My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

I dragged the Demon Stone larger than my body with my exhausted strength and headed toward Kyousuke and Mr. Zeal, who apparently had just finished fighting as well.

Seeing Kyousuke covered head to toe in blood and Mr. Zeal looking somewhat despondent, I let out a relieved breath.

Because Kyousuke and the others didn't have an appraisal skill like World Eye, they apparently destroyed the Demon Stones and defeated the attackers before realizing the monsters that attacked were Ogres.

I was surprised when Kyousuke said he had once slashed an Ogre lightly to find a soft spot where his blade could cut through.

The blood all over him must have been from that.

Mr. Zeal’s sword had broken because of the Ogre’s neck, so Kyousuke handed him the sword he usually uses and—without using dual wielding—seemed to have defeated two alone.

Mr. Zeal was still in shock from his sword breaking, clutching the ruined blade and staring blankly.

I hadn't broken Yatogami either, but it had cracked enough that it ended up as two short daggers, so I could somewhat understand that feeling.

Although only fragments remained, the Demon Stone I’d taken from the labyrinth was larger than the ordinary ones, so I packed the two Demon Stones Kyousuke had taken into bags as well.

As we prepared to head back to base, Kyousuke’s face twisted when he saw the Demon Stone towering behind me.

The Demon Stone of the Ogre King I’d defeated was not only taller but wider than my body.

I couldn't have carried it alone, nor could I lift it, so I wrapped the sturdy black cloth I had around my neck around it and dragged it here.

Right now I was grateful for how tough that cloth was.

“It’s huge.”

“Yeah.”

I sighed and nodded.

Carrying this back to base would be a real pain.

Although there were three of us, I hesitated to call on Mr. Zeal to help in his current state.

We could probably lift it with two people, but if we ran into monsters on the way, we wouldn’t be able to react quickly, and the Demon Stone might crack.

While Kyousuke and I were thinking about what to do, a rustle came from the nearby grass.

Kyousuke’s blood might have attracted other monsters.

We reflexively raised our weapons, but relaxed when we saw what emerged.

“Oh, it’s Usako.”

Usako were robots Noah made to guard the area around the base.

They handled both ranged and melee combat, self-regenerated if destroyed, and each attack had venom applied—a subtle sign of Noah’s mean streak.

The name was atrocious—no surprise coming from Noah—but their performance as guardians was excellent.

In fact, since we arrived, we hadn’t encountered any monsters around the base.

Being in a safe place seemed to allow for a surprisingly good rest; the heroes' complexions had improved.

While I inspected Usako, I tilted my head at a felt difference.

The Usako standing before us had different armor than Usako No. 11, the one that had first met Noah.

Usako No. 11 was slimmer, its joints more protected, and with self-regeneration its body had no wounds.

But the Usako before us had clearly reinforced arms and several small scratches.

On closer look, there were signs of repairs.

It seemed to be well cared for.

“It says Usako No. 3,” Kyousuke said, pointing to the characters on its back.

When I went around and checked, indeed, in a big hand-written scrawl on the armor was “Usako No. 3.”

I couldn’t tell if it was cherished or not.

“Come to think of it, the first time we met, I remember a robot like this carrying our exhausted selves back to base after we had been beaten up by monsters,” Kyousuke murmured.

If so, Noah must have sent it to carry our load.

As if to prove that thought correct, Usako No. 3 easily lifted the enormous Demon Stone we had been fretting over, then deployed two extra arms stored on its back and carried the bagged Demon Stones too.

Now all we had to worry about on the road was monster attacks.

We set out with me at the front, Kyousuke covering the rear, and Mr. Zeal—still dejected—surrounded along with Usako No. 3 as we headed to the base.