Allrounders!! - Chapter 25: Let's Go on an Adventure! (No Adventuring) - Part 2

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"Why the hell did you shape it like a huge friggin' spider!?"

"Spiders are useful."

"Useful!? They only coil you up in threads, inject poison into you, and eat you startin' with the head!!"

Oh, that's the kind of spiders they got in this world?

"Mmh, according to my otherworld knowledge, spiders and slimes are like human friends."

"Like hell! The only difference between 'em is one eats you after wrapping you up in threads, and the other eats you after melting you into syrup!!"

Hmm, how regrettable.

"Oh well, whatever. This is a golem. A battle golem with a learning function. Its name is 【Ryoku (竜駒)】." [efn_note]It's the first part of a four-kanji Chinese idiom describing someone to be a prodigy from childhood.[/efn_note]

"Its naming is a mystery, too."

"It means "Famous Horse" in the otherworld's language."

"It's a damn spider and not a horse!!"

He said this and that about Ryoku, but I like it!

I got all the basics down!

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...of the parts sink called Ryoku. It only allowed me to build two of them.

Of course I've linked them together with a parallel, exclusive network system! Despite it being limited to two participants!

"When I've learned even more amazing magic after finishing this trip, I'll include them in my robots."

"Please don't. If they should ever go out of control, they're gonna become a lot more formidable than a dragon, won't they?"

"Even if they wanted to go berserk, they can't. Although it's quite possible for them to think and talk based on magic elements alone, they'd require magic elements and fuel to move. Without a human being nearby to maintain them, they'd quickly run out of steam and deteriorate."

Sword sighed.

"...That so?"

"Yes, that's how it is."

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A little time after we headed out to adventure, Sword started to talk while being somewhat unmotivated.

"Just in case, I'm gonna teach you, a newbie adventurer, the ropes of an ordinary adventurer's travelin'."

"Confined and dirty, scary."

"I know, I know, don't worry we'll avoid such places. Usually adventurers move by foot or with carriages along the main roads. Except for times when they don't rest, they'll spend the night at campin' spots. Since those places usually have a good outlook, it's easy to spot any monsters, and it makes it simple to get in contact with folks campin' like 'em since they're gatherin' places for other travelers. When it comes to people like me, we don't run often into enemies that'd give us trouble...the same might apply to you as well, but it still makes it simpler to work together with the other people at such camping sites to fend off possible enemy attacks. For all these reasons, they'll camp at campin' spots as much as possible. Do you understand?"

I nodded deeply.

"I got it. Basically you're telling me to stay away from the camping spots since they're dangerous because of the people there."

"That's not what I said."

Eh?

Suddenly he pressed his knuckles against my head and started to grind.

"N-o-w l-i-s-t-e-n, g-i-r-l! If you keep yappin' such stuff, I'm goin' to stop teachin' you. If you feel like it, you can also stay in the belly of that giant spider your callin' Ryoku, can't you? It's safe in there, right? We've brought the tent with us because you told me you want to camp out like adventurers do, didn't you!? I'm goin' to destroy it!"

"I'm sorry."

Once I apologized despite not quite understanding what his problem was, Sword released my head, and brushed up his fore bangs after sighing once more.

"...I'm an S-rank, so I wanna avoid campin' while minglin' with normal adventurers. But you see, bein' and adventurer means encounterin' all kinds of situations. Some requests require a big number of people, and not just you 'n me. Such requests are 『irrefutable』."

Eh?

...But, hmm, it makes sense, somewhat. If it's requests that are flagged as 『irrefutable』, they must be quite urgent or important. If you turn them down, you might be forced to resign as adventurer, I'm sure.

"...By the way, are those escort requests or some such?"

"It ain't gonna be 『people』, if it requires S-Rank escorts. Unless it's 『somethin'』 that could get attacked by calamity level monsters, no one would ask an S-Rank for an escort. The 『escort for nobles or royals』, which you seem to have in mind, aren't left in the hands of adventurers, even not S-Ranks. And even if such request came up, it'd be 『refutable』."

I felt relieved when hearing that.

"...Of course, I'll do it, if asked to cooperate, since it's not like I'm that much of a savage who doesn't know what solidarity means. But, the people of this world always care about themselves first, and sometimes they'll try to use others for their own gains."

"I won't deny that. That's why you should use 'em while keepin' your own good in mind as well. If I remember correctly, I told you that'd always stay by your side, and I intend to follow up on that. But unfortunately I feel like unforeseen situations always mess up my predictions. Put your own safety first until I come to help you."

Having him tell me that gave me peace of mind.

And when I realized that I 『felt relieved』, I also understood that I always wanted to have someone to rely on deep down in my heart. Sword showed up when I had no one to depend on, and the people related to me by blood were such assholes, so I ended up relying on him before I noticed it myself.

That's also the reason why I flew into such anger on that day. I think I was desperate.

"W-What's it all of a sudden?" Sword got startled when I leaned against him.

"...It looks like I've started to trust and depend on you at some point without being aware of it myself. Apparently I actually wanted to rely on someone. That's something I comprehended just now."

"......"

He gently ruffled my hair.

"I know. I've also been thinkin' 'bout your well-bein' in various ways. There are a few parts where I made mistakes, but... But, I've always been actin' while certain that it was for your sake, okay? Well, next time I'll desist from pushing you away with a force as if pushing someone off a cliff, even if it might be for your own good. I mean, if I did that, your quite liable to destroy the world with your great taboo magic thanks to your mental illness."

"I'm happy to hear that I got you to understand."

"No, rather than acting happy 'bout it, I'd like you to abandon that idea altogether."

I laughed.