Chapter 34: A New Forging

　 

TL: Scaramochi


***


""......"" 


"First of all...... it ain't that big, but why is it so big? I ain't even peeled it." 


The first dish cooked by Frey and Mirialia was a vegetable soup and just bread. 


As for the vegetable soup, it was just stewed potatoes. It was hard to eat because it wasn't cut at all, and the skin wasn't even peeled. I don't know if this is the best they can do or if they are cutting corners, but this is not what I would call cooking. 


"I wanted to know how well the two of you could cook, so I paired you up, but it seems you don't have any cooking skills at all. From now on, you'll have to work with me or Athena to teach you a little bit at a time. It would have been terrible if we had been served this kind of food throughout the trip." 


"Damn it, that's no use. I'm going to break my tools if I put too much effort into it." 


"Still, go for it. So, what kind of excuse are you going to give me, Mirialia?" 


"We just shared the work. Frey for the vegetable soup, me for the bread." 


You son of a b*tch...... are so brazen. Bread is not a dish, you should at least make one dish. 


Okay, I'll pair up with Mirialia. I'll work with Athena because she's sure to slack off if I pair her with Athena. 


After a short rest, we resume our journey. 


After a quiet and peaceful time, when the sun was still early enough to set, I stopped and made a suggestion to the three of them. 


"Why don't we leave it at that for today and get ready for encampment?" 


"What, isn't it early? It's still totally light out." 


"It's not a trip we're in such a hurry to make. We have things to do from here. Besides, I think they've reached their limit by now." 


I said this to Athena, who looked doubtful, and pointed my finger at Mirialia and Frey, who were behind me. 


"Haa...... haa......" 


"I'm grabbed~~ I can't walk anymore~~" 


"Looks like you're right......." 


Athena is convinced with the two completely battered people by her side. 


Frey is sweating like a waterfall, and Mirialia is crawling on the ground like a zombie. 


Even Frey, who is a physical fitness freak, would have been understandably exhausted if she had continued to do all-out physical strengthening from early in the morning. 


I thought she would get out of shape much sooner, but I was surprised that she kept her strength longer than I expected. I knew this guy's physical capabilities were bottomless. She also has a lot of magical power. 


The only weak point of Mirialia is her physical stamina. 


She urged me to take many breaks along the way, but I ignored all of them and let her walk, but this really seems to be her limit. 


No matter how good a magician she is, if her physical stamina runs out, her ability to think will decline and she will no longer be able to manipulate her magical powers. It's rare that they continue to fight until their physical strength runs out, but it is not always absolutely certain. 


Monsters also have abnormal behavior, and they can spring up indefinitely. In such situations, the last thing you can rely on is your physical strength and guts. 


"Mirialia, when you take a break, please make a bed for me with earth magic as you see fit." 


"Haa...... haa...... after I take a break......." 


Excuse me for putting it this way, but I really think Mirialia is a prime candidate. 


She can make her own clean water, which is essential for traveling, and she can even make a roof over her head with earth magic. Just being able to shelter from the wind and rain makes a difference in the recovery of one's strength, and it keeps fatigue from carrying over to the next day. 


Traveling becomes much easier just by having a Mirialia. She is such an excellent and useful mage that I would like to have one in the family. 


"Athena and Frey are going to have a little training with me now. Ah, Frey, you can release your physical enhancements now." 


After telling them this, Frey released her physical enhancement. It will be very hard for Frey, who has run out of energy, to train from now on, but that's part of the goal, so I have no choice but to ask her to do her best. 


I turned my body toward them and asked a small question. 


"Now, before we start training, I want to ask you guys, what do you do when you are attacked by a monster?" 


"What I mean is...... I'll avoid it. If I don't get there in time, I'll use my sword to block it." 


"Haa...... haa...... that's all there is to it." 


"Basically, it's those two things. The patterns that we do in response to enemy attacks are "evade" and "defend". But I think there's another way to deal with them, which is to pass them off." 


"How is that different from...... normal defense?" 


Athena asked suspiciously, and I clenched my hands into fists and slammed them together. 


"It's defending against an attack head-on, like this." 


Next, I spread one hand out and put it on my fist at an angle. 


"Shedding is the image of deflecting the trajectory - the flow - of the attack by applying force from a different direction without hitting it head-on." 


"I see....... I understand most of what you are saying." 


"What's the point of it if you can do that?" 


"The good thing about it is that it doesn't matter how powerful your opponent is, even a child can neutralize an adult's attack. The bad part is that it's a difficult technique. If you get the timing wrong, you'll probably be more fatally wounded than if you defend against a normal attack." 


That's how advanced and severe the technique is. 


But whether or not you can do this will greatly affect the scope of your combat. It would be difficult to master, but my gut told me these guys could do it. 


"Well, you won't understand if I just say it, so I'm going to put it into practice. Let the guys who want to try it out come to me."



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