SIAW Vol. 1 Chapter 7
Chapter 7 – Ranga’s Request
A few days after the guinea fowl incident, I was back in the barn after dinner, when Ranga came in too.
I was wondering what he wanted to say, as I sat on a stump I found while gathering firewood, which I used as a chair, and looked at him.
“Sorry to bother you so late.”
“No problem. So, what’s the matter?”
“Well, there’s something I wanted to discuss…”
It was probably a topic Ranga found difficult to tackle.
“What is it?”
“So I used to be an adventurer, and I got up to rank D…I thought I was the strongest in the village…”
“What are you talking about, all of a sudden!?”
“Please, just listen. I thought I was pretty strong, that I was useful to the village. I have my beautiful wife Sasha, and now Mei too, so I thought I was the happiest I could be…so I was kind of complacent lately, and stopped trying to become stronger, dodging anything risky.”
It seemed pretty natural to me, wasn’t that a common thing?
“Even if I tried to become stronger in this village, there aren’t any strong monsters around here, so defeating them wouldn’t raise my level anyway. Ever since I came here, my level hasn’t increased once.”
Ranga was level 28, so it would indeed be difficult for him to level up with the monsters around here. I have hunted plenty of monsters since I came here, but my level only reached 14.
I had checked Ranga’s stats when I first arrived. They were higher than the other villagers, but his “Species’ Talent” was C, which was pretty average. His SPD talent was B, higher than normal, but MP, INT and SKL were all D, which was rather low. His low SKL meant that while he could use weapons, a spear would be difficult. All in all, his talents were pretty unbalanced.
“The massive increase of Horn Rabbits might be my fault too…”
That was likely. If the population had been properly culled, they wouldn’t have increased so much.
“Every novice adventurer starts by hunting Horn Rabbits. Even if they had increased, I should still have been able to handle them.”
Right. It might have been dangerous to face them in large numbers, but with his stats, Ranga definitely did not risk being hurt and dying at their hands.
“Anyway, I want to become stronger, so I can be more useful to the village.”
Awesome, do your best!
“So, Tenma, you know a way to become stronger, right? Couldn’t you teach me?”
Eh? Me!?
I answered Ranga’s request with a question myself.
“…you do know that the only reason why I can effectively hunt Horn Rabbits is that I have a natural talent at Throwing, right?”
“I didn’t know Throwing could be so useful to hunt…but you have lots of other hidden tricks, don’t you?”
Yes, I actually do, but…so what?
“It’s a taboo for adventurers to pry into what skills others have acquired, so I won’t ask anymore…but could you at least tell me if there’s a method I can use to become stronger?”
I was relieved that he wasn’t going to ask more questions…but I still knew very little about this world. I definitely wasn’t in the right situation to start teaching people.
My gamer brain, however, was triggered. Ranga and I had pretty much the same Species’ Talent, but all other talents were completely different. I was extremely interested in learning how growth would be affected by such differences.
How would he change if he was trained…?
I began to think that it might be worth teaching him a little.
I thus asked another question to Ranga.
“First of all, I wanted to ask…is there a way to see your status?”
“Yes, you can do it with the adventurers’ guild card.”
Whoa, you can!?
Ranga gave me a metallic card. I couldn’t tell what it was made of, but it was the same size as a credit card in my old world.
“Can I see?”
“Sure. We’re not getting anywhere if you don’t.”
Ranga chuckled. He was right, of course, so I checked his card.
The information included inside it was something like this:
Name : Ranga
Species : Wolf Beastman
Level : 28
Gender : Male
Age : 26
HP : 383/383
MP : 189/189
STA : 361/361
Skill(s) : Lifestyle Magic, Sword Arts, Spear Arts
Title(s) : None
Well, it was basically just like I had seen before. Skill levels weren’t shown, apparently.
“Since it’s used as identification, usually it only shows the holder’s age, but if you infuse it with magic power and concentrate you can change the information it shows. People who have committed grave crimes, like murder, have it shown under the “Title(s)”. The card becomes a little red too.”
Hmm, so it has a function like that too? This card is more advanced than I thought.
For the moment, however — the most important thing was that it showed the MP. Could Ranga carry out the training method I came up with, though?
He had plenty of things to do before that, I’m afraid.
“I’m going to be frank with you, so can you listen without losing your cool?”
I didn’t speak particularly politely with Ranga until now, but if I had to start teaching him, I was going to talk like the 48 year old man I was, clearly his senior.
“O-Of course, bring it!”
“You said you first became an adventurer when you were 12 years old, right?”
Ranga didn’t seem to mind the direct tone I used.
“That’s right. I trained as much as I could, ever since I was a kid. My adventurer rank rose before everyone else my age, after all.”
Ranga sounded like he was boasting a little, but I couldn’t care less.
“I suppose you only did things to stand out, like monster extermination quests and the like?”
“Well yeah, I mainly took extermination quests.”
“And maybe you let other people do all the hard work, and prioritized finishing off the target?”
“No way!”
“Easy now. You said you wouldn’t lose your cool.”
“B-But…”
I stopped Ranga’s protests and explained my opinion.
“Just listen, all right? I’ve checked your status, but you have way too few skills. No gathering-type skills, no Presence Detection or any other detection-type skills. Moreover, you have too little stamina for your level. This makes me think that you barely did any “boring” gathering quests, completing only extermination quests relying on brute force on the front lines: in the end, your level became higher, but either you always acted rashly, or other people did all the scouting. You were an adventurer, yet don’t have any skill related to taking materials from monsters: you left all that troublesome stuff to other people, didn’t you?”
“N-No, I…”
“Listen! You’ll never get stronger if you don’t understand yourself first!”
Ranga was about to say something, but I rebuked him harshly and he quieted down. With his ears down like that, he almost looked cute…
“You sure didn’t mince your words…hard to think you’re just fourteen…”
Well, mentally I’m over 48, after all…
“Have I missed the mark anywhere?”
“No…it’s all just like you said!”
“Let me ask you this, then. If you want to become stronger, you’ll have to do boring and troublesome stuff. Can you handle it?”
“I got to! I’ll do my best to protect my wife and kid!”
He still sounded kind of casual about it…but hey, it wasn’t my problem if he couldn’t keep training in the end.
I continued.
“First, you’re going to take my place and help the villagers draw water from the well. It will raise your strength and stamina. My level is only half yours, but I have a lot more strength and stamina, you know?”
Ranga looked at me, perfectly annoyed.
Not my problem: he could stop listening anytime, it was his training, not mine.
“Then, about hunting: why are you always in front, with Jeet and Zlatan behind you?”
Zlatan was an 18 years old Bear Beastman. He had a sturdy physique and was pretty strong, but lacked self-confidence. His face still retained child-like features, so the contrast with his burly body made him look kind of cute. He was the type that couldn’t say no if others asked him to do something: the elder ordered him to guard Ranga and the others when they went outside the village, and he obeyed even if he hated it.
“Because I’m the strongest! Of course I have to take the most dangerous role!”
“Of course what? If you’re the strongest, shouldn’t you stay in the rear, ready to help whenever needed?”
“B-But if I do that, I won’t be able to level up!”
As I expected, he’s only thinking of himself.
“You can’t level up with the monsters around here, anyway. You have to give the young guys a chance to grow. In the end, it’ll help you and the whole village.”
“But that…”
“What are you going to do if a pack of Goblins or Wolves attacks? You can’t protect the village by yourself!”
“Alright, I get it!!”
Ranga sounded exasperated.
“Let the others take the last blow! If you can do it, I’ll give you another secret plan!”
“A secret..plan…!”
Ranga’s magic affinity was D, so I didn’t know how useful it could be, but if he could somehow learn Physical Boost, he should be able to become much stronger. For now, it all depends on how much effort he can put into it….