Reincarnated as a Sword Vol. 2 Page 5

  “We are the E-Rank team Dragon Roar. I’m the leader, Krad. The spear’s my specialty. With us on the job, we’ll clear this dungeon in no time!”

  Krad had ash gray hair and a light brown tan. Standing at 180cm, he looked like your typical young rebel. He scanned the room, tossing condescending looks at everyone. The kid was so cocky I wanted to slice him into shreds.

  Name: Krad

  Age: 23

  Race: Human

  Class: Fighter

  Level: 20

  HP: 127; Magic: 68; Strength: 67; Agility: 49

  Skills: Transport 2; Acrobatics 4; Danger Sense 3; Hunger Resistance 3; Spear Arts 1; Spear Mastery 4; Intimidate 3; Climbing 3; Spirit Manipulation

  Equipment: Fine Steel Spear; Stone Bull Armor; Stone Bull Gauntlets; Giant Spider Boots; Rock Spider Mantle

  He wasn’t very strong, but that was to be expected of an E-Rank. The other four members of his party were also spear users so they had the same basic skillset. However, Krad was the only one who had unlocked Spear Arts. What he lacked in flexibility he made up for by being tenacious.

  From my observations the C-Ranks seemed to be at Level 35 and above, the D-Ranks at 25 and above, the E-Ranks at 15 and above, and F-Ranks at 10 and above. Anything below that was G-Rank.

  There were exceptions, of course. The people who messed with Fran on her first day at the guild were at Level 15 but their capabilities were much lower. They neglected to diversify their skillset and instead power-leveled their way through in the name of perceived clout. August Allsand was a similar case. He was at Level 30 which would put him close to a C-Rank but any E-Rank could beat him in a straight fight.

  All this made Krad perfectly average. He was just strong enough to make D-Rank. His personality left a lot to be admired, however. He’d been glaring at Fran ever since the meeting started. What kind of sick person did you have to be to glare at this cute girl? Or maybe he’d actually fallen for her? If he made any funny moves on Fran I’d make him regret it. I wondered if he could go on being an adventurer after a night of being chased around by a sentient sword.

  “My name is Furion. Leader of the E-Rank team Eye of the Forest. I am not trained to use physical weaponry, but I can use Spirit Magic among other things.”

  Blond elf. That was about all I could say about Furion. Nothing about him stood out in particular. He looked like a younger version of our Guildmaster, I suppose. I was impressed by how plain he looked despite being an elf!

  Name: Furion

  Age: 49

  Race: Wood Elf

  Class: Sage

  Level: 27

  HP: 71; Magic: 233; Strength: 36; Agility: 66

  Skills: Bow Mastery 1; Harvesting 2; Cultivation 4; Evil Spirit Sense 3; Wood Magic 3; Botany 7; Sleep Resistance 3; Spirit Magic 5; Earth Magic 3; Water Magic 3; Herbology 4; Protection of the Spirits; Mana Manipulation; Child of the Forest

  Equipment: Spotted Elm Wand; Red Ape Breastplate; Tree Spider Silk Robe; Water Spout Ring

  He was a Wood Elf like the Guildmaster. Even his skills were similar. This guy could be strong. If nothing else, he was more well-rounded than Krad. It was amazing how much magic elves could use. His team was composed of two Fighters and one Archer; a well-balanced party.

  “Me next. I’m Amanda. Nice to meet you.”

  Amanda skipped the pleasantries of class and rank. A simple ‘hello’ was enough for her. Of all the adventurers in Alessa, Fran was the only one who didn’t know about her until three days ago.

  The E-Ranks looked surprised although they didn’t say anything. An A-Rank taking on a D-Rank quest was unheard of.

  Young Krad was the only one stupid enough to raise his voice.

  “Wait, what… Why?!”

  “Why what?”

  “What’s an A-Rank doing taking on a D-Rank quest?! You might be able to clear this in your sleep but this is our promotion exam! If you’re doing this for kicks you might as well stay out of it!”

  He was acting tough but I still had to give props to the kid for talking back to Amanda. Maybe he was at the age where he wanted to stick it to the man.

  Bad move, though.

  “Graargh!”

  Amanda blinked over to Krad and grabbed his face with her hand. With the Iron Claw applied, she lifted the youth’s body off the floor. As he began screaming in fear and panic, Amanda drew close and whispered threateningly.

  “Who said I was here to fool around? Besides, I already cleared it with the Guildmaster. I don’t suppose we have a problem, do we?”

  “No! There’s no problem! Please let me go!”

  She gave his skull one last squeeze for good measure before letting him go. As Krad fell on his bottom, he looked at Amanda with fear and trembling.

  “Okay… Let’s move on to the young lady. If you will.”

  Cruise cut in before the situation got any worse. It was probably too late for damage control but as head examiner of the crew he had responsibilities to uphold. When you put an A-Rank as independent as Amanda and a rookie as rebellious as Krad together, sparks were bound to fly.

  “Fran.”

  “Is there… anything else you’d like to tell us?”

  “D-Rank. Beastman. My favorite food is curry. I don’t have any particular dislikes.”

  “Pssh!”

  Krad was shooting daggers out of his eyes now. Just a few seconds ago he was apologizing to Amanda, on the verge of tears. He hated Fran so much that he seemed to have forgotten all about Amanda’s Iron Claw.

  He couldn’t accept the fact that this small girl was in D-Rank and he wasn’t.

  “I mean, what weapons do you use?”

  “Look, kid. Like I said earlier, we’re not playing games here. If you’re treating this like a picnic then go back home and suck on your mommy’s tits!”

  Krad had such a foul mouth on him. He was barking like a rabid dog. He was even using his Intimidate skill, not that it had any effect on Fran. He really wanted to make her cry.

  “My mother’s dead.”

  “Oh dear…”

  “… Tch.”

  Fran’s statement brought a decisive end to the argument. If Krad had said anything against that I would’ve questioned his humanity.

  Amanda looked at Fran sympathetically before sending Krad the full weight of her death glare. The rabid puppy immediately turned blue in the face.

  “How dare you raise your voice against a child like that! What the hell is wrong with you?! Fran, are you okay, sweetie?”

  “Totally fine.”

  Krad’s level of intimidation was nothing compared to facing down a Daemon. He was about as intimidating as a yelping puppy. He was trying to get a reaction out of Fran, not that it worked.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

  “All right! Now that we’re done with introductions let’s move on to the briefing.”

  Cruise, not wanting the situation to get any more out of hand than it already was, moved the conversation forward. Good luck, Cruise. We were off to a rocky start and I couldn’t help you if I tried but I was sure it would all work out! Maybe.

  “Let’s all do our best to cooperate. Okay?”

  “Hmph.”

  “Meh.”

  “Okay. Cooperation makes it happen.”

  “I’m glad you agree!”

  Cruise responded to Fran’s expressionless assent with a tone of obvious desperation. He spoke louder during the briefing although it did little to disguise his panic.

  “We are going to investigate the dungeon in Alessa called the Spider’s Nest. We’ll mine some Rune Ore and trim the monster population while we’re at it.”

  The dungeon had six floors and was infested with bug-type monsters. The fifth and six floors were home to spider monsters.

  “Rune Ores are generated in the Dungeon Core Room, so that’s our main objective.”

  “So we’ll be mining Rune Ores?”

  Furion was surprised. These ores sounded important.

/>   “Hey, can I just kill all the monsters I happen to come across? We don’t have to let some of them go, do we?”

  “Feel free to. Trimming the monster population is part of the mission.”

  “Heheheh. I’m looking forward to this.”

  The Trap Spiders which populated the dungeon were rated as F-Rank. They were perfect for low-rank adventurers wanting to level up. Krad must’ve been used to the spiders, too.

  “A word of warning. The spiders may be weak on their own, but they have the ability to use traps. They have also been known to swarm you so be careful.”

  “Come on, I’m not gonna lose to an F-Rank monster. They’re cheap EXP.”

  “Monsters aren’t the only things you need to be wary of in a dungeon. There are traps, too. While this dungeon doesn’t have that many of them, you should still watch out for Teleport Traps.”

  Teleport Traps transported you to a different area of a given dungeon. Once activated they were virtually impossible to override. They were a threat even to experienced adventurers. The Teleport Traps in the Spider’s Nest transported its victims to a monster room so we’d have to keep our eyes open.

  “Teleport Traps have been known to transport more than one victim at a time so be careful out there.”

  “Yeah, yeah. We know the drill.”

  He clearly didn’t know the drill. Now I was worried. This guy was weak and reckless. One wrong move and he might drag the whole raid down with him. I was going to have to look out for Fran on my own.

  “Alright, move out!”

  It took us half a day to reach the dungeon from the guild. It was a bumpy trip, mostly because of Krad.

  He didn’t like any of the other party leaders because he felt like he was the great general of this expedition. He kept objecting during every discussion we had. That was fair enough, but what surprised me was how he would fiercely talk back to Cruise.

  How did Krad expect to get promoted to D-Rank by leaving such a bad impression on his examiner? Was he trying to show him that he wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion? Was he trying to impress him by showing how assertive he was?

  Then again, maybe he wasn’t thinking at all.

  Amanda, being just as domineering, didn’t like his attitude one bit and they would get into an argument every couple of miles. All of them would end with her shutting him up with the Iron Claw. He really should’ve gotten a clue by now. Furion just watched, preferring to stay out of their squabbles. That said, he didn’t stop them either. Cruise ended up having to mediate between the two. And Fran? Well, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses.

  We ran into some fights along the way and I entertained myself by watching Amanda fight. It was quite the spectacle. Fran had never seen anyone use a whip in combat before so her eyes sparkled with curiosity. She was also a master at Wind Magic, although I doubted she was using her full power since she was up against trash mobs.

  We were supposed to reach the dungeon by sundown, but it was already night by the time we got there. All the petty squabbles we had along the way slowed us down.

  “All right. We were supposed to run through the first and second floors today and finish the rest of the dungeon tomorrow. However, since we’re running late, we’ll camp out tonight and go into the dungeon early in the morning.”

  “Why bother camping out? We should just go in now and get this quest over with. The monsters inside aren’t any real threat, right?”

  Whose fault do you think this is?!

  Cruise frowned before answering Krad.

  “The monsters inside are weak, true. But we run the risk of fighting while exhausted. We’re camping out.”

  “I agree.”

  “Me too.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Hah! Wimps!”

  We stayed quiet during the exchange. Krad should understand how dangerous running a dungeon after half a day of walking was. He probably felt the need to tell Cruise off to satisfy himself.

  I hated this type of person, to be honest. He reminded me of the guy who would hold up discussions in class by overriding the agenda with his own faulty logic. He just wanted to stand out and be noticed. Everyone in class would be thinking, ‘Can you just shut up? We need to decide on something so we can go home already,’ but he would always argue against the popular vote. Krad’s party members didn’t help since all they did was agree with him. He was out of control.

  “Hey, Fran! Do you wanna sleep in my tent tonight? We’ll let the guys watch over camp.”

  “I’ll pass.”

  “Aww, come on.”

  “We’ll take turns to watch over camp. Fran, you’ll be first on guard. My party will go next followed by Krad, and finally Furion.”

  Cruise assigned Krad to the late night watch. He got a little payback for all the lip he’d been giving.

  “What about Ms. A-Rank? Is she not doing watch?”

  “Lady Amanda is only an observer. Besides, asking her to do the heavy lifting for you lot would defeat the purpose of this examination. She can run this dungeon in under an hour. If she were to do that, you would all fail the test.”

  An A-Rank was so strong that they could finish most quests in no time flat. Amanda was almost a nuisance on this quest. It was best to think of her as insurance in case of emergencies.

  “Tch, fine.”

  The watch went on as Cruise planned. Krad complained the entire time but Amanda shut him up when he got too loud.

  “I hope you all remembered to bring food and camping gear.”

  Of course. We bought high-quality bedding at Randell’s the other day which used a bird monster’s feathers. It made for amazing insulation and heat retention. We also bought a sleeping bag, a blanket, and a pillow. It totalled up to 7,000G.

  Food was no problem with our Pocket Dimension storage. We wouldn’t be able to eat until after our watch.

  “Hey, is that kid really going to be okay by herself?”

  “Piece of cake.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

  He was really getting on my nerves but he had a point. It was hard to trust a tiny girl like Fran to be on guard for the night.

  “She’s a D-Rank. That means she’s stronger than you. If she says she can keep watch for the night, then she can keep watch.”

  “Yeah… that’s the thing! How is this twerp a D-Rank? It doesn’t make sense! Did you sell your body to that lolicon Guildmaster? Fess up!”

  So this was the guy who started us on this evaluation quest. He had never seen Fran fight before. It was hard to measure how powerful an adventurer was at this rank. Krad suspected foul play contributed to Fran’s meteoric rise in the guild; she was exceptional, after all.

  That didn’t mean I was going to let him off for slander.

  Fran, what should we do?

  Nothing? It’s just a bit of noise.

  Krad had used his Intimidation skill again, and it failed to affect Fran, again. She answered him, her expression still uninterested.

  “I’m stronger than you.”

  “You? Stronger than me?! Don’t make me laugh! There’s no way a kid like you is strong enough to make it to D-Rank!”

  “But I am.”

  “Hahaha! All right, let’s see what you’re made of. Show me this power of yours!”

  Krad raised his spear to challenge her to a duel.

  Fran got up and prepared herself. I couldn’t know for sure until we actually fought, but she seemed ready for an all-out brawl. The sooner we got this over with, the better. This dumbass shouldn’t take too long to subdue.

  You can fight him, Fran, but don’t overdo it.

  I know. I’ll just rough him up a little.

  The rest kept quiet. Furion’s crew didn’t want to get involved with infighting but I fully expected Amanda to step in and stop the foolishness before it started. Instead, she only smiled and watched. She understood the difference between Krad and Fran’s strength levels. Cruise didn’t stop us, either. Was he exaspe
rated by the events of the day?

  “Oh, are we getting a show?”

  I guess not. Cruise’s crew looked on with great interest. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen them during the goblin raid. They were probably part of the expedition crew and didn’t get to participate. This would be their first time seeing Fran in action, too. Cruise’s teammates set up a perimeter and stood guard in Fran’s stead.

  Fran, you should make an arena before you start fighting.

  If anyone interfered during the match, Krad would start complaining again.

  All right.

  Fran started casting two spells.

  “Wind Zone.”

  “Earth Zone.”

  Wind Zone created a dome of wind which its caster could use to detect any objects which passed through it. Earth Zone created a dome of earth magic below a given area. Unlike Wind Zone, it couldn’t detect anything above ground. Between the two zones we had both land and air covered.

  “M-magic…?”

  “She used two elements.”

  “Seriously?”

  Krad’s crew spoke nervously among themselves. They were grinning at first but now their faces grew pale. And that was just from watching Fran set up barrier spells.

  “Y-you’re a Mage?!”

  “What? No.”

  “B-but you can use magic…”

  “You don’t have to be a mage to use magic.”

  “O-oh…”

  The barrier spells were enough to scare him. The spells were Level 4, after all. Seeing Fran cast them without a sweat would scare any E-Rank adventurer.

  “Let’s go.”

  “A-all right. Let’s do this!”

  Krad looked determined to win using his spear even if he couldn’t use magic. Back on Earth, spears had an advantage over swords. But that might not hold true in this world of magic and weapon arts.

  Still, we weren’t about to lose in a one on one match.

  “… Ready when you are.”

  “Raaah!”

  Krad wasted no time and charged right into Fran. He must have felt a little bit of Fran’s power from the two spells she cast and decided to hit first and think later. Fran stood her ground. It surprised the rest of the camp who were spectating as they had dinner. Furion and Krad’s crew gasped in horror as they expected Krad’s spear would run right through Fran.