Chapter 3

Dil had been swaying in a carriage for about two weeks, traveling from his hometown, the village of Toca, to the city of Gian.

After consulting his wallet, he chose the cheapest shared carriage, which left him completely stiff when he arrived in Gian.

To avoid wasting time during the journey, he decided to practice using his skill, Keichiri, inside the carriage.

As a result, several facts became clear, and his journey became beneficial for him.

Firstly, Keichiri is a skill that helps understand the optimal way to move the body. While it is undoubtedly most useful in combat, it also made it possible to minimize back pain and joint pain while swaying in the carriage.

Secondly, Keichiri has practical usage limitations.

The activation time of Keichiri varies greatly, sometimes lasting only a few seconds and other times maintaining for several minutes.

Each use counts as one, and every time the usage state ends, Dil's entire body is overwhelmed by a fatigue akin to old age.

Using Keichiri, one can escape a state of exhaustion without waiting for natural recovery, but in such cases, several times the usual fatigue would overwhelm the body afterward.

He managed to use it consecutively up to five times, but any more was impossible.

While it seemed possible to maintain optimal movement by continuously using Keichiri, Dil did not try it.

He sensed that if he became too dependent on the skill and made its use a constant state, he would inevitably face painful consequences.

From his experience as an old man, Dil felt that this skill, like alcohol and womanizing, had the potential to lead to one's downfall.

By continuously using Keichiri, one could move without experiencing physical pain. However, except for the first week, Dil deliberately chose not to use it and continued to endure the back pain while swaying in the carriage.

He also verified another advantage of Keichiri. By mimicking the movements used while Keichiri was active, one could achieve a similar effect.

Dil spent his free time learning the body movements and the way to shift his center of gravity while using Keichiri. Because his body remembered, it was not particularly difficult to reproduce.

The combat assistance, sustained combat capability, and the secondary benefit of optimizing his body's movements—despite the potential for dependency—Dil successfully deepened his understanding of his skill during the journey.

There was nothing left but to gain experience through actual combat.

With that in mind, he knocked on the door of the Adventurer's Guild in the city center.

He ended up helping a woman who was about to be taken away and successfully used Keichiri in a real situation.

Even with a wooden sword that he had made long ago and never maintained, he managed to knock out a clearly strong person.

With a sword made of iron, he could expect even greater combat ability.

Perhaps he could secure a place to eat and sleep, and even send money to Thor and the others.

While watching the man being taken away by the guards, Dil thought about these things.

"Will I be called by someone important later?"

"Don't worry, everyone here will vouch for you... okay?"

Mies was supposed to be smiling warmly at everyone, but for some reason, it looked as if she was surveying the surroundings with a critical eye. Dil saw the illusion of a tiger behind her.

She was not the frail girl he had thought she was a moment ago; she was a woman who could switch gears quickly.

Following her instructions, Dil walked through the counter, up the stairs, and deeper into the building.

He thought it was unlikely that he would be eaten, but then he calmly recalled what he had done.

Opening a door and getting into a violent situation while trying to become an adventurer... that didn't sound good at all.

The worst-case scenario flashed through his mind, but the image of Mies' smile quickly dispelled the dark thoughts.

He wasn't sure what would happen, but for a fossilized old man who only knew that adventurers were people who cut down enemies, taking the first step as an adventurer was already an extraordinary thing.

(Well... from the way things went earlier, there's no need to worry too much, right?)

He had the option of using Keichiri consecutively as a last resort. Besides, since he didn't know when he might die, saving one woman was already a good outcome.

With these thoughts, which were neither optimistic nor pessimistic, he walked along until Mies stopped and slowly opened a door. A room with luxurious chairs and a desk came into view.

As Dil walked to the chair on the right, he saw Mies walking to the opposite chair out of the corner of his eye.

"Please, have a seat."

Dil sat down as he was invited and couldn't help but smile at the lack of cushioning in the chair.