Taking a break from training.

I decided to use Niku as my body pillow and roll around in bed for a while.

Today was a rest day from training. Leona said it wasn't good to push yourself too hard, which was surprisingly reasonable given that it was coming from her.

"But man, I'm a magic specialist but now I can even cut through rocks."

"As Goshujin-sama grows stronger, I worry that my usefullness will decrease."

"Don't worry, I intend to make full use of you in the future, Niku."

My body not being my own felt terrible. Let's focus on rolling around in my room…

"But I feel like I got muscle soreness from cutting those rocks…"

"What are you talking about? You're Kehma, cutting through rocks should be normal for you."

As I thought about it, Rokuko spoke as she entered the room. She casually sat down on the opposite side of Niku and crawled into the bed. What's she up to?

Ah, maybe she's just cold and wants to get under the cover? Well, guess I have no choice.

"Why not use [Healing]?"

"You didn't know, Rokuko? It's supposedly better to let the muscles recover naturally. It's totally not just my excuse to roll around in bed either."

If healing magic could make you stronger, Leona would probably have suggested something like [cut off your arm and heal it over and over to build muscle easily].

"I never thought I could cut rocks… but I don't remember training that much? Maybe just a little in the Demonlands."

"Maybe you're using some kind of body strengthening magic?"

"Ah, I see. That makes sense."

It would be strange if I could cut rocks without becoming more muscular, and I was beginning to worry about it being difficult to adjust to having strength like that in daily life, but that was resolved in a flash.

That's right. In this world, I could use magic freely.

I was already in the realm of superpowers and if I wanted to have something far away come to my hand, I could activate wind magic without and incantation and make it fly over to me like nothing.

It was a sort of magic I learned because I was too lazy to get out of bed.

I could also use magic to return things back to where I got them from, of course. I didn't use wind magic for that, though, I used [Teleport].

"Right, I remember Nerune praising what you did as the essence of magic while lamenting its wasteful use."

"What's that? Like the whole [luxuries can only be afforded with money] kind of feel?"

Either way, I used magic like it was my hands or feet. If I was unconsciously applying magic when moving my actual hands and feet, it wouldn't be strange… yeah.

On the other hand, has my strength without magic decreased a lot?

Maybe I've been too much of a sloth. I've been moving around with Leona's training a lot lately though…

"… I'm starting to feel like not getting a bit of exercise after training might be a bad thing."

"Oh? Suira said there's a good exercise for men and women to do together. Do you want to do it, Niku?"

"Rokuko-sama, tell me more."

"Wait. Don't take what a Succubus says at face value. Their race and culture is different."

That's definitely the type of exercise that would get me punched by Haku-san.

… Wait, wasn't I already given permission? Huh?

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

There were people referred to as [Villager Adventurers] in Golen.

To be precise, they were people who started out as adventurers but ended up becoming villagers as well. Though tracing back even further, I suppose they started out as villagers in the first place since they tended to be farmers' third sons or something like that before they became adventurers.

These so-called villager adventurers generally made a living by hunting Goblins and Golems in the dungeon and receiving rewards from the Adventurer Guild.

To lead a somewhat decent life, you need at least enough power to hunt Iron Golems at the party level, or it wouldn't work out.

Therefore, all the villager adventurers were actually quite skilled.

Several villager adventurers chatted while drinking at the inn.

"Don't you think the village chief has some kind of presence lately?"

"Oh, you think so too? It's like he's got the aura of a strong person now."

"I knew he wasn't an ordinary person from the start, but it feels like the deceptive appearance is finally gone, ya know?"

They were very sensitive to Kehma's improvement in strength.

Kehma, who had been going to the dungeon every day lately, seemed to be getting stronger day by day.

"After all, he's a man who can beat Hero Wataru."

"He did have to cheat a bit though."

"The village chief himself says he can't beat him, so even though it's cheating… If he challenged him head-on, wouldn't Wataru get his first victory?"

Indeed, they all nodded.

"Hmm? Are you talking about me?"

And then Wataru himself showed up.

"Oh? Yo, Wataru. Did you come to make offerings to that witch again?"

"Haha, well… you're not entirely wrong."

Hero Wataru spoke while scratching his head in embarrassment.

Despite having many women to choose from, everyone wondered why he was so smitten with the witch—that is, Nerune.

Although she had a plain appearance that didn't stand out at first glance, no one could deny that she was beautiful.

Moreover, her nickname as a [Witch] is not actually referring to her being a witch, but rather how she was a seductress who had the hero wrapped around her finger. (Nerune herself was quite fond of it.)

"So is it true that Kehma has become stronger?"

"Yeah, there's no doubt about it. Well, he's been strong from the start…"

"That just makes it even harder for me to win."

Saying that, Wataru seemed happy for some reason.

"Between the witch and the village chief, you're pretty strange huh, Wataru?"

"Like you enjoy losing. Well, not like it's a big deal or anything."

"I've won so many times that I'm bored of winning! It's weird for me to say that about myself though."

"Hahaha, well, you're a hero after all!"

The villager adventurer slapped Wataru on the back in a friendly manner. The traveling merchant who had noticed Wataru and was watching from a distance trembled.

"So, is there a reason why Kehma's gotten stronger?"

When Wataru asked, the villager adventurers all started talking up.

"Hmm? Let me think. Until recently, his wife had a bodyguard sent to her, but that was withdrawn, right?"

"No, he was just lazy for a while after that. Right, it was his daughter's birthday!"

"Hmm, I can't think of anything… Oh, come to think of it, didn't it start when that black-haired woman came?"

At the mention of [black-haired], Wataru reacted sharply.

"Black hair? Like mine and Kehma's? With black eyes?"

"Yeah, she has the same pitch-black hair as the village chief. But her eyes were red."

"Black hair, red eyes. Hmm, like Kehma, there's a possibility that her parents are heroes. I'd like to talk to her a bit."

With that, Wataru thought about meeting that person.

He just couldn't get the thought out of his mind.