VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 2: THE END OF TRAINING’S FIRST DAY
After I gave instructions to the two teams, I quietly watched over their training. Then one hour later…
It was time to move on to the next training.
On the sword team, Riera managed to cut 33 bamboos, while Kanan cut 18 bamboos. The edges were tattered because of the number of attempts they needed to cut it, but with this many bamboos cut, it’s more than good enough for their first time.
They’re not used to this kind of training, so they’re visibly exhausted with their bodies drenched in sweat and their breath ragged. I gave them five minutes to rest, before we moved on to the next part of their training where I had them alternately spar with the mimic slime.
As for why sparring, well… I use a katana for my weapon, so there’s not much I can teach them anyway. And besides, I think what they really need right now is experience. So I figure I would just let them fight again and again to let them accumulate that experience. They could also learn while doing that. For that I asked Sebasu-san to be their advisor. Of course, I also encouraged them to exchange opinions as they take turns sparring.
As soon as the break ended, they immediately started sparring. I watched their battles for a little while.
The mimic slime is strong enough to be their partner, and the heal slimes are also there. I also forbade the use of magic and placed some limitations on the mimic slime to be safe, so everything should go well. It’s still too dangerous for the mimic slime to spar with them in the same way it does with me.
After that, I went to the magic team. They need to preserve their magic power for afternoon’s training, so the training this time won’t use their magic power.
“The next training will train your ability to sense magic.” [Ryouma]
I prepared some wooden cups alongside roundly cut magic jewels. What they need to do is simple. They just need to find where the magic jewels in the cup are hidden. The three girls were able to do this easily, so I decided to raise the difficulty.
I took out five cards over which several figures were drawn, and another five cards over which were nothing but blank white space. Magic jewels were mixed within the ink that was used to draw on these cards, so magic power can be faintly sensed from it. Sensing whether something is drawn over the card or not through that faint presence of magic power is their trainingd. They’ll be doing this until they are able to perfectly distinguish which is which.
This training might seem simple, but it’s undoubtedly effective. The girls couldn’t perfectly sense the faint magic power in the cards, so they’ll have to continue this training for some time.
“Next… how about this card?” [Ryouma]
“…” [Elia, Michelle, Miyabi]
…As the girls wordlessly focused, the training quietly continued.
After helping them train for some time, I told them to take places, asking and guessing which card, then I left to prepare lunch.
“Hmm… what’ll be today’s menu? …Ah, I know!” [Ryouma]
When I entered the kitchen in the tunnels, what caught my attention was the pot of that chili-like ingredient. Maybe it’s because of Elia’s Dandan Noodles Pasta(?), but I suddenly thought of a dish I could use it in.
“Let’s see… corn flour, minced meet, onions, garlic, cheese, salt and pepper, and other various stuff…” [Ryouma]
First, I added water to corn flour and kneaded it into the size of my palm. Then I fried it in the frying pan until it was fried yellow, where I turned it over, and then continued frying it. This is a dish I’ve made several times back in my previous life. It’s the mexican dish, tortilla. A bread made from lightly frying corn flour.
It’s been a while, so why don’t I take a bite off the edge.
“…It smells and tastes great, but it’s a bit hard, no? It’s only faintly hard though… I could still bring this out saying it’s a test product, I mean – after all – it is softer than preserved food. Or if it’s really no good, then I could make that slightly thinner crunchy thing… what was it called again? Nachos? Anyway, I could also do that.” [Ryouma]
It needs to be deep fried, right? While I was thinking of irrelevant things, I stir fried the minced meat in finely-cut garlic with salt and pepper for seasoning. I also cut some flowery vegetables normally used for salads.
Next, I turned the remaining pasta and garlic into paste. Then while tasting, I added herb, tomato, that chili-like ingredient, and mixed them together to create the salsa. I squeezed in a tiny wincy bit of lemon-like fruit juice for the aroma. The sourness of the tomato should cancel out the odd sourness in the chili-like ingredient…
“Something like this, I guess.” [Ryouma]
As I made it according to my memory, I managed to create something akin to a Mexico dish’s sauce. Then I folded the tortillas I was making a while ago, and stuffed the vegetables and the fried minced meat inside it. After I topped it with salsa and grated cheese, the special taco was completed! After a quick taste test, there’s still room for improvements, but it’s definitely a delicious taco.
I should make at least two for everyone in case they want more, so I made 15 all in all, then I put it all over a big plate, and brought it over to where Elia and the others were.
On the way, I dropped by the medicine room, where I took out a pill from the cabinets, threw it into my mouth, and as a bitter and yet fresh aroma filled my mouth, I crunched and swallowed the pill.
“…It’s bitter alright…” [Ryouma]
This pill is a herb pill. It’s made out of the mixture of the fragrance extracted from several mint-like herbs, and mixed in candy made out of one variety of this world’s sugar known as “Mumito”. It’s a breath freshener of sort, but it can also be treated as a kind of medicine. Either way, it’s great to have after eating garlic dishes.
Every time I see this, I can’t help but think of how strange “Mumito” is… Just as its name implies(?), it really is a sugar with no taste. It’s a sugar used throughout the world to help bread and wine ferment. But aside from its taste, everything else is exactly like sugar… Its color, the reaction it makes when exposed to fire, and even its caloric content. Its taste being the only thing different is a mystery, but I guess it can’t be helped.
“’Tasty with no calorie’ is a catchphrase I’ve heard before, but in mumito’s case, it’s ‘Calorie with no taste’…” [Ryouma]
Mumito can be produced in large quanties, making it cheap, so it’s really unfortunate that it’s not sweet.
“Oh, I almost forgot the time. I have to bring this for lunch.” [Ryouma]
I took the plate of tacos and several herb tablets, and went to where Elia and the others were.
I set up the table, serving the tacos alongside barley tea, then I went outside, and called everyone for lunch.
“Lunch is ready! Take a break for now!” [Ryouma]
At my words, everyone stopped what they were doing, and they looked toward my direction. After I invited them inside, we had our lunch.
“This is delicious.” [Elia]
“It’s easy to eat too; just like a sandwich.” [Michelle]
“It’s a lot better than having to eat course menu.” [Kanan]
“It seems like the kind of food you’d see at a stall.” [Miyabi]
“Ahh, now that you mention it it does give that impression.” [Riera]
The girls don’t seem to hate the food, and seem to be accepting of stall food. I might add this on to the menu if I ever put up a stall again.
And then the topic moved to the practice. Actually, it was more because I was curious, and I asked them what they thought.
“So how’s the training?” [Ryouma]
The first to answer were the two members of the sword team.
“Cutting bamboo is so hard, but it’s definitely new.” [Kanan]
“I have my hands full just blocking the mimic slime’s attacks, but it definitely feels like a real fight.” [Riera]
They seem motivated. There also doesn’t seem to be any danger of them pushing themselves too hard.
How about the magic team…
“It’s a kind of training we’ve never done back at the academy, so yeah, I’m the same, I think it’s new.” [Miyabi]
“I never thought it’d be so difficult to release such small amounts of magic power.” [Michelle]
“It might be difficult, but I’ll definitely show you that I can do it.” [Elia]
These girls also seem motivated, but it looks like magic control’s a lot harder than they expected it to be. Especially, Elia. She has a lot of magic power, so it’s a lot harder for her to hold back her strength… I should prepare them a routine they can do even back at their academy.
“You’ll gradually progress as long as you keep it up, so please don’t give up. Controlling your magic will also become easier as you progress in your ability to sense magic.” [Ryouma]
“Really?” [Elia]
“Being able to tell how a certain amount of magic feels… Even if you’re only able to do it roughly, it’ll still make things easier when controlling magic.” [Ryouma]
Elia fell into a deep thought for a few seconds, then she vigorously nodded to me several times.
We continued to eat after that. It didn’t take much longer to finish everything up though. After which, the girls took a short break, then they started their training again.
“Ryouma-san, what’ll we be doing for the afternoon.” [Elia]
“We’ll continue your magic perception training for a while, and then we’ll do some basic target practice.” [Ryouma]
As I had them train their magic perception for a little longer, I went to the two girls of the sword group.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes! Please take care of us!” [Riera & Kanan]
As the two girls greeted me in keigo(?) – probably because it’s training period – I started explaining the contents of their training for the afternoon. Their next training is a bit special.
“You two will be fighting against each other next, but…” [Ryouma]
When I cut my words, the two girls looked at me. But almost immediately after, they moved their gaze to the small box I took out of my Item Box. Inside were several sets of thin chains and dog tags upon which were engraved a flower and a number. I took out one.
“In this afternoon’s spar, Riera will have to wear this around her neck as she fights.” [Ryouma]
“What is that?” [Riera]
“This is imbued with a weak ‘Weakness’ curse that’ll induce your body to become weak. ‘Weakness’ changes depending on the strength of its caster. A strong caster could use it to weaken his opponent to death. But the curse imbued within this dog tag is weak. The most it can do is restrict your movements.” [Ryouma]
“…So in other words, the bamboo-cutting in the morning was to train our strength. And now, what we will be training is our technique?”[Riera]
Riera asked to confirm her conjecture. It seems she’s already guessed my intentions.
Fighting with this dog tag equipped will weaken one’s strength. But in exchange, that person will be able to train his technique. Fighting or defending with just brute strength will become difficult, so the parts where one is relying too much on strength will become apparent. Incidentally, this can also serve as training for when one can’t fight.
This method of training can only work on someone with actual strength and an ambition to improve. Otherwise, even with this on, that person won’t notice the mistakes he is making. Or he’ll notice them, but he won’t accept them. But Riera should be able to do it. And if there’re things she can’t see, then I’ll just point them out to her.
“I’ve always lost to Riera, but with that around her neck, I might just be a match for her.” [Kanan]
“That’s not all. If your body is exposed to a curse for an extended period. Then if your lucky, you might just develop a resistance toward it. That’s also another aim of this training.” [Ryouma]
Speaking of which, when I was cursed, I gained the skill, weakness resistance. That skill merged with the rest of my other resistances, giving birth to the skill ‘Wellbeing’. Thanks to that though the resistant-class section of my status board now feels so lonely, but let’s just put that aside…
Riera equipped the dog tag, and she started sparring with Kanan.
“…My body and my shield are a lot heavier than I thought…” [Rirera]
Because of the curse, Riera’s movements were a lot slower, so Kanan who was still able to move nimbly was able to force her into a defensive position. But Riera wouldn’t just so easily accept defeat. She carefully watched Kanan’s movements, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Their sparring session continued in a stalemate like that.
This’ll be good training for both of them.
10 minutes later, Riera’s tenacity finally paid off, and she was able to land a strike at Kanan’s body. A narrow victory. Well, I should be going to the magic team now…
I took the three girls of the magic team to a slightly distant place where they could safely cast their spells. There, they did their usual routine. However, Michelle and Miyabi ran out of magic power surprisingly quick. There’re some ingredients available anyway, so I might as well prepare some magic recovery potions starting tomorrow.
In any case, the first day of training for the magic team was finally over. Elia and the two others said they’ll make supper again tonight, so I left it to them, and I went to the two girls who were still training. After we all ate together, we all said our goodbyes.
