It appeared Tsukuyomi had been the one to remain in Ms. Isabella’s mind and not me. With an impact like that, how could she not?
“Hmph,” snorted the gatekeeper. “Well, suspicious as you may be, it would still be acceptable for me to allow you into my office outside of the mansion. But just in case, wait here while I go confirm with the butler.”
†
We were led to the gatekeeper’s office to wait while the servants passed the message on to Ms. Isabella. The interior was simple, as you would imagine for a room where the gatekeeper was meant to take breaks in. You couldn’t really call it furniture, but there were round wooden stools around the desk. In the corner was a bunk bed meant for naps.
“Master Shinobu,” Gabriel called out to me.
“Yeah?”
“It is rather presumptuous of that mage to call herself a Great Sage. Do you really believe she possesses skills that will prove beneficial to you?”
“Didn’t you see her power up her staff back at the garrison?”
The monster hunt expedition would begin in a month. Simply sleeping and eating in the hotel until then would be a waste of time, so I came here to ask Ms. Isabella to teach me something.
“The natives here have to learn advanced battle techniques on their own. The reincarnator-hunting Sages did too.”
“Indeed, they had superior combat abilities. However, Isabella does not, no matter how you look at her.”
“It’s not a matter of how strong or weak she is. The important thing is how useful her weapon buff skills are.”
“Hm.” She didn’t look satisfied with that answer, but Gabriel didn’t press further.
She was right to be skeptical, since I really was here on a gamble. In addition to the reincarnators looking down on the natives in general, she probably didn’t like that I wanted to learn from someone weaker than me. But to me, that in itself had the possibility of giving me a leg up over the level cappers. If it genuinely turned out to be of no use, then all I’d have to do was get some information out of Ms. Isabella over tea, then spend the rest of my free time leveling up and strengthening Alice.
The sound of frantic sprinting echoed outside of the office. The turning of the doorknob made a high-pitched squeak as the man from before burst into the room, all the blood drained from his face.
“I-I’m so sorry! I had no idea you all were such important guests!” He’d flung himself onto the ground in front of Tsukuyomi and made it clear that he was speaking more to her than the rest of us. It was so obvious what had occurred moments ago that I couldn’t help but laugh. I felt a little bad that he’d probably gotten yelled at. He’d only done his job as the gatekeeper and hadn’t been particularly rude to us.
“P-Please come this way!” His voice was muffled by the ground. “I’ll take you to the parlor in the mansion!”
I’ll be sure to tell Ms. Isabella that this guy is a proper gatekeeper, I thought as I got up from my chair.
†
In stark contrast to the office outside, the parlor was incredibly fancy.
After we’d waited a few minutes, three knocks came from the door. I thought the knocker would let themselves in, but they never did. The room fell silent.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just mumbled, “Come in.” The door opened slowly.
Ms. Isabella walked in, straight toward Tsukuyomi, her face almost blue. She got on her knees and bowed her head.
“L-L-L-Lady Tsukuyomi... I heard that my gatekeeper was horribly rude to you.”
“You would be mistaken about that.” Tsukuyomi was checking her nails.
“Mistaken?”
She pointed a well-manicured finger at me. “Shinobu is my boss.”
Don’t point. It’s rude. Not that Tsukuyomi would have cared even if I’d said so.
Her words startled Isabella. “T-Terribly sorry...Master...Shinobu?”
“My name is Shinobu Iijima, Ms. Isabella. You don’t need to call me master.”
“No sir! As a fellow sorcerer, I couldn’t possibly refer to you as such after being shown such a miracle—”
“Er, no, I’m just some seventeen-year-old...”
“Seventeen?! You control a being like Lady Tsukuyomi who can use supernatural spells at seventeen?! You’re even greater than I thought...!”
“Anyway! Please stand up and stop bowing your head!”
“I-I could never... Never!”
I see. She’s the type who isn’t going to change her tone toward me no matter what.
“If nothing else, then at least raise your head. It’s hard to talk to you like this.”
Ms. Isabella did as she was told, with her knees still firmly on the ground. Guess there’s nothing I can do about that. She just won’t listen.
I stood up from the sofa and knelt to match her.
“Master Shinobu Iijima?”
“I’ll get straight to the point. I want you to teach me how you strengthen your weapons by focusing magic into them.”
“You want me to...teach you my skills? Master Shinobu Iijima, why are you kneeling? The difference between your power and mine is that of heaven and earth!”
“Well you see, I specifically came here to beg you to teach me.” I bowed my head the same way I’d done my whole life in Japan.
“S-Sir, I’m not worthy of you lowering your head to me!”
“Starting now, we’re teacher and student. This isn’t that strange,” I chuckled.
Her mouth opened, closed, and made nervous sounds over and over.
†
A-rank Adventurer Joachim
The selection exam for the overflow extermination team. Naturally, I passed with flying colors because I’m an A-rank adventurer. It really pissed me off that I was put into the soldier’s garrison instead of the high-class hotel, but I forgave them since they gave me one of the better officer’s rooms.
We were drinking in my room.
“That bitch!”
It served them right that the little Alice brat failed the exam, but just remembering the woman called Tsukuyomi made even my fine liquor taste bad.
“Speaking of which, Joachim, that Tsukuyomi woman sure was weird. How on earth did she make you pass out with just a flick to the forehead?”
I sucked air through my teeth. “That woman named Gabriel too.”
The man next to me was my old friend, Nathan, who also was an A-rank adventurer. I was shocked when we ended up reuniting at the garrison.
“Humor me, Joachim. We’re A-rank adventurers, said to be able to take on a thousand warriors, yeah? So how did those women make us think they were monsters?”
“Hell if I know! I don’t even want to think about it. Might bring bad luck.”
That’s when I remembered something I’d heard from an S-rank who had once been called a legend on the battlefield.
“Nathan, have you heard of the Gods?”
His brow twitched. “I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about them. Not many of us A-ranks know about ’em.”
“Don’t be such a pussy. I’ve never seen anyone get killed just for talking about them.”
“But you know Maximian, one of the regional lords? His whole dominion and croplands were burned down forty years ago because of that.”
“That happened to him because he went around preaching about the ‘truth of the world order’ or some stupid shit like that. The two of us are just talking about something we both know about. No one’s listening.”
He thought for a bit about that, then nodded.
“You probably noticed, but...” I continued.