I Should Study More.

“Huh… later, can you tell me what kinds there are?”

“Sure. By the way, Kikori—want to wear this?”

Seeing the hobgoblin helmet Kuon held out, Kikori shook his head.

“What I’m wearing now is enough. Any more than this and I feel like my senses will get dull.”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

“…Then why did you offer?”

“Because some people still want it anyway. All right—there.”

After stuffing the full set of the hobgoblin’s gear into a bag, Kuon stood up.

“Okay, it’s heavy, so let’s head back.”

“Yeah. Or—want me to carry it?”

“No, it’s fine. Kikori, you can just deal with it if monsters show up on the way.”

“Got it.”

Kikori said that, but after that they didn’t run into any monsters at all and ended up reaching the Hero Gate.

“…Hmm.”

“Looks like the ‘veterans hunted everything down’ theory might be true.”

“Maybe.”

Tilting his head, Kikori still made it to the Adventurers’ Guild, handed over the mana stones with Kuon, and cashed them in.

“By the way, Kuon-san. So you teamed up with Kikori-san.”

“Well, we’re still in the middle of the approach—”

“I do want to team up, Kuon.”

Kikori cut in over Kuon’s smiling reply to Irene, and Kuon turned to him in surprise.

“What!? Really!? No taking it back and saying it was a joke now, okay!?”

“I’m not. I saw your skill and your personality. I think I’m the one who should be asking.”

“Ah—thank you! Thank you!”

“That’s wonderful, Kuon-san.”

As Irene smiled brightly, Kikori suddenly felt curious and asked.

“Come to think of it, Irene-san, you know Kuon too?”

“Well, yes. Kuon-san is educated, so I keep a close eye on him.”

“I-I see…”

Kikori, who wasn’t educated, almost reflexively looked away, but Kuon—who apparently was a priest—probably really was knowledgeable.

“Oh, right—Irene-san. Kikori and I took down a wanted target, the gauntlet hobgoblin. Here, proof.”

As he spoke, Kuon placed the gauntlet on the counter, and Irene’s face shifted to surprise.

“This is… you ran into it. And you defeated it?”

“Yes. Kikori hit it in the groin yesterday, I think? Maybe because of that, it went heavy armor. That made it easier to handle.”

Kikori couldn’t understand what Kuon said with a laugh.

Wouldn’t heavy armor normally make it harder to defeat?

“It’s a brawler type, but it over-armored itself, so it ended up full of openings. What an idiot, right?”

Unable to keep up with Kuon and Irene’s laughing conversation, Kikori quietly averted his gaze.

They’d decided to team up, so maybe he could just leave the smart talk to Kuon.

‘…I should study more.’

He quietly made that decision.