I Wanted a Cute Girl to Cast Healing Magic on Me, So I Kept Protecting My Allies—and Ended Up with an Overprotective Party - 23

Chapter 23: Beautiful Young Girls and a Beautiful Girl, in Their Own Room

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A notice had been posted on the guild’s bulletin board, calling for multiple adventurers to explore an unexplored floor of a certain dungeon. Apparently, this sort of event was regularly held by the guild here in the city of Galiano, and participants not only received special rewards but also earned a significant bonus in their rank evaluation.

Of course, neither Emil, Miya, nor I had ever participated before. I wonder about Karinka-san. She’s the reliable big sister who knows everything—maybe I should ask her.

“Karinka-san, have you ever participated in this kind of thing before?”

“Yeah, I have. A lot of different adventurers take part. There’s a lower rank limit for participation, but no upper limit, so even A-rank adventurers can join.”

As expected of Karinka-san—she’d already been through it.

“It says here that the requirement is E-rank and above. Which means Miya can’t participate. Too bad, Miya.”

“Hey! Why would you say that?! There’s still time before the real thing, so I just need to reach E-rank by then, that’s all!”

“I was just kidding. I want to rank up soon too. Emil, you feel the same way, right?”

“Yes! I can only help with healing, but I’ll do my best with everyone!”

When Emil said the word “heal,” Karinka-san and Miya both visibly flinched for a brief moment.

“W-Well then, how about we train in a different spot than yesterday?”

Yesterday, we had trained in a forest where F-rank monsters appeared. Today, we were in a different forest where E-rank monsters were said to show up. The reason so many training areas were in forests was because monsters had specific types of habitats.

Some monsters could only be found inside dungeons, while others were the opposite and could only be found outside of them. These were further categorized by environment—plains, forests, seas, mountains, and so on.

Why monsters even came into existence in the first place—that was another mystery. Discovering the answer to that was one of the responsibilities of adventurers. Scholars and research institutions around the world were conducting studies based on the various information adventurers gathered.

There were no regular carriage routes to forests where monsters roamed, so we had to get off at a nearby town and walk the rest of the way. Once inside the forest, we used Miya’s presence detection skill to locate the monsters.

Just like yesterday, Miya and I fought the monsters directly, while Karinka-san observed and gave us feedback on how to improve. Emil had the critical role of casting healing magic, so she waited near Karinka-san, who seemed to be the safest person to stay close to.

The monsters in the forest mostly looked like wild beasts. But low-ranking monsters like E-rank ones had little intelligence, so their movements were simple. As long as we could get a read on their timing, even someone like Miya, who was still F-rank, could handle them.

We’d been steadily taking down monsters for around thirty minutes, and I was completely exhausted. During those thirty minutes, I made sure to support Emil’s leveling by using my 【Damage Adjustment】 skill and having her heal me multiple times—not only did it feel good, but it helped her grow stronger too.

I’d always been an indoor type, so I had practically no stamina. After all, the reason I reincarnated in the first place was because I stayed up all night gaming and went out to buy a drink at a convenience store…

As for Miya, it was obvious she was panting heavily, completely out of breath.

“Miya, are you hurt…?”

“Hah… hah… huh? Did you… say something…?”

“Are you hurt?”

“Oh, my injuries…! I’m okay… really. But more importantly, you look like you’re struggling too, Rikuto!”

“It’s just fatigue, don’t worry about me. But if you are injured, make sure you get Emil to heal you, alright?”

“Emil’s Heal! That’s no good…!”

Miya muttered that under her breath, and suddenly she seemed to snap out of it, regaining her energy as if something had flipped inside her. 

Could it be that just hearing the word “Emil’s heal” has some sort of effect on her?

While we were going through that, another monster came into view. It looked like a goblin.

“Ah, it’s just a goblin. No need to be so on edge.” 

I said aloud… But then I heard Karinka-san’s voice from behind me, yelling. 

“That’s a Hobgoblin!”

A Hobgoblin—an upper-class variant of a goblin and an E-rank monster. But among E-rank monsters, it was one of the strongest.

“Rikuto! Miya! If you work together, you can win! Coordinate your attacks and take it down together!”

The reason we came here was to level up. So this was something Miya and I had to handle ourselves. We had to think for ourselves and defeat it with our own hands.

“Miya! I’ll take all of its attacks! So you just focus on attacking!”

“Huh…? Take all of them…? Then you’ll be the only one in danger, Rikuto!”

“I may not look like it, but I’ve got confidence in my defense. I won’t let it lay a finger on you!”

Never thought I’d get a chance to say a line like that. I always wanted to try saying it after watching anime.

I kept myself right in front of the Hobgoblin to draw its attention. If it looked like it was about to go for Miya, I provoked it—whether it understood my words or not—just to make sure its attacks stayed on me.

My 【Damage Adjustment】 skill was set to 『Minor Injury』. I intended to move carefully enough to avoid damage entirely if I could, but since this was a rare opportunity, I figured I’d let it hit me at some point on purpose.

Thinking like this in the middle of a battle… I must be crazy. Well, this is me I’m talking about after all.

When I gave up on attacking and focused entirely on defense, I barely took any hits.

Then, as planned, I let myself get struck once and had Emil cast her heal on me. Of course, the entire time, the other two watched me with obvious anxiety.

After the training, we returned, took a bath, filled our bellies with the delicious food Miya cooked, chatted with the beautiful girls, and then slept in our own spacious private rooms.

It was like living in a dream.

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That night, in each of their private rooms….

SIDE: Karinka

The joint exploration was coming up soon. I had to perform in a way that wouldn’t bring shame to my A-rank. Still… Rikuto might be pushing himself too hard.

Sure, I was the one who told him and Miya to fight the monsters on their own, but I didn’t expect him to take every attack himself… 

Maybe next time, I should stop him before he does something reckless.

SIDE: Emil

Today was such a fun day! 

…Oh no, that’s not right.

Everyone worked so hard fighting, so saying it was “fun” might sound wrong… But still, I wondered if Rikuto-san was really okay? Watching him made me so worried…! The only thing I was good at was healing and I felt like I was always being a burden to everyone…

I have to work harder!

SIDE: Miya

Jeez! What was that all about?! Was Rikuto always that cool?! What should I dooo?! That was exactly the kind of situation I always fantasized about even before becoming an adventurer!

But still, he pushed himself so hard today… Was Rikuto really okay? Maybe I should stop him next time. But then again… What if something irreversible happened one day?!

Ughh… If that time comes, how can I stop it…?

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