Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Lilia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 28 – Letting Them Eat
After procuring eggs and meat, Kuyumi and I proceeded onwards. The next ingredient was fish.
It wasn’t like I was trying to make a full course, but since there was meat, fish should be there as well.
“Somehow…… it feels calming~♡”
“Spending time like this isn’t so bad, right?”
“Yes, yes♡”
Kuyumi and I were sitting side by side on a rocky riverbank deep in the mountains. Our fishing rods were set up in a mountain stream with what I could only describe as a mysterious aura.
Since the ingredient this time didn’t have a clear consciousness, like Rabbit-san did, we could relax and wait for it to bite the bait.
If I had more time, I would have gone out to sea.
One of the seven highest ranking ingredients, the great king of grooved razorfish, had the finest, flakiest meat hiding behind its sturdy scales.
It would have been the best fish if not for the fact that its scales were so hard, only a powerful weapon like the Hero’s Sword could kill it. The vice principal was very happy when I caught and served it before.
I decided not to hunt it this time, but I would like the three girls to feast on it someday.
“Where else are we going?”
“Today, we’ll be returning to the capital and storing the ingredients in a warehouse that will keep them fresh. Then we will rest until night, and travel until the sun rises.”
“Wah, that’s a schedule based on sensei’s movement speed♡”
On the way here, I ended up running while holding Kuyumi in a princess carry.
It had been a long time since I did it, but as I thought, it was definitely bad for my heart.
Wasn’t it weird that the only moments in my life that I was the closest to someone of the opposite sex was when I was running around?
“We’ll be returning to school tomorrow, right?”
“Aah, I have to go back at noon and prepare the food, after all.”
When it came to the seasonal vegetables, we mostly relied on the vice principal’s vegetable garden behind the school building.
That said, I did need some other things, so I planned to purchase them at the royal capital.
“Then we’re just waiting for the fish now, right? We have nothing to do, so tell me something interesting♡”
“The hardest request came…”
It brought up a memory from the past.
When that Aias bastard had a blind date, Cadenta and I joined in to crash the party, and I was hit by a similar phrase back then.
What did I say back then… err.
“Then, I’ll tell you about the time when I fought a group of cursed pain dragons before I entered the adventurer school.”
“When I asked for something interesting, I didn’t mean an adventure story, though♡”
I was immediately shut down.
That was weird. Last time, both Cadenta and Aias played along.
“Rather, weren’t those dragons supposed to be an extinct species~?”
“It was originally a hostile race that was modified from primal wyverns so demons could reproduce by themselves. I drove them to extinction as part of my graduation project.”
“…………………………”
Kuyumi was──clearly looked disgusted.
Ah~ no, I guess this wasn’t an interesting story, but just boasting, maybe?
No good. Even though Aias told me that the person who bragged during blind dates would definitely not be popular, I ended up doing it.
“It seems there’s nothing that you can’t beat, sensei~……”
She said it timidly as if feeling horror from the bottom of her heart.
Hearing that, I crossed my arms and groaned.
“U~hn.”
“Eh?”
Something I couldn’t beat, huh?
It was quite a difficult topic.
“If it’s something I wouldn’t lose to yet couldn’t win against, there are quite a number of them, though……”
“Eh, something like that exists for sensei…?”
Greater demons fell into that category, since they had a stock of souls that would allow them to revive after being killed.
Fortunately, they couldn’t quickly accumulate more souls, so if I kept hunting and killing them before they could replenish their stock, they would eventually die for good.
“I’m not invincible, after all.”
“Fu~hn, I see~♡”
Kuyumi often felt relieved when I showed my weakness.
You’re not trying to assassinate me, right? Was it really okay to keep telling her all of this?
“Then if Kuyumi-chan grows stronger, will she eventually reach sensei’s level?”
“Maybe.”
“In that case, Kuyumi-chan will get better at killing people♡”
W-What were you saying? Killing people?
“As expected, I can’t teach you that kind of thing.”
“Eeh~, Kuyumi-chan wants to become better at killing people, so why wouldn’t you help? Aren’t you a teacher? And besides, it’s still a skill to slay enemies, right?”
After I rejected her, Kuyumi’s expression darkened a little.
It seemed she was aware that her question was too mean.
However, I think it was a good thing that she, who usually showed a clever side, would let loose and blurt things out like that. I mean, she said it honestly.
I guess things could change depending on the mood.
“Err, well, I guess it can’t be helped ♡ it’s a natural reaction after all, ahaha ♡”
“……Just labeling things as ‘natural’ doesn’t explain them.”
I scrutinized the words in my head that I wanted to say.
It was easy to lump everything together beautifully, but that couldn’t be considered teaching.
“I don’t want you to stop thinking that because I’m an adult and a teacher, it’s my duty to just help children become whatever they want to be. I mean, I do want to help make your dreams come true, but…”
It was easy to comfort students if that was what they wanted.
But I believed that wasn’t good enough.
“I think… that when students aim for a goal, they might not know all the options they have yet. It’s dangerous to let them recklessly chase their goals like that. There might be students that do only what they thought was natural, but end up running off the edge of a cliff.”
“…………”
“That’s why, as a teacher, I won’t just make dreams come true, but also search together with my students for a goal they can proudly declare and follow until the end. That’s when I’ll teach them everything I can.”
It wasn’t like I studied to become a teacher, but that was how I honestly felt now.
I hope the time Erin’s group spent here with me could be useful for their lives after the events of the sequel were concluded.
They might have to fulfill the role they were given…
But after that, I think it would be okay for them to live as they liked.
“……You see, sensei.”
“Hm?”
As I scratched my cheek, wondering if my words were too stiff, Kuyumi was smiling at me.
It wasn’t her usual mischievous smile to make fun of me, but a really soft and innocent smile.
Seeing that smile, set against the warm light shining through the gaps in the trees, I was completely captivated.
“……Your fishing rod is pulling ♡”
“Eh? Ah ah, hey, you should have said that earlier?!”
Now that she mentioned it, the fishing rod was really flailing around wildly.
As I panicked and desperately fought with the fish, Kuyumi burst out laughing.
◇
The fishing expedition was a great success.
I was able to catch a lot more fish than I planned.
Once we returned to the royal capital, we handed over today’s harvest to the vendor who would preserve its freshness.
The vendor was taken aback as they saw the items I entrusted to them.
“Are they for a party or something…?”
“I feel like I have seen that customer somewhere before…”
Since they were getting suspicious, I just told them I would be picking it up tomorrow morning and quickly left.
Then we went to the inn, booked two rooms, and I parted ways with Kuyumi.
We have free time until early morning tomorrow, but I was tired and wanted to go to bed.
“Then, I’ll go sightseeing in the royal capital ♡”
“Be careful. Make sure not to go into dangerous places.”
“I know, I’m just going to visit my acquaintance for the first time in a while♡”
I was thinking whether I should take Kuyumi somewhere, but it seemed she had something to do already.
And so, I went to my room without hesitation and quickly went to bed.
Today was over for me.
Tomorrow would be an early start, so it made sense to go to bed.
“As I thought, spending the evening lazily and sleeping is the best…!”
My heart was excited by this exquisitely excessive time allowed for sleep, which may have carried over from my previous life.
I covered myself with my blanket and safely departed to the world of dreams──
◇
I could hear the voices of those I failed to help.
I could see the faces of those I failed to help.
There was laughter at the other side.
There were demons who sneered at me, saying I couldn’t save the world.
As usual, I swung my sword and evaporated them.
It was a glow that only existed to treat the symptoms of the disease. It was useless compared to a complete cure.
With a single blade that was good for nothing else, I swung my arms over and over.
◇
“Sensei, wake up.”
When I opened my eyes, Kuyumi was looking down at me with empty eyes.
That’s right. I was in a room at the inn. There was no sunlight shining through the window.
“……Good morning, Kuyumi. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.”
She put her hand on my neck.
It seemed like she was checking my pulse.
“……You’re alive.”
“Of course I am.”
How long had she been there? I wondered.
I think my body would react immediately if there was killing intent, but if there wasn’t, I might have been like this for quite some time.
“What’s wrong? Was I noisy in my sleep?”
“No, rather, you didn’t move at all to the point I was worried.”
There was no intonation in her voice.
It was rare, or rather, I never saw Kuyumi like this.
“Do you ever have nightmares, sensei?”
“I do. I often have them.”
Perhaps she was weak in the morning?
Now that I mentioned it, Kuyumi did seem to have low blood pressure.
“Let’s have breakfast.”
“Eh?”
If she had low-blood pressure, then there was nothing better than eating.
Of the fish I caught in the mountain stream, there were still some kept in my bag with some freshness preserving magic casted.
“Let’s go outside.”
“Eh, okay…”
I left the inn room with Kuyumi and headed to the garden in the back.
There was an open space, so I started grilling the fish using fire magic.
A nice scent began to waft through the air, along with a crackling sound.
“Here you go.”
I skewered the grilled fish and handed it over to Kuyumi.
Kuyumi looked at the grilled fish curiously, then took a big bite.
The great thing about this fish was that if it was cooked thoroughly, one could even eat the bones. Of course, the bones would be removed when it was served as sashimi or other dishes.
“It’s delicious…”
After swallowing the fish, Kuyumi muttered softly under her breath.
It was a voice that came out involuntarily.
It wasn’t the cheerful tone that I usually heard, but it was the vulnerable tone of a young girl.
“Meals feel completely different depending on when, with whom, and where you eat them, after all.”
“……That might be true. Hehe, I’m eating it alone together with sensei ♡”
Great, it seemed she was feeling better.
“Kuyumi is getting better thanks to this fish, so you have to be grateful for its life.”
“Is it okay for a [Thief] Job wielder to be grateful for life?”
“You can think of it the same way. You are receiving its life, after all.”
“……Life, huh.”
Kuyumi looked at the half-eaten fish.
“I thought it was something even more worthless~…”
I knew what she meant.
I was sure that among the three… no, including me, Kuyumi was the one who saw the least worth in living.
It wasn’t simply because she didn’t understand.
I guess it was because she had witnessed such a level of hell that this belief had become ingrained in her.
I had no idea about her past, but I was keenly aware she wasn’t the kind of person who would go to an adventurer school.
“Did you still think it has no value?”
“Hm… maybe, but I think it’s not the case.”
After saying that, she lowered her face.
She then glanced at me and smiled.
“Thanks, sensei♡ it was a wonderful field trip.”
“Hey hey, don’t end things on your own. There’s still one last ingredient left.”
“Ahahah, you’re right♡ hey hey, sensei, what are we going to do next?♡”
“We’ll go harvesting dead end rogue apples, which shrivel when exposed to sunlight, but expand endlessly during the night, and liquefy and absorb any living thing that comes close to it, at its maximum size.”
“What is that????”
In the end, Kuyumi and I successfully subjugated… I mean, harvested the dead end rogue apple, and were able to safely return to school on time.
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