Tenkomori: The Homecoming Club Conquers Another World

Chapter 15: The Daily Life of an Eight Year Old - Return

I feel sick.

My head hurts and I feel nauseous. Maybe it's a hangover. Like when I'm in high school.

Hmm? No, I'm not. I was in high school. Now I'm an aristocrat.

As soon as I opened my eyelids, I looked directly into the sunlight and quickly turned away.

I opened them slowly this time and looked around.

I seem to be in the forest. And I'm sleeping.

I held my head and woke up my upper body.

"Kid!"

I heard a familiar voice that shook my brain. Don't shout so loud. It echoes in my head.

With Roland's help, I managed to sit up. As well as the headache, I felt terrible fatigue all over my body. I can't get any strength into my body, and my breathing is very shallow. It was as if I had a high fever and was in bed.

"Why was I asleep?"

"You don't remember? You're swallowed by the Tremble Cube."

"Tre… Oh, that squiggly thing."

I'm starting to remember. I was on the verge of becoming its meal.

If I look at Roland, he looked back at me with both eyes firmly. The cloth on the head is painful, but the eyes seem to be safe. It was a blessing in disguise. If he hadn't, he would have gone blind. Well, the bangs looked half as unhappy.

As I was feeling relieved, a pungent smell suddenly hit my nose.

I looked over and saw the "Battle Axe of Destruction" wandering around with a torch in his hand.

"What happened after I was swallowed?"

"You don't remember anything, do you? The Tremble Cube was half destroyed by a short arrow earth bolt of a massive clod of earth. But it was still alive, so I'm finishing it off now."

"Did it work? I don't remember anything about it."

It's the first time my MP is empty.

The reason why I can't remember is that I've fainted when I activated it. But fainting in battle is the same as dying. It's understandable why Virgil said, "You won't die, but you'd better stop." If "Battle Axe of Destruction" hadn't been around, I would have been digested by the Tremble Cube while unconscious. Even though I had no other choice, it was a reckless thing to do.

According to Roland, not much time had passed since I passed out. But, I think I will wake up after I recover the minimum amount of magic power naturally.

I opened the status to check it and froze.

Why is my HP reduced to single digits? Isn't I'm just going to faint?

If so, Virgil would have told me so.

A chill went down my spine.

Maybe it was just barely enough. The durability of the Earth Shield, and the power of the Earth Bolt. If the Tremble Cube had slightly exceeded either of them, I would have died even if I hadn't fainted.

But still, single digits. Even at three months old, I had double digits. I guess this unusual weariness is because I'm dying. Even a fall could kill me now.

Because I had a pale face, Roland held out a small bottle to me.

"It's a healing potion. Please drink it."

"Is it okay with Roland?"

"I already drank it. Here you go."

I thanked him and sipped the scarlet potion.

I was wary of how bad it would taste, but it was unexpectedly tasty, with a hint of sweetness.

As the healing potion flowed into my stomach, I could feel my fatigue fading away. Checking my status, I saw that my HP had started to increase.

Relieved, I tipped the potion as if I were drinking a sports drink and turned my gaze to "Battle Axe of Destruction".

No one seemed to be seriously injured.

It only took my physical strength and Roland's bangs to deal with a demon that was called "dangerous". It's a pretty good result, I'd say.

I returned my gaze to my status and lowered it.

In the skills section, I got a new skill.

"Multiple Chanting".

I hadn't learned it until yesterday.

So, did I acquire it at that moment?

There is no such thing as a convenient story in this world. At least, things don't happen without a reason. When I find myself surrounded by a wall of shields, I was surprised, but I was also convinced.

I opened my hand and activated my wind-based life magic, "Breeze".

As soon as the headache intensified, I hurriedly turned it off.

Three years ago, I learned about magic from Virgil and mastered the four elements of life magic. At the time, I had very little magic power and I used a lot of life magic to get used to it. Even after I got used to it, I continued to use it and even activated it with both hands for efficiency. I didn't realize it until now, but that is exactly what multiple chanting is. Even though I hadn't mastered the skill, I had gradually accumulated the experience. And by firing the Earth Bolt at the nucleus and creating piles with a large number of Earth Shield, I must have gained the experience needed to learn it all at once.

"It's too smoky! Burn the other side!"

Valerie's complaint was met with a cackling laugh from Markant.

The scene was so peaceful that I forgot about the deadly battle we had just had.

What is this, adolescence? A good adult in his mid-twenties?

I drank the rest of the potion in one gulp and stood up.

It's no use, let's at least lower the average age.

Roland and I joined in, and soon after, we had burned off every last piece of the body, down to one of the tentacles, and the Tremble Cube disappeared from the world.

The wind blowing through the forest dispersed the strange odor that had been wafting through the air.

All that was left was a plaza that hadn't existed before the battle.

With the aftermath of the battle behind me, I began to inspect my belongings for a fresh start.

The smallsword was not too damaged. It was probably because it was almost useless and had little chance to come into contact with the Dissolution. As I was carefully wiping it off to be sure, Markant threw me a large ball and said, "Here."

I caught it as quickly as I could.

It was a large blue sphere, the nucleus of the Tremble Cube.

Even if I popped this thing, it wouldn't have killed me. How strong was the life force of that guy? If we had just ended it there, I wouldn't have almost died.

In the sunlight, a deep blue color shone.

The blue sphere was bigger than my fist, and despite its body, it was very hard. As I gazed at it, I felt as if I were being sucked into the cloudless blue. I wondered if the nucleus could be used as a material for something.

"I picked it up. The magic stone you blew up."

"A magic stone? That's confusing!"

I was about to smash it, but I managed to hold back.

I thought it was a nuclear weapon, so I went crazy and fired magic.

After I look at it again. The blue sphere's size was nothing compared to the Eras Rhino. It's the size of a golf ball, and it's worth sixty gold coins, which is quite a lot of money.

When I was looking at the stone with a gaze filled with anger and greed, Danil peeked at me with great interest.

"Even if the magic stone is gone, the demon doesn't die. I've never heard that before."

"If it died, I wouldn't have been swallowed up."

"Haha, that's true. But if the magic stone is lost, I think there will be a lot of harm. You'll die eventually, and your magic won't work as well."

He doesn't use magic. It's still a pointless action.

While I was down in the dumps, I heard Ose's voice calling out to me.

For a moment, everyone tensed up, but the sound of his voice was the same as in normal times.

When I went to Ose's side with caution, I found an amazing sight.

The earth was bare, about three meters wide, and it went on forever.

"Is this the path of the Tremble Cube?"

There was a path where we had been a moment ago, but this one was straight and unbroken.

"Forest Leader" huh?

It's a good thing I have a title. Come to think of it, "Dissolve" also melted plants and trees. Perhaps its staple is food plants.

I was simply mesmerized by the fantastic scenery that had appeared in the forest.

Perhaps it was a peaceful monster, I thought to myself.

"It's fallen."

Ose piled up the Orc's equipment and magic stones.

Yeah, it was just my imagination. Well, we've been attacking Orcs, haven't we? We've just been chasing orcs down this road, haven't we? What can I do with my sentimental feelings?

I went a little further along the path, holding on to the resentment that I had nowhere to go.

After a while, I find several piles of magic stones. They were stones of various kinds of monsters, but most of them seemed to be orcs. Perhaps they were survivors of the village we had eradicated, or perhaps some people had been absent. As a result, they cleaned up the mess, but the reason I'm not happy is probably that it was much more difficult enemies than orcs. No matter what, everything was digested except for the magic stone. I'll take that as a sign of gratitude.

In this way, we earned extra income and set off for home again.

◇◇◇◇

As we proceeded through the grassland area, we saw a civilization we hadn't seen in a long time, the city road.

The road stretched from north to south with the forest to the east, and if we went north, we would reach the Reedwald's territory, and if we went south, we would reach the Viscount Keten's territory via the village of Milliet. Naturally, the way forward is north.

"Please be careful."

Valerie spoke to me from behind.

The grasslands are clear, but there are bandits, goblins, and wolves lurking in the deep bushes like that.

I looked in the direction she was pointing and saw that the grass and flowers had grown to the height of an adult's chest. It's especially important to be careful this time of year, she said.

It's hard to do here, though. 

She said as he followed behind Markant.

If they stepped into the grassland, the sound of raking would give away their position. I'm not sure if it's because I don't have enough combat power to do a power reconnaissance, but I think it's because I'm too light.

As we proceeded in a slightly more extended formation than usual, we heard a noise after a while.

Two carriages were coming towards us from behind. I wondered if they were soldiers.

We stopped at the edge of the street to let the wagons pass.

There were no foot guards, and the carriages were approaching at their normal speed. There were two figures on the guard stand, one a guard and the other a warrior. As soon as the warrior saw us, he tapped the back of the cart and said something.

The "Battle Axe of Destruction" was looking at it fluently, but for some reason, it went into a battle stance. Roland also stepped forward to hide me.

A carriage passes by, with a mysterious tension in the air.

Several men stared at us from the back of the cart.

One of them, when his eyes met mine, whispered something to me, and his gaze fell on me all at once.

Suddenly, my guard was down and they sat back down on the back of the truck. They no longer look at me.

They no longer look at me. "It seems we are not bandits."

Danil removed his hand from the hilt of his sword.

They both suspected bandits. Some bandits pretend to be adventurers, and some bandits pretend to be merchants. So my presence proved that I was an adventurer. No bandits with children, right?

After that incident, I began to see people along the road.

Adventurers were emerging from the grasslands and heading north, people on horseback who looked like the fast horses of some guild, and traders passing by. Some of them were acquaintances of "Battle Axe of Destruction", and they exchanged casual greetings, while others were a group of young men who bowed politely.

This was evidence that we approaching Reedwald's territory.

They say that bandits and monsters rarely attack when they come this far. If you ask me, everyone was taking it easy. Most of the people walking around outside the town were armed or had hired guards. The more people there are around, the more power the defenders have. Even the most belligerent goblins are too reckless to attack, and even if they did, they would have been annihilated long ago.

Just before dusk, the town of Reedwald came into view in the distance.

Even outside the walls, fields were spreading out, and people were coming and going, working in the fields. Some people were interested in me as if children in leather armor were rare, but none of them recognized me as the child of a lord.

After a while, I arrived near the main gate. There was a bit of a queue, and the gatekeepers were checking our identities and making sure we weren't trying to bring in dangerous cargo.

Roland took the lead and proceeded to bypass the line.

One of the gatekeepers looked at him as he moved to ignore the queue. His expression changed as he looked at me, and the area around the gate became more and more hectic. He was glancing at me, so I guess he had been notified of the date of my return. Pulled by this, my gaze pierces through the queue as well. I'm a little embarrassed.

I didn't want to make a scene, so I asked Ose to tell them that I didn't need to be picked up.

Incidentally, when I tried to get in line on my first day back, Roland kicked me out, saying that it was a matter of dignity for a lord. In a previous life, the people were famous for lining up neatly. I felt a sense of resistance, but I couldn't complain when my father was shown the door.

Calling out to the somewhat nervous-looking gatekeepers, I hurriedly entered the town of Reedwald.

The hustle and bustle of the city swept over me.

I'm finally back. The Old Lovable Reedewald.

Only one week.

It was such a dense time that I wondered what my life had been like so far. I went to the forest of Leknod, hoping for a real battle. After all, was said and done, I think I made it back alive. If I had taken a blow from Erath Rhino, I would have died instantly. Even though the Orc settlement was overwhelmingly victorious, I was able to experience the fear of melee combat and the difficulty of coordination. In the battle with the Tremblecubes, I almost died, and not just metaphorically.

I couldn't have asked for more, and it was the best real-world training I could have hoped for.

We continued down the main street and arrived at the Adventurer's Guild.

There was a horse parking area just outside the entrance. This place wouldn't get in the way of traffic.

I stopped there and slowly looked over at "Battle Axe of Destruction".

"Thank you all for your efforts."

"Indeed. It's not the first time we've met in just a week."

"It was pretty funny, though," Markant said, smiling.

"And now, please sign here."

He took the document Danil presented to me, read it over, and then wrote with my pen.

"The request is now complete. I'm proud to have fought with "Battle Axe of Destruction". I would like to have a toast at the mansion, but I think you need to rest first. I'll invite you back later."

"Thank you, but I don't like to be too formal."

"I understand. I'll arrange it so that you can eat and drink without hesitation."

"Then I'll accept the invitation. So, what about materials and magic stones?"

"The materials are commonplace and the magic stones are mostly small. If no one wants them, we can exchange them for cash, but – oh, there's also the Tremble Cube's magical stone. I'll give it to you."

"You can keep that one."

As Markant raised his hand, the incident with Eras Rhino came to mind.

"…… Hey."

"We might get away with it. Well, I'll see to it that your request is fulfilled and you get your money back! See you later!"

As if he was going to run away with it, Markant ran into the guild. Valerie and the others also said goodbye to me and Roland and followed.

I wonder what it is, it's going to be pushed on me again. The magical stone of the Tremble Cube is more than a fist, not even close to that of the Eras Rhino. If I accept something like this, how much will I have to add to my request fee? My father's temples will be tingling.

I will poke him back.

After making up my mind, I turned around and headed for the main gate.

Roland comes rushing up to me.

"Hey, kid! Where are you going?"

I took the hourglass out of my pocket and threw it at Roland, who caught it and seemed somewhat taken aback. It was probably a prank by the setting sun.

Let's see what we've accomplished in three nights and four days, shall we?

Trembling with joy, I headed for the starting point in front of the main gate.

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