Shurein sighed as she watched the party advance with a strange sense of tension.
“Haa. Are you all serious about being alright?”
Riku’s party members jolted and looked at Shurein.
“Look. Didn’t I tell you earlier? It’s fine to chat. You all did that before, didn’t you? The problem just now was that you completely forgot about having a moderate amount of tension.”
The current party was too tense, and their bodies were too stiff.
If that happened, then when a monster appeared, they wouldn’t be able to react quickly for the opposite reason.
The only salvation was probably that the leader, Riku, was acting as usual.
With him, there wouldn’t be a delay in instructions.
Shurein cast a gaze at Riku, half exasperated and half anxious.
“Ah~ Well, I understand your anxiety, but can you cut them some slack, Mother Shurein? They’ve never really been yelled at by others before, so they’re more tense than usual.”
Riku said that with a bitter smile, and Shurein sighed again, her exasperation deepening.
“So, is that what you’re saying? You’re called the top of the younger generation, and you didn’t even realize what you were lacking?”
“Well, to put it bluntly, that’s about it?”
To Shurein’s overly frank words, Riku replied while looking in a different direction.
Riku’s party was formed by gathering talented young adventurers.
The members were intentionally brought together, and it was good that their abilities were evenly matched. They were able to cooperate properly without any particular friction.
They also spurred each other on to improve, and their skills grew rapidly.
As a result, they were able to perform as the top young adventurers as expected.
However, that ironically turned out to be not so good.
This was because they had always handled everything on their own, and had never worked with parties that were superior to them.
Incidentally, since some of them were students, they had never taken on long-term escort requests.
Before, when they were trying to raise their rank, they had seen Gazeran’s party in action, but their abilities were so overwhelmingly superior that they could only feel impressed.
Ideally, they should be learning various things on-site while being reprimanded by their seniors, but this aspect was completely missing.
Simply put, Riku’s party members were not used to being scolded.
Riku, on the other hand, was accustomed to being lectured by Kousuke and the women in the management layer, so he was used to it.
However, for his party members, this was the first time they were being seriously cautioned.
Sensing the circumstances from Riku’s expression, Shurein sighed again.
“…… I was looking forward to adventuring again after a long time, but it seems I’ve been used somehow.”
“Hahaha. No, that’s not true. I never expected something like that to happen right from the start.”
For Riku, it was unexpected that his companions were distracted by Kokoro’s condition and talked about it for too long.
Because of that, the party’s weakness (?) was exposed in front of Shurein, so he hadn’t intended to use Shurein from the beginning.
“Well, that’s fine. …… Kokoro, you don’t have to worry about it and can act as you did before.”
“Eh!? Ah, yes!”
Kokoro, realizing that she was disrupting the party because of her, had been considering restraining herself a bit, but Shurein saw through it easily.
Moreover, she was told to act as she had before, so Kokoro had no room to object.
Besides, Shurein had another intention as well.
“Let me tell you, this is also part of Kokoro’s training, okay? Sylvia asked me to tell you that.”
“Th-that’s right!”
Kokoro, who had completely forgotten about it, finally remembered.
“I’ll be a bit mean, but can you really perform at your usual level in this kind of atmosphere? I’ll be sure to tell Sylvia.”
“Y-yes!”
“…… That’s fine, but somehow, I feel like I’ve just become a mean old hag.”
As Shurein muttered that, Riku made an unnecessary comment.
“Not ‘like,’ you really are… Ah, ouch!!”
Seeing Riku silenced by the physical language of a fist, a smile finally bloomed amongst everyone.
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With the exchange between Shurein and Riku, the group regained their usual atmosphere and began searching for the monsters for their original subjugation request.
Of course, Kokoro’s special abilities were put to use along the way.
Most of them were medicinal herbs that Kokoro could use, likely due to her knowledge.
Even if what she found was a rare item, she would ignore it if she didn’t know what it was.
“Oh! I found it!”
Amidst this, Ansel found the target monster.
Shurein had actually noticed it earlier but had deliberately said nothing.
She knew it would be easy for her to point it out, but it wouldn’t be of any benefit to them.
“Alright! Let’s go as usual!”
” ” ” ” ” “Ooh (Yes)!” ”
Riku called out, and everyone got motivated.
Seeing this, Riku looked at Shurein and said,
“Ah, Mother Shurein, please watch from the side.”
“I understand. I also need to escort Kokoro.”
Shurein, who had already planned to do so, nodded beside Kokoro, who had a worried expression.
While it wasn’t Kokoro’s first monster subjugation, it was still insufficient experience compared to adventurers who repeatedly fought monsters.
The party’s battle began, and Shurein, watching them, muttered,
“…It’s no good. I can’t help but want to butt in.”
“Um… during combat?”
“I understand. I also train new recruits.”
Although Shurein had never trained adventurers like this before, she had often given instructions during battles to train her vampire companions.
She knew that giving careless orders could lead to a major accident.
“Furthermore, in terms of combat, there doesn’t seem to be any particular deficiency.”
Even from Shurein’s perspective, their movements were acceptable, at least for fighting on this floor.
Although there were occasional communication lapses in their coordination, they managed to cover it afterward.
The problem was whether they recognized this properly, but she knew this was not the time to say it.
“More importantly, Kokoro needs to get more used to combat.”
“Eh! Ah, ugh…”
Kokoro, not expecting the attention to fall on her, was surprised and immediately put on a somber expression.
Kokoro was well aware that she was not used to combat and her body was stiff.
“In battles like this, it’s the job of priests and shrine maidens like you to help injured companions. If you become unable to move, you’ll understand the consequences once you’re in actual combat, won’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“Well, that’s how it is. I suspect Sylvia also knew that Kokoro would be like this.”
Hearing these words, Kokoro looked up from her bowed head and met Shurein’s gaze.
“What are you surprised about? Even I noticed it. It’s impossible for her mother, Sylvia, not to have noticed, right?”
“Is that so.”
“Haha. There’s no need to be dejected. Everyone has a first time. All you need to do is get used to it from now on.”
Kokoro nodded with a slight blush as Shurein placed a hand on top of her head.
This was the story of Riku’s party, who had grown without any failures, and Kokoro, who had grown up freely under her mother’s guidance.
Each of them, while not facing a major setback, had identified their problems and would surely continue to grow from here on.
