I had to assume that something had happened in the past—something I hadn’t heard about. I didn’t even know his name, and he probably didn’t know my name either. All I did know was that I liked being around him. There weren’t others nearby, and nobody came up to talk to us, so it was nice and quiet. I didn’t hate him, and he didn’t hate me. I was more than happy to sit at the same table and drink with him.
Because everyone hated him, though, he always went on jobs by himself. The fact that his rating was stable meant that he was decently strong.
“Magic tools can be unwieldy,” said the old man. “If your strength is in your magic tools, then you gotta wear them all the time.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What happens when you gotta take them off, though? You’d be helpless.”
“Uh-huh.”
Did this mean that adventurers had to be wary of attacks even in their own beds? Had he come under such an attack before? I was really starting to get interested in his history.
“You have to worry that much?” I asked.
“That...and more. There are times when you gotta disengage your weapons. You’ve gotta make sure you yourself have enough power to deal with the situation even if you can’t rely on your tools.”
That’s a good argument. I’m gonna use it when I see Sister Sensei again. Just as my drink was brought to me, the doors to the guild house were flung open. It was Sister Sensei, who stood there looking around restlessly until her eyes landed on me.
“Kiri! I knew you’d be here! Why’d you run away?”
Didn’t think I’d see her again so soon.
“Ugh... Who’s that?” Sister Sensei said in a low voice, stiffening at the sight of the old guy next to me.
Impressive. He’s good enough to make someone hate him without even having met him. Was it the smell? I wasn’t sure if that was it, though, because my sense of smell was enhanced thanks to Detect, and he still just smelled like a normal old man to me.
Moving away from him, she pulled on my arm. “Come on, let’s get back to training.”
“No! That’s not training! It’s cruel and unusual bullying!”
As much as I screamed and struggled, the other adventurers didn’t move a muscle to help me. Maybe they didn’t want to get close to the old guy, but it definitely seemed like they thought I was getting what I deserved. How could they be so heartless?
“This old guy told me that assuming that all battles are fought with magic tools will land me in a world of hurt when I’m attacked without them! I request a revision of the training regimen!” I decided to wield the argument I’d heard earlier.
For a second, I thought it had worked because she stopped pulling on me. Then, in the next second, she began pulling on my arm again.
“Mm, you’re not wrong...but that’s for people who can actually fight, right? You can’t even do that, so I need to teach you how to fight first. Besides, you can’t use magic tools anyway, can you?”
She has a point. I hadn’t expected her to counter my valid argument with one of her own. Damn—my plan failed. I looked at the old guy, silently requesting his help, but he looked away, sipping at his drink instead. Et tu, Brute?!!! (Round 2: Electric Brutaloo.)
“Come on, let’s get going!”
“W-Wait! You’re gonna break my arm! Agh—my arm!” I could feel the joints of my arm about to break. If she had used her magic tools, I had no doubt that my arm would have snapped. Just as I was thinking about how to get out of this, the bell over the guild doors jingled again.
“Kiri, we have a job. Let’s... Uh, what are you doing?” said Ariya as she came in. Godlike timing!
“Ari! Save me from this hell!”
“‘Hell’? That’s mean!” Sister Sensei protested.
“Seriously... What’s going on?”
It made sense that Ariya wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of the current situation. Yesterday’s “victim” had become today’s “perpetrator.”
“Did Kiri cause trouble again?” She phrased this as a question, but she acted like she already knew the answer. It was obvious she had no faith in me.
The girl at reception ran over to her. “Apologies, Ari. Please allow me to explain.”
While my joints creaked threateningly, the girl from the guild explained what had happened.
“Pupil?” Ariya asked. She probably understood that a master-pupil relationship like this was very risky for me. She glanced at Sister Sensei, who was gripping my arm, before speaking again. “Miss Fanatique, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I believe this is a problem for me. I’m responsible for—”
“But it doesn’t look like you’ve been able to train him properly,” she said bluntly. The way they were arguing over me made this feel like a parental dispute. “I think I can take good care of him, and I see no disadvantages for you.”
It felt like sparks were flying between them. Was this one of those fabled catfights? Scary. Can you at least let go of my arm first? I swear my elbow’s gonna break in five seconds.
“I’ll be sure that he doesn’t have any more immature outbursts...so why don’t you back off for now?”
“Are you really that attached to him? Oh, wait—is that because you’re in love with him?”
Time appeared to freeze. The flow of the conversation had taken us in a very weird direction.
“Excuse me...?”
“Well, you’re basically financially supporting him. Plus, you’re always defending him. You also mentioned that you two have history.”
“There are no romantic feelings between myself and Ino—Kiri...”
Yeah, if anything, we only think about killing each other.
“Then I don’t see the problem with me toughening him up a bit,” Sister Sensei said, pulling my arm. Crap, it’s really bending. Oh, god, it’s gonna snap!
“Well...”
“Guys don’t like clingy girls.”
“We aren’t like that!” Ariya, don’t fall for her game. Hurry up and save my elbow... Wait, no—get me out of this training relationship!
“Jealous? It’s okay, I only want him as a pupil. I’m not after him romantically. I’m a Holy Knight, after all.”
“Urgh! Fine! Do as you want!”
Et tu, Brute?!?!?! (For the third time...)
“Awesome! Now that we have everyone’s approval, let’s get back to training, my pupil!”
“W-Wait! Seriously, wait! It’s gonna break!”
“If it breaks, I’ll just heal you. All good!”
“There’s nothing good about that!”
Thus, I was dragged off kicking and screaming by Sister Sensei.