kscans

Chapter 315 - A Pet's Strength

Thanks to Cecil and Esha, they had successfully repelled the butler and maid duo, Ronios and Cremola.

Hayato had considered the possibility of them returning immediately for revenge, but he couldn't just leave the diner with everything destroyed and go back to the base. He hastily crafted new tables and chairs.

The diner's owner didn't seem to mind, but since Hayato offered, he had simply said, "In that case, I'll take you up on it."

When Hayato asked why he wasn't particularly angry, he learned that a while back, this area was a hangout for the Thieves' Guild and the Assassin Guild, and such things were a daily occurrence back then.

Also, since it was clear Hayato and his friends were just caught in the crossfire, he wasn't angry about the ruckus either.

And the customers who had been eating felt much the same. They had no complaints, with some even nostalgically remarking on how long it had been since they'd seen a brawl in the shop. They had left the room but apparently watched the fight through cracks in the wall while finishing their meals.

Listening to these stories, Hayato used his Woodworking Skill to create replacements for the destroyed shop fixtures. And out of his own particularity, he made them all five-star quality.

The owner looked a little dumbfounded by this but gave him a friendly "Come again."

Hayato and his friends apologized one last time before leaving the diner.

That was in the morning. Hayato and Esha finished their work in the real world and logged back in at night.

When they went from their room on the second floor down to the first-floor dining hall, it seemed Maris and Cecil were talking there. Sieg was sprawled out on the table.

Esha, who had come down the stairs with him, suddenly shot forward.

"Sieg. Get on my shoulder again. Come on!"

Esha said this and reached her hand out to Sieg on the table.

She was spectacularly bitten.

But Esha was not discouraged.

"Sieg is just a tsundere."

"I don’t think that’s it."

In Esha’s case, it was simply that her Taming Skill was in the negatives. Because of that, she was hated by all animals and monsters.

"I know. That dream-like moment was just an act to lead Cecil and me to our masters. But he rubbed his body against my leg, tilted his head with an upward glance, and invited me for a walk..."

Esha seemed to be recalling it, her eyes closed and her face turned upward. Her expression was completely infatuated.

A few seconds later, her eyes snapped open.

"In other words, Sieg can do it if he tries! Come now, show me that power once more!"

This time, she was scratched.

It was hard to tell if she was joking or serious, but when you thought about it, the situation was indeed strange.

As long as Sieg was an in-game AI, he couldn’t defy the game system. As a demerit for her negative Taming Skill, Esha was hated by all monsters and animals. Sieg should be no exception.

It felt a bit strange that Sieg could prioritize Maris’s command.

However, thinking about it wouldn't yield an answer, only speculation. It might just be a matter of system priority, so Hayato stopped thinking about it.

He left Esha to her own devices and approached Maris and the others.

"Was everything okay after that?"

"It was fine. Those two never came to the base."

As Maris said this, Cecil made a disappointed sound.

"Those guys were strong, but they never came after that. They said something about seeing us again, so I was looking forward to an immediate rematch. What a letdown."

Hayato was also a little concerned about that.

Those two had information on him and his companions. It was unlikely they didn't know the location of their base.

Unlike in reality, losing didn’t result in injury, and they could fight consecutive battles. There was the issue of weapon durability, but that wouldn’t take much time. The fact that they didn’t come to the base was, on the contrary, rather eerie.

(Maybe they can't log in in the afternoon like me... no, or maybe they knew I wouldn't be logged in in the afternoon. Or they thought they couldn't beat Cecil... No matter how much I think about it, it's just going to be a hassle,) Hayato thought.

He knew the clan name was "Shooting Star," at least. Hayato decided he would need to investigate.

And then he suddenly noticed something.

Surya was not in the dining hall.

It was still too early to go to bed, and she was usually here talking with Cecil, so it felt strange.

"Is Surya-san in her room?"

"Surya's on the third floor doing combat training," Cecil said, still sitting, pointing at the ceiling.

"Combat training? At this hour?"

"She couldn't do anything when we were accosted at the diner, so I think she's feeling down. It's a common thing for people from the Empire. I told her we should have a mock battle together, but she turned me down."

"With you, Cecil, a mock battle would probably turn into a real one."

"That’s training too, isn’t it? Oh, right, Maris, let me fight Lancelot sometime. He looks strong!"

"Umm...?"

For Maris, who was usually smiling, she made a rare face of disgust.

"Whoa. You’re making the same face as Surya. She looked like that too when I asked to fight Garland. What’s the big deal, it’s not like you’ll lose anything."

"Fighting with you, Cecil-san, seems like it would reduce various things... like my soul!"

"Ivan said something like that to me once! Come on, come on, it’s fine, right? A trained monster seems stronger than a wild one, and it’s for training!"

Cecil was pestering her as if he’d been drinking, but Maris was dodging his advances with a firm "absolutely not" stance.

Esha, for her part, was happily still being bitten by Sieg, so Hayato, thinking it was a peaceful scene, decided to head to the third floor, as he was worried about Surya.

In the third-floor hall, Surya was using a whip to attack training dummies that served as targets.

Surya had her back to Hayato, but as if sensing his presence, she quickly turned around.

"Oh, Hayato-san. Are your preparations for the Eastern Country finished?"

When Hayato, Esha, and the others logged out, their characters were set to be sleeping in their rooms or creating production items. This time, they had logged out with the status of preparing to go to the Eastern Country.

"I still need to prepare, but there’s always tomorrow, so I’m done for today. Did I interrupt you?"

"I was about to take a break, so it’s fine. Besides, having a place like this is a real help."

"A lot of the people living here are the martial artist type..." Hayato trailed off.

The person who used this place the most was probably Rose, the maid he had hired. It wasn't that it was a bad thing, but he sometimes found himself thinking, ‘I hired a maid, right?’

"By the way, this is your first time using this place, right? I heard you were combat training, is something wrong?"

"Combat training...? Oh, Cecil said that, didn’t he? That’s part of it, but I was just moving my body while thinking things over, since a lot happened today."

"Could it be about today’s battle?"

"Well, yes."

"I don’t think you need to worry about it too much. Your skill composition is different, after all. And a tamer's true strength is in coordinating with their pets, right?"

Surya’s pet dragon, Garland, wasn’t there. If he had been, they wouldn't have lost to Ronios and her group.

"Ah, um, that’s not what I mean. I’m concerned about Sieg—no, that might be a little different too."

"About Sieg?"

"At that time, Maris immediately ordered, or rather, asked Sieg to bring Esha-san and the others. Sieg slipped out with the owner and the others as they left the dining hall. I knew that, so I helped buy some time."

"So that’s what happened. But what about Sieg is bothering you?"

"I believe that pets have to be strong. Maris gets angry when I say that, though."

Hayato nodded, though the answer didn't match his question.

He recalled Maris saying something to that effect before. She had also said she didn't like that way of thinking.

However, it was just the way of thinking she disliked, not Surya herself. In fact, he remembered her saying she respected her as a tamer.

"But in today’s battle, you could say it was Sieg who protected you, Hayato-san. When I think about that, I get all muddled, wondering if my way of thinking is wrong. That’s why I was here, moving my body while thinking about it."

"Ah, I see."

"A pet has to be strong to survive. It must be strong for that reason. But we survived today thanks to Sieg. Maris won’t say anything, and she probably doesn’t think anything of it, but I feel like I lost, and it’s a little frustrating."

The word "survive" sounded quite grim, but Hayato simply nodded silently.

(I don’t think it’s something to be so fixated on, but maybe it’s because she feels like a rival to Maris...)

He understood the situation, more or less. It would be nice if he could say something witty here, but Hayato didn't have that kind of ability. He knew that about himself better than anyone. However, saying nothing at all didn't feel right either.

Hayato thought for a moment before speaking.

"Um, isn’t it just a matter of the situation? It just so happened that this time Sieg was able to play a big role. Garland was a huge help on the floating island, wasn’t he?"

Surya looked at Hayato with a slightly surprised expression, then smiled.

"Are you perhaps trying to comfort me?"

"Huh? Oh, well, I just thought I should say something or it would be weird."

At Hayato's words, Surya burst out laughing.

"What do you mean, ‘weird’? Hayato-san, you’re so serious, or something... I don’t think you should be so honest about things like that. Especially to the opposite sex."

"I get told that a lot."

Especially from Ren. He’d been told that being so bluntly honest about everything was the height of foolishness. He had once been passionately lectured that in romance, there was an advanced art of letting the other person imagine things by not saying everything.

"Well, I think you can say anything you want to Esha-san, though."

He wanted to ask why she brought Esha up then, but he held his tongue, thinking that would also be an unnecessary comment.

And so he forced a smile.

"Oh, staying silent? But your face is twitching, you know."

Surya giggled.

Hayato had a fleeting thought that he was being teased, but he couldn’t think of a comeback.

Once her laughter subsided, Surya let out a big sigh.

"Thank you. For some reason, I feel like what I was worrying about doesn’t matter anymore."

"So—that’s a good thing, right?"

"Of course. I’m starting to think that lately, I might have been stubbornly insisting that pets must be strong simply because I didn't want to lose to Maris. And watching you and Sieg, Hayato-san, maybe it’s okay for them to not be strong... you know?"

"Well, I don’t know about ‘you know’."

When Hayato said this with a troubled look, Surya started laughing again.

"Well, I was just kidding about them not being strong. You and Sieg are both strong. Not the kind of strength I idealize, but you definitely possess strength. I'm starting to think that might have been what Maris wanted to say."

"I don’t think Maris thinks that deeply about it. I think she just likes any and all animals."

"How cruel. But you’re probably right about that. All right, I’m going to talk more with Maris today. We have all day off tomorrow, so we’ll talk about pets all night!"

"Yeah, well, good luck."

After that, the two returned to the dining hall.

And when Surya told Maris she wanted to talk about pets, Maris immediately said, "I accept your challenge!"

Esha, while being bitten by Sieg, chimed in, "Then I shall speak of the charms of O-kitsune-sama," and Cecil said, "If you’re talking about strong monsters, leave it to me!"

It seemed the conversation was about to veer in a different direction from what Surya had intended, but the four of them began talking about animals and monsters.

And Hayato, having been asked by everyone to prepare a midnight snack, sighed with resignation and headed to the storage to get some ingredients.