Raising the Elf’s Genius Slayer

---

Chapter

Enok ran with all his might, like an explosion of anger.

The wind whipping against him tossed his hair wildly.

After running for a while, he took a moment to catch his breath.

Now that he looked at himself, he was wearing nothing but pajamas and had no shoes.

Of course, he didn’t have a single penny to his name, just his own body and the Mercenary Guild badge.

Well, that should be enough.

Pouting his lips, Enok started moving his feet again.

‘Should I go to Dendalo?’

No, not that.

He might run into Rionne by mistake.

Then, somewhere else.

He picked a direction at random.

[Meow…?]

F feeling his master’s confusion, Eri peeked out from his chest.

Enok pressed Eri’s head down forcefully and tucked it back into his chest.

“Stay still.”

[Bark.]

“It’s okay.”

[Meow?]

“Be quiet.”

Now that he had settled on a destination, he pressed on.

His physical condition wasn’t too bad.

From what he could remember that night, he had risen to the rank of Master.

He had felt a bit lost wondering when he would reach that point, but life-and-death situations really were the best training, weren’t they?

Still, it seemed he hadn’t fully attained the level of Master yet.

The enlightenment he gained that day was still hazy.

If he were to try the False Thunder God Transformation again, maybe this time…

After pondering for a moment, Enok shook his head.

‘This isn’t a joke, Enok. You really almost died this time. Do you know how your sister felt… Ugh… how she felt…? Ugh…’

The image of weeping Rionne came to mind.

He didn’t want to worry her unnecessarily.

Or maybe she wouldn’t worry anymore?

After he had stormed out of the house.

Sick of him, Rionne might completely disregard him as if he were an outsider.

“……”

Should he go back?

Just a fleeting thought.

Driven by a surge of stubbornness, he quickened his pace.

*

For several days, he crossed the forest.

Now quite familiar with the woods, Enok had hardly faced any hardships.

He simply repeated the cycle of resting and running.

Lost in thought while running, he unexpectedly arrived at the edge of the forest.

The dense trees began to thin out, and he could start to feel human presences.

Removing the leaves stuck to his body, Enok headed toward the city’s main gate.

“Umm…”

The guard stared oddly at Enok, who was still in his pajamas and barefoot, but showing his Mercenary Guild badge allowed him to enter without difficulty.

What should he do now?

First, he needed to get some clothes.

Food and lodging could still be solved in the forest, so that wasn’t a big issue.

“Hmm.”

But clothes don’t just grow on trees.

He would either have to buy them or threaten someone with a knife, one or the other.

‘What can’t be helped! Enok, why do you always try to solve everything with fighting? Huh?’

Pouting his lips, Enok searched for the Mercenary Guild.

Ignoring the strange looks from people, he arrived at the Mercenary Guild.

“Wahaha…! What’s that idiot doing again!”

“Did he lose his mother after running away from home?”

Ignoring them, he headed to the nearby bulletin board.

Sheets of paper about the size of two palms were stuck all over it.

These were requests.

Enok searched for a request he could take as a D-rank mercenary.

Among the requests he found, four had rewards exceeding a certain amount.

Of those, three were for gathering herbs, and one was for exterminating a goblin settlement.

After a moment of thought, he snatched all four of them.

Heading to the counter with the requests in hand, the receptionist wore a vague smile.

“Um… What can I help you with?”

Enok handed over the request slips.

The receptionist’s expression turned even stranger as she examined them.

“Um… you’re aware there’s a penalty for failing, right? It could even result in a decrease in your rank.”

“Yeah.”

“While that’s fine for the gathering requests, you seem to be short on time for the extermination request… Do you have a party?”

“It’s fine.”

As Enok pushed the requests toward her, the receptionist reluctantly accepted them.

“I’ll take care of it for now…”

That was sufficient.

Enok turned on his heel immediately.

She seemed like she might create trouble if he stayed longer.

Honestly, he didn’t care, but Rionne’s words lingered in his mind.

“Hmph.”

Enok kicked the door of the guild open and walked out.

*

Having entered the city not long ago, Enok soon left it again.

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t even know the name of this city.

He should look into it soon, he thought, when he caught sight of something.

“No, this way is right!”

“The map’s upside down; what nonsense are you talking about? It’s over there!”

“No, it’s definitely this way.”

“Damn it!”

There was a party bickering amongst themselves.

Enok’s gaze lingered on them for a moment.

‘They said you need various experiences to level up.’

Once his current request was done, should he try working with someone else?

Efficiency might suffer, but putting in effort really didn’t produce much anyway.

At best, it was just money.

He had never placed much meaning on money.

While lost in thought walking through the forest, Enok’s nose twitched.

A pungent but bittersweet scent.

The smell of the herbs listed on the requests.

Turning in that direction and walking a little further, he found the herbs.

Under a rock.

He swung his hand, breaking the rock, then pulled out the herbs, shaking off the dirt from the roots.

That made one done.

The remaining requests were also not difficult.

On the way to the goblin settlement, having completed all three gathering requests, Enok absentmindedly tapped the base of a tree with his foot.

All of it were things Rionne had taught him.

Suddenly, he wondered if running away was too much.

[Cut!]

Eri suddenly jumped out and perched on his shoulder.

Then, she stretched her small paws to tap Enok’s head.

“Stop that.”

[Bark.]

Sitting calmly atop Enok’s head, Eri had changed quite a bit since then.

Her energy level and even her eye color.

She used to have blue eyes, like sapphires, but now they were tinted purple.

Rionne had mentioned that it seemed influenced by Enok’s Ki, and perhaps that was why Eri’s attributes had also solidified around lightning.

“Come to think of it…”

Enok grabbed Eri by the scruff and held her up.

He remembered Rionne saying that the spirit was a fox because it resembled something grand.

The Master of the Forest, that is.

White fur and blue eyes.

Eri’s eyes were blue before turning purple.

“Tsk.”

He felt displeased.

What a mess because of that fox.

If the Master of the Forest heard it, Enok boldly pointed his finger.

“Got it?”

[Bark!]

“Kill!”

At his command, Eri shot forth.

Where he pointed was a goblin settlement partially visible among the densely packed trees.

Soon, Eri’s body pulsed with purple lightning, and—

Boom—!

Leaving a purple trail, she lunged through the trees.

Enok, who had allowed the spirit to have her fun, walked slowly.

Maybe it was because she had been consuming mana, but Eri was busy massacring goblins left and right.

Piercing through them like arrows, shooting lightning to fry them, or smashing their heads with her tail.

Watching her gleefully blow them up was oddly impressive.

‘Now, she is finally being of some help.’

Clearing the goblin settlement didn’t take even ten minutes.

*

Enok returned to the Mercenary Guild.

Had he been gone about an hour?

Perhaps that’s why some familiar faces from earlier were still there.

“Hey, look, that idiot is back.”

“Bwahaha, the moron took four requests at once, huh?”

Ignoring them, Enok pulled out the herbs he had gathered and handed them to the receptionist.

“Yes, Parqulamins, Kaltakcho, and Sam-eumcho. They’ve been confirmed.”

The receptionist told him to wait a moment and disappeared, returning shortly with a pouch.

“This is your reward for the requests.”

He peeked inside; the amount seemed correct.

It wasn’t a difficult request, so it wasn’t much, but it was enough to buy a few pieces of clothing.

“Now, you still have one left; the goblin settlement extermination request?”

At the receptionist’s words, Enok raised an eyebrow.

“That’s already been completed.”

Wahaha—! Laughter erupted from behind him.

The receptionist, looking troubled, forced a business smile and spoke.

“Uh… for the extermination request, we need to verify it before we can provide compensation.”

“You mean I can come back later?”

“Hmm….”

The receptionist was in a tough spot.

The goblin settlement might not seem like a big deal, but it was, in fact, quite a challenging request.

Not just the numbers, but the goblins around here were cunning, full of all sorts of tricks.

It stood to reason that a D-rank mercenary party should have a significant number, while a lone adventurer would need to be at least C-rank.

To finish it this quickly, one would need to be at least B-rank.

Yet, the little kid in front of her was supposed to be at a B-rank level?

Though she knew there were all sorts of oddities in the world, this was something hard to believe.

“Well then, I’ll simply come back later.”

Thinking they would probably check up on it, Enok turned and left.

The gazes of the mercenaries felt utterly naked.

They were brimming with mockery.

If someone were to provoke him, could he half-kill them?

But that wasn’t solving everything with a fight, right?

As Enok contemplated,
“Hey you idiots! Shouldn’t you be focusing on your own work instead of acting like morons?”

With a booming voice, the guild fell silent.

It was a strange sight.

Aren’t mercenaries supposed to live by violence and brawling?

Yet, everyone had clammed up at a single shout.

Enok’s eyes turned toward the source of the voice.

“Hey, kid. See you again.”

It was a gruff-looking, bald middle-aged man.

He looked somewhat like a dwarf, just three times larger.

Especially his shiny bald head made Enok want to slap it just once.

“Oh.”

Leaving just that one word, Enok stepped out of the guild.

*

Outside the guild, Enok quickly gathered some clothes.

A few comfortable outfits, a large hood that was oversized for him, and a bizarre mask he had bought from a street vendor made the list.

Stuffing his clothes into a cheap bag he bought, Enok glanced at his reflection in a shop window.

He was a bit small, but there were plenty of short people around.

Wearing a dark, gloomy hood and a mask that made him look weird wasn’t uncommon among mercenaries.

“Hmm.”

This should do.

No one should treat him like a mere kid.

Enok left the city again to search for the Satis tree in the woods.

It was a strange tree that smelled similar to Rionne when the wind blew.

Enok climbed the tree and sprawled out on a branch.

He had hung his bag on a nearby branch.

“Fool.”

He missed Rionne just a little already.

*

[Woof!]

With a suffocating sensation, Enok opened his eyes.

As soon as he opened them, a mass of white, fluffy fur filled his view.

[Cough…!]

Shaking off Eri, who had tumbled down, Enok yawned and climbed down from the tree.

Eri, as if comfortable with it, settled on Enok’s shoulder and licked his cheek.

“Today….”

Should he try to find a party?

It was hard to understand, but it seemed there was enlightenment among human relationships.

Since Rionne had said so, it must be the truth.

Suppressing his desire to just return home, Enok began walking toward the city.

However, upon passing through the city gates and entering, something felt off.

As he entered the Mercenary Guild, the tension thickened even more.

“So what? They’re just going to throw us into the requests?”

“Who knows, we might get conscripted.”

“Damn it! Just stop it already!”

“If the lord’s orders come down, we have to obey. See if you can refuse.”

“Such pretty words for telling someone to die, huh?”

“If you’re upset with conscription, you should have become a Master.”

“Damn it.”

What, did a war break out or something?