Abandoned Reincarnation

Chapter 28 – Doing a request after recovering

After Mr. Roland left, Ms. Lily finally released me.

“That guy is finally gone… It’s okay now, Haku.” Ms. Lily told me.

She had been hugging me until now, and I could see that she was quite worried for me. It felt as if she was protecting her own child from a bad person.

But well, Mr. Roland wasn’t actually that bad. He smelled a bit like alcohol, but that can’t be helped when we’re in a tavern.

Also, I felt kinda happy when he stroked my head.

Mmmm… I guess the reason why I feel happy when I’m stroked or hugged is because my body still longs for this kind of affection.

I may have cut ties with my parents, but I still want love… Or rather, I want someone to need me.

Thanks to regaining my previous life’s memories, I’m able to think about my situation logically, but… If I only had my memories as ‘Haku’, my loneliness would probably have overwhelmed me and I would be unable to think about anything calmly.

I guess I can only keep on being myself due to regaining my past life memories and meeting up with Aria.

“Ms. Haku, I’m glad you’re well.” Ms. Sonia told me.

“You and Ms. Lily seem to be doing well too.” I replied.

“Of course. If I collapsed in a situation like that, I would be unable to call myself an adventurer.” Ms. Lily said.

But… Weren’t ogres opponents that were supposed to be above her level?

I heard that ogres were meant to be fought by parties of C-rank adventurers, so… If Ms. Lily was able to defeat one alone, doesn’t that mean she is already good enough to be B-rank?

Ms. Lily said she was a C-rank adventurer last time, but maybe she ranked up after the subjugation?

I mean, I had my rank increased just now, so I think it’s quite possible that Ms. Lily has had her rank increased as well.

I could confirm it if I looked at her guild certificate, but it would be strange to ask her to show it to me all of a sudden, so… I guess I’ll ask her when the right opportunity arises.

“Haku, were you planning on taking a request?” Ms. Lily asked me.

“I was. Now that my rank has increased, I was told that I shouldn’t be getting the permanent requests any longer, so I was planning on asking Ms. Charlie for a simple request that I could clear.” I replied.

“Oh, your rank has risen? You’re D-rank now, then?” Ms. Lily asked.

“C-rank, actually.” I replied.

“Wow, you skipped a rank. That’s really impressive.” Ms. Sonia commented.

It seems like it’s quite rare for someone to skip a rank, but there are cases when someone demonstrates a remarkable performance that clearly exceeds their current rank.

This case was a perfect example of what is necessary for this kind of thing to occur. I may have been in a party, but I was still able to defeat two ogres basically by myself, which should have been impossible for an E-rank adventurer.

Though I don’t think I really needed to rank up… And even if I had ranked up, D-rank would have still been fine.

Especially because D-rank adventurers are still allowed to get the permanent requests without receiving any complaints…

“Hey, since you’re planning on taking a request, why don’t you do it with us?” Ms. Lily suggested.

“That’s a good idea. What do you think, Ms. Haku?” Ms. Sonia asked me.

Taking a request together?

Well, I’ve just finished recovering from my wounds, and I was planning on taking it easy and going home early today.

If I’m with Ms. Lily and Ms. Sonia, I probably won’t be in any danger, so I guess it’s fine to accept this invitation?

As soon as I nodded, Ms. Lily immediately raised her hands up in joy… Is this really something to be that happy about?

Well, during the subjugation request, Ms. Sonia did tell me that Ms. Lily had been quite disheartened when I rejected her previous party invitation, so I guess this reaction is consistent with what Ms. Sonia had told me, but… I don’t really get why she feels like that.

In any case, we quickly accepted a request at the receptionist’s desk, then immediately headed out of town.

This time we were going on the opposite direction of the gate that we went through for the subjugation request. The gate we’re using is the same that I use to go to the forest to gather medicinal herbs.

I never went very far in this direction, but there’s apparently a river to the right, shortly after exiting the gate. The contents of this request was to hunt some orcs that were sighted there.

Maybe they were being considerate of me, because this request is probably a bit too easy for those two… I feel like it’s their way of showing kindness to me, who have just finished recovering.

That said, it is a proper C-rank request… It’s just that I was able to catch a glimpse of Ms. Lily’s guild certificate when we were at the receptionist’s desk… And it was dark green.

In other words, she has ranked up and is now a B-rank adventurer.

Ms. Sonia’s certificate was still golden though, just like mine. It seems like Ms. Lily was the only one to rank up this time.

Regardless of all that, we exited the gate and started heading towards the river.

This place had quite the pretty view, and I could even faintly see the river in the distance. I always went to the forest right away after leaving the gate, but there was also this kind of place on this side of the city.

“By the way, Haku, how much magic can you use?” Ms. Lily asked me.

We had yet to find any monsters in our path, so our journey was quite peaceful, which allowed us to chit-chat as we walked.

And as we talked, the topic of magic came up.

But it was a bit hard for me to answer this question… I mean, there were multiple types of magic, like the beginner ball-based spells; weapon-based intermediate spells; high-range advanced spells; physical reinforcement-magic…

The more advanced the spell was, the harder it was to use. There were many reasons behind it, like the amount of magical power the spell consumes, how difficult it is to control the spell… But the most important reason, was that advanced spells were hard to visualize.

Activating a spell depended heavily on one’s mental image. A magic circle that reflected one’s image was then created and defined how the spell would come out, and then the spell could be activated by putting your magical power into it.

However, I memorized the magic circles to skip the part of creating a mental image, so I can activate magic quickly and with a stronger than normal power.

And because of that, it was a bit hard to try evaluating how much magic I could use with normal standards.

I mean, I should be able to use advanced spells if I wanted to, but only if I learned their magic circle, otherwise I won’t be able to use it at all.

Still, I’m theoretically able to use advanced spells already…

And well, I am pretty comfortable with using more complicated spells with the water, wind and light elements because Aria taught me plenty about those, but I am still quite lacking when it comes to elements like fire and ice.

That said, it’s normal for most people to only have aptitudes for two to three elements, so I suppose it’s fine if I can only use water, wind and light well.

“I’m good with water, wind and light magic mainly.” I told Ms. Lily.

It’s pretty rare to have an aptitude for all elements, but I was quite unlucky to have been born with very little magical power… However, this issue has been solved already.

Right now, I’m a bit more confident with my magical capabilities. I can handle weak monsters with ease while using basic spells, and I was even able to defeat ogres somehow, so… I feel like it’s fine for me to call myself a magician now.

“Water, wind and light, huh, Haku? Sonia is specialized in light magic only.” Ms. Lily commented.

“Well, I can also use a bit of ice magic.” Ms. Sonia pointed out.

“Wait, didn’t you use earth magic against the ogres though?” Ms. Lily asked me.

“I did. I can use other elements too.” I nodded.

Ms. Sonia seems to be a typical supporter who focuses primarily on healing magic. Maybe she is not very good at attacking.

Ms. Lily, on the other hand, seems to be a vanguard that is quite good at fighting with her sword and that is able to make great use of her speed.

If one were to think of an ideal party composition, they would probably want somebody who is a bit flexible on what they can do? Somebody that can both summon a shield and also act as a long-range attacker, probably?

“Oh? So you’re not limited to just those three?” Ms. Lily asked.

“I’m not.” I replied.

“… Are you actually able to use all elements perchance?” Ms. Sonia asked.

“I can.” I nodded.

“Whoa…” They both said in unison.

The way they were looking at me made me feel like they were at a loss for words.

Ms. Sonia in particular had put her hand over her mouth and seemed to be in absolute disbelief.

Well, it is a rare condition alright. Just like how Storage is a rare skill… Honestly, don’t I have way too many rare boons?

I mean, never mind my magical aptitude, just having Storage and Appraisal is already pretty unbelievable in itself… And I just acquired those skills somehow after falling off a cliff.

Though maybe I might have always had those skills since I was a small child, but was only able to notice them after falling…

Well, maybe… Storage aside, Appraisal is something that one would probably be able to notice that they had even while they just lived their normal day-to-day life, so maybe I did acquire them only after falling…

“I’ve thought this for a while, but you’re really amazing, aren’t you, Haku?” Ms. Lily commented.

“Yeah… I’m honestly losing a bit of confidence in myself now.” Ms. Sonia said.

Ms. Sonia seemed to be a bit down, but… I don’t think she’s particularly weak.

I was saved in part thanks to Ms. Sonia’s healing magic, after all.

And when the topic is supportive magic, Ms. Sonia has way more experience than me, so she’ll surely perform much better than I would.

I may happen to have an aptitude for all elements, but that doesn’t mean I have mastered them all. There is no reason to be disheartened just because someone happens to have more elemental aptitudes than you do.