「Gooooooo! Lightning!!」

    Io released two lightning magic at the same time .

    A humanoid lizard monster equipped with a shield and a swordーーthe lizardman was hit by lightning twice and was charred black .

    A different lizardman attacked her from the side . She somewhat blocked its sword using her staff and was sent flying .

    Her hands were numbed and she felt pain to her stomach, but Io desperately mustered her magic powers and chanted her spell .

    「Lightning!」

    She activated the spell the instant she landed and it turned out to be a counter blow towards the lizardman that chased after her .

    The monster was hit by lightning and was charred black .

    「Damn it!」

    「Sidox-san!」

    She heard the voice of her party member .

    He was fighting against the last lizardman .

    Io mustered her magic powers and shouted to her party member that was losing “for some reason” .

    「Get away from it, Sidox-san!」

    At the same time shouted, she released her Lightning .

    It directly hit the lizardman . The man was slow at retreating so her lightning grazed his shoulder .

    「Sidox-san!」

    「What, don’t worry . It’s just a scratch」

    Io was relieved .

    「Thank goodness……」

    「It’s all thanks to you, Io . You’re amazing, defeating three lizardmen」

    「Not at all……I’m far from Sidox-san’s level」

    「Well! I’m B-Rank after all」

    Sidox grinned with a crooked smile .

    ☆

    Io Akos continued to train and became stronger .

    And at the same time, she experienced being in many parties, but all of them did not last for long .

    For some reason, no matter where she went, no one would let her fight properly .

    Strong adventurers would treat her as a baggage and kind adventurers would protect her light a lovely critter .

    All of them did not treat her the way she wanted .

    Io wanted to be of her allies’ help, she wishes to fight with them side by side .

    She thought of that as she trained and become stronger .

    ☆

    At night, Sidox and Io faced each other with a fire in between at their camp .

    「Really, Io-chan’s amazing . You defeated those damn lizards easily . I think you defeated ten just today?」

    「It’s nine . I didn’t defeat that much」

    「Is that so? But it’s fine with ten too . It’s really strange that that amazing Io-chan is nameless even now」 It’s been a long time since you entered the Guild right?」

    「Yes……a lot of things happened」

    「I see」

    Io glanced at Sidox .

    Sidox’s party recruitment that was shown in the Guild’s recruitment board .

    Io believed that since he is a high ranked, B-Rank adventurer, she would be treated as baggage, but she still joined .

    Io is not that afraid of failures .

    She does not hesitate when it comes to asking adventurer parties to let her join .

    She would be refused more than ten times the cases she would be allowed to join a party .

    But even so, Io was not discouraged . She did not fear failure and continued to ask parties to join .

    And right now, she is in a party with Sidox .

    Normally, B-Rank adventurers would not party with nameless adventurers such as Io, but he listened to her story, and after giving Io a good look, he accepted .

    He took Io with him, telling her its a test after receiving a lizardman subjugation quest from the Guild .

    Io felt thankful to Sidox .

    Although it was a test, it was the first time Io was able to fight properly .

    It was actually really her first time experiencing a real battle .

    「Thank you very much」

    「What’s up, so sudden?」

    「U?un, it’s nothing」

    「Is that so? Well then, let’s go to sleep . Let’s sleep early and depart after the sun rises」

    「Yes!」

    Io laid down and used her arm as her pillow beside the fire .

    Nevertheless, she is only half asleep .

    As a result of wishing to become stronger, she continued to train with all of her heart, and as a result, she is not able to train her magic naturally even while she is sleeping .

    She is increasing the magic powers she could muster as if it was breathing . Even when she is on a quest, even while on the camp, she continued to do that .

    When she was circulating her magic powers around her body while laying down, suddenly, she felt something over her .

    She opened her eyes and saw Sidox’s face at a very close distance .

    She tried to escape, but she noticed that she could not move .

    Sidox grabbed her hands and pinned her to the ground .

    「S-Sidox-san?! What are you doing?」

    「What, you say? It’s not Io-chan’s first time so you should know right?」

    「Ehh?!」

    「There’s only one thing a man and a woman would do at night . Rather, you followed knowing that it will be like this right?」

    「I-I don’t know! I don’t know this!」

    Io resisted . She felt that Sidox suddenly changed and felt disgusted with the lewd expression he had on his face .

    「Let’s enjoy it together . I’m not boasting, but I’m confident in my technique」

    「Stop, please stop!」

    Sidox’s face approached and Io desperately tried to turn her face away .

    Looking away, she saw her magic staff .

    Io desperately resisted and was able to take her hands off from Sidox’ and grabbed her staff .

    *Bomp!*

    She swung it with all her strength and felt a dull feeling .

    Sidox’s eyes turned to its whites and collapsed over Io .

    「Hiii!」

    Feeling an even stronger disgust, Io shoved him away .

    Sidox was pushed away but did not make any movements .

    Io ran away . She desperately runaway with only the light of the stars on her path .

    She desperately ran, ran, and ran .

    When the night is about to end and the dawn coming, she fighting returned, now able to see the town .

    Seeing it, she felt the exhaustion come at once . Io fell to the ground .

    Tears fell from her eyes .

    It was not because Sidox tried to rape her . Everything that happened until now just suddenly came and pushed out her tears .

    “I did my best, I work so hard . ”

    “I wasn’t treated as a proper party member who could fight, and king parties would protect me as if I’m a mascot . ”

    “But when I was finally allowed to fight, it was a disgusting man who aimed for my body . ”

    Io cried and choked, feeling so sad .

    The sun has come up and she returned to the town’s Guild with a miserable face .

    Io recovered .

    She does not fear failure, because her life was full of it . Just another failure would not make her fall down .

    However, there was no doubt that she felt desperate .

    「Hey, they said Alex got injured」

    「”That” Alex? What happened?」

    「There’s a huge amount of undead appearing from the forest, and they say he got injured there . The monsters continue to appear, so the Guild’s recruiting lots of adventurers」

    What Io heard when she returned to the Guild, was a crisis since the establishment of the Guild .

    She heard their conversation and found that it was a quest filled with great amount of danger compared to her own rank .

    Even so, she thought that she will be able to fight a real battle, that she will be able to fight in a place where purely power is required .

    Io went there, she went there pushing her exhausted body .

    「I’ll do my best!」

    ☆

    A hard-working girl .

    A diligent girl who is pure and unchanging .

    The fateful encounter that would make that girl who had desperately sprinted through rocky roads step on a high-speed one-way road .

    It was only seconds away .