Edited by buboleche

ps: accepting better names for the chapter’s title

Yu at first was reluctant to take this quest. Right now he was regretting not listening to himself.

“Yu, look over there, a twin tailed fox monster.”

“Yu, who tought you swordsmanship? Was it an A rank adventurer?”

“Yu, do you know someone called Ranfa? Apparently he defeated an A rank monster using a single sword?”

(So noisy) – Yu

All the way Joseph, who usually did the talking wasn’t given a chance to do so, due to his place being taken by Moran. She was endlessly talking about everything conected with swords and swormanship while Yu was desperately tring to ignore her. After losing the spar, Moran was depressed for a while but upon entering the 「Forest of Marma」 regained her usual composure and started to talk endlessly to Yu.

Siamese who witnessed the spar was also glancing at him from afar from time to time, only whithout saying anything.

“Nina-chan, aren’t you worried? Yu is getting popular.” Lalit said this trying to tease Nina.

“It is good that everyone is getting along~” (Nina)

“…That girl doesn’t have any bad intentions.” (Lena)

“It seems she finally understands Yu-sama’s greatness.” (Marifa)

The girls didn’t think that Moran had ulterior motives.

Meanwhile, the others were busy conversing.

“What is Moran doing? I told her not to cause any trouble, but she is getting herself involved with that boy.” (Ann)

“Isn’t that good? I think she is trying to be friendly.” (Memetto)

“Siamese-san, what do we do?” (Siam’s lackey)

“What do you mean?” (Siam)

“That boy has good swordsmanship. It won’t be difficult for him to become a C rank.”

“So what?”

“Should we put some poison in his food to get rid of him? We could deal with him quickly.”

“I am a noble and I won’t do such lowly things. Certainly, my skills may be lower than his but I won’t resort to something like that.”

“Certainly, Siamese-san is a noble, doing such a thing is unthinkable.”

“Siamese-san, there seemes to be a problem.” It was the other lackey of Siam that noticed that.

“Is something wrong?”

“The people in the front seem to be increasing their speed to match Joseph-san.”

For sure, that was true. Joseph’s walking speed was indeed rising but the cause was that Yu’s walking speed was the one that was getting faster.

“Annoying.”

Yu said that and started running zigzag in the forest. Despite it being full of trees and obstacle, his speed was increasing even further as if he was running on flat ground.

“Do you have a stomach ache?”

Joseph quickly cought up to him and asked while grinning. He noticed that maybe Yu was running away from Moran but he really didn’t need to quicken up his pace so suddenly. Nina and Lalit noticed that and chased after Yu and Joseph with Moran. Marifa followed behind with Suke and Coro.

“…Kuro-chan, you’re not going to go after them?”

Since Lena’s physical ability was lower than them, she gave up on chasing them and walked normally.

“Yu-sama instructed me to stick with Lena-san.”

Memetto and Ann were surprised that Kuro could speak.

After Yu ran for about 10 minutes he saw three shadows, around 200 meters ahead, running towards them.

“What? A child and her mother?”

Two of the shadows belonged to them while the other one was the form of a monster.

“They are being chased by a 「Steel Spider」!”

“Darn it!”

Joseph and Lalit could grasp the gravity of the situation. No matter what they did, even with their speed, the most they could cover was only a third of the distance. The running child tripped forward and the contents of the basket that she carried fell out.

“The herbs!”

While she tried to collect the herbs on the ground, the [Steel Spider] approached from behind. It was 2m long monster, as if it came from a horror movie. The mother immediately came and protected her daughter.

“Darn it! There’s not enough time.”

Lalit and Joseph were heading towards the 「Steel Spider」but it was already moving its front leg toward the mother and daughter pair. They could only imagine the next scene in their mind.

Suddenly, *swish* a flying object moving at high speed flew past Joseph and Lalit. It hit the 「Steel Spider」and drilled a hole right in the middle of its head. The hole pierced trough the head of the 「Steel Spider」and continued to its stomach. After a few moments being frozen in place its body convulsed a few times. Joseph looked back and asked.

“Yu, was that you?”

“As I thought, 《Stone Bullet》 is a convenient spell.”

The object that flew past Lalit and Joseph was the 《Stone Bullet》that Yu cast.

“That was pretty impressive. Not only can you use that spell so accurately from this distance, you can also find them in your 【Awareness】range.” (Joseph)

“Whoa! As expected from someone who defeated me. 「Steel Spider」is a rank 4 monster but you can defeat it with only 《Stone Bullet》.” Moran had caught up with them and started complimenting excitedly.

Yu headed towards the mother and daughter pair and started to treat their wounds.

“Thank you! Thank you!” the mother bowed down and gace her thanks many times. She hugged her child tightly in her arms.

“Brother, thank you.”

“Yo, finally someone called you brother.” Joseph couldn’t read the air and said that teasingly.

“Even so, this is the first time I met「Steel Spider」wandering around the 「Forest of Marma」.” (Joseph)

“Yes, usually we come to this place to gather herbs but we’ve never met that monster before. Even goblins rarely come to this place.”(Mother)

“If that is the case, it is better to escort you out of the forest.”(Yu)

“Wait, how many hours would that take.? Do you think that we can wait for you to come back?” (Joseph)

“Then I’ll just abandon the quest. About the promotion, I will take it later. You can just move ahead without me.” (Yu)

Yu then applied 【Enchant Magic】on the mother and daughter to increase their physical ability.

“You know, I think it would better if we finished this quest together.” (Eckart)

“I’m of the same opinion as Eckart.” (Lalit)

“I don’t want to side with you but I agee.” (Moran)

“Tch, you are all idiots. So what should we do about it? Should we just wait here like idiots?”(Joseph)

“I hate waiting.” Siam said that but he continued: “But as a noble it is my duty to protect the citizen. Isn’t that right?”

To his question, his lackeys could only nod and stay silent. After all, the group had decided to wait for Yu .

“Memetto, is there a way to increase the range of 【Awareness】or any other skill to search this far?”

“I never heard of that. Also, that boy can use 【Black magic】, 【White magic】, and 【Enchant magic】 as well.”

“Maybe it’s his job? A 『Wizard』is able to do that right?”

Yu and his party on the other hand escorted the mother and daughter out of the forest safely. He waited until he couldn’t see them anymore in the distance.

“Nina, can I ask something?”

“Of course.”

“You know, when the child was saved before…”

“I’m pretty sure she was kissed on the forehead.”

“I want to ask, why a kiss?”

“It’s a form of affection, I’m sure it was love.”

“So, if you love someone you kiss them on the forehead?”

“Yes. If you allowe me, I can kiss you. Can I, Yu?”

“Sure.”

At that moment, the air was frozen. Nina smiled at his reply but Lena’s staff fell to the ground. Marifa stood expressionless but her ears were twitching violently.

“Y-Y-Yuu…Yes Yes Yes, I’ll kiss you.”

“Just one time, alright?”

“Yes.”

Nina moved in front of Yu and using both hands kept Yu’s head in place.

…..

“Wha,wha, where are you going to kiss? When I said you can kiss me I ment in the forehead! Who told you to do it on the lips?”

“B-b-but, Yu is irresistible. Alright, this time I’ll do it on your forehead.”

Once again Nina tried to steal a kiss from his lips. Before she could succeed, Lena pushed Nina out of the way.

“That was close… Now it is my turn.”

“How can you do that? It should be me.”

Lena closed her eyes and moved towards Yu but Coro and Suke struck her down. Of course it was by the order of Marifa.

“My master. You gave me a place to stay, a nice house, a meal and even a bath. If anyone is allowed to kiss you, it should be me.”

Marifa licked her lips and faced Yu.

“How dare you…”

Nina regained her composure and pushed Marifa out of the way. While the two were trying to stand in front of Yu, Lena was trying to get away from Coro and Suke. After an endless dispute, it was decided that the three of them will get their turn. The first was Nina, followed by Lena and lastly Marifa. The three of them kissed Yu in order.

Nina couldn’t hold her joy. After that she ran around the neighborhood in excitement.

Lena pulled her triangle hat to hide her bright red face.

Marifa’s tears flowed down as she stared into the ground.

Leaving Yu behind, who was quietly looking into the sky. With a sad tone he asked to himself. “Am I actually being loved?”

—————————————–

Equipped Weapon:

• Hammer of Black Steel (Grade 5): Strength up

Equipped Armor:

• Helmet (Grade 5): No effect
• Black Steel Armor (Grade 5): No effect
• Steel Leg Pad (Grade 6): No effect
• Tower Shield (Grade 5): Defense up

Equipped Accessories:

• Steel Bracelet (Grade 6): Agility up