—A point one kilometer northwest of Ket Nya.
Right now, I was watching the preliminary skirmish of his first trial, observing through a long-distance projection ability manifested by Asta.
"Oho, not half bad, is he?"
As I let out an appreciative murmur, Asta turned to me, his eyes half-lidded with a pointed look.
"How shameless of you. It was Master who ordered me to place that vicious grass before the monkey's cage. Surely you foresaw this outcome from the start, did you not?"
"I merely provided a hint so he could clear the trial efficiently. The fact that he actually wiped out those bandits came entirely down to his own ability."
Well, I was honestly surprised on the inside that he had devised a plan so precisely to my liking, though.
"Even so, that monkey is far more sensible now that he has lost his memories."
"I have to agree with that."
I never expected him to possess such a knack for tactics. In particular, the final strike that eliminated the bandit who seemed to possess a treasure-type ability was splendid.
He had restricted the bandits' movements with traps laid throughout the ground. Then, he hurled an enchanted spear right into the safe zone.
The last treasure-type bandit walked right into it, promptly and cleanly retiring from this world.
"With this, the bandits—the gnats—having lost most of their fighting strength, will be forced to play their trump card."
"Speaking of which, was his name Sugar, if I recall? Can such a slug-like piece of small fry really serve as the trial's main dish?"
That Sugar was someone introduced to me after I asked the information broker Mujina to provide a scoundrel—a toy—of decent strength. I had briefly observed him at work as well, but all that came to mind was that he was an utterly trivial, petty weakling.
"Like Master, I am also unfamiliar with the strength of gnats. I cannot intuitively gauge it. That is why I initially thought even that monkey could handle it well enough. However, after Girimehkala pointed it out, I ran an Appraisal on him just in case, and found something a bit peculiar mixed in."
"Ah, yeah, I know. He showed his true colors once during his job."
"You saw that?" Asta asked, staring intently at me in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"And even knowing that, you believe the monkey can defeat him?"
"Naturally. Such small fry is inadequate for a trial. For my part, I had planned for someone with far more backbone."
He was someone Mujina recommended. I had wondered what kind of scoundrel and crush-worthy toy he would turn out to be, but in the end, he was the lowest of small fry, akin to a slug crawling through the weeds. Having intended to pit him against someone on par with a D-rank hunter, I was sorely disappointed.
For a moment, Asta closed his eyes and pressed his right index finger against his temple.
"By the way, Master, how do you rate the strength of the undead that appeared in Babel earlier?" he asked out of nowhere.
"Undead? The skeletons? Or do you mean the zombies?"
"I refer to that insolent ringleader who attempted to abduct Lady Laila."
Ah, that balloon-like, worthless undead. His strength, huh? Of course, I could answer that much with confidence.
"The closest comparison would probably be the goblins roaming the forest near my hometown of Amour."
In the forest near Amour, goblins occasionally appeared to raid the livestock of local homes. Each time, low-rank hunters would head out to exterminate the pests. I felt that level of strength was just about right.
"Are you truly saying that in all seriousness?" Asta asked, his cheek twitching.
It seemed this was not the answer Asta had expected, but I understood what he wanted to say.
"I know, I know. You're going to say there are all kinds of goblins, right? Naturally, it wouldn't stand a chance against a goblin leader."
A goblin leader was the commander of a pack. Even intermediate hunters were said to struggle against them. Against that worthless undead, it would literally be an instant kill.
"That is quite enough. I retract my previous statement; I am not nearly as devoid of common sense as Master."
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
"At any rate, what Master envisions possesses far too much backbone by ordinary standards. For that monkey, even a slug is vastly excessive." Asta shook his head, muttering in sheer exasperation.
"Hmm, is it really excessive?"
"It is undeniably excessive. At this rate, that monkey will surely perish."
"Well, if he loses to a slug of that level, isn't that just too bad?"
If he lost to something like that, he wouldn't even be worth discussing. There was no way he could endure the trials to come. After all, I intended to bring out the absolute best.
"The fact that you say that without a hint of irony makes it all the worse.
(I shall definitely need to make adjustments with Girimehkala.)"
Asta voiced his thoughts with profound, heartfelt exhaustion.
"Hm? Did you say something just now?"
"Nothing of concern. It does not matter to you, Master—you walking absence of common sense."
"That doesn't sit entirely well with me, but whatever. Next is the main dish, then. I doubt it'll be much of a challenge, but it's only the first trial after all, so it hardly matters."
Indeed, ramping up the difficulty too high from the very first trial would be a buzzkill. Perhaps this was just right.
"Understood. Then I shall proceed to the next stage."
Asta offered me a bow and dissolved into smoke.
"Now then, let's see what you've got."
I turned my eyes back to the projection floating before me.