While resting behind the cover of a nearby boulder, Herbert and Marlon recovered their mana by drinking some potions. They had prioritized this over observing how Rodeo was faring in his fight.
“I hope Rodeo-san wins.”
“If you have the leisure to say things like that, drink a potion instead. Not even your mana deficiency will prevent you from doing that.”
Mana was an essential power for humans to move.
When the amount of one’s mana falls to dangerous levels, where even some mana that was supposed to be for maintaining one’s life were used, one would experience a condition similar to being anemic. That lack of mana was what was referred to as mana deficiency.
Herbert and Marlon were both definitely suffering from mana deficiency at the moment. To mend themselves, they could either wait for time to pass or drink mana potions. The two of them chose the latter and gulped down the potions they brought so that they could recover the mana for at least a spell or two.
“………”
“………*gulp*”
The sound of swords clashing then stopped before they could even finished drinking their potions. The two of them exchanged looks and nodded at each other. They had just wordlessly agreed to check how the fight had concluded.
Herbert couldn’t even imagine that Rodeo would lose, but he readied a spell just in case. Then, Marlon—who held his sword in such a way where he could draw it anytime—emerged from the boulder first and turned toward the place the clashing could be heard from just a few moments ago.
What lied ahead of the two were…Rodeo who was covered in thick, green blood all over and the other demon.
Rodeo and the demon were facing each other. Both of them were alert and had their swords still at the ready. Rodeo’s mithril sword was covered in green blood, making it now have a similar color to that of the demon Ignoa’s sword.
The air between Rodeo and the demon he was facing was still so tense that Herbert and Marlon couldn’t help but gulp. The blood lust that came from the demon pricked the two boys’ skin and made them think they probably wouldn’t have won if this demon was the one they faced instead of Ignoa.
*shaa!*
Rodeo’s armor got torn. Moreover, there was a large gash in his chest, from which blood spurted out.
Seeing that, Marlon’s face paled. Herbert, however, did not exhibit any change in his complexion. After all, a moment after Rodeo got cut in the chest, the demon’s head slowly slid off. Soon enough, the head fell down to the ground with a boorish sound.
The goddess of victory smiled upon Rodeo today.
Upon confirming his victory, Rodeo swung his sword to shake off the blood on it. And then, in reaction to the slightest sound, he turned his sharp gaze toward Herbert and Marlon. When he saw the source of the sound, he quickly undid the sword-ogrelike expression he had.
“Young master…are you alright?”
“Yeah. It was a close fight, but we eked out a win.”
“That’s just how fights are. It’s because anything can happen in a fight that we have the phrase ‘it’s all a matter of chance’.”
Rodeo said so while plucking some leaves from a nearby tree and using it to clean his sword further. Seeing Rodeo do that, Herbert and Marlon also looked at their weapons, determined its awful state, and then cleaned the weapons in the same way.
“How much mana do you have left, young master?”
“To be frank, I don’t have enough to carry the Stone Root all the way to Ashitaba’s. I’d like to rest for a while.”
“I’ve also brought some mana potions, so feel free to drink them. Marlon and I will stand guard while you recover your mana. Lucky for us, monsters don’t seem to want to approach this place. And if they do approach, our broad field of vision ensures us that the chances of us being ambushed are quite low.”
Marlon knitted his brows for a moment but when he remembered why they came here in the first place, he readily kept watch of their surroundings with Rodeo.
Meanwhile, to speed up his mana recovery, Herbert sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes. By calming one’s mind and not moving for while, they could hasten the rate at which their mana recovered.
After spending about an hour like that, Herbert managed to recover enough of his mana. They once again collected some Stone Root, this time succeeding without incident. While making sure that the collected ingredient inside Dimension was kept fresh, their group now exited [Chaotic Flugel].
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RPGNovels 
Thank you! Rodeo ftw.
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