My legs had given out, and I was being held by Marina.

This was my first time experiencing my legs giving out like this. They just gave out completely, and I couldn't stand anymore.

Marina was holding me up in a bear-hug fashion. I'm a little taller than Marina, but even so, I kept slipping downward.

—Earlier, she was injured by the bear. I'd asked Diana and Rebecca-san to check her condition, and naturally, there was a visible injury. The first step was to remove her armor. It's a basic first aid procedure.

In short, right now Marina isn't wearing her armor, nor the thick quilted gambeson under it—leaving only her T-shirt on top, as they checked her wounds.

Waahh... so soft and warm...

From the outside, I probably look super pathetic, clutching onto her for support, her hugging me, and me sitting pigeon-toed with my legs giving out. But that's just the kind of guy I am when I lose my cool. I just gave up trying to look dignified.

As she held me, I realized again how high Marina's body temperature was. I don't know if I'm cold-blooded, but her temperature seemed about three degrees higher than mine.

Even now, after all that intense fighting, my own temperature should be higher, yet I can still feel her warmth distinctly. If you put her under the futon, she'd definitely work as a hot water bottle substitute. I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that women have a lower body temperature than men, but at least that doesn't apply to Marina...

While I was peacefully leaning against her for support, thinking about absolutely useless things—

"...What sort of face are you making, nodesu."

Diana's exasperated voice suddenly brought me back to my senses.

Whoops, not good. It wasn't just my tear ducts—my whole body had gone completely limp... But wait, I'm facing away from everyone right now. Diana shouldn't be able to see my sloppy face...

"Hehe... I've never felt anything like this before, de arimasu. Princess... just... just a little longer..."

"Good grief. Fine. Just a moment. But I'll take your place, next, nodesu."

What kind of situation is this?

That said, with my legs not functioning properly, I have no power to resist. I can only be held until Marina is satisfied.

—One minute later.

Finally released, I sat on the ground facing Diana.

"...So, what was it again? Ah, right. How was Marina's injury in the end? How is she completely fine?"

I asked about the matter that was put off because Marina was miraculously safe.

Diana answered with the smuggest grin I'd ever seen on her.

"Ufufufu. Goshujin-sama. I healed her, of course with my spirit magic! Fufun~ In exchange, I used up Marina's spirit stone, though."

She was wearing a rare, full-powered "look how amazing I am" expression.

"You can cure an injury like that with a spirit stone...?"

Given the bear's direct hit, Marina should've been seriously injured. The impact strong enough to send someone flying, and the external wound from those razor-sharp claws that tore through looked severe.

Yet she made it look like it was no big deal.

"Of course, nodesu. I am an Elf, after all? You should cherish me more, Goshujin-sama. Fufun~"

Enough with the "Fufun~" already.

"...But you said you can only use simple spirit magic."

"That's because my ability to absorb spirit power now is minimal, and I can only retain about a tenth of my original spirit power within my body. So, if I have a spirit stone, which is a lump of spirit power, I can manage something like this through brute force."

"So you can perform other magic as well by brute-forcing it?"

"Healing is just restoring the body to its original state. However, other advanced spirit magic requires constructing complex spell structures, which is impossible for me right now, even with a spirit stone."

So right now Diana is basically like a car with a terrible driver, always on the verge of running out of gas.

She can't handle difficult courses and can't go fast, but if she gets fuel all at once, she can stomp the accelerator and blast through a straight line.

A weird analogy, but not entirely wrong.

But anyway, we were saved. Diana is a lifesaver.

"And, with that said. Come on, Goshujin-sama. You can express your gratitude to me, too, nodesu."

I'm grateful, of course. But having her spread her arms wide as if saying, "Come on, give it to me!" is a bit much. Besides, my legs still aren't working.

Instead, I took Diana's outstretched hands and just squeezed them gently.

"Yeah. Thank you."

"...Mu, that's a big difference compared to Marina's treatment, nodesu."

"That's... Well... because I was overwhelmed with emotion earlier... But really, thank you. It was good luck in misfortune."

I was genuinely embarrassed. My inexperienced heart has limits, okay? Just holding hands is enough to make me blush.

"Marina does not remember very well, de arimasu. Was it really that terrible, de arimasu?"

Marina, sitting next to me, asks. She must have taken enough of an impact to lose her memory.

"Yeah. Like I said earlier, I really thought you died. Don't ever do anything like that again."

"If you hadn't had a Spirit Stone, you wouldn't have survived that injury, nodesu."

But Marina shows no remorse.

"...Master-dono. Marina is a Knight, de arimasu. You and Princess made Marina a Knight, de arimasu. A Knight... is one who protects their Master, de arimasu."

She stated this firmly.

...Yeah, I'm happy she's found her identity and self-worth as a knight. She can hold knightly dignity without belittling herself. I don't want to take that away from her.

I didn't want to deny her pride—But, I'd like to be spared from incidents like this one. Even though she survived, just remembering that moment still sends chills down my spine.

"I appreciate the sentiment... but... Okay, how about this? At least make Diana your top priority. Now that we know she can revive us from a severe injury with a Spirit Stone, as long as Diana is alive, even if I get hurt, I can be revived."

It's like in games where as long as the priest doesn't die, the whole party can somehow recover.

I'll entrust all the Spirit Stones to Diana from now on. I might even buy extra spirit stones just for that purpose. 20 gold coins is cheap when you consider the price of a life.

"Jirou. Sorry to interrupt your lovey-dovey time, but can we talk now?"

Shello-san called out.

Even the formidable Shello-san had been sitting and resting after the battle, and it seemed he'd been politely waiting for our little huddle to end.

"Ah, yes. Shello-san, Rebecca-san, thank you for your hard work."

As I thanked them, Shello-san walked over, carrying the demon sword I'd tossed away.

He must have picked it up for me.

"Just as Rebecca said, this thing has a weird heaviness... despite looking light. The weight balance is off too."

He muttered his impression as he held the demon sword.

Even Shello-san feels it's heavy? For me, it only feels as heavy as a wooden sword, though...

"Jirou. What is this sword...? How can you wield something like this so effectively?"

It was a very valid question.

I hadn't explicitly called it either a demon sword, a magic sword, or anything. He probably just thought it was my favorite two-handed sword.

But it was actually a cheat weapon. It had various special effects, but its simple sharpness was incredible. It was a hard item to explain, but I figured we were past the point of keeping secrets.

I told them everything straight:

—How I found it by chance.

—How it bound onto me as the owner the moment I equipped it.

—About its anti-magical beast properties.

—That it has Absorption and Evasion blessings (technically not 'blessings', but they understand that word better).

—How the bear flew into a rage upon seeing the sword.

—How I thought I could win and faced it...

"...I see. A Demon Sword, huh... I didn't think such things truly existed. Isaac's sword might have been one, too. When he fought seriously, it would strangely flicker."

Flickering? I was too focused to notice.

"The sword flickered?"

"Yeah. It would occasionally glow red and then turn back to black."

"I see..."

Maybe that's a property of Demon Swords. Or perhaps it flickers when a skill is activated.

However, the sword Isaac had must not have been a Demon Sword. He was a natural cheat with the vocations of [Holy Knight] and [General]. If someone like that had a legendary sword, it would have to be a Holy Sword! Not that I know if Holy Swords even exist!

"Jirou... Here."

Rebecca-san brought over the magic crystal from the bear. Its size was incomparable to the pebble-sized crystals from skeletons. A black stone resembling black onyx. Quite pretty. It was about the size of a human head. Contrary to its appearance, it wasn't very heavy.

"Jirou, that fight earlier... at that time... you were cool. Even though you used to be such a klutz, yet somehow became able to fight like that... I hadn't noticed recently since I was only watching Marina and the others lately."

Rebecca-san said, her cheeks slightly flushed. H-How embarrassing...

"W-Well, more than half of that is thanks to the demon sword. Luck was on my side too."

"Fufufu, all the strong ones say that, you know~?"

It makes me happy, but it's also embarrassing. I should change the subject.

"S-So, about this magic crystal, I don't have any use for it right now. And I caused trouble this time, so Shello-san, please take it."

I'd want spirit stones, but a magic crystal has no immediate use for me. They seem to be valuable, so I could sell it, but this victory was won by everyone. Loot should be shared.

"...Jirou. Do you know how much a magic crystal of that size is worth?"

"Eh, uhh? You said it's similar to a spirit stone, right? But even skeletons drop them, so the unit value seems low... maybe around 30 gold coins?"

About the value of 1.5 spirit stones. Roughly 4.5 million yen.

I gave a high estimate on purpose.

"It's from a Boss-class Monster Wave creature, so it's worth around 200 gold. Most years we rely on selling one of these to afford hiring hunters for Monster Wave."

...200 coins? In gold?

That's... roughly 30 million yen...

An amount an ordinary salaryman might barely save after 40 years of working. It's not just a large sum—it's enormous. From the perspective of an ex-unemployed like me, it's an amount that makes me mistakenly think I could live a life of leisure forever.

Even though we risked our lives, it's not an amount you should get from just one battle. But still, I'm happy. Wow, seriously? Seriously?

"We don't really need the magic crystal. Besides, Jirou did most of the fighting anyway. Instead, I'd appreciate it if you could help us during the next Monster Wave (Hitotsuzuki). With your current strength, you'll be a strong asset now."

"O-Of course, I planned to help, but are you sure?"

"It's hard to secure warriors during Monster Wave. It would be reassuring if your Knight Order could help us."

I see, they seem to struggle more than expected during [Hitotsuzuki/Monster Wave]. Being recognized as actual combat strength feels nice... and it's good to know the knight order has a real purpose. 

I don't want to throw the girls into constant danger, but honest monster-slaying work is honorable and perfect for knights. Besides, powerful monsters spawning right next to the mansion—this concerns us directly.

Now then...

Since the monster is defeated, let's see if the quest progresses.

Even after the monster vanished, the fruit still hung on the tree.

"Let's pick it for now. In this quest, after picking this fruit, it seems we have to give it to the client girl... But it's a thousand-year-old quest... Probably ends with just eating the fruit, right?"

Marina skillfully used her halberd to knock down the "Sky Blue Fig," and I caught it. Our first cooperative move went well.

"Whoa, it's huge. There's no fig this big! It's big enough to fit a whole Figtarō inside."

The fig was nearly the same size as the magic crystal. It was faintly glowing, looking like it would make a stylish interior decoration.

"It looks delicious, de arimasu!" said Marina.

You're awfully energetic for someone who almost died a moment ago. Well, since we don't know where to deliver it, shall we all try eating it? Maybe this magical fruit has some beneficial effect.

I unfolded the magic map to check. The content hadn't changed particularly. I guess we have to either eat it or sell it. Need to decide before it rots—

"—Thank you, Onii-chan!"

A voice suddenly called out, and I turned around. It was a voice I didn't recognize.

Standing there was a girl who could only be described as a poor town girl, about middle school age, smiling innocently and naturally.

...Who?

I didn't know this girl at all. 

Flustered, I looked at Shello-san and Rebecca-san, but they only shook their heads. Diana and Marina couldn't possibly know her. Judging from the expression of Elepipi and Aurica, they didn't seem to know her either. The fact that Aurica didn't know her meant she probably wasn't from the village.

Question marks floated above everyone's heads. In this situation, the girl was completely unfazed.

"You picked the fruit for my mother! With this, my mother will surely get better!"

Then, she gestured for the fruit. As if prompted, I handed the fruit to the girl.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" she said with a smile and ran off (at an incredible speed).

Poof!

Before my head could catch up with the situation, the magic map transformed into a  tiny fairy. It began speaking fluently.

"Congratulations on clearing your first quest! The reward for this is, ta-da! 50 Gold!"

Poof!

The spirit then instantly transformed into a cloth bag of money.

Huh...?

What is this speedy development? This was completely unexpected.

And the reward money. It felt surprisingly heavy as it jingled, but there seemed to be only about five coins in there...? 50 Gold... After all that hardship...

Poof!

This time, the Vocation Board popped out and turned into another tiny fairy.

Come to think of it, I had an old Guidance to [Try challenging a quest].

"Yoohoo! I'm surprised you actually defeated Arcas! He shouldn't be an opponent a basic vocation kid can beat! It would've been easier if you'd at least used magic! You have a reason to use it, so make meaningful use of it! Anyway, later, work hard and contribute to us, Spirit-sama without dying!"

Poof!

It was the same tiny fairy, but the one that appears for Guidance achievement and the others seem to be strictly different individuals. They look almost identical, but only the one from Guidance achievements has that foul mouth.

In my palm lay the proof of the Guidance's completion—a Spirit Stone. A green one. It was too translucent to be jade. It must be an emerald.

"Come to think of it, we ended up using Marina's first spirit stone, didn't we? Normally you'd keep something like that as a memento, right?"

"Eh, no, Marina intended for Master-dono to have it..."

"Really? Hmm."

Well, it would've been fine if I kept it for her, but in any case, it had already been used to heal her injury and disappeared. I only saw it for a moment, but it looked like a pale-purple stone.

When you think of purple gemstones, amethyst is the famous one, but there are vivid purple varieties of sapphire, tourmaline, spinel, and so on. At this point, there's no way to find out what raw stone it originally was, and there's no way to restore it.

Alright. I'll buy Marina some kind of purple jewelry as a keepsake. As thanks for saving my life, too. An amethyst is cheap enough anyway.

And so, we somehow safely finished the quest, cleared the Guidance, and obtained 50 Gold and one spirit stone.