Jack of all Trades – 297
Unending Mystery
Two days passed. I was able to move decently since yesterday morning, but Daniela insisted that I rest a while longer, just to be sure. And she would not take no for an answer, and so I did.
However, it was thanks to that rest that I was now able to run. Yes, run.
But the problem was whether or not I could use Eyes of the God Wolf.
“Uhh…grr…”
“You cannot?”
“There’s still this piercing pain in the back of my eyes…”
Unfortunately, two days had not been enough to recover the use of that skill. It was clear why. I had used ‘God Wolf Sword Reach’ in order to kill the Queen’s Knight Goblin. That skill mostly relied on Jack of all Trades, Master of None, but it also used Eyes of the God Wolf. And the entire burden was on the brain. The pain in my optic nerves was screaming at me.
“Do not use your eyes, Asagi.”
“I wish I didn’t have to, Daniela. But if we don’t do something, the city will be attacked.”
“Yes, but the city will not be any safer if you allow yourself to be crushed. We may not have enough time for you to recover completely, but there is no need to walk into the flames when you are carrying a bomb.”
“…”
That was true, of course. I couldn’t argue with her. And more than anything, I could feel that she was worried about me. And once I knew that, I was powerless. I raised my hands as a show of surrender.
“As long as you know.”
“Got it, partner.”
“So you must not use Eyes of the God Wolf for a while. It is useful, but also quite dangerous. Understand?”
“Ouch!”
I got flicked in the forehead. I rubbed at the sore spot which was surely turning red. Damn, that hurt.
□ □ □ □
We left the now completely empty village and headed straight to the north. It was the direction that the goblins had come from. When I thinly spread out Presence Detection in that direction, I could vaguely detect people. So we were on the right track. But then again, it was so far away that I wasn’t sure if what I was detecting was humans or monsters. Regardless, it didn’t matter, as long as we caught up to them. If they were humans, good. If they were monsters, we would kill them.
The weather was bright and warm today. It had been cloudy during the previous two days, and snowed a few times, so I had been expecting bad weather today as well. Even, the fields of snow where we had all fought in and disturbed, was flat again. So it was difficult to find any traces of Adlus and the others.
I wondered what exactly we should look for as the bright sun shone down on us. Though, the wind itself was still cold. It was a good thing we had dressed warmly.
“It will be easy to lose each other like this since we’re both wearing white.”
“But that is a good thing. Besides, we can use Presence Detection, so it will not be a problem even if we are separated.”
That was true. It meant that we might be able to hide from monsters if needed.
Though, there weren’t any monsters around us now. Just the vague signals up north. I suppose it was because of Adlus and the others. I wanted to believe they were killing all the monsters in their path, and leaving a safe trail for us.
Well, they had so many seasoned Adventurers with them, so goblins weren’t going to slow them down.
“But there is no guarantee that there are no other strong monsters. Perhaps something like the Queen’s Knight Goblin.”
“I’ll have to be on the lookout then… But I hope there aren’t others.”
“…Yes.”
I had told Daniela everything. The Queen’s Knight Goblin had been a reincarnated human. He wasn’t able to fight his instincts, though. But he died as a human. And so I kept his greatsword.
Daniela and I talked a lot while we rested. About the possibility of humans reincarnating as monsters. Were there others out there? Of course, many of these things didn’t have answers. Perhaps that drifting soul just happened to be human, and it just happened to enter a vessel that was a monster. Either that, or it was the Nova. The automated thought machines that the ancient elves had left.
And then there was the biggest question. The question of whether abnormally evolved beings were the result of monsters gaining a human soul and evolving. When I was living in Fhiraldo, an old man called Macbel had told me about records concerning monster research. Such books were banned, but one of them had contained the line: ‘…I tried giving highly concentrated mana to weak monsters, while most of them died, on rare occasions, they would survive…’
Isekai ni Kita Boku wa Kiyoubinbode Subaya-sa Tayorina Tabi o Suru Jack of all Trades
