Skill Points Kept Piling Up

“You earned 10,000 Skill Points? That’s amazing!”

“You did it~!”

Flare and Ram were both overjoyed.

Yeah, I was really glad, too.

“I’ll keep completing subjugation quests and earning Skill Points at this rate. I’ll also accumulate promotion points to raise my adventurer rank, so it’s a win-win situation.”

I smiled brightly, then gave Ram a polite bow.

“Thanks for helping us today, Ram.”

“You’re welcome! Make sure to invite me along on your next subjugation quest, too~”

“Well, I’d feel bad asking you to help us over and over again.”

“It’s actually perfect combat training for me, too!”

Ram gave me an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

“Besides, I’m pretty sure adventurer quests can count as training if I report them to the knight order~”

“You mean completing quests counts the same as undergoing training with the knights?”

“That’s right!”

Ram nodded.

“If that’s the case, it’ll make things easier for me, too. So I’d actually appreciate it.”

“…You just want an excuse to skip your regular training with the knights, don’t you?”

“Ding, ding, ding! Correct!”

For some reason, Ram looked incredibly proud of herself.

Well, if she benefited from the arrangement too, I supposed there was no problem.

“All right, then. I’m counting on you from now on.”

“Leave it to me!”

“Yay! We get to work with Ram-san again!”

“Ehehe, I’m happy too~!”

It seemed Flare and Ram had already become quite close.

—And so, we began undertaking subjugation quests almost every day.

Over the following days, I also learned Zels’s and Shirley’s skills.

With that, aside from [Skill Appraisal: Ultimate], my collection of skills consisted of:

—In other words, I’d acquired skills belonging to Swordsmen, Mages, and Martial Artists alike.

By spending Skill Points, I could also increase the ranks of these skills.

However, my plans for using those points were still subject to change, so I’d decided to leave the skills at their current ranks for the time being.

And so, we continued hunting monsters, and about a month passed—

That day, Flare, Ram, and I met up with Millet.

We were there to report on our progress.

“Amazing! You’ve accumulated over 150,000 Skill Points!?”

“We all worked hard for it. I’m really grateful to both Flare and Ram.”

“You’re the one who worked the hardest, Onii-sama.”

Flare smiled brightly.

“Exactly! Aerial was definitely the one who worked the hardest~”

Ram agreed.

They were both so kind.

“So, I’ve been thinking. If I keep accumulating Skill Points at this rate, I should be able to strengthen the skills of not just the Shield’s members, but also more and more people from the knight order and the mage corps.”

“The knight order and the mage corps…”

I responded to Millet’s thoughtful murmur.

“If we all become stronger, we should be able to fight to protect this kingdom, whether the King of Calamity attacks or we someday get dragged into a war.”