It Was Seriously Incredible.

“…Team up?”

“Yeah.”

Kikori instinctively stopped walking and asked Kuon again.

“Why me? No offense, but I was basically dying, you know?”

“What, do you not want to team up with me?”

“I’m confused because I don’t understand the reason.”

“I see.”

Kuon laughed—“Nyahaha”—and patted Kikori on the shoulder.

Kuon’s hand shape was very close to a human’s, but it was ridiculously fluffy—Kikori found himself thinking something like that.

“From what I saw, you killed two hobgoblins. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“And judging by that situation, there had to be something else there too.”

“There was one with a gauntlet, and one with a hammer.”

“Huh! And you survived that?”

Kuon looked genuinely impressed.

“That gauntlet guy… he was a wanted target, you know? That’s seriously amazing.”

“…Huh?”

A wanted target. Meaning he must have been listed among the Adventurers’ Guild requests, right?

If Kikori remembered right, it was the one he’d failed to finish with a groin shot at the opening.

And it had gotten away.

“…How much was the bounty on that guy?”

“Huh? I think… fifty thousand yen.”

“No way…”

Kikori nearly collapsed, but forced himself to endure through sheer grit.

Fifty thousand yen. If he’d managed to finish it back then, it would’ve been fifty thousand yen.

That wasn’t just “good money.” With that bounty…

“…I’m crushed.”

“Hahaha, you’re lively for someone who almost died!”

“Of course I am… I was one step away from maybe getting fifty thousand yen.”

As Kikori started trudging along, Kuon called out to his back, “That’s exactly it.”

“Hm?”

“Even when you were on the verge of dying, your eyes weren’t dead. People who can do that are rare.”

“…Is that so?”

Kikori thought that if you had no other way to live, everyone would end up like that.

But Kuon replied,

“It is.”

Kuon quickened his pace, came up beside Kikori, and the two of them passed through the Hero Gate and returned to town.

“And on top of that, instead of playing it safe… you regret the huge money you might’ve gotten. You’re a big one, you know.”

“Don’t praise me. People keep telling me I don’t have talent.”

Besides, he had no intention of doing anything reckless. Kikori only meant to do what was within reach.

“And just so you know, I’m not some daredevil adventuring maniac. I just want to earn enough to live modestly.”

“Same here. But if you want to do that, you need money. You must’ve felt the limits of going solo.”

“…”

He couldn’t deny it. If he’d had even one companion then, that fifty thousand yen might be Kikori’s right now.

Still… how strong was Kuon, really?

“Oh, that’s the look of someone doubting my ability, huh?”

“No, uh… yeah. Honestly, I am.”

“Excellent honesty. Then whether we team up or not, let’s meet at the Adventurers’ Guild tomorrow.”

“To do what? Spar?”

“Exactly. I’ll show you how much I can do.”