10 Years After – 129
Kathe’s Testimony
I had been an Adventurer for a decently long time.
And even I had never encountered such a thing as these machines.
They were clearly incredibly rare.
“Kathe. Were there many of these, uh, magic machines?”
“Yes, there were.”
“How many?”
“There were at least thirty that I could see. But I’m sure there are more.”
“Thirty…”
I wasn’t sure if that was a lot or not.
It would depend on how strong an individual machine was.
Were they equal to a goblin or a vampire?
“Do you know how strong they are?”
“I was surrounded by all thirty of them, and I destroyed twenty.”
“Oh? Very impressive, Kathe. And yet you still retreated?”
Kathe did not look particularly wounded.
If she could destroy twenty, it seemed like she should be able to destroy the last ten.
I asked her this, and she began to fidget uncomfortably.
“…”
“What is it?”
“…I am sorry. I lied. I only destroyed one of them.”
“Why would you lie about that?”
“…To keep up appearances. I am sorry.”
“…I see. I understand.”
I couldn’t blame her harshly, seeing as how sad she looked after this confession.
Everyone wanted to look better than they actually were.
However, saying you had defeated twenty when the reality was just one? That seemed a little extreme.
I would have liked it if she had at least destroyed fifteen if she was going to tell such a lie.
Kathe did not seem to understand restraint.
“So, if Kathe could only defeat one… They must be very strong.”
“We might need a whole party of A-ranking Adventurers to defeat a single machine.”
Shia and Serulis muttered gravely.
Shia, Serulis, Nia and Grulf had seen me and Kathe fight.
And so they knew how strong she was.
“Yes. They were very dangerous.”
“How? Specifically?”
“They are very hard. My fire breath did not seem to be very effective. They were moving just fine after being hit by it.”
We had experienced Kathe’s breath ourselves. It was very powerful.
Most monsters would not survive it.
Even a Vampire Lord would be hurt.
“…They were moving just fine?”
“Yes. They looked completely unhurt.”
They would have to have incredible resistance to fire in order to come out of such an attack unscathed.
I would have to avoid using fire magic if I ever fought them.
“Kathe. What about your claws and fangs?”
“I could not kill them with one hit. I had to strike numerous times.”
“…That’s incredible.”
Obviously, Kathe was very strong. Her claws and fangs were sharp.
Most monsters would die from a single hit.
“Alright, I understand that they are terribly tough. What about their attacks?”
“Hmm. They make a loud sound and unleash something very small.”
“Small?”
“A small something made of metal. They are so fast that I cannot even see them.”
“Huh…”
“It really, really hurt.”
And with that, Kathe pulled up her sleeve and showed me her left wrist.
“Look here.”
“Hmm? It’s a little red.”
“It has swollen up… This is the result of the ferocious attack of the magic machine.”
“…Uh, how shocking.”
To call it a little scratch would be an exaggeration. It wasn’t even a mosquito bite.
She looked nothing but completely unharmed.
Perhaps Kathe was just very weak to pain.
Koko wa Ore ni Makasete Saki ni Ike to Itte kara 10 Nen ga Tattara Densetsu ni Natteita
