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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
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Upon arriving at the training grounds, Luna and School Lunch Kid went their separate ways to join their respective parties, and I too headed to the assigned private training ground where my party members were waiting.
Although it was much smaller than the open outdoor training ground, it was still a decent size for training with eight or fewer people.
“Oh! Kid has arrived!”
“H-has arrived?”
When I entered, Fatty and the other three greeted me, albeit somewhat awkwardly.
“What was discussed at the meeting?!”
What to do with people like you.
“Well, nothing special was discussed. Just that we should all work hard together to improve our skills.”
But were there only four people?
“Has Kinoshita not arrived yet?”
“Ah… about that.”
“…It seems she’s skipping…”
Amakasu said in a small voice.
“…Haa. Nothing we can do about it.”
“Should… should we look for her?”
“No. Today let’s proceed without Kinoshita.”
Originally, we should have conducted party tactical training, but for this party, tactics weren’t the important thing right now.
Even if we came up with any strategy, it would be meaningless if they couldn’t even execute it.
‘Though Kinoshita might not be diligent, at least she has ability.’
While party harmony was important, that only mattered when everyone had at least the minimum individual skill level.
Fatty was the most serious case, but honestly speaking, Amakasu, Masunaka, and Yori were all below standard as well.
In comparison, from what Kinoshita had shown, I could at least believe she could handle the basics.
“Huh? Then what about party training?”
“We will do it. But today, I’ll also be monitoring individual training separately.”
At my mention of overseeing their training, the four’s faces noticeably brightened.
Well. I wonder if that will be a good thing for you all?
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Thwack-! Thwack-! Thwack-!
“Ugh-! Ki… Kid. Please… I think… I think you hit my bones!”
“Bear with it, Fat- Sakaki-san. How can a tank who’s supposed to be the party’s shield whine like this? Ah, don’t curl up. Straighten your back.”
“Ugh-! Ki… Kid. Somehow I feel like there’s emotion behind those punches-”
“That’s your imagination. Imagination. Focus. Don’t close your eyes. If you block properly with your shield while watching carefully, it won’t hurt this much. Have you forgotten how earlier during training, Sakaki-san was easily broken through, leaving the other three exposed?”
I spoke coldly while looking at Fatty, who was crying streams of tears with his legs crossed in front of me, wearing an anguished expression.
Initially, it was a sparring match between me and the other four.
I used a wooden sword along with simple buffs.
The others used beginner sparring weapons appropriate for their classes, following competition rules.
However, the practice didn’t last long.
Fatty’s tower shield, made of wood and covering 60% of his body, was an excellent piece of equipment that was both light and sturdy, capable of being used as a weapon if needed by striking with it, but it was meaningless if the person using it was frozen stiff with fear.
His sloppy shield work revealed all his weaknesses, and after being hit a few times through those openings, he quickly collapsed from the pain and curled up like a pill bug.
Despite being fine except for the pain, that is.
As a result, the three people who were supposed to keep me in check from behind the defender were also exposed, and the three who lacked both sense and courage were subdued three times.
‘I should stop this.’
I felt that continuing the current vanguard’s party unit training would actually have a negative effect, so I stopped it.
The vanguard attack force.
In other words, the three behind the defender needed to absolutely trust the tank protecting them.
Unlike the rear guard who could keep their distance, the vanguard was at the front except for the tank who became their wall.
To attack freely and pull back, they needed the presence of an absolute, or at least trustworthy, wall to protect them from pursuing enemies.
However, when that wall that should have been trustworthy easily crumbled several times, Amakasu, Masunaka, and Yori started to fight assuming there was no wall that ‘should have been there.’
It was becoming the norm for the tank to be broken through and for them to be chased by the enemy.
It was a bad habit.
Regardless of strength or weakness, the people who sometimes needed to step forward and create plays were all shrinking back.
If this became their foundational experience and turned into a long-term habit, this training would be worse than not training at all.
‘…There’s absolutely no trust in the tank.’
I would probably feel the same way.
The other three, particularly the women Amakasu and Masunaka, were watching Fatty getting beaten up with dead eyes.
There wasn’t even a single point of trust to be found there.
“Let’s stop for now.”
“Th…thank youuuu~”
“I’ll heal you.”
I cast [Healing] on the pig-worm squirming on the ground while internally sighing.
‘…What should I do.’
To be honest, I lacked experience in this area.
No, to be more precise, I should say that while I was familiar with providing training, I had never experienced teaching people ‘at this level.’
The people I had taught were mostly aspiring professionals, or at least people with high ambitions who maintained high rankings in the user percentiles.
Particularly when competing for starting positions, they were all people who had the determination to break me and take the starting position.
That meant they had different talents and mindsets.
But these people, while probably casual gamers by nature, not only lacked talent but most problematically, lacked the desire to improve.
‘Motivation…’
Whether they hadn’t deeply realized that the situation surrounding all 108 of us was a matter of life and death, or they had given up, they lacked a desperate mindset.
‘With this kind of attitude, training seems like it would be pointless.’
Should I just take the tank position myself now and put Fatty in the vanguard attack force?
The efficiency would be lower, but since the current three weren’t very reliable either, if we thought about it as adding another vanguard attack resource…
“Sigh…”
“Ahem… hmm…!”
Seeing Fatty clear his throat awkwardly at my sigh, I spoke to everyone around.
“Let’s all take a break for now.”
“O…oh!”
“Sakaki-san, would you mind coming with me for a moment?”
“Uh… huh?”
At my call, his eyeballs shook uncontrollably as if sensing something unsettling.
For now… let me try some shock therapy in my own way for motivation.
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“Sakaki-san.”
“Ye… yes yes yes!!”
“No, I’m not trying to have a serious conversation, so please don’t be so tense.”
“Yes…”
When I put my hand on Sakaki’s trembling shoulders, he flinched even more.
“Well… how are you adapting to this side?”
“Uh… what do you mean?”
He was so intimidated that he was speaking politely instead of his usual strange way of talking.
“You know, at first when Sakaki-san came here… to this other world, you were so happy about it.”
“Th… that’s right?”
“I was wondering how you’re finding it, since you came to this other world you liked so much.”
“Uh… um… g-good?”
Why are you asking me that?
You should know yourself.
Still, I tried to guide his thoughts in the direction Fatty wanted.
“…To be honest, I’m not sure. Something like… if you come to another world like this, you’re supposed to get some cheat ability…”
“And?”
“Go on adventures with reliable party members… and then…”
“And then?”
Fatty’s face reddened as he cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Y-you know… that… b-beautiful ladies…”
“Ah.”
Not just lady but ‘ladies’ in plural, so he’s thinking of a harem, huh.
“Certainly, I can understand looking forward to that.”
“Right!!!!?”
“…Please lower your voice a bit.”
“Ah… sorry about that.”
If this were reality, my ears would definitely have been damaged just now.
“Even from what we saw at the place we were summoned, there seemed to be races that looked like elves, and while they’re not here in the palace, there were beast-folk looking beings and in the divine realm, there were human-like races called demon folk. Rather typical, but still.”
And there was also something hard to understand like the Argonian genre.
“Ooh! The library! What an oversight! To think that someone of my caliber would forget such an information source.”
Oversight or whatever, it was right there in plain sight.
Fatty mumbled exaggeratedly.
“Probably after the tuto… no, after the training here is finished, we’ll be able to go outside.”
“Y-yeah, probably.”
Fatty’s face darkened.
Though incompetent, he wasn’t completely oblivious.
He knew he belonged to the loser group and that it wouldn’t be easy to find a party given his shameful performances so far.
That’s why you should try harder.
“When you go outside, you’ll gather companions, right?”
“Uh… yeah, right?”
An expression of ‘Could it be?’ appeared on Fatty’s face.
Ah, that’s definitely not happening.
Why would I use you as a tank when Luna is here?
“That’s absolutely not happening.”
“…Uh… I didn’t say anything…”
“I’m telling you that what you’re thinking right now isn’t happening.”
“O-okay.”
When my face crumpled, Fatty quietly lowered his head.
“Still, it seems that being a hero in this world is more impressive than we thought.”
“I-is that so?”
“Honestly, even though some individuals are worse than the knights right now, they still treat us with respect, don’t they?”
“Seems like it.”
“We might not notice it when comparing amongst ourselves, but we might receive special treatment just for being heroes outside, since we’re something like legendary beings.”
“Really?”
Life returned to Fatty’s previously dejected eyes.
You little… trying to get by without effort.
“Well… I don’t know about other heroes, but it might not be too difficult to form parties with locals from this world.”
“Ooh…!”
“If you’re taking locals as companions, what kind of companions would you like, Sakaki-san?”
“I… I!”
A tsundere elf girl, a beast-eared girl, a slightly timid priestess, and various other fictional women with different settings.
He seriously poured out such detailed descriptions like a waterfall that I had no choice but to close my mouth, with incredibly specific explanations continuing on.
“…So, if I were to have party members I want, it would be these three? Honestly, having a childhood friend would be nice too, but since I’m not from this world… While this kind of transfer isn’t bad, from the perspective of experts like myself, ‘reincarnation’ would be the orthodox way, so it’s a bit disappointing.”
“…Is that so?”
I wondered what kind of expert Fatty was referring to.
I didn’t know, but I didn’t really want to know either.
But this should be enough.
Watching Fatty talk about non-existent fictional women as if they were his lovers, I slowly opened my mouth.
“So that’s why you chose to be a Defender.”
“That’s right. Actually, samurai or sword fighter classes wouldn’t be bad either, but you know, I want to protect the… the… women who will become mine.”
“That’s going to be difficult.”
“Uh… huh?”
Well, I’m not sure if this will work but…
“After all, Sakaki-san, you’re not very good at protecting, are you?”
“Uh… huh?”
“Amakasu-san and Masunaka-san don’t even think for a moment that you’ll protect them from the front anymore.”
“Well… that’s.”
“You mentioned a beast-folk female knight who recognizes your value and stays with you as a mentor when you’re struggling to adapt to this world, a genius but somewhat clumsy tsundere elf mage, and a priestess who shares a deep emotional connection like a childhood friend, right?”
“Th-that’s right?”
“And they would all be stunningly beautiful.”
“W-well… isn’t that how heroines are supposed to be…?”
I nodded.
“Then there must be many who would be after them.”
“B-but because we’re emotionally tightly bonded as one…!”
He’s talking like this is some harem romance.
Why would three women devotedly cherish someone like you?
“That’s precisely why tragedy is more likely to occur.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sakaki-san. If this is another world as you say, then this is still a world where people live. Moreover, it seems to be a strange place where medieval and modern times are oddly mixed, there probably won’t be CCTV, and public safety won’t be as good as the Earth we came from. Plus, it’s a world where real monsters roam around. Right?”
“Th-that’s right?”
“In such a world, when carrying treasures around, what happens if the gatekeeper looking after them appears incompetent? There will be many people salivating at the opportunity.”
Fatty’s face turned pale as if sensing something ominous.
“M-my party members…”
He’s this immersed thinking about imaginary women who don’t exist?
“What will happen if you don’t have the strength to protect the lovers you care about? Just… this is hypothetical. Not real. Let’s say for example that you cause an accident… or someone tries to frame you or trap you to eliminate you. In a normal relationship it might be different, but you’d have a close relationship with these ladies, right? The female knight who recognized your potential and value might step up to protect you. Maybe saying something like ‘…I’ll take responsibility. But Sakaki is…’ The shield who should protect the party before anyone else becomes the one being protected because of their incompetence.”
Fatty’s face turned pale as he sensed something ominous.
“The female knight might suddenly start having frequent business to attend to.”
“Hiiieek!! Kid! Wait.”
“Moreover, humans aren’t the only danger. Rather, the true threat is the monsters we have to defeat. You saw the goblins, but even the monsters that appear to be mob characters here are clearly not ordinary. What if you take on a quest somewhere and encounter dangerous monsters, but because Sakaki-san couldn’t block the enemies, the rear line becomes endangered? The mage and priestess are in the rear line… honestly, even if this isn’t reality but a game, it’s quite realistic, isn’t it? Frankly, it won’t be a pretty sight. The mage might look at you with terrified eyes saying ‘Sakaki…’ desperately. But the incompetent defender Sakaki-san won’t be able to do anything in that situation.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”
“At some point, the female knight might stop showing up to the party, and the elf mage might disappear due to the shock. With just a defender and priestess, the party won’t be properly maintained, so there’s no way to make a profit. But the priestess, for your sake…”
“Even without such scenarios, if you keep failing to properly protect them like now, they might lose trust and leave, just like Amakasu-san and Masunaka-san.”
“Nooooooo!!!”
I’m not even sure if Fatty could form a party with such women in the first place, but even if he did, some scumbag might take them away.
Considering how he acted towards Luna at first, he seemed to be interested in women.
If someone easy like Fatty had beautiful women with him, wouldn’t they try to make a move at least once?
“Huk-! Please stooooop-!”
Fatty, who until just moments ago was spending happy times with his imaginary women, cried out while pounding the ground with a voice that seemed about to give out.
His appearance was so tragic that even the three who were coming back from their break stared blankly.
“Why… why… Nadia… Seira… Elise…”
He had already decided on names?
“Why… why… are you doing this to me…”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m just talking about possibilities. Things that could happen if Sakaki-san remains an incompetent hero, an incompetent defender, an incompetent party tank.”
“Ah… ah…”
“What will you do, Sakaki-san? Will you continue to stay incompetent? Will you become a man who helplessly can’t protect anything and loses everything?”
“I… I…!”
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I love this
My god, the emotional manipulation is unreal! I love it!