My 'Trash Skill' Called Observer's Eye Could Actually See Everything - Turn it over, Rockbiter.

The decision to choose a team name came up in front of the simple registration counter on the first floor of the Hangetsu Inn. The Hangetsu Inn, a waystation town, had a simple branch office of the Valtheim Adventurer's Guild on its first floor. The facilities weren't as complete as a formal branch, but team registration and basic quest acceptance were possible. Most waysides along the main road had counters like this, set up for adventurers passing through on their travels. Two people stood in line before the counter. The receptionist was a man in his mid-twenties with sleepy eyes. "Team registration, then. What's the leader's name?" "Kei-kun... ah, Kai-kun... um..." Sophie tilted her head with a serious expression. She took the registration form and ran her pen across it. Kei looked at what she'd written. 'Kai Kusano' Kei silently borrowed the pen and made a correction. He crossed out 'Kai' with two lines and wrote 'Kei' next to it. "Oh, sorry! Kei... Kei, Kei, Kei—okay, I got it!" She made a fist and pumped it in a victory pose. The receptionist looked puzzled. Kei sighed. ——But the corner of his mouth had lifted slightly. He hadn't even noticed it himself. The registration was complete, and the receptionist stamped it with "All done." In that moment, Sophie turned around and flashed him a beaming smile. "Let's go then, Kei-kun!" This time, she'd gotten it right. For some reason, his heart skipped. ——That's strange. She just called my name correctly. Kei only answered "Yes" and shifted his gaze to the notice board at the counter. Several request papers were posted there. At the very top was a handwritten sheet. 'Subjugation of Rockbiters ravaging the fields of farming village Urse. Reward: 4 silver coins. Danger rank D' "What about this one?" Sophie leaned in to look. "Rockbiters! Let's take it!" ────── Farming village Urse was about thirty minutes' walk from the waystation. Walking down a gravel path off the main road, wheat fields spread out before them. The grain swayed in the wind before harvest. The client was a farmer named Ozzy. In his fifties, his sun-tanned face was etched with deep wrinkles. The moment he saw the two of them, his expression grew anxious. "...You're young. Are you really adventurers?" "Yes. We're registered adventurers with the Valtheim Guild." Sophie answered with her chest puffed out, and Ozzy gave a wry smile. "Well, I'm counting on you. That thing flipped every stone in my field in three days. The crops' roots—" In the direction Ozzy pointed, there it was. A Rockbiter—a turtle-type monster that camouflages itself in rocky areas, about one meter in body length, characterized by a hard shell, danger rank D—was leisurely munching on stones in the middle of the field. It really did look like a rock. If someone didn't know better, they might step right on it. "There it is! I'll take it with my sword!" Sophie drew her blade. Her silver hair swayed, and her golden eyes gleamed. The thin scar on her right cheek caught the light and became slightly visible. She ran at full speed and brought her sword down on the shell. *Clang!* "...Ah" Sparks scattered. The Rockbiter didn't budge an inch. Again. *Clang!* Again. *Clang!* "...It's hard." Sophie turned back. The blade of her sword was slightly chipped. After three strikes, it was like this. No matter how many more times she hit it, the shell wouldn't get a single scratch. All the while, Kei had been watching the Rockbiter. ——Observer's Eye, activate. He hadn't consciously triggered it. The information entering his vision was automatically processed. Thin light markers overlaid his field of vision. [[Shell: Defense-specialized structure—impact absorption rate 92% or higher]] [[Abdomen: Thin scales present, defense value approximately 1/20 of shell]] [[Weight distribution: Front-heavy, hind legs shortened]] [[Self-righting: Structurally impossible]] ——I see. "Sophie, may I have a moment?" Kei approached and spoke in a low voice. "If you expose its belly, you can defeat it in one strike. That thing's built so it can't flip itself over. If we make a lever with a log, it'll go down in three seconds." Sophie's face went blank. Then she looked around at incredible speed. "There! There's a log!" At the edge of the field, several logs were stacked as fencing materials. The two of them carried one together to the Rockbiter's side. Sophie grumbled "This is heavy" but held it properly. "I'll insert it here. I'll put my weight on it, so please push from the front with your shield." "Got it!" Kei wedged the log under the edge of the Rockbiter's shell. Using the lever principle, he put his full weight on the back end. Sophie pressed from the front with her shield with all her might. Three seconds. *Thud.* The Rockbiter flipped onto its back. Its soft belly faced the sky, completely defenseless. "Now!" Sophie thrust her sword once. It landed cleanly, almost anticlimactically. ────── The villagers gathered around. When Ozzy shouted "We got it!" at the top of his voice, faces appeared from houses all around. An old man, children, women. Voices thanking them came from all directions. "Much obliged, young ones. I thought the whole field would be ruined for three days." A child tugged at Kei's sleeve. Looking up at him. His small face was reflected in the lenses of his glasses. "Mister, you're strong." Kei couldn't say anything. Strong? That wasn't it. He hadn't used a sword or magic. He'd just looked. He'd observed the structure, found the weak point, and figured out how to defeat it. That was all. But this child thought that was amazing. Something warm spread through the center of his chest. ——I was actually useful to someone. Really useful. Sophie came over with a smile on her face. "See, Kei-kun? This kind of thing is nice, isn't it?" Kei nodded slightly. Words didn't come easily, but that was fine. ────── The reward was to be collected at the counter in the waystation town. The receptionist opened the ledger and counted out the silver coins. One, two, three, four. They lined up on the table. That ledger suddenly entered his field of vision. Observer's Eye began processing unconsciously. [[Quest reward: 4 silver coins]] [[Recorded: 3 silver coins, 2 parts]] [[Discrepancy: Unrecorded]] ——Again. Kei's brow furrowed. It was the same pattern he'd seen in the Karren branch's ledgers. He'd thought the first one was a coincidence. But now this was the second time. "Thank you for your hard work! We look forward to your next visit!" The receptionist handed over the coins with a smile. He looked friendly. There was no sign of malice. But the absence of visible malice didn't mean it wasn't there. ...For now, he didn't know. There wasn't enough information to dig deeper. Kei pocketed the coins while quietly recording this in his mind. ——That makes two. "We did it, 4 silver coins! Let's eat, Kei-kun!" Kei confirmed the feel of the coins through his pocket. "...Yes, let's." ────── Night fell. They sat around a campfire at the edge of the farming village. Before heading back to the inn, Ozzy had given them some firewood to rest with. The sky was clear, and there were many stars. When he was in Karren, he'd never looked up at the night sky like this. Sophie hugged her knees and stared into the fire. Her golden eyes reflected the color of the flames. "Hey." "Yes?" "What were you doing at the guild, Kei-kun?" The way she asked was so natural that Kei was momentarily taken aback. She wasn't blaming him or pitying him. She simply wanted to know. Kei spoke while looking at the campfire, in fits and starts. "Just cleaning and carrying luggage. I wasn't allowed to join a party. They wouldn't let me take the rank-up exam either." Sophie fell silent. Then suddenly her face turned red. Redder than the fire. "That's terrible! With such an amazing skill! If it weren't for that Observer's Eye, today's Rockbiter—I would've kept hitting the shell with my sword until the blade fell apart!" She stood up with such force she nearly toppled over, angry. Kei was a little surprised. "I'm not sure if it's amazing or not..." "It is amazing!" "...It's the first time someone's acknowledged it." He trailed off, embarrassed. He adjusted his glasses slightly and looked away. Sophie went quiet for a moment. Only the sound of the fire could be heard. Observer's Eye processed Sophie's expression. Her eyes had narrowed. Her mouth had gone still. ——I don't know what she's thinking. "Wait a second." Sophie suddenly stood up and started rummaging through her pack. She pulled out a cloth, dampened it with water from her water bottle. Then she crouched beside Kei. "Show me your hand." "Huh?" "You got scrapes when you were holding the log. Look." Sophie took Kei's hand and began wiping it with the damp cloth. She was silent. Sophie had a serious expression as she checked the condition of the scrapes. She was doing it as naturally as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Something inside Kei suddenly started fluttering. ——Her hand is warm. He tried to say something. But the words wouldn't come. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Observer's Eye activated. [[Sophie Almarea: High concentration—no tension—no malice—pure first aid behavior]] ——That information is completely useless right now. When the first aid was done, Sophie let go of his hand. "There, all done! We have an early start tomorrow, let's get some sleep." She stood up matter-of-factly and began putting her things away. Kei sat alone with his hand to his face, looking up at the sky. The stars seemed more numerous than before. ——She's too natural about this. ────── The next morning. The road from the farming village back to the waystation town. In a corner of the waystation tavern, a man sat drinking beer. Thirty-something, solidly built. From the look of his equipment, he was an adventurer. A C-rank from the Karren branch—a man Dolk had told to "keep tabs on Kei's movements." He'd stopped by the waystation on a whim while passing through. He overheard Ozzy's companion talking in the next seat as they returned from the farming village. "Yesterday, a young pair flipped a Rockbiter and defeated it. It was over in a flash." "Huh." "One was a female knight, and the other was a guy with a skill called Observer's Eye or something, and he came up with an amazing strategy—" Wulf's hand stopped. He froze, beer mug in hand. ——Observer's Eye. ——That trash skill guy? "You've got to be kidding me." He spat it out in a low voice and slammed his mug on the table. The beer splashed slightly. The customer next to him looked over in surprise, but Wulf didn't care. He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket. The kind you tied to a messenger bird—a communication slip. He wrote briefly. 'Kei, rumors of successful quest. Partnered with rookie knight. Currently in Hangetsu area.' He folded the paper, stood up. Wulf could roughly imagine what kind of face Dolk Heizen would make when this paper reached Karren. He left the tavern. The morning air outside was still cold.

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Episode 3

Name: My 'Trash Skill' Called Observer's Eye Could Actually See Everything
Author: Novelia

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