Level 1 Strongest Sage 1

“Hiyyaaaaa!!!”

I swung my sword down with all I got.

The Black Wolf’s head fell down with a dull thud.

“Keith, behind you!”

Aria warned me.

And just as she said, another wolf charged at me from behind.

Nothing to worry about, I already noticed it.

I twisted my body back, stuck my sword to the ground and held my stance. I focused on feeling the presence of my opponent and estimating the distance of the fangs that were about to bite me to death. Waiting for the perfect timing—

“Hiyyaaaaa!!!”

I whirled around and slashed diagonally.

Guwaaa!?

The wolf probably thought it got me.

It stared wide-eyed at me as its body split into two.

“Thanks, Aria.”

“Yeah, but two of them got away!”

Our task was to annihilate the Black Wolves, so we couldn’t afford to let even a single one of them escape.

Aria’s occupation was a Mage, and she was not good at close combat. Even so, she didn’t even try to defend herself from one of the wolves that was approaching her.

She believed in me. I had to slay the monster that was trying to attack Aria.

…It’s fine, I can do it!

I released all tension in my body and let myself fall to the ground.

As my body pitched forward, I put all that strength into my feet.

I converted the downward acceleration of my body into the force that was needed to get closer to Aria.

With a powerful kick on the ground, I started sprinting at full speed—

I thrust my sword into the body of the Black Wolf that was about to sink its fangs into Aria.

Just a little bit more and she would have been bitten, but Aria was fully focused on the two Black Wolves that were trying to run away. Mana started flowing out of her. Even I, a guy who could barely sense mana, could feel that concentrated mana was starting to swirl around her.

“Oh spear of ice, pierce through and deal the final blow to my foe—Ice Lance!”

Her mana turned into countless spears of ice, and all of them flew with great speed towards her targets.

The dying howls of monsters resounded from afar.

“Alright, it’s a hit!”

“Nice one, Aria!”

She fired countless spears simultaneously so that the speedy black wolf monsters wouldn't be able to escape, but the first two spears she released among them had each nailed their respective targets, apparently.

It was remarkable, considering the distance.

“The amount of your mana is really awesome, as always. The accuracy of your spells are also incredible.”

“Keith, you’re awesome too; you ensured that I can use my magic without any worry even when we’re surrounded by so many monsters. The way you slay that monster in the end is also amazing.”

Aria praised me, and I couldn’t help but feel all bubbly inside. She seemed pleased when I also praised her.

“Alright, let’s report to Shiryoo-san.”

“Okay! Let’s have him praise us a lot, shall we?”

We collected the body parts that served as proof of the monster subjugation and started heading back to town. Aria and I were by ourselves; our pair was tasked with subduing a pack of Black Wolves, which were intermediate D-rank monsters.

Normally, a group of D-rank adventurers with four or more members was typically expected to accept this type of request. By the way, it had been roughly a month since we registered with the guild.

For the first two weeks, Shiryoo-san taught us how to fight against monsters at the training facility owned by the Notorius Clan.

We had the strength to defeat D-rank monsters even when we left the village. However, it was just about defeating them; we hadn't really used any special techniques.

Shiryoo-san and the senior adventurers of Notorious Clan taught us techniques and knowledge on how to efficiently and safely defeat monsters without decreasing their value as materials.

I felt like Aria, and I have become much stronger in a lot of ways after learning those skills.

For today's subjugation, we had placed a bait with paralysis poison near the black wolf pack's den in advance. One of the adventurers belonging to the clan had also taught us the method of concocting a poison that the black wolves would find hard to detect. Thanks to that, we had a relatively easy time because a few black wolves ate it.

The clan was really amazing.

Adventurers with different skill sets and knowledge readily cooperated with each other and generously shared what they knew. That was the reason why we became stronger, and we have grown a lot as adventurers too.

“Hey, Aria. I’m really glad that we joined Notorius.”

“Me too, Keith. I thought incantations were just a hassle, but thanks to joining the clan, I learned that not only do they eliminate wasted magic, they also improve the accuracy of my attacks!”

At first, Aria and I were planning to do adventurer work together without anyone else, just the two of us. She’s the shy type, after all. She’s not really keen on meeting new people.

But recently, I noticed that Aria could happily chat about magic and related stuff about it with the other mages in the clan nowadays.

It has only been two weeks since we started working as adventurers, but we’ve already been promoted to E-rank. We accumulate guild points quickly, and the day before yesterday, Shiryoo-san recommended our promotion to the guild, so we were able to advance without taking the usual exam.

Shiryoo-san told me that we would’ve passed even if we had taken it, and that made us really happy. I’m sure that today too, he’d praise us when we report that we’ve completed the task.

“I’m going to work even harder. Someday, I want to become the adventurer that will be known as Shiryoo-san’s right hand!”

“Then me too, I’ll become Keith’s right-hand!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Aria, you’re strong, and I’m sure you'll become even stronger from here on. So, why don’t you aim to become Shiryoo-san’s left hand instead of me?”

“Hmm, that’s also a nice idea… But still, I wanna be with Keith.”

Aria grabbed my right arm and clung to me.

Actually, she was the type of girl who looked slender when clothed.

That’s why, uh, those softies…

I couldn’t help but focus on my right arm. Aria ignored me as she continued chattering.

“That’s why, Keith, let’s do our best together from here on!”

“Y-Yeah, let’s do our best.”

“What happened to you? You seemed down.. Eh, wait, were you injured in the battle just now!?”

“Ah, n-no, that’s not it! I’m totally fine, not a single scratch, see!”

I spun around right there and there to show that I wasn’t injured anywhere, and I also freed my arm from Aria’s clutch while at it. Things might get even more, ehem, critical than when we were fighting the monsters if we stayed like that

“Really? Then that’s fine, if you say so… but please don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll definitely tell you if anything happens, Aria. Make sure you do that too and tell me, alright?”

“Okay.”

“Sooo, from now on, let’s do our best!!”

“Yeah! Let’s give it our all!!”

Aria and I would continue working together in the Notorius Clan even in the future.

We’d definitely become even stronger than we are now!