Chapter 21: I Turned 12

I turned 12.

After several years of training, I managed to achieve an S- in both MP and Magic.

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Grey Millard Status HP: C+ (22/100%) MP: S- (77/100%) Strength: B- (56/100%) Endurance: B- (13/100%) Magic: S- (46/100%) Magical Endurance: B- (53/100%) Agility: B (17/100%) Luck: C+ (36/100%) Drop: C+ (88/100%) Wisdom: ΛΦΨ Growth Rate: ΛΦΨ

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Right now, I'm challenging the last untrodden lands of the 『Ancient Forest』, located in the most southeastern portion, with Satella, Judo, and Carla.

The area consists of giant wetlands, and the strength of the monsters that swagger around are on a whole nother level.

"Be careful. Leave the vanguard to me. Just support me with magic from the rear!" I commanded.

"Okay!"

"Yep!"

"Yessir!"

A giant 5-meter tall alligator-like monster charged at us, creating tremors in the earth. Satella quickly held up her right palm and chanted, "[Water Citadel]"

The water around us rose up to formed several blue membranes before fully shaping into a small citadel that protected us.

Once the alligator tried to touch the blue membrane, several needles sprouted out of the water castle walls and skewered it.

The giant alligator writhed in agony as red blood spurted out.

"[Seven Black Thunder Pillars]"

At Carla's chant, black thunder pillars over four meters wide descended from the heavens and evaporated the alligator, leaving nothing behind.

"Oi, Carla! Who uses lightning series magic in the wetlands?! We'd be dead if Satella didn't throw a barrier up!" Judo yelled as a vein bulged on his forehead. I let out a sigh as Carla threw out her tongue in response and hid behind Satella.

Recently, Carla and Satella have been getting along like sisters. Carla is currently 18, and Satella 14, but despite being four years younger, Satella was more the older sister.

"Carla-oneechan, we're in the wetlands so water series magic would be better," Satella said.

"I know." Carla kicked at the water, sulking as even Satella rebuked her.

Besides healing magic, Carla also had a strong attachment to high-rank and above lightning spells. For example, after she obtained the special-rank magic, [Seven Black Thunder Pillars], she's been using it left and right.

Certainly, Satella's special rank magic, [Water Citadel]was tested to be able to block almost anything as long as it didn't take a direct hit from lightning, but if anything went wrong and we took the lightning head on, it would fry everybody except for me. As Judo pointed out, she should refrain from using it.

"We're in the middle of practice right now," I said. "If you want to bicker do it after."

"S-sorry!" Judo bowed deeply and Carla stuck her tongue out at Judo again, so I tapped her head with the handle of my sword.

"Carla lightning series magic is forbidden until I say otherwise," I said.

"Whaaaat!!" she complained.

"Do you hear me!?"

"Okaaay," she answered while pouting. Carla always listened to what I said, but to put it in other words, you could also say that she only listened to what I said. Jeez, speaking of which, on Earth, you become an adult and obtain the right to vote at 18. I might have spoiled her a bit too much.

Anyways, every day, after lowering their MP to a single digit, I forcefully put them to sleep with magic, and as a result, Satella, Carla, and Judo's Magic all reached C+.

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Satella Status HP: E- (22/100%) MP: C+ (18/100%) Strength: E- (2/100%) Endurance: C- (13/100%) Magic: C+ (3/100%) Magical Endurance: C- (18/100%) Agility: E+ (42/100%) Luck: E- (6/100%) Drop: E- (65/100%) Wisdom: D- (41/100%) Growth Rate: A Title: —'s Maid

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Judo Status HP: E+ (35/100%) MP: C+ (54/100%) Strength: D- (4/100%) Endurance: C- (16/100%) Magic: C+ (75/100%) Magical Endurance: E- (48/100%) Agility: E (88/100%) Luck: E (66/100%) Drop: E (27/100%) Wisdom: C- (12/100%) Growth Rate: A Title: —'s Disciple

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Carla Status

HP: E (35/100%) MP: C+ (55/100%) Strength: C- (2/100%) Endurance: D- (13/100%) Magic: C+ (27/100%) Magical Endurance: D- (18/100%) Agility: C- (42/100%) Luck: E (6/100%) Drop: E (65/100%) Wisdom: E (90/100%) Growth Rate: A Title: —'s Disciple

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Their statuses were ridiculously high overall, but their growth rate, in particular, was overwhelmingly high.

In the first place, Judo's growth rate should have been E, but before I knew it his growth rate became A. This is just my speculation, but it might have something to do with their mysterious titles.

I think it has to do with whether you have that weird title or not. I've had everyone else do the same exercises as these three, but compared to Judo, Carla, and Satella's status, the others' MP and Magic only reached E+, remarkably low in comparison. Furthermore, no matter what I did, they couldn't learn top-rank magic, so I had the other 8 employees of Sagami Co. and Tote's security squad learn top-rank magic instead.

Still, the monsters in this area had C- stats and posed a danger to everyone else. They couldn't hold out for even a second against the small, quick-witted monsters that constantly attacked, so I pinpointed any dangerous-looking monsters with Analyze Environment and quickly eliminated them with magic, leaving large monsters like that giant alligator from before for everyone else to eliminate.

"We're going deeper," I said. "I want to conquer the 『Ancient Forest』before going to the capital."

"Yessir!" they replied in unison.

Just a minute before, Judo and Carla were all gloomy, but there wasn't even a single trace left of that gloominess now.

The reason was simple: I had decided to take Satella, Judo, and Carla with me to the capital.

They weren't slaves, nor were they serfs of any sort. So while the empire's laws didn't permit abandoning farmland, we weren't forced to stay and could move about freely as long as we maintained the land. In fact, many were actually encouraged to become adventurers or merchants to reduce food costs.

We soon came up to a giant serpent that craned over and glared at us with its 16 blood-red eyes. [1] "Looks like you're the lord of this land," I said.

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Eight-Headed Dragon

Status HP: B+ (99/100%) MP: B- (99/100%) Strength: B+ (99/100%) Endurance: B+ (99/100%) Magic: B- (99/100%) Magical Endurance: B- (99/100%) Agility: B- (99/100%) Luck: E+ (1/100%) Wisdom: D+ (1/100%) Race: Hydra Lord Title: Gluttonous Dragon

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It had B stats across the board, and its strength was even B+; what a joke of a monster. In any case, based off the name and the title, it's definitely a cunning beast.

Well, I certainly can't let down my guard against it, but this might be a good opportunity to test out the legend-rank dark series magic that I recently acquired.

Also, if this monster has its own specific magic stone, I should definitely be able to acquire god-rank magic.

I turned my palm to the sky and chanted, "[Skaði Palm]" as a black magic circle surrounded the Eight-Headed Dragon.

"What is this?" a terrified girl's voice echoed in my ear.

At the same time, dark clouds enshrouded the dragon and a giant hand appeared of those clouds.

[Skaði Palm]— the only legend-rank magic that I could use in a fight. It was the best magic I could use, created out of the magic stone of a Sampati, a giant animal that was one of the four pillars of the 『Ancient Forest』.

Suddenly, with a shriek, the dragon transformed into a black-haired girl of about seven or eight years, who, while trembling, rolled into a ball and began crying.

"A girl...?"

Why did it become a girl? This has got to be against the rules, I mean just look at how cunning its name and title sounds.

"Grey-sama..." Satella, who easily bewildered, gazed at the crying girl and prodded me to change my mind.

"Yeah, you're right."

Even if it were a monster, to bully or even kill a child would be stooping down to my stepmother's level.

I terminated my spell and heaved a sigh.

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There wasn't anything trickier than dealing with a child that wouldn't stop crying, and it didn't help that I was the one who made her cry.

Having no other choice, I teleported us to Sagami Co's restaurant, 『The Silver Knife』, to calm her down.

"How is it?" I asked. "Delicious, right?"

"It's good!"

As her eyes glistened after chomping on a mouthful of meat, my guilty conscience finally disappeared.

The Sagami Co. Restaurant, 『The Silver Knife』's special menu—The Wind Cow Hamburger. The Wind Cow inhabited the Ancient Forest and was a mix between a Holstein, which was a type of German cow, and a Wagyu cow. As such, it shouldn't have been able to survive in a place where powerful monsters were prevalent. However, the Wind Cow inhabited an extremely wide and deep basin surrounded by raging winds; the winds were poisonous too. Even we had to struggle quite a bit to enter the basin, so naturally monsters couldn't enter, and a unique ecosystem developed inside.

As a result, we named it the『Windy Lands』and were able to obtain several products and animals to use for the restaurant.

On the products side, we obtained sugarcane, tomatoes, potatoes, and onions. And on the animals side, we got the Wind Cow and a quail-like bird.

Once we had obtained the sole right to these animals and products, I went to Giresse and the farm of a noble I had recently acquainted with to test grow the crops and reaped quite the profit.

"That's good to hear," I said to the girl. "Chew slowly."

I had no idea what a dragon was like, but I warned her anyways.

"Okay!"

"Looks like you're in a better mood now. I'll take you back to the wetlands." I said.

"Don't wanna," the Eight-Headed Dragon flat out refused my request with a beaming smile.

"Please don't say that… Isn't that your habitat?"

She flung herself onto Satella and began looking at her with puppy eyes.

"Grey-sama..." Satella said.

Oh boy, it's no good now. You've been played, Satella; you're too weak to cute things. You probably think that girl's cuteness is to die for, or something. What an annoying, cunning dragon.

"What do you guys think?" I turned to ask the others.

Judo glanced at Carla, who was flushed with excitement, before heaving a heavy sigh and shook his head back and forth.

Well there's no point if only I object. Satella, Judo, and Carla all have special titles that allow them to borrow an incomplete version of" Infinite Item Box "and" Warp Point"after all, so even if I refuse, Satella and Carla could probably enter the wetlands on their own.

"Okay," I gave in. "You two need to take care of her then."

"Thanks! Grey-sama!"

"Yayy!!"

Satella and Carla jumped to hug the Eight-Headed Dragon.

And so, my exploration into the 『Ancient Forest』ended unexpectedly with a new traveler to our group.

[1]

Not sure what the correct phrase for this is. Basically it's like when a King Cobra inflates its head to make it seem more threatening to other animals.