Things were good when she first became an adventurer. Being a rare Spirit Arts User, and possessing powerful Low-Rank Spirit Arts due to her original magical aptitude and the influence of the Soul Contract… for those reasons, she was relied upon by her peer party members.
The shadow over that life appeared a while after all the party members rose to D-Rank. They decided to challenge a Danger Level C Labyrinth.
There, Linfa’s Spirit Arts visibly stopped being effective. While her comrades grew rapidly and produced results even in Danger Level C Labyrinths, only Linfa kept marking time, making no progress.
After Linfa revealed the Soul Contract with the Low-Rank Spirit Yuno, it didn’t take long for her to part ways with that party.
After that, through the Guild’s introduction, she joined other parties, but the result was the same. Even if she was praised at first, once they learned that Linfa had no room for growth, they turned their backs on her. As this continued, Linfa’s spirit wore down more and more.
It was frustrating. Being the only one left behind by other comrades. It was pathetic. Being completely ineffective against Danger Level C monsters.
But what was more painful than anything was the emotion transmitting from Yuno, blaming herself.
If only I hadn’t formed a Soul Contract with you, Big Sister Linfa wouldn’t have to go through this.
—If only I didn’t exist.
“That can’t be true!” She told the sorrowfully flickering Yuno that, over and over.
If Yuno hadn’t been there, she couldn’t have possibly endured life in that house. Because Yuno was there, her heart didn’t break. No matter how many times she tried to convey that, Yuno’s heart never cleared.
It made her sad that she was making Yuno feel that way.
Days of helpless struggle. It ate away at Linfa’s heart, and she increasingly lashed out at her comrades.
That day, too, Linfa lost her party. More than the flaw of only being able to use Low-Rank Spirit Arts, Linfa’s attitude toward her comrades had become a factor.
A sense of loss repeated so many times she lost count. Within that despair, that guy suddenly appeared.
The man who named himself Adem was, above all, a meddlesome guy.
He carried Linfa, who was standing dumbfounded in front of the Guild reception, as if he were holding a cat, threw her into a seat at the cafeteria, and started ordering food on his own.
Honestly, at that time, she just felt incredibly shady. Perhaps Linfa had become paranoid.
In any case, she wanted to be left alone and tried to leave quickly, but hearing Adem say that he, too, had been kicked out of a party, Linfa ended up staying and even touching the food.
While ignoring the various questions thrown at her, Linfa instinctively reacted to the final proposal.
“If you don’t have anyone else in mind, why not form a party with me for a while?”
It would be a lie to say she didn’t hesitate at all. However, the idea of two people who had both been kicked out of parties teaming up seemed incredibly miserable. It was petty pride.
More than anything, she was afraid that the person who spoke to her like that would eventually abandon her in the same way.
So, she refused bluntly right then and there. She thinks she said some terrible things, too. Yet Adem didn’t seem to care much, came to check on her at the reception, and before Linfa knew it, they had gradually formed a party.
Even after forming the party, Linfa feared opening her heart and continued to treat Adem coldly, but Adem only smiled wryly. That made Linfa fall into self-loathing, causing her to be harsh with Adem again. It was a vicious cycle.
The impression of Adem changed when they dove into the Danger Level C Labyrinth, the [Magic Crystal Cave].
It happened because Linfa, impatient that Adem kept choosing low-danger labyrinths for some reason since they formed the party, pushed her demand through. If I’m going to be abandoned anyway, better to get it over with quickly—perhaps there was such a feeling, too.
To state the result: that day, Linfa was able to achieve actual results in a Danger Level C Labyrinth for the first time. It was due to Adem’s advice.
In addition, Adem’s movements fighting as the vanguard were eye-opening. With swordsmanship that Linfa had felt was plain when she first saw it, Adem defeated Danger Level C monsters with ease.
Even at that point, it was surprising for Linfa, but that day, they became involved in an incident that went far beyond that.
The Respawn of a Labyrinth Guardian.
That event, occurring in the deepest part of the labyrinth, would normally have been a hopeless, checkmate situation. Linfa accepted her own death.
And yet, Adem laughed off that predicament, and even went so far as to say unbelievable things like he had defeated one before.
From then on, it was just a series of surprises.
Regarding the problem that Linfa couldn’t use Mid-Rank Spirit Arts—which should have been a fatal miscalculation in Adem’s plan to defeat the Guardian—Adem declared, “There’s a way.”
What was then taught to Linfa was a technique unknown even to her, who had received strict Spirit Arts education since childhood. The crowning stroke was a supreme technique Adem showed her: interfering with another person’s mana flow to activate a spell—something Linfa had never seen or heard of.
Where on earth did he acquire such skills? Why does Adem, a swordsman, possess such techniques?
The questions were endless, but in any case, through this training, Linfa mastered a pseudo-Mid-Rank Spirit Art with astonishing speed, and with it, they succeeded in cornering the Labyrinth Guardian magnificently.
—Up to here, it was fine. The one who ruined it was me.
Assuming the battle was won, Linfa carelessly entered the Guardian’s attack range and became the target of its needles.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
“Tch! You idiot! Don’t come yet!”
“Eh… ah.”
I’m dead, she thought. A distance she could absolutely not dodge on her own. A speed she couldn’t react to. Faced with the approaching attack, Linfa could only close her eyes.
However, the pain and impact she feared never assaulted her.
When she opened her tightly squeezed eyes, there was the figure of Adem, standing to protect Linfa while bearing wounds.
He had shielded her with his own body. There was a part of Linfa that felt helplessly happy about that fact, but such emotions were blown away when she saw Adem’s body after they successfully finished off the enemy.
Adem’s whole body was pierced by countless needles that he couldn’t dodge because of Linfa.
She felt the blood drain from her face.
“My… It’s my fault…!”
“Aaah…? Don’t worry about it. We couldn’t have beaten it without you anyway…”
Despite having such severe injuries, Adem didn’t try to blame Linfa at all. The thought crossed her mind that it would have been easier if Adem had just gotten angry, and she hated herself for thinking that.
After that, she was desperate. Linfa dragged the unconscious Adem out of the labyrinth, immediately called for help, and somehow managed to carry Adem to the Guild infirmary.
When she was informed that the treatment was successfully completed and Adem’s life was not in danger, the thread of tension snapped, and Linfa also lost consciousness for a time.
The next day, people claiming to be Adem’s former party members visited the infirmary. They were surprised by the high-level healing magic cast on Adem, and of course, by the fact that Adem had started glowing, but more than that, Linfa was bothered by how much they seemed to adore Adem.
It was impossible to think they had kicked Adem out of the party. No, as of last night, somewhere in her heart, she had dimly realized it. Someone this talented wouldn’t be kicked out of a party, she thought.
Later, learning that he was the Guild Master’s disciple, that suspicion turned into near certainty.
Adem had deliberately lied to open Linfa’s heart.
If she had realized this at the very beginning, Linfa might have been angry. But now, having had her life saved, such an emotion couldn’t possibly arise. Rather, it felt like she had no right to receive that kindness or charity.
Therefore, she revealed her circumstances to Adem and tried to dissolve the party. She thought that from then on, she would work alone, or perhaps just quit being an adventurer altogether.
—But, Adem showed her a possibility, a path.
“Leave it to me. I will absolutely make you strong. …Let’s prove your Old Man wrong.”
—With those words, her heart was saved.
My chest was accidentally touched, and it became clear that he had thought I was a man, which shocked me for some reason.
I screamed out of embarrassment, but I found it strange that I didn’t feel any disgust at the fact that I was touched.
When the angry Yuno sent Adem flying, I realized I was panicking about him getting hurt.
Finding myself thinking about him in idle moments, my heart racing when our eyes met.
Linfa still does not know what these feelings are.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
