The Human Sloth Frondier (3)

Clang!

“Got it!”

I clenched my fist, looking at the broken target.

This is the training room.

Some are doing muscle training, some are doing magic tests, and some are doing skill verification.

Anyway, if there is a vacant room and you get permission, anyone can use it freely.

Since the situation inside is not visible from the outside, I can freely use the magic here.

What I am doing now is target practice, one of the programs set in the private room.

It is usually a facility used by people with ranged weapons, and all you have to do is hit a target that appears far away.

At the lowest difficulty level, the target just stands still, but as the difficulty level increases, the target moves further away, hides and appears, moves around at will, and eventually even reacts to projectiles and evades them.

Of course, I am humbly doing the lowest difficulty.

By the way, the target is a magical hologram, so it's not really broken even if it's broken.

The sound effects and graphics are just very realistic.

When you succeed in hitting it, the hit area and damage are displayed, which is very convenient.

What I am practicing now is the throwing technique of the dagger I made with magic.

If you can just induce the phenomenon of aiming at the moment when the target is hit, you can damage the enemy even if you throw the dagger you made with magic.

In other words, it is possible to make a ranged attack that cannot be seen.

The intervention of magic into reality is only for a very short time. It only appears briefly at the moment of cutting, blocking, or stabbing.

Therefore, in close combat, the ability of magic is halved. This is because even blocking an opponent's attack is only for a moment.

If you block attacks at the last moment, they won't be deflected or parried, and the enemy's sword will cut through my weapon or shield and slice my body.

This goes for both shields and swords. If you're using a shield, you have to parry every single one of your opponent's attacks like you're playing a game, and if you're using a sword, you can't just block haphazardly; you have to deflect or parry everything.

I really don't want to engage in close-quarters combat that's so insanely difficult.

That's why it's best if I can use a bow, dagger, or something else to take down my opponents from a distance.

However, there's one fatal problem with this tactic.

"...Damn, I can't hit anything."

That's right—me.

A total gaming nerd like me and Frondier, who's only good at sleeping, seem to have a terrible synergy that sends shivers down my spine.

Still, if I keep at it like this, gritting my teeth and hitting once every ten or twenty times...

[Skill created.]

[Created skill: Throwing]

[Throwing]

•Rank: Common

•Description: Throw things to hit targets. Accuracy increases with proficiency.

•Current proficiency: Lowest

I've acquired a skill.

It's nothing special, but since neither I nor Frondier have any talent for combat, we'll have to rely on skills.

For your information, even a ten-year-old kid can acquire the lowest level of throwing proficiency with enough practice.

...Let's do our best!

* * *

In the evening, when the moon was a slim crescent, I finished practicing and stood still in front of the entrance to the training room. Then I watched the time pass, because there was something I needed to check.

When I first entered this game, I was so out of it—no, from the moment I entered, I was already out of it, and besides, I've always been a scatterbrained person, so...

...Anyway.

Due to the hectic days I had been living, there was something I momentarily forgot.

At first, I didn't think much of it. But once the thought occurred to me, it grew uncontrollably.

Today, I must confirm it.

I am waiting for someone right now.

The reason I am waiting in the training room is that I know he will definitely be here.

I checked the date on my smartwatch, and there's no doubt it's today. It's about time for him to arrive.

Zzzing-

The automatic door of the training room opened.

I cast my gaze towards the man who came out.

...Found him.

Blond hair that cleanly reflects the moonlight, blue eyes that shine brightly, and features that are, of course, impeccably arranged as if they were meant to be.

Anyone who sees this man would realize that the air around him changes.

──Aster Evans.

A first-year student at Constel, the shining hope of humanity.

He is the protagonist of this game 'Etius'.

"…Hm? Hello?"

Aster glanced at me and nodded slightly.

It must be the first time he's seen me as Frondier.

...Even if it weren't the first time, he probably wouldn't remember anyway.

I bowed my head in greeting in return.

I don't do anything to unnecessarily arouse suspicion.

I wasn't waiting to talk to him. I was waiting 'to see' him.

After taking a brief look at me, Aster continued on his way.

Just a little further is a fork in the road.

The left leads to the library, and the right to the dormitories.

I quietly watched his back. As he approached the fork in the road, his steps,

──turned right.

Having confirmed that, I dropped my gaze in despair.

I was certain of it. This game was going to be far more challenging than I had anticipated.

──Game of Etius.

As I mentioned a little earlier, Aster Evans is the protagonist of Etius.

Being the protagonist of a game means, naturally, that he is the character played by the player.

……In other words, to put it another way,

Aster Evans, when not being played by a player, is unknown to everyone.