The Ninja’s Finishing Skill

To revive the green onion stalks that were reduced to just roots, I needed water.

I could probably get a small amount of water from plants… but…

“Since I’m at it, I should look for a water source. And the Thirstless spell Instructor Nickbacca mentioned will probably start weakening soon, too.”

So my plan for the afternoon was to go search for water.

I left the house as if I were going out for a relaxing forest walk, but as I wandered through the woods, I started seeing more animals than before.

“Until now I only saw birds, but now there are rabbits and deer… Could it be the Repulsion spell is weakening?”

But if animals lived here in the first place, there had to be water somewhere.

I went deeper past the mushroom field where I had once met Akemi the alchemist, and I emerged into an open area.

It was a peaceful pond with bright sunlight pouring in.

On the far shore, there were already visitors—deer and boars drinking together.

“Oh, this is a nice pond. The breeze is good too—feels great.”

I felt tempted to take a nap, but resisted and decided to collect water.

Then I realized I had nothing to carry it in.

“Hm… what do I do? The coat pockets have expanded capacity, so they could probably hold it, but I really don’t want to just pour water straight into my pocket.”

While I stood there thinking at the water’s edge, a set of unmistakably rough footsteps approached from behind.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing, huh?”

When I turned around, three men with mohawk haircuts were glaring at me with sticky, hostile eyes.

They idly toyed with spiked clubs in their hands.

They wore fur over bare skin, their muscular arms swelling, tattoos displayed like threats.

A perfectly standard bandit look.

The red-mohawk guy stepped in close.

“This pond is our turf—Class 1-15’s territory! A weak little trash punk like you doesn’t get to come near it! You hear me!?”

Class 1-15…

If I remembered right, they came from a school that trained bandits and barbarians, curse-users and dark mages.

The class was mostly boys, with only one girl, apparently.

While I was thinking that, the mohawk guys burst out laughing.

The blue-mohawk guy jeered, “Look at him—he’s shaking!”

The yellow-mohawk guy piled on, “He’s about to piss himself!”

“Can you blame him? Nobody stays calm in front of the Pira Brothers!”

“Pira Brothers?”

I repeated.

“You don’t know us!? He’s so scared his brain’s broken! Fine, before we beat you into the dirt, I’ll teach you— I’m Tin Pira! Blue is Tsin Pira, and yellow is Twin Pira!”

“Now you remember!? We are your ‘fear’!”

“We were already pissed off from that Weiss bastard acting all big!”

“So we’re gonna blow off some steam! Which means the unemployed trash gets half-killed right here and now!”

“Cry and scream! We still won’t forgive you! Gyahahahaha!”

The three brothers worked themselves up more and more on their own.

I was honestly impressed they could get this hyped.

“I see. If you want to go wild that badly, I could humor you…”

Veins popped across their three-color mohawks like crackling lightning.

“Don’t screw with us! Dieeeee!”

They raised their clubs and charged.

Their stance was exactly what you’d expect from bandits—amateurish and obvious.

With an easy calm, I switched to Martial Artist and took a boxing stance.

Three lightning-fast jabs—one after another—tapped light counters into the brothers’ noses.

All three of them erupted with nosebleeds at the same time and toppled over, tumbling.

“M–my nose!? My nooooose!”

“My nose exploded!? What the hell was that!?”

“Damn you! What did you do!?”

The three brothers, half-collapsed, clutched their noses and backed away.

“BMMOOOOOO…!”

Suddenly, an awful snort thundered behind me.

When I turned, a huge boar burst out, smashing through the bushes with cracking force.

The moment the giant boar appeared, every animal at the pond fled.

So the real owner of this watering hole had shown up.

The three brothers squealed, “Hiiiiii!” and scrambled up the nearest tree.

I didn’t move an inch, staring the boar down.

From their “safe” perch, the brothers regained their swagger.

“Hey, look at that trash! He’s totally freezing up in front of the boar! Can’t even move!”

“If it was the three of us, that boar would be easy, but that’d be boring!”

“Yeah! Let’s watch the trash get wrecked from up here!”

The giant boar’s breathing was violent, its back legs digging at the dirt, ready to charge at any moment.

It was about twice my size—and those sharp tusks meant I’d have no chance in a straight clash.

“Then…!”

I kicked off the ground.

At the same time, the giant boar roared and charged.

From behind me, shock came crashing in.

“T–that trash charged straight in!?”

“Idiot! He’ll die!”

“He’s seriously lost it!”

Right before the collision, I switched to Ninja.

I jumped at the last possible instant, dodging the cannonball-like charge by a hair.

In midair, I grabbed the boar’s tusks and flipped my body around.

With all my strength, I yanked upward, lifting the boar’s upper body.

Like a cart mounting a curb—like a rearing horse—the boar’s body rose, its hind legs high in the air.

When my feet hit the ground, I sank my hips low, coiled my strength, and launched upward with everything I had.

“““H–he flewyyyyyyyyy!?!?”””

Three-colored screams—while I rose into the sky with the giant boar.

Spinning in a wide rotation midair, the boar and I plunged straight down headfirst.

But the boar’s head was lower than mine, which meant…

…DOGO—SHWAAAAAAASH!!!!

The giant boar smashed face-first into the ground, leaving a crater-like depression.

The shockwave rippled the pond, rattled the trees.

Birds took flight—

And the three brothers fell out of the tree like rotten fruit.