Editing Skill Tree Goddess:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 4===

Queen Size had arranged a large wagon (and the passengers had split the fee), which was now clattering along.

When the royal castle vanished beyond the horizon outside the canopy, the sense that they were in the dangerous outdoors truly set in. Even in one of the two most powerful kingdoms, the fields outside the cities were plagued with monsters. Or maybe the great size of the kingdom was exactly what allowed for that.

The passengers were all adventurers or mercenaries clutching powerful weapons. The mood made the wagon seem to reek of blood before the fighting even began. To be fair, S-rank meant the monster’s strength was in the ''range'' between an aristocrat’s territory and a monarchy and none of them had heard of the Lindworm form before. This was the natural result when you gathered a group of only the people who didn’t chicken out after hearing they were to hunt that sort of dragon.

Curled up with his back to the canopy, Gilbezos whispered to the goddess next to him.

“This Balsta hunt was a job personally posted by the king. Did you hear that? Personally.”

“Yes, and before he always went through a minister or aide who wanted to earn some points with him.”

That said, this wasn’t too unusual.

The Limonfarbe Kingdom and the Desestmarth Empire.

The two ruled the continents on either side of a narrow strait and did not at all get along. Enough so that it prevented the many other smaller kingdoms and dominions from causing any trouble.

However, the empire across the sea was not their kingdom’s only enemy. There were threats within the kingdom too, such as the many unexplored areas that existed in the plains and remote islands beyond the heavily populated regions even after the kingdom was approaching its thousandth year. All because a kingdom spanning an entire continent covered too much land. There were plenty of dungeons crawling with monsters and abandoned villages or temples commonly became dungeons once inhuman things moved in.

These things would cause severe damage to the kingdom if left unchecked and that would cause the worldwide power balance to collapse.

Simply put, if monster damages hollowed out the kingdom from within, the kingdoms and areas that were being suppressed now would again strike out and destabilize the world as a whole. And the enormous empire was the prime candidate there. Visiting ruins to slay the monsters living there sounded like a task for the meatheads, but it was in fact a crucial job that saved the world at large from crisis.

Similarly, the mere spread of rumors suggesting the kingdom was shaken would harm the public good, which prevented the king from sending in the elite knights such as Saezuri to hunt the monsters. Instead, he would use amateur adventurers ''who didn’t leave any records or statistics in the official documentation''.

“Hey.”

While Gilbezos was lost in thought, he was addressed by a brown-haired delinquent-looking young man holding his knees nearby. He seemed to like black leather, but it didn’t look like he had chosen it for its sturdiness. His body was covered with meaningless studs and belts. His weapon appeared to be a spear. The shaft was hollow and had been collapsed down for transport, so it didn’t look very impressive.

“Is a little kid like you really joining the dragon hunt? You can’t be much older than 10.”

“I’m not that little. I’ll have you know I’m 140 centemetora tall.”

“Don’t use your fleeting hopes to lie to the man,” said Seliphenia. “When you measured yourself the day before yesterday, you were 139.5 centemetora, remember? I will admit you are older than 10-year-old Shirayuri, though.”

“Man, are the guild receptionists even doing their job? None of that makes any difference. This is too risky for you.”

The man was correct that Gilbezos was the youngest one here.

Then again, he may just have been bored. Same as Gilbezos.

“Besides, are you planning to fight with that sword at your hip? The thing’s teensy.”

“Oh, this is just for show.”

“Huh?”

“I mainly fight with magic, so I barely ever use this.”

…Hm. So 50-60 centemetora was small. Even though the sword was nearly half his height.

“Yikes. Are you sure that’s a good idea? Not what I’d call a smart way to live your life. Such an inefficient way to learn your skills.”

The delinquent seemed legitimately worried for Gilbezos.

And he had a point. When using LAW to learn skills from the Skill Tree, your options were either to specialize in one specific thing or to become a jack of all trades, master of none. If you wanted to defeat any enemy you might encounter with only magic skills, you were forced to go the dangerous “jack of all trades” route where you learned some skills from each magic type. Play your cards wrong and the “master of none” part would be your undoing.

However, Gilbezos didn’t have to worry about that since he could receive a LAW payback for his skills as many times as he liked.

“Damn, I can’t just leave you to your fate. If it gets bad out there, you can rely on me. You’re lucky I noticed you.”

Was that man the type who wanted to be the leader in any given situation? Once he got going, he started revealing more and more about himself even though no one had asked.

“This is a dragon hunt, okay? It’s the kind of job you see in your storybooks. That makes it a job for me, the Great Liod Prominence and my Dragon Special skill! It took a lot of work to learn that, so I’ve gotta use it when I have the chance!!”

“What? You learned Dragon Special, the elite Rank 9 skill that’s actually fairly useless because there aren’t many times in life when you need to be able to challenge a giant dragon alone and survive?”

“You have some guts, kid. But I don’t regret it. Spending all that LAW on a bunch of small but useful skills just ain’t my style!!”

He looked like a frightening delinquent, but he turned out to be a delinquent with a heart of gold and also a good guy to have on your side.

Perhaps his primary concern here was women. For example, the goddess chuckling next to Gilbezos who looked around 18, who had huge boobs, and whose clothing looked like it would become entirely see-through if the light shined on it just right.

Or so the small boy thought, but…

“Don’t worry. I’m not interested in women.”

Hm?

“It’s life or death in the dungeons. I know far too many older adventurers who’ve lost their lives due to ‘distractions’ like that. So I’ve sworn to myself I won’t make the same mistake.”

The Great Riod Prominence was sounding unexpectedly somber. He was an earnest guy for a delinquent.

“(I mean, can you believe the veteran hero Gurban was hit by a special attack with the ridiculous name of Sexy Panties Succubus Ninja Arts, giving him the poison, paralysis, curse, sleep, shock, seal, trance, lunacy, and charm status effects all at once? Then a ton of monsters swarmed him from behind and attacked him. I won’t let that happen to me. I’m never letting myself die in such a pathetic way. I won’t, I won’t, I won’t…)”

…Something he had seen in the past had apparently left a deep scar on him. Perhaps his delinquent exterior hid a sensitive young man. Regardless, this delinquent with a heart of gold knew how to switch between work and private(?) modes, so he left no openings (when it came to battle at least). Gilbezos had lucked out when it came to fellow hunters.

“(Not interested ‘in women’, huh? So he might just be very interested indeed in you, Gilbezos.)”

“Why does that idea seem to delight you so much?”

“Do you need some cheek rubbing? Rubby, rubby, rubby☆”

“Gyahhhhhh!?”

…Was this goddess jealous of a fantasy she had invented herself!?

Then Gilbezos’s eyes met those of a nervous-looking glasses girl sitting nearby. She looked like a magic user, but more of a healer priest than an attacker black witch. However, she wasn’t focused on Gilbezos.

“I-I think I ''am'' interested in that woman there.”

Hmm?

This wagon was threatening to develop a relationship diagram more complex than a major city’s five-way intersection.

The goddess herself kept a composed expression.

“(If she’s willing to mention her feelings in public like that, they can’t be all that strong. You know what I mean, don’t you, Gilbezos?)”

…Did she have to add that last part? But yes, she was right. Revealing a crush was as bad as death in his mind!!

The nervous glasses girl of around 14 introduced herself.

“I’m Rachel Vibrato. As you can see, I’m a priest.”

“Isn’t your weapon a bit much for that? You the kinda priest who hits people?”

Delinquent Riod gave the girl a skeptical look because of the mace she held between her head and shoulder. It was a silver staff with a large, swollen end, so it wasn’t much different from the large hammers used to break down columns when demolishing an abandoned building.

“I originally planned to be a heavy warrior, but I changed my mind after finding the heavy armor unbearable on steep mountain paths and scorching hot beaches. But the skills I learned back then are still with me, so I use a blunt weapon for all my magic.”

“Wait, even your healing magic?”

Small Gilbezos’s interjection dragged him into the conversational vortex.

“I-I am a priest, so I do have healing skills of course! So if you need healing, just ask!! …It does hurt a bit though since I have to hit you to heal you (whisper). But, but. The magic skill heals more than the physical attack hurts you, so it’s a net HP gain!”

“Hey, are you telling us not to worry because our caved-in skulls will return to normal!?”

Riod shuddered and raised his voice. He may have been wondering if there was a real risk of having an ally smash him in the back of his head in the middle of a serious boss battle.

“Speaking of jobs, Riod, what’s yours?”

“A light trickster. Y’know, the one that lets you make two moves each turn. It apparently makes you really strong if you master it cause then you can use multiple consumables and not just do multiple ordinary attacks, but that tree means you’re STR doesn’t grow much. That’s why I’m also learning some shadow type magic from a different area.”

More of the passengers began introducing themselves. They may have been itching to do so.

“I’m a black witch. You can leave the attack magic to me. Of course, I can only use mid-level magic since I’m learning several different types!”

“U-um, my job is thief. You know, the kind that learns Steal and Unlock.”

The title could be confusing, but a thief was a combat specialist who used that sort of skill for the benefit of others and society. The knife-wielding girl in the baggy sleeves was not an actual burglar.

“What’re you, little boy?”

“A beginner.”

“Wait, you’re still the basic starting job?”

Yes, but only because having to change his clothes each time he switched up his skills would turn his battles into a costume party. And acquiring gear for each job he wanted to use wouldn’t be cheap.

Once it got started, more and more people began speaking up. Even if they had been silently curled up before. A bearded man named Seafog Cheerful wanted the large payout of this job so he could buy a field out in the countryside and retire early. An unemployed maid named Viola Megalopa wanted to build up her resume to get hired at a nice mansion. Gilbezos didn’t understand all of it, but he grasped that being an adult wasn’t easy.

“It sounds like Riod and his Dragon Special will be the most useful. If you have any support or buffing skills, focus on him first.” (Bearded Man)

“I have a lot of buffing ones, but they eat up a lot of MP.” (Unemployed Maid)

“Oh, then I can share my extra MP with you. By hitting you with my mace!” (Hitting Priest)

But they couldn’t be certain of anything until they saw the dragon for themselves. They were only guessing when it came to the enemy’s traits, type, and skills.

“I’m fine being the main player, but I feel like you’re deciding my fate for me.”

…For a delinquent, the Great Riod Prominence was easily pressured and clever, which probably caused him a lot of grief. Actually, was he even a delinquent?

“I still can’t believe each of us gets 500 thousand yeno just for participating in the dragon hunt and that whoever delivers the finishing blow gets a bonus of 5 million yeno! With 500 thousand, I can eat fancy dinners every night for a month!”

“It is incredible, isn’t it? I bet I can afford a foreign vacation after this.”

“Yeah, but none of us gets paid if we don’t win. And that includes the participation pay. Still, 500 thousand might just be enough for a field out in the country where land is cheap.”

At any rate, this was the group joining Gilbezos on the dragon hunt.

There were several wagons, meaning the total number of participants was several times this, but he had a feeling this group would stick together.