Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[[ "Move forward." ]]

[[ "..." ]]

[[ "Lift your ass and start moving you bastard!" ]]

[[ "..." ]]

[[ "Celes! Punch this fucker!" ]]

[[ I... can't? I wouldn't do that even if I want to. ]]

[[ "Ummm...!" ]]

[[ "Calm down, pink panther. I'm alright..." ]]

[[ "That you are!" ]]

[[ "Haaa..." ]]

She was angry. Naturally, she would be angry.

She was fighting those undead dogs there, and I was just sitting here after destroying the trolls.

I had already defeated all of them and I should move forward, but I was still here, sitting on this blood-soaked ground, thinking about the things that had just happened.

I knew what I have to do here. I know my role in this place and I also know just what things would happen after each of my decisions.

I had already overcome the simple mindset of thinking during my life in the great forest.

Or so I thought I did...

'It's more like a curse as well as a blessing to understand languages of creatures that no one even considers being a language.'

That troll mage... he thanked me at his last moment.

He thanked the person who killed the other creatures close to him and himself and even understood the reason for me doing it.

It was really fascinating to see how a normal creature that humans just hunted for their great, tough skin and byproducts could have such deep emotions and understanding.

His intelligence stat was also just 60.

'A rare creature...'

Some monsters grow with their experience, and the stats couldn't express this special mental growth.

At the end of the day, stats were only ninety percent of what a being actually was.

A way to gauge the power and limitations that are placed on all the creatures of this nature.

'This time... he was an old creature.'

He must have experienced countless things in his life to have a big enough heart to thank the nemesis that destroyed his everything.

'Truly...'

I shook my head and took a deep breath.

[[ "Stand up bastard! At least go check the bodies!" ]]

[[ "Alright." ]]

[[ "Stand up! Stand up! Stop thinking about that idiot!" ]]

[[ "Yes, yes, ma'am." ]]

[[ "What the fuck are you even thinking after just killing some weak beasts?!" ]]

[[ Sister Elle... master already started cleanup. ]]

[[ You bastard! What the fuck-... oh. Alright~! ]]

'She's really cute.'

She knew I can understand the languages of other energy beasts.

She can 'read' what they say when she sees them with her eyes, but it was actually different from purely understanding it like me.

I actually knew what they say, feel the deep emotions of those words, and talk with them in their language.

She knew what it might be like to see the great turmoil happening.

She knew what it was like to cause terror to tens of hundreds of beings and put them in great crisis.

She knew how it felt to kill countless creatures, hearing their cries and begging to spare their lives, and what kind of anger the others watching their close ones being killed would feel.

She somewhat understood their words and the heaviness of her doings.

But still, she had obliterated countless creatures, and many times, it was only for fun or to relieve her anger.

She had lived with her ability for decades, so she didn't think much about the creatures that she didn't consider worthwhile.

But it hasn't been that long since I gained the ability to understand and converse with different creatures.

I had gone against countless powerful creatures in my time in the dark forest, but after my training with my master, there haven't been many occasions I was able to converse with different creatures in their language.

I didn't feel bad for killing. I knew what it meant, and I understood it.

'Well, maybe killing is something I know too well...'

Some memories passed through my mind, and I shook my head once again.

The reason I was so fascinated by this last encounter was the last words of that troll mage.

I did what I had to do, and I didn't regret it.

"Well... anyway."

I checked all the bodies, starting from the normal big trolls. And sadly, there was nothing.

Then I checked the corpse of the dead troll mage.

He also didn't have anything on him aside from the magic wand he used.

This one was a good artifact. Something that many mages would lust after.

Especially the wind mages. They would sell their house to get their hands on this special dungeon artifact.

And it was still quite durable even after taking my spell head on so after some small repairs, it would be as good as new.

'At least this much is a gain.'

The fire on the walls of this open area was still bright while the fire on the other side, the fire that burned the house and damaged the clean bodies without heads was already dead.

The bodies in the best condition were the most valuable and gave more money, but, well, I would be fine with whatever.

The main reward was the entire boss' room. All the things on the path were side dishes or bonuses.

Rein hadn't found anything until now, but she knew she will get some pretty good things from how things were going.

She had yet to encounter any undead knight, mage, or lich. They were the creatures who gave an energy core with some of the highest probability.

And a strong one would definitely carry some kind of artifact with them, so she was sure she would get some pretty good things in the time she easily cleared the 'things'.

She was confident that she would get some artifacts and more energy cores despite her utterly unspeakable luck, so every new thing I found would be a plus in our little competition.

The povpoi were now my responsibility, so maybe we shouldn't count them, but I needed to get some good items if I wanted to get ahead of her and earn the 'coin' that we agreed upon.

So, I was checking...

Every adult corpse, every small corpse, every area around the tent, as well as their food storage. And as I thought...

[[ A skill stone~! ]]

I didn't even need to shout and tell her.

Celes was happy to see me happy and couldn't just stay silent anymore.

She was a cute one that was happy if I was happy, so she was happy to see me finally smile.

It was inside one of the white bat corpses. A good (Orange) rank skill from a top-class predictor of (Orange) rank.

It was a rare skill called [Echolocation]. And this skill... it wasn't appropriate for me.

In the first place...

[[ *Hmmm. Yes. It's not compatible with you. And, you don't need this one anyway.* ]]

It was a rare skill of a rare creature but I had no use for it because of my existing skills.

It could be a very useful skill because it can enable a person to use a special kind of echolocation that only a few creatures with light or darkness attributes could use.

It was a good and famous skill despite its rarity. And I knew someone who could use this skill the best.

[[ "S-skill stone?! The fuck?! What? How!!" ]]

"Why's her reaction so late?"

[[ She was finishing off the dogs. She just finished, so the reaction came late. Hehehe. ]]

[[ "Oye! Answer me, what skill is it?! [Regeneration]? some kind of strengthening skill? O-or a magic skill?!" ]]

She sure was filled with fear and impatience.

Well, finding a skill stone was already counted in the last total, so she couldn't do anything about it now.

'I knew she would have finished the dogs in an instant with some magic after hearing that I found a skill stone.'

A smile appeared on my face as I thought about her cute, afraid face.

I wanted to tease her, but she had finished, and I had to.

I had to move now, so I started the cleanup as I talked with her.

[[ "It's not from trolls. I found it from one of the bodies in their food storage." ]]

[[ "It's not troll skill? Then...?" ]]

[[ "It's [Echolocation] from a white bat. I got lucky~." ]]

[[ "Fucking bastard!" ]]

[[ "Hehe. Hurry up if you want to catch up. Celes already surveyed this path. I will reach the trap area after two more opponents. They are solo, too." ]]

[[ "What are they?" ]]

'She's serious as soon as I said solo opponents. Damn protective girl. Haaa...'

[[ "A high golem which can use fire and a lizardman worrier of maybe around blue rank. They are just guesses. They might be weaker than I estimate." ]]

[[ "Do you think I will fall for that? They must definitely be strong if you say it like that. Bastard...

Meeting and playing with some furballs, fighting weak opponents at the start, and even getting a skill that you won't even use.

Hump... at least gift wrap it when you give it to her!" ]]

[[ "You think that hot head will like a gift packing?" ]]

[[ "Right... our red princesses." ]]

[[ "Hmmm. Anyway... I got a skill stone and magic wand before you got anything~! Hahaha~!" ]]

[[ "...fucker." ]]

She was furious. I knew from how she said that last thing in a low voice.

And from how she didn't say anything after that…

[[ She moved forward. ]]

"Of course she did. Now she will just mindlessly destroy everything until she gets something."

[[ Right... weird master and sister Elle. ]]

My dear familiar was feeling weird while seeing the two of us.

She was the link connecting the two of us, so she had an important role in this subjugation, but even in this dangerous place and with the threat of a powerful opponent upon our head; we were playing around and competing to see who gets more good things.

My dear darling companion wanted to sigh but held herself back. Not that she could hide her emotions from me.

'Well... it's fun.'

I smiled and entered the cave that the troll mage might have desperately protected if I did a normal attack.

The area behind me only had a pool of blood, some remains of the once tall standing houses, and the torches flickering on the walls of the open area.

This was the place where a family once lived. The same place where that family took their last breaths, and the same place where they made countless memories.

I did have the question: 'what if this was my family?'

But, well, I already had the answer to that question for as long as I could remember.

'I wouldn't let anyone have even a single thought... of harming my family. My loved ones. My everything.'

Even if I have to...