A Misunderstood Mentor

「Sniff, sniff.
Tsk tsk.
」

「Thank you very much, master.
」

　Leia sniffs as she finally stops crying.

「I’m sorry, Takumi.」

「No, that’s okay.
Nerissa is very strong and wise.
There are few people who can beat her.
You dont need to feel too bad about losing.」

　I only saw Nerissa lose once, that day when I picked up Alice in the dungeon.

「I even broke the prohibition and touched Takumi.
You were reckless in restraining your power, weren’t you? You seem to be in a lot of pain.
」

「I’ll be fine.
Don’t worry about it.
」

　It’s not okay.

　My leg is super sore from being held.

　I really want to cry.

For once, she is half correct.
Correct anout the fact that I am in a lot of pain and here I am lying again.

「Shit」

　Leia bites her lip in frustration.

「 …… I was so inexperienced.
I was so upset by Nerissa’s words back then.
」

　Come to think of it, Nerissa was talking to Leia at that time.

　It’s the same strategy as ten years ago.

She seems to be skilled at psychological warfare as she has lived for a long time.

「Nobody! Nobody! I have a past that I haven’t even told Master Alice about.
Yet, that past has been touched by Nerissa.」

　This is not good.
Its bad.

She seems to be the kind who goes into past recollections and stuff and makes the story unbearably longer.

　We have some rice to harvest today.
We need to make this quick.

「Okay, you don’t have to tell me everything.
」

「No way! No, as expected of Takumi-san.
You’ve seen through everything about that past just by looking at my eyes.
」

「You’re right, you’re right.
」

　It saves time.

　Mostly, I don’t want to hear about the past that she hasn’t told anyone, neither anything that heavy, if at all possible.

「How can I break away from that past?」

「Isn’t it just good if you don’t care about that?
You just don’t have to worry about that, do you? 」

　It’s an actual experience, plain and simple.

It can’t be helped if you are worried about the past.

　Remembering the time when I was the weakest adventurer, remembering my weakest adventurer era only made me sad.

「When you’re in nature, the past seems so insignificant.
」

「You know my past and you can still call it insignificant.
」

「Oh, no.
The past, it’s like flying when the wind blows..
」

　The truth is, I have no idea about that past.
I have no idea about what I am saying, but I am certain that this delusional girl will understand what I am saying.

　Come to think of it, Nerissa said that after her death-defying training she did not feel pain anymore.

　It’s scary to imagine.

　Leia and I walked through the meadow, and after a while we arrived at a rice field.

　The landscape changed from green to golden gold.

　It was deep in autumn and the rice fields were covered with ears of rice with their heads hanging down.

　The wind blew and the ears of rice swayed.

　Ears of rice swayed in the wind.

　As the wind blew across the fields, the waves created by the swaying rice ears looked like golden waves.

「Wow 」

　Leia watches the scene like a child.

「Her curious face looks like Alice.
That won’t last long.
」

　I remembered Nerissa’s words who said that.

　When I picked up young Alice, I tried to raise her.

　But with me by her side, it all came crashing down.

　It wasn’t just to escape from Nerissa that I accepted my banishment and stopped being an adventurer back then.

　It was that I, the weakest, could no longer be next to Alice.

While rubbing the aching leg, make a tiny decision.

It may be totally meaningless.

However, let’s still try it.

　Let’s train my body again.

　In the ten years since I stopped being an adventurer, my poor body has become blunt, and I am no longer able to defeat even the goblins.

　I need to train atleast until Leia is convinced to leave.

　Soon Leia will grow stronger on her own without me teaching her.

　Eventually, she’ll be strong enough to stand alongside Nerissa and Alice.

　At least until that time, let’s play the role of a slightly better master.

「Takumi-san, look at this, it’s amazing! 」

　Red dragonflies called Akibeni have gathered on the rice.

　The golden ears of rice dyed red red.

　At the center of it all, Leia began to dance.

　As I recall, it’s the dance of the East, something called a Touhou dance.

　Surrounded by red and gold, I was momentarily mesmerized by Leia dancing fantastically.

　If she’s smiling normally, I would have considered her a normal, beautiful young lady.

　It’s hard to believe that she’s the same person as Leia, who fights with a demonic form, possessing a god or something.

「Be careful with that, it lays eggs on people.」

「Eek! 」

「They pry a hole in the human skin and plant an egg in it.
When those eggs hatch, they start eating meat: …… 」

「Ho-ho-ho, is it true? 」

「If true, it ’s super scary.」

「Takumi-san!」

　The two of us began to reap the rice while talking about the foolishness of the process.

　Unlike peeling potatoes, Leia quickly mastered rice harvesting.

　Apparently, as long as it wasn’t a detailed task, it would be fine.

　Come to think of it, we need moo milk to turn the large amount of potatoes into soup.

　I don’t want to get out of the mountains too much, but I need to get down to the city to buy some moo milk.

　While we’re at it, we should also buy some cheap swords and shields.

　I left all my equipment from my adventuring days behind.

「Takumi-san, I feel light.
I’m probably getting very strong! 」

　Leia reaped the rice as she spun around and danced the dance.

「Next time, I will definitely win.
I’ve hugged Takumi a lot, so I can see that I have far more power than I did when I was beaten.
」

　It’s that seizure again.

　I think it’s not God, it’s the devil.

　I should’ve talked to Nerissa, had her checked.
This seizure seems dangerous.
[TN: Oblivious MC at its best.]

「Well, you take your time.
Nerissa will come around one way or another.
So next time, you might want to take the fight easy.
」

「Yes, Takumi.
」

I’m worried about Leia answering cheerfully.

　If she repeated the fight like that every time, I would be hit by a stray bullet and die.

　I look at the transition bell attached to my waist.

　As expected, I didn’t want to put it on the collar like before.

　She would probably come every day anyway, but if possible, give me a break at least once a week.

　That’s what I thought, but no matter how many days passed, Nerissa didn’t come here.

　Nerissa died in a fight with Alice.

　It wasn’t until a little later that the news arrived.

[TN: This just happened out of nowhere, is this comedy novel secretly a tragedy?? What are your thoughts?]

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