Crouch took the proof of subjugation, along with the rest of the Clay Viper, so Hiiro had to leave the cave empty-handed.

But then, he realized something. His body had become heavily fatigued, though not to the extent where he couldn’t walk. The reason was quite clear.

(It must be because I used the synergistic effect of parallel writing.)

He had written 『Speed』 on himself multiple times, and the effects stacked. It raised his speed just fine, but it put a strain on his body unbefitting of his level. His body creaked as it tried to keep up with his accelerated movements.

(This is quite painful..)

He thought, as he carefully walked forward as not to lose his way. When he finally got outside, he saw Muir sleeping under the shade of a tree, and Arnold looking after her.

As Hiiro was late, Arnold issued a complaint.

“What the hell were you doing? Did you not know what path to take back?”

“No. I see. So you didn’t see?”

Crouch disappeared into the ground. Perhaps he came the same way as well. There’s a high probability that Arnold never saw him.

“See what?”

“No, it’s nothing. How’s the shorty?”

“Well, she hasn’t received any serious injuries, and she’s just unconscious. There’s no helping it. She let out that much power, and she was being squeezed by the Clay viper for a while.”

Muir was fast asleep. Even after releasing an amazing amount of lightning, her body showed no external injury. Even her clothes didn’t look burned in the slightest.

“I’m sorry, but until Muir wakes up..”

As Arnold was about to say something, Muir opened her eyes.

“Uu..”

“Muir? Are you alright, Muir?”

“.. Un.. cle?”

Her eyes were still unfocused, but she could make out Arnold before her.

“Yeah, it’s me. How is it? Does your body feel strange at all?”

Muir’s vision slowly cleared, and she realized that she was already outside of the cave. Moving only her eyes, she shifted her gaze to Arnold.

“My body hurts a bit, but I’m fine. The monster..?”

“If you’re talking about the snake, we took it out.”

And Muir gave a sorrowful expression.

“I.. I’m sorry.. Because of me..”

Though the monster was defeated, Muir felt depressed over the pain she made the other two go through because of her. But the next words made her doubt her ears.

“Ahaha, what are you saying? It’s because of you we were able to take out that snake, you know. Do you remember anything?”

“.. Eh?”

Arnold bluntly explained everything he saw to Muir. The contents were things she couldn’t believe herself. Her own power had stopped the Clay Viper’s movement and had given an opportunity to defeat it.

But Hiiro wasn’t denying it. He simply stood with his eyes closed and his arms folded. Perhaps this was his sign of affirmation.

“Uncle.. is this true?”

Even now, she couldn’t believe it. But Arnold had absolutely no reason to lie. But the fact that her own power was able to change something, the fact that she was able to stand against that powerful monster was more shocking than anything.

At that point, Hiiro tried testing something. He wrote a word on the ground.

“Oy, Hiiro. What are you doing?”

“Shut up and watch.”

And something began to be projected onto the ground. It was as if a Television screen had been created. And on it, scenes from the previous battle began playing back.

(It seems it was a success. Using『Project』, I can show others scenes from my memory. How convenient.)

The other two seemed flabbergasted, but Arnold recognized the scene as one he had experienced himself, so he could understand the meaning behind Hiiro’s magic.

“C-could this be the battle we just had..?”

“Yeah, shorty.”

“W-what?”

“This is the truth. Take it however you will.”

Hiiro spoke as he lowered his gaze to the footage on the ground. Muir copied him and looked upon the scene.

What was displayed was the moment when she was captured by the Clay Viper. When suddenly, a huge electric outburst occurred, and Hiiro took the opportunity.

After that, her body continued to let out a faint light, and Arnold caught her. Arnold showed clear signs of being electrocuted. Even Hiiro and Arnold’s conversations were clearly audible.

Seeing Muir’s shocked face at the video, Hiiro thought to himself what a troublesome person she was while he wrote the word 『Project』 again. The effective time of one minute was nearing its end, so the footage would be cut off. That’s why he had to use 《Parallel Writing》’s stacking effect to lengthen the duration.

“Is this.. true?”

As if she was still in doubt, Muir asked Arnold. And he nodded gently.

“Yeah, so you finally awakened. You did well, Muir.”

“Fue..” (ED: Rishia is that you!?)

Muir broke out in tears and clung to Arnold. He patted her head and said.

“I told you, didn’t I? That you would become strong. You still have a long way to go, but the 『Lightning Spirit』 has acknowledged your efforts.”

“Sob.. Sob.. Ueeeeeeen.” (TL: What’s here are crying onomatopoeia, I don’t know what to put)

“Now you can fight too. But remember, you’re just a beginner. Let’s take this one step at a time. Okay, Muir?”

“Ye.. sob.. ye.. Yeah!”

Arnold wiped off her tears, and she smiled happily.

“Um, can I have a moment of your time?”

During that scene, the words of someone who couldn’t read the mood rang out.

“H-hey, Hiiro. We’re currently going through an emotional moment.”

“Just look around you.”

“What do you.. yes?”

They were surrounded by monsters.

“Oh.. Oh my..”

His words were understandable.

“Well, it’s not like we’re in a safe area. It’s not like we care what they’re doing when we attack either.”

“You.. you damn monsters! Read the mood for a second!”

“For now, let’s clean up. Shorty, you stay here. You can’t move yet, right?”

“Ah, yeah.”

Muir realized that nothing changed. That she was still someone who was protected. But then Hiiro spoke.

“Oy, shorty. If you’ve got some power, then you’ve got to earn your keep. Next time, you’re on your own.”

“..Yeah!”

Those words bestowed strength unto her heart. The fact that she wouldn’t be protected anymore made her slightly uncomfortable, but the happiness she felt from those words greatly outweighed that. In order not to let him down, Muir resolved to become strong.

She closely watched the backs of the two protecting her. Up ‘til now, she had always been watching the backs of people protecting her. But next time, she would be standing beside them. Muir unintentionally clenched her fist as she followed their fighting style with her eyes.

“Fly away.”

Using 『Burst』, the enemies were blown away in an instant. But..

“UHYAAAAAH”

Hiiro had forgotten that Arnold was there too.

“W-what are you doing, Hiiro!? That was a close one!”

“.. Well, I thought that if it was you, you would be fine.”

“There’s no way I would be fine, ninnyhammer!”

Even during battle, these two never changed.

“Okay, then old man, step back.”

“It’s too late for that!”

As he shouted that, Arnold noticed Hiiro writing another word, and he backed off.

“Next is this.”

Hiiro shot the words straight at a group of monsters. And when it reached the center of the group, he activated it.

And suddenly..

The entire area of effect of the word froze over, and the monsters within its scope were frozen solid. Its area of effect was just around 4 tatami. The vertical area was also the same.

“O-oh, amazing.”

Arnold stared at the block of ice in amazement. Hiiro could make use of Fire, Lightning, and even Ice. He was truly a first class magician.

Thinking that he didn’t want to lose, Arnold continuously used his 《Wind Fang》 to take down enemies. Perhaps because they were afraid of the two peerless fighters before them, the remaining monsters ran off.

“Alright, that’s all of them.”

“Yeah.”

The two of them sheathed their weapons and returned to Muir. They found her with an expression of shock frozen on her face.

“W-what’s wrong,Muir?”

Muir responded while keeping up the same expression.

“U-uncle.. my level has..”

It seemed that she was surprised at her own sudden growth in level.

“Hah? So that’s it. Well, that sounds about right. Even though you didn’t actively fight, you’re acting in our group, so the EXP of the monsters we defeat flowed to you too. Of course your level would rise.”

They had registered as a Party at the guild, so the monsters they fought in the 【Gree Caves】, as well as the ones they fought now, gave EXP to Muir. Since her level was quite low from the start, her level was raised by quite a bit.

“And didn’t you feel the level ups in the cave as well? Didn’t you notice?”

“N-no, I noticed it, but I thought I would check later. But the level up sound only sounded off three times..”

“Ah, it’s that. You jumped multiple levels at once. So having it sound out three times doesn’t mean you leveled up three levels.”

As proof, when Hiiro defeated the Red Boar, his level raised by four. But he only got a single notification.

“S-so that’s how it is..”

“Well, I also didn’t check. I think I leveled up in the caves too, and I also leveled up in the fight just now.”

Arnold and Muir checked their 《Status》, so Hiiro decided to follow suit. He had heard the sound in his ears as well.

–

Hiiro Okamura

Lv 40

HP: 228/770

MP: 150/1500

EXP: 75632

NEXT: 5890

ATX: 258 (320)

DEF: 200 (215)

AGL: 350 (352)

HIT: 192 (200)

INT: 309 (313)

《Magical Attribute》 None

《Magic》Word Magic (Single Chain Unlocked|Air Word Unlocked|Parallel Writing Unlocked | Double Chain Unlocked)

《Title》 Innocent Bystander, Other Worlder, Word User, The Awakened One, Ripper, The One Who Imagines, Killer of the Unique, Gourmet Bastard, One Who Follows His Own Path, Friend of the Fairies

–

Guild Card

Name: Hiiro Okamura

Sex: Male

Age: 17

From: Unknown

Rank A

Quest:

Equipment:

Weapon Piercer

Guard Red Robe

Accessory Fairy Bracelet

Rigin: 4112000

–

Arnold Ocean

Lv 41

HP: 160/595

MP: 30/249

EXP: 86038

NEXT: 7660

ATX: 394 (438)

DEF: 359 (375)

AGL: 328 (333)

HIT: 252 (254)

INT: 114 ()

《Magical Attribute》 Wind

《Magic》Fangs of Wind | Explosive Wind Claw | Blast Inversion

《Title》Friend of the Wind | Former Slave | Chef | Doting Father | Man of Burning Soul | The Man Referred to as a Pervert | Blade of the Wild

–

Guild Card

Name: Arnold Ocean

Sex: Male

Age: 37

From: Snyoll

Rank A

Quest:

Equipment:

Weapon Great Sword

Guard Plate Armor

Accessory Bracelet of the Wind

Rigin: 1132000

–

Muir Castrea

Lv 34

HP: 235/280

MP: 54/180

EXP: 48604

NEXT: 1001

ATX: 276 (279)

DEF: 237 (245)

AGL: 222 (225)

HIT: 188 (189)

INT: 101 ()

《Magical Attribute》 Lightning

《Magic》Fang of Lightning

《Title》 Friend of Lightning | Kidnapped | My Angel | Cutie Flower | Girl of Tolerance

–

Guild Card

Name: Muir Castrea

Sex: Female

Age: 12

From: Rince

Rank C

Quest:

Equipment:

Weapon Knife

Guard Traveler’s Clothes

Accessory Bracelet of Lightning

Rigin: 56000