Once we passed through the city gates, an endless grassland stretched out before us.
There was a stone-paved road, technically, but the moment you stepped off it, greenery blanketed everything in every direction as far as the eye could see.
It was like a trip back to Hokkaido.
That said, this was my first time experiencing a sky this vast with a visible horizon, so everything still felt fresh.
I had to keep my composure, though. Getting too excited wouldn't exactly be befitting of a Hero.
"Then, Hero, let's gauge your warm-up by taking on some of the weaker monsters that live around here."
"Sure. This is my first time in actual combat too. I'll do my best to see how long I can hold up."
"Please do your best."
"Huh? Malty, aren't you going to fight too?"
"I need to assess the Hero's abilities before I jump in myself."
"R-Right, that makes sense."
Now that I thought about it, Malty definitely had more experience than I did, and I had no idea what I was capable of anyway.
I'd try fighting whatever monsters Malty deemed safe.
After trudging through the grassland for a while, I spotted something eye-catching in the distance — something that looked like a big orange balloon.
"Hero, there they are. That's an Orange Balloon… a very weak monster, but aggressive."
What a terrible name. It's just an orange balloon, so they called it an Orange Balloon?
"Graaah!"
A ferocious cry and a pair of vicious-looking eyes made its hostility unmistakable.
It was like one of those bird-scaring balloons you see in fields — except this one had noticed us and was charging straight at us.
"Go get 'em, Hero!"
"Right!"
Time to show off something cool.
I gripped the shield in my right hand and swung it like a bludgeon, charging at the Orange Balloon.
Bash!
Boing!
It bounced right back the moment I hit it. It was surprisingly elastic!
I thought it'd pop instantly…
The Orange Balloon bared its fangs and chomped down on me.
"Ow!"
Clank!
A hard sound rang out.
Not the slightest bit of pain — not even an itch.
The Orange Balloon was gnawing on my arm, but it seemed to have absolutely no effect.
A faint barrier seemed to emanate softly from the shield, shielding me.
Without a word, I looked over at Malty.
"You can do it, Hero!"
…Okay, so I couldn't take damage, but I also couldn't deal any. Great.
"Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!"
Like some kind of martial arts inheritor, I just kept wailing on the Orange Balloon.
Five minutes later…
Pop!
With a crisp little sound, the Orange Balloon burst.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
A little chime rang out, and the number EXP 1 appeared before my eyes.
So I got one point of experience. Fantastic.
But seriously — five whole minutes of fighting for a single point? I wasn't looking forward to the grind ahead.
Also, this thing was tough. Bare hands just weren't going to cut it.
Clap, clap, clap.
"You worked really hard, Hero."
Malty was clapping for me, but somehow that just made it sting more.
Tap tap tap tap!
I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
When I turned around, I could see L'Arc and his companions jogging past.
I thought about calling out to them, but they were running with such serious expressions that I didn't have the nerve to interrupt.
Oh — right in front of L'Arc, three Orange Balloons appeared.
Slash!
L'Arc's sword flashed once, and all three Orange Balloons popped with a single burst.
One strike!? Come on… just how big was the gap in attack power?
"…"
Malty waved her hand in front of my blank, stunned face several times.
"It's all right. The Hero has his own way of fighting, you know."
"…Thanks."
Based on my first-ever combat experience, I'd been latched onto by an Orange Balloon for a solid five minutes and come out completely unscathed — I had to be seriously high in defense.
I picked up the spoils of battle: the remains of the Orange Balloon. A soft chime sounded from the shield.
As I brought the remains closer to the shield, they dissolved into a faint light and were absorbed.
GET: Orange Balloon Remains
That message floated up, and the Weapon Book lit up.
Checking inside, I found an icon labeled Orange Small Shield.
It wasn't enough to trigger a transformation yet, but it appeared to be a required material.
"So this is the power of the Legendary Weapon?"
"Yeah. It seems like you need to absorb a certain amount of a given material to evolve it."
"I see."
"By the way, how much do those spoils go for on the market?"
"One Silver Coin if you're lucky."
"…How many would it take to earn one Silver Coin?"
"A hundred, in the case of Silver Coins."
Well, judging by how L'Arc handled those things, they really were absurdly weak. Nothing to be done about it.
"Next up is you, Malty."
"Yes, I suppose so."
Even as she said that, two more Orange Balloons had crept toward us.
Malty drew the sword from her hip and readied both blades.
With a pop, the Orange Balloons burst.
Wow… I really am pathetically weak…?
My name is Iwatani Naofumi. I'm a twenty-year-old college student. I cover the lower half of my face with both hands.
I was summoned to another world and became a proper Hero two days ago.
Five minutes of combat — and I could already tell what monsters suited me and what role I played.
'Hero Aptitude Test'
Four participants passed. Results were instant, making it wildly popular.
CHECK!
>> What is your aptitude hunting ground?
Whoops, I was getting confused again.
Anyway, I now fully understood that I — or rather, my shield — was weak.
In that case, having Malty handle the offense would be much more efficient.
"So, Malty, you attack, and I'll focus on defense. Let's see how far we can push it."
"Sure."
Malty agreed without hesitation.
After that, we kept walking through the grassland until the sun was close to setting, popping every Orange Balloon and color variant — Yellow Balloons — that we encountered along the way.
"If we go any further, we'll start running into slightly tougher monsters, and we really ought to head back to the city before dark."
"Mmm. I kind of wanted to keep fighting a little longer…"
I wasn't taking any damage, and shielding against Balloon attacks was easy enough, so I figured it'd be fine.
"Why don't we head back early today and scope out the Weapon Shop again? If I upgrade my equipment, we can push farther tomorrow than we could today."
"…Now that you mention it, yeah, you're right."
Leveling up still seemed a ways off, so maybe calling it here for the day was the right call.
Incidentally, I had gathered enough material to feed into the shield — the Balloon remains were already on hand.
The rest… it seemed like I'd need to level up before any evolution became possible.
In any case, I cut short our first day of adventure — which had been a string of disappointments — and we headed back toward the Castle Town.