章 23: Discussing 1

I ask her for my waterskin which she tosses to me after taking it out from her bag. I drink half of it almost immediately, feeling very satisfied with the current state of affairs in general. I'm slowly grinding XP, my actual experience has improved quite significantly already, I have the best teacher I could ask for, and of course, I'm still in absolute disbelief that I was actually transmigrated to such a wonderful place.

I have slain 12 monsters so far. My Warrior class reached level 2 and my XP is at 38/100.

After a brief respite, we stand to continue our activities, but before I can walk out of the chamber I hear her voice from behind me.

"You're pretty good. I expected us to progress slower." I'm happy to receive her encouraging words and I'm also surprised at how unbothered I am with this whole fighting and killing thing. Even when I'm splashed with blood or see the organs gushing out onto the ground after I pull my spear out of their flesh I don't feel disgust contrary to what I'd expected. In fact, I enjoy this labyrinth clearing quite a lot. Making money this way, even if dangerous, suits me so much better than doing my old office 9-5 job.

"Thank you, Ayame. With such an amazing teacher I would be ashamed to do any worse."

She hurriedly snaps her head away. Wait?! I just made her blush?! Whenever I flirted with her before she just got annoyed at me…

"I'm glad you think so… You are my first student, so I wasn't sure how I would perform in this new role of mine."

"I'm the first?! Then you should be even prouder. I was sure that you had taught at least a dozen students before me."

She refuses to face my way, but while before I was uncertain, now though, I'm sure she is blushing. Sadly for me, she is blushing because her first student called her a great combat educator and not because she is flustered by my flirting.

At least I finally found her weak point. If I keep improving at a rapid rate and impress her, I should have a good chance later down the line to turn it into more. Though, of course, I will also keep flirting with her. It's just too much fun to quit cold turkey.

"Why do you consider me a great teacher?" She inquires softly after a few seconds of silence.

I respond with a torrent of praise, a torrent I didn't even need a second to conjure. "I think it's because your personality is very compatible with mine. I like how composed and considerate you are with me. Your attitude is not overbearing at all, letting me experience everything at my own pace while observing patiently. I also like how kind and uncomplaining you are. Even if I make a mistake, or worse, repeat one I already committed once before, you don't flip out at me, but repeat what I should've done differently with amazing serenity and endless patience in your tone. Not only are you an extremely cute and beautiful girl, but also a serious, diligent, and forbearing teacher and combatant, all that is to say, I'm amazed at how great of a person you really are. I'm glad I got the chance to meet you, Ayame."

She turns and glances at me for a few seconds, probably to ascertain if I'm sincere or just flirty as usual. I meant everything I said, so I respond to her questioning eyes by giving off an aura of certainty accompanied by a happy, encouraging smile.

Finally, I can see her flustered expression, and just as expected, she is way too adorable. Her slightly red cheeks, her uncertain eyes which seem undecided between being pleased, overjoyed, and annoyed (probably due to my cute and beautiful girl comment?) create a lovely end result that I know I won't forget for a very long time.

She averts her gaze once more, "Thanks… I'm glad that you think so highly of me as your instructor. I will do my best to remain as patient as I can, so feel free to experiment. You can't become a good combatant if you don't find your own style." Her voice gets audibly flustered as she adds, "And I suppose I'm also happy to have met you… I'm glad and proud of myself for remaining steadfast in my resilience despite the cruel situation I found myself in declining so many prospective buyers as I waited for the best one. I could've gone with a lot of them and enjoyed the outside world much sooner, but instead, I waited and waited… Chained to a bed and utterly humiliated every single day…"

The strong girl that had such an imposing aura as she easily fought off any monsters for the past few hours was nowhere to be seen, replaced by one that seemed visibly vulnerable. She appeared so small and weak in this moment. I thought that over the year-long captivity of hers she would get these emotions under control, that she cried all her tears out already and was now just on a path of vengeance, but boy was I wrong. How can you get over her trauma in a year, if ever? If my cherished mother or father betrayed me and sold me into a life of slavery I would most likely become a complete emotional wreck, a shell of a human being devoid of feelings for the rest of my life.

I, as a man and her teammate, couldn't just keep watching as I finally realized just how troubled she really was.

I approached her and put my arm on her shoulder. To be honest, I really wanted to hug her properly, but she might get startled or outright offended if I were to act on such an impulse. She flinches at my touch but doesn't make a move otherwise.

I then begin to speak in a gentle, encouraging tone, "Ayame, you are absolutely correct in that you should be proud of yourself. You got dealt with a hand so horrible that just thinking about it makes me tremble with anger. A sister who committed patricide before turning her blade on you, a year spent chained in a slaver's basement cell, exile from your clan, the king himself sentencing you to a life of slavery…"

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章 24: Discussing 2

She clenches her hands into fists. "All this is just way too unfair. None of this happened to me yet I'm furious at this horrible injustice, so I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling. But here you are, doing your best to not only take the next step in your life, but you waited for a year in that terrible, dignity destroying situation until I appeared, the person you believed could give you the best chance at living your life the way you wish, and you grabbed that chance. I've never met nor heard of a stronger person than you in my entire life. As far as I'm concerned, you are the epitome of bravery and determination, a person I can look up to for the rest of time."

She trembles for a second under the weight of my words before disappearing from my sight. I simply can't follow her movements physically. In the next moment I feel a heavy object crashing into my chest, almost making me fly away. I look down to see Ayame hugging me with her arms wrapped around my waist with a strong enough grip that I had to gasp for air for a second. She nuzzles her head into my chest as she rests on my body.

I'm beyond shocked at how daring the timid girl's actions are but I don't hesitate to reciprocate her actions as I place my right hand on her back and embrace her closely with all my strength while using my left hand to gently pat her head. She doesn't even flinch from me using my full force besides snuggling her face up and down on my chest, which might be a little hurtful in some other scenario but right now I couldn't care less, plus I already knew that she was a superhuman hiding in a slender girl's unassuming body.

I continue encouraging her as I whisper, "I know it might not sound very reassuring coming from a guy who is in his mid twenties while being level 1, but, as I promised when we met, we will make everyone pay who has wronged you so that you can move on with your life properly."

I felt a nod of her head on my chest as she pulled me even closer with her hands. Soon the heavily barred floodgates finally broke down as muted sobs echoed through the corridor. I continued to caress her while embracing her even tighter as I whispered reassurances into her ear, doing all three actions at the same time.

For a great warrior who was to inherit the clan, showing weakness must've been a big no-no in her life. I'm happy to see her open up to me to this degree, and that she sees me as someone she can show this vulnerable side of hers to.

After about fifteen minutes she seems to have calmed down, so I decide to speak up, "sorry for yapping on and on, but I got really sad when I saw your dejected state of being. I hope I didn't overstep my boundaries."

She shakes her head. "You didn't…" She lessens her gripping strength in her arms so that my bones can finally take a relaxed breath. "I'm the one who should be sorry… I didn't consider your low level and more or less attacked my master. A lesser man would've used this to chance teach me some so-called obedience or whatever but you instead bore with the suffocating pain and tried to make me feel better."

I don't reply, I just continue stroking her head gently. Her silky hair is really pleasant to the touch.

She looks up into my eyes after wiping her tears and tilting her neck at quite a steep angle due to the difference in our height, and mumbles with a hint of red on her delicate cheeks, "that was my first hug… Not even my parents embraced me as a child…"

Damn, warrior clan education must be quite harsh in this world with the elders shouting 'there's no place for love and affection on the battlefield!' and all that macho jazz. It might create strong soldiers but also affection-starved humans it seems. At least her mother could've cuddled with Ayame before putting her to sleep or something, but who am I to say?

If she wasn't betrayed she surely would've become an amazing Samurai and next head of her clan. She doesn't look a day older than 20, I would say she is at most 22, (unless humans age differently here than on Earth, something to investigate later) and she also spent a year in captivity but she is already level 14. I wouldn't even be surprised if she spent all her adult years as a slave, yet she is so strong, so her clan's education was clearly delivering quite the admirable results.

I can't hold myself back anymore, her teary eyes, her crimson cheeks, her tight embrace force my hand. I Lift both my hands to her face and cup her cheeks, then I lean in and kiss her on her forehead. This was not a flirty action on my part. Ayame just seemed like someone that really, really needed some affectionate gestures.

She freezes completely, like a deer surrounded by a pack of starving wolves.

The Samurai girl looks at me with wide, unbelieving eyes for a few long seconds before averting her eyes and instead going back to her previous state of resting her head on my chest as if she was hiding, then I hear a very flustered, timid voice, "w-w-what are you doing?! You know I can beat your butt if I want now, right?"

I grin, "oh, really? Go ahead then."

A long silence ensues that is only interrupted by my barely audible strokes of her hair. "Ayame, I know that you are an extremely strong, talented, and ambitious woman. I can also tell that you are dealing with some deep-seated trauma, so I would like to let you know that you can hug me or talk to me or whatever you find comforting should you wish to, however, I want to make something very clear to you." This gets her to once again look into my eyes, "I have no, or to be more accurate and plain, I have absolutely, utterly zero interest in becoming your friend or big brother figure."