By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 33

Chapter 3 Episode 33: Precocious Child

As expected, the tunnel ants deep within this last colony did come out. Including the guards, there were fifteen of them in all. I took down five of them first, leaving Beck’s party with ten ants to slay. That was around double what I thought they could safely deal with, but they somehow managed to kill them all. They got bitten or knocked over a few times, but nobody was seriously injured.

“Anybody need water or healing magic?” I asked.

“No—Wait, yeah, just give me water to wash my wounds. We’ve got drinking water,” Beck said. That was wise of him.

I used magic to fill a stone bowl with water. “Oh, and no need to all use the same water. I can prepare some for all of you.”

“Huh? B-But why not reuse the same water while it’s still clean? Why waste it?” Wist asked.

“You can’t all wash your wounds in the same water because it’ll keep getting dirtier. Even little scrapes can leave some harmful bacteria.”

“What’s bacteria?”

“Oh, just remember it can make you sick.”

“Wist, he’s offering. Just shut up and take the water,” Beck said.

“O-OK then,” Wist replied.

Beck washed his wounds and went to pick up the corpses, then Wist did the same. After the other four took their turns washing their wounds, I called my slimes and limour birds over and put them in my Dimension Home. Then we set off on the road back to town.

“Hey, Ryoma, how’d you get so strong?” Ruth suddenly asked on our way back.

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, I remember that you beat those goblins no problem, and it was the same with these tunnel ants today.”

“They couldn’t even stand up to you,” Finia agreed.

“It would’ve been faster if you killed them all yourself, for sure.”

We all fought the same monsters, so that gave them a sense of just how much stronger I was than them, I guess. I had a whole lifetime of training, so the reason was obvious from my perspective, but it must have been disheartening for them when I looked to be around their age.

“Well, maybe it’s because I had a teacher,” I said. I trained under someone with proper combat techniques. I even lived with him, so I couldn’t get that far away from training. That must have played a big part, so it was a safe answer.

“Did your teacher teach you how to use two swords at once like that?”

“These aren’t just swords, these are katana. And to use two at once, I first had to learn to use one katana with one hand.”

“And doing that’ll make you stronger?” Beck asked, sincerely curious to know.

Just waving around a katana in one hand wasn’t enough. This training was partially meant to improve grip strength and overall muscle strength, but more than that, it was to prepare for a situation where only one hand was usable. Combat always comes with a risk of injury, and there’s always the chance that you’ll have to fight someone in imperfect condition. If your arm were wounded in the middle of a fight and you couldn’t swing your weapon, you would be doomed. Even if you could somewhat use the weapon still, it wouldn’t be that effective on an unharmed opponent. You would inevitably be placed at an overwhelming disadvantage. That’s why I was trained to wield a weapon with one hand. And thanks to that training, I could freely wield one katana in both hands as well. I wasn’t trained for dual-wielding specifically.

Of course, I had to learn some basic skills before I could even begin this training. If I couldn’t even wield one katana with both hands first, using one in one hand would have just been a mess. I thought it would be best for them to first train at a guild or wherever they could receive proper lessons. But I didn’t know for certain if Beck and his friends had a teacher or not. From what it sounded like, they learned the basics from older people in the slums, but those people were often busy, so Beck and friends usually had to train on their own. Seeking lessons from the guild was an option, but they said that their earnings from jobs would be unstable during that time.

“We have to save up money first,” Beck said.

“C-Can I ask something?” Wist requested.

“Sure, what?” I said.

“Wh-What do you think about when you fight? Uh, I was wondering if you get scared,” he asked. Wist had seemed kind of reserved in battle, like he couldn’t be aggressive with his attacks.

From what I saw of their fighting styles, Beck used his agility to keep the enemy in check with his dagger and martial arts moves. Martha supported the team with wood magic, while Ruth and Rumille suppressed enemies with their sword and spear. Finia and Wist had the most physical strength, so they landed the finishing blow with their hammers. It seemed to be a plan they came up with for fighting the tunnel ants, and for that it was fine, but Wist didn’t look proactive about attacking the enemy. It wasn’t just that he was scared, but he seemed too gentle. He wouldn’t use his full strength, so it took him two or three blows to finish off an ant. If he did use his full strength, it would probably only take one. But from what he asked me, it sounded like he was self-aware about this.

“You’re always such a chicken. All you have to do is hit stuff hard, like I always tell you,” Beck said.

“Yeah, but when the enemy’s right in front of me, I just can’t do it,” Wist responded. It didn’t sound like this was the first time they were having this discussion.

“I don’t really think of anything,” I answered.

“What?”

“When I fight, I fight. I just focus on my actions and the actions of my opponent,” I said. By training and improving, you also gain confidence. Maybe telling him this would only make him blame himself for this problem, but I felt no fear when confronting the tunnel ants. “If you want to reach that point, you’ll just have to train and gain more combat experience until you do.”

It was a harmless opinion to have. Maybe someone could have gotten the point across better, but I didn’t have the communication skills to do that. He went out of his way to ask me this question, so I felt bad that I didn’t have a better answer.

“Don’t blame yourself, Ryoma! The adults say the same thing.”

“Hm? What do they say?”

“Oh, not—”

“They say that Wist’s not cut out to be an adventurer,” Beck interjected, making Wist go silent. It sounded like he was right on the money.

“Who says that?” I asked.

“Other kids. We’re not the only kids from the slums that do adventuring work.”

“Anyone can become an adventurer, and it’s easier to find employment if you’ve done some adventuring work in the past.”

“You always have to be careful when you’re from the slums. It’s safer out there when you can call yourself an ex-adventurer.”

“Since it gives you proof that you’ve taken work seriously in the past.”

After Beck, the girls in the party jumped in to comment. Next to them, Wist slumped his shoulders. Ruth seemed to be consoling him, though.

“Do you not get along with these other kids?” I asked Beck.

“Don’t know if I’d say that, but the other kids are good at fighting. They’ve been making more money lately, and they started making fun of people who just take jobs picking herbs. It’s especially bad for Wist since he’s huge and tough, but his personality gets in the way. I tell Wist that he doesn’t have to hesitate all the time. He’s not them, and he doesn’t have to be like them! And besides, they’re not so tough. Not compared to you, anyway,” Beck said. I forgot that kids could have such rocky relationships.

“But if I stay an adventurer for long enough, I might have to kill someone,” Wist cried.

“That’s a long way off for all of us, though!” Beck argued.

“But remember what you told me, Beck?”

“What?!”

“I need to learn to attack better.”

“Stupid! I didn’t mean it the way they mean it,” Beck shouted. He was getting a little too heated.

“Hold on a second,” I said, interrupting before they got too worked up. “There’s no use arguing here.”

I wanted them to calm down a little, so we took a walk as they told me about their problems more clearly. Here’s what I found. The other kids told Wist the things that he was saying a moment ago.

Like Beck said, those kids probably didn’t have any real experience with killing people either, but they often talked about such topics anyway.

Even so, if they stayed as adventurers for long enough, there was a chance that they would have to clash with other people someday.

Wist had a sincere desire to come into his own as soon as possible so he could be more helpful to his allies.

Beck thought that they could just look at things in the long term, and planned to stick with Wist until he got where he wanted to be.

Wist was aware of his problems, but despite his timidness, he had a desire to improve. He was so frantic about it that he sort of seemed to spin his wheels. Beck was evidently aware of this, but thought it was better to laugh it off and not worry about it, so he didn’t understand what was worrying Wist so much. It was complicated.

“Now that I’ve heard both your opinions, I do feel like Wist is overthinking things a bit,” I said.

“Right?” Beck agreed.

“Darn,” Wist sighed.

“Wait, I’m not finished. Yes, there’s no need to worry so much right now. But it’s important to think about the future, and it’s important that you have some resistance to harming other living beings.”

“So which is it, then?” Beck asked.

“I mean, these aren’t mutually exclusive things. For example, let’s say you’re in town, and you’re hungry. What do you do?”

“Get something to eat, obviously,” Beck answered without a second thought.

“And what if you have no food on hand?”

“Go to the store.”

“Y-You could go to a restaurant.”

“That’s too expensive. Leaving town to gather plants to eat would be way cheaper.”

“You could trade with your neighbors for something.”

Now more of the kids were offering their opinions.

“You could also harvest crops if you had a farm, or if you were willing to be more unscrupulous, you could also steal.”

“Stealing is wrong,” all six of them said in unison.

“You tried to walk off with prey that was tossed aside before, though.”

“Ack.”

“Y-Yes, well...”

When I pointed that out, they suddenly looked ashamed. Maybe I was messing with them a bit too much.

“I’m not criticizing you or anything. It looks like you feel bad about it, and I don’t think much of it anymore. Let’s get back on topic. Yes, stealing is wrong, but it’s an option. What I’m trying to say is that any given objective has multiple approaches. I’m saying that even that question I asked of Beck and Wist has more answers than what they gave me. They have a very narrow perspective.”

“Th-Then what do you do when you fight monsters, Ryoma?” Wist asked.

“I take their life only when necessary.”

If it was for food, for clothes, or for work, I had to kill them. If I was attacked, whether by monsters or humans, then I could be forced to kill in self-defense. There was never any other excuse to kill.

“This is a rough way to say it, but if you have concerns that interfere with your skills, they’re just going to get in the way during a fight,” I continued.

Whether a bug or a human, a life is a life. Treat bugs as you would a human in times of peace, and cut down humans as you would wipe away bugs in times of war. When a moment’s hesitation can end your life, doing away with your concerns will improve your chance of survival. This was my family’s motto for generations, and I don’t think it’s wrong. Not that I think of humans and bugs as equals, but in a fight, I would attack them with equal fury. I had largely discarded my resistance to harming humans, I think.

“But not wanting to harm living beings is perfectly normal, and I think it’s a valuable feeling to have,” I said. “I declare that Wist’s attitude is the right one to have as a human being. He doesn’t need to give up his resistance right away, but hopefully he can find some compromise that helps him accept what he has to do in the future.”

Wist nodded awkwardly. Maybe my argument was a little more extreme than it needed to be. The reaction from the kids was lethargic. I didn’t have a precise answer for them myself, though. The important thing was that they could come to terms with doing violence for themselves.

“So, to achieve that goal... Beck!”

“Me?!”

“Well, and this goes for the rest of you too, but how about you just chill out and talk things out sometimes? Don’t let yourselves get worked up. It doesn’t matter what those other adventurers say, just do what you can. Wist, you’ll stick with being an adventurer for the time being one way or another, right?”

“Y-Yeah! Fighting scares me, but it hasn’t even been a year yet, and I want to keep doing stuff with my friends.”

“Then just take your time to think about it. Based on what I’ve seen today, I don’t think you should get too hurt as long as you don’t do anything reckless.”

No matter what conclusion he came to in the end, I had no intention of objecting. If he wanted to quit adventuring, maybe I could invite him to work at my store. I didn’t want to say that yet, though.

Just then, we arrived at the gate. I presented my guild card so I could pass through.

“Are you on your way to the adventurer’s guild?” I asked Beck.

“Yeah, gotta report back.”

“I’m reporting to the tamer’s guild, so this is goodbye for now.”

“Got it. Thanks for everything today.”

“Th-Thanks for the help,” said Wist.

“You’re a lifesaver,” said Finia.

After each of the kids thanked me and we parted ways, I headed to the tamer’s guild on my own.

I felt like I’d done something out of character for me. Looking back on what I had just said, I didn’t understand why I had said it. I wanted to give them my support, but I didn’t need to give them advice like that. I was new to this too, so that was kind of arrogant of me. It even felt like I was lecturing them.

“Boss!”

“Oh, if it isn’t Fina and Lilyn. What are you doing here?”

“We’re shopping,” Lilyn said.

“All of this practice cooking over the last several days used up all our seasoning. We also needed more paper and consumable goods. Why are you here, Boss?” Fina asked.

“I just got back from work, actually.”

“Did something happen? It looked like you were thinking hard about something,” Lilyn said.

“Did I?”

“Yes, you did,” Fina agreed. “Is something bothering you?”

“Not really. I just feel like I’m getting old.”

“Uh, what?” they said. It looked like they were deeply confused.