ALLEN: AGE 10
OCTOBER
I commend you on the past six months of recon, Zenof.
So, what is the status of the mines?
Unfortunately, during the long stretch of time they went unused,
the mines have become a nesting ground for monsters.
It doesn't end with the four mining sites.
The nearby villages that served as mithril refineries have also been taken over
by orcs and goblins.
I would like to get the closest mine up and running.
How long do you imagine that will take?
At least 3 years.
That long?!
I realize it won't be an easy job, but please get it done as quickly as you can.
Yessir.
He's being awfully impatient.
I mean, I get how important it is for the economy, but...
On another note, what has Viscount Carnel been doing?
He tried to push ahead with their mining operations and incurred the White Dragon's wrath.
Word is that all his miners were turned to ash in the blink of an eye.
There's no telling what he'll do now that his mines will have to shut down.
We must proceed with utmost caution.
Yessir.
So, the time has finally come, huh? The knights are going to wipe out all the monsters.
YOU HAVE DEFEATED 1 ORC.
YOU HAVE EARNED 15,000 EXP.
Well, I've made the most out of these last six months.
Once I turn twelve, I'm going to leave the Granvelles to become an adventurer.
I still have two years left.
I'll spend that time returning the favor by exterminating some monsters.
I won't let the knights hog all the EXP!
EPISODE 10: THE NOBLE'S DUTY
Sic 'em, Teddy!
Let the monsters respawn by leaving their spawn point intact.
Back when I was a gamer, that's the strategy I would've used
to farm EXP over and over in the same spot.
But this is a different story.
Cuz these assholes feed off humans!
Spidey!
These goblins will only kill more people unless I put a stop to them.
So it's time to wipe them off the map entirely!
Go! Teddy squadron!
There's no escape.
I've already blocked off the only exit.
They're dropping like flies. Time to throw a "ggez" in chat.
Here comes the big, bad Goblin King. But he's not intimidating anybody.
My team has defeated thousands of C-rank monsters at this point.
They're gonna steamroll him.
YOU HAVE EARNED 4,200 EXP.
I racked up a total of 48,800 EXP from today's battle.
Sounds about right for a couple hundred goblins.
I'm going to wipe out the goblin boroughs scattered around here one by one, just like this.
And then, eventually,
the orc borough ruled by the Orc King!
MARCH OF THE NEW YEAR
Elder Brother!
Congratulations on graduating from the Academy!
I'm excited you'll be living with us again!
You're already ten this year, huh, Cecil?
What about it?
Say, Allen?
Yes?
It is just me, or is something wrong with Mihai?
I thought so, too. I've never seen him like this.
Now that I'm ten years old, the age restriction on my stats is gone.
That means I'm getting the full benefits of my level.
I made 30 copies of Spidey,
and 20 copies of Teddy.
TALENT: SUMMONER
LEVEL: 34
HP:
MP:
ATTACK:
ENDURANCE:
AGILITY:
INTELLIGENCE:
LUCK:
SKILLS: SUMMON (5), CREATE (5), FUSE (5)
ENHANCE (5), EXPANSION (4), STORAGE, SHARE,
DELETE, SWORD MASTERY (3), THROW (3)
EXP:
SKILL LEVELS
SUMMON: 5
CREATE: 5 EXP
FUSE: 5 EXP
ENHANCE: 5 EXP
SUMMONS AVAILABLE FOR CREATION:
INSECTS: DEFGH BEASTS: DEFGH BIRDS: DEFG GRASS: DEF
STONES: DE FISH: D
NAME: ALLEN
AGE: 10
INVENTORY:
INSECTS D 30 COPIES BEASTS D 30 COPIES BIRDS GRASS
STONES FISH
This is me at my very best...
for right now, anyway.
Say, Allen?
Yes?
Will you duel me with no holds barred?
He didn't even need to ask.
I'm out to win this year! Maximum effort!
Thank you.
Begin!
I'm twice as fast as last year!
And I'm going straight for the win!
Why can't I land a hit? I should be faster than him!
Is he just reading all my moves?
Dammit! It's my Sword Mastery skill!
The level is too low!
He still hits like a truck!
Crap!
The duel is over!
I lost...
I couldn't throw him off balance, even with my superior speed.
Did I need a bigger agility boost?
No, he already overpowers me, so lowering my attack stat would just make things worse...
The Granvelle huntsman doesn't disappoint.
You had me sweating there.
Right. Thank you for the...
Mihai.
You've put in hard work at the Academy over the past three years.
It's clear from how skillful you've become.
Thank you, Father.
You're pretty tough, Allen!
Still no match for my brother, though.
Who are you to talk?
Oh, hey! You should have Mihai start giving you lessons now that he's back.
I would love to learn from him!
Oh, let me join in, too!
Cecil, Thomas.
I need to speak with you two.
What is it, Elder Brother?
I must leave to undertake the Noble's Duty.
I won't be coming home anytime soon.
Huh?
I'm sorry. I know this comes as a surprise.
Hold on. What kind of duty is it?
I'm afraid I can't say...
When do you have to leave?
Tomorrow.
Father?
But I was so excited to have you home again...
Don't fret. I'll be back in three years.
Three years?!
It takes that long?
Cecil...
Don't cry.
I see.
It's such a shame, Baron Granvelle. Two of your three kids got saddled with a talent.
I seem to recall your eldest son also had a talent, Viscount!
You know how it goes. We must fulfill the Noble's Duty.
The baron knew this would happen all along.
The Noble's Duty, huh?
Sounds ominous as hell.
I'll be waiting for you to come back, Elder Brother.
Thanks. See you later, Cecil.
You're the pride of our family, son.
Fulfill your duty and come back to us, okay?
Right.
Allen. Watch after Cecil for me.
Keep her safe, okay?
Huh? Uh, sure.
Farewell. I'm off to uphold the Granvelle name.
We'll miss you!
Don't forget about us!
Felt like he was trembling.
Was it just my imagination?
ALLEN: AGE 10
MAY OF THE FOLLOWING YEAR
I've subjugated every goblin borough in the area over the past six months.
And now I'm level 35.
NAME: ALLEN
AGE:
TALENT:
LEVEL:
HP:
MP:
ATTACK:
ENDURANCE:
AGILITY:
INTELLIGENCE:
LUCK:
The time is ripe.
SKILLS: SUMMON (5), CREATE (5), FUSE (5)
ENHANCE (5), EXPANSION (4), STORAGE, SHARE,
DELETE, SWORD MASTERY (3), THROW (3)
EXP:
Ready up, team!
Let's wreck this orc borough!
Fillet's evasion boost is working wonders. My guys are kicking ass one-on-one.
Bron! Use Protect!
Man, Bron comes in real clutch.
I wonder if he's taking any damage? Not being able to see the current HP of my summons is a problem.
Although they can fight inexhaustibly,
they disappear without warning after taking too much damage.
Come on, Spidey! I need two more of you!
INSECT D
ENDURANCE +20, AGILITY +20
Lock down those archers!
Perfect. Time to press our attack!
Looks to be a hundred of 'em. No, more like two hundred.
Gimme all that delicious EXP!
Take 'em down!
Auxiliary team, get in there!
Hot damn! I'm practically swimming in EXP!
The plan is working great so far.
But the orcs are putting up more a fight than the goblins did.
Bron!
What was that?!
It must've been a spell.
Is that an Orc King? No, there should only be one of those.
So, my first real look at magic in this world is thanks to a monster?
Funny, since I can't cast any myself.
Pro gamer mode on, baby.
Brace for a second wave!
Man, that's hot!
Damn. They hit my forces in the rear where Bron can't cover.
You're gonna pay for that!
Eat lead, sucker!
Hell yeah! I can OHKO these fools!
I have two steel balls left.
I just need to not miss...
Uh, where'd they go?
Dammit! They moved out of my range!
These damn swine are smart! They even know to aim for me.
This is a scene straight outta Hell. They've still got a hundred troops or so.
I better quit playing defense and make this a war of attrition.
I've got plenty of D-rank magic stones.
I can summon more than 20,000 copies of Teddy, if needed.
Plus, I've got 100 MP recovery items stocked up.
I'll just keep going until my MP runs dry.
Sic 'em, Teddy!
Great. The tide is slowly turning in my favor.
Cue boss battle music.
The Orc King is here!
Did he just mow my guys down in one hit? B-ranks are freakin' strong!
Create, Enhance, and Summon!
Shit! I can't keep up!
And Teddy can't even get close enough to attack!
Bron! Use Protec-
Yikes!
I'm in trouble! Bron's down!
Teddy! Cover for me!
Ow, that hurt...
Gotta recover my HP.
What now?
How can I summon enough creatures to overwhelm the boss while fending off those spells?
I think I'm boned.
I'll just have to call it quits.
Having a rough go of it, are we?
THE HARDCORE GAMER DOMINATES
IN ANOTHER WORLD WITH GARBAGE BALANCING
Captain Zenof?!
How the hell? The knights shouldn't be here until tomorrow at the earliest!
All the smoke prompted me to come take a look.
Care to explain?
Well, I was hoping to wipe out the orc borough...
Hmm.
Oh crap. He's seen everything!
Come back, everybody!
No comment on my summon creatures?
I shall slay the Orc King.
You handle the other riff-raff, Vice-Captain Leibrand.
Understood, Captain.
The Vice-Captain is here, too?!
I would've liked some more EXP, but this is just as good.
A front row seat to a battle of aces!
Whoa!
The captain earned a sobriquet from being such a powerhouse on the battlefield.
People call him: Zenof the War Demon.
No way! He's parrying hits from a monster twice his size!
Magic orcs.
That explains where the fire is coming from.
What is that? Something similar to Krena's Extra Skill?
He was aiming for the magic orcs all along!
The vice-captain is just as OP as the captain!
How did he get his ass handed to him by Krena that one time?!
Captain Zenof!
H-holy shit...!
He took out a B-rank monster in one fell swoop? Without an Extra Skill?!
I didn't make it back home before nightfall.
Bet I'm getting yelled at again.
I had a sneaking suspicion, but...
you're the one who took out the goblin nests, aren't you?
Yeah.
Not long after you became the Granvelle's manservant,
I started hearing reports of monster carcasses piling up outside the city.
They had been stripped their magic stones.
It wasn't very difficult to narrow down who it could be,
given that you single-handedly hunted a White Deer and even competed on par with Master Mihai.
So, the jig is up, huh?
You have a talent.
Those animals who were fighting alongside you are part of it, right?
Yep, that figures. My cover's totally blown.
That's right.
I'm not admitting to any more than that.
There's no telling what kind of mess it'll make if I say anything
about being on talking terms with the God of Creation.
The baron already knows you have a talent, by the way.
It's what motivated him to promote you to Huntsman.
I suppose that makes sense.
It's unusual for a kid my age to be granted so much freedom and responsibility.
Let me wipe you down.
Listen, Allen. If you wish me to keep what I saw today a secret,
then I shall leave it out of my report to the baron.
But in exchange, I want you to keep me informed on the progress of your monster hunts.
Our goals are one in the same, are they not?
I shouldn't undercut the knights just for the sake of farming more EXP.
Right. As you wish.
I've gotta say...
I'm shocked this guy is still kicking.
I mean, he's covered in battle scars that never went away even after a level up.
2 WEEKS LATER
YOU HAVE EARNED 25,000 EXP.
YOU HAVE DEFEATED 1 ORC KING.
Sweet!
Mission complete! I've got it down to a science now.
ORC BOROUGH
First, I attack from all sides with a team of 40 Teddys.
This puts a big dent into the orc forces and prevents them from getting into formation.
Then I have my team target the magic orcs until they're all dead.
It's a battle of numbers.
So long as I don't get attacked, I can keep throwing summons at them until I win.
The total EXP I earn from an orc borough is... 335,000!
That's over seven times what I get from a goblin one!
Leverage a temporary failure to achieve eventual success.
That's the hardcore gamer way!
ALLEN: AGE 10
SEPTEMBER
We're honored to have you here.
Good. Thank you for the warm welcome.
A royal messenger, huh?
May I ask what brings you here today?
I came to deliver this.
What am I looking at?
That is your son's diary.
Everyone is expected to write periodic entries while at the barracks.
Please be aware that your son carried out his mission dutifully and has been laid to rest.
That's not how this is supposed to go!
How can such a thing happen in just six months?!
You people knew Mihai was fresh out of the academy!
I can only assume you used him like fodder because of our status as lower-ranking nobles!
And is that a sentiment you wish for me to share with the king?
Oh, Mihai...
Milady!
If you'll excuse us, we have other places to visit today.
Farewell.
I remember him acting strange that day...
Allen. Watch after Cecil for me.
Keep her safe, okay?
Did he know he would die?!
Father... what is going on?
I need everyone else to clear the room first.
Including you, Thomas.
Huh? But why?!
I want to know, too, Father!
Why only tell Cecil?
Poor Master Mihai...
What? Are you telling me you knew Mihai was going to die?!
It's part of a certain duty that we nobles are expected to fulfill.
And so what? The only reason we're alive is to be killed for this duty?!
It's not like that.
Listen...
Hold on, Cecil!
So there's just nothing they can do?
Is there some catch to being a noble that forces them to adhere to this deadly duty?
I hope that Lady Cecil is okay...
She hasn't come out of her room since last night.
As I recall, the baron's parents and elder brother also passed away at fairly young ages.
All because of this "Noble's Duty" thing.
I don't get it. Losing your life at 15, it's just too cruel...
We need help! Lady Cecil is missing!
Lady Cecil!
Dammit. Some manservant I am!
She climbed down from the window?!
Have you found Cecil?
She might have left the estate.
I'm going to look outside!
I'll find her, no matter what!
I just hope she doesn't do anything rash!