The Compensation For Risking Life

A man pointed his blade at me in a corner of the slum quarters where there was nobody around. He looked to be around his early thirty. He had medium build and height, brown hair and eyes, and he gave an impression as though I would lose sight of him right away if he blended into the crowd. The man put on a masculine grin and let out his “killing intent”. The instant I felt that, I activated my body strengthening in full force and ran away.

The man’s stealth skill was several levels above me. Most likely there was an incomparably vast gap of fighting skill between us. That was why I abandoned the option of fighting or hiding and chose to run away with all my strength.

The hole that led to outside the town couldn’t be passed through by adult male. I believed that I would be able to get away if I entered there and started running without looking back. Then I heard the sound of something slicing through wind and a sharp blade grazed the tip of my nose.

「Oi oi, don’t run.」

「…………」

The man’s killing intent was slowly leaking out. Cold sweat trickled on my back. He was playing with me……. The difference of strength between the man and me allowed him to do so. This man, he wasn’t just a thief. There was no opening for me to use appraisal crystal on him, but the pressure that I felt from him was close to Feld, although it was a different type of pressure and his wasn’t as strong as Feld.

Would I be able to escape from this man? Even so it was far better than choosing the option of “fighting”. I started running the instant I decided that. The man immediately chased after me. But that was because the man underestimated me as a kid. If not he would have already ended this by throwing a blade into my back.

*Shu-!*

「Oh!?」

The man raised his voice from the skewer that I threw behind at him while running.

I had been practicing but I still hadn’t obtained throwing skill. I still couldn’t stab a living creature deeply with that weapon. But the man still felt like playing around. I didn’t think that he would chase me too deeply when there was a risk of getting injured.

*Kin*, the skewer was easily deflected by the man’s blade. However because of that his focus was diverted for an instant from me. I gathered magic particles of light around me using that opening and forcefully dyed my magic power with the color of light.

「Light-!」

I forcefully combusted the magic particles all at once and emitted a strong light just for a moment.

「Ooh!?」

The man’s surprised voice resounded. I wouldn’t let the opening that I created with much effort to slip away. I turned at the corner with a leap in that instant. But then man muttered something in that moment.

「……Noise(Auditory Hallucination).」

「Tsu!」

Sorcery-? In that moment I heard the sound of that man stepping on the ground from the direction I was heading. I immediately leaped to the side.

My sight was also imperfect due to the light, but I should have taken away the man’s sight. I didn’t know the true identity of the sorcery just now, but when I tried to break away from that spot by relying only on the color of magic particles and my senses, my head suddenly got grabbed strongly from behind.

「Got you.」

「Tsu!?」

The man who should be in front of me was behind me. Furthermore he was knowing where I was accurately even though his sight should have been blinded. Why? I put off thinking about that for later and pulled out the knife on my waist almost reflexively. *Clang* A hard sound rang out and the knife in my hand was deflected and sent flying.

「Fuh!」

With an exhale I deeply suppressed my shaken heart. I endured the pain on my scalp and forcefully changed my stance while striking the wrist of the man’s hand that was grabbing me with my elbow. The man’s hand slightly slackened and I forcefully slipped off from it. I rolled on the ground and took some distance from him and looked up to the man while on all four.

「「…………」」

So this was real battle……. The man narrowed his eyes that were still slightly blinded. He frowned from the ash that got stuck on his hand while displaying a fiendish smile that bared his fang.

I wouldn’t be able to escape from his grasp if it wasn’t for the ash that I put on my hair to hide its glossiness. The opponent wasn’t being serious so I could still endure, but my body was trembling from this overly wide gap of strength and the pressure that the man was radiating. It wasn’t like the situation was turning for the better just because I had gotten away from his grasp. Perhaps I wouldn’t be able to get away from him. He also wasn’t an opponent who I could fight and win against. But──

「Fuuh!!」

I sucked in the surrounding magic particles to erase the fear that was swelling up in my heart while dying the magic particles inside me in light once more. I focused my mind to recover my stamina while breathing like a cat.

There was no opening to use Heal. But, after obtaining Light Sorcery Level 1, I got the feeling that I would be able to obtain the effect just from focusing to it. When I concentrated, perhaps it was just my imagination, but vitality really returned slightly to me.

I wouldn’t run away anymore. I switched my mind from escape to battle. It felt like something clicked inside my head and the gears were moving in harmony.

Surely I couldn’t win against this man even if I fought him. But I wasn’t giving up on living. I’d grasp for life inside the jaw of death. I’d struggle to the death and show this man what I could do as I tore into him.

I pulled out a skewer from my waist band and held it between my teeth. My strength was lacking. My speed was also lacking. I understood that I couldn’t get much speed with just the muscles of my legs, so I activated my body strengthening in full force and grasped the ground not with just my legs but also with my arms clawing on the ground. I tightened my whole body to the limit like a bow that would launch myself as an “arrow”.

The man’s expression changed when he sensed the clear change in atmosphere. I’d make you regret playing around while attacking me. Even if I couldn’t win, I’d leave behind a wound that made you regretted this no matter what. If that wound became the cause of defeat for this man in the future, that would become my victory.

(Now……diee!!)

Just as I was about to unleash an attack with all my strength at the risk of my life, in that moment──

「Uwah!? Wait wait, time out-!!」

The man yelled in panic and held up his hands in surrender while throwing away his short sword. What was he scheming? The man raised his voice even louder when he saw me still planning to continue.

「Wait wait, it was my bad, I’m sorry! I was just looking for a slum kid who look usable for a job!!」

……Ha? What did he say?

.

「Haha, really sorry for that-!! It was the first time a brat saw through my stealth, and the way you ran away was just too splendid that I reflexively ran after you-!」

「…………」

The man sat on the ground and pressed his hands together to show that he had no intention to fight. I was using Heal on myself while glaring at him with a narrowed gaze. This again-! It was this kind of adult again-! It happened with Feld and then with this man, was I producing a “smell” that caused this kind of men to chase after me-!?

If I trusted everything that this man was saying, it seemed that he was looking for a kid that he could make to do a work. I wondered if a kid could really be entrusted with any work, but I guessed there was a lot of uses for them, like fighting in a cramped place or making an adult let their guard down. Then when I asked why a skilled man like him was doing something like that, it seemed that he was going to test the kid and if it seemed like they were useful, he was going to secure the kid with hope that the kid would grow to be someone who could be continuously entrusted with works in the future.

「Ooh, you can also use Heal even though you’re just a brat. Where did you learn that?」

「Who cares about that. And……what does a thief like you want to make a kid do?」

「I ain’t a thief! Despite appearance I’m actually registered with the adventurer guild. You are looking at a fully fledged awesome scout here. Don’t lump me together with that kind of unrestrained bunch. Here here, look at this.」

「……Got it.」

The man enthusiastically shoved his guild tag that also served as an adventurer’s ID on my face to show it.

Rank 4……just as I thought, he was someone really skilled. I believed that there were some thieves who also registered themselves in the adventurer guild, but thief who was this skilled including in combat aspect too should be really rare.

Ordinary people often confused thief and scout together, but they were actually really different from each other despite some similarities.

Thief put importance to not being found rather than getting into combat. They were criminal who trained in stealth, detection, and things like lock picking. In the end they were people who couldn’t win against their own desire, so the capability of the bottom feeders in the thief guild wasn’t that high, but they were surprisingly good in the matter of cunning.

Scout was similarly putting importance in stealth and detection, but they prioritized being able to find rather than avoiding being found. They would find traps in ruins or dungeons and remove them. Or gathered information and handed the profitable information to their client. Originally adventurer was mercenary that specialized in investigating ruins and brought back information, so even now it seemed that there were many scouts with high combat power who registered with the guild.

「So, do you get it now?」

「……Yes.」

The man talked about his own work proudly. He gave off the smell of a 『slightly troublesome adult』 just like Feld. Perhaps that was why this man’s presence reminded me of Feld…….

「So, uncle.」

「Don’t call me uncle. I’m still 35. Call me Viro.」

「…………」

That was already the age of “uncle”. At the very least he was even older than my father.

「……So Viro. What do you want to make me do? Is it adventurer guild’s work?」

I still hadn’t believed him fully, even so with Viro’s strength, it should be far more profitable for him to investigate a ruin rather than tricking a child and selling them. Even so that still didn’t mean he could be trusted fully, but for now I lowered my guard by a level.

「It’s not a guild’s work. There is this client that originally hired me through the guild, but right now I’m in a personal contract with them. This job is something that they are contracting me to do.」

「I won’t do anything bad. But……is it something that I can do?」

「It’s not anything criminal. Well, the job is to help out with security. Besides there won’t be any problem if it’s you. ……Kuku-」

Viro seemed to recall something from my question and slapped his own knee while laughing.

「I couldn’t find anything other than the normal brats around here. Even the slum brats will take time until they become usable. But while I was getting disappointed from my find, a good pick like you showed up. You have good senses, and you can also use sorcery even though it’s still crude. Also, what’s with that killing intent at the end there huh! That wasn’t a killing intent that a brat should be able to make. For a second I thought I was facing a cornered demonic wolf there.」

Viro described the aura of my desperation like that. Killing intent……I didn’t really get it but, I had murdered three people, so it wouldn’t be strange even if I had killing intent but, how did I actually obtain that? Was it because of my training to put my will into spell, so my killing intent was seeping out together with my magic power?

I wanted to ponder a lot of things, but right now I focused on my talk with Viro.

「What will you do if I refuse?」

「Hm? I’m not gonna do anything. It’s pointless even if I force someone unmotivated to do a job.」

When I tensely asked what he would do if I refused, Viro said that with a harmless expression.

「……What’s the work is about? What do you mean by helping with security?」

「Ou-. There is proper task that I want to leave to you, but before that I’m planning to work you like a gofer as test to see whether you can really be of use or not. I’m going to see whether you can properly understand what you are told, whether you will make any stupid blunder, and the most important thing, is whether you have the “guts” to be entrusted with something dangerous or not.」

「Hmmm~……」

If it was about guts, then I might have more compared to the average children.

「You are a bit hardcore but, it’s praiseworthy how you fully focused on running away the moment you realized that you aren’t a match against me. There is nothing to criticize about your guts. In that case, perhaps it’s fine if I skip forward a bit and test you directly.」

Viro’s gaze on me sharpened. ……Ah, this, it was the same gaze that Feld made when he declared that he was going to train me. It seemed that he had acknowledged me, but I got the hunch that things would become a bit troublesome.

But, my answer was already decided.

「Yes……understood.」

「Oo, that’s great. No, you really saved me. After all my client is going to scowl at me if I don’t bring someone back soon.」

Viro sighed in relieve and massaged his own shoulder like an uncle. It wasn’t like I trusted him, even so I felt that staying at Viro’s side would be beneficial for me.

Viro was an adventurer and a scout. He was like the completed superior version that I aimed for. I’d stay at his side to observe his stealth and combat skill and made them my own. I believed that would be a shortcut for the current me to grow stronger.

「Yosh, then let’s go to the guild right away.」

After it was decided so, Viro who was sitting on the ground stood up without making any sound.

「Guild……you mean adventurer guild? Why?」

Did he have something to check there? Then what should I do while he was doing that? As I pondered that, Viro made a puzzled face for some reason.

「What do you mean why? Of course it’s to register you as adventurer.」

「……Haa? I don’t have any combat skill you know?」

Certainly I had learned light sorcery, but I got the feeling that the problem that I would get from registering as adventurer with just that would be greater than the benefit. When I explained that, it was Viro who made an exasperated face this time.

「What are you saying huh? You were able to fight like that complete with body strengthening when you are still just around ten years old like that, so there is no way you don’t have any combat skill right?」

「…………Eh?」

I couldn’t understand what he said for a moment. When my mind caught up, I hurriedly took out an appraisal crystal and tried checking myself. Then……I found the short sword skill that I couldn’t obtain until now had been recorded in my status together with an unknown skill.

.

▼ Aria (Alicia) Race : Human ♀ – Rank 1

【Magic Power : 33/70】△ 5 UP【Stamina : 29/52】△ 15 UP

【Strength : 4 (5)】△ 1 UP【Endurance : 5 (6)】△ 1 UP【Agility : 7 (8)】△ 2 UP【Dexterity : 6】

《Short Sword Skill Level 1》NEW《Martial Art Level 1》NEW

《Light Sorcery Level 1》《Non-Elemental Magic Level 1》

《Daily Life Magic×６》《Magic Power Control Level １》

《Pressure Level 1》NEW《Stealth Level 1》《Night Vision Level 1》《Search Level 1》

【Overall Combat Strength : 36 (With Body Strengthening : 38)】△ 10 UP