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Chapter 56 : Advance Preparation
🕑 Added 2022-07-02 18:22:40 +0000 UTCTL:SummerPeanut
Bonus third chapter this week as thanks to all patrons.
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"Un! Delicious!"
I, Ike, Clarice, Black Tri-Stars, Karen, and Lisa are enjoying a sumptuous meat dish together.
According to the common sense of this world, it is not possible to have a meal with slaves.
In normal cases, Ike, Clarice, and I would finish the meal and the slaves would eat the leftovers but not in the Bryant household.
Everyone eats together. Because it is more fun to eat together.
However, when we have visitors, we would let them know that they cannot eat with us. However, even in such cases, we always tell them that they will eat the same food as we do.
This is not within the guarantee of food, clothing, and shelter when they signed the slave contract but rather a house rule set by the Bryant household.
The five slaves seemed to like this environment and were able to start an enjoyable life.
*TL: Dialogues below are not limited to between Mars and Clarice. In fact, Ike has more dialogues below…
"Mars, if there were 1,000 killer ants, wouldn’t you be able to overcome them quite easily?"
Clarice asked me while we were eating.
"Unn. I'm not very good at fire magic you see. If the level of my Fire magic is as high as Brother Ike's, I could probably defeat them with Firestorm but I don't think my Firestorm would spread enough because of its low power. Also, I think it's going to be extinguished by flying acid or something. I’m considering just keep using Tornadoes at the stairs though..."
"I see. Tornado consumes less MP than Firestorm so it seems to be feasible in endurance battles to a certain extent. As long as Tornado did some damage, we should be able to defeat the leftovers in a single attack.”
"That's true. The most important thing to remember is that ants can also move through walls and ceilings, I guess? When that’s the case Clarice’s normal arrows might be better than magic arrows. I’m thinking to entrust Clarice to handle all the ants on the walls and ceilings. Since I’d like you to also conserve your MP as much as possible for magician’s role later..."
"I'll have to get some bows and arrows tomorrow then. One question...can't we defeat a threat level B magic beast? Since we can defeat threat level C, I believe we could do the same…”
"Actually on our way back to Irgusia with Clarice, we fought a magic beast with a threat level of B-, I really thought I was going to die. It might be because the magic beast we fought was especially tenacious but if I had fought it alone, as I said earlier, I would have died.”
"So there’s that much of a gap huh... I thought by now I'd have about the same status as a B-class adventurer...”
"I think we would probably still be in the C-class adventurer category if it were just our stats. But in our case, we have high-level skills so maybe we can be put under the lower B-class group... I had an opportunity to have hand-to-hand combat with a B-class adventurer, and I was easily beaten. He perfectly showed me the difference in strength.”
"So that’s the case even for Mars... I guess that means the world is a big place after all."
Guy was listening to the conversation.
"If even the two of you are in that position, we...are truly ashamed that we were a little conceited just because we are beastmen. From now on, we will devote ourselves to the best of our ability and I ask for your kind cooperation."
"Well, I was also a little conceited in some respects. Let’s do our best everyone. Of course, Karen and Lisa still have a lot to learn too so please do the same.”
After dinner, I headed to the labyrinth by myself.
I wanted to train in lightning magic.
The labyrinth is the only place where I can train without worries because the magic is that powerful.
First, I deploy Lightning Cloak. I am then surrounded by a thin layer of gold-colored light.
Huh? Shouldn’t lightning be pale in color? But I've only seen lightning once, and that was when I came to this world with Clarice. Oh well, I shouldn’t be worried about the color.
Apparently, Lightning Cloak does not damage me. That applies even to what I am wearing.
I found out that the Lightning Cloak is harmless to me because my clothes were not burnt.
I envisioned the process of trial and error with Lightning magic while using Lightning Cloak.
I thought I could handle it easily because I have S aptitude but it seems that's not the case here.
I tried to cast Lightning but it didn't fall from above.
As I was walking down the aisle, I saw five condors in front of me.
I was wondering if I could somehow defeat them with Lightning magic, and I came up with a great idea.
That isn’t it fine if I just fire it with the image of releasing Lightning Cloak.
I concentrated my consciousness and released the Lightning Cloak into the condors.
Then I felt a sensation of magic power leaving my body, and just as I thought my fingertips were glowing, the condor was already scorched. Then there was a roar of thunder ‘DOGOOOON’ reverberating at the end.
All the condors around me were also on the ground, knocked unconscious by the sound, impact, and electricity.
Maybe not as fast as the speed of light but it’s possibly faster than sound. Isn’t this cheat magic?...was what came to my mind but the price was also great. The MP consumption is extraordinary.
I don't remember exactly how much MP I had left previously but it might have used up to 1000 MP. I thought that I might be able to reduce the MP consumption by adjusting the speed and power so I deployed the Lightning Cloak and tried to manipulate my magic power. Then, from behind me..
"Are you okay? Just now there was incredible light and sound...what are you doing?"
I heard Clarice's voice.
"Eh!? Why are you...here?"
"Mmh... After the dinner, I saw you leaving the house. I was worried so I followed you.”
Clarice replied as she came closer to me so I moved towards her and start talking.
"I was practicing magic. It's the kind of magic that can cause trouble if there are people or things around.”
I realized the moment I took Clarice's hand. I hadn't disarmed the Lightning Cloak!
"Watch out!”
I said to Clarice in vain. The golden lightning struck Clarice's right hand from my body.
"Kyaaaaaah!!!!”
………
……
…
"Wha-what?"
I'm pretty sure Clarice was hit by Lightning Cloak...
"A-are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah... what…was that just now?"
"It should be the magic I'm training now that hit Clarice. ...are you sure you're okay? The magic that was able to hurt Lord Barnes the other day so I wanted to be able to use it as soon as possible. But I thought that if I practiced it in public, something like what just happened might happen so I came here alone to train..."
"The feeling I had just now was kind of nostalgic....... I know this feeling....... I think.”
"It's Lightning magic. I have some guesses in mind too. Didn’t it feel like that time back during the convenience store incident?”
"I think so too…does that mean I'm resistant to it?"
"I don't know...”
When the notion that it might be due to the Saint’s Robe, I told Clarice..
"I'll try not to hurt you too much but can I have you take off your robe?”
Clarice looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and then blushed.
"Hey! W-what are you saying!? Here!? I don't want to do it here..."
Oh, I definitely said it the wrong way...... this is definitely a sexual harassment case.
"No, no, that's not what I meant. I was just wondering if perhaps the Saint's Robe prevented Clarice from taking damage or being electrocuted. By no means, I was talking about the other meaning.”
"Ah! ......the phrasing please."
Saying that, Clarice took off her Saint’s Robe.
I became strangely conscious of the rustling sound of her robe because of our earlier conversation...
I tried my best to break my worldly desires, and as calmly as I could, I said…
"I'm going to start, I’ll be as gentle as possible…not. I’ll make sure it won’t hurt...no. Anyway! I’ll try my best to not hurt you but it's my first time and I'm still having trouble adjusting the magic power so if it hurts at all, let me know."
I feel like no matter what I say anymore, it will only be taken to the other kind of meaning.
However, Clarice seemed to understand the meaning so..
"I trust you, Mars. It's my first time too, so make it painless and do it gently."
She replied to me in a teasing tone.
I made the Lightning Cloak as weak as possible and touched the hand that had just touched Clarice.
Then Clarice's hand naturally glowed as if nothing special had happened.
"So this means I'm resistant to it, right?”
"Yes. Perhaps it’s nullification?”
"But now I can dive with you. Even for you, Mars, it's not safe to dive into the labyrinth alone.”
“Thank you. Then I'll take your word for it and ask for your support.”
Saying this, I practiced the magic to release Lightning Cloak towards the enemy.
Clarice was also trying to find a way to reduce the MP consumption of her Magic Arrow without lowering its power.
My MP is getting pretty low, and we have been going at it for a while so..
"If it gets too late, it will affect tomorrow’s operation so shall we go home?”
I said to Clarice.
"I suppose so. Let's get some rest because we might have to do the show tomorrow.”
We tried to sneak home so that no one would notice us but there was no way we could fool the three Black Tri-Stars, and they did indeed find us. The beastmen's sense of smell and hearing are terrifying.
The security in Almeria is very good, but it is still dangerous, so we were asked to refrain from going out alone.
"I’m sorry”, we both apologized and returned to our room while thinking that we would have to use Wind magic to muffle the sounds and smells from now on, or else we would not be able to have our labyrinthine date, which we officially termed as training.
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