TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 10
Mikhail grew stronger through stimulation.
That’s how it’s written in the novel.
-During his childhood, Mikhail encountered a Goblin by chance on a mountain and faced a life-threatening situation. At that moment, with a burning stimulus in his chest, Mikhail awakened his talent for swordsmanship.
It must have been written in the novel like this.
And it must have been written like this in the Affinity Quest too.
[Q. Mikhail, who needs stimulation]
Mikhail, whose rapidly advancing skills left him with no rivals, began to grow complacent.
1. Provoke Mikhail in front of everyone.
2. Defeat Mikhail in a place where no one knows. (1/1)
3. Lose to Mikhail in the ‘Class Battle’. (1/1)
Reward: All Stats +5, Swordsmanship Lv. 4
Mikhail Reward: Swordsmanship Lv. 3
Failure: All Stats decrease by 10
I am confident that I can help the quest target grow faster than anyone else.
Instead of swinging a sword aimlessly alone, providing stimulation along with the keywords from the quest leads to faster growth, even without rewards. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
Ruin was like that.
With just a little push, he grew insanely fast.
Ruin grew from defeat, Mikhail from stimulation, and the Heroine from harassment—quests were triggered in these areas.
As expected of Protagonists, their borderline perverse preferences made the quests unique, but the effects were undeniable.
I diligently completed the quests.
It’s hard to refuse something handed out for free, you know?
In the latter half of the novel, the Protagonists were set to grow into a Saintess, a Hero, and an Archmage to save the world. Nurturing them in advance wasn’t a bad thing.
I passionately harassed the main characters. To them, I might have looked like an irredeemable Fighter, but if I moved with World Peace in mind, wouldn’t they find it moving? Or maybe not?
Ultimately, if you touch on what someone lacks, they gain a stepping stone for growth.
They can break through barriers that had been blocking them.
Sometimes, they achieve miracles by reaching realms they couldn’t before in an instant.
Even in martial arts novels, it’s the same.
After being utterly crushed by the Antagonist, they go, ‘Hmm… Was I an idiot?’ and undergo secluded training, gaining enlightenment and reaching the Flower Realm or Profound Realm.
The Affinity Quest feels like that.
Just as scratching an unreachable itch feels incredibly satisfying, filling in unknown deficiencies or providing stimulation fixes lacking parts and accelerates growth.
This was the power of the Affinity Quest that I possessed.
-A quest has been triggered.
The notification sound rang for the first time in a while.
It felt like it had been a year since I last saw one.
[Q. The ill-fated Extra ‘Hanna’ destined for a short life]
Neglected by her Father and scorned by the Servants, she always resents her pitiful Divine Healer talent.
She is starved for Praise.
With the start of the school term fast approaching, Hanna takes on a quest of a level she cannot handle to quickly improve her skills and is killed by the ‘Elite Orc Gladiator.’
With consistent praise, she could have realized her Divine Healer power and even surpassed the Knight Commander to contend for the Empire’s Greatest Sword.
(!) Help her grow stronger on her own.
1. Praise her to raise her Self-esteem.
(0/10)
2. Raise her Favorability to 40 or higher.
[Favorability: -10]
3. Defeat the ‘Elite Orc Gladiator.’
(0/1)
Reward: Swordsmanship Lv. 6, Strength +3 Increase
Hanna: Swordsmanship Lv. 4, Beginner Aura (C)
Failure: Histania Hanna dies.
“I have to do this.”
It wasn’t just about the money when I suggested this. The idea of her dying moved my heart. No matter how much I liked money or hated hassle, I couldn’t just ignore a future where someone dies.
Of course, the money was the biggest factor.
But I wanted to help.
I didn’t know much about her past, but from the short description, I could tell her life hadn’t been easy.
Histania Hanna.
She was a character who didn’t appear in the novel. That was because she died.
This made me feel even worse.
Hanna, unaware of my troubled feelings, looked at me as if I were absurd.
“What? What are you going to do for me?”
She couldn’t believe I said I’d make her defeat the strongest 2nd Year. Maybe she was overwhelmed with emotion.
But judging by her expression, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“How am I supposed to beat Senior Mikhail?”
Hanna let out an Empty Laugh.
She must have thought I was joking. I spoke with sincerity.
“It’s possible.”
Mikhail hasn’t awakened his Aura yet, after all. There’s still time before he does.
In the Second Semester, during the Episode where the Heroine gets kidnapped, Mikhail awakens his Aura. He turns into a Monster then.
Until then, Mikhail is just a student who’s slightly better at swordsmanship.
It’s possible to rival him with a sword.
With a bit of luck, it’s possible to win.
Of course, Mikhail is already an excellent swordsman. He has natural talent in swordsmanship and combat intuition, but he’ll definitely be easier to face than Mikhail with an awakened Aura.
Mikhail with an awakened Aura is a Monster.
What I meant was this: Mikhail without an awakened Aura can be defeated.
Thinking of him as a student who’s just slightly better with a sword makes him more approachable.
Right now, Mikhail’s swordsmanship is around Level 3. The moment Hanna reaches Level 4, it will be the Birth of Divinity.
Hanna, unaware of my thoughts, looked at me as if I were pathetic.
Of course, she found it ridiculous.
“Hey, Butler.”
“Yes.”
Hanna looked at me with an exasperated expression, as if scolding me, “What do you, a disruptor of the ecosystem, even know?”
“Do you know what’s the one thing no 1st Year would dare say, even as a joke?”
“What is it?”
“That they can beat Senior Mikhail.”
“Ah, I see. Haha!”
Hanna’s expression cracked at my sly laughter. She must have found my laugh annoying.
“Why are you laughing?”
“It’s just funny.”
“Ha….”
Before her mood worsened further, I asked her the reason.
“Didn’t you, at your time, just charge forward without caring whether someone was a senior or not?”
“That’s because Butler has Senior Mikhail in your grade.”
“Even then, I’ve charged forward at Mikhail too, you know?”
For a moment, Hanna was speechless.
Her eyes looked at me as if she were staring at a Crazy Bastard.
Seeing that our conversation wasn’t getting anywhere and Hanna muttering to herself, “Do you even know how strong Mikhail is?” made me chuckle lightly.
“So?”
“What?”
“Do you think Mikhail is stronger than me?”
I asked her a fundamental question.
Hanna’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
Since it made sense after hearing it.
At some point, Hanna’s gaze was fixed on my sword.
If I were to fight Mikhail right now….
I’m confident I could take him down faster than Ruin.
In a voice that wasn’t light, I teased Hanna’s Ear.
“Do you think Mikhail could subjugate Ruin like I did?”
There was no response.
Hanna bit her lip tightly, looking into my confident eyes. It seemed, even in her thoughts, Mikhail would lose to me right now. I asked her one more thing.
“Did you ever look at Mikhail and think, ‘Ah… This is someone I can never defeat’?”
“…Yes.”
Before she could answer, I cut her off.
“That’s not it, right? You’ve probably thought, ‘I want to be like Mikhail,’ because he seemed within reach.”
Hanna looked as if she had just been struck by something. She had never even considered the idea of fighting him.
Hanna couldn’t respond to my straightforward words.
Hanna muttered quietly to herself.
“Me, against Senior Mikhail?”
Shaking her head, she scolded herself not to overstep.
To drive the nail in, I glanced around. No one was watching.
I reached out my hand to Hanna. The Red Aura I had seen before rose like a mirage.
“Don’t trust me?”
Hanna couldn’t take her eyes off it.
The Red Aura was like the passion that had been extinguished.
“Still, isn’t it better than not trying at all? Just think of it as being swindled by a con artist.”
“No. Even then, it doesn’t make sense. How could I possibly defeat Senior Mikhail.…”
“Wouldn’t it be regretful if you couldn’t beat him? Isn’t it a bit embarrassing for a swordsman to give up without even trying?”
Hanna fell into deep thought.
I gently pressed the trigger button that everyone reacts to.
“Scared?”
I wanted her to become my source of income.
***
“Amazing, Miss Hanna!”
Hanna looked at me, her face red.
She seemed embarrassed by my loud Praise, loud enough for all the Monsters in the mountains to hear.
It made me want to tease her even more.
“Ohhh! To think you’ve already taken down one! Isn’t this a record?”
“No…!”
Today marked the seventh day.
She decided to follow my words, thinking she might as well give it a shot.
However, she decided to add one more condition.
-Let’s do it 5-to-5. How about this instead?
-What is it?
-If, by any chance, I defeat Senior Mikhail in the School Ranking Tournament after the school term starts, I’ll give you all the allowance I receive from now on.
-What?
-10,000 Gold per month. That’s my allowance. But if I lose, you have to grant me a wish.
Hearing her words, I thought to myself.
I’ve caught an incredible sucker.
It wouldn’t even be a loss for her.
She’d gain the title and confidence of having beaten Mikhail.
But she still seemed to doubt me.
She hadn’t yet gained extraordinary strength, nor had I taught her any remarkable swordsmanship.
For now, my wallet was still more precious.
Of course, I didn’t forget to offer her Praise.
Hanna was diligently handing over half of her hard-earned earnings to me.
As I sliced through the head of an Orc charging at me, I shouted.
“Wow! 10 Gold!”
The Orc’s head fell.
I felt my wallet growing fatter.
After surviving on shillings for a while, the thought of filling it with golden coins again after so long made me happy.
1 Gold per Orc head.
So far, 10 Orcs.
At this rate, reaching 100 Gold wouldn’t take long.
Hanna shook her head as she watched me slashing Orc heads like a madman.
I looked at her and gave a small smile.
“Oh…! Now you’ve taken down two! Impressive.”
“Ah. Yes….”
“Try taking down just three more, alright?”
Hanna counted the Orc heads she had taken down. They were exactly one-fifth of the number I had defeated.
Feeling a sense of inadequacy, she swung her sword even harder.
‘Working hard.’
So this is how she ended up encountering the Elite Orc.
I thought as I watched her.
She’s truly a woman serious about swordsmanship.
At our first meeting, I thought she disliked swordsmanship after seeing her Affinity Window.
But she was someone who loved swordsmanship more than anyone else.
It felt like this.
Like someone who had studied harder than anyone else, but was disappointed in themselves for not achieving the expected grades, to the point they hated even talking about grades.
Her sword didn’t seek shortcuts.
Perhaps because of her consistent practice, I couldn’t find any flaws in her mental state.
Instead, there seemed to be many gaps in her Technique.
As the number of Orc heads decreased, I gathered power at my fingertips.
Red Aura gathered at the Tip of the Sword like a mirage.
A booming Red Sword Qi extended outward. After confirming the Orc beyond had collapsed, I shook my sword.
She looked at me in disbelief.
“How is that even possible?”
Hanna, quenching her thirst with water.
The water she had been holding in her mouth had long been spat out.
I, with a very nonchalant expression, told her.
“I just did it, and it worked.”
“Crazy.”
She looked at me as if I were a Monster.
Hanna collapsed onto the ground with a thump.
She seemed very exhausted.
I quietly sat down beside her.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“You’ve worked harder.”
“I know.”
The sun was setting.
It was almost time to return to the Young Lady.
In a voice loud enough for her to hear, I spoke gently.
“You put a lot of strength into your shoulders today.”
“Is that so? I thought I had fixed it a lot.”
Hanna gave a small nod.
She didn’t voice any objections.
“Your lower body movements are too exaggerated.”
“That’s because my lower body is big….”
I quietly nodded.
Indeed, she’s a fertile type.
“Don’t think weird thoughts.”
“I’m not.”
After that, I gave her more feedback.
You’re putting too much strength into your waist.
Your movements are too straightforward. Especially.
“It’s obvious you’re trying too hard to mimic Mikhail.”
“Still…. Am I? You’re amazing.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I have a good eye.”
Excessive humility can offend others. I raised myself up. After all, I am skilled.
[Hanna’s Favorability increases by +1.]
I raised her Favorability a lot over the past week.
I felt proud that my efforts were paying off.
The cool breeze brushed through my hair. The evening wind after work always feels refreshing.
Of course, Hanna’s eyes were filled with fatigue, but since I wasn’t tired, it didn’t bother me.
It’s about time to leave.
I should buy some chocolate on the way home. The Young Lady has been talking about it for a week now, and I’m scared she might reincarnate as chocolate if I don’t.
To wrap up the day, I said to Hanna.
It would be much more helpful for her than clumsy feedback.
I carefully placed my hand on her head as she lay sprawled out.
“You did well.”
“What?”
Hanna’s eyes widened.
“You really did well today. I’m praising you.”
“Why would you praise me?”
What she thirsted for was Praise.
I don’t know how Hanna has lived her life up until now. Whether she faced neglect or lived happily, I neither knew nor wanted to know.
What was clear was that Hanna’s expression when hearing Praise looked extremely awkward.
Hanna looked up at me with a face that seemed unsure of what expression to make in such situations.
It seemed she wasn’t used to receiving Praise.
Hanna looked at me with a peculiar gaze.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Does my hand bother you?”
“No. It’s just… I feel good.”
“I didn’t even wash my hands after pulling out the Orc Tooth earlier…”
“Ah…!”
“Just kidding.”
Hanna smiled brightly.
It seemed she quite enjoyed commoners’ jokes.
Hanna jumped up from her spot with a playful “Upsy-daisy!” She looked like a mischievous child.
“What’s the Butler’s name?”
“Why?”
“I’m just curious. I don’t think we’ve exchanged names until now.”
That’s true.
I slightly bowed my head out of courtesy.
“I am Ricardo.”
“Oh…. That’s a cool name.”
“I know.”
Hanna cheerfully collected the Orc Tooth with light steps.
I lazily looked at the Favorability displayed above her head.
[Histania Hanna Lv. 28]
[Job: Academy Student]
[Favorability: 11]
[Favorite Topic of Conversation: Praise about Swordsmanship]
[Disliked Topic of Conversation: School Term Start]
Hanna’s Affinity Window, reflecting the same concerns as any other college student, was pleasant to see.
It seemed like her growth would be swift.