Chapter 18

The first day of school ended without a hitch, I was on my way home with Emma. We’re heading to Odin.

We decided to do some requests from the adventurer guild, so we went there.

「Geez, if I do such a cover-up, everyone in school will think that we’re going out ~~?」

I was thinking about Maria, who had left early to rest, while walking beside Emma who was talking endlessly to me.

8000LP is needed to remove the curse-related skills?

I have to save up some LP somehow but, I couldn’t do it except by collecting LP steadily.

….Ah, I found a copper coin.

Someone seems to have dropped it, so I collected it.

「But well–, I didn’t think that Noir would be that pushy~. Ah, but I know that was because you used the Great Sage skill though~!」

Oh, I found another copper coin. I couldn’t believe I had found two copper coins within such a short time.

「Hey, Noir, are you listening?….. You’ve found another coin?」

「Seems so.」

「Aren’t you lucky?」

Lucky… Ah, so that was the reason, it was thanks to the Good Luck skill!

It’s because I’m carrying the Double Edge Sword on my waist today that these kind of grateful things happen.

「By the way, Emma. It’s about Maria…」

「….Why are you talking about Maria? Even though I’m with you right now.」

「This is something serious.」

「Humph, is it really that serious?「

「That girl, she will die soon.」

「That’s really serious!?」

I said it was serious, didn’t I? After explaining to her about the 16th Death Stamp, even Emma’s face turned pale.

Maria is a polite and an innocent person. She’s also someone who, despite being a high-ranking noble, is not arrogant. It’d be heart breaking if she died so suddenly.

「I want to help her.」

「Yeah, I thought so too. But let’s go to the guild first for now.」

There are many kind of adventurers in Odin. There are also the receptionists who know a lot about skills.

It seems that a receptionist is someone who has studied about skills. It is because when someone registers as an adventurer, it would be troubling if receptionist didn’t have the knowledge of their skills.

「Good afternoon, Ms. Laura.」

「Noir!? Eeh, why did you come at this kind of time!?」

Laura who was panicking, suddenly hid her face with both of her hands.

Eh, what happened?

「I’m sorry, school starts from today onwards, so I will be visiting the Guild in the afternoon from now on.」

“Wai-, please tell me that beforehand! I was not ready because I thought that you wouldn’t come today! Give me 10… no, 5 minutes.」

While hiding her face, she drew back through the staff room’s door.

A nearby receptionist explained what had happened to me who was tilting my head in wonder.

「She’s going to re-apply her makeup. It seems that she was negligent because she thought that you wouldn’t come.」

After being told that, I realized that there was a slight difference about Laura today.

But Laura’s skin without makeup was beautiful, though I think she’s quite skillful with makeup.

「Noir, just leave that makeup-loving receptionist, let’s just go to another one.」

「I can’t do that, Emma. She’s in charge of me.」

「Humph, idiot.」

「Thanks for the wait–!」

Thank God, Laura was back. To the grinning Laura, I asked her about the 16th Death Stamp for now.

「Umm, I’ve heard about the Death Stamp. The probability of death is very high. There are cases where when you’re attacked by demon type monsters, you’d get curse-type skills.」

It seems that in the past, there were some adventurers whose ambitions were destroyed due to that reason.

「Is there any way to cure it?」

「Usually, you have to ask for a Priest or Holy Maiden’s help. If it’s just a light curse skill, then it can be easily lifted most of the time. 」

「My friend is in that kind of trouble, so could you please introduce me to someone who has sufficient skill?」

Ms. Laura touched her chin with her finger, showing a difficult face. As I thought, it’s going to be pricey. It seems Ms. Laura was being careful because she knows I’m poor.

「It’s not like there’s no one. I have a friend who is a Holy Maiden but she’s rarely dealt with any curse-related skills.」

「But is her ability excellent?」

「Yes, she could remove most skills. But….」

「Please, could you introduce me to her?」

If a lot of money is needed, I can just directly introduce her to Maria. She’s from a Duke’s family, so if her illness could be cured then perhaps money would not be a problem.

「….I think it’s going to be difficult but I’ll talk to her about it. I’ll ask her to spare some of her time tomorrow.」

「I’m grateful to you… Well then, what kind of request should I take today…」

「There’s a suitable request that I want to show to you. How about this one?」

The request that she shows me is about collecting Yomir Herb. It seems like it grows in the forest but it’s hard to distinguish it from poisonous grass.

It’s something that isn’t recommended for those who don’t have herbal knowledge. It seems that she recommended this request because she remembered that I had told her that I have Item Appraisal.

「Due to the high volume of requests, an unlimited number of herbs can be purchased at 10,000 Ria each.」

Because it’s such a lucrative request, there’s no reason to refuse it.

「But please be careful. There are trolls that move about in Jippo Forest. Especially around the place where the Yomir Herb is growing.」

「Thanks for your advice.」

We head towards the forest as soon as possible. If we’re slow, then the sun will set.

Beside the occasional bird’s cry, Jippo forest is a quiet place. When I was a kid, I came here with my father once.

Five minutes after entering the forest, we found a place where herb-like plants were growing.

「Hey, Noir. Yomir Herb has a white flower, right?」

「Then, perhaps that’s it.」

Among the bushes, there are many grass with white flowers. It was easy to spot them. Immediately, I try to use Item Appraisal.

Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass, Poisonous Grass,

It’s not good.

By the way, there are also ranks for poisonous grasses. This time, all of them are of C rank.

「How is it–?」

「Those are low ranked poisonous grasses….」

「Uhmm, perhaps we should go deeper into the forest. Let’s go」

After going further into the forest, because there was a patch of grass growing there, I was going to check them while being escorted by Emma. But then I heard rustling sound from above.

「GHIEEHH!!」

「I won’t let you!」

「GYAK!?」

Whoah, that surprised me–

A goblin which was lurking on a branch of a high tree had dived in my direction. But before it reached me, I was saved because Emma had skillfully cut it in half with her knife.

Emma, who had intercepted the enemy while jumping in the air, was cool.

But…. an unfortunate thing also happened.

Because she had done that just above my head, the goblin’s spurting blood had stained my hands and other parts of my body.

「Oops. Sorry-!」

「Nah, don’t mind it. There’s no helping it.」

「Use this.」

Emma took out her handkerchief. My family doesn’t have any leeway to buy a handkerchief, so usually I didn’t bring one.

I felt grateful to Emma. I wiped my arm. The green blood is so sticky…

The handkerchief that was lent to me was stained with blood. I’m sorry, Emma.

「Don’t mind it~ because that was just a cheap handkerchief!」

「You’re kind, Emma.」

「Yeah, right? That’s because half of Emma is made of kindness~」

「And the other half?」

「Well, it’s that, that, you know…」

「That?」

「My feelings for…」

「Hmm?」

「As I said, Noir…」

「Whoops, that’s dangerous!?」

Zwoosh! A goblin which was hidden in the shrubs was aiming for Emma. Without mercy, I swing down my sword at it.

This Double Edge Sword, its sharpness is amazing.

The slash was a little shallow, but just by grazing goblin’s neck, I could cut it.

Maybe because I have the [Strong Blade] skill.

Mostly because of that.

However, those goblins are smart, aren’t they? Weren’t they hiding while holding their breath?

「Aah」

「I-i-i-it’s okay. Yes, no problem at all!」

Emma was going to vomit. The spurted blood had soaked her head.

I know that because it soaked me too. It stinks.

I could wipe it off just in case, but the smell wasn’t so kind to our noses.

Emma was desperately breathing through her mouth.

「Blegh, though I try to breathe through my mouth, it’s still stinks–」

「It’s because both of us are stinky so it’s like the smell is doubled. It feels like we’re going to be hated (just by the smell).」

「Ahaha, when we go back to the town, we’re going to be avoided by everyone. Friends and family included.」

「That sounds depressing.」

「But because we’re both smelly, we should stick with each other. We’ve become smelly comrades, haven’t we?」

「Being stuck because we smell is just…」

Let’s create a skill to get rid of the smell.

[Deodorization 80LP]

Thinking about Maria, I have to save up LP. But if I leave it as it is, no one would be willing to get close to us, so I acquired the skill.

「Ha!」

For the time being, I tried to deodorize myself. It seems that I could get rid of the smell at places where I touch, but it’s impossible to completely get rid of the nose-twisting smell. In that situation, a Super Deodorization skill is needed.

Even so, it seems that Deodorization skill could get rid of the goblin blood’s smell.

Sniff sniff… There, there’s no more stink!

「Sorry Emma for only cleaning myself.」

「Hurry-it-up-, hurry and use that to clean me too!」

「Say something interesting and I’ll clean you.」

「YOU’RE MEAN–!」

「But you’ve always done that, haven’t you, Emma. Like when I wanted to eat the boxed lunch but I have to say an interesting thing before I could.」

「That was–」

「Then, hurry, say it.」

While I was expecting something from her, Emma holds onto a tree beside her with one hand and sharply brushes her bangs with her finger.

「Even if the world turns against you, Noir… I, will be your only ally.」

「….What the hell is that?」

「Because I’m stinky right now, I tried to say an equally stinky line.」

「So you will be my ally if that happens?」

“Well perhaps I have confidence in doing so~」

「Say it with a stronger voice.」

「I have the confidence to do that!」

I felt a little happy after hearing that, so I deodorize her.

….This is bad, we have to stop playing around and find that herb.