The Fruits of Effort!

◈

After giving Luna-noona the hairpin.

Luna-noona returned to her normal self.

No, she actually smiled more than usual.

“He-hehe. J-Jin-sang! Let’s w-work hard today too.”

“Yes, Luna-noona!”

Luna-noona’s enthusiasm had increased.

We diligently trained and completed quests as adventurers.

And.

“J-Jin-sang? Do you w-want to… t-touch my ears?”

“Yes!”

It got to the point where Luna-noona herself would offer to let me touch her ears every two to three days.

Each time, I could thoroughly enjoy the very pleasant experience of touching Luna-noona’s ears.

“Hyaut! Uut… uut! Ah… heueu…”

Of course, the more I touched them, the more my skill improved, and Luna-noona seemed to enjoy it more.

…To be honest, I’m researching how to make Luna-noona produce sounds that are more comfortable and slightly? erotic? from her mouth.

Well, this too?

It’s an effort to make Luna-noona feel better!

It’s a good thing! Yes!

It was while I was spending my days with this additional effort that.

“Um, Jin-sang. I’m w-wondering about s-something…”

“Hm? What is it?”

While we were on our way to subjugate orcs.

Luna-noona asked me.

“You know th-that magic you u-use.”

“Yes.”

“The one wh-where you create a recovery c-circle on the ground.”

“You mean Heal Circle?”

“Y-yes! That one. Instead of d-doing it that way. Is there any m-magic that can be cast d-directly on a person to make them c-continuously recover? That way… J-Jin-sang wouldn’t need to r-ride on me.”

“L-Luna-noona… do you dislike me riding on you?”

Was I heavy?

Or did I s-smell bad?

I bathe every day.

Luna-noona perked up her ears and shook her head.

“Huh?! N-no! That’s n-not it! I j-just thought if there was s-such magic, Jin-sang wouldn’t have to… f-fly off or anything because of my s-speed. Even if you d-don’t get sick anymore… if we do it c-continuously, you still f-fly off…”

“I see.”

So that’s what she was worried about.

As Luna-noona said.

Now, after doing many speed familiarization training sessions.

I no longer vomit when Luna-noona uses her techniques.

But when we entered the next stage, using techniques continuously!

Even though I could endure one technique, when we tried to go for the third one, my strength gave out and I let go.

Of course, I flew off again and tumbled over.

Since it was the third consecutive time, I had gained momentum and flew quite far…

Though it only happened yesterday.

Luna-noona must be worried about how spectacularly I flew yesterday, which is why she’s saying this.

Luna-noona was indeed a kind Angel Rabbit.

And I do have a continuous recovery magic called Regeneration.

But.

“Luna-noona, there is a continuous recovery magic, but.”

This magic.

“It won’t suit Luna-noona.”

It had some drawbacks.

“Huh? W-why?”

“It does continuously recover, but… the interval is 5 seconds.”

That’s right.

The continuous recovery magic I have, Regeneration.

Like in games, it’s a skill that can recover without additional mana for several minutes once cast.

And when I use it, it’s a skill that practically provides complete recovery periodically!

For other adventurers, what? If they manage their stamina while moving, complete recovery every 5 seconds would be absolutely great.

But.

Luna-noona’s case is different.

Luna-noona is an extreme speed one-trick type.

When she uses a technique, her stamina is depleted, but her technique is so fast that it takes less than 1-2 seconds to demonstrate.

But what if, in the middle of fighting multiple enemies.

Moreover, in the center, surrounded by enemies, Luna-noona with depleted stamina is defenseless for more than 3 seconds?

Even the slightest mistake could be fatal.

On the other hand, if I ride on her back, there’s no such concern.

I might be a bit heavy, but it’s a weight Luna-noona can easily handle.

From the beginning, as long as I can hold on, Luna-noona’s stamina won’t be depleted.

And as I continue to use this tactic, my speed of casting Heal will also increase, which is even better.

I shared this explanation with Luna-noona.

“I-I see!”

“I had my reasons for riding on your back. For orcs or… goblins? at this level, continuous healing magic would be fine.”

I clenched my fist and said:

“But Luna-noona and I can’t just be satisfied with orcs or goblins! We need to rank up more! Jump into more difficult quests! Because we can fight against masses of monsters! Even thinking about our future, I believe this Rabbit and Shell Formation is absolutely necessary!”

“Y-yes! I th-think so too! We are the p-perfect match ultimate combo! We n-need to train with h-higher goals in mind! F-for real!”

“That’s right! For real! So Luna-noona! Let’s keep going! I’ll also work hard on training to endure consecutive techniques!”

“Y-yes! J-Jin-sang! L-let’s do our best!”

“Go go! Let’s do our best!”

“G-go go! L-let’s do our best!”

◈

Working hard on training while completing quests.

“Congratulations, Jin-sang. You have been promoted to E-rank.”

I was finally able to rank up.

“Yes!”

“C-congratulations! J-Jin-sang!”

“Congratulations~ Jin-sang~♡”

“Hieek! Th-thank you!”

Luna-noona and Bleks, who happened to be at the guild, congratulated me.

“It’s all thanks to Luna-noona! Ah, and thank you too, Bleks, for helping with the training.”

“N-no! I couldn’t have d-done it without J-Jin-sang either…”

“Huhu, helping juniors is natural for seniors. More importantly, ‘noona’… oh my oh my, when did you two get so close?”

“Ah! Th-that! Um, umm…”

“Luna-noona and I are the ultimate combo! This way of addressing her feels more natural!”

“Sure~ It’s nice to see you getting along so well.”

“Well well, unlicensed quack. Finally ranked up, huh?”

Just then, a very unpleasant voice came from behind.

“Hm? Ah. Samurth.”

“Only now reaching E-rank. You’ve got a long way to go.”

“Taking it step by step is fine~? Oh, and! Stop pestering me the moment I order salad! At least wait about 5 minutes!”

“That’s up to me. Salad is so~ delicious.”

“I know guild salad is delicious too, but there’s a limit!”

“Hmph, even a quack knows about taste?”

“Stop calling me a quack already!”

“Th-that’s right! Jin-sang isn’t a quack! He’s an extremely talented unofficial healer!”

As the kind Luna-noona defended me, Samurth sneered even more and snorted.

“Hmph, unofficial is unofficial. If you want recognition, get a license or something.”

“Ugh…”

U-unfairly using fact bombs!

“By the way, I heard you’ve been using a spear lately? Can you even use it properly?”

“I can take down at least one orc with a spear, you know!”

“Oh, really? Not bad. Well, if you’re boasting about just that much, you still have a long way to go. Hahaha!”

“Urrrgh…!”

Damn elf…!

“If you want to boast to me, work harder.”

“Hey, Samurth. Stop teasing and come on. We’ve got a quest.”

“Fine, fine. Well, I’m off. Try your best with what you can, unofficial healer.”

Samurth left with his companion.

“What! Always getting on people’s nerves!”

Just hitting with fact bombs!

“Huhu, but in his own way, Samurth seems to be encouraging you?”

“Huh? How so?”

“At least in his own way, Samurth is encouraging you to work hard enough to become B-rank~♡ Samurth is just too playful to be.hon.est♡”

Hieek!

Why do I get goosebumps even though he’s not talking to me?

But that Samurth, encouraging?

If he wants to encourage, he could at least not irritate people!

“Luna-noona! Let’s work harder! Let’s quickly rank up together and put that salad-loving elf in his place!”

“…! Y-yes! L-let’s do our best, Jin-sang!”

◈

In order to put the damn elf in his place, Luna-noona and I burned with determination and worked even harder as adventurers.

Thanks to that.

“Ready, Jin-sang?”

“Of course! Let’s do it!”

Due to persistent and enthusiastic training, I became able to endure 5 consecutive techniques.

Together with Luna-noona, we took on a quest to subjugate a suddenly increased pack of Wolf Fangs, which are large wolf-like monsters.

-Grrrr!

“Dance of the Moon Rabbit… Dance of the Wood Rabbit…”

-Groaaaaang!

“Forest Scattering Flash!”

Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-shak!

-Grooagh!

“Stamina Heal!”

“Consecutive Flash!”

-Groagrugh!

-Gehaaaak!

After luring the Wolf Fang pack to one place, Luna-noona unleashed 3 consecutive techniques, and we were able to take down a pack of 30 Wolf Fangs in one go.

“Good job, Luna-noona!”

“Yes! Y-you too, J-Jin-sang! W-wasn’t it h-hard?”

“Compared to the Flaming Explosion Flash, the Dance of the Wood Rabbit is… no, it’s equally hard! But we’ve trained for this!”

I’d still feel like vomiting if we went beyond 5 times.

The technique Luna-noona used this time was the Dance of the Wood Rabbit’s Forest Scattering Flash.

If Flaming Explosion Flash is a single-target technique that deals with one person with a flame-like force.

Forest Scattering Flash is an area-of-effect technique that cuts down a large number of enemies like spreading forest branches.

For me, they’re both equally fast so I can’t tell the difference, but according to Luna-noona, the force applied with each cut is different, and the acceleration during movement is also different.

Anyway!

By enduring Luna-noona’s rapid techniques consecutively and continuously applying Stamina Heal!

We were able to subjugate 30 Wolf Fangs in one go like this!

This quest would normally take days!

“Look at this! All these Wolf Fang corpses! This is proof that Luna-noona and I are the ultimate combo!”

Kuu! It feels so satisfying to see the results of all our hard work so vividly!

“Y-yes! It’s p-proof of our ultimate combo!”

“Let’s keep it up! Go go! Let’s do our best!”

“G-go go! Let’s d-do our best!”

“Go go, let’s do our best!”

After energetically shouting our slogan.

Luna-noona and I took care of the subjugation evidence and cleanup.

Then we reported to the village that issued the quest.

We guided one villager to the site to show the evidence directly.

After receiving the quest completion certification, Luna-noona and I returned to Kellion with joyful hearts.

Hehehe, today is a celebration party! A commemorative party at Miriana-noona’s house!

With such happy thoughts, just as we arrived in Kellion.

“…It’ll be okay, Celine. I’m sure it will work out.”

“Thank… you.”

What Luna-noona and I saw were a very unwell-looking Celine and Bleks consoling her.

And a very downcast atmosphere in the Adventurer’s Guild.

…Huh? What happened?