Chapter 15

-Earlier ??? POV

Muh, I'm bored and I'm out of sweets. What should I do?

Hmm wait a minute, didn't someone develop a-a-a whatever that is that can make a sort of space loop.

-Later

...Now with this it's done along with the perception inhibition which someone left the spellbook manual lying around it'll make this hallway extremely long and I also installed a trap on the doors, now all I need to do is wait... WHY ISN'T ANYONE HERE YET!!!

All of this waiting is making me sleepy I guess that I'll take...a na...p f...irst...zzz

-Present

"...UUU!!!"

"Mmm"[???] 'Noisy'

"M..UUUU!!!"

"Nn."[???] tickmarks started to appear on the head

"MOTOYASUUUU!!!"

"SHUT UP!! CAN'T YOU LET A PERSON TAKE A NAP!!" ??? yelled as she opened the sliding door so fast that it made a "BANG!!" sound

-Present (Heroes POV)

We turned around to see the one who yelled and saw a little girl with blond hair, red pupils, wearing a kimono with yellow being most of its color, honestly she looks cute like an angered puppy. However the 2 horns on her forehead tells that she is not human, this fact is supported by the palms of her hand and feet that are red and have sharp looking claws.

The party looked at her for a good minute or two before responding and prepared themselves for battle, but the 'oni?' simply stood there looking at the entire party(including the mansion's 'geisha?') before stopping at Motoyasu's unmoving body, after that she looked at the activated trap before laughing loudly while saying "PFF-AHAHAHAHA someone actually, someone actually died from that trap? HAHAHAHA my stomach my stomach hurts because of how weak you are." She covers her stomach while tears well up in her eye when saying the second part, unseen to everyone but the oni Motoyasu's soul that was about to ascend suddenly staggered and falling a little with an imaginary arrow with 'weak' written on it.

The little yellow oni after noticing the 'spirit' being stabbed, continued saying while laughing with tears still falling and holding her stomach "And what the hell is that puff-ahahahaha seriously handsomized potrait of him, its a million no a billion times better." Motoyasu's soul staggered again while lowering itself and letting out an audible "Guh!" attracting everyone's attention while an imaginary arrow with 'ugly' written stabbed him.

After seemingly recieving a revelation the oni stopped laughing and put one of her clenched hand on her palm manking a 'pomf' sound after that saying with an evil smirk "And what's with that pretentious smile? I can do better than that like this." After saying that her face suddenly became like a certain number 1 hero and symbol of peace while an illusory sound reached the other's ears saying "It's alright, why you ask? Because I am here."

And the final arrow with 'pretentious' stabbed Motoyasu's soul making him totally dispirited and lowering himself to his body. In the attentive gaze of the party he silently sat up and before anyone said or do anything he sat on a corner and using one of his fingers to draw a circle while a depressing aura emanated from him, making the party petrify while the thought 'Is this really Motoyasu? The always confident Motoyasu who never listens to anyone?' . The oni seemingly the only one out of place only asked one thing "When will the mushroom sprout?"

Her question instantly made the party stumble and Motoyasu instantly went from gloomy into dark depressing. Motoyasu's party are did either of the 2 things in response of this situation, either trying to cheer up Motoyasu or antagonizing the oni (which is lead by a certain red haired girl). While the. other heroes and their party... the other members of the party... just kept being petrified while trying to process what just happen.

After about a minute the party woke up from their daze and tried to cheer up Motoyasu but the result is unsatisfactory as he continues to have a dark cloud above his head.

And after another 5 minute of walking the yellow oni finally remembered the trap she placed as a prank and removed it, which somehow made the heroes more depressed because of their Incapability to see that they were trapped. But thinking clearly they have walked a distance that should've made them in the middle of the mansion, however when they looked back they could still see the entrance.

Around 2 minutes later they were brought to an open space where the 'geisha' took out wooden versions of our weapon (except for Itsuki, in his case it's panels with an archery score template)

"Alright, now you will show me your foundations on fighting so get ready!" The 'geisha' said after placing the objects.

"" Foundations? "" Itsuki and Ren echoed, while Motoyasu was unresponsive because of his depression.

"In other words you're going to show me how you fight." She answered to our doubts, however Malty and the other members of the hero's party was giving her the stink eye which made her continue "Did you think that this mansion's master will meet with everyone that comes here, the criteria to meet them is to have a 'decent' amount of skill. And while I normally would have used a rack of weapons to test the applicants but since you heroes can only use you weapons which leaves me with the option of sparring, while the bow hero is to shoot panels to be able to show your form on using a bow." She explains meticulously

The 3 heroes upon hearing the explanation became excited rather than angry because of their belief that this is truly a 'hidden quest' so they took the challenge with high spirits (including Motoyasu who's revived from his slump)

However despite their high motivation the results were... less than stellar. After seeing the heroes fighting style the geisha couldn't resist sighing and shaking her head while the yellow oni criticized with few to none inhibitions such as

"Hey blackie are you swinging a sword or a vine? Why is it so shaky? And hold onto your sword properly would you?"

"Hey lancer! How the hell you don't know anything about stab, parry, and sweep? Those 3 are literally the basics of the spear?!" Motoyasu slipped during her 'comment' and was knocked out with a sweep by the butt of the wooden spear, and oddly enough a white aura was rising from Motoyasu.

"How come you don't even know how to stand properly when aiming a bow??? How you managed not to break any bones is beyond me not to mention hitting any target." She threw that 'comment' out before sighing and while saying I'm bored she went back in the mansion(Malty was busy attending Motoyasu's wounds so she couldn't retort)

The 'geisha' woke them up and informed them politely that they were "unfortunately unable to reach the standards that the master has placed, and it is recommended for them to train from the basics again"

While the heroes did want to retort but since they were defeated overwhelmingly by a 'geisha'/maid with 'weapons' that were literally no better than a branch besides of durability (they inspected everything before the sparring started in order to keep it fair as per a certain redhead's advice)

Malty would've retorted if not for the fact that the heroes have been defeated so overwhelmingly and that there's no ally for her in this case.

After rejecting an offer for dinner out of shame the heroes left the mansion with heads hung down and gloomy clouds around them, after the mansion was no longer in sight Itsuki angrily said "What 'techniques', what 'proficiency' we're the heroes we don't need any of that all we need are levels, equipment and unique skills why would we need to go learn from the basics?!" The last part was almost a yell because of his enthusiasm

"That's right, what no skills allowed in a match? they must've cheated otherwise they wouldn't win!" Motoyasu energetically followed up.

Ren despite being silent was agreeing with the both of them with his eyes. After returning to the village they immediately set of to the capital while cursing the mansion and their 'test' along the way.

-Mansion after the heroes left (??? POV)

A mysterious person was holding a crystal ball and inside the ball were the figures of Itsuki grumbling about how useless the test was, Motoyasu who was grumbling about how unfair the match was, and the silent Ren who was agreeing with them.

After a while the person sighed and put the ball away before turning to face the 'geisha' from before, however there was a large difference compared from before that being the wrathful look on her face that was about to morph into a demon along with the black aura.

Sighing once more the person walked closer to the geisha, however she didn't realize because of her anger, while getting closer the figure heard the geisha grumbled under her breath "How dare they claim the test was useless next time I meet them I'll show them a 'harmful' test then!" and curses.

The person stood right in front of the geisha while the latter was busy in her anger and stretched out their right hand. The geisha who's planning for the next meeting she would have with the heroes suddenly blanked because of the action the person took.

The geisha trembled as she looked in front of her as she looked a kind smile on the person, the person said "Thank you for listening to my request to be the one to greet them, and I'm sorry about the trouble that they caused. Could I make it up to you somehow Amane?"

The geisha, no Amane suddenly sprang up and hugged the person, while doing a well done bear hug she exclaimed "There's no need for your thanks I'm just doing as I should Gudako-sama rather than thank me you should be punishing me for ignoring your presence because of some ignorant fleas." The mysterious master's identity has been revealed it was Gudako who has left the capital, why was Gudako here?

She had been traveling for a week and somehow gotten loyalist/fans/admirers who're willing to die without a single thought, one of them being Amane a nameless orphan left to die in the woods. When Gudako had picked her up in the rain, during that time she was thin due to malnutrition with scars all around her body as a testament to her struggles. However with Medea's Pain Breaker her body has returned to her pristine state along with her care the previous 'slum trash' has transformed to a stunning beauty.

In her journey she was wondering about the condition of the other 3 heroes(because she needn't worry about Naofumi) so she spread the rumors about a master passing by as bait and acted accordingly in order to reinforce the rumor, when the heroes arrived she had Amane whom she had trained for 2 days test them, while the results could've been better she has given up hope on training them until they understand for themselves.

Speaking of which, Amane should be given a reward "So what would you want as a reward Amane? As long it's something I can grant you can have it." Suddenly Amane shuddered and looked at me with eyes of an excited predator "A reward that I want as long as you can get it?!" She yelled excitedly

My instincts yelled at me for waking the beast however I still nodded to her 'question?' then she yelled with greater volume "Then please allow me to bath alongside you Gudako-sama." Her voice spread to the entire mansion making everyone pause while 1 thought popped up in my mind 'Damn it', as the mansion was instantly filled with yells of protest and indignity a few of them were "Not fair I also want that!", " Please allow me to accompany you! I want to lick the water that's been used by Gudako-sama", etc.

A creeping cold suddenly swept my shoulder, feeling this somewhat familiar aura I turned to see Mash with a smile that's cold and doesn't reach her eyes she said "Ara-ara senpai you sure are well loved aren't you?"

"N-no Mash listen to me" as I desperately try to defuse the situation, Amane clung to me while saying "Gudako-sama my reward is a private bathing time between the 2 of us right?"

Instantly a crack appeared on Mash's face, but before she could say anything the door bursts open as yells such as "I CANNOT ALLOW THAT, PRAETOR IS MINE!", "I AM GOSHUJIN-SAMA WIFE AND NOT EVEN I HAVE BATHED TOGETHER PRIVATELY.", " DARLING WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?!" as I instantly yelled in despair "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!"