Chapter 21: Wait

One morning in mid-October. The time was around six o’clock.

Basha

I wake up to the sound of a water jar being filled with water.

“Good Morning, Dad.”

“Oh, you’re up.”

For a long time, I couldn’t get up early in the morning, but recently, I finally managed to wake up at six o’clock without an alarm clock. Rodan was doing his morning routine.

“Good Morning, Mom.”

“Thank you.”

Theresia was also awake. She handed Rodan a burlap sack. It contained dried meat, dried potatoes and a leather bag with water. He carried it on his back in a sling.

In the living room with the fireplace, there is a stick about two meters long, which is not usually used. A large, thick blade is attached to the end. It was a spear made to defeat boars. I had checked it carefully last night to make sure there were no problems. Rodan had borrowed it from the weapon shop the day before the hunt.

Rodan took the spear in his hand.

“I’m off then.”

“Will you be late?”

“We’ll have some newcomers today. We’re going to a nearby hunting ground. It won’t be too late.”

And with that, he headed out, even though it had become quite cold.

 (Boar hunting. I’d like to go too. I want to raise my level.)

It’s been six years since his reincarnation, but Allen is still at level one.

 (I want to go boar hunting sometime. In order for a serf to go outside the village, he needs permission from the village chief. However, I heard that even if you ask for permission, you will basically not get it. Basically, permission is not granted for anything other than what is necessary for village activities, such as boar hunting. The serfs are also restricted in their movement.)

My throwing skill quota is increasing.

(I’ve already thrown it 200,000 times since it went up last time, and it hasn’t gone up. I hope I don’t have to throw a stone a million times to reach the next level.)

I keep throwing and throwing and throwing and throwing and throwing. Even on a rainy day or a windy day, I keep throwing. Neither Rodan nor Theresia had expected me to throw it every day. When Rodan asked Gelda for advice, he said, “My daughter plays knight every day at home!”

(This is because my normal skills are not as good as hers. This is why regular skills don’t work for me; they’re too ineffective per hour.)

Both Swordsmanship and Throwing are at Level 3. I raised them from nothing. It took me 1,000 throws to raise Throwing from 0 to 1, 10,000 times to reach 2, 100,000 times to reach from 2 to 3, and then that would increase tenfold.

At this rate, even if I spent my whole life working on it, it would be tough to get it to 5. Probably 4 is the limit. It is worthwhile to raise the skill if I can expect a tremendous effect, such as doubling the power as the skill level increases, but it is unlikely that the power will increase that much.

(It’s true that the power is higher than it was when there was no skill, but it seems to have doubled at skill level 3.)

It’s just a feeling, but I think it’s twice as powerful as it was when I didn’t have any skills.

I’ll keep the swords and stones for self-defense. I should focus on raising Summoning Level instead. The F-rank Grass wasn’t only smelling good.)

I look at the one meter tall tree in front of me. It smells like an essential oil. It’s a soothing scent with no odor at all. I can keep smelling it.

I look at the memo function of the Grimoire.

(Hmm, I guess the mana recovery time has been reduced from six hours to five hours.)

When I planted the F-rank Grass in my yard, the number of times I gained skill experience by using the summoning skill per day increased from 3 to 4.

I’ve been gaining skill experience every six hours for the past five years, which means I can gain skill experience four times a day: once in the middle of the night, once in the early morning, once in the early afternoon, and once at late evening. However, with this method, the second day will always be less than three times.

However, when I grew a tree using F-rank Grass special skill Aroma, I was able to get four times for three consecutive days.

 (Is 5 times too hard? 4 hours is impossible.)

I verified how much the time was shortened, but I’m pretty sure it was 5 hours, not 4. This is going to accelerate my skill experience gain.

 (I guess that’s all the effect Appo has on me.)

Looking at the notes in the Grimoire, I summarized the results of the F-rank Grass verification.

・ It smells good and helps for better sleep

・ Mana recovery time reduced to 5 hours

・ Once I use the skill, both the card and the summoned beast disappear (become a tree).

What’s different from other summonses is that I can only use a skill once, and once I use it, it can’t be turned into a summoned beast or a card again. It turns completely into a tree. Of course, other people can see it. They can also touch it. 

“Allen, it’s time to eat.”

“Yes, Mom!”

Now that F-rank has been unlocked, I have a lot to research. It’s been almost half a month now, but I haven’t been able to fully test everything. I can’t let Pochi bite someone, and I can’t let myself be bitten, especially with the bite of the F-rank beast. It is difficult to verify its power.

“Nini, no!”

“Mash, okay, okay, okay.”

After being outside alone for more than two hours, Mash hugged me as soon as I entered the house. Mash will be three years old in two months or so and will be allowed to go outside the garden. 

(Throwing rocks for more than an hour every day doesn’t pay off. It’ll be more than five years before my skill levels up. It’s time to stop now that Mash is here.)

I ate puffed potatoes, wondering if there was anything I could do with Mash.

“Hey, I had a good time today, too! Did it make you feel stronger?”

“Well, yeah.”

 (I’m no match for her at all, though. She’s too strong!)

The afternoon game of knights was over. Kurena ran back to her house as she had done for three years. She has sleepovers at my house only when I give her permission to stay over once in a while.

I can now stock up to 30 cards in holder, and have increased the number of cards until my stock reached 30. While considering the blessings and increase in mana, I have increased my power to a certain extent.

11 Beast

2 Insect

2 Birds

15 Grass

The increase in attack power due to the blessing is now 55, and Kurena, who has been playing knight with me every day for three years, noticed this change.

In addition, after the verification of the F-rank, I focused on raising the level of Strengthening to 3 first. I rarely use Synthesis and Create.

(I’m almost at Strengthening Level 2. I’ll level up tomorrow.)

I’m happy to see that the F-rank Grass is bringing in skill experience at an incredible rate.

“He’s late, isn’t he?”

As Theresia was preparing dinner with my help, she muttered next to me. It’s true that he’s late. Rodan said he was going hunting in the vicinity. Normally, there were days when he went hunting and came home already.

“Yeah, Dad’s late.”

We were planning to have a small but lavish meal to celebrate the hunt, but he never came home. Mash couldn’t wait that long, so today he finished dinner first.

Kern

　Kern

　Kern

Another hour passed. The bell rang, signaling 6pm.

“I wonder if he’s still there.”

I was starting to get worried so I came to the living room. Mash was already asleep.

“Allen, you don’t have to wait for him. He’s been late from hunting before.”

“But he said he’d be home early today.”

 “Well, aren’t you a good boy, Allen?”

   She pats me on the head.

Two more hours passed. It was completely dark outside.

“Oh, I wonder if that’s him.”

I heard a voice outside the house. It was Theresia, peeking out from the living room. I also peeked outside with her.

There was a light in the pitch-black world. It looked like a torch. I heard a voice, but it was too far away.

(Dad, you’re late. But I’m glad you’re back safely.)

The lights are getting closer.

There are two lights.

 (What? Aren’t you alone?)

There are three lights, then four. As they got closer and closer, what I thought was just one light turned into four, then five, and finally over ten.

I could hear shouting. I felt a stirring in my heart. I looked to the side and saw that Theresia was in a similar condition.

When they were almost here, I could hear Gelda’s voice clearly.

“Rodan! We’re home! We’re home!!!!”

In response to Gelda’s shouting, Theresia unconsciously ran towards the lights. So did I.

Theresia’s feet stop. She saw something unbelievable. Her body was trembling.

“What? Dad?”

There was Rodan, being carried by several men on what looked like a stretcher. A torchlight illuminated Rodan. His linen rags were covered with a large amount of blackened and clotted blood.