Chapter 101: Naga Part 2
Translator: Soafp
Naga-san’s story goes like this:
A man approached Naga-san, who had been working as a receptionist for many years. Despite being a Class B adventurer with considerable skill, his behavior was poor, and there were talks about revoking his qualifications.
The man’s idea was to seduce Naga-san, who was the leader among the receptionists, to gain access to information within the guild, and perhaps even engage in espionage to improve his own standing within the guild.
Then, one day, as Naga-san was leaving work…
Naga-san, a recovery magic user, was attacked by the man, but she had no chance to retaliate and was about to be abducted. At that moment, Rafina happened to pass by and called out to them.
“Is this part of your game?”
For a moment, Naga-san didn’t understand, but she realized she was under attack. There was absolutely no enjoyment involved.
“Please help me. I’m being attacked.”
Rafina glanced at Naga-san and the man, then raised her staff. Five magic spells appeared from the tip of her staff and surrounded Rafina.
There were two wind spells, two fire spells, and one water spell.
The man immediately assumed a combat stance when the spells were ready, but he was completely unarmed except for a knife he had prepared to cut Naga-san’s clothes. Despite being a Class B adventurer, he was unarmed and allowed a magic user to cast spells. The action the man took in such a overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation was… to take Naga-san hostage.
With a knife against Naga-san’s throat, the man shouted,
“Don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll kill her!”
The feeling of the knife against her neck made Naga-san unable to resist or even scream. She could only tremble, like a lamb waiting for this time to pass.
Rafina glanced at Naga-san, and a color of pity appeared in her eyes.
First, ensuring the safety of the hostage was essential. Rafina activated two wind spells in standby mode to separate the man from Naga-san.
The spells advanced straight ahead with a delay.
The man intended to use Naga-san as a shield by putting her in front of him. This action ignited Rafina’s anger.
When the first wind spell hit Naga-san, a strong wind blew around her. Naga-san couldn’t stand and ended up sitting on the ground.
The second wind spell hit the man above Naga-san’s head, blowing him backwards. This time, the spell didn’t blow wind around but directly pushed the man backward.
As planned, Rafina separated the man and Naga-san and shot two fire spells at the man.
The man struggled to dodge, but no matter how he dodged, the fire spells returned and targeted him again. Then the moment arrived. The man lost his balance, and the fire spell hit him.
The man caught fire, and screams echoed around. Furthermore… more fire… another fire spell pursued him.
The man rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames. His fire was soon extinguished, but the fire had spread to the surroundings.
Rafina promptly used the last water spell to extinguish the fire.
Thinking it was a water spell to extinguish the man’s fire and encourage him to reform, I was surprised to find out it was actually for Rafina’s own self-defense to avoid becoming an arsonist.
The man didn’t move, but neither Rafina nor Naga-san showed any sign of using recovery magic.
“Thank you very much. I’m saved.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“May I have your name?”
“I’m Rafina!”
Then, the two of them moved to the guard station and told them what had happened. When they returned to the scene with the guards, the man, who was on the verge of death, was leaning against the wall and glaring at them.
Rafina immediately deployed three magic spells around her as a precaution.
Perhaps it was a sudden recollection, but despite being on the brink of death, the man was crawling and attempting to escape.
Rafina, observing this, didn’t dispel her magic or relax her combat stance.
Observing the sequence of events, Naga-san thought about what would have happened if Rafina hadn’t come to her aid…
She often feels it. Naga-san is an elf. While not subject to persecution, she is often regarded with curious eyes.
If Rafina hadn’t come, Naga-san would probably have been at the mercy of this man. Even if she had appealed to the guild, it’s uncertain if they would have responded seriously, considering she’s an elf.
Through this incident, Naga-san realized the necessity of having the power to fight for self-defense.
The man was taken away by the guards. He probably thought that no one, including himself, would use recovery magic.
To be honest, within these walls known as the city’s defenses, no one is tolerant of “criminals.” While accidents or brawls might be forgiven, outright criminals are expelled. This is likely a rule based on accumulated experience over many years.
Now, only Rafina and Naga-san remained. Rafina didn’t release her magic but instead said,
“Hey, I’ve just arrived in the capital. Do you know any good restaurants around?”
The powerful mage who had just fought a deadly battle in the forge was asking like a village girl asking for gossip. The contrast between these two sides brought laughter instead of surprise.
“Fufu, let me treat you as thanks.”
“I eat a lot, you know?”
“So do I, so don’t worry.”
“Then, I’ll gladly accept your offer.”
“I’m Naga.”
“I’m Rafina.”
“I heard that earlier.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah.”
And thus, Naga and Rafina met.
From there, Naga and Rafina hit it off and decided to form a party together.
The receptionist was granted a leave of absence. This was on the condition that she wouldn’t spread the news about the B-rank adventurer’s crime.
For the guild, A-rank and S-rank adventurers are known to be transient or difficult to deal with.
Regular, small-scale requests are typically handled by B and C-rank adventurers.
For the guild, it was something they absolutely didn’t want to spread, such as a B-rank committing a crime.
Of course, it was undoubtedly due to Naga’s usual work performance.
Three years had passed since she went from being a receptionist to an adventurer. With a party of five and Naga reaching C-rank, Rafina, who was about to become A-rank from B-rank, said,
“I’ve been having the same dream lately…”
“What kind of dream?”
“A dream where I explore with two boys. I’m their mother in the dream, but both of them are stronger than me… It’s impossible, isn’t it?”
“It sounds like a fun dream.”
“Yeah, it’s enjoyable. If only days like that were real…”
She said this, and the next day, Rafina disappeared, leaving a letter for each member of the party.
“That’s all I know about Rafina. I never imagined that Aldo-kun was her son…”
“It seems like her. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay. I was just worried… Please tell Rafina when you see her next. It’s Rafina’s treat next time.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure to tell her.”
“Thank you, Aldo-kun.”
With a smile, Naga-san reminded me of my mother.
“Going back to our original conversation, if Rafina accompanies you, I’ll permit the exploration of the Claw Fang’s Labyrinth.”
“Understood.”
“If Rafina is really coming, I’d be happy, and… I’ll join you when that happens.”
“Naga-san?”
“I’m a B-rank adventurer too, you know. I’m more useful than Rafina, who’s been slacking off.”
“Slacking off…? If anything, She has been training quite a bit with me, El and my fiancée, and I feel like she has become much stronger than before…”
“Perhaps… Have Aldo-kun and the others been training with Rafina?”
“…Yes.”
Naga-san muttered to herself while rubbing her temple, “Strength isn’t the only thing. Experience should be important too.”
Naga-san resurrected on the spot.
“Naga-san, thank you for today.”
“No, thank you for telling me about Rafina.”
“I’ll be visiting the Blue Ring estate during the winter break, so I’ll talk to my mother then.”
“Understood.”
With that, I left the guild.
(I’ve been feeling hostile gazes since earlier. I’ve been enduring it because it’s within the guild…)
“Oi, kid. Leave the god silver coins from your pocket and scram.”
Right now, I’m being taken into an alley and mugged.
“I refuse.”
The man didn’t expect me to refuse. He continued talking.
“Kid. I’m telling you this because even I wouldn’t feel good killing a kid. Hurry up and drop your belongings and get lost.”
“I said I refuse. Can’t you hear? Oh, is it your head that’s bad… Sorry.”
As I taunted him, the man in front of me drew his single-handed sword from his waist.
“Die, brat.”
Saying that, he tried to slash me.
I instantly strengthened my body and stepped back a few steps.
It’s a sharp slash… It’s as sharp as El’s slash when I went on an expedition at the age of 10. Recently, it’s the third sharpest.
“You’re not just a brat…”
“You’re not just a mugger either.”
The man quietly became enraged and shouted at me.
He swung down, slashed up, slashed diagonally, slashed horizontally from the right, and slashed horizontally from the left…
Indeed, it’s the third sharpest slash recently. But to me now, this level is nothing. By the way, the first is El, and the second is the commander of the Shirea Kingdom’s knight order.
I don’t attack at all. I dodge all his slashes.
Has it been about 5 minutes? When the man started breathing on his shoulder, he started shouting to the men around him.
“What are you guys doing? Help me out!”
They probably thought they could intimidate me with some tough talk, like ‘Don’t you dare attack me.’ The guys around them started to look visibly unsettled.
I looked around and saw some faces I recognized from the adventurer’s guild. Some were even those I had patted on the belly before…
I set eight Wind Bullets (non-lethal type) to standby because it’s annoying if they escape. By the way, eight is the maximum number I can set to standby.
I hit the Wind Bullets on the guy in front of me, who was about to run away.
I replenished them when I ran out.
Except for the guy in front of me, eleven people around me fainted.
I picked up two short swords from the fainted men… They’re not great short swords, but I can’t complain. I equipped them immediately and got ready to face the guy in front of me.
The man was clearly scared. When I looked closely, his legs were shaking.
“I… I didn’t really want to do this.”
“…”
“It’s true. Please believe me… I did it reluctantly because of these guys.”
“…”
“Hey, believe me…”
I was a little irritated… Do these bad guys have no sense of honor?
“I guess that’s all you wanted to say?”
“Eh? No… Um, it wasn’t me…”
What does he mean by “it wasn’t me”… Ha, I guess it’s over already?
The guy seemed to notice the change in my demeanor and bolted like a rabbit.
He ran. The last time he ran so seriously in his life was when his party was wiped out, and he used his comrades as decoys to escape.
How far did he run? He was panting, foaming at the mouth, and struggling to breathe. If he didn’t brace myself, he felt like he would collapse.
He mustered his last bit of strength to look around. He’s not here… Not here… Not in front, behind, right, left… “I got away.” Just when he thought that, he heard a voice from above.
“Are you done?”
He looked up to see the kid from before standing against the building wall. How….
“Hyaaah, h-hihi… aaah…”
He couldn’t even speak anymore. The kid sighed and tried to listen.
“Haa, are you still up for it? If you surrender, I’ll take you back to where we were earlier and hand you over to the guards. Which do you prefer?”
Where did he get that kind of power? The guy started running again. For a moment, I would let him for a few second. But somehow, it seemed like he was running back to where we were earlier.
I followed the guy, and as soon as we arrived at the same spot, he rolled his eyes back and started having trouble breathing. If left alone, he’d probably die.
With another sigh, I cast Sonar and used healing magic on him. Scarily enough, with Sonar, I could see signs of necrosis in his lungs, heart, and muscles throughout his body.
Did he overexert himself with body strengthening? If I didn’t heal him, he’d probably die.
Reluctantly, I healed the guy with magic. Just then, Naga-san and the guild staff arrived.
“Aldo-kun, are you okay?”
Naga-san asked me with a worried look.
“Eh? Yeah, I’m fine. Just encountered some weird thugs but managed to fend them off.”
As Naga-san and the guild staff looked around, they saw eleven small-time thugs and one thug who put up some resistance lying on the ground.
“Wait, isn’t this B-rank Jaguar…?” “And that’s D-rank Nial…?” “D-rank Roie is here too.”
Everyone’s warm gaze turned to me, the only one who could understand the situation.
“I took them all down because they tried to mug me for god silver coins.”
With my words, everyone looked at me with lukewarm eyes.
First, I called the guards. Dealing with this many people required manpower. It became noisy all of a sudden, but I’m just 13 years old.
“I’d like you to contact my home because my parents might be worried,” I asked the guards, but they ignored me several times. After persistently asking, they reluctantly agreed to ask for the name.
When I mentioned my grandfather’s name, Balza von Blue Ring, their attitude changed.
Before, some of them even complained to me, “Causing trouble, huh?” But now, they were all making sure not to let the culprits escape.
Contacting my family was something they seemed reluctant to do earlier, but now they rushed off to deliver the message.
I secretly vowed that if I ever had the chance to meet with commander Shirea, I would definitely tell him about this.
Normally, a case like this would take hours to resolve. However, the butler from the Blue Ring family appeared and graciously escorted me out.