Chapter-05 · EP-077
Episode 77: Stalker?
"Ichinose-kun, wasn't that a bit unfair?"
"Eh?"
It was Murasakimura who spoke to me after my sparring match with Kojirou-san.
I had no idea what he was referring to, so I asked back.
"Wh-what part was bad?"
"It's not about which part. In a swordsmanship match, trying to kick is unfair, isn't it?"
"Ah, that's right!"
I only realized it when Murasakimura pointed it out. Since he dodged it perfectly and it didn't work, I hadn't paid it much mind, but I did try to kick. Right, kicking was against the rules…
I immediately apologized to Kojirou-san.
"Sorry, Kojirou-san. I instinctively tried to kick…"
"What are you talking about? What we're doing isn't a sport. In dungeon exploration, there's no such thing as unfair."
Huh? Is that so? Which is it?
I looked at Murasakimura's face.
He looked surprised.
"Well then, for example, if you lost because I kicked you, would you want to learn swordsmanship where losing to a kick is acceptable?"
Kojirou-san's question made Murasakimura's expression difficult.
"When a goblin bites you, are you going to tell it, 'That's unfair, fight fair and square'?"
"…I'm sorry."
Finally, Kojirou-san's words made Murasakimura apologize.
"What I teach isn't kicks or bites, it's swordsmanship. But it's not a technique for fighting only against someone with the same sword. It's swordsmanship to fight and win even against opponents you might call 'unfair.' Do you understand that?"
"Yes!"
Murasakimura answered with a face that looked like his fighting spirit had been ignited.
Well, whether it's unfair or not, I didn't really care either way.
Kojirou-san continued.
"Having said that, I'm just a temporary instructor who comes occasionally when I have time. I don't think I'll have time to teach you such deep techniques. So first, we start with basics. It's plain, but it's the most important part. Today, we're going to thoroughly drill the basics."
"Yes!"
I interrupted their conversation.
"Sorry, by basics, do you mean the stances and practice swings from earlier?"
"Of course. If you don't even know how to hold a sword properly, teaching you techniques is meaningless."
I see.
"Sorry, I have somewhere to be today, so I'll call it here…"
"Somewhere to be?"
Saying that, I started walking away backward. The moment I felt people's eyes on me, I turned and dashed away from the scene.
Phew. I narrowly escaped being subjected to torture-like boring practice.
I respected Kojirou-san's strength, but plain basic practice didn't suit me.
I checked my watch. It was still 6:00 PM. The dungeon was still open.
Maybe I'd go get some potions, even for just an hour. Rank 3 potions sold for a high price, and I could also use them myself. You can never have too many, after all.
I geared up and entered the dungeon.
After school, the dungeon was open until 7:00 PM, and you could freely explore up to a certain floor, but almost no one voluntarily explored. I'd heard that at the end of the semester, students with low scores would dive in to level up, but now, at the very beginning of the first semester, there didn't seem to be anyone who would go exploring after school.
At least, that's what I thought until yesterday. But now, there was a party of three walking behind me.
I didn't recognize them. Probably students from another class.
Without using the portal, they followed me down to the first floor, so they seemed to be first-years like me.
Since my method of collecting potions was top secret, I walked deeper to avoid being seen. I advanced, occasionally poking and defeating slimes I found.
Then I entered the wide open space where I usually gathered slimes.
I sensed people nearby, a little distance away. Were they the same guys from earlier?
I couldn't let them see me using Water Magic or Healing Magic, which I supposedly didn't have.
Without using magic, I stood in this dead-end room, waiting for slimes to spawn naturally.
As I defeated the occasional slime in a normal way, I kept feeling people at the entrance to the room.
This was… they were following me.
I was getting a little annoyed.
I turned around and walked straight toward the entrance. They hurriedly started walking backward. I reversed course and followed them.
As the distance closed, I called out to them.
"Hey, there's a slime over there. Why are you ignoring it? What are you doing without defeating slimes?"
"N-nothing…"
They looked flustered when I spoke to them, then ran away.
"What was that about…"
I was annoyed that my potion collecting had been interrupted.
I looked at my watch. It was already past 6:45. I didn't have much time left to defeat slimes.
If I hadn't been interrupted, with a bit of luck, I might have gotten a potion.
If those guys kept following me from now on… making pocket money with Rank 3 potions might become difficult.
I'd come to the dungeon to relieve stress so I wouldn't build it up from boring practice, but those guys ended up stressing me out instead. Who were they, anyway?