1 Retry

I slowly close the door to my house.

This is it.

The day where I hope everything will change.

The day I'll start a new life.

And the day I'll fulfil my mother's last wish.

"...I wish you to have a normal life, where you can laugh with friends, where you can have proper education, where you have someone to care for..."

I still remember those words.

The last words Mother'd written for me before she passed away.

But, I can't no longer because of her that I stop moving forward.

And that day will be today.

I started running on the usual path, my spear I'm holding with my left hand, my bag carrying all of the essentials on my back, I'm heading towards the nearby town.

Monsters start to appear too, blocking my way to my destination. They are the same as usual.

Three [Green Slimes], two [Black Wolfs] and a few [Goblins] that are hiding in the bushes.

I release my bag, and as soon as it hits the ground, I dash forward toward the monsters.

I swing my spear sideway with my left hand, killing all three slimes that are trying to jump at me at the same time.

The two wolfs're trying to get ahold of me by attacking from behind, but using the momentum I still have, I proceed to reverse the hold of my spear, hold it with my two hand and turn around as I pierce them.

The first goblin then jumps out of the bushes, also trying to hit me from the back using an aerial attack with its club, but fails as I swing my spear at it, the bodies of the dead wolfs flew out from the tip of the spear due to the momentum and hit the flying goblin.

It falls down onto the ground, trying to regain its balance but I stabs it in the head before it can do anything.

I looks around to check the area because I remember there were a total of three goblins, but it seems that they have all fled.

The battle takes 32 seconds, so it isn't too time consuming.

I return to my bag, take out the knife that I always use to process the monsters and proceed to rips out the monsters's cores.

It seems gross at first but they sell for quite the money.

But, seems that some of the blood has gotten onto my uniform. I need to do something about it.

"<Cleanse>!"

I raise my hand and speak out the word. A magic circle appeared on my palm and all of the blood magically disappear from my clothes. This was one of the simple spells mother has taught me.

I'm getting sentimental again.

Continuing on my journey, I finally arrive at Fanger Town.

This place isn't too far from the capital of the country, so there're quite a lot of people living here.

And I've reached my destination.

The Guild. The place where adventurers usually gather around, taking quests and trying to hit on the receptionist and stuffs.

I open the door, and the familiar smell of booze hit my nose. Probably from the older adventurers who are drinking at that table over there. I walk to the reception table and is greeted with a familiar voice.

"Ah! Yaritsuke-kun! Good morning!"

"Good morning to you too, Iris-nee-san."

The blue-haired glasses-wearing woman here is Iris, the Guild receptionist. She has been the one helping me in the past.

Oh, and I haven't introduced myself.

My name is Yaritisuke, I believe I am 16 years old, , I have been living with my mother inside a house in the middle of the forest, isolated from the rest.

We had our reasons to have lived there, but let's say I don't want to talk about that just yet.

I take out the pouch of monster cores I have been collecting from past week and put it on the counter.

"I want to sell these last week's cores, please. A total of 139 slime cores, 38 wolf cores and 17 goblin cores." I speak without hesitation.

"...Your memorizing ability is still as impressive as usual, Yari-kun..." Iris-nee-san can only laugh in awe.

"Having a good memory like yours can make things so much easier for me, you know?" She says.

But having it isn't as good as you might think. There are things that I want to forget but can't. Like the incident that happened 7 years ago...

"Haii~, here's your money for last week, 638 Fro." Iris-nee-chan's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Ah, thank you for your help as always, nee-chan." I put away the money into my bag.

"Oh, and I see that you are wearing the school uniform." She points at the clothes I'm wearing.

"Today will be the first day at school at the capital for me, so I'll admit I'm a bit nervous."

"I'm happy that you finally agree to go to school after all these years of denying. Why now thought?"

"...I don't have to kill monsters anymore, so I have more free time now."

"Wait, why? Haven't you been doing it continuously for the past five years to sustain your family? And how's your mother?"

"...She passed away three days ago." My face darkens as I respond.

"*Gasp*...I-I'm sorry!!" She covers her mouth with her hands, tears start to flow from her eyes.

"A-Ah! Why are you crying?!" I'm shocked as I see her teary eyes.

I can feel the stares of many adventurers pointing at me, which they thought was the one to make her cry (which I probably did).

Still, why did she have to cry?

"B-Because...*hic*...She was your last family member, right? Doesn't this mean that you no longer has anyone to care for you anymore?" She continues to cry as she speaks.

"I can take care of myself fine, but thanks for your concern. Now can you please stop crying? You are making me feel bad."

"O-Ok..."

She finally stops crying.

I need to go now, there's a carriage that's heading toward the capital resting nearby. He's about to start going again.

"Thanks for today, Iris-nee-san." I say as I walk toward the exit.

"Good luck with your school life!" She says, her eyes're still a bit red.