CH 69

Chapter 69 – Glasses boy covers his ears

“Mmmm… Well, I guess it’s alright.” Zant commented as we just finished the 33rd sprint of the day, “You two still need to properly learn how to use your body, and I honestly want to get you to keep doing this a bit more, but… I guess this is barely enough.

“What comes next is specialized training.”

I was at about the limit of my stamina, and was wondering if I should run one last time today.

Me and Lisse were on our knees… It was hard to understand what Zant was talking about.

He looked at us with what seemed to be an exasperated look, then told us plainly, “You pass. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be doing something different.”

‘You pass’.

These words that I have been wanting to hear have reached my ears, but no emotion came out. Their weight did not register on me.

I understood the words, but I had a hard time realizing what they meant…

“… Did it! I did it!” Lisse exclaimed. She seemed to have finally realized it.

And me I… Don’t feel it yet. I’m not feeling happy or anything like it. I wonder if the realization will slowly come to me.

“Well, that’s all for today. Go rest now.” Zant told us.

With his instructions, today’s training came to an end.

******

We left through the employees’ entrance for Goertz’s public bath which I had already become familiar with.

It seems like today’s training ended a bit earlier than normal, so I was able to see the sunset for the first time in weeks, as our training usually ended late at night.

“… Ah.” Lisse suddenly spoke up.

She had been quite happy until now, but now she seemed to have noticed something.

“Then, I’ll go home first.” I said those words and started leaving, as I had a bad feeling about whatever it was that she wanted to say.

“Wait.” She said.

… I was caught.

“I want to take a bath and eat as soon as possible.” I told her.

“I feel the same way.” She replied.

Both of us were drenched in sweat, and our bodies were also quite dusty as we fell down several times during practice.

After all, as fatigue accumulates, mistakes will naturally happen… Though well, that’s fine.

“What is your financial situation?” She asked me.

Huh? My financial situation?

“You’ve basically been eating out every day, haven’t you, Eil? You aren’t really using the kitchen, are you?” She asked me next.

Yeah, I don’t have the time to use it, after all.

However, I’m only eating one piece of bread and drinking water during the mornings, skipping lunch, and eating a cheap set meal at night, so I’m not spending much.

… Coming to think of it, I am living with Lisse.

“Are you using it, Lisse?” I asked her.

We do live together in a small house, but our life rhythm doesn’t really overlap… Wait, that’s not right. Our schedules overlap way too much, and neither of us spend any time at the house, so that’s why it’s easy to forget that we’re actually living together.

And in the first place, I never cared about where she was or what she was doing.

She sleeps when I sleep, and she trains when I train. We have basically been together the entire time when we aren’t inside the house… Though well, that really doesn’t matter to me.

I did worry about the food expenses to some extent, but I simply don’t have the time nor the energy to use the kitchen.

At night, I’m extremely exhausted, after all. To the point I almost doze off while eating. It would be way too dangerous to handle fire and kitchen knives in that state.

“No, not at all. I can’t handle cooking at night due to being completely exhausted, so I inevitably eat out.

“I think it would be cheaper to cook for myself, but I don’t think I’d be physically able to stand up and handle kitchen utensils at night. Not to mention it would be too dangerous to wield a fire in that state, and I could risk burning the food that I would be trying to cook.” Lisse told me.

Oh? So both me and her feel the same way about this? Seems like we’re really similar on that end… I guess it can’t be helped that we couldn’t reach a conclusion on who was better on the road.

But well, as a result of trying to spend as little as I could on food, I ended up still having plenty of money with me.

I also purchased a monthly pass for the bathhouse, which allows me to use it once each day of the month. It was a pretty good deal, and Lisse seemed to have gotten it too.

The both of us seem to have quite a few similarities, but considering that Lisse started this conversation, then differently from me, she is probably struggling with money.

“I have enough money on me.” I told her.

I have a decent amount remaining, and I still have the magic core of the Sky Lizard that I hunted a while back. It is a pretty expensive magic core, so I should be able to sell it if I really need to.

“Hey, you said you were a hunter, right?” Lisse asked me.

“Did I say that?” I asked back.

“You said it. You definitely said it. You absolutely said it.” Lisse replied.

“Well, fine, but what about it?” I asked.

“Help me hunt.” She requested.

“Oh, I’m not doing that. Please excuse me.” I tried taking my leave.

“Wait.” She stopped me again.

What is it…? I wanna take a bath already…

“I need a lot of money quickly. In that case, hunting a Demon Beast is the fastest way to go about it.” Lisse told me.

“Yeah, good luck with that.” I replied.

“Help me.” She said.

“Oh, I’m not doing that. Please excuse me.” I tried leaving one more time.

“You already said that one!” Lisse exclaimed.

Oh, did I?

“I’m obviously reluctant about it, but even as you’re aware of it, you’re still trying to push me like that?” I asked her.

“That can’t be helped. There’s no one else that I can ask.” Lisse told me plainly.

In other words, I was chosen through an elimination process? I’m even more reluctant to participate on this now.

“Do you remember the talk we had a few days back? Zant asked me what kind of strength I wanted, and I told him that I didn’t have enough firepower.

“Basically, I cannot fight Demon Beasts, as I cannot kill them.” I told Lisse.

If it’s something like a Redbear or a Splinter Fang Hare or other weak Demon Beasts, then I can handle it, but that’s not the case for the Demon Beasts near Haidiga. Those are way stronger than the Demon Beasts I have hunted so far.

I even struggled to hunt the Sky Lizard, and I was not only able to land a one-sided preemptive strike on it, but I also had a strong paralysis poison with me at that time.

My ideal as a hunter is to kill with one blow.

But I cannot do that yet. I lack something that allows me land a decisive blow.

That’s why I’m planning to find a way to make up for this, to acquire firepower on my training that will start tomorrow.

The current me is too weak to handle Demon Beasts.

I properly explained that to Lisse and told her that, even if she wanted me to go, it would be impossible, but…

Lisse did not back down, “Just look for the Demon Beast. I’ll be the one to hunt it.”

Huh?

“Can you do it?” I asked her.

She snorted, “Just who do you think you’re talking to-

“Hey! Wait! Come on, listen.”

Once again, I was stopped.

How annoying. I was going to take a bath because I don’t want to listen to Lisse. I’m sure this is going to be troublesome if I hear any more, so I don’t want to.

“Are you really going to force me even though I don’t like it? You beast.” I told her.

“W-why are you saying it like that!? T-this is wrong… It’s not supposed to be like this, is it…?

“H-hey, wait!” Lisse exclaimed.

I don’t like this. I don’t want to heat any more of it, so I’m not waiting.

I covered my ears with my hands, ignored Lisse, and started walking away at a brisk pace.

“Don’t cover your ears! Don’t go home yet! Listen! Hey, listen to me!” Lisse shouted.

I don’t like this. I absolutely hate this. I’m just training now. Hunting is no good.

… Well, in the end, I gave in to her, but only if she agreed to one important condition.