Chapter 187

CHAPTER 23 A Teat’s Worth Rosalie’s semi-abusive training continues for the next few hours as Seiya’s ruthless attacks rip apart her clothes. But no matter how many times she is knocked back or falls to the ground, she somehow manages to stand back up. “H-how much longer are they going to do this?” Rosalie pathetically pants with an amorous look in her eyes, and I start to feel uneasy for a moment until Cerceus suddenly mutters: “Rosalie isn’t losing consciousness anymore, huh?” “Huh…?” That’s when it hits me: Seiya was dumping water on her to wake her up whenever he knocked her out, but I haven’t seen him do that in a while now. “Does that mean…?” I use Scan on Rosalie. I vaguely remember her not even being at level 70 the last time I checked, and it looks like her HP and Defense are increasing pretty quickly. I can’t believe she gained this many levels in such a short amount of time! It looked like Seiya was torturing her, but I guess the training really was effective! I bet even Rosalie can tell firsthand just how much more resilient she’s becoming. As the Hero continues to whip her body, she quietly mutters to herself: “Training under the Hero is amazing! I can feel myself gradually getting stronger!” Her eye is bloodshot. “Ahn! More! Give it to me!” Rosalie insists as she pants like a dog. Wait, what…? There’s something definitely weird about this! But despite Rosalie’s excitement, Seiya passes his wooden sword to Cerceus with a cold look on his face. “That’s enough training for today.” “I—I can still train! Give me more! …Hit me harder!” “Rosalie?!” “I can’t train you all day. I still have my own training to do.” “O-oh…” Rosalie seems to be disheartened after coming to her senses, but it looks like her training is finally over for the day. Seiya pulls out a stack of papers from his breast pocket and begins looking over them. “Hey, Seiya? What are you doing?” “I found a few underworld denizens worthy of training under and wrote their names down. Hold on. I need to examine the list a little more,” Seiya replies before he begins staring at one of the names on the list. While it doesn’t surprise me in the least that he’s doing this, Rosalie seems to be lost in admiration. “Incredible! The Hero is so meticulous in everything he does!” That’s when I suddenly realize that Cerceus is glaring at me. “…What’s your problem?” “Rista, you’re supposed to be his goddess, yet you don’t do anything, huh? Seiya’s even decided on his own where he’s going to train next.” “I—I’m looking into things that could help him, too!” “Like…?” “Well, there’s apparently someone in the underworld who can control storms! I bet learning their special move would make Seiya even more powerful!” Uno told me a little about this individual during our chat. Seiya, however, shakes his head. “You’ve got your priorities backward. First, you need to think about what kind of move you want to learn based on your future opponents. Only after doing that do you start searching for underworld beings to help you.” “Th-then what kind of moves do you want to learn?” “Fine. I’ll show you.” Seiya lets out a “hmph” before taking another stack of papers out of his pocket. Rosalie and Cerceus groan: “He is always one step ahead of the Goddess with everything he does! He is the epitome of a true Hero!” “He’s efficiently prepared to win. No wonder Great Goddess Ishtar and Aria consider him a top-class Hero.” Ack! I can’t argue with that! Seiya really is an amazing Hero! With that, I turn my gaze to the piece of paper Seiya gave me. It’s a list of moves he wants to learn. A move that stealthily makes the enemy sick. A move that poisons food. A move that plants a bomb while the enemy is asleep. A move that secretly curses the enemy. A move to sneak up behind the enemy and slit their throat without anyone noticing. “There isn’t a single thing heroic about any of these!” “Who cares? Safely defeating the Dragon Lord is all that is important.” “But these moves are dirty… Like cheap tricks…” Rosalie, on the other hand, yells in a voice charged with emotion: “Simply amazing! Awe-inspiring, even!” “What?! These are ‘awe-inspiring’? Um… Well, I guess they’re okay as long as he can defeat the Dragon Lord with those moves, but…” After looking back and forth between his two lists for a few moments, Seiya suddenly nods deeply as if he’s satisfied. “All right. This is going to be where I train next.” “It sounds like you made up your mind. So? Who’s going to be teaching you what?” “If I were to describe the move using the list I just showed you, it would fall under ‘sneaking up behind the enemy and slitting their throat.’ Now that I can’t use Lucifer, slitting the Dragon Lord’s throat before he even notices me is my only option to both defeat him and avoid Igzasion.” “I—I’m pretty sure there are plenty of other options…!” “I hear there is an underworld dweller that lives near the spring named Slauri who can turn himself invisible.” “You’re going to learn how to turn invisible?!” “Exactly. When Rasti taught me how to transform back in the spirit world, she told me it was impossible to turn invisible, but it appears to be possible in the underworld.” Seiya used Rasti’s Transformation technique to defeat Grandleon in Ixphoria by turning himself into a beastkin. I got turned into a fish-person, too, now that I think about it… But I remember that was all because turning invisible wasn’t possible. “I’ll turn invisible, approach Mash from behind, and slit his throat.” “Th-that is the perfect plan! What an incredible idea, Hero!” “…” I fall silent. Seiya begins to walk off on his own, but after a few moments go by, he looks back at us. “Follow me. I want Rista, Cerceus, and if possible, Rosalie all to master this move.” We follow Seiya until we find ourselves in a thick forest. We are now far from the Shrine of the Six Realms in the center of the underworld, where Hathies resides. The forest is unbelievably eerie. There are carnivorous plants and trees with trunks in the shape of human faces everywhere I look. Nevertheless, Seiya briskly walks through it with his usual indifferent expression. “Hff… Hff… Just how much farther is this place?” pants Cerceus as sweat drips down his body. He was lagging behind the rest of us because he was carrying two huge buckets filled with some sort of blue liquid, unlike Rosalie and me, who came empty-handed. I approach Seiya and ask: “Hey, Seiya. What’s in the buckets Cerceus is carrying?” “I didn’t get much information on Slauri when I asked around, but we might not be able to even see him from the start if he can turn himself invisible. When we get there, he could even say something like, ‘You must find me first if you ever wish to learn my move.’ That’s why I am bringing this paint with me just in case.” Seiya seems to be looking ahead just like he always does. That does sound like something that could happen, but when I tell Cerceus, his expression turns into a scowl and he complains in a whisper: “Do you really think something like that’s gonna happen? Tsk. Dammit, this is heavy.” “Cerceus! We should believe in the Hero and trust his judgment!” Rosalie encourages him before taking one of the buckets out of his hands. It isn’t too much longer after that until we eventually find an open area within the forest with a beautiful, crystal-clear spring before us. “…?! It’s beautiful!” Most places in the underworld have been creepy and dreadful, but the air here is crisp and clear. There’s a wooden hut near the spring, which I’m assuming must be where Slauri lives. “Hmm. Someone’s over there.” I follow Seiya’s gaze to find an old man sitting down by the spring while fishing. He has long, white hair, which covers half his face. He also has a matching white beard and wears a robe as if he were some sort of hermit. But even then, it’s still obvious he’s a dweller of the underworld, which is made clear by his black tail curled on the ground behind him. I timidly call out to him. “Excuse me. We’re looking for a man named Slauri…” “Heh-heh-heh! Slauri, ya say? If you’re lookin’ for him, you’ve found him. He’s already right next to ya.” I-it looks like Seiya is right! He’s already invisible! I frantically look behind me, but I don’t even sense another soul nearby. After a few more moments go by, the old man eventually puts down his fishing rod and turns his gaze at us. “I am Slauri.” Cerceus immediately replies: “What the…?! I can clearly see you!” “Of course ya can. I can’t live life invisible all the time.” “S-Seiya! Does this mean that I carried all this paint over here for nothing?!” “Not at all.” Seiya drops a heavy bucket of paint in front of Slauri. “I brought you a present. This paint is all yours. You can use it to paint that hut blue.” “W-wow! There is meaning behind everything the Hero does!” Rosalie’s eyes light up in admiration, but Slauri seems to be somewhat puzzled. “Uh… I don’t need any paint… Why would I suddenly paint my home blue after all these years?” So it was all for nothing! He just hates admitting when he’s wrong! Seiya, however, seems to have already forgotten about the paint and Cerceus as he simply stares at Slauri with a dubious gaze. “Are you really Slauri? Turn invisible and prove it.” “Well, aren’t ya the skeptic. Okay, see for yourself.” After taking in a deep breath, the old man slowly brings his wrinkled hands together before instantly vanishing into thin air! “H-he disappeared! He really did it!” “Ya can still hear my voice, though, eh? This is my special move: Invisibility.” I look in the direction of his voice, but he’s nowhere to be found. I can’t even sense his presence, despite having far better senses than any human. I wouldn’t have even known he was there if he didn’t say anything. “Hmph. It’s as good as I imagined. I have to learn this move.” “Heh. My move is flawless. I’m completely invisible to the naked eye. I’m sure it’ll come in handy on your adventure.”