My eyes met Rose’s and I backed away without thinking. She was looking in my direction, but she wasn’t really looking at me. She was focused on something else. All I knew was that her eyes were filled with contradiction.
“You swine! The king ordered us to reenlist you in the army, but I simply will not tolerate this behavior!” Siglis shouted.
“Hah! Can’t open my right eye, so couldn’t do it anyway.” Rose pointed to her right eye, which was permanently sealed shut.
Is she using the damage to her eye as an excuse to stay out of the army? From what I hear from King Lloyd and Welcie, they wouldn’t care about the injury since she has talent.
“Enough of this nonsense!” Siglis huffed. He walked toward us, looking worried. “Princess Celia, I must take my leave. Stay close to Kazuki-sama at all costs.”
“Huh? Huhhh?” the princess said in disbelief.
“I will return as soon as I have calmed down,” Siglis said.
After he uttered those parting words, Siglis disappeared into the woods. He seemed to have left to avoid fighting with Rose.
“Welp, there goes Siglis. Do the heroes or princess got any problems with my training?”
“They don’t care about that!” Usato shouted. “Yo, Rose. What happened just now?! Did you call me your ‘right-hand man’? Oh joy. I’m soooo happy. Here, let me give you a right-hand knuckle sandwich to show my appreciation. C’mon, what’s the hold up? If you want a right-hand man, then hurry up and stick out your face!”
“Not before I give you my own present first . . . but that’ll have to come later. These heroes came all this way so they must wanna talk. Take a break with them and eat lunch,” Rose said, shoving her right fist in Usato’s face.
The moment she looked at us she put down her fist. Her whole demeanor had changed. We watched her walk toward the quarters, then we approached Usato. He removed the weight on his back, put it on the ground, and stretched out.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, but who’s this?” Usato said, looking at Celia.
“My name is Celia Vulgast Llinger. Please call me Celia, Usato-sama.”
“Usato . . . sama? Aren’t you the king’s . . .”
“Yes, I am his daughter.”
Usato became a bit flustered. He probably wasn’t used to women adding a “-sama” to his name, which is exactly how Kazuki had felt the first few times it had happened to him. Celia asked Usato to treat her like an ordinary person, and he reluctantly acquiesced.
“So, what’s your training like, Kazuki? I can tell you’ve both gotten stronger,” Usato said.
No one said a word.
“Why so silent?” he asked.
I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tell him that our training was nowhere near as brutal as his. It wasn’t a walk in the park, but it was nothing compared to his.
Our training was designed to avoid putting unnecessary strain on our bodies—a carefully weaved, efficient plan that would improve our fighting expertise. In other words, it was the total opposite of Usato’s experience. His training was dangerous, made him do the impossible, and actively pushed him past his limits.
After hearing all the rumors and seeing Usato’s insane training regimen in person, one could safely assume that he had been training like this for the past three weeks. His profile didn’t look all that different, but I could tell that his body had gotten incredibly strong over the past three weeks.
Let’s take a peek.
I lifted up Usato’s shirt without thinking.
“You don’t mind, right, Usato-kun?”
“What? What are you doing Inukami senpaaahh?!”
I rolled up the shirt he was wearing as Celia’s cheeks turned bright red.
I see. He bruises his muscles through excessive training and then heals them with magic. That must be why he’s so built. On top of his incredible stamina, he also wields incredible strength. It’s almost like he’s superhuman.
“I really underestimated you, Usato-kun! Your muscles are stellar!” I exclaimed.
“Aren’t you a little too excited, Inukami-senpai?” Usato asked.
“Oh no, I mean, I’m just impressed that you’ve become this strong in such a short period of time.”
He had survived training that was grueling at best.
“Kazuki-sama, is Suzune-sama okay?” Celia asked innocently.
“Sorry, Celia,” Kazuki said, “but I have no idea.”
Usato peeled me off of him with both arms, seemingly irritated that I wouldn’t let go. As much as it pained me to leave his muscles, it was probably better that I stayed away.
“Whew. Anyway, I’m glad you two seem to be doing all right,” Usato said.
“You seem . . . like you’re doing well too, Usato,” Kazuki responded.
“Ha ha ha! That seems to be my only redeeming feature nowadays,” Usato answered. He cheerfully smiled and didn’t look tired at all.
“I guess we had no reason to worry after all.” Kazuki breathed a sigh of relief.
“Worry about what?” Usato asked. “Eh, never mind. Next time I wanna go visit you guys. I’d love to see what training’s like at the castle.” He looked far off toward the castle.
“He mustn’t,” Celia shuddered.
Celia didn’t want Usato to see the knights train since he was under the assumption that they trained as hard as he did. Seeing him would undoubtedly lower their morale.
“Is your training always like this, Usato?” asked Kazuki.
“Yeah.” Usato shyly scratched his head. “But today was a lot easier than usual.”
“That was the easy part?”
That’s terrifying. I wonder how this is affecting his mental health. I mean, he’s an average high schooler who had nothing to do with this world, but they dragged him here and now the rescue team is forcing him to complete cruel, demanding training. I’m sure he has his complaints.
“Aren’t you tired, Usato?” asked Kazuki.
I had been thinking the very same thing.
“Huh?” Usato seemed perplexed. After contemplating the question for a few brief seconds, Usato answered immediately. “I’m incredibly tired. When I first got here, all I wanted to do was escape.”
Kazuki followed up with a question. “Do you still feel that way now?”
Usato nodded, then opened up his right hand. We watched as beautiful green magic emerged from his palm.
“The captain’s scary as hell but I no longer feel like I want to escape. Healing magic might’ve put me through the ringer, but it’s the reason that this tiring training has become kinda fun. Plus, living here isn’t too much of a drag. The guys are too loud sometimes, but I deal with it,” said Usato, grinning wryly. His resilience was impressive.
“You’re amazing. Looks like you’ve finally found where you belong,” I said.
“I’m really not. I only powered through my training because I didn’t want to bother you on the battlefield, senpai,” Usato answered.
“You’d never bother us,” Kazuki protested.
It was hard to believe that he had actually disagreed with Usato. I’d never thought of Usato as a “bother,” but I could see how being accidentally dragged to this world could make him feel like a hindrance.
Or, at least, that’s how I thought he had felt. Instead, he only grinned in response.
“Nah, I’m just sticking it out because I’m stubborn. In the end, you’re the heroes who have to fight the Demon Lord’s army. No way am I gonna be the only one slacking off.”
“But you don’t have to fight the Demon Lord’s army, Usato,” Kazuki said.
“And I’m not ready to fight them. But even so, I can’t just stand here and do nothing. If I don’t work hard at something, it wouldn’t be fair to you both.”
Stubborn, huh? I see. Guess there’s nothing we can do about that. This is his decision and it isn’t our place—or anyone else’s—to try to change his mind.
“In that case, Usato-kun, if I’m ever in trouble, come save me, okay?” I teased.
“Um . . . How do you expect me to react when you suddenly act like a normal girl?”
“I am a normal girl! What else would I be?!”
“I certainly think it would be hard to classify you as a normal girl, Suzune-sama,” Celia added.
Not even Celia’s on my side.
Everyone—even Kazuki—laughed and the conversation came to a close.
Wait. That was fun? Why did I have to be the butt of the joke?!
A little while later, we were in the middle of a conversation when a full-grown man emerged from the woods. He was carrying a lunch box in one hand.
“Yo, Usato! Look at how nice I am, bringin’ you lunch!” the man said.
At that moment, a vein pulsated furiously in Usato’s forehead. I thought Usato was mild-mannered, so seeing him turn into a raging demon almost felt like a bad dream.
However, this wasn’t a dream, and reality wasn’t so kind.
“You got some nerve saying shit like that, blockhead!” Usato shouted. “Don’t have enough brains to remember the shit you pulled last week, do ya?!”
“Ugh! I dunno whut yer sayin’! Try speakin’ words a simple guy like me would know, dumbass!”
“If I make this any easier it’ll be like talkin’ to a baby! Oh, right! Must be because you got hot air for brains!”
“Damn punk! Can never let go of things, can ya?!”
“That’s rich coming from the guy who ate this ‘damn punk’s’ lunch!”
Usato suddenly closed the distance between them and kicked the tall, rugged man. The man safely parried the kick, the corners of his mouth trembling as he glared at Usato.
“The hell! What would you do if that hit me? I’m stronger than you by a longshot. I’ll mess you up before big sis even sees you!”
“Hah! Think you can? Bring it on!”
Usato and the stern-looking man started to scuffle. Kazuki was standing next to me. He looked troubled at first, but then started laughing out loud.
“So, this is what Usato’s daily life is like!”
“Yeah. He’s doing his best in this place,” I added.
Looks like I was worried for nothing. He’s surviving almost too well in this world, even better than us! But I think this place might be making him a little crazy.
“Listen, I can’t just stand here after that. Let’s go back to the castle and train!” Kazuki exclaimed. Watching Usato train must have made him feel antsy to jump back into action.
“Oh my! Please slow down, Sir Kazuki!” cried Celia, chasing after him.
I watched them run away, then looked back at Usato once more.
He might say that being dragged into the hero-summoning and becoming a healer was just a coincidence, but I think this happened for a reason.
As I watched the two men fight, I whispered softly.
“Let’s give it our all, Usato-kun.”