Each Time I Did It, I Felt Like Saying, “Sorry.”.

Kikori hadn’t thought of it as a difference in nuance.

Because “found” and “killed” didn’t just differ in nuance—the meaning was completely different.

A moment later, Kuon made an “Ah” face too, and the Adventurers’ Guild staff member looked suspicious.

“You killed it…?”

“Yes. Kuon and I killed it.”

“You didn’t find the corpse?”

“We killed it.”

“Hey, hey—if these kids killed it, what’s there to complain about?”

Maybe the guard couldn’t stand it, because he cut in, but the Adventurers’ Guild staff member’s expression turned grim.

“It’s not that I’m complaining, but… from what I can see, there’s barely any external injury. It looks like you just happened to pick up something that was already dead.”

“Our weapons didn’t work, so we killed it with magic.”

“Even so, magic leaves traces of some kind.”

“I would’ve loved to kill it in a flashy way if I could. But with my mana, I couldn’t do that much.”

The Guild staff member stared at Kikori and Kuon up and down, then murmured, “Hmm…”

“Understood. The Guild will examine this anomalously evolved specimen, then calculate and pay out the reward. Is that acceptable?”

“I’m fine with that. Kuon?”

“I’m fine too.”

“Understood. The cat beastman over there is Kuon… right? And you are?”

“Kikori.”

The Guild staff member quickly wrote their names down somewhere, then nodded.

“Then, Kikori-san, Kuon-san. Thank you for your substantial contribution to the Adventurers’ Guild today. We will take responsibility for transporting this corpse, but… is that alright?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. Then…”

When the staff member signaled, the other staff began pushing the sled.

“Ah, about that sled…”

“We don’t need it anymore, so you can dispose of it.”

“Understood.”

After a polite bow, that staff member also pushed the sled along… and once they were out of sight, Kikori asked Kuon, “What do you think?”

“Mm… well, if you didn’t see it happen, it’s hard to believe, you know?”

“Yeah… if my axe worked, I wouldn’t have let them talk like that.”

“But then wouldn’t it have been a brutal fight? Even with a good axe, it wouldn’t have been a one-shot.”

“Yeah…”

In the end, Kikori’s low mana pool was the problem.

It had worked this time, but if the Big Goblin’s magic resistance had been a little higher, Kikori’s destruction spell—Break—might have ended up as a wasted shot.

“…I want to get stronger.”

“I really felt that too. I never thought I’d end up copying Kikori…”

“What’re you talking about? That was effective, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but still. Every time I did it, I felt like saying, ‘Sorry’…”

Saying that, Kikori and Kuon walked on.