Let’s Start Our Slow Life Together

The next day.

When I opened my eyes, I was a little confused to feel the hard floor

beneath me and realize I was wrapped in a cramped sleeping bag.

"…Oh yeah."

Seeing Rit's face as she lay asleep on the bed, I remembered our

back-and-forth last night with a pained chuckle. When it came time

to sleep, we got into it about who would get the bed.

Rit offered to sleep on the floor, of course, but I insisted on her

taking the bed. After a little arguing, we nearly both ended up

sleeping on the cold planks but settled on deciding it with rockpaper-scissors. I won in the end, which meant I was the one who had

to forgo sleeping in the bed.

"What a silly argument."

Since we were both well acquainted with sleeping outdoors, it wasn't

like a night in a sleeping bag was a big deal. Thinking about it now,

there wouldn't have been any problem if I had taken the bed, either.

"Well, what's done is done. Guess I should make some breakfast."

Zoltan summers were sweltering even in the morning. In the rest of

the world, it was already autumn, but here there was still another

month of summer left. Outside, cicadas were buzzing away. Part of

me despised the noise while another part appreciated the summer

sort of feel they provided. I crawled out of the sleeping bag and

headed to the kitchen.

"Ugh, hot water?"

The water I was storing in the pitcher hadn't cooled at all overnight.

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"Ahhh, lazing around the house on days like this is the Zoltan way."

But drinking hot water wouldn't stop the sweat. It was a nuisance,

but I decided to fetch some water from the well.

I was carrying four jugs filled to the brim that were hanging off the

end of a pole. Generally speaking, here in Zoltan, water taken from

the river was for routine daily uses, and water taken from the well

was for drinking. Most people had a preference for mixing some

diluted wine or ale with the water to drink. Even children drank it

that way, despite the alcohol content.

"Heave-ho… Things would probably be a bit different if more people

out here had blessings with access to magic, though."

I set the vases in a dark corner of the kitchen. With as hot as it was, if

I put them someplace where the sun might shine on them, they'd

likely heat up pretty quickly. Maybe even hot enough to boil an egg.

"Speaking of eggs… Bacon and omelets? And lettuce salad and

potato soup. Oh yeah, I didn't go get bread yesterday. I've got some

flour, so I could make crepes to wrap around the salad and omelets."

Once I settled on what to make, all that was left was to do it.

As I busied myself fixing breakfast, Rit's smile while she ate dinner

the previous night crossed my mind. It was only the first morning

since she had moved in, but it felt as if she had already become a

regular part of my life.

"Morning," Rit said groggily.

"Got up early, eh? Good morning."

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Even without me going to get her, she'd managed to wake up herself

around when I finished cooking. Seeing me, she flashed a smile and

headed to the washroom to clean her face.

"I've got some cold water in the kitchen you can use if you want."

The water supply in Zoltan got tepid in the heat of summer, but Rit

just shook her head with a smile.

"I'll be fine."

I heard her cast some magic from the washroom. She had used a

spell to cool the water.

"Must be nice…"

Thinking of the effort it took to go the well in the morning and draw

water, it made me jealous of blessings with access to magic. While

she was getting ready, I set the food on the table.

"Wow. It looks great."

Rit returned from the washroom. Despite the fact that she had just

cleaned her face, she still looked a little out of it as she sat in the

chair. Her voice was still slightly groggy, and her pajamas were a bit

disheveled. A shoulder peeked out from the wide and awkward

resting place of the top's collar.

"Not much of a morning person?"

"Yeah. Since it was a new bed, I didn't sleep quite as well as I usually

do."

"Are you really that sensitive?" I asked.

"Hmph. Thanks for the food." She declined to answer my question as

she started to eat.

Despite saying she hadn't slept well, Rit still looked kind of satisfied,

so the trouble sleeping probably wasn't because my bed was cheap. I

just smiled a bit and grabbed my spoon. We avoided small talk as

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time slowly passed during the late-summer morning. The blond girl

poured some of the cold water with lemon floating in it into her cup

and glugged it down.

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"It's delicious." Rit happily enjoyed her breakfast to a tune sung by a

choir of cicadas. Her verdict on the meal made me smile.

Once we finished eating and cleaned up the dishes, we had some

cool tea while discussing what to do today.

"Do you want to clear out your item box to dry like we talked about

last night?"

"No, we should do the other stuff first. We can take care of that

anytime."

"Okay, then shall we get your bed and whatever personal effects you

need?"

"No, my bed wouldn't fit in that room."

"…You've been enjoying a nice bed, huh? I guess that would explain

having trouble getting to sleep."

"That isn't why I couldn't fall asleep. I'm going to get a new bed, but I

also planned on bringing a few paintings and things that would suit

the store."

"Paintings?"

"You shouldn't discount how much impact artwork can have. The

right kind of piece in a good spot can definitely help increase sales."

"Ahhhh."

I guess that was true. Shops with a nice atmosphere did sort of just

draw you in.

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"Should we stop by to get some kind of gift to go along with the

application for approval from the council to sell the anesthetic while

we're shopping?" I asked.

"Sure."

It wasn't as if there was some kind of official requirement that you

had to give the bureaucrat a gift when you made your request. In

fact, there definitely wasn't. However, it was rare for a country to

have strict rules and procedures when it came to making decisions

like that. And this was Zoltan, famous for being an idyllic, easygoing

sort of place. The official in charge of medicines was the person who

would decide whether a new drug received approval or not. A lot

could change depending on his impression.

"We're a newly established apothecary, so it might be better to go

for one on the more expensive side, since the store itself hasn't built

up a good reputation yet."

"I know. I'm pretty experienced in these kinds of negotiations."

Actually, running a store was a completely new to me. However,

during my adventures, I had been the one who dealt with the

influential people wherever we ended up going.

Something along the lines of a gift valued at thirty payril should've

been just fine. Things made of a precious metal that could be resold

for close to market value were generally preferred. Something like a

piece of silver tableware was pretty standard.

"That reminds me, not just the gift, but we should get you a dining

set, too."

"You don't need to do that. I'm fine with using your stuff."

"I've got a pretty decent set, but I never anticipated needing more

than one person's worth. It's just a numbers problem."

"If that's all, then fine. I'll cover it, since it's my share."

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"I'd rather you not get anything expensive, so I'll pay for it."

I was used to a pretty cheap living, so dealing with expensive

tableware for everyday stuff all of a sudden would be scary. Feel free

to laugh at me for being a coward if you want. If I was holding a plate

that cost half a year's income, I would end up being overly careful

with it, which would take up time I needed for other things.

"It's not like you have to treat it particularly carefully just because it's

expensive. A set of tableware is expendable."

"Even so."

Back in my old party, I had also managed all the finances, so I tended

to be a bit tightfisted when it came to money.

"All right, then I'll take you up on your offer, I guess. While we're on

that, though, about my salary."

"…Yeah," I responded with a gulp.

Rit wasn't the type to demand some outrageous amount, so that at

least wouldn't be a problem, but…

"What do you think of one and a half payril per day, for a total of

thirty per month? I'm getting room and board, too, so I think that

should be pretty reasonable."

It was a little on the low end for a store employee, but like she said,

it was perfectly reasonable when considering the room and board.

But Rit was a B-rank adventurer. There's no way she wasn't raking in

at least ten thousand payril in that line of work. Considering her

means, thirty payril was pretty lacking.

"Got it. Then we'll go with that."

It would have been a lot worse if she'd insisted on not taking any

payment. If Rit refused compensation, I wouldn't have been able to

accept it and would have offered her a salary. That's just the kind of

person I was. The amount definitely would've been higher than thirty

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a month, too. Her proposed salary, which was pretty in-line with the

market rate, was actually pretty considerate of her.

Wait, when she said she wanted to live here, was that so I wouldn't

feel as obligated on the salary front? I never would have guessed she

was thinking that far ahead from the start!

"Thank you, Rit."

"Eh? Um, you're welcome?"

Rit was likely playing dumb. I should've expected nothing less from

the adventurer who took on Zoltan's problems completely solo. I

decided to leave it at that, though, and just thanked her one more

time in my heart.

I was walking beside Rit as we headed to a furniture store in search

of a bed.

During the summer in Zoltan, it was well understood that you

worked during the morning and evening. Midday was for relaxing

and not causing a fuss. Because of that, despite it still being early, the

streets were alive with people. Everyone was sweating and had

annoyed expressions, though, so it wasn't quite the standard image

of a bustling little town.

"Are you already used to Zoltan, Rit?"

"You mean this sort of mood? Yeah, though on a few levels it was

pretty shocking at first. Is it like this everywhere with a hot climate?"

"No, even in other subtropical places, like Mzali, the silver town.

There, miners head out to the mountains in search of ore in the

morning. By noon, the town's bustling with all the places making

lunch for the miners. At night, the people who are done working for

the day are out drinking and carousing. It's a really lively town."

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"You've been to Mzali?"

"To get mithril ingots, yeah. I've been lots of places, but I never

would have guessed I would end up coming to Zoltan."

Zoltan had only sent a small amount of funds to Central for help in

the battle against the demon lord's army and had hardly sent any

soldiers. The frontier settlement didn't have any notable local

specialties, was relatively underdeveloped technologically, and there

weren't any particularly strong monsters around, either. The

mountains in Central were crawling with owlbears, but out here a Brank adventurer was needed to take care of just one of the

creatures. That was proof enough of just how little the adventurers

here knew when it came to fighting powerful enemies.

"Meaning it's peaceful. It's a land that doesn't need the Hero. A

place that a member of the Hero's party, like me, would have no

connection with. At least, that's what I thought at the time."

"A country that doesn't need the Hero. Yeah, that's true."

A half-elf girl was sitting on a window ledge with her feet in a bucket

of water. She waved when she noticed me. If I remember correctly, I

had given her some medicine when she had fallen and scraped her

knee once.

"Sometimes…I used to feel like something was missing," Rit said as

she watched the girl wave.

"Oh?"

"I didn't stay with your party. If I had traveled with you, I'm sure I

would have been satisfied with that choice, too, but…being here with

you now is what I would rather have."

"…"

There definitely could've been a path where Rit joined Ruti's group

on the journey to defeat the demon lord. But that wasn't how it

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ended up. Instead of walking the path of the Hero through a storm of

blood, we were walking together through Zoltan as just Rit and Red.

Stormthunder's Furniture Shop. An admittedly unusual name, but it

was home to a skilled furniture craftsman.

"Are you there, Stormy?" Rit called out.

A short, stout figure emerged from somewhere deeper in the

establishment. He had a nose like a boar and stood slightly shorter

than a human, but he was well-built and broad-shouldered. The

fangs sticking out of his mouth only served to reinforce his

frightening appearance.

"Oh, Miss Rit. I'm always happy to have your patronage…but why is

Red here with you today?"

"Uh, well it's a bit complicated," I responded.

Stormy—Stormthunder—was a bit confused at the unexpected

pairing of the town's top adventurer and the medicinal herbgathering specialist.

"I'm going to be moving in with Red starting today."

"Huh?"

"So I came to buy a bed."

"O-ohhhh, c-congratulations? I had no idea! Red's quite the lucky

man."

"Wait, aren't you misunderstanding something?" I interjected.

"So you'd like to order a bed, then? Please leave it to me,"

Stormthunder said obsequiously as he focused on Rit.

"Oy, Storm, this is different from how you treated me before."

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"That's because a certain customer bought a cheap bed after

haggling over the price for thirty minutes. Another certain customer

bought a high-grade bed at asking price! You're damn straight they

don't get treated the same!" Stormthunder snapped back in

exasperation.

"…Yeah, I guess so."

I couldn't really say anything else to that. It's not like he was wrong.

Stormthunder was a half-orc—a race with both human and orc

heritage. In this case, half-orc didn't mean that one parent was

human and the other was a full-blooded orc, but rather, they were

mostly human but had an ancestor somewhere in the past who was

an orc, and though diluted, orc blood still ran through them.

Orcs were a very belligerent race with boar-like faces from the dark

continent and formed a key part of the demon lord's army. The orc

hussars often used as advance forces in the invasion of Avalon were

particularly infamous for their mobility and ravenous tendencies that

led to them pillaging the countryside far and wide.

The orcs that Ruti and I first fought were orc hussars, as a matter of

fact.

Whenever a war broke out between the two continents, there were

many children of orc hussars born on this continent, too. Despite

being born of such merciless and fierce stock as the advance troops

of a fiendish army, half-orcs generally had the same sort of

disposition as humans. However, because of their unpleasant

appearances and origins, many were forced to live among the worst

of society. Most worked as low-level enforcers in the criminal

underworld or made a living as pillaging, mercenary outlaws.

Stormthunder's actual name was a word in the language of the dark

continent that meant both storms and lightning, but he went by

Stormthunder here to fit in with the language. The rest of the people

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in this part of town and I just called him Storm, though he didn't

seem particularly fond of that nickname.

"So then, what are the dimensions of the room where you're putting

this bed?"

The half-orc was bent over and taking an extremely fawning stance,

the likes of which I had never seen before. Feeling like I had just

gotten a small glimpse of the reality of a blue-collar craftsman who

was usually so stubborn and mouthy, I glanced away and perused the

furniture on display around the shop.

It was all made of wood, ranging from plain to intricately designed.

There were pieces made of stout oak, beautiful ebony, and even rare

ironwood. Most eye-catching of all was a bed made of livingwood, a

material boasting extraordinary vitality. Even after it had been

crafted into furniture, if you sprayed it with water, it would be able

to naturally mend any scratches or nicks.

It was popular among the middle classes because of its long life span,

but it was incredibly difficult to craft with. Working with the wood

required the rare skill Intermediate Furniture Making. Such a luxury

was not something that could normally be had in a town the size of

Zoltan.

"Oy! If you aren't gonna buy anything, then get your hands off the

goods!" Stormthunder had noticed me tapping the livingwood bed

frame.

"Even if it gets a scratch, it can just heal, right?"

"That doesn't give you an excuse to go scratching it!" he shouted.

I just shrugged and backed away like he wanted. After a little bit, Rit

called me over.

"I decided on this double bed made of walnut."

"Make it a single."

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"Wuss…," Stormthunder muttered under his breath.

When I glanced at him sharply, he immediately looked away and said

"I've got a single in the same design" as he fled to the back of the

shop.

"Wuss," Rit said with a smirk, though she was blushing, too.

"It's only the second day since we met again," I said, deciding not to

put too fine a point on it.

…A double bed? Seriously?

I honestly had no clue about things like that. I didn't have any

experience there.

"There are more half-orcs in Zoltan than I would have guessed."

The bed was to be delivered in the evening. We had taken a statue,

several paintings, plus a nice desk and table set from the estate Rit

had been living in and were carrying them on a cart. An earth spirit

beast that Rit had summoned pulled the load.

Rit's residence was extravagant, befitting the number one

adventurer in town. It had four bedrooms, a private bar, a hidden

door leading to a secret room, and a hidden passage out in case of an

emergency. It also boasted a separate washroom and laundry; even

the bath was pretty spacious.

Apparently, going forward, the two people she had employed to take

care of the manor would continue living there, and she would open it

up for merchants to rent out for gatherings and the like. The thought

that such a venture was probably going to earn her a lot more money

than the salary I was paying was a little disheartening.

"Red?"

"Hmm? Ah, sorry, what were you saying?"

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"Come on. I was saying there are a lot of half-orcs in Zoltan."

It was true—there was a bit of a higher proportion of them here than

in other countries.

"Stormthunder has the Craftsman blessing and a high level, but he

ended up out here in Zoltan because he's a half-orc. They wouldn't

let him open proper shops in other countries. He still gets dirty looks

from a few people, but it doesn't go past that. A lot of the other halfs

between humans and people from the dark continent come to Zoltan

from other places looking for a reasonable environment to make a

living in."

"I see… As expected, you knew everything right down to his blessing

level."

"The truth is, I was short on money to pay for things I needed from

him, so I've helped him out hunting before."

"Ah, so that's how it is. It's rough having a noncombat blessing."

There was no way to level a blessing up unless you fought and killed

something else with a blessing. That was true whether you had a

noncombat blessing or a Warrior blessing but made a living working

at a job that had nothing to do with combat. The fundamental

requirement in order to increase the power of your blessing was to

wield a weapon and fight animals, monsters, or humans.

Divine Blessings.

With the exception of Asura demons, every living being in this world

has that power from birth. The one who granted the Divine Blessing

was Demis, the Almighty. God. On this continent, the worship of

Demis was the state religion of every country. There were minor

variations in the interpretations of the dogma, but the same basic

tenets were followed by elves, dwarves, undeveloped tribes, goblins,

and even by the few monsters that possessed intelligence.

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This was because God granted everyone a power—Divine Blessings—

that anyone could easily recognize, and because the presence of God

could actually be felt through said blessing, there wasn't really much

room for faith in other deities whose existences were less tangible.

To repeat myself, though, Divine Blessings were something bestowed

on living things by God. They were not influenced in any way by

parents or by how a child was raised. There were slum orphans born

with Strategist and General blessings, and there had been nobles

born with Thief blessings. What a child would be granted when it

came into the world was something only God knew.

A Divine Blessing came with a name, skills associated with it, and

levels. As its level increased, you were granted points that could be

used to gain new skills; and by gaining skills, you could acquire

superhuman strengths or techniques. Those new powers manifested

in a myriad of fields beyond common knowledge. They ranged from

straightforward abilities like magic, to deftness with a certain kind of

weapon or armor, to the ability to create tools, to heart-moving

singing. The majority of people judged the value of another by the

level of their blessing.

It was fair to say that in order to attain great success, raising your

blessing's level was a necessary first step. So then, how did you raise

your blessing's level? There was just the one way: fight and kill an

opponent who had a blessing of their own. Whether your blessing

was meant for battle, that was the only method. Someone with a

Craftsman blessing would never level up just from plying their trade.

Because of that, whether by hiring an adventurer to help with

hunting to level up or by working as an adventurer on the side or

something else, every living being had to kill other living beings in

order to enhance their blessing.

The reason a rough-and-tumble sort of gathering of people like the

Adventurers Guild was able to have such relative organizational

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power and influence was because of the wide range of people from

all walks of life who were members in order to act as adventurers on

the side.

Glancing to the side, I saw two girls about thirteen years old walking

down the street as a shimmering heat haze obscured them slightly.

They were chattering cheerfully despite the heat, and on their backs

were plain, simple spears; the iron blades still had a bit of dark-red

blood on the ends that they had forgotten to wipe off.

This world was filled with conflict.

We got a set of tableware and a few other odds and ends for Rit at

the general store. I was pretty pleased with myself, since it had been

a fairly reasonable deal.

"We should head to the market, too. It's about time I restocked on

ingredients."

"Okay. I want to eat a burger steak today."

"A burger steak, huh? Got it."

I still had plenty of eggs. I mentally ran over my list of ingredients as

we perused the marketplace. After a ten-minute walk, we passed an

abandoned lot where a house had been toppled by a storm around

two years back. We could hear children crying and angry shouts.

"A fight?"

Every town has its troublemakers. It's always iffy whether an adult

who doesn't know the story behind the argument should butt in on a

fight between children…

"That voice… Tanta?"

It was indeed Gonz's nephew, the half-elf Tanta. Apparently, he was

involved.

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"An acquaintance?"

"I think so. I'm going to go take a look real quick."

The voices were coming from the abandoned lot. Peeking over, I

could see a group of three and a group of two going at one another.

The pair were half-elves, and the trio were all humans. Tanta was

brawling it out with one of the human boys, but it didn't appear to

be going well for him.

"A skill?"

It seemed as if the human boy had managed to connect with his

blessing. A precocious one, probably. He had already leveled up once

or twice, and I could guess at the kind of blessing just by watching

him fight.

I wanted to stop it. Looking closer, Tanta's opponent was the only

one who really looked like he wanted to brawl. His two companions

were content to just cheer from the sideline. Though, even they

looked scared and were being careful not to get caught up in the

middle of the fray.

That one human boy was probably the instigator.

"Oy, cut it out!" I called.

All the children swung around toward me. They looked a little scared

to see an adult show up. Doubtless, they expected to get scolded,

but they also seemed a little relieved. All except…

"Piss off!"

The boy who was beating up on Tanta reached down, picked up a

stone, and threw it at me all in one fluid motion. Probably because of

the Makeshift Fighting Technique skill.

There was a clang as I deflected the stone with my bronze sword.

The children's eyes went wide, even those of the boy who threw it.

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"Huh."

Unexpectedly, I found myself a little intrigued. That toss was no mere

throw from a kid. There was a little tingle in my hand holding the

sword. That had been a sharp attack.

"That sort of strength is overkill for a children's quarrel. You should

try going out with an adult to fight some monsters."

"S-screw you! Talking all big when you've got a bronze sword!" The

boy's face turned red as he shouted, and he quickly ran off.

"W-wait, Ademi!"

"Don't leave us behind!"

Ademi's cohorts chased after him. I just sighed slightly as I put my

sword away. Honestly, I hadn't intended to draw my weapon. I

thought I would knock it away with my hand. Had I done so, though, I

probably would've hurt myself. Apparently, that kid had pretty good

affinity with his blessing. Despite having only just awoken to it and

still being a child, his attack was already a match for an E-rank

adventurer.

"Are you okay, Tanta?"

"…Yeah."

Tanta looked frustrated as he rubbed his dirty face with his sleeve.

The sleeve was dirty, too, though, so all it did was spread the mess.

"Look this way."

I used a towel I had with me to wipe off Tanta's face and then the

other half-elf boy's face. The dirt was gone, but there was still a bit of

bruising.

"There, all done."

"Thank you…"

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"You were unlucky there, fighting a kid who had already connected

with his blessing. Neither of you have connected yet, right?"

The two of them nodded sheepishly.

"But at low levels, it's not supposed to be that different from not

having a blessing."

"He had an affinity with his blessing. For better or for worse."

"Affinity?" Tanta asked.

"Affinity is—," I started to try to explain.

"Uh, um!" the other boy interjected. He had fluffy, frizzy hair. His

face was slightly rounder than Tanta's, though he had a bit of a

droopy expression. His eyes were a little bloodshot, probably from

trying to hold back tears.

"Wh-who is this, Tanta?" the boy asked.

"Ah, sorry, Al. He's Red, my friend the apothecary."

"An apothecary?"

"He's an adventurer, too."

"Oh, that's why he was so strong."

The boy was named Al, apparently. I thought I knew most of the kids

from this part of town by now, but this was the first time I'd seen

him.

"Big Bro, Al's family lives in the Southmarsh district."

"Ah, a Southmarsh kid. That explains why I haven't seen him around

before."

Southmarsh was a residential district in western Zoltan. It was

established by reclaiming marshland, making it not very popular as a

residential area because of the uneven and soft ground. It had

naturally come to be viewed as a slum for people who had come

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from outside Zoltan without much money. Perhaps realizing that, Al

looked down when Tanta introduced him as being from Southmarsh.

"Oh, you hurt your knee."

It was Al's kneecap. There was red blood oozing out. He had

probably gotten hurt after being pushed over. I took some

disinfectant and a bandage out of my pocket.

"I need some water to take care of this, too. Can you walk to the

well?"

"I-I'm fine. It's not that bad."

Al's face twitched in pain as I took his hand to help him move. The

cut was probably deeper than it looked.

"No need to hold back," I said as I lifted Al onto my back and started

walking.

"Whoa. Wah!" Al shouted. "I-I'm fine. I can walk on my own!"

He wriggled around, but I didn't pay it any mind as I carried him.

"That'll do."

I had finished applying the medicine and then wrapped the leg to

keep the sore areas stable and fixed in place.

"If you take it easy for two or three days, it should stop hurting."

"Thank you, Mr. Red."

Al smiled bashfully as I patted his head.

"Big Bro! What's going on on?!" Tanta shouted excitedly, in stark

contrast to Al's quietness.

That wasn't too surprising, though…

"Why are you with Miss Rit?" Tanta asked.

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"About that…"

"Because I'm friends with Red," Rit chimed in.

"Really?!"

"Really. We're going to be living together starting today."

"Eh?! Is he really dependable enough for something like that?"

"Hmm, well, I am a little bit concerned, truth be told…"

What did Rit think she was saying? She had no right to give kids

strange ideas about me. Tanta shouldn't have been saying weird

things, either! How did they think that made me feel?

"Um," Al nervously tried to speak up.

"Hmm? What is it, Al?"

"It's about Divine Blessings… You and Miss Rit know a lot about

them, right?"

"I know a bit," I responded.

"It's about the guy who was fighting with us. His name is Ademi."

"You want to know about his?"

"Yes, sir. He was never that pleasant to be around and always hated

elves, but he wasn't ever that violent before. But he suddenly

changed a couple of days ago…"

"I see. That's probably because he connected with his blessing

recently."

"Do people always end up like that when they make contact with

their blessing?" Al's eyes wavered uneasily.

Blessings were a gift from God and essential in order to go through

life in this world…

"Do you know what it means to make contact with your blessing?"

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"Yeah! It means becoming conscious of what it is and being able to

choose and develop your skills yourself, right?" Tanta eagerly cut in

from the side.

I patted his head. He grabbed my hand with both of his and smiled

happily.

"Correct. You've studied up."

"That much is just common knowledge."

"And when a person makes contact with their blessing, their

personality is influenced by it."

"What do you mean?" Tanta tilted his head in confusion.

"For example, someone with the Craftsman blessing might start to

like making things, or someone with the Mage blessing might start to

be more interested in learning more. You could maybe say that a

person's self-image is pulled in certain directions by their blessing."

"So that was what made Ademi so short-tempered?" The unease and

fear was plain on Al's face.

Ah, so that's it…

"Have you reached the stage of becoming conscious of your

blessing?"

"Y-yes, sir… I have the Weapon Master blessing."

"Ohhh, that's amazing."

Weapon Master was a blessing in the Warrior tree that mastered

how to handle a single type of weapon. A weapon master sacrificed

flexibility in being able to use different weapons situationally. In

exchange, their obsession meant that the techniques they mastered

far surpassed those that a warrior at a similar level could achieve

with the same weapon. It was more suited for adventurers or

soldiers who fought from a single base, rather than a traveling

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adventurer who wandered around gathering new weapons one after

the other.

"That boy probably has the Bar Brawler blessing."

"Bar Brawler?"

"It focuses on unarmed combat, particularly in one-versus-many

situations. It has innate skills related to using non-weapon items like

stones or beer bottles as makeshift weapons, throwing and tripping

opponents in order to get an upper hand, stuff like that. A weapon

master who is dependent on their weapon and limited to an

unarmed quarrel probably couldn't beat a bar brawler."

"That's why he suddenly got so good at fighting…"

"And the problem is that Ademi has an affinity for his blessing."

"An affinity?"

"Yeah. When a person's body and mindset are already well suited for

their blessing, their skills become even stronger. Ademi might well be

a genius bar brawler."

"A genius bar brawler…is kind of…not great."

"Yeah, that's sort of the problem. For blessings that are socially

acceptable, it would be one thing, but for antisocial blessings like

Thief, Bandit, Manslayer, and the like, having an affinity can be like a

curse. It's the same for Ademi. With the Bar Brawler blessing,

whenever there are obstacles in his path, his blessing will lead him to

try to resolve them by fighting."

"I see… Um, is Weapon Master okay?"

"Well, compared to Bar Brawler, it's probably fine, but it can

manifest in a misplaced and deep-rooted conviction about weapons.

Not being able to relax without your weapon at hand, getting

indignant if someone makes fun of it, etcetera."

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"Ugh…" Al looked uneasy again.

That much was just everyone's lot in life, or perhaps it could be said

that these were the roles that God expected us to fill…

"Well, you don't need to get that worried about it. It's true that

blessings have a strong influence, but it's not like you have to be

ruled by them, either. Once he gets used to it, Ademi will be able to

control how he feels. You'll likely be able to keep it to a level where

you just cherish your weapon."

"I don't even want a blessing," Al said.

Tanta's face stiffened at that. Rit's expression also turned pretty

serious.

A Divine Blessing was God's chosen gift. To reject that was

blasphemy. If an inquisitor of the holy church heard Al, it would be

punishable as such. For a child, it would just be the whip and a

scolding, but any older, such statements would only draw even more

unwanted attention.

That said…I could sympathize with an unease toward your blessing. It

was perfectly reasonable. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't just me, either.

Rit's Spirit Scout, a blessing normally for filling the role of a scout for

people of the forest, was the same.

Part of the reason she couldn't just behave herself in the castle might

well have been the influence of a blessing so given to a free spirit.

There was no telling whether Tanta had been granted a blessing that

matched a job as a carpenter. Doubtless, the boy awaited the day he

would make contact with his blessing with a mixture of anticipation

and dread.

I didn't want to just bluntly contradict Al, though. If I tried to reject it

off the cuff, he might take it the wrong way. A slipup here might've

warped the kid's path in life. I was at a bit of a loss for what to say.

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"Al, I agree it's a scary thing to come to terms with your blessing. It's

almost like your life is completely decided by it. But you know,

whatever blessing you might have, you'll still always be you," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Your blessing is just one part of you. Just like your kind mother

might have a side to her that nags and yells about little things, or

your father might have a side to him that is totally different when

he's drunk."

"Yeah, my father is usually scary, but when he drinks, he's always

cheerful and smiling."

"All those different sides are a part of you. And your blessing is like

that, too. When it feels like you might get carried away by your

blessing, instead of rejecting it or becoming a slave to it, you should

control it. It's one part of you, not the whole. If you can do that, your

blessing will surely help you out a lot in the future."

"Really?"

"Really. The Weapon Master blessing allows you access to skills that

increase your physical abilities and even grants you Immunity to Fear

and Immunity to Confusion as long as you have your weapon in

hand."

"Fear? E-everyone made fun of me for being scared of dark places…

It can cure that?"

"Yeah. You won't be scared, no matter how dark it is."

Al looked just a little bit relieved as he smiled.

"Thank you, Big Bro Red."

"You're welcome. I'm usually at my apothecary, so if something is

ever bothering you, feel free to come by anytime. If you don't mind

hanging with a D-rank adventurer, I'd be happy to talk things through

with you."

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"Yeah! …Um."

"What? Something still on your mind?"

"Is it okay if I come by, even if I don't have anything that's bothering

me?" Al's face got slightly red as he met my eyes.

"Of course you can. Come have something to eat, too," I responded,

tousling his soft, frizzy hair.

"Okay!"

Al flashed a beaming, childlike grin. I couldn't help noticing the

dimple that formed when he smiled.

Because we took a bit of a roundabout path, it was already almost

noon by the time we reached the market. Rit and I were sweating as

we gathered the food.

"I got everything on my list," she said.

"All right."

I had split the things I wanted to get into two lists and given Rit one.

The merchants at the market were not even trying to call out to draw

people in. Perhaps the heat had robbed them of the energy. They

were just fanning themselves from the shade of their stores.

Thankfully, that meant no one tried to call us over, either, so we

didn't have to waste any time, which was good. Still, I couldn't help a

bit of a wry smile at the Zoltan-esque laziness of it all.

It seemed like Rit had a similar reaction, enjoying the experience for

her part, since she didn't usually go to the market.

"In Loggervia, the market is annoying, even in summer. Merchants

would always start with pre-written spiels about how 'Summer

fatigue is a thing of the past ever since I started eating this every

day,' and all that rubbish."

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"My hometown was rural, so it didn't even have a market. Various

homes making different things and just gathering together to trade

was all."

"So that was what your hometown was like? But didn't you leave to

join the knights by the time you were eight?"

"Yeah. My only memories of my home are from when I was a little

boy."

Thanks to that, I wasn't the kind of person who was particularly

attached to my hometown. In fact, I was away from it for so long that

there were times I even wondered if Ruti would forget about me…

But the handful of times a year I came back, my little sister was

always the first person to come out to the entrance of the village to

greet me, faster than anyone else.

"Heh, that sure is nostalgic."

But now she was getting along so well with Ares. I had never even

noticed it developing.

"…I can't really believe that."

"Hmm?"

"I can't imagine her ever opening up to anyone other than you, Red."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't know anyone as scary as she is."

"Scary?" For a moment, I thought Rit might've been joking, but the

young blond woman's expression was serious.

"When I faced off against her in the arena, it was the first time I

realized what it meant to have goose bumps. Fighting her there was

the scariest thing I've ever done. Scarier than any demon. So when I

saw her fawning over you, Red—no, I should use your old name.

When I saw her fawning over Gideon, I just couldn't believe it."

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"Huh. Well, she definitely can be a bit hard to read."

"I can't begin to imagine her acting like that with Ares instead of with

you."

That was pretty high praise, but it seemed like Rit genuinely doubted

the possibility. Honestly, even I was a bit worried about how my

sister was doing, but…

"Well, Ruti is far stronger than me now. I don't know where the

Hero's party is, but apparently, they defeated the heavenly king of

the wind, so they're probably getting along fine."

"…That's true! We're out here in Zoltan, so even if we got worried

about things, there's not much we could do about it," Rit said as she

took my arm, as if trying to take my mind off the trail it was on.

"Let's head back."

"Yeah, let's."

Far removed from the battle that would decide the fate of the world,

we were in an entirely different realm, so distant from the Hero's

party.