Vol. 2 Chapter 1 – Part 3
The two of them regained their composure after a while and materialized the card. They then properly confirmed that it were the genuine things.
“So you really are a letter of introduction holder.”(TL note: though it’s a bit late, you can imagine Wilhelm speaking in a rough, manly way [Edo dialect].)
“I guess we both are.”
Wilhelm showed a little weariness while Shin returned it with a wry smile.
Even with Millie’s mediation, he was wary of Shin…Wilhelm was still cautious of Shin’s ability even with the assumption that ‘Millie’s power wouldn’t be abused’. Though Wilhelm’s outward appearance was no problem, there was a little distrust remaining in the corner of his mind. Then both of the letters of introduction in their hand vanished.
“There is nothing more reliable than this. That explains why you know about Schnee Raizar.”
“In my case, I got it from Tiera. Did you get it from Schnee?”
“I got it after I received hellish training from her. But I was beaten up one-sidedly even if it was training.”
“Ah…She is still that serious, huh?”
Even though it was Shin who set the character, he only decided the personality aspect roughly at the last moment. When he heard Wilhelm’s story, he thought that she had hardly changed. Although he was prepared, it would not be strange if Schnee differed from the game era in various ways. She originally had a fixed character, like all AI’s, but it didn’t mean that she had not acquired something, so her personality was nothing more than his impression of her at this point.
“Well then, stop slacking and let’s go meet Rashia. We can continue this while we walk.”
“Is it that time already?”
Wilhelm looked at the clock on the wall, and stood up. He didn’t mean to stay for a long time, but it took longer than he thought because of the unexpected situation where Shin had a letter of introduction. But it was worth the time since he was satisfied with the result.
While each one of the letter of introduction holders had their own special ability, almost none of the holders has caused anyone else to have a character breakdown. Wilhelm probably felt that Shin would cause trouble for the church in one go if that wasn’t the case.
“Even if I know we can trust each other, from what I heard, Wilhelm is a Chosen One too, right?”
“I don’t have the intention to hide it at this time, but why do you think so? Not all adventurers with a rank A are Chosen Ones, you know?”
“No, it was from the weapon you hold, because an ordinary person would not be able to equip that. Therefore, when I saw you holding Venom normally, I thought ‘Ahh, so he isn’t an ordinary guy’.”
“Huh? So that’s the reason. No wonder you desperately asked the skill level of the appraiser. You bastard, acting like you didn’t know about from the beginning.”
It was Wilhelm’s 《Legend》 grade devil spear 『Venom』.
This was an item that couldn’t be equipped if the player’s STR didn’t exceed 500. When Shin met Wilhelm for the first time, he had reasons as to why he looked toward the weapon, too.
Basically, for any equipment of the《Legend》 grade, they required specific stats to exceed about 350 in order to it be equipped. If he thought about it, the stat requirements for 『Venom』 were abnormally high. But it was not necessarily a bug, because there was a reason for it.
“I couldn’t just talk about it in front of so many people. And a while ago, when you took out a card from an empty space, did you use an Item Box? I heard there are very few people who have one.”
“Oh, so you actually saw my little trick, huh? I used an item called, 『Expansion Kit』, it has the capacity of an Item Box imitation…so it looked like I’m using the real deal. But that doesn’t mean that every Chosen One has one.”
“Heh, is that so?”
Shin thought that the function remained after all, as he responded with agreeing words. It has the function to give a support character and/or a monster partner the ability to hold a large quantity of items, and players eventually expanded it until it almost had the same capacity as an Item Box. A lot of players used one or two 『Expansion Kit』 to make sure their support characters were able to carry items, this way the support characters were able to use recovery items themselves in the case of an emergency.
In Shin’s case, all of his support characters were expanded to the limit. There was no particular reason for this. It was just his obsession about it.
“That aside, it seems that you also used an Item Box.”
“In my case, I was able to use it from the beginning.”
“You are a Chosen One after all.”
“Hmm… for now, that’s fine I guess.”
Because Wilhelm seemed to be convinced that Shin was a Chosen One without asking for a detailed explanation, Shin gave up and said it was fine for now. Since it was troublesome to think about the setting in detail, and contradictions might appear somewhere, he decided to pass as a Chosen One on this occasion.
While continuing the conversation, they returned back to the appointed place. When the two returned to the east gate, Rashia was looking around restlessly.
“Hey! Hey Will. I was forced to go shopping, where have you been?!”
“Sorry, sorry. I had some business to take care of.”
“When you say things like that, I hope you didn’t go to that indecent shop again.”
“Go to that shop!? Are you still half-asleep?”
“Shin-san. Please don’t follow Wilhelm even if he invites you. Good grief…you will have a painful experience.”
“I can hear your conversation! Saying such things will lead to misunderstandings!!”
“Calm down both of you.”
Shin calmed the couple who had started some kind of lover’s quarrel, and departed immediately. Secretly, he was a little envious of their relationship, where they were able to freely dispute without reservations.
The means of transportation this time was to use horses. Wilhelm seemed to have borrowed them from the guild. The two horses had remarkable bodies and a splendid chestnut color, so that even Shin, who was an amateur about horses, understood it.
The moment it saw Yuzuha, who was laying on top of Shin’s head, the horse’s movements stopped. Yuzuha let out a small “Kuu” bark, and the horse replied with a small “Hururu” neigh, and became quiet. For some reason, Shin didn’t understand the exchange of words that was being carried out.
Wilhelm and Rashia were on one of the horses, while Shin and Yuzuha rode the other one. Though it was the first time Shin was riding a real horse, somehow the 【Riding】 skill compensated for that, so he didn’t have any problems riding it. Since he had the opportunity to ride not only horses but various monsters, including griffins and dragons, in the game, the skill level was up considerably.
It would take 5 or 6 days by a carriages’ slow speed, but it seemed like they would arrive quicker at the current speed, Shin thought. Of course, Shin could run much faster than this, but didn’t talk about it because he would’ve had to carry Rashia, who was an ordinary person.
They advanced without any problems, while letting the horses rest along the way. There were 2 Item Box holders, so there was almost no luggage, and they were able to gain more distance because of that. In addition, because they could take with them various utensils, they didn’t have to eat dull preserved foods during camping. Because she could enjoy the meal which was one of the hardest things on a journey, Rahsia who was inexperienced in a travel didn’t seem to be affected.
While traveling by horse for 4 days, they deepened their friendship to the extent that they could speak in a casual tone. Shin and his group arrived at the region that was called the Wraith Plains before noon.
Nevertheless, the plains region was gloomy despite the sun hanging high in the sky. It was as if there was an invisible wall in the gap between the forest and the plains since the sunlight was blocked. When they looked at it closely, there was a deep violet haze slowly rising from the earth’s surface, like it was welling up. It wrapped the plains zone like a boundary line.
Since nothing was displayed by 【Analyze】 when he used it, there seemed to be no effect that would be causing an abnormal state.
“There is no reaction even when I touch it, huh? It doesn’t seem like a mistake that the border line is here.”
“Yes, that’s right. It is said that the monsters won’t chase you if you leave from inside this place. They are forbidden from leaving, as if they are being restricted inside there.”
“Is that so?”
“It happened once. There is no mistake about it, their equipment were tattered in an instant, even if it was daytime.”
“Just escape outside in case of an emergency, huh?”
Since Rashia was there, the escape route was secured in case of an unexpected situation. It would be different if it was only Shin and Wilhelm, but they had to keep the dangerous monsters away from Rashia from now on.
“For the time being, let’s prepare our base so that we can take shelter if we succeed in escaping. And this is the【Prayer of Saint Sphere】. It will be useless if you don’t have this. And then, this is extra. This will repel even a dragon’s breath.”
“U-understood! Thank…hyai…”
As expected, Rashia appeared to be nervous and felt the cold that drifted from the Wraith Plains. Though she had always snapped at Wilhelm during the journey, it was probably Rashia’s own way to relax.
What Shin handed over together with the【Prayer of Saint Sphere】 was a magic item of the bracelet type. It has the effect to nullify damage under a certain value and reduce the damage if above said certain value. Because it was one of Shin’s handmade items, one would be unperturbed even if hit by a King class Skull Face. It’s durability was guaranteed too. Therefore, though it could be said that the tension was unnecessary, there was no other way but to give i