And thus, Miika become my first ally.

With his strength, I should be able to hunt monsters easier than before and have a better lifestyle as a result.

.... yeah, there was a time where I naively thought that everything will go according to my plan.

".... don't wanna."

Miika, the boy whom I named earlier today, refused to finish his dinner.

After we decided to work together, I thought that it might be better for us to eat dinner first since both of us never had the chance to eat lunch today. I wanted to treat Ean and the other goblin kid but they said that they needs to go back to their village already so it's a dinner for two of us.

I ordered two cheapest meal sets on the same diner where I had dinner before together with Sylphie and Ekirschteria.

We sat on a wooden table and chairs after we ordered the meals. Few minutes later, the waiteress with cat ears and tail placed our meal sets on our table.

At first, he did not seem to complain and quietly ate the meal set consisting of 1 slice of ham and salads. So I just focused on finishing my meal.

But when I finished my meal, I noticed that he eat everything except the ham.

When I asked him why he left it there. He said...

"I... don't like meat."

When we were waiting for our meals, he told me that he usually eat bread or leftover bones. This guy is so picky for someone who usually eat meals worse than this!

Now I'm trying my best convincing him to finish his meal.

"You won't have energy if you don't eat meat. It's just this one slice anyway. Just eat it."

"No."

Instant reply.

Damn it, this brat.... he reminds me of the child of my coworker.

I once visited a coworker of mine because she invited me for a dinner in her house as thanks of helping her avoiding overtime.

She has a daughter and her husband was doing job overseas. So it's a dinner for only three of us. Apparently, her daughter disliked carrots so my coworker did something to make her eat the carrots.

Remembering my coworker's method, I stand up and walk over towards Miika's right side.

I slowly cut the ham into 6 pieces while he seems confused at what I am doing.

I use the fork to stab the ham piece and raise it towards Miika's mouth.

"I'm going to feed you. So open your mouth."

"..... *look away*"

Miika moves his head to the left to avoid the ham.

Annoyed, I strongly grab his cheeks from below using my left hand and apply force to it so that he open his mouth.

"ALRIGHT. SAY AAAAH!"

"AAAAAAAH!*painful tone*"

The result is not as planned but I managed to make him eat it regardless.

But that is not the end of my troubles.

.....

....

...

"Just enter the damn bath already!"

I am pushing Miika to the bathroom which usually cost 1 silver coin per hour. But he is holding the wall preventing me from pushing him in.

"N- no! This is too strange no matter how you look at it!"

"What is so strange about it! I went as far as buying new clothes for you. Of course you will wear them after you cleanse your body!"

"T- there is no need for us to bath together, is there?!

"I don't want to pay extra silver coin when we can just use 1 room together for 1 hour!"

"I'm fine with just wiping my body so you can take the bath alone!"

"Hell no! You stink! There is no way you can get rid of that smell with just wiping your body! I can't sleep in the same room as you if you smell like that!"

"There is no need for us to sleep in the same-"

"NO MORE BACK TALK!"

He is physically stronger than me so I kick his left foot. It causes him to lose balance and fall into the bathroom.

*thud!*

"Ow!"

I use this chance to force him to undress.

*snap!*

"... ooops."

I do not intend to use that much force but it seems that his clothes is so brittle that I accidentally tore it off and saw his back which is full of scars.

...well, it's not surprising anymore at at this point.

I will not let him wear this dirty clothes again so might as well just rip it all the way.

*snap! Snap!*

"Wait!? Shion!?"

After undressing him in a forceful manner, I help him washing his body. It can be hard for him to take a bath with only one arm after all.

After I finished washing him, I let him go into the bath tube first. Then I wash my body next.

... wait, I wonder if it's okay for him to take a bath together with a girl?

... well, he's just a kid anyway. And he won't take a bath if I did not force him so this is just fine.

I enjoy my bath hoping that he won't give me anymore problem for the rest of the day.

.....

....

...

Yeah, I hoped. But I won't expect it to come true.

He sits at the corner of my room right after we entered the room.

"... what are you doing?"

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"I will sleep here."

"... look. Even if Panthos usually let you sleep there-"

"Mas-... I meant, he usually let me sleep in the barn."

"Not the point. I explained this to you before but I need you to rest well so that you are at your most optimal condition tomorrow."

"Opti... mal?"

"I meant that you will be at your best condition tomorrow."

"Then it's no problem. I can sleep here without disturbing you too much and still be able to work hard tomorrow."

Damn it this brat... why does it feel like he's more obedient towards that Panthos guy rather than me...

If it comes to this...

I start lying on the floor of my room much to Miika's surprise.

"W- what are you doing?"

"I'm going to sleep here unless you decide to sleep on the bed."

"!? B- but...!"

"If you're not going to obey my words, then I have no obligation to hear your words."

"...!"

He seems really conflicted. But if he somehow still care about my well-being...

"I- I understand! I'll sleep on the bed! So...!"

I get up from the floor after hearing what he said.

"Geez, you should have done that from the start."

There is only 1 bed in my room so we share the bed and the blanket. I am lying on the left side of the bed while he is lying on the opposite side. We are sleeping with our backs facing each other.

Probably because I am so tired that I ended falling asleep quickly today. It was a deep sleep without any dream.

.....

....

...

It is currently almost noon at Antarea's Blacksmith shop.

"Haaah haaah..."

Miika is panting hard while holding a wooden short sword.

We are currently having a spar to see his fighting capability.

We are holding wooden short swords that were borrowed from Antarea. She even let us spar at the backyard of her shop.

"What's wrong? You can't kill any monster if you can't even land a hit on me."

"Ugh..."

Ever since the spar starts, all he did is charging straight at me like an idiot. That's why it's easy to read his movements.

But still... I should have made him fall about 20 times today. That is some scary stamina he has.

He has so many bruises too. It seems like he can withstand pain more than what I expected.

Meanwhile, my stamina is reaching its limit.

Guess it's about time to finish this. To end this spar, I will tell him the mindset of battle that was taught to me by Millson before.

"Listen. There are 4 things that you must do properly in battle. FIRST!"

I rush and raise my short sword at the same time.

"YOU NEED TO-!"

Then swing it downwards towards Miika.

"!"

*bam!*

Miika parries my slash attack so both wooden short swords clashed against each other. However...

"LOOK PROPERLY!"

*bump!*

"gah!?"

I kick him in the stomach knowing that he would parry my slash attack.

"Second. You need to-"

Miika lose focus due to the pain. He quickly regain his focus by looking forward but when he does, I am no longer in front of him.

"SEARCH PROPERLY!"

I am already behind him and hit his head with wooden short sword.

"!!"

He immediately look behind to find me.

"Third. You need to-"

He tried to use horizontal slash attack against me.

"STUDY PROPERLY!"

But I smack his hand instead, causing him to drop his wooden short sword.

"Fourth. You need to-"

Then he try to pick the sword but before he does that, I already swing my short sword at his neck.

Only to stop before my short sword hits his neck causing him to stop moving out of shock.

"THINK PROPERLY."

"..."

He is still dumbfounded by what just happened. I continue my lecture regardless.

"If you look properly, you will have more chance to parry all your opponent's attacks. If you search properly, you won't easily lose your target and get attacked from blind spot. If you study properly, you will be able to read enemy's movement pattern. Lastly, if you think properly, you will be able to make a plan on how to defeat your opponent. Understand?"

"Y- yes..."

"Remember, we are weak. That's why our power alone is not enough to defeat our opponents. However, if you remember and apply those 4 things to real battle, we will have a much higher chance to overcome almost any foes rather than charging at them blindly. Got it?"

"... yes..."

"Good. Now drink water and rest."

I pull my short sword away from his neck. I'm also really tired myself but I try my best to not show it to him.

"Finished training already?"

I look at the source and see Antarea, the female dark elf blacksmith, coming out from her store's backdoor.

"Antarea-san, thanks again for lending us this space to spar."

"You're welcome. By the way, about the modification you asked for that Emeraldian blade..."

"Think you can do it?"

Antarea then scratched the back of her head before talking again.

"It's possible to change the magic formula and weapon design into your requested design. However... I am still not convinced that your magic formula will work... are you sure about this?"

"The only way to know that answer is only by trial and error at this point. I'll still pay you if it fails so don't worry."

"Even if you say that.... what's the problem with the old design anyway?"

Ah, I guess I haven't told her the reason why I want to modify that weapon.

"Firstly, I only learn on how to use one-handed sword. Learning on how to use spear now will take too much time since I still need to hunt monster for daily income."

"I know. That's why you want to use it as a sword. Because it has the longer reach and weight lighter than short swords. What I'm asking is about that magic formula."

"I don't want to burden that green blade too much. It will eventually get melted if I use Plasma Sabre magic using it as the vessel."

"The vessel weapon being melted by the heat is the usual drawback of Sabre magic though... well, I'll try my best but don't hope too much. Most likely I will be able to finish it by tomorrow morning."

"Thank you."

I nod to express my thanks.

At the afternoon, I wanted to go to a magic shop to teach him the basics of magic. I can just teach him verbally but in order for him to use magic, I need that shop's help.

Magic shop is a place where you can pay so that the shopkeeper can teach you magic or sell you various magical items that Pepprica's store does not have. In addition, magic shop has free service of measuring people's Astral Level.

But when I go to that magic shop, it is still closed. It has been closed for 4 days straight. I wonder what happened...

It is the only magic shop in this town. And I already met the shopkeeper before.

I guess I have no choice but to go to Pepprica's item shop to teach Miika about potions and alchemy instead.

.....

....

...

At the night of the same day, we are already lying on the same bed.

"Miika, are you still awake?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask some questions?"

"? I don't mind..."

I turn my body facing Miika's back.

"Why are you being so disobedient?"

"... it's not my intention to be dis-"

"You sure were. What are you saying after all the trouble you have given me."

"..."

He becomes quiet again after I cut his sentence. Then I ask further questions to confirm something.

"Do you hate me?"

"Eh?"

"Because I killed your master."

"!? That's not it!"

Miika gets up and look at me right after he said that.

Then he becomes surprised knowing that I'm currently looking at him.

He looks away as if he wants to think about what to say. Then after around 20 seconds, he looks at me and finally starts talking.

"No matter how much I think about it. It is my fault that my master lost his life. Also, if Shion did not come, I would have..."

"Then why?"

"... because it's too weird..."

"Huh?"

"I was treated differently from before."

"Of course, I am not Panthos."

"But I thought that's the normal way to treat slave..."

"Have you forgotten? You are no longer a slave."

I pointed at his neck which does not have the black collar tattoo anymore.

"I know... but it still does not feel real... so..."

"... is it that weird for me to treat you that way?"

"Yes, it's weird... I did not anything to deserve that and I'm not even that useful... so why?"

... looks like I need to explain it to him huh. I look at the ceiling while thinking about what to say.

"Because I hate males."

"Huh?"

Miika is a bit surprised by my statement.

"To be more precise, it's their senseless atrocities that they did."

"..."

It seems that Miika decides to listen to what I'm saying first. While looking at the ceiling, I continue speaking while remembering my problems with men.

"Panthos' action angered me more than anything else at that time. Not only that, your attitude also angered me too."

"M- me?"

Miika becomes dumbfounded by my statement. I immediately reply afterwards.

"Looking at you just makes me remember how powerless I am. Not only that, why won't you fight back? Looking at your spineless attitude makes me hates men for different reason."

"... that's-"

I cut his sentence and proceed to finish my talk.

"Regardless of your reason, my action is decided. I'll teach you to not accept unreasonable behaviours from other people. That is..."

I turn my back to sleep before continuing my sentence.

"Why I saved you."

And also my own way to reinforce my own resolve. My resolve to stay strong no matter what happens.

I quickly fall asleep after saying that. I must be really tired...

_______________________________________

*Interlude*

After Shion fell asleep, Miika begins to ponder about Shion's words.

"Looking at you just makes me remember how powerless I am."

In Miika's eyes, Shion is basically a strong independent girl despite being a kid similar to him. That thought is planted inside his mind the moment he saw Shion defeating Panthos.

He wants to repay his debt towards Shion. But after seeing their difference in abilities, it feels like he will only become a burden to her. Miika would rather leave her rather being a burden to her.

But what if her words are true?

The fact that she is actually weak.

It won't make sense that Shion treat him well if he would just become a burden for her in the future. His mind does not know much about human emotions so he always think that people is kind towards others because they want something in return.

(Shion... needs me...?)

As he wishfully thinks that, the mysterious feeling swells up within his chest again.

It's the same mysterious feeling that he always get after being thanked by people. But this time, it is much stronger than before.

He wants to feel more of that feeling. And at the same time, he wants to repay Shion.

He always thought himself as an inexperienced, powerless and stupid kid. However, if Shion really needs help from him regardless of his capability, he will try his hardest to answer her expectation.

After the renewal of his resolve, he looks at the moon outside of the inn thinking on what he should do to help Shion.

*End of interlude*

_______________________________________