Once he was promised trailing and after that, a conditional opportunity to go primary. Now he was primary and wished he was trailing.

  Close to a week with the wandering circus proved that most of them were worth salvaging. Three girls and two boys, not necessarily really aged ‘girl’ or ‘boy’ were beyond help, and Nanami would simply have them dropped in Isekai and forbidden from ever returning north. Both boys belonged to the leather atrocity fan club, and the girls, well, steel bikini and six kilogram world atlas… Same with toothpick girl. She refused to accept that her beloved wand, not only didn’t help, but also occupied one of her hands. The problem wasn’t their awful equipment, but rather that they persisted that it made sense. The remaining three leather aficionados took the cue after Nanami showed what happened when wet leather confronted sharp utensils.

  That left a baker’s dozen, and with two of them assigned to camp logistics, that meant they needed to pad out with one person to create two active parties. Ioha was that one person, and they all really needed a patrol under their belt before they returned to Isekai for the rank test.

  He took point with Viking girl just behind him. After some splendid reshuffling, she ended up with his round shield, since it simply was a better fit for her than her boss gripped, period correct, one. When Hiro saw her receiving the admittedly hysterically expensive shield, he refused to accept any payment from Ioha for the heater shield, arguing that a guildmaster had the responsibility to balance guild inventory. Ioha didn’t complain. The two shields were probably a fair exchange. Giving away something he associated with Ai hurt, but it hurt less than he thought it would.

  Further behind their healer, then one mage, and as backline two archers, one of them a total rookie.

  Another two hours behind them the second party with the three heavily armoured boys, an archer, and two mages followed in their trailing patrol.

  Any remaining monsters Ioha missed were certain to be attracted to the noise.

  He cast brittle shields at his maximum range, which was maybe half the old school yard. Much too short to be useful, but pushing his limits would eventually reward him with an increased range ability. At his current capacity, perhaps a few metres extra, which was pitiful, but Ioha suspected he’d one day appreciate every added metre.

  Viking girl’s mail rustled a little behind him, but Ioha wondered if she wasn’t the more silent of the two. At the back line both self-assigned ranger, a silent man named Haruto, and thief turned out to be truly stealthy, and after they received adequate equipment and several months of training, they might end up good scouts. Mage and healer were both unknowns. Puny auras had him wonder why they started out as casters in the first place, but their attitude grew on him, and so he picked them for his own party during this patrol.

  Something moved.

  “Hikari, down!”

  Viking girl obeyed and squatted.

  Something charged.

  Hard shield front and up.

  “All yours.”

  Ioha funnelled the monster with shields and dropped it in front of the girl. Her eyes were large and frightened, and just as the creature jumped her, an arrow lodged in it. It veered right from the hit. Viking girl blocked its path with her shield, turned and swung her axe.

  Ioha quickly threw up a barrage of shields behind her back before an arrow and a fledgling bolt of fire slammed into her. Tsumugi, the mage, might have a sorry excuse for an aura, but her fire spells were the real deal. Monsters were only one half of the danger. Then another arrow, this one accurate, buried itself in the wriggling thing Viking girl had hammered into the ground. Her axe rose and came down again. Something crunched, and the monster stopped moving.

  He looked away when she retched. This was the first battle the wandering circus actively participated in, rather than just being unsuspecting prey.

  The fourth years once taught the third years how to patrol during their excursion. His seniors went much deeper into the zone, obviously with a much greater risk to encounter something really dangerous. He shouldn’t forget that Nanami’s experienced parties had patrolled this region for months by now, with their visit to Isekai representing a short holiday.

  “Get the carcass! We’re moving on.” He pretended he hadn’t heard Viking girl empty her stomach and continued into the reeking forest. An hour at most before they turned back. The stench steadily got worse, but it was still nothing close to just before the attack on their camp during the excursion. For now, if they trekked a little further to the east, slightly closer to the border, and then looped back to camp, then he’d call it a day.

  As usual, sounds were slightly off, as was the light. Daylight and yet not. Treetops moving, but the wind just a tad too silent, and rotten sugar and almost roses making him want to blow his nose. Let’s be just a little more careful now. The stench got worse. He waved his party to slow down.

  “Stay behind me!”

  Viking girl filed in behind his back.

  OK, before anything gets here. Ioha built a grid of traps and a temporary labyrinth of shields around them. He’d trained on speed casting a predefined series of spells since they arrived in the border zone. Now it should come to use because this wasn’t a party he entrusted with handling a battle he hadn’t choreographed beforehand.

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  You are the protector of the line. Heimdall’s words echoed in him. Now for the magic goo above them. Just in case anything was able to fly.

  “Hikari, three metres behind me! Backline, ready!”

  If anything attacked, it would be now. He readied his spinning shield above his head and cast the swirling whirlpool of razor blades around him.

  “What?” Viking girl said.

  “Don’t step in it. You’ll shred your legs.”

  Multiple something charged.

  My field! My battle! My domain! I’m your lord! Face me and face me alone!

  There were five of them, and a couple more came running toward his killing field. COWARD! COWARD! Just in case.

  Ioha dropped a force field ahead of him and waited for the larger group to charge into his traps.

  Just four of them?

  “Watch out!”

  That was behind him, but he had his hands full, with four writhing horrors caught in magic goo. He pushed them down into the swirling razor blades and started stabbing. Not enough time. He put a hard shield on top of them to keep them inside the shredding trap at his feet. His partisan went up, and he covered his face with his new shield. It was a lot better than the round shield.

  “Eww! It’s bleeding.”

  The first of two larger spiderlike monsters ran straight at him. This time the shield moved along his arm the way he wanted, and the monster impaled itself on his blade and caught on the wings. He dropped the partisan and drew his broadsword just before the second monster slammed into his shield. Gurgling noises and shrieks reached his ears, while he forced that one into the swirling pool of slow death. Another hard shield on top sealed its fate, and he cleaned his sword, idiotically clean, and sheathed it. Then he bent down and picked up his partisan. Idiotically clean and the impaled monster came off.

  “Sir Questingtank, are the monsters supposed to explode?”

  Behind him, the one that didn’t obey his punitive area taunt lay on the ground. One arrow and one axe wound showed why it was dead, but it bled from several other places and had definitely started to rot explosively. “If I tell them to, yes.” He turned to face his party. This was more than they could handle mentally. “I have an ability that orders enemies to attack me with something like a geas if they don’t.” If he called them a wandering circus, then he should give them credit for knowing their fantasy adventures. Don’t need to tell them the disobedient ones start rotting from the inside.

  The stench stayed, so he had to tell Nanami something still roamed around here. He could extend the patrol for another hour, but they’d be late back, and it was too dangerous. “Pick up the carcasses. We’re returning to camp.” Just to be on the safe side, Ioha left whatever traps still stayed up intact behind him. They’d collapse long before Nanami could make it here with another party anyway.

  On their way back, Viking girl stayed more subdued than usual.

  “What’s wrong?” The day of their first battles. Nanami would have his hide if he let anything fester now.

  “Aren’t you a provisional as well?”

  Ah, so that was it. The ‘if he’s a newbie, then I’ll never be good enough’ self-assessment. “Look, I’m a provisional adventurer. Yes, I’ve also finished my freshman year at Spellsword Academy as a spellsword student.” The lie was a mere stiff week long, and there were no important lectures or training sessions left when he was expelled. His old party could apparently compare with the best the second years had to show as well, but Hikari didn’t need to hear that.

  “That school any good?”

  “The best this side of the federation capital,” Ioha admitted. They were arseholes, but he still believed the school was absolutely first class. “Heard they’re starting one in Isekai soon.”

  “Another one?”

  Ah, yeah, forgot they opened one after New Years. “Yeah, another one.”

  Her hand went to her mouth. “Sir Questingtank, you believe they’d accept an adventurer as a student?”

  Do I believe the old scheming bastards would accept freshmen with permanent E-rank badges and some experience, when they desperately need to advertise the school as the second coming? “I’m certain they’ll consider your application in a kind light.” What the hell was he supposed to say? He knew who some of the teachers were. But for Heimdall’s request, he’d apply there himself. He’ll, he’d even repeat his freshman year if that was what it took. “And I’m just as certain you’ll like it there as well.”

  “Really think so?”

  “Yeah.” He took point, and he heard her so close behind him, she could as well have tugged at his clothes. Had he been a little more like Karaki and a lot less fixated on Ai. Well, if he had, then he wouldn’t be expelled in the first place. Games of ‘if’ were seldom constructive.

  “Sir Questingtank.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you!”

  Viking girl had no reason to thank him, but now was not the right time to tell her. “No biggie.”

  The forest slowly thinned out, and they’d be out in the open in a few minutes. Still in the zone, but the open always felt better. Less than an hour until they met the trailing party.

  Ioha compared memories, as they walked along the road in two rows, if three people after each other deserved to be called a row. He made up the vanguard, with Viking girl trailing a little to his south.

  His abilities had increased. Numbers went up after all, but overall, they hadn’t bumped up enough to explain the difference between him then and him now. So, experience, he guessed. Numbers represented some kind of perfect result in a perfect context. If he could cause an explosion with a spell, then the numbers indicated how destructive an explosion, but if he was hell-bent on violent burglary, then experience determined which part of the walls or roof he applied that explosion to. And that difference didn’t have any numbers in his display.

  Did others see it? Were there people who measured some kind of level? But with his mindset, he’d be angry if such a level system didn’t apply per category of ability, or even per situation, which probably was the reason he couldn’t see any. Anyone who did were likely to see some kind of general level of experience, which didn’t help all that much when facing a specific task.

  The world was a game, with game like laws of nature, and he needed to learn what only looked like back home on Earth but wasn’t, and then he needed to use that knowledge for himself.