CH 28

I walked through town while teaching Ryoku all kinds of things. Since he asked me whether I wanted to get on in the middle of our little outing, I confirmed and climbed on top of him.

Of course, this is part of his basic functions.

＊

When we were strolling around, kids started to chase after us, saying “How cool,” “Wow!”, “It’s a monster!”, and a lot more.

“This is a golem. His name is Ryoku. Ryoku, greet the boys and girls.”

“Nice to meet you! I am Ryoku!”

Of course, this is part of his basic functions.

“Oh, it talked!”

“Whoa!”

It looks like they got super curious about Ryoku. But that’s nice since it fits perfectly.

“Boys, girls, currently Ryoku is in the middle of learning. Can I ask you to teach him various things?”

“Learning?”

“A golem is?”

The children were puzzled.

“There exists a lot this golem doesn’t know. For example, what’s that store?”

“That one? It’s a Weapons dealer! A place selling weapons!”

After having listened to the child’s answer, Ryoku started to talk, “ThAT oNE iS wEapOnS DEaleR wEapOnS DEaleR sELl wEapOnS.”

“”Coool!!””

I got off Ryoku and let him play with the children. They were just like Sword. The children started to cheerfully talk to him, trying to teach Ryoku various things like training a mynah.

When it’s just the two of us, the learning doesn’t really make much progress. It’s because I unintentionally end up teaching him only about the things piquing my interest.

This should also increase his vocabulary. While at it, I’d like him to memorize a childish way of speaking. The default speech pattern is me. He’s way too stiff in his patterns except for the cute talk that’s part of his basic functions.

＊

“Ah!! You…”

Hmm?

When I looked in the direction of the surprised voice, I spotted a girl with scarlet hair. Having said that, she seems to be older than me.

…I feel like she’s staring my way? But, I don’t know her. Probably she doesn’t mean me.

When I removed my attention from her, trying to keep the girls and boys company, she roared, “Wait a moment!! What do you plan to do with the children!?!”

…It looks like she actually meant me. She’s probably mistaking Ryoku for a monster.

“This is a golem. His name is Ryoku. Ryoku, greet the girl.”

“Nice to meet you! I am Ryoku!”

The greetings and gestures are default functions. Maybe I should add a little more spice to it?

No, I’ll pin my hopes on the learning function.

“As if such a golem could exist anywhere! It’s a monster! You kids, move back!”

I furrowed my eyebrows.

…Mr. Sword, Mr. Sword, can you hear me? In the end strong people or golems are fated to get entangled with idiots.

People gathered around us while the girl got ready to attack.

“…Seriously, you can truly find nothing but idiots among adventurers. They can’t tell apart golems or strong people, really.”

I brushed up my hair.

“What was that!?” She thundered while pointing her wand at me.

“…H-Hey, bro, are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, but boys, girls, you’ll be in danger…or not. Stay close to Ryoku. Ryoku, deploy barrier.”

“Aye sir!”

Yes, it’s part of the basic functions.

Oops, I forgot to make a retort towards the boy, about me being a woman.

＊

Very headstrong, was the impression I got from the girl as she loudly snarled at me, “Let me warn you! Hurry up and get lost before you get injured!”

“Back at you. You’re still young, and yet you are okay with losing your adventurer license? I’ve just been walking through town, and the boys and girls have been teaching words to my golem. Then you suddenly showed up, started to shout without listening to anything others tell you, and now you’re about to attack me, who’s not even resisting. No matter how you look at it, you won’t be able to talk your way out of this. If it’s now, I’ll overlook all of this in light of your adorable face.”

She should be older than me, but she’s a fairly small and cute girl. It’d be a pity for her to have her license revoked.

At that moment, she became bright red.

…Why is she angry? I thought I praised her?

“I-I-I-I-I won’t be d-d-deceived b-by that s-s-s-sleazy line!!”

“…Somehow we’re talking past each other, I think. Just what is it that frightens you and why are you so upset? I’ve been just sightseeing, and yet you called out to me and then started to yell. Do you see the problem with that?”

I give up.

When I sighed, she flew into a rage, “…You…! Last time, and today as well…to take me for a fool…! Don’t look down on others just because you’ve got an S-Rank as a teacher!!”

She started to chant.

“Haah? We’ve never met before, have we? I arrived at this town just yesterday, and yesterday I only talked to the receptionist lady, you know? Besides…an S-Rank as teacher? Wait, do you possibly mean Sword? He’s not my teacher. He hasn’t taught me anything to begin with. That guy is my partner.”

Just as I finished rattling down all that, I could hear the last words of her chant, “Oh Explosive Flames! Reduce her to ash!”

I didn’t understand what she was saying about Sword and so on, but it was easy to follow her chant.

Flames were heading for me.

A fire emission spell, huh? In that case I’ll get rid of it by removing its oxygen and magic elements.

The flames were drawing closer while roaring, but I dealt with them in an instant. Over.

“There was no need to have Ryoku deploy his barrier, huh? What a waste of fuel.” I mumbled.

“……Eh?”

She was surprised by the sudden disappearance of her flames.

“If it hadn’t been me, it could have been dangerous…maybe. Then again, Ryoku would have also been able to handle an attack of this level.”

After having quieted down, the boys and girls broke out into loud cheering.

“Bro, you’re awesome!”

“That was so cool! How did you do it?”

They swarmed towards me.

“You should try to think about why fire is burning.”

“How is it burning?”

“A component helping it to burn is contained in the air. And the source of magic. If you remove those two, it’ll vanish in an instant.”

“”Wooow!!””

Mmh, my mood has improved a lot after getting praised.

“Boys, girls, I’m no Bro. Call me lady.”

“No, you’re a bro, aren’t you?”

Listen to me! I’m a woman, damnit!

“I understand, then call me Indra.”

“Bro Indra!”

“Do me the favor of using Sis at least.”

“Bro!”

It looks like they want to insist on me being a guy. …Hahaan, in that case they must be hiding their embarrassment, right? I mean I can totally understand, seeing how I’m such a beautiful girl!

＊

Now then, leaving the kids aside…this is definitely going to turn into an uproar. It’d be great if they could send someone over from the guild to fix it, but if not, I won’t have any other choice but to have Ryoku turn on his optical camouflage, and call Sword.

…Ah, the authorities showed up.

“What are you doing!?”

No, I’m not really doing anything, though.

“The bastard over there! I’ll beat him black and blue! I won’t get a closure on things unless I wallop him a good one!” The girl roared with an angry glare.

“Cathy!? What are you doing here!?”

Another girl with an appearance that screams adventurer has shown up, apparently my opponent’s acquaintance.

“Look! It’s that man!”

That’s not about me, is it? I mean I’m a woman.

“Ah! Him…!”

“Who casted magic in town?”

Everyone quickly and decisively pointed at the scarlet-haired girl.

“…Wait, someone tell me, what the hell is that thing!? A monster!?”

“No matter how you look at it, it’s a golem, don’t you think?”

“”Yeah, as if.””

I got myself a retort from everyone.

Clearing my throat while maintaining my dignity, I said, “…It’s a golem I built.”

“You!?”

“It’s self-taught, but I understand the principles behind magic arts and magic tool creation. Accordingly, I’ve tried to fulfill my aspiration of building a golem in my own way. However, the golem I built won’t move by just giving it a single order like the ones created by other mages and sorcerers. I have to teach it. Thus I was walking through town with the goal of teaching it, and since the boys and girls over there got interested in the golem, I had them help me out. At that moment, the girl over there fired a spell at me for the sake of walloping me a good one. That’s all.”

I was able to explain things in a well-reasoned way. Or rather, it was nothing more than a recount of the facts.

“Cathy!? Just what are you doing while we’re waiting for the exam!?”

“But, that guy…!”

Hoh, that means they’re going to challenge the C-Rank exam, huh?

“I told you, didn’t I? That I’d overlook all of this if it was now. And yet you started to chant your spell.”

The girl, who seemed to be the partner of that Cathy or whatever girl, looked my way, flabbergasted.

“Are you possibly looking for a fight?”

“Why would you take things in that direction?”

This is the point where you’d end things with “I got it, goodbye,” isn’t it?

“…Indra!”

I looked over my shoulder in response to the voice.

“Oohh, great to see you here, Sword! …In the end I got into a fight with a stupid adventurer who can’t discern strength and golems!”

This comment earned me, “You moron, I told you to stay quiet, didn’t I!?”, being hurled at me.

“…Come to think of it, you mentioned something along those lines, didn’t you? It completely escaped my memory.”

Ouuuuuccchh!!

Sheesh, Sword’s retorts are really getting out of hand as of late.

And then Sword held up his card to the official like some seal case. The official quickly fixed his posture by standing upright, showing his respect.

“The foulmouthed one over here’s my partner. Even if she might have said somethin’ rude, please forgive her for my sake.”

“No, it is not like that… I received a report that a fairly powerful spell had been unleashed in town, so I rushed over to confirm the situation.”

“Ah…” Sword scratched his head.

“I think you understand without me telling you, but it wasn’t me.”

“No need to spell it out since it’s obvious. I’m pretty sure you simply pissed off the other party by makin’ full use of your skill to agitate others.”

“…But, I’ve been just playing with Ryoku while keeping the boys and girls company, you know? Right, children?”

They nodded.

“…Wait, your capable of gettin’ ‘long with kids!?”

“Of course I am. I am their hero!”

Once I got a bit too cocky, I was told with a cold voice, “Yeah, whenever your dealin’ with Ryoku, your childish side suddenly pops out, I s’ppose.”

The hell is that?

“I wonder, maybe children are simply immune to your agitation skill.”

He added.

The surrounding people also attested that I didn’t use any magic and that the children had apparently played with the golem – although they weren’t sure whether they should call Ryoku like that – and thus I was free to go. The scarlet-haired girl was taken away to get interrogated since the same obviously didn’t apply to her.

“Is she your acquaintance, Sword? She apparently knew you.”

“No clue. Or rather, plenty of folk claim to be acquainted with me on their own account. I’d think she belongs in that category.”

How irresponsible~

“…For heaven’s sake, I really ain’t no friend of coercin’ others by flaunting my rank.”

“Sorry about that. But, it’s great that it worked on the official. If it had been me, it’d have ended with me asking 『Okay, so what about it?』.”

Sword firmly grabbed my head!

“…Yeah, right. Accordin’ to you, I’m just a smelly old man!”

“…I-It’s alright. You won’t stink if you wash yourself properly. Also, hold back on your liquor.”

“D-o-n-t w-a-n-n-a! Then I’d rather be a smelly old man!”

…You like alcohol so much? Is that really alright with you?