Chapter 94
) Volume 3 Chapter 94 part1
I gave the three kids some random excuse, then we waited until the woman in charge took the lead. She first thanked us for participating, then she started giving out jobs to each child.
I started sweeping alongside the other children too, but I didn’t bring out my scavenger slimes or use my magic. Sure, it would be faster, but with the children working so hard, it just didn’t seem right, so I just went and cleaned normally using tools.
Because of that it took us until afternoon to clean the big church. We were given sandwiches for lunch, and then the sweets. When it was time for the sweets to be handed out, Rick couldn’t sit still anymore.
Are their sweets that good?
“Thank you for helping out today.” [Nun]
“Thank you too for letting me participate.” [Ryouma]
The woman handed me a small pouch tied closed with a ribbon. Inside were 4 cookies. Everyone was already eating theirs, so I took a bite myself. When I did, the fragrant smell of baked sweets coupled with moderate sweetness and the strong taste of the fruit jam filling filled my mouth.
When the children were done eating their sandwiches and cookies, they formed groups and played at the garden, but some were just looking at the entrance of the church as if they were waiting for something.
…I get the children playing around, but what are the other children doing?
Tall, Rick, and Leni also seemed to be waiting for something, so I asked them about it.
“What are you three doing?” [Ryouma]
“We’re waiting for uncle!?” [Rick]
Rick was the first one to answer, but all I found out was that they were waiting for someone.
“There’s an uncle that comes every time we finish cleaning the church. He teaches us swordsmanship and how to fight.” [Tall]
“How to fight?” [Ryouma]
According to Tall, an uncle who happens to be a former adventurer is sure to drop by whenever they’re done cleaning the church. He doesn’t come here just to give a donation to the church, but also to teach the orphans here how to fight, so that when they come of age they’ll be able to live on their own. He does everything for free, so he’s a volunteer.
It has also become common practice for the children cleaning the church to join their training. Of course, just enough training for their age. Although, from my perspective, as someone who is a working adventurer, it’s not exactly very interesting, but that can’t be helped.
“Rick, I get, but Tall and Leni, you’re interested too?” [Ryouma]
Rick is rather mischievous, so it’s not weird to see him want to participate, but I never thought Tall would also want to. Is it because he’s a guy? Does he admire adventurers too?
“There’s nothing wrong for a girl to know how to fight. Who knows? Maybe one day I might get tangled up with some no good guy. Besides, I have to watch over Rick.” [Leni]
“As for me, my mom told me to train my body. Not that I was particularly planning on neglecting my own physique that much.” [Tall]
“It’s because your personality is so weak! If you train, I’m sure you’ll become manlier!” [Rick]
“S-Sure…” [Tall]
So, that’s why… That aside, Tall, aren’t you being pushed around too much?
While I was thinking that, the children nearby grew noisy.
“He’s here!” [Child 1]
“Uncle!” [Child 2]
“Scary uncle!” [Child 3]
When I turned toward the entrance, a scary man was walking toward where we were.
“Hey! Who called me scary!? That was uncalled for!” [???]
“Ah…” [Ryouma]
The scary man was apparently none other than the guild master, Wogan, himself. It seems the children are already used to him, as they weren’t startled by his yelling. In fact, there were even some who clung to him. While he was dealing with those children, he noticed me.
“Oh, if it’s isn’t Ryouma!? What are you doing here?” [Wogan]
“The store is closed today, but it also happens to be a rest day for me, so I was walking around town aimlessly when I heard about the cleaning event at the church. As such, I decided to participate. I thought it would be better to participate so I could get to know the people living in this area better.” [Ryouma]
“That’s great. Oh, right. If you have time, why not help me out?” [Wogan]
“Help?” [Ryouma]
“Yeah, lend me your ear for a bit…” [Wogan]
“…I see.” [Ryouma]
“After hearing him out, I decided to lend a hand. While the children that were receiving training were running around in an open area and practicing their fundamentals, I opened my Dimension Home and took out 20 slimes.
“Alright! Today, we’re going to do something different! We’re going to have practical training! Ryouma!” [Wogan]
“Okay.” [Ryouma]
I led the scavenger slimes to stand before the children. The children seemed startled by the slimes. It seems this is their first time training with monsters.
“Today, you’ll be facing these slimes.” [Wogan]
“We can heal the slimes with healing magic, so don’t hold back.” [Ryouma]
Although, to be honest, I think it’s the children who are going to get hurt.
The scavenger slimes have not only trained themselves diligently, they have also learned the Taijutsu and Physical Attack Resist skills. To make things worse, the children are using wooden swords with the strength of a child. I doubt they could hurt the slimes.
Just to be safe, I told the slimes to prioritize dodging and limit their attacks to just body slams. With that, at most, they’ll just ram their body against the children and make them break posture, so the worst injuries the children can get are scratches from falling.
“Ryouma, are you ready!?” [Wogan]
When I said I was ready, Rick said he would like to be the first to fight.
I glanced at Wogan-san, and he seemed fine with it. Alright then, let him have at it.
“Let’s do this!” [Rick]
Volume 3 Chapter 94 part2
“Let’s do this!” [Rick]
Rick said enthusiastically as he wielded the wooden training sword. The other children watched with rapt attention as Rick faced against the slime.
“…” [Scavenger Slime]
The scavenger slime didn’t attack and just waited. When Rick saw that the slime wasn’t moving, he slashed down with his sword.
But Rick had only studied the form of the sword a little, so his attack was slow and full of openings. Although that was expected given Rick’s age, because of that the scavenger slime was easily able to dodge.
Frustrated, Rick started attacking the slime relentlessly, and eventually, his posture broke and his attacks turned into mere swings. Rick continued for a couple more minutes, but eventually, he ran out of gas, and when he raised his sword up one more time, in the next moment, the slime rammed itself into him.
Rick didn’t appear to be hurt, but he did fall on his backside.
“That’s enough! Rick, you’re still too young and you haven’t trained properly yet, so it’s not unusual for you to lose. Still, you shouldn’t let your blood get to your head just because you failed to hit your target. Your form was only good at the start. After that it collapsed completely and everything you did was full of holes. Think carefully when you make your move!” [Wogan]
Rick nodded with frustration before going back to the crowd of children.
After that all the children went up and fought the slime in front of everyone, then Wogan-san gave them some pointers.
“Good! Now think about what I’ve told you and try again!” [Wogan]
At that, we divided the place, and I assigned a slime to each student, then the students practiced at the same time. I assigned a metal or an iron slime to the students that were poor at striking.
While they were doing that, I went around to watch them and heal whenever necessary. Wogan-san went around giving advice. Training continued until dusk and we ended before it started to get dark.
“Bye uncle!”
“Be careful when you go home!” [Wogan]
After sending the children on their way, Wogan-san and I were finally able to rest. Although all we had to do was to walk around and watch the children, there was a possibility of them getting hurt, so it was quite tense. It’s good that training ended without anyone getting hurt.
“You did great.” [Ryouma]
“Couldn’t have done it without you. You really helped me out.” [Wogan]
“It was supposed to be a rest day, but I didn’t really know what to do after getting so much free time, so this worked out just fine for me.” [Ryouma]
“Really? In that case, why don’t you help out whenever you’re free? Your slimes are really good sparring partners for the children. In fact, we can even have them train the new members at the adventurers guild.” [Wogan]
“Hmm…” [Ryouma]
If it’s just target practice, then sure, but if he asks me to work as an instructor, I’m not so sure. I’ve trained subordinates countless times, but I’ve never taught another person how to fight. And I wasn’t a good teacher even when it came to jobs that I’m experienced at.
Teaching others will certainly benefit me, but these are new adventurers we’re talking about. Their lives will depend on the things they learn. Teaching them poorly would hurt them a lot, so if someone is going to be teaching, it should be someone who knowns how to properly teach someone.
Besides, if I were to try and teach them, I’ll end up teaching them like my dad taught me.
He’ll teach you a technique, then demand that you do it immediately. He’d tell you to practice kumite, but hit you anyway. If you fall, he’ll keep hitting. If you don’t get up, he’ll hit you even more. He doesn’t stop his attacks right before hitting you, and he doesn’t allow breaks either. My dad’s policy is to never stop.
After all, there’s no way the enemy is going to stop just because you got hit or fell to the ground.
I agree with him, but if I did something like that, most of the adventurers are bound to find themselves carried away on a stretcher. I’ve never really learned how to hold back against humans.
“Really?” [Wogan]
“I’ve always had just one sparring partner, and that was my master. No reason to hold back then, right?” [Ryouma]
Whether it’s in this world or in my previous world, there are a lot of people who becomes someone’s disciple, and there’s not one of them who would hold back when sparring against their master. After all, doing that is no different from looking down your own master. And there’s also no reason to hold back in an actual battle.
“That’s true, but I’m sure you’ve had scuffles with your friends, no? Didn’t you catch them with your techniques then?” [Wogan]
“If it’s just a petty fight, then there’s no reason to use martial arts. Instead, one should strive to talk it out.” [Ryouma]
“What’s with the sagely response? …You’re right, though.” [Wogan]
“When under attack or when it comes to bandits, there’s no point in talking and there’s no point in holding back either. If you need them alive for whatever reason, then it’s best to just go for their limbs barehanded. After all, it’s a lot harder to kill them that way even at full strength compared to going after their head or their main organs.” [Ryouma]
“…Oh yeah, you broke some bones, didn’t you? And when you didn’t break bones, you used the slime’s liquids to keep your targets from moving.” [Wogan]
If you know when and how to use your strength, then there’s no reason to ever hold back. Which is why, it has been taught for generations to either use 0% or 100% of your power. And while I won’t say that I’ve never held back at all, I’ve mostly dealt with quarrels in my previous life by using ukemi. It would just cause more problems if I fought back in my previous life, so I felt that was the best way to go about things.
Unfortunately, because of that way of thinking, I accidentally killed a lot of slimes when I first started teaching them. I also messed up when I hired Dolce-san as a guard for the store.
“We’ve brought you some drinks.” [Nun]
While we were talking, two nuns brought us some drinks.
“Wogan-san, thank you for your help today.” [Nun]
“Ryouma-kun, thank you for your help too. Take this as our thanks.” [Nun]
“Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]
I happily accepted their drinks.
We talked a little after that. I found out that the woman who made my status board was called Betta-san and the girl was Bell-san. What was surprising was that they were the only two people managing this church despite having to watch over some orphans and manage the building.
“Aren’t you short of hands?” [Ryouma]
“It’s not easy, but this is also part of our discipline as nuns.” [Betta]
“Thank you for worrying for us, but the children who think about us and the adults of town support us.” [Bell]
That was their way of saying that everything was going fine.
It wasn’t just me asking questions, though. They asked me some too.
“Is it hard to raise slimes?” [Bell]
“I suppose one really needs to learn Monster taming first, huh?” [Betta]
Apparently, they want to raise some slimes in church, as they kept asking me questions about slimes.
I answered them politely, then when they were out of questions, I asked them why they wanted to raise slimes.
“I think they’re cute.” [Bell]
“I thought it would be good education for the children to raise them.” [Betta]
Is she sure about that!? But then again, I suppose it would be kind of like the rabbit I raised up in elementary… Still, I never expected that the people of this world would actually consider this method of education.
“Nothing’s set in stone yet, but we might consider adopting some slimes.” [Betta]
“Do let me know when you’ve decided. I can give you some advice if you need it.” [Ryouma]
“Really? Thank you so much.” [Bell]
The conversation was slowing down, and it’s already getting dark, so I think it’s about time I left.
As such, I excused myself.
Along the way, I thought back on the events today, and I felt like today was different than the other days.
When I participated in the volunteer activity in the church, I feel like people accepted me without any discrimantion.
By participating in the events of this town, I feel like ‘ve gotten closer to the people of this town.
…I’ll do my best tomorrow too.