion Boar, causing it to vanish into polygons on the spot.
“Ah, was that unnecessary?”
Tatsu-san, still lying on the carriage roof, shows a slightly confused face, wondering if he overdid it, but it might have been a bit excessive.
“No, it was helpful.”
But Misaki-chan bows her head in gratitude.
Tatsu-san’s [Fire Strike] was perfectly timed with Misaki-chan’s retreat, but I guess it’s good for saving time? I feel like Bre-kun and Misaki-chan could have easily finished it off themselves.
Still, our party’s first battle ended easily.
It feels like we won unexpectedly smoothly.
Though I didn’t participate at all!
In fact, I was enjoying tea and rice crackers with the elderly folks!
“Um, Tatsu-san? Three goblins and one Confusion Boar is a pretty strong formation, right?”
“Well, it’s decent.”
According to Tatsu-san, it’s just decent.
If it were me, I’d probably be flustered and not know what was happening before it ended.
Still, watching someone else’s battle for the first time was intense.
I guess because their lives are at stake, their level of seriousness is different. Despite my reluctance, I can’t help but understand a little why the developers might have wanted this…
Everyone is genuinely serious.
I couldn’t help feeling ashamed of my hit-and-run attacks…
“Ah, any injuries? I’ll heal you.”
So, now that the battle is over, it’s healing time.
Even with plenty of HP left, pain can slow you down. We need to do this frequently.
Both Bre-kun and Misaki-chan seem to understand this, as they line up obediently.
“Alright, alright, [Heal Light], [Heal Light].”
“Is your MP okay, using it so rapidly?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Sitting in the carriage promotes automatic recovery.”
Misaki-chan worries, but I assure her it’s not a problem.
The truth is, with over 2000 MP, I could cast [Heal Light] 200 times without breaking a sweat, but I give a reason to avoid suspicion.
“That racial skill seems unfair…”
“Well, there are some drawbacks too, you know?”
There are negative conditions like instant death if I don’t perform a Death Sentence within 24 hours, so it’s not just a convenient skill.
Well, it can be used conveniently if you’re careful, so maybe it’s natural to be envied.
“It’s alright, young lady.”
Gobuzou-san extends a helping hand to Misaki-chan, who’s puffing her cheeks in discontent. He continues with a gentle smile.
“A banshee has her own strengths. If you can bring those out, you’ll become plenty strong too.”
“A banshee’s strengths…?”
Misaki-chan ponders, but…
Come to think of it, Misaki-chan was a banshee, huh.
Now that I recall, she let out a piercing scream during the tutorial. Maybe that’s her racial skill?
I don’t think it was a type of magic, so it might be.
Still, Gobuzou-san…
“How did you know Misaki-chan was a banshee?”
“That’s the wisdom of age. When you live long enough, you learn various things.”
“That’s not fair, old man. Didn’t you forget you had lunch just the other day?”
“Ah, did I? You got me there.”
Gobuzou-san and Iko-san laugh cheerfully.
They really seem like a lovey-dovey couple.
…………
“Well, I guess it’s fine.”
I feel a strange sense of unease, but if it’s not directly related to me, I don’t need to worry about it, right?
■□■
“Can we take a break…?”
The first to give in was Bre-kun, who had been walking in front of the carriage and always leading the charge in battle.
Three hours since we started moving.
He had been tearing through the relentless waves of monsters, but it seems his concentration has finally reached its limit.
Bre-kun approaches the carriage with slumped shoulders.
“By the way, Tatsu-san, didn’t you say at first that not many monsters would appear along the main road? They’re coming out at an incredible frequency, you know?”
“I didn’t say monsters wouldn’t appear. I might have said they’d be weak, though.”
“Is this road always so full of monsters?”
I can’t help but ask, curious myself.
It feels like they’ve been appearing at a rate of about once every five minutes.
Sure, there’s a forest just off the road, so it’s an environment where monsters can easily appear, but even in the depths of the forest, you don’t encounter monsters this frequently.
It’s enough to make me suspect a bug in the spawn rate.
I even suspect something else, but according to Gobuzou-san and Iko-san, the monsters don’t give off that kind of vibe.
What could it be?
“The main road should have a low monster spawn rate, but today seems to be an exception.”
“The number of monsters appearing is way too high compared to usual! Look, even the scavengers have fallen behind because of it!”
Come to think of it, the scavengers who were supposed to be following us are gone.
“But it’s calmed down now.”
As Misaki-chan says, since the scavengers disappeared, the monster spawn rate seems to have dropped dramatically.
That’s why Bre-kun and the others, who were leading, were able to return to the carriage to complain.
“Perhaps they gathered because of the large crowd of people.”
“Old man, this isn’t a festival.”
“Ah, maybe the number of monsters popping up is balanced according to the number of people using the road.”
“Pffft!?”
I involuntarily spit out the tea I was drinking at Tatsu-san’s words.
I can’t help but overreact reflexively when I hear the word “balance” now!
It’s too much!
Give me a break!
“What’s wrong, Yama-chan? Spitting out your tea. I don’t remember saying anything that funny.”
“No, I just got some tea in my windpipe…”
Well, even [Balance] shouldn’t affect monster pop numbers, right?
If it could do that, it would mean a single unique skill is deeply embedded in the system. No way.
…………
It’s actually deeply embedded, isn’t it…!
Raising skill levels on its own, establishing new schools of techniques… It’s clearly affecting the system negatively!
So, is it [Balance]’s work that more monsters are appearing on the road than usual?
No, that must be a coincidence or a system algorithm. I shouldn’t attribute everything to [Balance].
I take a deep breath to calm myself and drink my tea again.
Ah. The bitterness helps calm my mind.
“Besides, the monsters we’re encountering are strange too.”
“Usually it’s a group of one species.”
“But this time, strong and weak monsters appear together… It’s as if the strength is being balanced–”
“Bwuhhh!?”
That’s totally [Balance]’s work!
Only [Balance] would adjust things so thoroughly!
Thanks to that, I’ve spit out the tea I was trying to drink again! What are you going to do about this!?
“Yama-chan, you’re drinking too much tea. Your body’s rejecting it.”
No! What’s rejecting it is [Balance]!
“Yama-chan’s in this state too. Can’t be helped, let’s rest a bit. We’ve covered about two-thirds of the journey, so it should be fine. We’ll go a bit further to the entrance of the underground labyrinth, then set up camp for the night.”
Camp, camping huh…
…………
“There’s nothing to balance in camping, right?”
“What balance are you talking about?”
Right…
But I won’t let my guard down!
I’ve learned well this time that [Balance] strikes when you’re not paying attention!
Actually, isn’t its method becoming more subtle?
If you’re going to do it, please balance things in a more obvious way! [Balance]!