Chapter 09 – My first quest

Hiii!!! Why are there so many?!

Reaching the location specified in the request by carriage, we found around ten Rubber Turtles crawling around. Allison raised a cute scream after seeing them, and hid behind me and Cornelia.

A man, who seemed to be the chief of the village that made the request, approached us. Ah, you’re here, thanks for accepting our request. There are too many turtles this year for us to handle. Some villagers have also been injured trying. Until this year, a Griffin used to eat most of them, but looks like it’s been subjugated. Actually, it was by a guy who had a very similar Servant., said the chief seeing Cornelia. Which means that Jason was the one who took down the griffin.

The chief then folded his arms and gazed far away. It was considered our guardian deity, you see. In the absence of that griffin, such occurrences have been on the rise. Recently we’ve had our crops destroyed by Black Boars and Big Snails. We even spotted a Dragon once.

A Dragon?, I asked shocked. If a dragon had attacked, this village wouldn’t have stood a chance. Yeah, a dragon. But thankfully no one was hurt. It disappeared soon after it was seen. Still hidden behind us, Allison furrowed her brows and voiced her question, About a year ago, my brother returned with a pretty serious injury. He boasted that he’d driven away a griffin. Did you put out a subjugation request for it?

Of course not! It was a very gentle being and had never hurt anyone. Still that adventurer appeared one day, and began fighting against it. He must have used some kind of powerful Ability, it caused a thunderous explosion. But they were up in the mountains, so we don’t know how the fight ended.

Again he’s acting as he pleases., muttered Allison under her breath. Anyway, this request is about the Rubber Turtles. I’ll leave you to it., said the chief bringing our chat to a close, and returned to the village.

Has your brother done something like this before? I asked Allison when the chief was outside earshot. Yeah. He does to it prove his strength. He goes around causing trouble by killing monsters without anyone requesting their subjugation. I suppose, by taking this request we’re now cleaning up his mess., said Allison heaving a great sigh.

Like your family Nicola, our family was also established by Knights. As far as my memory stretches, we’ve been training with the sword and honing our Abilities to be recognized by our father. Becoming an adventurer was also a part of that. My brother has always been a prisoner to that desire. I guess that’s why he acts out like this, to prove his strength and be recognized by our father.

Are you the same way Allison? Did you become an adventurer to win your father’s approval too? (T/N: Cool it with the private questions dude!)

Yes, at first. But I was always viewed as a good-for-nothing. He never expected much from me to begin with. Recently, until I met you, I was actually considering quitting adventuring. My rank had stagnated, and no one would form a party with me either. But thanks to you, now even I can use my Abilities well. I am very grateful, you know., said Allison smiling.

(T/N: Nicola! Say something!)

“Alright! Let’s do this.”, said Cornelia approaching a Rubber Turtle. The Rubber Turtle was very ferocious despite being a turtle. It was trying to intimidate us by showing its fangs and snarling. We haven’t done anything yet. What are you being so hostile for? Before that, this turtle has fangs?

Oi Allison!, Allison was still standing away from the turtles, making Cornelia lose her patience. Alright! She quickly approached Cornelia and held her forward as a shield. I placed my hand on Allison’s back. “Cornelia, can you use the water attribute alone?”, asked Allison while being very wary of the Rubber Turtles. “…. I’ll give it a shot.”, replied Cornelia without much confidence.

I could feel my hand getting warmer. I don’t know if it was because of the magic training, but I could faintly feel the mana flowing out of me. Suddenly, a large water ball, about a meter wide, was floating in front of us. But we could still hear the erratic buzz of the lightning attribute from it. Looks like she couldn’t completely suppress it.

This is hard. No matter what, the lightning attribute gets mixed in. Allison aimed towards a Rubber Turtle and said, For now let’s try using it on one of them. The water ball easily enveloped the Rubber Turtle. It began flailing its feet in panic and stuck its head out. Allison brandished her sword, but froze before swinging it down. What are you waiting for?, asked Cornelia.

If I cut it now, wouldn’t I be electrocuted too? Sticking a steel sword into electrified water would cause her to receive a shock too. That’s…. right, I agreed. The Rubber Turtle managed to poke its head out of the water ball and could finally breathe. Despite almost drowning, it still had a lot of fight left in it. It snarled and tried to bite us, causing Allison to scream for the second time today.

However, I felt like its movements had become a little sluggish. “Why don’t we try increasing the output of the lightning attribute more?”, I suggested. “Even though it doesn’t work on it?”, asked Allison. “But its movements seem a bit different. Don’t you think the lightning attribute works on its exposed flesh? Like its head or feet?” Its growl seems weaker than before, plus its head keeps going back inside now and then. “Okay, I’ll try it.”, said Allison and ordered Cornelia to not suppress the lightning attribute.

The high-pitched noise of the lightning attribute grew louder. The Rubber Turtle jerked once and then stopped moving. Did we kill it?, asked Allison as she poked the head of turtle with her sword tip. It remained still. “We did!”, exclaimed Allison more in relief than joy.

Using the same method, we began steadily subjugating the rest of the Rubber Turtles. You stupid turtles are not scary any more., laughed Allison as she poked the shell of Rubber Turtle with a stick. The turtle suddenly shot its neck out and bit clean through the stick. Hiiii!!, screamed Allison yet again as she quickly took cover behind Cornelia.

After we took down the last of them. Allison collapsed in relief and finally relaxed enough to catch her breath. It’s finally over. That was scary. Cornelia seemed to be pondering over something after she’d returned to her human form. After a while, she suddenly suggested, Nicola, why don’t you give Allison a hug?

What? Mine and Allison’s surprised voices overlapped with each other. Wh… Why? Why would you… Allison was clearly agitated by the remark. Well, we’ve been casting water balls left and right today, but the lightning element was mixed in with it right? I was wondering whether we’d be able to sense and use the water attribute better if you were in much closer contact with Nicola. Don’t you feel we might be able to grasp something by doing so?, said Cornelia clarifying the train of thought behind such an unexpected suggestion.

…. Really?, asked Allison still unbelieving. Yes, said Cornelia with a serious expression. Allison fidgeted for a while, half in indecision and half in embarrassment, until she got up with resolute face and began undoing her armour. So far I only touched the small portion of her back that wasn’t covered by her armour. Certainly, this way we can certainly increase the area of contact, but….

Allison stretched her arms out but still hid her blushing face by looking down. Nicola, you too. Go on, take off your armour., said Cornelia like she was making a perfectly reasonable request. Until a certain moment, I was pretty calm. After all, I’ve had several instances where I’ve been in such close contact with a woman. Eida, my maid, often had to nurse and support me. Like helping me out of my bed and into my wheelchair. On bad days, I couldn’t do anything without her help. Such contact had never set my heart racing though. Thinking back, I can only recall the constant pain and self-pity I felt. That’s why I’d been thinking that this too was just ‘part of the job’.

I removed my leather armour and stood frozen in front of Allison. Allison, blushing furiously, looked at me with upturned eyes, and said Nicola, hurry please. It suddenly felt like someone held my heart in a vice. I stepped in even closer. Her small head was now right in front of my chest. Allison averted her eyes, and hugged me with her ear and cheek against my chest. Her soft person was now completely glued to mine.

Nicola, you put your hands around me too., said Allison. My hands were trembling as I put them around her and rested my cheek on her head. I’ve been sweating all this while, so please don’t smell me! I felt the vibrations of her plea on my chest before I heard it. A warmth that felt different to the mana inside me was growing steadily inside my chest. I was feeling quite nervous before the hug, but now she feels so warm and comfortable.

Well? Cornelia! How is it?!, asked Allison impatiently. Oh! Such a torrent of mana!! But, it’s the same as before, I’m not able to isolate the water attribute. I guess we have no choice but to practice doing that. That should be enough, you both can separate now., said Cornelia a little disappointed.

I wanted to enjoy this new sensation for a bit longer. So when Allison removed her hands from my back, mine we still wrapped tightly around her. Um, Nicola. Did you hear her? That should be enough., said Allison as she tapped insistently on my arm. Just a bit longer. When I said that, Cornelia quickly approached, rapped me on the head and said, Get off already! Acceding reluctantly, I slowly separated from Allison.

After separating, Allison puffed out her cheeks and said, “You gave me such a fright!” Her face was red with all the blood that had rushed to it, I suspected that I looked much the same. That was completely different from how I felt around Eida. I never knew hugging a girl could feel so pleasant, warm and comfortable.

The chief, who had walked up to us, scratched his head and said, Sorry, am I interrupting something? Allison, who was now picking up her armour, replied immediately, No! It wasn’t like that! Once we finished wearing on our armour, the chief continued, Looks like you have defeated all the Rubber Turtles. Though, I have no idea how you did it. It’s amazing, there doesn’t seem to be any visible injuries on them.

Turned out the village would sell the turtles to some merchants, and that had also been included in the subjugation reward. Receiving the sign of the client, we got on a carriage to head back to the adventurer’s guild. On the ride back, for some reason Allison was cold and distant, while Cornelia, in contrast, was grinning happily.

We received our reward from the guild, and split it in half like last time. Allison was distant and hadn’t spoken till the end, but when parting, she looked at me and said, “See you tomorrow.” I nodded and said smiling, “Yeah, see you.”