Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

T/N: This time around, it’s Haruto speaking. So no more bold conversations, just the one where Halt was the one speaking. I retained the bold pronouns because the raws still had brackets on them.

Haruto and the Four Heroes (3/7)

I was lying on a soft bed when I woke up. My right hand felt uncomfortable, so I glanced at it. The black-haired girl was gripping my hand as she slept. It seemed like  she had been crying the whole time; there were tear tracks on her cheeks. 

My right hand was severely burnt by the werewolf boss’s attack, and I couldn’t even move it, supposedly, but —

It had been restored to perfection, I couldn’t even see any traces of burns. Maybe Sarion kept on casting healing magic on me after I fainted.

Even the part bitten off didn’t leave any scars. As I thought, Isekai’s magic really was  great, huh — No, Sarion is the amazing one, I guess?

Anyway, I wasglad that this girl — that Tina was  safe, and I was able to protect her.

Right now, I’m like a spectator watching my — Haruto’s memories unfold before me, but it was really thrilling, my heart kept on pounding from the suspense. I think that I did my best, considering that I fought against a lot of monsters with only that level. 

Still… young Tina is so cute, huh.

I stared at Tina’s sleeping face for a while, but she woke up when I moved a bit.

“Good morning.”

“G-good morning.”

“Did you save me?”

“No. It was Sarion. I couldn’t do anything…”

Tina desperately tried to cast heal on me, but it was futile because of the magic sealing choker she wore on her neck.

“But still, I heard you trying your best to call out to me. Thanks.”

“I am the one who should thank you. Thank you very much for saving me.”

Tina bowed down. I gently stroked her head.

“I’m glad I was able to save you. Can you tell me your name if it’s okay with you?”

“Y-yes! I’m Tina. Tina Harivell.”

“Tina-chan, it is. I’m Haruto. Saijou Haruto.”

“Haruto-sama…..”

“Were you injured, Tina?”

“No, I’m fine.”

She appeared to be okay. The choker and manacles had been removed, too. We were in a hurry trying to escape before, so I could only cut the chains that bound her when we were in the carriage. 

Afterward, I told Tina that I came from Isekai – another world different from hers. Tina was surprised, but she seemed to believe me. She  then explained the various things of this world to me.

The Demon King hadn’t revived yet at this time, but the monsters were becoming more active.

The merchant who bought Tina and his minions were attacked by high level monsters, when in fact, they usually didn’t roam around that area. 

The menace from the monsters rapidly worsened. Tina had a worried look as she relayed these  things to me.

“What happened?”

“I am….a person who [Inherited the Blood of the Heroes]. I have the power of heroes within me. That is why I had to fight monsters no matter what.”

Tina was trembling.

Maybe she was  thinking that she had to fight them on her own? Just because this little girl had ‘protection’, she had to do that?

That was wrong.

“Don’t worry, I’ll fight too. That’s because I am — a hero.”

Tina taught me how to check my status board.

It was written there, plain and simple. Occupation: Hero.

──＊＊＊──

Three months had passed since that time. I started my rigorous combat training under Sarion, and he taught me how to swing the sword, how to attack and dodge, and even using magic.

Sarion was strong. I didn’t stand a chance even if I made Tina stand behind me so I could activate my skill.

I thought  Sarion could defeat the Demon King but…apparently, it was impossible.

The Demon King had the divine protection of the Evil God, so we had to destroy that protection.

The only one who could do that was me, because the Creator God gave me the power of a hero. Normally, since I was the hero, I should have possessed enough power to defeat the demon king.

However, I didn’t stay for long at the Creator God’s place after he teleported me, so I was only Level 40 now, and I only had that [Protector] skill. It was actually hopeless when compared to the Demon King and the tens of thousands monsters under him.

And so, we decided that I would  do the first attack, and Sarion would  then defeat the Demon King. It was Sarion who proposed that.

If we could  save the world, then it didn’t matter even if I came off as totally uncool, that was  why I agreed with Sarion.

However, in order to make that plan possible, we had to travel to the lair of the Demon King in the first place. It would be a huge burden to Sarion if he needed to protect me all the time. Thus, he guided me so that I could  become stronger, at the very least.

By the way, Tina also trained under Sarion. She wanted to train with me, she said.

She was a daughter from an aristocratic family so she had never held a sword in her entire life, but because the Demon King was revived and the monsters became more active, Sarion decided that she also needed to learn how to fight. 

Tina was gifted. She learned how to wield the sword at an amazing speed, and her magic also improved tremendously.

On the other hand, I was —

“Not enough, that’s not enough! How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? There’s no way you’ll know your opponent’s next move just by staring!”

“Ugh!”

I was thoroughly beaten by Sarion every single day.

“You have to feel the flow of magic. Strong monsters reinforce their body just before they attack. In short, if you can grasp the flow of magic, then you will know the next move of your opponent.”

He explained it to me countless times. But, I didn’t have magic in my previous world, and it was extremely difficult to rely on other senses aside from sight during a high speed battle.

“Halt-sama, are you alright?”

Tina was worried about me since I remained sprawled on the ground after our training session. Tina could already parry Sarion’s attacks — how pathetic of me.

“I’m not fine, but…thanks.”

Tina always nursed me after Sarion left the training grounds, it became a custom.

She would wipe my sweat and let me lie on her lap, not caring whether her clothes were dirtied even though I was so dusty and dirty from being beaten to the ground countless times.

Sarion would train me until I could no longer move, so I was at Tina’s mercy, with no strength to resist.

Of course, there were  no ill intentions.

The Elven race could gather mana from the air around them. Tina, being the Half-Elf that she was, possessed that ability, and I felt that my mana rapidly recovered with a touch from her.

Tina was like an angel to  me. She is still as beautiful as an angel even now, though.

I only knew about this later on, but apparently, Sarion would purposely continue the training until I could no longer move. He kept on increasing the difficulty level to match my growth. 

He didn’t do this just to make me stronger. 

His goal was for Tina to be able to like me even if I had collapsed from total exhaustion and didn’t have enough strength left to resist.