My current level was 5.
It might seem too low to challenge the boss room just yet, but—
[Ian de Logres]
◈ Level: 5
◈ Title: None
◈ Traits: [Dragon Strength], [Insight Eye], [Oath of Chivalry]
◈ Stats
Physique: 67 | Mana: 15
Luck: 10 | Mental Strength: 30
(SP Available: 20)
▶ [Skills]
My biceps were crying out that none of that mattered.
I thought so too, partner.
I invested all my SP into mana.
As soon as I put every last SP point into mana, I felt something filling my lower abdomen.
It spread throughout my entire body.
My mana was now 35.
Thanks to the effects of Orlando’s Muscle Cultivation Method, my physique had become 87.
At only level 5, one of my stats was already approaching 100.
What an astounding number.
My current level was 5.
But judging by my current numbers, I was effectively around level 24.
If I raised them just a little more, I would be at a level that could hold its own even in the North.
After all, the academy’s top entrant and the male leads had all been roughly in the low thirties when they enrolled.
Going by stats alone, that meant I could stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
Now I understood.
The caliber of Academia’s incoming students.
They were so pathetic, I could have died of boredom.
If things went well, I might even be able to aim for top of the incoming class.
Of course, that was assuming I could enroll in the first place, and I had no intention of going to the academy.
Dolnesia’s absurd bad luck would vanish the moment she entered the grand duke’s household.
Besides, each of the male leads had something like a unique trait of their own.
Not every level 30 was the same.
Just as I was not truly a level 5 despite being level 5.
The difference between some level 30 with no pedigree to speak of and a level 30 carrying the emperor’s DNA was like heaven and earth.
All I had were these biceps, Insight Eye, and those voyeuristic bastards from Stars of Knights.
Actually, I had quite a lot.
In any case, the boss room.
If I remembered correctly, the bosses here were a Swole Goblin and a Goblin Shaman.
The Goblin Shaman was smarter than ordinary goblins and used something called sorcery.
The Swole Goblin had a sturdier body than other goblins... Well, anyway, it was sturdy.
They were named-tier among goblins.
The sort of creatures that usually appeared as bosses in dungeons populated mostly by goblins.
It was unusual for creatures like that to be gathered in one place, but—
However much they flew or leaped, goblins were still goblins.
No matter how smart a Goblin Shaman was, all it could do was cast a spell or two.
And no matter how tough a Swole Goblin was, it could not defeat an orc.
If this were an adult game or dark fantasy, even a Sword Master would have to risk their life.
But this was a gentle romance-fantasy world, aside from Dolnesia.
Still, magic hurt.
I picked up the battered goblin corpse.
This was exactly why I had brought a goblin corpse with me.
"What are you going to do, mister?"
Dolnesia looked at me with a questioning expression, and I silently took the cursed item out of my inventory.
Dolnesia grimaced at the curse’s lingering influence.
"There’s a Goblin Shaman ahead."
"How do you know that?"
I could not say, ‘Because I cleared this once before.’ Looking around for an excuse, I spotted a totem.
Didn’t it just scream shaman?
That was it. I pointed at the totem standing in front of the boss room.
"Usually, ornaments like that mean there’s a Goblin Shaman around. They like to imitate shamans."
Perhaps she accepted the explanation, because Dolnesia did not ask any further questions.
Then I hung the necklace around the goblin corpse.
To anyone watching, it might have looked like I was holding a funeral for a goblin, but this had an important purpose.
"What are you going to do with that?"
"Do you think I’m crazy enough to fight them head-on?"
The cave was relatively narrow, so the goblins came rushing at me one by one and were easy to fight.
The issue was that the space with the boss monsters was fairly wide.
There was a chance I would get swarmed.
A boss room did not contain only the boss monster; it generally had lackeys supporting them as well.
Goblins were too stupid to coordinate an attack, naturally, but I could still get hit by a stray blade.
And if magic came flying at me on top of that, it would be a pain.
Besides, unlike Dolnesia, I did not have an area-of-effect attack.
With my stats, taking them down would not exactly be difficult, but why bother when there was an easier way?
Of course, Dolnesia stepping in would solve everything neatly, but then I would not get any experience.
There was the option of using this cursed item myself while I fought, but I rejected it. If Dolnesia happened to enter its radius, it could end in a bad ending.
Normally, the Goblin Shaman stayed at the very back, driving the other goblins on, so it should be fine as long as Dolnesia did not move away from the boss room entrance.
Anyway, if I threw this corpse at the Goblin Shaman—
It would be unable to use magic.
A goblin that could not use magic was just a goblin, so I would rush the shaman, deal with it first, then handle the Swole Goblin and its lackeys.
Good. An utterly perfect plan.
"When I throw this, don’t move away from the door."
I grabbed the head of the goblin wearing the necklace and prepared to throw it.
"Couldn’t I just leave the dungeon?"
Wow. You just hit the crux of the matter.
But there was a reason for all this.
"No. The dungeon-clear reward is something you absolutely must receive. It isn’t even an item, so I can’t give it to you.
Once an intruder enters the boss room, the door closes behind them.
The only way to open that door again is to clear the boss and receive the reward."
The hidden piece I needed to give Dolnesia was not an item, so I could not transfer it to her if she was outside the dungeon.
Dolnesia looked at me as if surprised.
"Weren’t you planning to keep that for yourself?"
"Then I wouldn’t have dragged you all the way here."
"I thought you were telling me not to run away."
Well, that was true too.
It would be a problem if you ran off without taking this.
You needed to grow stronger fast so my life would be easier later.
I put my hand on the boss room door to open it.
"Mister."
"What?"
Dolnesia’s tone suddenly dropped.
"Why are you helping me so much?"
"Why ask that all of a sudden?"
Dolnesia’s voice was full of doubt.
"You saved me. But you haven’t asked for anything in return."
"You have nothing for me to squeeze out of you, so why would I?"
"And you gave me jerky for free."
"I just happened to have it on hand."
Did giving someone jerky make you a good person?
"Even so!"
Dolnesia suddenly raised her voice.
"Why are you shouting?"
"You’re strange, mister. There’s nothing for you to gain from helping me. Even what I have doesn’t belong to me..."
What do you mean, nothing to gain?
You needed to get strong fast so my life would be easier.
Why was the girl who had happily eaten six pieces of jerky without a word suddenly acting like this?
I simply stared at Dolnesia’s face, sending her my earnest wish to get on with it through my gaze.
Maybe she could not see it because of the helmet.
Unfortunately, it seemed my love letter had not been delivered.
She suddenly covered her chest.
"Don’t tell me, you want my body..."
"Are you insane?"
Don’t sit there saying things that would ruin my reputation.
"If you keep talking nonsense, I’m opening it."
"Why? There used to be a line of men back home who wanted to see me, you know."
Wow, a line of men just to look at a middle schooler?
There were so many fiends in this world that needed purging.
"Come back when you’re older. Then I’ll consider it."
"What is this old man even saying?"
#
A strange person.
Mister was a strange person.
He had appeared out of nowhere and saved me without any conditions.
He had given me jerky as though it were nothing.
Even though he possessed something that could stop me from using my power, he had never once threatened me with it.
For someone wearing tin-can armor and pretending to be a knight,
for someone who ripped bandits’ clothes apart and even searched their pockets.
And yet he called himself noble, and that sight had made me laugh without realizing it.
Then he suddenly told me to follow him, brought me to some dungeon full of goblins, and said that the reason he was even killing goblins by himself was to give me something.
And for someone who kept saying, "Don’t step in," and walked at the front of the dungeon pretending to be a knight, the way he fought was nothing short of barbaric.
It was the first kindness I had received since falling into the back alleys.
Not the filthy looks people in the back alleys gave me, but a look that seemed to say he had no thoughts of that kind at all.
Perhaps because of that, the kindness from the tin-can man was so strange and burdensome.
He could have lorded it over me as my savior.
He could have shoved that cursed necklace in my face and threatened me, knowing I could do nothing about it.
But he spoke as though it were only natural, and expected no compensation.
He sought no gain at all and simply did good.
That image, combined with the shape of his tin armor, reminded me of the knights in the fairy tales I had read as a child.
A knight like that in this day and age.
It made me feel strange, which made it frightening instead.
His kindness was overwhelmingly burdensome, but I also wondered whether it was bait meant to lure me into a trap.
Because I could not see his face at all, I had no idea what expression he wore inside that tin can.
I had asked because I wanted to know what he was thinking.
But all I got in return were pointless answers.
Replies tossed out carelessly, as though he could not be bothered.
Mister had no interest in me right now.
Only the impatience to finish this quickly remained.
I had never been treated this way before.
When I had been a noble, most people had tried to curry favor with me.
And when I had not been a noble, everyone in the world had tried to deceive me.
It was as though mister saw me as nothing more or less than a child...
And yet he said he would consider it if I came back when I was older?
Despite being a tin can.
He did not want my body either. What a strange person...
As though that answered her question, mister opened the door.
Inside were around fifteen goblins, one huge goblin, and one goblin carrying some kind of staff.
Was that staff-carrying goblin the Goblin Shaman I had read about in books?
They did not seem to have noticed us yet.
First, he told me to stay by the door.
I did as mister said, pressing myself against the door and staying still.
Then I watched him.
He would probably throw the goblin wearing the necklace, preventing the Goblin Shaman from using magic.
Then, while it could not use magic, he seemed to intend to dispose of the shaman first.
And mister’s next action was—
Without warning, he took the necklace from the goblin’s neck and held it out into the empty air.
The necklace slipped away and vanished.
Seeing that the curse had disappeared, he must have stored it in the place he called his inventory.
But why did he put the necklace away?
Wasn’t he going to use it?
Before my confusion could even fade, mister made his next move.
Clank.
He suddenly took off his gauntlet and threw it at the huge goblin.
Mister’s bizarre action was so sudden that my brain stopped working for a moment.
What?
What was mister doing right no—
Thud.
Before I could finish the thought, mister’s gauntlet struck the goblin and fell to the ground.
Every goblin turned to look at mister.
Despite their supposedly low intelligence, their eyes seemed to be glaring at him as if asking, ‘What is this fucking idiot doing?’
I agreed.
That was exactly how I was looking at him too.
Under those stares, mister drew his sword from the scabbard at his waist.
"My name is Don Quixote! Don Quixote! Valiant goblin, I formally challenge you to a duel."
He suddenly introduced himself, then challenged the goblin to a duel.
Had I called mister a strange person?
I took it back.
Mister was not a strange person.
He was simply insane.
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