368 Isn't Magic

Inside the living space of the store, Riveria looked around curiously and asked, "Did you came from the Far East?"

"Something like that," Kisuke answered vaguely and led Riveria to the dining area, "Please sit down. I'll prepare for lunch."

But instead of sitting down, Riveria asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You're a guest, Riveria-san. You can take it easy."

"Well, I came uninvited and you're treating me to lunch so maybe I could assist you with something."

"Thank you, but I can manage." Kisuke brought a warm tea for Riveria to help her wait.

Riveria didn't insist anymore and just sat down quietly and watched Kisuke do his work on the kitchen through the counter while sipping on her tea. And since it'll be boring and awkward to just wait in silence, Riveria initiated a conversation, "Forgive for asking, but where are your lo-... I mean the other members of your Familia?" She was about to say 'lovers' but figured that it was a bit inappropriate so she changed her question.

Kisuke didn't mind her consideration and answered honestly, "They're in the dungeon. They're aiming to reach Level 2 within a few days. Arshe-san should be with them too."

Riveria is interested in how Line joined their party and learned her magic, but she's more curious about another thing, "T-they're not yet Level 2 after that battle? How? That achievement should be enough to instantly push them to a level up."

"Because they're not yet satisfied... There's no need to level up if you can improve further at that level."

"But it'll be extremely slow and hard to gain more excelia after that. Since they were able to defeat Minotaurs, their status should be on top than others of the same level. It would be faster to just level up and gain more excelia easier."

"Riveria-san... They'll be only level 1s once and they wanted to gain every benefit they can. True, it's more efficient if they just level up as it'll really be easier that way... But you see, in considering the future, efficiency isn't always the answer. In addition, we really don't like taking the easy route if we can do better at the harder path." Kisuke then faced Riveria with a smile, "And most importantly, we don't care how others level up. We'll do what we think is best for us. Even if we take years for a single level, if that can help us in the future better, then we'll work hard for those few years."

Riveria's eyes widened hearing that. She then smiled wryly, "I'm sorry... I just realized how stupid that question was... What you said is true... One shouldn't compare oneself to others and just do their best in their field that they enjoy. And truly... Efficiency isn't about everything when getting stronger. It seems that my years of adventuring blinded me of something that should be obvious..."

"Well, I can't really blame you. With competition everywhere, you just have to get strong faster so that you won't be overtaken. And feelings of impatience due to some goals should have added to that. There are ways to get stronger faster but one should never get impatient."

"You're right... And you just reminded me of someone who's on the verge of impatience."

"Then you should immediately warn that guy... He'll only get killed faster."

"I'm always doing it... It's just that she's really too impatient to achieve her goal... And it isn't even a very good goal."

Kisuke knew that she's referring to the Sword Princess but didn't say anything about it, "Whether the goal is good or bad, it's only the person who has it can decide that."

Riveria looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, "Your words are like that of an old man who had already seen most of the world... Just how old are you?"

"Ahaha, please don't call me an old man~. I'm just a 17-year old business man~."

"..." Most of the time, Riveria feels like she's talking with a child when conversing with Kisuke, however, from time to time, it feels like she's asking advice from a senior. Shaking that out her mind, Riveria asked another thing she's curious about, "You said there are other ways to get stronger aside from leveling up..."

"Ah, about that, its- "Wait!" ", In the middle of his sentence, Riveria suddenly interrupted him, "I don't want to hear it without hearing about the price first!" She already learned from her mistakes... the hard way.

Kisuke couldn't help but chuckle thinking that he had traumatized the poor Elf of acquiring free knowledge, "You don't have to worry about that. It isn't much of a secret and you could just answer my questions in exchange."

"...No hidden charges?"

"None!"

Riveria sighed in relief, "Then please go on."

Feigning a cough, Kisuke continued, "Ehem... To tell you the other way to get stronger, let me ask you this first. It seems that all of the Adventurers that I came across are only relying on the Skills and Developmental Abilities they have to progress their technique... Why is that?"

Riveria tilted her head and rubbed her chin in contemplation, "Why you ask... Aside from relying on those, what else can you do?"

"Are you serious?" It was Kisuke's turn to be dumbfounded, 'Are they this reliant on the system? Isn't that pretty bad if you want to reach the higher levels? After all, the stats that each level provides isn't enough to fight in the higher levels.'

"...Yes... What's wrong with that?" Riveria is confused with his reaction.

"How do people practice combat?"

"Sparring and monster hunting. Either of those."

"...Are there no systematic art or school of martial arts being practice anywhere?"

"Systematic art? School of martial arts? I'm not very well versed with frontline fighters so I'm not sure..."

"Okay... I already figured it out with that answer." Kisuke wanted to do a facepalm but he's currently frying some chicken so he can't, 'So they went full practical and didn't even develop any martial arts? No... That's impossible... There should be some but it should be incredibly rare. I guess you can't defeat an Adventurer who devoted 10 years to reach a high level just with a master class martial artist who devoted his whole life to the art.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing... Nothing is wrong about that... It's just that... I can't really easily explain it with words." Kisuke then looked around the room and decided to just show it to her, "I guess I have to sacrifice that cup... Please throw that cup to me." Kisuke pointed at the empty teacup in front of Riveria.

Riveria is still confused about his reaction and wanted to know what he wants to do, so without hesitation, she tossed the cup towards Kisuke.

When it's about to reach Kisuke, he raised the wooden chopstick that he's holding and as slow as possible, he cut the incoming cup into two using it before catching the broken cup with his other hand, "This is what I'm talking about! For your information, this isn't magic."

"W-what!?" Riveria couldn't believe what she just saw.