A Loner, Returning to the Capital After a Month in the Mountains

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Author’s Note:

Thanks to everyone, we surpassed 5000 page views! Thank you!

Due to some circumstances, I’ve changed my author name.

Former name: Outlook!

New name: 水源＋α

I like water, so this is my new name (lol). (TLN: 水源 means Fountainhead)

I look forward to future comings.

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A month after training had started, among those close to the king, there was a knight who made reports to him.

“───Hmm…a month has passed, hasn’t it.”

“Right…to put it simply, the people who were transported here have finished a month of basic training.”

“I see, I see…so, how much have they changed?”

“Right…I believe we are about to check that right now…───Open the door.”

“Roger that.”  “Roger that.”

Once the reporting knight gave commands to two other knights before the door, the two knights followed that command and opened it.

*creak*

With the sound of a creak, inside the slowly opening door were the many gallant people who were transported here entering the room, with Yuuma at the lead.

“Ooh…”

The king was amazed at how Yuuma and the others’ looks have become more straightforward, though the change wasn’t to the point of making them unrecognizable.

Yuuma and the others still were child-like and naive in some parts, but as a result of Athrel’s thorough methods of training, it felt like something inside them had made a complete 180 change.

Among the group of people transported here, Yuuma began to speak in front of the king,

“───King. All of the people transported here have completed their basic training.”

“Hmm…even from just your appearances, I can see that you took great efforts to develop.”

“Well…it was fairly severe.”

“Haha…that’s because Athrel was the one teaching you.”

“I head the commander is more strict than him, though.”

“Oh…you must be talking about Alicia…Alicia’s always trained others until they’ve half-fainted, I’ve had to call her hear and warn her on multiple occasions.”

At those words, Yuuma made a bit of a worried face and asked the king a question,

“Um…is Shun okay…?”

Then Karin, who had kept her mouth closed up until now, also asked a question.

“Is Kondou…safe?”

“Hah hah hah….”

“───?”  “───?”

“He’s fine…I was told that Alicia and Kondou were training in the mountains, and received reports of his safety.”

Everyone was shocked by the word “mountain”.

“Oh! That’s why we didn’t see Shun for a month.”

Yuuma was surprised, but was convinced that he was given an answer to what he was wondering about since a while ago.

“Could it be…that Kondou and Alicia…were in the mountains by themselves the whole time?”

Karin wasn’t surprised, but rather, she had an anger that drove away the cold air.

“Kondou was that one guy, right…?”
“That’s right. I wonder about his training.”
“I’m feeling something dreadful…how much has he changed?”
“Maybe he’s also fasting along with training?!”
“Ah, that was indeed something Gandhi did.”
“I saw it in a picture, but you can see that guy’s ribs…”
“You’re talking about Mahatma? If Kondou turned into something like him, it’d be a little funny…”
“No, it wouldn’t be funny. A bony Kondou is gross! It’d be gross for everyone!”

The classmates made such conversations while having surprised faces.

The king, unable to just watch, cleared his throat and continued talking after everyone became quiet,

“So, the basic training has peacefully completed, all safe and sound.”

“Whew…so where is Shun right now?”

Being relived, Yuuma had asked about his whereabouts.

“Hmm…according to what I was told, he should be coming here at around this time.”
If one paid close attention to the king, there was a slight darting of his eyes when he said that.
“I see.”

“Well…let’s see how far you’ve all grown.───Bring me the that.”

With the kings words, a court official carefully brought an item wrapped in cloth onto a desk before the king.

“───First is…Asano Yuuma. You’re up.”

“…Okay.”

Taking a breath, Yuuma approached the crystal and nervously touched it.

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Asano Yuuma

Male

Human Race

Paladin

Lv1

HP 469

Attack 368

Magic 277

MP 386

Agility 497

Endurance 320

Skills

Swordsmanship Lv5 /10
Wood Element Magic Lv1 /10
Light Element Magic Lv1 /10

Innate Skills

Master Swordsman’s Knowledge
・Amount of experience needed to level up swordsman skills is halved
・Durability and sharpness of carried weapons (limited to swords) are doubled
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“Ooh…”

“Hmm…you’ve gotten strong. You’re also a paladin, which means you have a lot of HP and Endurance. I can see that you’ve been properly training.”

While Yuuma was nodding his head towards what the king said, his eyes were glued to the sheet of paper the entire time.

“I’ve done this for like…well, for a month, and it’s amounted to this much.”

While saying that, Yuuma was pleased, rolled up the paper with great care, and placed it in his shirt pocket.

“For your notice, you’re still Lv1 because you haven’t had proper fighting experience yet. Fighting with your life on the line is the only way to increase it, even if it’s similar to a mock battle.”

“Thanks for telling me that.”

Yuuma bowed deeply and went back from the crystal to his classmates.

“Next…Minesaki Karin. You’re up.”

“…(I didn’t see him…I didn’t see him for a month…Alicia is sneaky…I didn’t even get a glimpse of his face…yet Alicia has been monopolizing Kondou’s face and profile day after day…she’s really sneaky…well, I suppose that would be the case…I haven’t seen any behavior from Kondou indicating that he’s come to like me…after all…he would turn towards the model-like Alicia, whose scarlet hair and blue eyes are prettier than mine────)”

“…Hm?”

The king was sure that he called out to her, but for some reason, she’s been mumbling to herself.

“Minesaki…?”

The king called out her first name with a slightly worried tone of voice.

“────After all…………………………oh………………here”

“A, are you alright?”

“Yeah…I’m alright.”

“…?”  “…?”  “…?”

Everyone had worried and confused expression towards Karin, who had never been seen being discouraged until now.

Karin made unsteady strides towards the crystal, finally touching it in the end.

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Minesaki Karin

Female

Human Race

Sage

Lv1

HP 278

Attack 132

Magic 498

MP 512

Agility 297

Endurance 175

Skills

Water Element Magic Lv4 /10
Healing Magic Lv5 / 10
Light Element Magic Lv4 /10

Innate Skills

Goddess’ Healing (Lower Rank)
・Completely heal another person and cure their status abnormalities
・After using this skill, Automatic Recovery (Large) is attached to them
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“…”

“Ooh!”

Although the king was gazing in admiration, Karin wanted nothing more than to see Shun again, not caring about her status as she wasn’t in the mood for that.

“What’s wrong…? Minesaki…you don’t seem all that excited.”

Karin replied with “It’s nothing…” and then returned.

The king had an uneasy feeling about Karin, and stroked his beard while going “Hmm…”

I don’t understand…but it could be bad to let this lay idle.

“Now then, next───”

Though the king was puzzled, he continued to check on everyone else.

▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣

“There really are a lot of people…”

“That’s right…this is the core of the Granbelle Kingdom, the royal capital.”

Coming back from the mountains, Shun and Alicia were walking towards the castle while talking.

Right now, the two of them were walking side-by-side along a main street in the capital that was heavily crowded.

“So this is the royal capital. It’s quite nice that it’s fantasy-like…”

“What is this…’fantasy’ that you speak of?”

Alicia raised an eyebrow towards that word she never heard of.

“To sum it up, it’s basically this whole world.”

“Oh…?”

Sorry if I over-summarized it and you couldn’t understand…

While laughing with a “pfft…!” at how he could see another question mark being raised above Alicia’s head, he said,

“Well, I suppose it’s too early for that, Teacher!”

“Grr….”

While Shun sometimes shows a full smile at times like these, Alicia took that full smile as a sneer.

What are you laughing at…?!

“…Leaving that aside. Can you hand back the crystal I gave you for checking your status?”

“Oh……───right, here you go.”

Shun took out the crystal from his backpack and handed it to Alicia.

“So…how was it? Your status, that is.”

“It was okay…”

“It’s like in the beginning. It’ll grow further in the distant future…”

“Is that how it works?”

“That’s how it works.”

*smirk*  *smirk*

While smiling, the continued walking towards the castle together, where various people were traveling back and forth between it and the main street.

“That reminds me, my level didn’t increase.”

“Your level will only build with genuine battle experience, so no matter how many mock battles you do, it won’t go up.”

“Oh, is that so?”

While they were walking and having such a conversation───

Hmm?

───He only saw a glimpse of it for a brief moment, but a blonde-haired boy was being taken away into a blind alley.

“…Shun.”

It seemed Alicia also noticed.

“Right…let’s go.”

Shun and Alicia nodded towards each other and headed into the blind alley.

▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣ ▣

Three men were taking a boy and heading into the depths of a blind alley.

“───Hey…where are we going? I thought you were taking me to the knights.”

The boy, whose hand was forcibly being tugged at, withdrew from the men while asking that question with a confused face.

“Just a little longer and we’ll get there.”

The man spoke to the boy with a soft voice that didn’t his two meter figure.

“…?”

The boy looked at the man’s face with a bewildered expression, but the man did not care, and turned around to continue walking.

Despair began to fill the atmosphere.

The boy was once more pulled into the depths of the blind alley until they stopped abruptly in front of a knight in shining armor.

“Is this fine…?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Shall we?”

“…?”

The moment the boy tilted his head towards what was being said───

“Die…you damn noble brat.”

Everything felt like it was in slow-motion for the boy.

“────Huh?”

A sharp, gleaming blade was approaching before his eyes.

*gash*

A vivid sound echoed within the blind alley.

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