Grail’s New Equipment (Petit Power-Up!)

The three of them, Grail and the others, arrived in Piptat, secured an inn, and immediately dove into the dungeon.

(…Let’s make some quick money in the shallow layers. Even with three people, it won’t be a problem. After all, I’m here, and I have the “Swordsmanship” skill…)

In reality, no matter how many goblins there were, they were no match for Grail. Together with the scout and the priest in his party, he steadily defeated enemies.

It was when they defeated a Grey Ghost.

A magic stone—and—

One more unfamiliar stone rolled down.

“…Hm?”

Grail furrowed his brow.

At that moment—

As though a light had been lit, an old memory came back to him.

His former party member Misha had said something like this.

“Grey Ghosts drop a rare item called an Alchemy Stone, and it sells for 100,000 gold. Well, it’s truly, truly rare, so it’s not something you can aim for, though.”

That was why Grail immediately thought.

Wasn’t this that Alchemy Stone?

100,000 gold—a fairly large sum of money.

Grail sent his gaze toward the party members behind him. Perhaps neither of them was interested in the recovery work, because their eyes were turned elsewhere.

(…Well, they’re shoving the odd jobs onto me. It’s fine if I get a little perk like this, right? It’s your fault for not looking.)

Grinning to himself, Grail slipped the Alchemy Stone into his pocket.

After returning from the dungeon, Grail settled everything except the Alchemy Stone and parted ways with the other two.

Then, two days later, Grail brought the Alchemy Stone to the guild with a casual air.

“Oh! An Alchemy Stone! We will buy it for 100,000 gold!”

Grail felt like he could not stop laughing.

100,000 gold!

For a novice adventurer, it was a special bonus!

When he thought of his own good fortune, Grail almost started laughing despite himself. As expected, luck was on my side! I had it!

That was why—

He ended up remembering the face of his unlucky childhood friend, who had always been unfortunate and had drawn a trashy unique skill.

(Fuhahahahaha! Iiiiiioooooos! I went and got a rare item like an Alchemy Stone! Something an unlucky guy like you would never have any connection to, not even one! It’s 100,000, 100,000!)

Feeling good, Grail decided to get a new weapon.

Milmas Weapon Shop.

It was one of the leading shops even in the major city of Piptat.

(If I’m the one buying, then the shop needs to have a fitting “status” too!)

Grail pushed open the door to Milmas Weapon Shop.

“Welcome.”

The clerk bowed his head and welcomed Grail.

After browsing the goods for a while, Grail

Picked up one sword and gazed at it intently.

The clerk approached and opened his mouth.

“That sword was forged by a famous workshop, and it is a wonderful masterpiece. You have a good eye! The price has also come down, so I think it is quite a bargain!”

Those words put Grail in a good mood.

(That’s right! It’s no good for an excellent warrior like me to use an ordinary broadsword! That was the weapon Ios used, wasn’t it!? There’s no way he and I should be standing on the same stage!)

Having made his decision, Grail handed the high-quality broadsword to the clerk.

“I’ve decided. I’ll buy this!”

“Thank you very much!”

The clerk bowed his head with a broad smile.

After finishing his shopping, Grail went outside in high spirits.

His attack power was 400 overall. And with the bonus from his Swordsmanship skill—

“Ahahahahahahaha! I’m way too strong!”

Feeling far too good, Grail ended up shouting despite himself. The people passing by looked at him with startled faces, but he did not care about that.

(Iiiiiioooooos! Has your attack power gone up from 350 including your weapon? I’m far, far ahead of you, you know? It must be tough for someone with nothing but a crap skill!)

Then, still swept along by his sense of superiority, he continued like this.

(Oh, don’t go saying it’s unfair that I’m using a good weapon, okay? Getting your hands on a good weapon is part of an adventurer’s ability too, you knoooow!)

A dark laugh flashed across Grail’s mouth.

Back then—that despair—

On the day of the skill appraisal, Grail had been in extremely high spirits after getting the excellent skill called Swordsmanship.

As expected, I’ve got what it takes!

However, that feeling—

“Ios’s skill is ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’!”

“Ios-kun, this is probably a unique skill.”

Was magnificently smashed apart by just those two lines.

The pleasant feeling of satisfaction he had been enjoying was blown away by Ios obtaining a rare skill. It felt as though he was being mocked for having been happy over a mere Swordsmanship skill.

Because of Ios.

From that day on, Grail had let his negative feelings toward Ios grow.

And those feelings—when he learned that Ios’s skill was trash, sublimated into a twisted sense of omnipotence.

He had been unable to help enjoying the sight of useless Ios.

(…Well, I threw you away… but I’ll keep mocking your weak self in my heart forever, all right? You’re beneath me, after all!)

Grail laughed deep in his throat.

I left the inn.

It was the first day I would go into the dungeon with my new equipment.

Attack power 760 and defense power 595, huh…

The values were more than twice what they had been before, and I could not calm down.

Misha was waiting in the inn’s waiting area.

The moment she saw me in my new equipment, Misha smiled.

“It suits you, Ios!”

“Thank you.”

Misha stared all over me in a very good mood. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

And then—

“Nishishishishi!”

She laughed cheerfully.

I answered back.

“What is it!”

“No, I saw it yesterday too! But it really is nice! It feels like a new departure! Getting new equipment, I mean!”

Then she continued like this.

“I wonder what Grail would think if he saw Ios now?”

Misha looked at me with a grin on her face.

Grail—

I could not answer right away. And I was surprised at myself for not being able to answer right away.

Misha tilted her head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I forgot…”

I laughed.

“I forgot about Grail. Since coming to this city, so many things have changed. He had completely disappeared from my mind.”

But I thought that was fine.

Grail was surely walking his own path. I would just walk mine.

It was a relationship that had already ended—a past that had ended. For both of us, thinking about it was nothing but a waste.

Goodbye, my childhood friend.

“Let’s go.”

After saying that, I took a step forward.

A step that would surely guide us to a new world.