Chapter 113 A Certain Vacation ② 

Part 1

Tino was on the verge of collapsing from this time unusual trial.

Since the first night at Elan, Tino has had little sleep during the day or the night.
Even before she had been dragged by her Mentor1 to go with them, she had spent multiple sleepless nights due to the mess she did during the mask issue, putting aside her physical strength she had developed training after training, her mental strength was almost completely depleted.
The only time she had lost consciousness was when she was hit by lightning as a part of her training.

With just one step, as if she were daydreaming, her feet wobbled up and her vision shooked loosely.
The weather was completely different from the storm two days ago, the strong sunlight was pouring down and too dazzling for her eyes which didn’t rest for a while, and if there wasn’t the training restriction order, she would have been less vigilant on her surroundings.
Her condition was in an awful state.
She still has enough judgement left in her to think that it is bad, but there is nothing she can do about it.

Her insomnia is caused by her anxiety and her tension.
No information gathering ―― The anxiety of not knowing what to expect under those unusual restrictions and the tension of possibly showing her pathetic state in front of her Master and Shisho was something that Tino, who had until now only focused on physical training, hadn’t experienced much.

Even so, she managed to maintain her posture with only her strength and willpower and looked at the back of her Master in front of her and followed him.

’

Master and Onee-sama were the same as usual, unlike Tino, whose spirit was drained and exhausted.

The leeway they have in walking through a town which had been red-flagged for Monsters apparition is definitely the confidence of an absolute being.
If it was the usual she would look at their appearance with admiration, but in her state of mind, it can only factor as to break her heart.

As knowledge, she knew about those Monster red flags alert but it was the first time she actually witnessed it in person.
It was partly because Tino rarely left the Imperial Capital, but a flag that stated that the city was in a pinch was, in the first place, rarely raised.
As raising a flag also involves the reputation of the city, it can, in some cases, be a chance for other countries and criminals to take advantage of it.
The frequency with which a flag is raised tends to drop in inverse proportion to the size of the city, and she had also heard that the Imperial Capital of Zebrudia, the most prosperous city in the country, has only raised the flag a few times since the beginning of its history.

The city of Gula is much smaller than a city such as the Imperial Capital, but even so, it is a city prosperous enough to have a famous specialty inside so unless something terrible happened, it wouldn’t have raised its flag.

’

The number of knights lined up near the gates and the number of mages preparing their magic showed that the city was on high alert.
It would take a huge budget to mobilize that number of troops.
However, this wasn’t the type of caution done if they had only a little bit of anxiety.
In other words, with all those information we can conclude that it is highly probable that the city had considered that they would be raided by the Orcs which had built a fort.

The words we were told by the soldier at the gate when we entered the town were just to make us feel relieved.

Tino didn’t believe in the words her Master had told her at the beginning of this vacation.
Of course, she doesn’t believe that Master is telling her a lie.
However, from what she had experienced so far, Master’s it isn’t a big deal, is just 『Not a big deal to Master』, and it was a hellish time for Tino.
In the first place, if there wasn’t a need to fight, then you wouldn’t need to come to this town.
Everyone in the Clan knows that raising and dropping expectations is a common move for 《Infinite Variety》.
Tino can’t even imagine since when he knew about the alert flag, but if he didn’t know about it, he wouldn’t have bothered coming to this town among all the countless towns around.

’

I understand, Master.
For Master, you don’t need to fight if it was just a fight against an army of Orcs.
But…… It is impossible for me2.

If it was the usual Tino, then she would certainly be able to eliminate a few Orcs without any problem.
Even against High-Ranking species, well, it would be manageable if it was one-on-one.
However, right now, Tino is exhausted.
It is all because of my own inexperience if I wasn’t able to rest my mind during all those times where I could, but taking on a herd of Orcs in this state is suicidal.

Thieves aren’t originally suitable for a one against many battle.
It is easy to forget about it when you look at her Mentor, but sneaking on the enemy from behind and attacking them, detecting enemies and disarming traps are their main job.

Master, you are planning to teach me the essence of one against many, which I’m not very good at, aren’t you…… It’s impossible.

Only now I am jealous of my Onee-sama who are happily talking with each other.
With my lack of sleep,  I couldn’t even organize my thoughts in my head and it even seemed to hinder my ability to strategize.
Because of his usual out of ordinary Spartan training, I felt like crying to him as he turned his back in front of me but I managed to endure it because of my pride.

’

In the town of Elan, some High-Level Hunters seemed to have defeated the Lightning Spirit but such a miracle wouldn’t happen twice.

I will have to fight.
To receive a trial means that Master thinks that Tino will be able to overcome the trial.
It means that he has expectations for me.
And, I have received those hellish training to live up to those expectations.

In case of emergency, Master would protect Tino, was what he said.
I was extremely happy at his words, but I can’t stay as an unreliable Kouhai who needs to be protected forever.
Tino’s goal isn’t to be protected ―― It is to stand next to him.

TL notes:

Thanks for reading!
A Tino perspective noice! So a red flag isn’t a regular occurence, huh… Looks like Cry’s luck can even change common sense XD
And Tino, if you want to stay side by side with Cry, you need to stay on the side of the one being protected you know? XD
When she talked about being side by side, it reminded me of Furuichi in Beelzebub.
I loved his flashback with Oga and his battle with the tissue but too bad we didn’t have a big Oga Furuichi team up fight.
I would love to see badasses moment with a team up battle.
Tchao à plus!

Footnotes

Mentor: Changed Teacher to Mentor.
When it said Mentor, it is most of the time a 3rd person perspective.It is impossible: Each time I translate it is impossible, she said 無理です (muri desu).
Which can mean impossible or unreasonable or even hopeless.