Jiro Tanaka, 28 years old, has a girlfriend.
Girlfriend: Suella Handelberg
Memoria Tris
Occupation: Dungeon Tester (Full-time employee)
Magic Aptitude: 8 (General Class)
Position: Warrior
Although the ending was quite something, I returned to my room to get a shower since I hadn’t thought about what to do after training.
Suella followed along, so when I told her we should eat out after showering, she offered to make me an Elven dish adapted with Earth ingredients. I accepted her offer.
“Here you go.”
“Looks delicious.”
In manga, you sometimes get a punchline where someone boasts about their cooking skills only to be revealed as having no taste, but that wasn’t the case with Suella.
The dish was mushroom pasta, served with a side of cherry tomatoes and a green salad with original dressing. It lacked fantasy elements, but it was undeniably a meal a Dark Elf might eat. My body honestly pleaded for food, and I began eating.
“This is delicious.”
“I’m glad.”
My earlier prediction of it looking delicious quickly turned into a genuine appreciation of its taste. While Suella beamed, I, perhaps due to our difference in physique or simply because I had finished training, silently devoured a larger portion of pasta than Suella.
A quiet moment passed, but I didn’t dislike the atmosphere. We exchanged small talk occasionally, and after about ten minutes of eating, Suella’s meal was completely gone.
“Thank you for the meal.”
“You’re welcome. It was nothing.”
“I’ll clean up the dishes.”
“No, cooking includes cleaning up. Jiro-san, please have some coffee.”
With that, she levitated the pot with magic and prepared coffee, which tasted even better than mine. I watched Suella wash the dishes in the kitchenette attached to my room, idly wondering if magic made such a difference to the taste of instant coffee. The quiet moment continued, and I found the scene pleasant.
“Sorry about this.”
“Not at all. It was commonplace when we were there. In fact, it’s quite convenient to prepare meals in this world, and I almost get lazy, so it’s better for me to do it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Indeed, their world likely didn’t have induction cooktops, nor did running water come from a faucet. At least, I hadn’t found any when I went to Isal.
“Well, the afternoon is completely free… Suella, can we use that pendant again?”
“You mean the magic crystal pendant?”
“Yeah. If we have that, we can go out.”
I concluded that Japanese kitchens were superior in function and, after she finished cleaning, we started planning the afternoon. I wanted to go out with Suella again, so I asked if we could use the pendant from the summer festival.
“Unfortunately, it’s being used by other friends at the moment, so it’s not possible. We only used it for testing purposes then.”
“I see.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. I was disappointed, but it was company property after all. I had proposed it on a whim. When it fell through, I wondered what to do next.
“?”
Glancing at Suella, she refilled my coffee cup and prepared her own. Noticing my gaze, she tilted her head and smiled, asking what was wrong. I replied it was nothing. I realized then that she was wearing clothes similar to those sold in Japan, not her usual suit. She wore them so naturally that it took me a while to notice. It was a simple outfit of a white sweater and jeans, but the good material made her look like a model. Ah, I was getting sidetracked from planning the afternoon. Usually, we’d eat at the underground facility and decide where to go afterward based on our mood, but this was a new situation, and I was unsure what to do. At this point, not going out was an option, but I only had a TV or a still-boxed game to pass the time in my room. In such a situation, with a man and woman alone, the next few hours were predictability easy to imagine.
“No, no,” I thought, trying to correct my drifting thoughts, and decided to consult with her.
“Are you interested in the Ore Tree?”
“Yes. It’s rare even among us Dark Elves to use this as a weapon. And it’s even rarer to see an Ore Tree that has grown this much.”
“I see.”
Suella was looking at the Ore Tree she had brought back to the room for maintenance. She stood up, approached its dedicated stand, and examined the blade closely. After a short while, she finished.
“Jiro-san.”
“Hm?”
No plan could be made in such a short time. I, leisurely drinking my coffee, replied with my mouth still full.
“How about a sparring match?”
My girlfriend, usually quiet but surprisingly aggressive, proposed a plan for the afternoon.
“I’m sorry to trouble you on your day off.”
“No, I don’t mind, but are you sure, Suella?”
I didn’t second-guess the idea of sweating again after having just done so. I thought it was a good use of our free time and accepted Suella’s proposal, moving from my room to the training room.
“Yes, I’ve been dealing with paperwork a lot lately and haven’t had many opportunities to move my body, so this is a good chance.”
“Sparring to cure lack of exercise?”
I thought she might be concerned about saying something taboo to women, but Suella genuinely seemed to want to move her body and utilize her magic. I could only offer a wry smile at this distinctly fantasy way of solving a lack of exercise. We both armed ourselves with training wooden staves and wooden swords. We changed from our casual clothes into training gear with added protection, and we were ready. We were currently stretching and warming up.
“How long has it been? Fighting you alone, I mean.”
“It’s probably been a few months. The last time you and I fought one-on-one was before you took over Jiro-san’s training.”
“Ah, has it really been that long?”
I remembered the newcomer training. Back then, I was easily blown away and defeated repeatedly, like a baby. In a way, this might be a good opportunity. If Suella was the first opponent I fought in this fantasy world, this would be a chance to gauge my strength. For better or worse, my weapon was the same wooden sword with a steel core as back then.
“If I’m not at full power, this will probably be over quickly.”
“Heh, we’ll see.”
Perhaps out of confidence due to the difference in our abilities, she casually relaxed and took a stance with her staff. She conveyed her readiness not with words, but with her demeanor. In response, I slowly raised my wooden sword to a high guard, and as I exhaled, I slowly lowered it to a frontal stance.
“Hk!”
“!”
No signal was needed. Almost immediately, our legs moved in sync with our exchanged breaths, and the exchange began.
“AAAAAAAARGH!!”
Since it was a training room, I didn’t hold back and fully utilized my “monkey’s roar.” My sharpened swordplay attacked Suella, who softly deflected it. My powerful sword and Suella’s flexible staff entered a temporary state of equilibrium. When I unleashed a horizontal slash, a thrust, a downward strike, and a diagonal cut, Suella would slip away into her staff’s range as if fleeing a mirage, deflecting my attacks with minimal force and threading her staff through the narrow openings. It was a textbook defensive countermeasure for a mage’s self-defense. While mages, as backliners, technically didn’t need to engage in close combat, it wasn’t as if they were completely unnecessary. Instructor Fushio had said that a mage who was useless when their magic ran out was second-rate. Therefore, mages also needed a certain level of close-quarters combat proficiency. Some, like Kaido or Himusumi, would master both swordsmanship and magic, but most backliners, like mages, would learn defensive techniques, similar to Suella. Her staff work, which bent like a snake, attacked relentlessly. When I thought I had an opening to attack, I’d find her staff already in a defensive posture. It was like trying to cut through a fog. Nevertheless, we could still clash.
“You’ve become stronger.”
“Yeah!”
The sound of wood hitting wood wasn’t like clinking. Instead, it echoed like a raging storm as we fought. Our feet moved restlessly, constantly changing our positions. To keep up with Suella’s movements, showcasing Dark Elf agility, I didn’t chase her but used rotational momentum to respond with minimal movement. All the while, I continued to swing my wooden sword. Compared to the Ore Tree, the wooden sword, like a mere toy, crushed the air and raged fiercely. Suella, as if guiding it, swung her staff, diverting my sword strikes like making a path. When I returned my feet and pulled back my sword, she unleashed a sharp thrust like a gust of wind. We landed no clean hits. We defended or dodged with our forearms or weapons, and the battle seesawed back and forth. In the first place, I was at a disadvantage because Suella, a backliner, and I, a frontliner, were evenly matched. In fact, as a handicap, Suella wasn’t using spirits. Even in such a situation, I felt I could contend with Suella and experience growth that couldn’t be measured by numbers.
“I’m going to push it!!”
“Yes!”
My physical reinforcement through magic circulation, which was still clumsy compared to Suella’s, had become much more efficient and effective than at first. I banished any thought of pacing myself and kicked my remaining strength into the highest gear. In an instant, my brain’s speed seemed to accelerate, and my movements appeared slower than before. Instead, my body groaned under this movement, pushing me to the very edge of my limits. To break through Suella, who meticulously parried each of my attacks, I gritted my teeth, careful not to exert any unnecessary force, and continued my assault. And then…
“Finally, we’ve reached this point.”
“From my perspective, we already have.”
This clash brought our movements to a halt. Our breathing became ragged, and I saw Suella’s face beneath me. It was a scene I had seen before. My all-out downward strike had struck Suella and pinned her in place. Last time, I had been immediately counterattacked and blown away, but…
“Damn, one hit after all this movement.”
“That one hit can be fatal to us backliners.”
This time, I had genuinely immobilized Suella. White energy appeared to be manifesting around Suella.
“The moment I deployed defensive spirits, it’s my loss.”
“No.”
It was certainly an achievement to overcome the handicap. However, I gently removed the wooden sword from above Suella. Then, as if waiting, a cracking sound was heard, and the surface of the wooden sword shattered, revealing cracks on the steel core. The wooden sword couldn’t withstand the battle.
“The moment I broke my weapon, it’s my loss.”
“Then, it’s a draw?”
“Yeah, damn it. I failed to consider the weapon’s durability.”
“Heh, if you channel magic the same way you do with the Ore Tree, a wooden sword will quickly reach its limit. Let’s keep that in mind next time. I’ve realized through our sparring that there’s still room for growth in various areas.”
“Yeah, this teacher-student interaction also feels like a long time ago.”
“It does.”
We both laughed along with Suella’s chuckle. Amidst that, I reflected on the match. From my perspective, the sparring match was another defeat. I had fought with everything I had, and Suella had fought without using spirits. Even if she had sealed her spirits, failing to gauge the durability of my weapon and breaking it made me unqualified as a warrior. Suella called it a draw, but whether partially or wholly, it was my loss. As Suella said, there were still points to reflect on.
“Suella, thank you.”
“Yes.”
I clenched my fist. But at this moment, I felt I had glimpsed the direction I should be heading. The path I should take, I who had been vaguely clearing dungeons until now.
Jiro Tanaka, 28 years old, has a girlfriend.
Girlfriend: Suella Handelberg
Memoria Tris
Occupation: Dungeon Tester (Full-time employee)
Magic Aptitude: 8 (General Class)
Position: Warrior
Today’s Quote:
Sometimes it’s necessary to stand still, but it’s also necessary to take a step forward without stopping.
That concludes this installment.
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