episode_0004

I taught Lia the basics of swordsmanship, magic, and survival skills.

First, basic swordsmanship. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

I corrected her posture while watching her swing the sword. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Using wooden swords, we sparred, and I taught her how to fight.

Ah. By the way, I had the trait deactivated during our sparring. If that triggered, it’d either be or in one hit. I don’t like pain, and I really don’t like dying, so the first thing I taught her was how to deactivate it.

Bonk! “Oww!”

Bonk! Bonk! Bonk! “Ow! Ahh! Oww!”

One hour into swordsmanship training, I got beaten up by Lia and ended up in a state.

Yeah. Basically, I got wrecked by sheer swordsmanship skill alone.

‘Wow…’ ‘Her talent is insane.’

Because of her personality, she may come off as weak, but Lia is the Hero—the protagonist. She’s so strong she could clear the difficulty of her adventure solo, without any allies.

That’s right. It means she could even beat the Demon King in a one-on-one. Without cheats.

Yep. At this point, she’s practically a monster. She is a monster, but…

Even so, was it really necessary to absolutely obliterate her teacher after just one hour of swordsmanship training?

“Y-You… okay?…” “Nope.” “S-Sorry…” “I got too into training and…” “Don’t apologize.” “I needed the training too anyway.”

I plan to leave the Demon King to Lia. But. This is a fantasy world crawling with monsters and bandits. To survive here, it’d be better for me to get stronger too, at least to some extent.

…Or so I thought, while giving myself a small mental victory by telling myself I trained, not got beaten up.

Next lesson. I taught her the basics of magic.

Whoosh! “Fire.”

“It’s the most basic flame-attribute spell, but just having this one will make adventuring way easier.”

You can easily start campfires with it, and even use it as a substitute for torches.

…Or so I explained while teaching her.

Whoosh! “Teacher!” “I did it!” “……Yeah, you did.”

The moment I showed her the beginner’s magic manual, she succeeded instantly.

What the…? Is this what talent looks like?

Crackle! “This is a lightning spell.”

Splash! “Water magic.”

Whoosh! “Wind magic.”

Crash! “Earth magic.”

Crack! “Ice magic.”

Flash! “Light magic.”

Glow… “Healing magic.”

Lia happily healed my injuries, but… Thirty minutes into the magic lesson, Lia had mastered every basic spell.

‘Well…’ ‘That figures.’

The personality is magic-specialized. Considering it’s a trait that enhances magical aptitude, I can understand her learning spells quickly, but…

What’s this? Why does it feel so… irritating? Is this what jealousy is like?

So freaking envious. If I had been reincarnated as the protagonist, I’d be flexing overwhelming talent like that and reigning as the strongest…

‘Ah…’ ‘No point envying that.’

Reincarnating as the protagonist? Sure, you gain immense power, but it’s a route where you can’t save your favorite character. Thinking about it, the most important thing is being able to love and cherish your favorite character, so a weak-but-capable-of-saving-her D-rank Cain is better.

…Or so I thought while continuing the lesson.

“If you’ve learned all the magic, should we move on to another lesson?” “Yeah!” “Teacher!”

Lia cheered with a bright smile.

If things had gone according to the game’s story, she’d be tearfully struggling through the tutorial, but not anymore.

She knows her mother is alive, and she’s found a way to reunite with her. No reason left to cry in sorrow.

This is nice to see.

…With that thought, I moved on to the final lesson.

There wasn’t much to teach for survival skills. Most of the survival-focused skills taught in the tutorial are about enduring the wilderness, but a cheat-stacked protagonist wouldn’t even need that stuff.

So I skipped it casually.

What? You think that’ll cause problems later? Nah.

Survival skills are the kind of thing you naturally pick up while traveling with companions. Once she meets her first ally, she’ll learn them on her own.

So. I casually chatted with her as we headed toward the bandit hideout.

“Bandits?…” “You mean we’re going to face bandits?…” “Yeah.”

“At your current level, you’d beat them easily.” “Uuu…” “That’s scary…”

“Nothing to be scared of.” “You have the power your mother gave you.” “That’s true, but…”

“Teacher… you’ll stay by my side, right?…” “Of course.”

There’s always a chance she’ll end up crying and getting beaten up again like last time. Once she grows stronger, her will improve too, eventually reaching a true state where no amount of beatings can kill her—but right now, she can still die.

Having at least one guardian is a must.

…With that thought, we arrived at the bandit hideout.

“Lia.” “You can do this, right?” “I-I’ll try…”

Lia wore an uneasy expression as she slowly walked forward—then turned around to look back.

“Teacher?…” “You’re not coming with me?…” “Go on ahead alone.” “If it looks dangerous, I’ll step in.”

“Uuu…” “Okay…”

Lia reached the entrance to the bandit hideout alone. And the moment she saw the bandits, she drew her sword.

“C-Come at me!…” “You… my mother’s enemies!…”

Her stance was shaky, her face on the verge of tears.

The bandits laughed.

“What’s this brat?” “A survivor from that village we raided last time?” “Hoh…” “Thought we killed them all, but one slipped through?” “So what’s she gonna do?” “Boss told us to kill ‘em all, so we didn’t even get to have fun with the women…”

“But now this pretty little thing came to us on her own?” “This…” “Wouldn’t it be a disgrace as men if we didn’t enjoy her?” “Yeah, yeah.” “Leaving a beauty like this untouched? That’s pathetic.” “Kyah~” “Pretty face, nice body… oooh, and look at those swellings up top—”

“Eeek!…” “Little lady.” “Be a good girl and drop the sword. Spread those legs instead.” “We’ll be gentle.”

“N-No!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Flustered, Lia swung her sword wildly through the air. Though it looked sloppy, even one hit would instantly inflict or .

But. The only one who knows that is me.

The bandits, thinking she was just cute, casually swung back— intending to deflect her blade and overpower her.

CLANG!

The bandit’s sword shattered.

“Huh?…”

The moment her clumsy slash connected, the bandit’s blade broke into pieces. isn’t just for living things, after all.

Destroy weapons on contact. Erase magic on impact. A supreme destructive force that reduces anything it touches to — that’s .

But. It has weaknesses.

Bonk! “Ow!”

It doesn’t trigger if the attack doesn’t connect. A bandit who noticed that threw a rock, smacking Lia hard on the head.

“Uuu…”

Though thanks to her trait that reduces all damage to 1, it was just like flicking her forehead…

Lia collapsed from just that one hit.

“Sniff…” “Waaahhhh!”

Plopping down onto the ground, she began bawling.

“Teeeeeeeeeeacher!” “I’m scaaaaaaared!” “Help meeeeeee!” “Waaaahhhhhh!”

She cried out, desperately calling for me—

Hey, kid! Yelling like that’s gonna give me away too!

‘This is bad…’

Lia might be safe thanks to her trait, but I’m not. I’m just a D-rank adventurer.

‘Leveling up from catching Kyurings made me a bit stronger, but…’

Surrounded by bandits, I’d be perfectly primed for an early death—weakest of the weak.

‘Uh… what do I do?…’

I thought sending Lia alone would be enough. In the game, she won alone, after all.

But.

Lia got hit by one rock and collapsed into tears. Effectively, .

‘Should I run?’

Running is an option. But.

I can’t guarantee what’ll happen to Lia if I do.

‘Her trait means she won’t die easily, but…’

She’d get dragged off by the bandits and forced into 19+ events. A bad ending in another sense.

‘Sigh…’ ‘Can’t have that.’

Not only would it be unbearable to see my favorite character suffer, but if she gets violated, she’ll fall into and won’t be able to face the Demon King.

Meaning—the world ends. The Demon King conquers everything, all humanity dies, and so do I.

But. Direct combat isn’t an option for me either.

‘That idiot…’ ‘Crying and calling for help like that pulls all the aggro…’

I might be able to ambush and take out one or two, but thanks to Lia’s wailing, all the bandits are swarming out now. If I went in, I’d just get slaughtered.

‘Haah…’ ‘If I could just borrow Lia’s traits, this’d be over in seconds…’

But there’s no ability like . No way to borrow them.

…That’s what I thought—

‘Wait…’ ‘There is one way I can use Lia’s traits…!’

I sprinted forward.

“Waaaahhhhh!” “Teeeeeeacher!”

Lia spotted me and screamed, and all the bandits turned to look too.

Welp. That aggro pull is insane.

But. I can work with this.

‘Sure, we’re in baby mode…’ ‘The fact that we’re already risking our lives in the tutorial phase is ridiculous, but…’

The bigger problem was that Lia’s current state was even more baby-like.

‘What’s the point of being cheat-stacked…’ ‘If the player’s control is worse than a toddler’s.’

So. I’ll just have to suffer a little more.

“Lia!” “Teeeeeeeeeacher!” “I’m borrowing your body!”

“Wh…What?…”

I grabbed Lia’s legs and swung her hard.

“LIA SMAAAAAAASH!!!”

WHAM!

Using her like a weapon, I sent a bandit flying.

“Guh…!”

The bandit entered .

Oh. Performance is solid.

“Waaaahhhh!”

The slight noise issue aside, I’d just acquired a legendary weapon— ATK 9999, DUR 9999.