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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Clatter- Clatter-
Instead of conversation, only the sound of cutlery clashing against plates filled the kitchen.
‘Just how hungry was she?’
Well, I did make her skip quite a few meals.
Hare silently devoured her soup.
Perhaps because she was incredibly hungry, she ate as if someone might snatch it away.
This wasn’t good for her health.
“You’ll get indigestion. Eat slowly.”
Gulp-
“Y-Yes, Mister.”
She replied with a faint smile and continued to eat.
She wasn’t usually one to eat a lot, but today, she was on par with Luna, who seemed intent on turning into a pig.
“…It would be good if you ate like this normally too, Hare.”
“I’ll… I’ll try…!”
“Don’t overwork yourself.”
“Yes, yes, Mister…!”
Hare replied resolutely, like a knight pledging her life.
Her voice was so full of loyalty that I wondered if she’d actually die for me.
However, because of her past actions, I couldn’t bring myself to trust her words.
‘It’s still too early to trust her. I need to observe her a little longer.’
There was no harm in being cautious.
I approached Hare, who had finished eating to a certain extent, with a white handkerchief in hand.
Did she eat too quickly?
There were soup stains all around her mouth.
“What did I tell you about eating slowly, Hare? Look, it’s all over your face.”
“Th-Thank you… M-Mister…”
So messy.
As I wiped her mouth with the handkerchief, my eyes met hers.
“…Hare.”
“Yes, Mister.”
“Do you remember what I said that day?”
“…Yes. I, I remember. You told me to let go of my feelings.”
“Have you thought about it?”
“…”
Hare closed her mouth.
It must be difficult to let go of those feelings.
However, Hare shouldn’t have those feelings for me.
I couldn’t become a ‘burden’ to her when she eventually had to leave.
“No matter how you feel about me, Hare, I can’t accept them.”
“…”
“Let them go cleanly. It’s better for you, so you won’t get hurt.”
“…”
Hare kept her head bowed.
Tears plopped into her empty bowl as she spoke, her voice thick with sadness.
“M-Mister, you’re so mean… You were so kind to me… How could I not love you…? Hic, B-But… If you hate it so much…”
I won’t show it.
Give me time to sort out my feelings.
I can’t control it, but I’ll try.
Hare pleaded with me desperately, tears streaming down her face.
“I won’t… I won’t do anything you dislike anymore… Hic, please, give me time, Mister… I can’t just let go because you told me to…”
“…Don’t apologize right after eating, Hare. I’ll give you time, so think it over.”
“Y-Yes… Hic, I won’t… I won’t bother you anymore… I’m sorry… I’m okay…”
It seemed Hare had truly changed this time.
She was starting to consider the other person’s feelings and wasn’t forcing her own thoughts onto others.
Understanding.
It seemed she had gained the heart to understand others.
‘…Still, I can’t let my guard down yet.’
Hare was the most unpredictable one.
The fact that I had to watch her carefully remained unchanged.
So…
I offered another bowl of soup to Hare, who looked so frail that she might collapse at any moment, even though she had just finished one.
It was an act driven by guilt.
“…Do you want another bowl?”
Hare, who couldn’t stop her tears, forced a smile and replied,
“Yes… I like… the food you make, Mister…”
It was the bright smile I hadn’t seen in a while.
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After making up with Hare, I decided to move on to the next lesson.
“Are you sure you’ve learned all the letters?”
“Y-Yes…! I can even take a test… and get everything right…!”
Confident, wasn’t she?
Well, she did study until her nose bled.
It would be strange if she hadn’t learned the letters.
“Hare, from now on, your lessons will be divided into two parts.”
“Yes, yes…! I’m ready…!”
“…I didn’t even say what they were.”
“He, hehe…”
She was so full of herself.
I was curious to see how long that confidence would last.
I called out to Luna, who was sprawled out on the grass.
“Luna, come here.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll follow your orders.”
“…Answer me properly. Do you want to run laps around the yard?”
“N-No! I’m sorry! I did wrong!”
Scamper, scamper-
So she really didn’t want to run laps.
Luna quickly scurried over to me and then, tilted her head curiously.
“So, why did you call me?”
“I’ll give you an opportunity, Luna.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you a chance to attack me with two people. Team up with Hare. If you win, I’ll let you go.”
“W-What…? You’re… asking me to attack… you…?”
“What!? The two of us?!”
Nod-
I reached into the subspace.
I was pretty sure I’d stashed it away in a corner somewhere.
That wooden dagger Aina had gifted me.
‘Hey, student, it’s a present. Take it.’
‘…? What is this? A wooden dagger?’
‘I-It’s a present. If you ever want to stab me, stab me with this. I hate pain.’
‘…You’re not a child. Are you afraid of knives?’
‘W-What! Can’t I be afraid?!’
Aina, who thought I might stab her because she nagged me so much, gave me a wooden dagger for my birthday.
It was a strange present to give for a birthday because of her lack of social skills, but at the time, I hadn’t expected anything from her, so I remembered being somewhat grateful.
“Found it. Here Hare, catch.”
“Y-Yes…?! Uh, uh, whoa…!”
Thwack-
Nice catch.
Hare caught the wooden dagger I threw with both hands.
Then, she looked at it curiously and hesitated before asking,
“Jun…? Your name is engraved on it…?”
“It was a gift. Use it carefully so it doesn’t break.”
It was a gift from Aina, but since I didn’t use it, it was better for someone who needed it to have it.
It was painful even just holding onto it.
“A one-of-a-kind… precious item…”
Hare mumbled and then smiled brightly.
“Th-Thank you, Mister…! Since it was from you… I’ll… I’ll cherish it…!”
“…Good. Now train hard with that. Your first lesson is dagger combat. This is your weapon. Think of it as dying if you lose it in battle, you have to treasure it as much as your life.”
“M-My life…? Treasure it… O-Okay…! Thank you, Mister…!”
Ignoring Hare’s burdensome smile, I moved to a spot away from them.
“I’ll give you three minutes to discuss your strategy. If your weapon even touches me, I’ll consider it your win.”
“St-Strategy…? Wh-What should we do…?”
“Hare, just trust me! I’ll take care of Mister!”
“N-No! We can’t do that…!”
The two whispered amongst themselves, coming up with a plan.
What kind of synergy would a warrior and a rogue show?
I knew they couldn’t defeat me.
What I was curious about was what kind of teamwork they would display if they worked together.
Including Hare, who had no knowledge of daggers whatsoever.
‘I wonder what kind of result they’ll show…’
With that curiosity in mind…
Three minutes passed.
The two of them began to charge towards me, splitting into two directions.
It was an interesting approach.
“A diversion tactic? I thought all you knew how to do was fight, but it seems you’ve come up with a plan.”
“Of course! We get along well!”
“…”
Ignoring Luna’s one-sided opinion…
The two, having split up, began their attack on me with a slight delay between them.
First up was Luna.
“Haaaaap-!”
Clang-!
Luna’s wooden sword clashed with mine.
Because of the difference in our physique, Luna was the one who was pushed back.
They definitely wouldn’t have used such a simple move.
‘Their next attack will probably be…’
Behind me.
Distracting me and aiming for my unguarded back.
As if to confirm my prediction, I could feel Hare’s presence behind me.
To block her attack, I turned around to swing my wooden sword…
Or so I tried…
“Wait, Hare.”
“Yes…?”
“Why are you just standing there with the dagger?”
“B-Because I can’t stab you… H-How could I stab you, Mister…”
“…”
Thump-
I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
This was crazy.
‘Was choosing myself as a practice opponent a mistake…?’
Hare wouldn’t attack me.
I had never even considered that possibility, so this situation was incredibly baffling.
Hare’s trembling red eyes stared at me as she tightly gripped the dagger in both hands.
Seeing that, I decided to analyze the situation.
‘The coordinated attack with Luna was good. They used their numerical advantage well by moving in two directions. However, because Hare’s opponent was me, it didn’t result in an effective attack.’
In conclusion, regardless of Hare’s dagger skills, the strategy itself was quite good.
Luna, realizing that their plan had failed, came running from afar and started yelling.
“You should have stabbed him properly! What are you doing, Hare? That was our chance to defeat our kidnapper!”
“Sorry… I, I… can’t stab Mister… I-I’m sorry, Mister…”
“…You don’t need to apologize to me.”
More importantly…
“Who came up with this plan?”
There had been excellent leadership during those three minutes.
It wasn’t a perfect 100, but it was a near 90-point solution.
I wondered which one of them had devised the plan.
Just as I was pondering this…
Both of them opened their mouths and uttered something unexpected.
“It wasn’t me!”
“I-It wasn’t me either…”
“…If it wasn’t either of you, then who was it?”
“We were talking, and then a piece of paper fell from the sky! Look, here it is!”
Luna handed me a small note.
When I took it and read it, a familiar handwriting in red ink came into view.
“…Saten.”
She was watching us.
I turned my head to look at the second-floor window.
A pair of eyes looked down at us from the dark room.
Saten, with her usual emotionless expression, met my gaze and then closed the curtains as if she was done.
‘…Is this revenge for not participating in her experiment, or is she trying to tell me how brilliant she is?’
Knowing Saten, this wasn’t much of a revenge.
It was probably closer to the latter.
If that was the case, she provided them with a strategy to win my favor…
I had no idea why.
‘More importantly, perhaps because of her experience with her family, the strategy was quite good considering it was improvised.’
The children couldn’t possibly defeat me anyway.
It was a remarkably high score.
For Hare’s next lesson, it would be a good idea to have Saten lead the party’s commands.
‘For now, to continue training, I should clear up this atmosphere.’
I said to the two, who were still chattering away,
“The sparring is over. Luna, you practice with your wooden sword, and Hare, I’ll take a look at your dagger skills.”
“Huh…? You’re not… going to teach me…?”
“Self-directed learning, Luna.”
“…This is so frustrating!!”
Stomp, stomp-
Luna stormed off, physically expressing her anger.
She started swinging her sword in the corner, glancing at us from time to time.
Knowing she would cool down after dinner, I decided not to worry about it.
And before teaching Hare about daggers, I asked,
“Hare, what do you think about daggers?”
“Um, um… I like them…”
“…That’s not what I meant. I’m not asking how much you like the wooden dagger.”
“Ah, r-right…! It’s easy to move with… and I can move quickly…!”
Correct.
I patted Hare’s head.
Hare blushed, seemingly embarrassed.
“Mobility. Daggers are easy to maneuver and have fewer movement restrictions. They allow you to do things others can’t.”
“Y-Yes… B-But there’s something I’m curious about, Mister…”
“What is it?”
“Why are you teaching Luna and me about weapons…? And… fighting…?”
You are the Hero’s party.
Instead of explaining it directly, it would be better to explain it indirectly.
Even if Hare trusted me, if I told her that the Hero’s party like the ones from 100 years ago were kids I had kidnapped, she would think I was crazy.
Therefore…
“I’m going to send you to a dungeon.”
“Y-Yes…? You’re sending us… to a dungeon…? C-Can I ask… why…?”
“To make you stronger.”
“Yes…?”
“You have to be strong. You need to be able to handle any attack. That’s why, Hare, your next lesson will be a ‘dungeon tour.’ You’ll learn about the types of traps and how to disarm them.”
A dungeon tour.
I planned to take the Hero’s party on a trip to a dungeon.
It would be better for them to experience firsthand what they would be fighting against.
And at that moment…
I received a problem from Minerva, as if she had some questions about what I had just said.
Since there was a third option available today…
I could check both options.
I unfolded both answer choices.
‘…Black flames on option 1. Is there a Demon Lord in the dungeon?’
Hmm, let’s read on for now.
…
To summarize the outcome…
Option 2 resulted in nothing happening.
However, option 1 led to the ‘permanent eradication’ of the Demon Lord of Lust and benefited the future of the Hero’s party.
And there, I would…
‘…Damn it. That damn succubus.’
Reunite with my deceased master, Aina.
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[Your Text Here]
Ah, well. Succubus going to do what succubus does