CHAPTER 31

TROUBLED YOUNG MAN

I think Argent-san is not who I thought he was.

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Since I met Argent-san, things improved for me. I no longer feel the same fear and insecurity that I tried to hide from Rad-san and the others. Now I can talk to people, through Argent-san of course.

That puts me in a somewhat awkward dependency situation, but instead of seeing it as a problem I saw it as a relief to my desperate situation. Of course, that's only if I can count on Argent-san.

I think things started to get weird the day Argent-san sent me to a lonely cabin on the outskirts of town. According to him, he had just obtained it so that I could live in it, and it's not that I don't appreciate it, but the place was somewhat isolated and in my situation I am very uncomfortable being alone. Argent-san also thought about that and made sure his assistant watched for me most of the time. A girl named Zera-san.

Occasionally a mister from the academy was going to leave some things in the cabin, but almost all the time there was only Zera-san and me. Of course, I had to train following the instructions Argent-san translated for me. During training, Zera-san prepared food for me and gave me water and even a towel to dry my sweat, it felt like she was the manager of my sports club or something. The truth being said, not being able to talk is very annoying.

"Argent-san, can we talk?"

"Sure. In fact, I had things to tell you".

"Well, how I say this ... Eto, about this cabin ..."

"I'm sorry if I didn't pay attention to you these days, I was busy with some things. We prepared to travel, you don't need to be alone in the cabin anymore".

"I-I see ... By traveling do you mean us?"

"Do not worry, Rad, Andreu and Khaden will also come, in addition to them we may have a girl accompanying us, although I still don't confirm it. In two days we will leave, by then I will know if she comes with us".

"I-Is that it? I understand".

"I hope you can endure another couple of days on your own. The others will stay with you, but I will be busy these two days".

"I understand, don't worry. The sign system you prepared for me and Rad-san works to convey simple things, we can be fine for a couple of days".

"Great. Then we'll see each other before we go".

Since I started training with Rad-san and the others I have improved a lot. The truth is that before I didn't even know how to hold a sword, I only imitated postures that I had seen in games or in fantasy programs. Now I can have practice fights, from time to time I feel the sword and my body very light, as if they weighed nothing and that makes me think the training works.

For the past two days, I was immersed in training. Since Rad-san and the others were free, they were with me all the time, training or resting.

At that time it was that we met to receive Argent-san, who was returning to arrange everything for our trip. Curiously, he was accompanied by someone, a girl of good figure wearing an overcoat ... Woah! She really is pretty, and she looks shy, the more we look at her, the more she hides behind Argent-san. So Argent-san had a girlfriend, that is a surprise, although it explains why I haven't seen him much lately.

Wait ... Is that the girl he talked about before?

"************ ¡Argent!"

With concern I could see Zera-san beg Argent-san. I can't say I know why, but I suspect she asked him to let her come with us. It seems that the answer was a yes, because her face lit up in an instant ... It's a relief, although for some reason it also bothers me.

Apparently Zera-san was so desperate to make her request to Argent-san that she didn't even notice the girl who came with him. When she noticed her presence, the smile froze on her face and began to grimace.

Don't worry Zera-san, we all grow at different rates!

...

Finally we departed, leaving the mountain behind. For some reason no matter how much I walk or exercise, I don't run out of breath. I can feel the exhaustion, but I always feel that I can move on if I try, it's probably due to my stats. Argent-san praised me for it and mentioned how jealous he was, he needed to rest every few hours, so he said I could take advantage of the times we stopped to train.

Even if he says he needs to rest, even so, he spends the time recovering from physical fatigue in reading, I don't know if I could do the same thing if it was me.

"Don't be surprised, but a group of people surround us, I think they escaped from a group of bandits, or they could be the bandits themselves, don't let your guard down".

As if his words were prophetic, a dozen people appeared from among the trees, bushes or rocks. They were very well hidden and still couldn't hide from Argent-san. The smart ones are something else.

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I don't know what they talked about, but the men knelt, pleading. In the end some were crying with joy, apparently they will travel with us from now on.

"In their conditions, they could starve if we left them or an animal could attack them. That they are many doesn't mean that they know how to take care of themselves, so they will accompany us, you don't need to worry much about them".

"Is that it? I understand, they will accompany us to the next city then".

"For now, although if we treat them too well, they may want to continue traveling with us, they are people without ties".

"Well, I guess it will be harder to feel lonely".

"Speaking of which, I only have three camping tents, so they will have to sleep outdoors. I don't want to be mean, but I can't deprive ours to give to them".

"I understand, it's reasonable".

"And about that. Ren and I will share a tent, she is not comfortable with anyone else, and I wouldn't feel well forcing her to sleep with one of the other men".

"Eh? And what about Zera-san?"

"About Zera, he will share a tent with you, Rad and the other two will keep the last one".

"EH !? But I can't sleep with a girl!"

"That's why I said Ren will stay with me, didn't you hear?"

"I'm not talking about her, but about Zera-san. I haven't really put my feelings in order, I don't know if it's a good idea to share a tent ..."

"... Well. I won't criticize your tastes, everyone to their own, although I don't know if the culture here accepts those things".

"Argent-san may be older than he seems, but I was a 17-year-old student, the age difference with Zera-san should not be more than 2 or 3 years".

"No no, I didn't mean age. I mean you are men".

"....¿Eh?"

"Moment, didn't you know? Zera is a man. Maybe he doesn't have the looks because of his poorly developed physique and the looseness of the capes of academics, but when I met him he wore the male uniform, I'm sure of it".

"W-But ..."

"Don't be fooled by his little masculine features, weirder things have been seen, not to mention that this is another world".

"..."

Argent-san's words were a shock to me. Is Zera-san really a man? It's not as if Argent-san had any reason to lie and it is true that Zera-san does not have breasts, although because of her size I thought that she was simply not very developed yet ...

When you put Zera-san next to Ren-san, you see a noticeable difference in their figures, even with all the clothes they are wearing ...

I guess I just have to accept as true the words of Argent-san. Although I am quite confused, I had heard of androgynous people, but I never thought it was really possible to confuse a man for a woman unless they were children.

Even though I said all that to myself, when we slept in the same tent, I couldn't help feeling nervous. Argent-san's words kept circulating in my head, but seeing Zera-san sleep in the same tent ... I can't calm down. What confuses me the most is that he placed some bags in the middle of the tent to separate his side from mine.

Fuck. If you're a man, don't behave like a girl! ... Even if I could talk, I don't think I could say that to they face.

After a few days of traveling, repeating the same situation every night, I began to recover the feeling of authentic tiredness that I had almost forgotten.

I really need to sleep peacefully one night.

The opportunity could come sooner than I thought, since we arrived in a city. According to Argent-san, the place is called Garush, a commercial city on the border of Jagheb kingdom. Apparently we came here to buy things and do business. Normal for a merchant like Argent-san.

The important thing is that this will give us the chance to rest in real beds, even take a good bath. Personally I think I start to smell too much of sweat because of so much training and just wiping myself with a damp cloth.

Argent-san took us to public toilets where we could finally take a real bath, although he also said that he would continue doing business until late and that he would take a bath later. Well, he doesn't need a bath as much as we do, the truth is that he doesn't smell like anything, which surprises me, even if he didn't train, he walked as much as we did on the trip.

Now that I think about it, the only ones that don't smell bad are Argent-san, Zera-san and Ren-san. People who didn't do training, so it is because of that?

Is it perhaps due to the strong smell of sweat from us, that we cannot feel their scent?

After telling me to simply stay with Rad-san, Argent-san left, accompanied by Ren-san ... I see, he wanted to walk around the city with her alone, a date.

Well, all I have to do is follow others to the bathroom and I can finally relax ... Or not. Doesn't this mean that Zera-san will bathe with us? I don't know if my heart can bear this, it was already extremely uncomfortable to share a tent.

Although I did not suffer from such a problem, since Zera-san went to a different bathroom when we entered ... Eh?

When I tried to see where they was going, Rad-san put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me, then I saw some women go in the same direction ... The women's restroom ...

Zera-san was a girl all the time !!!

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Why would he lie?

I don't understand why, but he lied about Zera-san. After all, it was impossible for someone like him not to know that Zera-san was a girl.

Could it be a joke? I have a hard time believing it, in the time I have known Argent-san, he had never shown himself as someone that makes jokes, even more the kind that could generate misunderstandings.

Suddenly, I realized that until now I had taken every word out of his mouth as an absolute truth. However, as much as I try to find a logic for such a strange lie, I cannot find any kind of malice or motive that could be hide behind it.

After all, what could Argent-san gain by hiding that Zera-san was a woman ...? There really is nothing I can think of that is beneficial to Argent-san or harmful to me in such a lie. Not apart from the joke, which still doesn't seem like a possibility.

Then I thought about it, and how about ...? He really didn't know that Zera-san was a girl? ...

My thoughts stopped when I saw Argent-san enter through the door of the inn carrying a child.

"Albert!"

It was little Albert, I couldn't believe it. The child of the town of Rad-san and the others, is alive!

"What happened?"

"I found him on the streets, exhausted and asking for help".

"Albert, wake up!"

"Do you know him?"

"He is the boy I played with in the town of Rad-san, I thought he had died when the town was attacked".

"... I see. Then I was right, the people of Galatea were brought to this city to be sold as slaves".

"Eh?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to give you false hopes, but we have come to rescue the people of Galatea. We suspect that the majority were not killed, but taken to be sold as slaves, and as this commercial city is the closest place in which large quantities of products and money are handled, was the most likely place for them to be taken to".

"So ... The trip, all the time the trip was ..."

"To save them, for the same reason we have stopped whenever we could to train you, since this is a dangerous place, for sure we need all the strength we can get, and you have monstrous stats. I regret putting such a burden on you, but it's the only way".

"No ... It's just what I wanted".

"If so, I need to ask you to accompany me, I may need your strength".

"I would never let you go without accompanying you if that's the case".

"Then let's go, we will leave Albert with the rest to recover".

So that's it. All this time, Argent-san's every action has been to help me and others. He has been helping me unconditionally since the moment we met. However, although I have no doubt about the integrity of Argent-san, I realized one thing.

Even someone as smart as Argent-san can end up being a true clueless ... He truly believes that Zera-san is a boy ...