“See you later, Jade!”
“Yeah, see you.”
Shirosuka had been fuming, but once I let him pet Chick-kun, he broke into a grin. He’s really into small, cute things.
“Let’s cook some Japanese food together again.”
“Alright, but get rid of those dirty magazines before I come over.”
“Wh-what!?”
With a bizarre cry, Shirosuka headed back to town.
Now, as for me, it’s time to get back to my mission to hunt down those “Charge Boars.”
“Come out, you damn pigs!”
‘Squeal!’
“Oh crap, they really came out!?”
Three of them showed up together. Are they that common in this forest?
“Why is that? Anyway, let’s activate my skill: ≪Analyze≫.”
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Target: ‘Charge Boar’
Species Ability: 【Sturdy】 (Head Only. Strong durability boost.)
Individual Ability: 【None】
A type of monster that prioritizes attacking humans. It resembles a large boar with a heavily fortified skull and muscles optimized for short-distance charging, making it highly specialized for frontal assaults. However, it is vulnerable to attacks from other angles, which is why the Adventurer’s Guild rates its danger level as C.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
“I see. So, even high-ranking adventurers have trouble if they get hit head-on.”
And there are three of these things right in front of me. They don’t usually travel in packs, which means they’re really overpopulated. I don’t know why, but my job remains the same.
“Time to take you down before you become a problem for the town.”
I crack my knuckles and activate my skill, ≪Item Box≫.
I summon a massive bone hammer.
‘Squeal!’
“Recognize this? It’s made from your kind’s skulls.”
This hammer, called “Chahan,” has the following stats:
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
・’Chahan’ Rarity: 2 Type: Hammer Weight: 40kg Maker: Jade
Physical Attack: 500
Elemental Attack: 0
Durability: 100%
Special Ability: 【Sturdy】
A huge hammer made from the overdeveloped skull of a ‘Charge Boar.’ Its incredible density remains intact, even as a weapon. However, using it requires considerable strength due to its weight.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
‘Squeal!’
“Come at me.”
The boars charge in rage. Their weakness is simple to exploit.
“First, hop!”
I leap over their heads as they charge, then…
“Then, smash!”
I bring the hammer down on their backs.
‘Squeal…!?’
And just like that, one down. As the analysis suggested, they’re weak everywhere but their heads, so a hammer to the back does the trick.
“Chick-kun, if you ever get bullied by crows or something, go for the eyes or other weak spots, okay?”
‘piyo piyo piyo!’
“What?”
I don’t understand, but I get back to the fight. Two more to go.
At that moment,
“Disappear!”
Water and fire projectiles fly out of the bushes, taking down the remaining boars.
Those attacks…?
“Hello there!”
“What a coincidence, isn’t it?”
From the bushes emerge the twin silver-haired lolis, Niesha and Kuesha. What to do? → Greet them.
“Hey, Niesha, Kuesha. What brings you here? Did you follow me?”
“Huh?!”
The twins exclaim in unison. They seem as close as ever.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, big bro. We just happened to take the same Charge Boar hunting quest.”
“That’s right. You don’t think we’d actually follow you, do you?”
They giggle and tease me, “So full of yourself.”
Yeah, that makes sense.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s just that three times out of ten, we end up on the same quests. I guess I got ahead of myself. How embarrassing.”
“Really!”
The two laugh, agreeing that I was being silly.
“I’m sorry… wait, what?”
I suddenly notice my pocket feels light. I had a water flask… huh!?
“What the heck? My flask is empty!”
There are no holes in it. How did this happen? I filled it up before I left…
“What happened, big bro? Did you forget to fill it?”
The girls giggle at my misfortune.
Ugh, showing my clumsy side again as their self-appointed guardian.
“You’re so scatterbrained. — We’ll share our drinks with you.”
“Yeah, dehydration during a mission can be fatal. — It’s iced tea, though. Is that okay?”
I gratefully accept and pour it into my flask, taking a big gulp.
“Mm, delicious! Thanks a lot.”
The twins look at me with sharp eyes.
“What’s wrong, guys?”
Oh, did they make this themselves? Niesha and Kuesha are at that age where they’d be interested in things like cooking.
Time to give them some praise.
“Thanks, you two. It’s really tasty.”
“It’s just store-bought, though. The taste doesn’t matter. More importantly, big bro, do you feel sleepy?”
Huh? Sleepy?
“Not at all…”
“Tsk tsk!”
Whoa, did they just click their tongues at me? Did I mess up somehow?
“Uh, sorry if I did something wrong.”
“Seriously, big bro. You’re stuck at third rank forever, but your body is annoyingly tough!” “Exactly! You have no idea how much trouble that causes us!”
Am I being scolded for being healthy?
I don’t get it. Maybe they want me to act more like a weak older brother?
But with my high-spec dragon body, that’s not happening.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll try to catch a cold or something next time.”
“Don’t do that.”
What the heck? I don’t get it!
“What do you want me to do…?”
As the twins and I were talking, the ground began to shake, and a horde of boars burst from the bushes.
“Squeeeeal!”
“A whole swarm of Charge Boars!?”
There were over ten of them, clearly enraged by their fallen comrades.
“We should avoid a frontal fight. So, here we go.”
“Whoa!”
I stored the hammer in my item box, picked up the twins, and dashed towards a large tree. I jumped to the middle of the trunk, kicked off, and landed on a thick branch.
“Wow, you really are ‘Jade the Overpowered.’ Carrying us both like it’s nothing, you’re definitely not third rank material.”
“And you handled those boars easily.”
So they were watching the whole time.
“You could be second rank, right? Why not take the promotion test?”
“Maybe someday.”
I dodged the question.
This is just my personal belief, but in life, it’s not always best to show off all your abilities. If you constantly display your full potential, people will come to expect that level of performance from you all the time.
And if that level happens to be your limit, you’re in trouble.
Giving your all every time leads to burnout. Eventually, you’ll face exhaustion or failure.
On the other hand, if you start slacking after showing your full potential, people will think you’re not doing your best.
So, a moderate level of effort is best. Enough to enjoy your work and still have energy left for fun afterward.
“I’m a bit jaded. I don’t have much ambition for promotions. But…”
“But?”
Even a jaded person like me has times to go all out.
“When someone important is in danger, like you two, I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”
“Someone important!?”
Just then, the tree we were on shook violently.
“Whoa.”
Below us, the boars were ramming the tree repeatedly.
“Squeal!”
“We can’t keep chatting. Let’s finish them from above.”
Alright, time to show the girls my new weapon.
“Check this out. I made a ‘Totoro’s Magic Bow’ and a slingshot ‘Ropa Jumbo’ that shoots Jumbo Rat teeth with rubber made from Roper tentacles. Watch me—”
“Let’s go, Kuesha!” “Right, Niesha!”
“Wait, you two!?”
Before I could even show them my weapon, the twins leapt down, brimming with excitement.
“Take them down in one hit!”
They drew short wands and activated their skills in mid-air.
“Magic Skill ≪Flame Technique Red Spell≫! Fire Roar!”
“Magic Skill ≪Water Technique Blue Spell≫! Splash Roar!”
Fire and water rained down on the boars. Despite being opposing elements, they didn’t cancel each other out.
The perfectly calibrated attacks collided on the ground, creating a…
“Explode, Burst!”
Instantly, a steam explosion erupted.
“Squeal!”
The boars were obliterated in a flash.
“How’s that, big bro? Pretty strong for second rank, right?”
“You might be strong, but they are not to be underestimated.”
The twins winked at me, “So stop treating us like kids!”
“Man, you two have really grown up.”
They’ve become so competent. Maybe it’s time I stopped being overprotective.
“Oh.”
I noticed a large red dragon approaching from the distant sky. It’s an adult dragon, at least threat level A.
“What’s wrong, big bro?”
“Nothing much.”
If the girls encountered it, they’d be in serious trouble.
I swiftly aimed my ‘Ropa Jumbo’ and fired. The dragon had a hole through its stomach before it knew what hit it.
Guess I can’t stop being overprotective just yet.
“Sorry, you two. Let me be your guardian a bit longer?”
“Seriously?”
They both looked annoyed. Sorry, girls.
Characters:
Me: A dragon with a problematic name. Generally clueless.
Shirosuka: Happy to pet Chick-kun! Generally a goof.
Chick-kun: Terrified of being petted! Generally eating beans.
Boars: Today’s victims. Generally enjoy mud baths.
Silver-haired twins: Criminals. Generally love their big bro a lot!
