CH 53

Chapter 53 – Glasses boy wants to keep an appropriate distance

“I’m hungry.” Chace told me.

We had basically finished talking by now, but then he suddenly said this.

I don’t understand Chace’s recent eating habits, as he has been pushing himself a lot and training in vain, and yet, we haven’t been eating together.

Maybe he was eating things like wild herbs, fruits and other things that can be picked at the foot of the mountain, which should be enough to overcome his hunger.

Well, it’s not something that matters much to me, so I don’t ask about it.

“Hey, give me some meat.” Chace told me.

“Huh? Me?” I asked.

“You ranted way too much just now. Give me at least one meal to compensate.” Chace replied.

That’s not a very convincing argument…

But I don’t really want to get tangled up with him any more, so let’s just give him some meat and take him out of today’s schedule. He already took way too much of my time.

That said, as we were walking towards our dormitory, which had basically become a camping site, I remembered something, so I figured I’d mention it to Chace, “Florentine told me that she was very worried about you.”

“Huh? She? About me?” Chace seemed to be absolutely astonished by my words.

He must have thought that he was completely hated by her, which is understandable, since I had thought the same thing.

“Since we traveled together and ate together, Florentine told me that she didn’t want to abandon you. However, you wouldn’t listen if she was the one talking, so she asked me to do it instead.” I explained to him.

Chace went silent at that.

“You’re an adult already, right?” I asked him.

“… Yeah.” Chace replied.

“You’re a mature man who doesn’t like bullying younger girls, right?” I asked next.

“Shut up. I get it… I get it.” Chace muttered.

As for Florentine, she was, as usual, working on doing the finishing touches for her evil god statue (tentative name) near the camp site. Her face was quite serious as she carefully carved that grotesquely evil statue.

As for Cherry, she seemed to be completely exhausted, so she was resting on the giant cat, which seemed to be a bit annoyed at it.

The cat is a bit nice, as he puts up with it even if he makes an annoyed face… This is really not a cat though.

As we passed by Florentine, Chace seemed to be about to say something, but he seemed to be unable to be honest with himself, so he passed by her and sat in front of the remains of our bonfire. Basically readying himself to eat.

“I’ll prepare the meat. I’ll leave the fire to you.” I told him.

“Okay.” Chace nodded.

“Oh? Are you cooking some meat?” Florentine, who should have finished her lunch just a small while back, approached the fire.

Eh? Why is she coming?

“What kind of meat are you cooking? Is there anything left of the lizard? That one was delicious.” Florentine asked.

Hold on a second.

“You ate just now, didn’t you? Do you want to eat again?” I asked her.

I turned around to talk to her as I was about to cut the preserved meat. I try to ignore other people’s conversations most of the time, but this one I couldn’t ignore.

“I’m a bit hungry. Just a bit. Think of it as a snack.” Florentine replied.

Is she telling me that she’ll eat meat as a snack? As expected, my sister too must be a Taboo Child, just like Florentine.

… No, Florentine may be strange in many ways, but her personality is surprisingly decent.

On the other hand, my sister is even weirder, and her personality is terrible… Yeah, my sister is… My sister is…

Well, whatever. She is weird.

As for the conditions for the exchange, I’ll ask them to do something for me in the future, so as to pay me back for the meat.

And so, while I resumed my cutting of the meat, Chace opened his mouth, “Hey.” He called out to Florentine.

“Huh? What is it, thug?” Florentine asked him.

“… Sorry, Florentine.” Chace muttered.

“Eh…?” Florentine muttered.

That’s the first time Chace called her by name, isn’t it?

“What’s up with that!? That’s disgusting! Why did you call my name!?” Florentine exclaimed.

“A… Aah!?” Chace seemed to be confused by her reaction.

“Do you think I’m a bastard child of nobles or royalty or something!? It’s gross! I don’t want a relationship with a thug like you!” Florentine said next.

“Why are you treating it as if I was asking you out!? Is this you dumping me!? I didn’t ask you out in the first place!” Chace exclaimed.

I turned around, “Cheer up, Chace.”

“Don’t try to comfort me!” Chace replied.

“Even if you have no talent with swords, you’ll surely find a woman who likes you one day.” I told him.

“Enough about my talent with swords! And don’t try twisting the conversation to make it seem like I’m dejected!

“And don’t think I’ll forgive you for treating this as someone else’s problem when you were the one that created it in the first place!” Chace exclaimed.

Oh hey, stop it. Don’t shake me while I’m holding a knife. That’s dangerous.

In any case, for the time being, I served some meat to Chace and Florentine.

Now that the preparations are completed, the rest is up to them as they cook the meat, eat it, then clean everything up. I’ve finished my part here.

That said… I guess I could say one more thing, “Chace.” I called out.

“Huh?” Chace, who was watching over the meat as if he was competing with the boss’ daughter, looked at me.

“If you don’t train with a heavy weapon, then your practice won’t do you any good.

“The blacksmith old man might not make you a weapon, but he might make something you can practice with. You should hurry up and ask him to make something for you.” I told him.

“He’ll just refuse me again.” Chace replied.

I don’t think so.

The old blacksmith knew of Chace’s gift. In other words, the villagers are sharing information about us.

If the other party is convinced that one of us will grow, or that we might need a bit of help in a given area, I’m sure they’ll help us.

Chace may not be allowed to get a weapon yet, but he’ll need something for practice. And if he can find someone to teach him how to handle and properly use a spear, he’ll surely be able to grow.

“If that happens, just kick him again and come back.” I told Chace.

If the blacksmith really doesn’t make a practice weapon for Chace, then we might need to go to a nearby town to purchase it. I think it’s necessary for Chace, so I won’t hesitate in recommending him to go after it.

That said, I’d prefer if we could busy ourselves with our own things and keep a reasonable distance from one another.

******

It was evening now.

I hunted a few birds, then returned to the front of the dormitory.

On the way there, some kids shouted, ‘Meat guy!’ but I ignored them.

In any case, once I arrived at the dormitory, I saw Chace swinging an iron pole in the same place he was wielding a stick before.

The swings weren’t as reckless as the previous ones though. This time, he was using the iron pole as a makeshift spear. Apparently, the old man did make it for him.

At this moment, Chace noticed me, so he ran towards me, “Hey, look at this! That old bald man made it for me!”

“Good for you.” I replied.

It’s a simple stick that has no intricacies to it. It’s pretty long though, longer than Chace’s height even. It’s a good practice weapon.

“Oh, and the bath is done now. Go take a look.” Chace told me.

I see. Seems like it has finally been completed.