Water Magician

The day after Abel and his group returned from the 40th floor of the dungeon.

Ryo had been running outside the city since the morning.

Of course, he ate a proper breakfast.

Somehow, he was still feeling restless from yesterday’s battle, so he ran to shake it off.

At first, the other three from Room 10 had also followed Ryo to run, but … they gradually separated, and eventually, all three had collapsed on the ground.

“See here, Niles, how could the vanguard go down so quickly? Keep running, even if you have to run slowly.”

“Ryo, just how much stamina do you have …”

While the other two were completely out of action, the Swordsman and vanguard Niles started running once more, albeit slowly, relying purely on willpower.

“That’s right, it’s okay to be slow, what’s important is to keep moving.”

After that, Ryo sped up and ran ahead.

“O-oh …”

Outside the city, Niles’ words did not reach anyone.

Afternoon.

Three people gave the same reply at the same time.

“No way. I can’t eat yet.”

They groaned and were not in the condition to have a meal.

As such, Ryo had no choice but to look for a place to eat by himself, but … nothing stood out to him.

There weren’t any shops that made him want to exclaim ‘I want to eat this!’.

Naturally, after running in the morning, he was pretty hungry but … what was Ryo’s stomach craving for at the moment?

He couldn’t find anything on the main street that I always walked, so he walked around a back alley near the east gate, which he usually won’t go to.

He was just wandering around so it was completely coincidental that he noticed a familiar scent.

An enchanting scent of intertwined spices centered on cardamom and coriander …

Curry!

Guided by the scent, Ryo entered a store.

The store didn’t specialize in curry as there were also hamburgers and spaghetti on display inside the store.

“Welcome ~”

A middle-aged woman’s voice could be heard from the back of the store.

When he looked around the store, there was only one customer, probably because it was a little past typical mealtime.

Platinum blonde hair, green eyes … Those eyes were opened wide, staring in Ryo’s direction.

After a while, the woman moved.

With a spoon in her right hand scooping curry to her mouth, the Elf woman began gesturing for Ryo with her left hand to come over.

Ryo headed towards the inviting hand.

“Se-Sera … Hello.”

“Hi. Ryo knows about this shop …?”

“Oh no, it was a coincidence. I was led by the scent of the curry.”

“Oh! I know! If you want to eat curry in Rune, this is the shop. For now, come sit next to me.”

Sera tapped the chair next to her and invited Ryo.

After Ryo sat next to her, Sera started eating again.

After a while, a woman brought water to the table.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. What is your order?”

“Please give me curry.”

“How about the spiciness?”

“Spiciness?”

No way, it was even possible to choose the spiciness …

“There are three stages: sweet, medium spicy, and spicy.”

“Medium spicy then.”

When Ryo said that, Sera nodded hard next to him.

“Ma’am, I would also have another medium spicy!”

“Yes, two medium spicy~”

Then the proprietress went back to the kitchen.

Ryo gave Sera a look of surprise after she ordered a refill.

When she noticed it, Sera quickly made an excuse.

“El-elves aren’t very fuel-efficient.  It’s not because I’m gluttonous or anything like that!”

“I didn’t say anything …”

The image of a beautiful woman anxiously making excuses was cute.

After coughing intentionally, Sera forcibly changed the topic.

“By the way, where does Ryo live?”

If you want to change the topic, ask where they live. That was the tried-and-true method.

“I live in the Adventurer’s Guild dormitory.”

“The dormitory? The one where you can choose to stay in within 300 days after registering as an adventurer? However, you need to be D-rank or higher to use the North Library … Isn’t it? Did you perhaps clear requests at an astonishing speed and achieved a swift promotion? “

“No … I registered as D-rank through a system called rank-up registration.”

He was a little embarrassed to announce that he registered as D-rank without any track record.

“Rank-up registration? That’s amazing. Yeah, Ryo seems strong. I’m convinced that you can directly register as D-rank.”

Sera nodded many times as if she was convinced for some reason.

“That’s the first time that … I’m told I appear strong …”

“Is that so? Well, that’s because most people don’t have a discerning eye. It can’t be helped.”

Just as she said that, they could tell that a captivating scent was approaching.

“Here, medium-spicy curry. Please enjoy it.”

The curry that appeared before Ryo … was the curry that he ate in Japan.

Not Indian curry or Javanese curry.

Curry made with curry powder thickened with wheat flour … It was an exact reproduction of Japanese curry.

“This is……”

Of course, Ryo loved Japanese curry.

Indian curry was not bad, but Indian curry was Indian curry after all, which was different from the『Curry』in Ryo’s heart.

While feeling emotional with the Japanese curry, he scooped it with a spoon and ate a bite.

“Delicious……”

A word of admiration came out of his mouth as soon as he took a bite.

“Yes, yes it is.”

Next to him, Sera nodded happily like she was being praised.

From that point on, his spoon didn’t stop.

Of course, he didn’t devour the food.

He faced the curry seriously.

That was probably the closest expression.

Words were only in the way when eating delicious food.

Two people ate single-mindedly.

And after they finished eating … their facial expressions were filled with supreme satisfaction.

“That was delicious.”

“Yeah, it was delicious.”

If they were sculpted at that moment, the sculpture would have been named『Satisfaction』.

After paying the bill, the two left 『Houshoku-tei』. (TLN: Satiation Pavilion)

Only now did Ryo learn that the store he entered was called 『Houshoku-tei 』.

“By the way, I have not seen Sera in the guild even though you’re an adventurer?”

It was a question that Ryo always had on his mind.

Although Ryo himself does not hang out in the guild for long lengths of time, he realized that he had never seen Sera even when he often uses the guild canteen.

“Oh … I was dispatched to the royal capital until quite recently. And I’ve accepted a long-term request so I don’t regularly go to the guild.”

“Long-term request?”

“As the swordsmanship instructor for the Knights here, the Margrave Knights of Rune.”

“Swordsmanship instructor!”

Ryo raised his voice in surprise and hurriedly looked around apologetically.

“Despite my looks, I’m pretty strong, okay?”

Then she looked up at Ryo’s face from below.

It was a very destructive gesture and facial expression.

(Shit, that’s really attractive …)

With immense willpower, he desperately looked away from Sera.

“Because of that request, I live in the Lord’s mansion next to the Knights’ dormitory.”

(The Lord, Margrave Rune … Now that I think about it, I’ve never asked anyone about him.)

“Right, Ryo, do you have anything to do after this?”

“Nothing in particular … I thought I’d go back to the dormitory and continue alchemy …”

“Your goal of creating a golem …? Well, if you like, why don’t you have a mock combat with me?”

Sera’s offer was abrupt.

“When you entered Houshoku-tei, Ryo seemed very dissatisfied. I mean … it was as though the fighting spirit in your heart had not dissipated.”

It was bull’s-eye.

The cause was the battle with the Devil Prince yesterday.

For that reason, he was running from the morning to relieve stress … however, given that Sera felt it, it had probably not completely dissipated.

“If I’m with you, you can use the Knights’ Practice Ground. The practice ground has a magical barrier that is always present and there are also excellent priests assigned to the Knights, so there won’t be any issues even if you get injured. It’s a place that is quite difficult to gain entry into for ordinary adventurers. How about it? Would you like to take a look? “

With a beautiful woman inviting him to ‘Take a look’, there was no way he could refuse.

“Yes, I’ll go.”

Along the way, Sera explained a lot about the Knights.

The original swordsmanship instructor was Max Doyle, a master of the famous swordsmanship school Hume style from the royal capital.

The roles were split whereby Max would train them in the Hume style and Sera would allow them to gain practical experience in simulated battles.

“Max is very good at teaching. Even a beginner child can become quite skilled with the sword after joining the Knights for a year, so the Knights in this city are of a high level.”

“Knight-Captain Neville Black and the Guild Master are pretty close and sometimes come to discuss with us with alcohol. The Knights and the Adventurer’s Guild are two major organizations of armed forces in any city. In some other cities, these organizations would be at odds with each other but that’s not the case in the City of Rune. Well, it’s not as though they are very close either but … yes, they are more like rivals. They can spur each other on probably because the relationship between the leaders is not bad.”

“Since the Knights and the Adventurers have such a relationship, even if I, as an adventurer, take on the role of the Knights’ instructor, I do not face any strong criticism. I have quite a lot of free time, so I’m grateful that I can visit the library or have a meal at Houshoku-tei.”

Sera happily talked about a lot of matters.

The Lord’s mansion and the Knight Order’s lodgings were in the northernmost part of the city.

At the entrance, the emblem of Margrave Rune, the 『Doe』, was displayed.

Naturally, it was a place with strict security and the general public was restricted from entering.

However, as the instructor of the Knight Order and a resident in the Lord’s mansion, Sera could enter just by showing her face.

“Welcome back, Sera-sama”

The guard welcomed Sera with a respectful salute, not a perfunctory one.

“Thank you, Nash. This is Ryo, an adventurer. We will be having a simulated battle for two people at the practice ground. Please assist with the procedure.”

“Understood. Ryo-dono, please give me your guild card.”

After completing the procedure, he was able to enter the premises without any problems.

The Knight’s practice ground.

There was also a separate training ground used for conducting group mock combat and such but compared to that, this facility could be used relatively freely by the knights.

It could be said to be a small version of the Colosseum in Rome.

Sera and Ryo entered the waiting room of the practice ground as the ring of the bell signified three o’clock.

There were priests on duty there just in case.

“Excuse me, I’m going to use the practice ground for a simulated battle. Healers, please be on standby.”

Sera called out to them and proceeded straight into the practice ground.

“Ryo, let’s use the practice weapons. All the weapons in this arsenal for simulated battle have dulled blades, so choose whichever you are comfortable with.”

With that said, Sera chose a sword that looked like the sword on her waist.

Ryo always used Murasame.

It was more of a 『Katana』than a 『Sword』, and its shape was the closest to 『Mikazuki Munechika』 among the existing Japanese swords. (TLN: 三日月宗近)

As expected, there were no katana in this arsenal, but he chose one that was close in length and balance.

However, he suddenly felt curious.

“Sera-san. Why did you ask me to choose a weapon? I should appear to be a Magician.”

Yes, Ryo didn’t carry a weapon anywhere on his body.

Both Michael’s knife and Murasame were in his robe, so they couldn’t be seen from the outside.

Despite all that, Sera judged from the beginning that Ryo could engage in close combat with weapons.

Even Abel only knew that Ryo could hold his own in close combat after he spoke about it in the City of Rune.

“That’s because of Ryo’s footsteps and how you move your body …? I wondered if you are a person who can use both magic and sword … I’m one of them after all.”

Yes, Sera was definitely an excellent Magician.

Likely a Wind-Attribute Magician.

Because her party name was 『Wind』 … Others would reach that conclusion based on that name but Ryo wasn’t aware of Sera’s party name.

In the first place, he didn’t even know that Sera was a B-rank adventurer.

As a fantasy trope, he just thought that ‘Elves would be good at Wind Magic’.

“Anyway, let’s get started.”