Last night I already appraised the armours I received yesterday. A long sword, a small s.h.i.+eld which wouldn’t hinder you even at close combat and a long bow. Their appearances were quite ordinary.

Name : Longsword

Type : Sword

Raw Materials : Iron and Mithril compound

Attribute : Wind Attribute Level 2 (Lightweightness Effect Level 1, Slas.h.i.+ng Level 1)

Name : Longbow

Type : Bow

Raw Materials : Elder Trent Tree Trunk, Auger Tendon

Attribute : Wind Attribute Level 2 (Lightweightness Effect Level 1, Shooting Level 1)

Name : Buckler

Type : s.h.i.+eld

Raw Materials : Elder Trent Tree Trunk, Iron

Attribute : Wind Attribute Level 1 (Lightweightness Effect Level 1)

I promised to teach magic to Medea so I took my armours which can be used even with a child’s physical strength thanks to the lightweightness effects on them and we headed to the outskirts of the village.

The magic training of Medea was about to start. However before that, some points needed to be made clear for her. I am the Master and Medea is the discipline after all.

“Please call me Larcus Onii-chan from now on.”

“Yes, I understand, Larcus Onii-chan.”

She had a puzzled expression but even though she felt that something was amiss, she has been living in the forest until now so she must have thought that this was something normal. Thus she obediently complied.

“Which attributes can you use, Medea?”

“I can use Fire attribute and Wind attribute right now. Apparently I also have apt.i.tude for Earth, Water and Holy attributes as well but I can not use them yet.”

“It seems that you know the positions of the Chakra organs.”

“Yes, I know. My mother had taught me.”

“The tricks to the usage of the four attributed magics are not much different from each other. You only need to pour your magical power into your Chakra and try to rotate it using your magical power just like how you use Fire and Wind attributed magic. “

“Yes, I will try!”

“I will show you an example firstly.”

I display the “Stone Shot” and “Water Ball” spells. The four attributed magics at Level 1 have reasonable destructive power but you can just shoot the respective attribute in a linear line. As their levels raise, your control over them and as well as their destructive power increase.

“Try to do it while concentrating on the position of Chakra organ and the flow of your magical power. “

Medea nods and starts her magic training. As expected, she couldn’t do it instantly. All I was doing was just to stand there and watch so I called out to her at a suitable timing.

“Well then, I will be doing sword training nearby, just call out to me when you had something to ask.”

“Larcus Onii-chan, why are still you training in sword when you can already use magic?”

“Magic has high power but it requires time for its activation. Thus if the enemy were to get close to you, you wouldn’t have enough time to use it. For example, the recent a.s.sault on the Elven village. If the Elven race were to put to use a more strong swordsmans.h.i.+p and to manage the balance between the advance guard and rear guard more efficiently, their casualties would be much more less.”

“As long as you activate your magic before you were noticed by the enemy, it would be all good and for a magic user, making the first move is the most critical point. That was what my mother told me before.”

“If it were inside a forest and if you were to have high level [Presence Perception] skill, you could always make the first move but if it were a plain without anything to hide your presence or if you were to fail to make the first move because of some unseen circ.u.mstances, you would end up like the Elven village. If you were to have many dependable advance guards, it would be okay with only being able to use magic but if not, once the enemy got close to you, it would be over for you. I am a cowardly person so I want to become someone who is capable of countering or at the worst case running away under any circ.u.mstances.”

“Should I learn sword arts as well then?”

“I guess we should think of a way for you to defend yourself when the enemy got close to you. Learning sword arts is one of the ways but it requires a certain degree strength and stamina. So it might be quite hard for you to learn it now. Anyway, since we can’t think of a way for it now, I think we should think about it after you mastered magic.”

“I understand.”

Medea acknowledges and go back to her magic training. And I start my sword training. I could finally acquire [Sword Arts] skill the other day. It took me exactly 4 years to acquire it.

In order to increase its level, I will need exponential amount more efforts. Because of the [Hardworking Talent] skill, my mastery speed is half of the normal. Thus even if I were to put tremendous efforts, I might not be able to increase its level anytime soon. Firstly I should aim to increase the total sum of the skill levels to 50 in order to evolve the [Hardworking Talent] skill. I also want to make trainings with other weapons such as spear, axe and staff but there is n.o.body who can teach me.

At this point, I decided to try to acquire [Fight Polis.h.i.+ng Arts] skill Surges uses.

Firstly I tried to imagine the feeling of wearing my magical power but I couldn’t do it. Actually I couldn’t put out my magical power from anywhere except for my palms. After I repeated many trials and errors such as accelerating my magical power circulation and activating several Chakra organs for three hours, I could finally grasp the trick to it. The trick was to imagine that your muscles are inhaling attributeless magical powers.

When I checked my status, I confirmed that I acquired [Fight Polis.h.i.+ng Arts] but my MP was dropping at an alarming rate such as 30 per second thus I stopped it in a hurry.

“What is that? I could acquire it so easily. Why did my father make it as his ultimate move?”

“Kyaa!!”

I hear Medea’s scream. When I take a glance, I see a single Goblin rus.h.i.+ng towards us. Normally Goblins move as a herd but occasionally some strayed ones appear near the village.

“Medea, are you alright?”

Medea still continues to scream in a confused state. I guess because her parents were killed by them, she has a trauma about it.

I don’t have any real combat experience but I don’t know if it is because I feel a strong responsibility about protecting Medea, my mind is mysteriously calm. Since it got so close to us, there is no time to use magic. If I could buy enough time for Medea, she could use magic but I can not expect that from the current Medea.

“I have no other choice!”

I take a protective stance in front of Medea, draw my Wind attributed sword I received and prepare for the incoming attack.

When it saw me drawing my sword, its speed dropped drastically and it started to approach step by step. I guess it became cautious because of my sword.

When I saw Goblin with my eyes, I confirmed its ugliness. Its appearance was just like how it was in fantasy books or games.Its face was like somebody forcefully tried to imitate a human face using a pig face, its height was a little shorter than an average adult woman, it was wearing ragged dirty clothes and it was stinking like a s.h.i.+t.

A single Goblin can be subjugated even by an young adult who doesn’t have any combat type skills but even though I have combat type skills, I don’t have any real combat experience and my strength is low thus I am not so certain about defeating it.

Should I try to use [Fight Polis.h.i.+ng Arts]? It consumes too much MP. Thus I can not use it very long. With my current state, I can only use it for about 10 seconds at most.

When the distance between Goblin and me became 3 Li (Approximately 5.4 meters), I activate [Fight Polis.h.i.+ng Arts], I close the distance instantly and slash my sword. This is a speed oriented move without any tactics. Goblin couldn’t keep up with my instantaneous high speed and his head started to fly around the air with a shocked expression on its face.

Just when I was about to put down my sword with a sigh of relief, I felt a sudden pain. It was so painful that it was as if all of the textiles of all my muscles I used just now were enraged.

I was even incapable of walking because of the pain, thus firstly I tried to get used to the pain. And when I got used to it to the point I can concentrate, I casted Holy Magic on myself.

I see. Now I understand the reason why my father doesn’t use it casually and why he didn’t teach it to us. This is a move which requires both muscle armour(strength) and abundant amount of MP to use. (TL Note: Author literally says 筋肉の鎧(kinniku no yoroi) which literally means “muscle armour” but I guess he means “muscle strength” otherwise it doesn’t make any sense.)

The previous MP consumption was a huge blow but the remaining MP still must have served as a reinforcement. However in order to use it, I need a muscle armour(strength) which can support a new style of Dempsey Roll that can even deal with a counter attack. Shall I start to drag tires?

The pain lessens and I make a sigh of relief. About 3 minutes pa.s.sed since I defeated the Goblin but Medea was still sitting on the ground absentmindedly.

I approach Medea and call out to her.

“Medea, it is alright now. Don’t worry.”

“Uaaaa! Father! Mother!”

Medea suddenly started to cry her eyes out. She must have been enduring it until now. Even after a long while, it didn’t seem like she would stop crying anytime soon. Time to time, she would murmur words expressing her dread for Goblins or words such as “I burned you down, I am sorry.” which I don’t really understand.

I thought it would be bad for her mental health if I didn’t do anything so I casted a Holy Magic spell which heals the mental state. After that, Medea finally stopped crying.

“It is alright now, Medea.”

“Yes, what did you to me just now, Onii-chan?”

“I casted a Holy Magic spell which heals the mental state.”

“Amazing, you can even use Holy Magic? My mother had told me that Holy Magic was quite hard to learn.”

I guess she felt embarra.s.sed because of her long sobbing. Thus in order to hide it, she kept on talking in a fast manner for a while.

“I think I am not strong enough to protect you, Medea. I think I wouldn’t be able to defeat that Goblin under the normal circ.u.mstances.”

“I wouldn’t forgive myself if you were to die while protecting someone like me, Onii-chan.”

“Don’t think like that. Besides, I can’t protect you with my ‘current’ strength. But I will become strong enough to be able to protect you from monsters or prejudices of other people. And I can be at your side even when I became strong. I am planning to become an Adventurer. If you are willing to come with me, as long as I am alive, I will always be at your side and I will show you many things you wouldn’t be able to see in the forest.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. However, I will probably die before you. Because unlike Elven race, Human race doesn’t have longevity. And as there are beautiful things in this world, there are also ugly things as well. Medea will probably have to keep on living while seeing many ugly things after I died. Thus at the very least while I am alive, I want to show you many beautiful things.”

“You really mean it?”

“I really mean it.”

“Thank you, Onii-chan!”

Even though my total age exceeds 30 years old, I would never think I would still feel so young.

Is this the charm of my sister in this fantasy world?

However, these are my current true feelings. From now on, I must fight against the people who discriminate and prejudice her irrationally just because she is an Half-Elf. I don’t know when it will happen but I want to survive until she can live freely without getting discriminated or prejudiced.

There are different kind of tears in Medea’s eyes now.

“What, even though I am happy, my tears won’t stop. That’s strange.”

“People can also cry when they are happy as well.”

Medea’s eyelashes have the same color with her hairs. They are golden colored. I unconsciously murmur when I see Medea’s s.h.i.+ning eyes which reflect the sunlights.

“So beautiful.”

“Eh? What is beautiful, Onii-chan?”

I thought I just faintly murmured but apparently Medea heard it clearly. She is indeed an Half-Elf. Those long ears aren’t there as a decoration, after all.

“Eh? No, when I saw your tears s.h.i.+ning with a golden light because of the reflection of the sunlights, I unconsciously murmured it.”

I answer in a fl.u.s.tered manner.

Medea starts to chuckle as if she remembered something.

“What is so funny?”

I ask sullenly but Medea answers without stopping chuckling.

“It is a secret. More importantly, don’t forget your promise, Onii-chan.”