Although it was blatantly obvious that I was stunned into silence, she continued, unfazed. “You’re unpolished—lacking in both the physical and mental departments.” I’m what now? Is she drunk? “You might be stronger than the average person...but so’s any adventurer who uses magic tools. I can tell that there’s more to you, though. You have potential.” She looked straight at me. “I can tell from your eyes.” Why do you look so proud? It’s creeping me out. “You couldn’t react to my attack yesterday, but you saw it perfectly.”
She wasn’t wrong. With my Eye of True Vision, I could track anything with ease. I’d seen her attack, almost as if it were in slow motion, and beheld how powerful it looked as it struck me. I hadn’t expected her to notice that I’d perceived all that, though.
“You can’t really train your eyes to be faster. You can boost your reflexes with training or magic tools, but that won’t really do anything for your eyes.” She was obviously very excited about this...but I had no intention of becoming her pupil. There was no doubt she’d figure out I wasn’t who I pretended to be if I trained under her.
“Yeah, thanks, but no th—” I tried to flat-out refuse her offer but was interrupted by an adventurer sitting not too far from us.
“Listen up, goblin, this is a good opportunity for you. Why don’t you let her teach you an adventurer’s manners and some combat skills? You got knocked on your ass yesterday, remember? She’s way stronger than you.”
Everyone around us nodded in agreement. Crap. It was getting hard to say no. In that case, I had to change up my strategy.
“I’m already partnered with Black Rose. Sorry, but there isn’t much you can teach me.”
Her response was immediate. “Isn’t she busy all the time? I doubt she can help you that much.” Did she do her homework before talking to me? “I’ve got more time on my hands, so I can spend some of it tutoring you.”
Crap. I’m being backed into a corner. If Ariya were here, I could at least have her argue a little on my behalf, but she was taking care of a request. It was true that, as Black Rose, she didn’t have too much free time. Hm, maybe this was another problem I could just push onto Ariya? I decided that the best course of action was to put this matter on hold until she had time to take care of it.
Just as I had that thought, I noticed that the girl from the reception desk was coming over. She’d apparently caught wind of this conversation. Oh, right—the guild wouldn’t approve of this! I may not have been out on jobs with Ariya, but we were still party members. Stupid fistfights aside, it was against the rules to try to poach party members—especially by coercion, which this could fall under. The guild would be on my side; they’d get me out of this situation!
“What a kind offer,” said the girl from the reception desk. “Please do train him. I’ll be sure to inform Ari.”
Et tu, Brute?!
“Ari? Who’s that?”
“Black Rose. It’s her real name. This man here is our guild’s greatest shame... All he’s accomplished is loitering here and drinking all day. Usually we’d take matters into our own hands, but... Anyway, I know it’s a lot to ask, but could we take you up on your offer?”
“Real name”? No, her real name is Ariya. Of course, we weren’t going to use our real names here, so Ariya had instead gone with the fake name she’d used in the past.
“Please forgive me for being so forward, but I believe a Holy Knight such as yourself will be able to straighten him out in both body and mind. On behalf of the guild, I’d like to make a formal request of you. I do hope you’ll accept it.”
Oh, she’s a Holy Knight? I guess we are in a holy land. I’d heard about them in the course of my information gathering. I had more pressing matters to think about, though—I needed to figure out a way out of this.
“Sure thing! Excited to be working with you!” She stuck her hand out to me.
I felt the angry gazes of the adventurers on me. As their eyes bored holes into me they were practically screaming that I’d better not turn her down. Yep, this is checkmate. I was already one step away from becoming a total outcast. If I declined now, I’d cross that line, and then I’d really be screwed.
“Fine...” Reluctantly, I shook her hand. I really wanted to ask her why she couldn’t tell I was just a normal human at the moment. Of course, I was amazing—just not right this second. I’m really powerful at night, okay?! This isn’t sour grapes!
“What?! You haven’t been to the church yet?! That’s blasphemous,” she exclaimed. Her reaction to this revelation was rather exaggerated. Can you blame me, though? I don’t need anything from the church, so why would I go there?
From her explanation, it was customary for all travelers to stop by the church to pray when arriving in a new town. It was such common knowledge that I’d never heard anyone explicitly talking about it. It was kinda like how people visited shrines in Japan.
“Okay, change of plans. First stop is the church!”
“What does this have to do with being an adventurer?”
“It’s for mental training! If we’re going to build up your mind, purifying your spirit with prayer is the best way to go!”
That’s a very Holy Knight thing to say. It was then that I decided I’d call her Sister Sensei. I wasn’t very interested in setting foot in the church, but I didn’t really have a choice, so I obediently followed her as she led the way.
Sister Sensei was a little shorter than Ariya, but not by much. Oh, interesting fact—units of measurement were the same in this world as they were in Japan. So if we told people here that Ariya was a hundred sixty centimeters tall, they’d understand. Thank you to whoever’s responsible for that.
Sister Sensei was a beautiful girl whose standout features were her white hair and her clear, blue eyes. Her attire seemed to be a nun’s habit with some armor on top of it. It was hard to tell what her body looked like because of the armor, but it didn’t seem like she had much going for her in the breast department.
Her skin was so light it was almost reflective, and her waist and wrists were so thin that it made me wonder if she could really fight, even with the help of magic tools. She just seemed so...dainty. I couldn’t imagine her pretty, thin fingers holding a weapon. Maybe she made up for it with protective magic?
The nape of her neck was exposed through gaps in her armor. It was pale and beautiful, and thoroughly stimulated my appetite. Also, her scent made me almost certain she was a virgin. Do nuns in this world have to be virgins too?
As if suddenly remembering something, she turned to me. “Oh, hey, what’s your name?”
“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”
“Wait, haven’t I? Hm... I guess not.”
Even if she does, she’s still going to be Sister Sensei to me.
“I’m Fanatique—a Holy Knight of Ryne. You can just call me Fana.”
“Kiri.” Obviously, that’s my fake name. It came from a different reading of the characters in my Japanese name. There was no way that people in a different world would catch on, especially since, for a lot of Japanese people, it wouldn’t be natural to read my name like that at all. “So, what exactly is a Holy Knight?”
“Huh? You don’t know?”
“Yeah, I’m not from around here. I’ve only heard of you guys. I don’t know what you do.”