Chapter 8: The Girl with Accounting Skills②

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Translator: Soafp

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Little by little — but steadily, things were moving forward.

That was what “Saint Lena joins the party” had made me believe, but…

Things didn't go that conveniently.

Lena's skill, “Saint,” was certainly a rare and irreplaceable one.

However, Lena herself didn't start contributing right away after joining the party.

“… Can't you heal something like this faster?”

After the first battle since she joined, Phalan said this while receiving Lena's healing magic, having been injured by a monster's attack.

“I-I'm sorry. I can only use beginner-level healing magic for now…”

“Phalan, it can't be helped. This is Lena's first real battle. Her ‘skill' hasn't been trained yet.”

“I know, I know. I was just saying.”

Even so, Phalan clearly looked disappointed.

And—

Though I didn't show it on my face, I felt the same way inside.

Because she was a “Saint,” I'd placed excessive expectations on her…

But her abilities still didn't live up to the name of the skill.

My “Swordmaster,” Phalan's “Mighty Spear,” Nick's “Wyvern Eye” — these were all combat-oriented skills that worked as immediate fighting power.

Compared to those, “Saint” seemed to be the type that matured late.

Lena only really began functioning as a party member around her third year.

The first true signs of her power as a Saint appeared about four and a half years later — basically right before I died.

After four years, she would be able to use “Intermediate Healing Magic,” “Beginner Holy Offensive Magic,” and “Beginner Holy Blessing Magic.”

But even then… it wouldn't be enough to defeat the Demon King.

The true history that Kuro spoke of.

According to him, the Demon King was defeated ten years after I came of age.

With that much time, she would surely have been able to fully wield her power as a Saint.

But… with this five-year limit, she couldn't reach her full potential.

And beyond that, was there some “causality” that would allow her to strengthen her skill further?

Or was it possible that another Saint-class skill holder was still buried somewhere among the populace?

But all of that was nothing more than grasping at clouds, with no leads whatsoever.

And since Lena joined, there was one thing that had been bothering me constantly.

“Somehow managed to pay it…”

As I paid at the inn's counter, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Ara, that doesn't sound like something an S-rank adventurer would say!”

“Hm? Haha, yeah… I suppose so.”

Giving the innkeeper a vague reply, I headed for the dining hall.

Our party rented as many rooms at the inn as there were members.

By paying a month in advance, we could save on lodging costs.

This month, too, we'd managed to pay without falling behind.

In truth, we earned a decent amount of money.

Thanks to previous loops, I knew several dungeons that Phalan and Nick could clear together — or that I could even clear alone.

Dungeon clearing yields far higher rewards than other requests, depending on scale.

And once you clear even a single dungeon and free the surrounding area from the Demon King's forces, you're immediately registered as an S-rank adventurer.

By now, it takes less than a month after starting adventuring to reach S-rank.

And among requests, there are profitable ones and unprofitable ones.

The “difficulty” and “payment” of a quest are determined by what the client reports.

After the guild deducts its commission from the payment, the remainder is our share.

But clients tend to underreport their requests to make them cheaper.

It's common for cases that actually require exterminating large numbers of monsters to be deliberately reported as something minor.

Of course, if there's a discrepancy between the request and reality, extra pay is issued — but if an adventurer dies, none of that matters.

The dead don't speak.

But through repetition, I have a fairly accurate grasp of the “true difficulty” of many requests, whether the client underreported intentionally or not.

So in principle, I shouldn't ever be short on money…

As I was eating alone in the dining hall, Phalan returned from outside.

“Oh, Erius. I took Lena back to the church.”

“Ah, thanks.”

“No problem. Though, well… Lena seemed like she wanted you to take her.”

Phalan teased me slightly.

About once a month, Lena returns to the church and stays there overnight.

We send her off with donations of money and supplies.

Normally I accompany her, but today I'd asked Phalan to do it instead.

“If I don't handle selling the materials myself, they'll shortchange us.”

“Yeah, I know. Can't be helped. Lena understands too… making as much money as possible is for strengthening Lena's skill, after all.”

He said the latter part in a lowered voice.

At this stage, Lena's skill “Saint” was still a secret from others.

Publicly, her skill was listed as “Healer.”

Healers themselves are also a fairly rare skill.

The reason for keeping it secret was that if it became known she was a Saint at this stage, the country would effectively place her under confinement and assign her to the royal army.

If that happened, she'd barely be able to use her power at all.

That was due to the nature of her skill.

That said, once we made a name for ourselves over the next two years or so, it would become known that she was a Saint.

Because she herself would stop hiding it.

And once we were famous, the country wouldn't be able to forcibly take her away.

“Still, I wasn't sure at first, but you were right. Increasing donations to the church really does make Lena's magic better. How did you know that?”

“… I read in a book that sometimes skills can be strengthened through specific actions. We tried it, and it worked.”

“Huh?”

Phalan looked at me with clear skepticism…

But I already knew he wouldn't press further.

Of course, no such thing was written in any book.

I'd simply noticed it through repetition.

By this point, Lena had joined twelve times.

This was the fortieth loop in total.

What I'd learned was that the more “good deeds” she accumulated, the more her skill seemed to strengthen.

Donations to the church, defeating monsters that threatened people's lives, small acts of helping others.

These things had to be built up little by little.

Among them, donations to the church were particularly effective.

Through repeated loops, I'd acted to stack up as many good deeds as possible to awaken her abilities earlier.

Most of the money we earned went into donations, and we actively helped those in need.

Doing so did indeed accelerate the strengthening of her abilities.

But…

“Is what I'm doing really right?”

That doubt surfaced.

The reason was the “Guide.”

No matter how many good deeds we piled up to strengthen Lena's skill, no new text appeared.

(Does that mean there's a better way?)

As I fell into thought, Phalan spoke to me with a weary tone.

“Hey, don't carry everything on your own. If something's bothering you, just say so anytime.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

With that, Phalan headed to his room upstairs.

His mouth was rough, but Phalan was a good guy.

If I could talk to him about the Guide and everything else, it would lighten my burden somewhat, but…

Well, wishing for what I don't have won't help.

I finished my meal and was about to return to my room when…

“Um… you're Erius-san of Dragon Fang Bite, right?”

“Hm? Yeah…”

So it was already this time again.

An event that happened every time, once a year after forming the party.

Fidgeting with her hands, a black-haired girl looked up at me cautiously and spoke.

“Sorry to bother you so suddenly. My name is Nonoa. My skill is, um… ‘Accounting.'”

How many times had we had this exchange already?

Naturally, I already knew about her skill.

And I also knew that a week from now, she would die.

I knew it was meddling, but I'd struggled several times to try to avert that fate — all in vain.

Well, if there was one thing I still hadn't tried…

— It was having her join my party.

There is also the example of “Fall of the Great Tree.”

They survive even five years later only in cases where I join them.

By the same logic, it's not impossible that if Nonoa joins my party, she might survive as well.

But my goal is to defeat the Demon King.

I don't have the leeway to bring along someone who can't fight.

— Normally.

However, at that moment, an idea occurred to me.

(This time… should I try throwing it away?)

I have the Guide skill.

I don't want to rely on it too much, but the fact that “I can redo things even if I fail” is a definite advantage.

Up until now, I've almost never acted on the premise of failure.

The only time was when I thought it probably wouldn't work, yet tried recruiting Phalan and Nick at the same time.

So this was the first time I'd clearly thought of choosing to “throw something away.”

If “her death” could be avoided by having her join my party, that would benefit me as well.

(This time, why not treat it as a discarded cycle… and learn how to use money through the “Accounting” skill?)

That was the idea.

I've been running parties for many years now.

But it's all been self-taught.

How someone with a specialized skill handles money.

That interests me.

If there's a way to make our finances even more abundant depending on how money is managed, I want to know it.

I'll probably learn a lot.

And even if her fate is bound to “death,” in that case it's only a week.

There should still be time to recruit another member — surely it won't turn into red text.

In other words, if I can't avoid her death, I'll look for someone else.

And if death is avoidable, and her joining is recorded in red text as a causal event, then by learning the tricks of “Accounting,” I can stabilize our finances and use that knowledge as a reference for strengthening Lena in future cycles.

It started to feel like a pretty good plan.

All right. Let's do it.

At worst, I can just start over again.

As I was thinking that, she said the line that had already become familiar.

“Erius-san! Please… let me join your party!”

Without taking the hand she held out to me, I answered simply.

“Yeah, sure.”

She kept holding her hand out for a while…

But as if she hadn't heard my words at all, she put on a disappointed expression.

“I-I knew it… just showing up out of nowhere and saying Accounting… it's not useful in combat and all… huh?”

At that moment, when I took her hand, Nonoa looked back and forth between our hands and my face with a puzzled expression.

I repeated myself, as if to make sure.

“It's fine.”

“… R-really?”

“Yeah.”

“Y-you're not joking… right?”

“No, I'm joking.”

“Eeh!? Th-that's cruel!”

“I'm kidding. You want to join us, right? It's fine.”

When I said it again, Nonoa froze for a moment, then her expression gradually broke into a smile…

“I-I did it! Thank you, Erius-san! Dad, Mom, I did it!”

Nonoa grabbed my hand with both of hers, shaking it up and down as she expressed her joy with her whole body, shouting loud enough to echo through the inn.

I hadn't expected her to be this happy, and while feeling a bit overwhelmed, I somehow managed to speak.

“Erius is fine. We're not that far apart in age, and you don't need to use polite speech.”

“O-okay, Erius! Thank you!”

Looking at her smile, I felt a slight sense of guilt.

I'd seen her shoulders slump in disappointment countless times after turning her down.

I'd already gotten used to that sight.

That was exactly why seeing her smile for the first time felt so clear and dazzling.

But this would probably be the first and last time I ever saw her smile.

This time, her joining was merely a special exception so that I could learn Accounting.

With those strange feelings in mind, I finally got Nonoa to let go of my hand, had her sit beside me, went over some brief plans for the future, and then returned to my room.

Telling the other members could wait until tomorrow.

Thinking that, I returned to my room and checked the Guide as part of my daily routine—

And what I saw there was something far too unexpected.

In a cycle I'd half decided to throw away, I found the final piece of the Dragon Fang Bite puzzle.

In the Guide, it was clearly written in red letters.

“Accounting — Nonoa joins.”