Playing as a Tank

Blink, blink.

The noticeably widened pupils of the guild member ‘Levan’ looked back and forth between my small arm extended straight forward and the monster with a massive hole in the center of its body.

Right after that, I made eye contact with a gaze that seemed to be the physical embodiment of the word “bewilderment.”

After noticing that not only my visibly reddened chest but also all the small cuts across my body were healing in a matter of seconds, even those distinct pupils began to shake slightly.

“L-Lua. You…”
“…What?”

Despite his voice mixing doubt and confusion in equal measure, I deliberately asked what the problem was as if nothing was wrong.

As if it were natural for a tiny child like me to defeat a monster.

As if it weren’t strange at all that my soft, childlike hands could pierce through that hard exoskeleton, or that wounds all over my body were healing within seconds.

If he asked me to defeat another monster right now, my bluff would probably be exposed immediately, but still…

Seeing Levan speechless again, I delivered the finishing blow with a boastful mutter.

“I had high expectations since this was a place the uncles were specially managing. But it’s really nothing special…”

Then I went a step further by carefully touching the monster’s corpse with my finger.

At the same time, thud.

“………………”

I quickly wiped away a few tears that finally escaped.

Fortunately, since I was crouching with my back to Levan, he didn’t seem to notice.

…That’s a relief.

Anyway, whether from the headquarters or just a branch, a hunter is still a hunter.

Having witnessed me defeat a monster several times my size in one go, and seeing clear wounds disappear in just seconds, he wasn’t going to let this slide.

“Lua, I think we’d better end this dungeon tour now.”

The burly figure called over the other guild members who were clearing out other monsters, without even waiting for my response.

After briefly discussing something serious among themselves, they asked for a little of my time as I silently looked up at them.

Of course, there was no reason to refuse.

They would obviously take me to the guild branch to ask how I did what I did.

If I could even get a chance to showcase my other skills in front of these people, that would be perfect.

Since they were showing interest on their own, I was grateful, and I even took the lead walking toward the dungeon exit.

“Huh, aren’t you disappointed? I thought you’d beg to stay longer.”
“Well… it was boring anyway.”
“Oh, I see. It was boring…”

As I returned to the guild branch with the men who looked slightly embarrassed at my lie about the monsters being too weak to be interesting, at that moment.

Just as my three-stage plan was about to enter stage two.

“…Seems like you all went on a group outing with Lua. Seeing how you left in a crowd and returned in a crowd.”

For some reason, the voice of someone who had returned to the branch much earlier than expected pierced my ears.

The problem was that the voice was so fierce that I could immediately tell it was filled with anger at its limit.

Seeing one of the branch employees standing awkwardly in the distance mouthing “sorry” in our direction, it seemed they had finally heard from the employee where we had been.

“Ah, Big Sister Asha. Well, you see—”
“Lua, you be quiet.”

I immediately shut my mouth at the chilling voice that sent shivers down my spine.

S-sorry everyone. I tried to cover for you in my own way… but it’s not working.

By the way, I notice the “big sister” comes out naturally when I actually feel in danger.

The male self still remaining within me seemed to have surrendered too easily to Asha’s killing intent that wasn’t quite killing intent.

It’s true, when a normally kind person gets angry, it’s really scary…

“W-wait Asha. No, Guild Master! Please calm down first and listen to us—”

Unfortunately for the guild members led by Levan, who desperately began to spout various excuses, whoosh.

Flames that rose into the air as Asha finally chanted a few spells began to converge toward each other.

Not long after, the fire attribute elemental [Ifrit] fully manifested.

『Contractor, what shall this Ifrit reduce to a handful of ashes?』
“The irresponsibility of those adults who are only adults on the outside.”
『…Again?』

Listening to their conversation, it seemed this wasn’t the first time she had “educated” guild members with Ifrit.

Though she probably wouldn’t really attack them seriously…

She wouldn’t let the guild members go until they gave the answer Asha wanted—undoubtedly a sincere promise never to take me to dangerous places again.

『I don’t know what trouble you’ve caused, now as before… but I cannot ignore my contractor’s request. I hope you understand.』
“Lua, step aside. I’ll scold you separately.”

If you think about it, the only crime these people committed was giving in to my insistence.

Even being attacked by the ant lion monster earlier was entirely my own doing.

Even considering my current youthful appearance, I thought she might be a bit too overprotective.

…Perhaps that’s why.

“Uncle Levan. Could you grant me one more request?”
“R-request?”

I whispered a gambling move with a fifty-fifty chance of success or failure to Levan.

If successful, I could protect the guild members while showcasing my overpowered stats and skills in front of Asha.

If it failed, I would get severely scolded as well, and Asha’s indignation toward the guild members would only intensify.

I proposed a method that would bring about the worst possible outcome.

“If we use you as a shield and something goes wrong, we’ll only get in more trouble…!”
“But would she really let me get hurt? I’ll talk to Big Sister Asha, so just do as I say.”

Of course, I had my reasons.

Even if she “educated” the guild members with Ifrit, it wouldn’t be a real attack.

At most, it would obviously be damage at the level of a painful flick on the forehead.

Coincidentally, among the skills I hadn’t used yet, there was one that didn’t require me to take damage.

Since it had come to this, I decided to trick Asha just as I had tricked Levan earlier.

“…Lua. If you continue to stand there without moving aside, big sister will really get angry.”
“Ah, okay…”

If Asha noticed our scheme and stopped Ifrit, the plan would fail.

If she didn’t notice until the end and let Ifrit “educate” the guild members, the plan would succeed.

After that, I sneaked quietly to a corner of the building where various miscellaneous equipment was piled up, hiding a small shield inside my baggy clothes.

Just a few seconds later, when Ifrit’s blazing fist finally flew toward the guild members.

“Now!”

I jumped toward Levan’s thick hand, which could barely reach me even if I stretched my hands high.

Almost simultaneously, I felt a sensation of floating.

After successfully being caught in Levan’s hands, I immediately took out the small shield I had hidden in my clothes and used my skill.

[Using You Are the Shield (A) on .]
[Entity name: Lua’s HP stat and regeneration stat have been applied to .]
[Skill: If the Incoming Words Are Bad (P) has been applied to .]

Immediately after, Ifrit’s fiery fist directly hit the shield.

Since what I was holding was a wooden shield, it should have been set ablaze, but because it regenerated as fast as it burned, the shield ultimately maintained its original form.

Honestly, I was half-uncertain… but for the regeneration stat to apply even to an inanimate object like a shield—that’s just broken.

-Ding.

[A total of 117 damage has been accumulated.]
[Cumulative damage: 0 ▶ 117]
[Available damage: 117]

-Ding.

[A total of 152 damage has been accumulated.]
[Cumulative damage: 117 ▶ 269]
[Available damage: 269]

-Ding.
-Ding.
-Ding.

The monochrome message windows that continuously appeared in the air kept informing me of the damage being accumulated on the wooden shield.

One way or another, it was an unrealistic sight even by the already quite unrealistic standards of .

As expected, Levan’s widened gaze again pierced the back of my neck, but right now there was something more important.

『…Oh?』

I met the fiery eyes of the Elemental King, which clearly showed great interest.

As expected, Asha’s extremely confused face followed, finding it hard to believe what she was seeing.

Ifrit’s summon was dismissed just as the damage accumulated on the wooden shield had just reached four digits.

“Are you, are you okay, Lua? No, more importantly, how?”

Asha’s hands frantically rushed to me and firmly gripped both my shoulders hard enough to wrinkle my clothes.

Her deep purple pupils were also shaking slightly.

“Hmm… I’ll tell you if you promise not to scold anyone.”

Only after Asha reluctantly nodded, looking back and forth between me and the guild members behind me, did I place the wooden shield I was holding on the ground.

And, simultaneously, another message window appeared in the air for some reason.

[Due to the effect of the title: Guardian, the power of goodwill just performed by entity name: Lua has increased dramatically.]
[The favorability of guild members Levan / Ita / Nezar / Toaz has risen to the maximum limit.]

Soon, the guild members’ gazes toward me began to soften with each passing second.

Well, to be fair, they weren’t that unfriendly to begin with.

But when burly uncles covered in muscles from head to toe have extremely gentle gazes, it’s a little…

No, very creepy.