Kashiwaba Kaoru

　Akira went outside and found a woman crouching in front of a dead Black Wolf lying on the ground.
　She was unmistakably skinning the animal. She was a woman he had met at some point in his life, busy dismantling something.

(……『Analysis』)

　Muttering to himself, Akira brought up the analysis screen.



　 ――――――――――――――――――
　Kashiwaba Kaoru　２４ years old　Female　Lv１０
　Stamina：１０
　Strength：１９
　Endurance：１９
　Speed：１９
　Luck：１０

　Points：１
　 ――――――――――――――――――
　Individual information
　・The human race of the current world.
　・Ratio of internal magical element：０％
　・No magic crystals in the body.
　・No magic crystals outside the body.
　・Physical Condition: Normal
　 ――――――――――――――――――
　Possessed Skills
　・Physical strengthening Lv１
　・Dismantling Lv１
　 ――――――――――――――――――



　The screen displayed was the same as before.
　At that time, he had no intention of remembering her name, and he didn't even glance at that part, so he didn't remember, but it seemed that this person was definitely the Kashiwaba that Nao had mentioned.
　Akira approached Kashiwaba, deliberately making loud footsteps so as not to startle her, and slowly called her name.

"Are you Kashiwaba-san? "

　At those words, she shuddered once, stopped dismantling, and turned to face Akira.


"You are――――"

　Kashiwaba stared at Akira with wide eyes.


"I am Ichijou Akira."


　Akira briefly introduced himself.
　Kashiwaba responded with a slight nod.

"Y-Yes." I know. Ichijou-san is……I mean you're famous."

　Akira immediately understood the meaning of those words.
　A few days ago. Akira's deadly battle with the Minotaur was recorded on video by onlookers and spread around the world via the internet.
　Many people saw the video showing his face.
　Kashiwaba was probably one of them.
　Akira nodded in agreement to Kashiwaba's comment and immediately got down to business.

"I would like to request something be dismantled."
"You mean by me? "

　Kashiwaba's eyes widened at Akira's request.
　Akira nodded in response, put the body bag he was holding down on the ground, and opened it to show her what was inside.

"This thing."
"――――! ?　That's……"

　Kashiwaba peered into the bag and immediately seemed to realize what kind of monster it was.
　Akira stared at the contents of the bag and spoke.

"You know that yesterday there was a screen announcing a boss defeat, right?　That screen appeared when I defeated the boss. ……And here it is. Yesterday, I killed a boss monster called Werewolf."
"Werewolf……"

　Kashiwaba murmured, repeating Akira's words.

"Can you do it? "

　Akira said, staring at Kashiwaba's face.
　Kashiwaba seemed confused by the sudden request. After staring at the corpse of the werewolf and Akira numerous times, she finally asked him, as if she had made up her mind.

"Um, why me? "
"You want to do what you can to help others. I knew that you had said so before, Kashiwaba-san."
"Me? "

　Kashiwaba looked suspicious as she listened to Akira's words.
　It was no wonder that the current Kashiwaba was unaware of this. The Kashiwaba who once said that to Akira was different from the girl standing in front of him now.


"…………"


　Kashiwaba appeared to be troubled.
　She shifted her gaze, staring repeatedly at the corpse and Akira's face, and finally let out a small voice.


"I can take care of dismantling the body."
"Then――――"
"B-But!　With my current dismantling skills, it's completely impossible! !　Probably, I can dismantle about 40% of it neatly…… No, maybe less than that. I think it's about 30%."
"Does that mean the dismantling will fail? "
"I don't think of it as failure, but rather that it was impossible to dismantle in the first place. I think my low strength also has an effect…… I think this monster's endurance is just too high to begin with."

　Perhaps she was referring to something she sensed intuitively due to her dismantling skill.
　Akira thought about those words and quietly said, “I see”.

(I remember hearing before that if you have dismantling skills, you can ignore a monster's endurance even if it's high, right?　Does that mean that even with Dismantling Level 1, the endurance of a werewolf cannot be ignored?)

　Akira thought to himself as he stared at Kashiwaba's face.


"……So, if you raise your level, will you be able to solve that problem? "
"Y-Yeah…… Probably, but......"
"I understand. Let's raise your level then."
"Eh?　EHH! ?　N-No, I mean, if I increase my level, I'm sure I can solve that problem! !　But I am truly weak, you know?　I can only defeat goblins at best."
"It's fine. I'll beat the monsters until they're on the verge of death, so please finish them off, Kashiwaba-san. To put it bluntly, it's power leveling."
"Power leveling can't be that easy……"
"Come on, let's just give it a try."

　Kashiwaba looked at Akira suspiciously when he casually said that.
　However, in the end, Kashiwaba accepted Akira's proposal, thinking, “If it will raise my level……”.

　Akira immediately decided to take action.

　After returning to his room, he picked up the Hatchet of the Raging Bull and went to Nao to tell her that he would power level Kashiwaba.
　Then, as expected. Nao said she would also accompany Kashiwaba on her power leveling.

"I'll go too."

　Saying that, Nao's movements as she got ready were awkward. Thanks to the 『Auto Regen』 skill, the wound on her forehead seemed to have healed completely, but her broken right arm was still not fully healed.
　Watching her occasionally frown and shield her right arm, he couldn't help but want her to rest her body so she could fully recover.


"No, Nao-san, please stay here. Your wounds haven't healed yet, have they?　It's more dangerous to push yourself too hard and get injured."
"It's okay. Even yesterday, I was able to fight monsters."
"That may have been true yesterday, but today Kashiwaba-san will be with us. Kashiwaba-san's stats are low. If no one protects her, she will die easily. Can you protect someone like that with those wounds?　It's different from yesterday when you only had to protect yourself, isn't it? "

　Nao understood what Akira meant.
　With a look of regret on her face, Nao bit her lip and slowly exhaled.


"……All right. Okay, I understand. Don't push myself today and just rest. But――――"

　Saying that, Nao turned her gaze toward Akira.


"If you push yourself too hard when I'm not looking…… I won't forgive you, okay? "


　Akira was taken aback by her words and stared at Nao with a blank expression.
　Then, with a tiny smile, he nodded firmly and replied.

"I'll be careful. ……Well, I'm off then."
"Alright, take care."

　Akira bowed his head to Nao's words and left the room.

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