Ch. 180: The Battle Report with Old Comrades
2 days passed since our first Expedition in Ligaleo.
It was the day when we were going to decide as a Party our official Party name.
It was late afternoon when I faced off with 3 Dragons.
Henry: “.......UGH!! GAH!! ………RAH!!” (*sfx yell)
Using their incredibly hard Dragon scales, they used another Dragon attack that is just as powerful, the Dragon Dive. I deflected the attack with all my strength.
Henry: “Hey! It’s coming your way, Ageha!”
As I yelled, I threw my Spear into the air in anticipation of the next Dragon’s attack.
Even without Magecraft Spells supporting the throw, if I simply pour raw Magic into the Spear, it’s powerful enough to wound a Dragon.
The Spear split into multiple clones, struck the Dragon, busted holes in its wings, and sent it crashing down to the ground.
Yuu: “Henry! 3 Hellhounds coming at you from the right!”
Henry: “ーー[Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Strengthen] {Hazac} + [Secure] {Isu} + [Launch] {Velos}!”
Just like she warned, I caught the Hellhounds in my peripheral and blasted a Spell to keep them occupied.
Luckily, they ran straight into my Spell, and they stopped in their tracks. By then, my Nyoiten Spear came back, and I headed to finish off the Dragons that fell to the ground.
By that time, Ageha, who was in the back, cut off the first Dragon’s head.
Yuu followed that up with swinging her morning star-like godly equipment, [The Star of Destruction], and crushed the heads of the tied up Hellhounds.
Ageha: “Okay, Henry, I’m going to stop those lizards in the back, so I’m leaving those to you!”
Henry: “Got it! Don’t be too reckless!”
There were some Dragonkin that circled around us to attack us from behind. Ageha took those on as I continued to pursue the remaining Dragon.
Dragon’s have unbelievable regenerative abilities. We were able to catch it off guard and wound its wings, so I didn’t want to waste this opportunity.
With Yuu’s enhancement Spell, I should be able to take on several Dragons…….well, actually, that’s probably too much, but I won’t have too many problems dealing with this one.
I ducked to dodge the Dragon’s claws, and thrust my Spear straight into its heart to take out one.
The other one tried to take me and the dead Dragon both out with a Dragon’s breath, but I threw my Spear through its skull.
I turned around to survey our situation.
……there were no more Dragons in sight. I heard several yelps as I swept my Spear in an arc to take out Plains Wolves and returned to where Yuu was standing.
Henry: “Fwew. Was that the 14th Dragon? There’s quite a lot today, isn’t there?”
Ageha: “Ha! I don’t mind fighting more. It’s always fun chopping off Dragon heads.”
…..besides the two I took down, the rest had their heads cleanly chopped off by Ageha.
It’s an unusual sight even here to see Dragon’s head fly around through the air so much.
Yuu: “Henry, you must have fractured your arm when you deflected that Dragon’s charge, right? Let me see.”
Henry: “Okayー”
I had cast [Heal] {Teol} to stop the pain, but my left arm was messed up a bit.
I showed Yuu my arm, and she began her Healing Spell……as soon as it was done, I let out a breath of relief.
Ageha: “Oh, what’s that? Henry, you out of breath already? If you can’t handle any more, you can just sit back and watch me fight. My my, I’m so kind to poor wittle Henryー”
Henry: “Idiot. You’re more fragile than me. If you get surrounded by several Dragons, you could get into an accident, so stay back there where you belong.”
Ageha: “What?” Henry: “What?”
I fought back word for word.
Since there were no Creatures around us at the moment, Ageha and I clashed, having nothing else better to do.
Yuu: “....ah, I see that you both really want your treatments with maximum amounts of pain.”
Yuu’s voice lowered an octave.
If she wanted to, Miss Saint could heal us in a way that would make us wish we were better off dead. As she intervened, both Ageha and I bit our lips and held our tongue.
……hmph. Whatever.
Ageha: “Tsch, I won’t forget this.” Henry: “*spat* Like I care.”
Yuu: “........shut up, you two.”
Hearing the threat in Yuu’s voice, we both quickly retreated.
Yuu: “But Henry, I’m not trying to tease you like Ageha, but are you really okay? You didn’t fight like this back to back in Flowtier, right?” Henry: “Hm? …….well, yeah, I feel it a little bit, but I’m fine. I’m starting to get the hang of things again. ……..but it will probably take more time for my gang to catch up to me.”
……..yesterday and the day before, we went out two days straight into the fields of Ligaleoーー
ーーand today, they have all happily collapsed from exhaustion.
Well, they did well. They could have collapsed after day 1, so they definitely showed their potential. But there was no reason to push through their fatigue today and risk getting injured. We decided to take the day off as a Party.
The Grandes Church will assign Expeditions as requested, but they do account for our health and well-being, so they won’t force us to go out there.
So, because of thatー
Since I was the only one with energy left, I could have taken the day off too.
But Ageha came up to me and said, “Then why not hunt Dragons with me. There seems to be a lot today,” and we invited Yuu and came to the 1st Line.
Normally, Dragons don’t travel in packs, but during their mating season, Ligaleo becomes an exception.
Dragon’s Drops are expensive, so we were sure to make quite a profit just from today.
Ageha: “Oh, we got seconds incoming. Oh looky there. There’s 7 this time.” Henry: “Looks like they’re mainly Wind Dragons. ….I can fight in the air now. I can meet them up there.”
Ageha: “That [Light Ledge] {Plateau} thing? I’ll show you that the Bound Inscriptions of the Cloudy Plains Style is much better than that.”
With a challenge from Ageha, I glared up at the incoming Dragons.
Yuu: “Sigh…….okay, stop bickering you two. ……Henry, distract them. Ageha, take out the isolated ones. Alright, goー”
Ageha: “‘kay!”
Henry: “You got it!”
And with Yuu’s orders, we both charged into the sky.
<<<<>>>>
We took down a little more than 50 Dragons.
Unfortunately, we found no Rare Drops, but we picked up the typical scales, claws, and fangs, and selling those to the Church. I was returning to the Cries of the Stars Inn with Yuu and Ageha with much thicker wallets.
Yuu: “Oh, you don’t have a Party name yet? But hasn’t it been more than a year since you formed the Party?” When I return, we’re going to officially choose a Party name. I mentioned this to Yuu, and she looked quite surprised.
Henry: “I mean, there weren’t many Adventurers in Flowtier, so there was no reason to pick one. Besides, I was planning on dropping out of the Party when they departed for Ligaleo.”
Ageha: “And now, you came all the way back for a girl you like. Henry, I never thought you were that type.” Henry: “What, you got a problem with that?” Ageha: “I didn’t say it was anything bad. In fact, I’m a little impressed.”
Though it felt like she was teasing me, was she……complimenting me?
Yuu: “And so everyone had time to think about it to discuss it again today? What name did you come up with, Henry?” Henry: “Huh? ……..wーwell, it’s a little embarrassing now that you’re asking about it.”
Yuu: “Embarrassed about what? If it gets chosen, it’ll be your official Party name right?”
IーI guess that’s true but…..
……wait, argh! Whatever. It’s just like Yuu is saying. Why be embarrassed now?
Henry: “[Song of Victory]. …..because we weren’t even in Ligaleo, and we took down 2 Highest-Tiers. Cyril’s Magic was key to taking down both of them.”
Yuu: “Ah, that’s why you were so embarrassed.”
Urgh! Just leave it alone!
Yuu: “But I think that’s a nice name. Miss Cyril’s Spell is quite flashy and leaves a strong impression.”
Ageha: “You think so? I think it’s a little bland. You need one with a little more umph(!) in the name. Like…..[Team Kill You All].”
Definitely not. I would never want to be called by that name.
Ageha: “But I wonder what names the others are coming up with.” Yuu: “Your personality plays a big part in these cases. When we were together……was it [Silver Blade]?”
At the time, the Party leader’s godly equipment was a shining silver sword. ………and that was all. It was a very simple name.
Ageha: “Yeah, we should have been the [Head Choppers], don’t you think?” Henry: “That was so long ago. And what, ‘Choppers’? You’re the only one chopping heads.”
Ageha: “Everyone else can do it too!”
Henry: “Like we could!!”
The neck is a critical weakness for most living creatures. And yeah, if you can hit it from the beginning, taking them down would be faster, but in most cases, you have to wound the Creature to a certain degree before you can strike their neck. That’s because the Creature knows their own weakness too and will be weary of attacks to the neck.
In other words, the fact that Ageha can do it is a testament to her incredible battle instincts, but don’t demand the same level of skill from the general public.
Ageha: “Fineー oh, we’re here.”
And before we knew it, we arrived back at the Cries of the Stars Inn.
It takes a little time to get back from the 1st Lines, so the majority of Adventurers had already returned and were relaxing in the main living room.
Yuu: “Then Henry, we’ll head to the baths.”
Henry: “‘kay, see ya.”
I wave goodbye to Yuu and Ageha who head towards the Inn’s bathhouse.
I had already washed and rinsed the blood and sweat off with [Fire] {Ignis} + [Water] {Eedle}.
………because when you come back late, the bath water in the bathhouse gets pretty dirty. And this is especially true because men tend to be the vanguards of the Party.
Usually, they switch out the bathwater at least twice in the evening, so I’m waiting for the next switch out. Both the Innkeeper and his wife are incredible Mages, so we are being spoiled.
I decided to wait in the living room and just chat with whoever whenーー
Cyril: “Oh, Henry, welcome backー”
Cyril, who was sitting at one of the tables set out in the living room noticed me and waved towards me.
I raised a hand back in answer and headed to where she sat.
I wondered if she thought it was around the time I should be back and came downstairs.
…….? There was a crowd of onlookers surrounding the table.
Henry: “What? Oh, you’re playing some Shogi?” I join the onlookers and see Cyril playing against Ferris, and Jend playing against Teo. One board was the new one we bought in Rishu.
…..ah, so everyone was just watching their match.
I joined them and began looking at the boards as well.
Henry: “.........oh.” Jend’s game was too complex even for me, but Cyril and Ferris’ game was pretty easy to understand.
And surprisingly, Cyril had the advantage.
Vincent: “Henry, glad to see you back. How’d it go today?” Vincent looked up from studying the Shogi games and began chatting with me.
Henry: “Lots of Dragons today. Took down around 50.”
…….oh, some of the onlookers looked shocked. They were mostly the ones I haven’t met before.
And yeah. I said it like it wasn’t a big deal, but for the top rankers in Ligaleo…..the ones fighting on the 1st Lines, it’s not a battle report you hear often.
Vincent had a hard time keeping his smile, but he was still impressed.
Vincent: “......when you and Yuu tag team, you guys really are unbelievable.”
Henry: “Well, as you already know, Ageha was the one who finished them off though.”
And the crowd murmured with understanding since a Hero of Legend was in my Party.
……..it was a little annoying to see that, but those two definitely have amazing skills.
And since Yuu and I are in completely different roles, it’s hard to compare, but if you put Ageha on the vanguard like me, I would come out on top if we fought her head to head.
Well, anyways, they’ll see me fight sooner or later, so maybe they’ll reconsider my strength and skills then.
Henry: “So Cyril, did you come up with some ideas about our Party’s name?”
Cyril: “Of course I did! Hehehehe, you’ll be blown away by Miss Cyril’s amazing taste with names!”
…….blown away? Is that a good thing…….? …….well, we’ll talk about it during dinner.
For now, I continued to watch the Shogi matches.
<<<<>>>>
CREDITS
Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely
Written by Hisagushien
Translated by: ChonkyTranslator
Japanese Title:
セミリタイアした冒険者はのんびり暮らしたい
作者: 久櫛緑（ヒサグシエン）
http://kuontenrin.ehoh.net/
Original Source:
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n1161ft/180/
Book 14 - Ligaleo
Ch. 172 - 184