âŚWhich reminds me, why did Rose come here? Was she suspicious of me for practicing magic here? Or maybe she was surprised for a different reason?
âRight, I have something to relay to you⌠Tomorrow will be the day when the letters will be sent out. Which is why Iâm supposed to tell you when youâll depart but⌠It seems that people will see you off so just wait at the gates tomorrow morning. It doesnât really suit me though. You can take Amako with you.â
âAh, yes. I understand.â
âThe heroes should join you shortly after. From there, youâll merge and start your journey together since your first destination is the same.â
Seeing me off.. would the people in this country be seeing us off? The image I was getting of it was people cheering and shouting⌠I can agree that it doesnât suit with me too. I donât think Senpai and Kazuki would run away from it though.
âWhat should I bring?â
âTake your uniform and the bare minimum essentials along with you⌠If youâre taking that bear along with you, get something so that you can strap him on your back. Getting a cord to fasten him should be sufficient.â
The bare minimum luggage.. I guess Iâll take the knife I received from Rose and my notebook. Iâll also carry a bit of rations too. Thatâs all I really need, other people will probably bring anything else we would need.
âIs there anything else you want to ask me?â
âFor now, thatâs it.â
âI see. Then before you head out tomorrow, thereâs one more thing I need to teach you.â
ââŚ? What is it?â
There were a lot of dangerous things on the outside so perhaps she had some advice for me. Fundamentally speaking, Roseâs words are usually never wrong. I braced myself for next words as she presented her fist in front of me.\nâIf you ever get caught up in a situation with some fellows who look down on healing magicâ you can beat them down without holding back.â
âI canât do that!! That would cause a lot of problems!!â
Even Ark-san said it would be bad. This personâs boiling point was really low.. I canât even imagine what kind of mess she would make out there.
âThose kinds of people only know about what healing magic is like on the tip of the iceberg. But once you beat them up, theyâll return to their real character so thereâs no problem.â
âU-ummmmâŚ.â
For the time being, Iâll gratefully âacceptâ her words and change the topic to something less dangerous.
ââThatâs pretty much all I wanted to say. You should go ahead and prepare for tomorrow. Itâll be too late once it gets dark.â
âYes.â
âIâll be returning to the lodgings⌠Whether itâs for better or worse, this journey will definitely influence you. âIâm expecting a lot from you, Usato.â
After casually saying so, she started walking away from the training grounds.
I couldnât help but mumble the words she just said as I saw her back.
âExpecting a lot from me, huh⌠It makes me happy, dammit.â
Was I this simple of a man? Or was it because it was Rose who praised me� That could be the case since I did place a lot of trust in her.\nShe was my teacher since arriving in this world and probably the first person that I respected.
Well, then again⌠This might be due to the fact that Rose had tamed me to this extent.
âNow then, I should prepare for tomorrow since I already heard about whatâll happen.â
I started slowly walking back to the lodgings as I stretched myself. I had to prepare a leather belt to strap Bluerin on my back.
However, I stopped walking once I noticed a figure of a shadow within the forest and could even hear their footsteps. Looking closely, I noticed that they had silver hair. I was able to easily identify the figure.
âWhat are you up to, Felm?â
âUguâŚâ
After the figure let out a startled voice, a girl with tanned skin and silver hair appeared from the shadows. Her silver hair reached down to her shoulders while her eyes seemed to draw me in. She was also wearing the training uniform with the Rescue Squadâs logo stitched onto it.
She broke her line of sight from me and turned away. While feeling nervous and putting her hands behind her back, she spokeâŚ
âIâm taking my break right now and I canât enter the town so I thought I would take a walk⌠But youâre here.â
âAh, I see. But why hide?â
Although she was behaving right now, we were enemies at one point. She couldnât just walk on the streets even if you take into account how open-minded people were in this country.
âItâs because I donât like you.â
Why did she not like me to this extent? Well, I guess it wasnât too strange since I was the one who captured her. If she doesnât like me then thereâs no helping it, I had to hurry and prepare for tomorrow right now. Once it gets dark, itâll be troublesome in various ways.\n\nI was just joking but maybe she really did feel lonely.
ââŚ.Kuh.â
âWait, donât tell me you really will feelââ
âItâs unfair!! You get to escape from this hell!â
âAh, I seeâŚâ
She felt irritated after see my face once more so she kicked me again. Afterwards, she headed in a different direction from where I was walking. Her second kick had much more power behind it so it made me a little angry too.
ââŚ..â
I couldnât help but think about how I usually interact with Rose during these kinds of moments. So while I really wanted to retaliate back, I was the senpai here and decided against it. Instead, I calmed down and looked at Felm till she disappeared from my sight.
âŚI could probably catch up to her instantly if I wanted to but it was probably best to leave her alone for now. The decision had already been made for me to go on this journey; there was no way for me to back out now. Maybe I should have at least said something like âyou can just suffer here, you clumsy girlâ when she kicked me again.
Actually, whatâs with that? Saying that this was hell.
Iâve certainly had a taste of what hell was. If I were in her situation, I would be in comfort. I had to deal with a Grand Grizzly and some big monster snake. I couldnât even sleep at night because I was scared of that snake, you know.
âHaahâŚâ
âŚWell, I should be open-minded here and forgive her. I started walking towards the lodgings again. I donât know if it was thanks to her or not but my strides felt a bit lighter now. While pondering on why my steps had become a bit lighter, I headed back to prepare for tomorrow.