A sweaty Lucille pushed herself up after her spar against Inferno, who didn't hold back and now, the inside of the ring that Instructor Quoketh drew on the ground was full of fire of varying degrees and colors, with dark orange being the most common.
Some areas even had puddles of molten rock in them and yet despite that Lucille looked… kind of fine, she didn't have a single burn mark on her body and only had singes on some parts of her skin.
I didn't know what kind of Technique she used to defend against Inferno of all people, but it worked and thanks to it, Lucille was fine even after going through a barrage of Fire Balls and Fire Lances. Even her clothes were fine, having no other signs of damage save for a few black spots in some areas.
"She's doing well,” I commented to the agreement of Fafnir, who nodded, “a bit more time and she'll become someone who I won't have to worry about,” mostly, this world is dangerous and full of literal monsters so I doubt that she'll ever be 100% safe.
Even I, even after so many playthroughs, have never had a perfect, deathless run but I wasn't asking for the impossible, just… something.
“A bit more,” I said under my breath, “a bit more and she'd be able to fight the Demon General that's leading the current wave alongside us,”
Well me saying a “bit more” may be an underestimation…
Lucille wouldn't be strong enough by then, I'm sure of it, this world doesn't run on game logic anymore where numbers were the only thing that mattered and a Demon General is simply impossible to be killed by a freshman, Hero or not.
Well, I could probably do it but that's a big what if.
And I had the advantage of all my game knowledge and my training since childhood.
Lucille doesn't.
Even if I somehow managed to teach her everything I knew and gave her a lot of resources to maximize her training, it still wouldn't be enough.
Back in the game, the player had to fight a Demon General who has been weakened by a lot of dead soldiers before it got to the Player and their party, and even then, the damn thing is called a Boss for a reason- the fight was hard.
The problem is though, the Player- or myself for that matter, - only had regular soldiers as allies to assist them.
Meanwhile, I'm going to be there to help her and with my current strength, I'm sure that I'll be able to guarantee a safe fight for Lucille during that time.
I can make sure that her fight against the Demon General isn't impossible and let her live through it- that’s my goal.
And for that, I needed to- not just help her out during the fight but also train her.
Not just… leave her alone and fend for herself.
That's something that I realized while watching Lucille fight Inferno and for once, get hit by an attack.
She's not invincible and she can still be killed and this place- this world- is full of dangerous beings that can easily kill a newbie Slayer.
Lucille needs to be strong enough to take on everything that can possibly come her way- which is why I… needed to train her, it's the only way and I should've realized this was inevitable and- and-
“She's going to be unbeatable if we teach her well,” I stopped worrying and eyed Fafnir, who shot me an encouraging smile, “the Demon Lord is not going to stand a chance,”
The Demon Lord huh?..
By that point- and if we ever reach it, that is, which we will, I'll make sure of it, - everything and everyone would no longer be threatened by the Demons and more importantly, they'll finally be safe from my mistake.
… in that time, Lucille would have to sacrifice herself, or even me, or- or- any of us really, there's a high chance that we're going to die during that fight but at least- at least when we reach the Demon Lord, I know that the world will be safe.
I wasn't confident in anything- in any of this at all but Fafnir's right, if we teach Lucille properly then there will be nothing in this world that can stand in her way.
"Yeah, you're right,” I agreed with a smile.
Small talk on how all of us can teach Lucille in the future was what occupied us while we waited for the rest of our classmates to finish sparring, which took a while but thanks to that, me, Laceresta, Fafnir, and Zath managed to brainstorm a semi-decent plan on what to teach the current Hero.
And the plan goes as follows- I'll teach Lucille all of the tiny tricks I knew about monsters while at the same time, give her information on high level Techniques.
Meanwhile Laceresta would be the one to teach her how to fight and how to handle herself in a fight, allowing for Lucille to effectively be a more competent combatant.
Fafnir's role would be teaching Lucille how to manipulate Light, which she is unsurprisingly good at.
And finally, Zath would teach her how to do miscellaneous tasks out in the wild- a common thing for Slayers to do, - such as setting up tents, starting fires, and cooking her food using haphazard tools as well as various other things that I didn't know about.
All in all, the plan was shaping up to be pretty good.
And I know it wasn't perfect, but it was a start.
Our talk continued until the end of our combat class, dwindling only after we went to the showers to wash our sweat off with warm water.
I kept brainstorming more ideas about the training plan even as I cleaned myself- well, more like letting the water from the shower wash me while waiting for more ideas to come to me but you know, it's something. And besides, this is a pretty good headstart for when I discuss things with everyone else later at the suite.
It's also worth mentioning that the warm water jogged my brain and let me cook up ideas easily and shower thoughts or not, the plans flowing in my head right now looked prettyyyy valid in my eyes.
I raised my hands and grabbed my scalp and I slowly and meticulously started breaking apart my silver hair with my fingers to let water in between the strands, I did that until I was sure that using shampoo would actually form bubbles instead of… whatever oily abomination gets produced whenever I don't rinse my hair enough.
When I felt water course through my hair and down my back, I considered it was wet enough and used the shampoo. Which yeah, does exist in this world, and not just shampoo, but a wide variety of beauty products as well, making Everlast quite advanced compared to the medieval ages that it was inspired from.
I can still remember my older sister's shock when she learned that things like these existed here.
She was a historian and well, when she saw the bottle of shampoo and conditioner in one of the cutscenes- just a picture, and not an actual cutscene so… picture scene? Something like that.
Anyways, back then- as in, our own earth's history, - she said that peasants didn't have access to anything other than ash or sometimes lime to clean themselves.
I didn't know if she was exaggerating or not- she probably was, knowing her, - but I did believe her when she said that hygiene wasn't exactly a concern for most of humanity's history.
Here though?.. Hygiene's importance was widespread enough that villages basically had public bathhouses so that villagers could clean themselves.
Where was I going with this?
Ah, right- Lucille's training plan (which, come to think of it doesn't involve shampoo products or conditioner for that matter,) is going well! We have a plan for it and uhm…
I placed my head directly under the shower and rinsed the shampoo off of my hair and as I went back to pushing my fingers beneath my strands to scratch it apart and let water flow in, my thoughts went back to Karsten and Prescine's words on what I want and…
Do I want to teach Lucille?
My thoughts were a genuine mess right now and I didn't know how I felt about that particular thing but I'm thinking up plans for it now so…
… I do, I realized- I wanted to teach Lucille but… I'm not exactly confident in doing that-
I blinked when I heard a sigh, and then someone's voice broke through the fog of noise, their next words let me know that it was me who let out that sigh just now, “Neophyte are you okay?”
I laughed it off, “uh, yeah!” I yelled back, noting that my voice was barely audible thanks to the sound of falling water around us, “uhm- just wasted a bit of shampoo because I squeezed too hard!”
“Yeah… you still don't sound like you're okay,” I listened in to the speaker and, huh, I thought Korbinian was the kind of girl to just ignore this sort of thing. Sort of- er not really- but to be fair, Korbinian and I did start our friendship thanks to her nosiness.
So I guess this is expected?..
Are crows nosy? Maybe…
“I mean the conditioner!” I replied quickly and without thinking since I felt that my silence would make her more worried- wait- I'm pretty sure my reply just now made things worse.
“Neophyte?”
This was a bad idea- talking like this and looking unconfident I mean, and worse still, everyone is hearing it- wait, everyone? - Charcoal should still be here with how long she likes her warm showers-
“Well I uhm, accidentally soaped my eyes again-”
“Again?!” I smiled, thank Goddess my sister was still here, now for her words of concern- “do you want me to go there?!”
“No- no, I'm fine,” I felt warmer than the water running down my nude body, I was happy that she cared enough to rush across the bathroom just to help me out, “thanks though!”
“Be careful! You know you're too strong for regular bottles!”
I giggled, “yeah- I know, sorry,”
“Well I'm close, so if you want help, then I'm here alright?”
“Thank you, Korbinian,” even her too, huh?
I let myself smile. Glad that no one saw how mischievous, and warm, and happy it was.
…
I was the last one who went out of the bathroom and the stares everyone sent my way as I opened my locker and changed into my standard uniform was… unique to say the least- and also understandable since with how many parts it has, the damn thing was downright tedious to put on.
Everyone's stare was along the lines of being stuck between impressed, shocked, and slightly amused.
All in that order- which I assume was how they felt when they heard Charcoal talk about how I struggled with shampoo bottles earlier but I'm sure that it's fine- and where was I going with this? Ah right- training Lucille, I have a few ideas that I want to suggest to everyone else and I think they'd love it.
And supposedly, the opportunity for me to do it came when all of us started filing out of the locker room and into the hallway to head to our class.
And I should have told the rest of my friends about all the ideas I cooked up as we were walking but sadly, we were all chaotically spread apart from one another- well, more like I was apart from them, - thanks to the fact that our class formed this neat, singular line without any sense of numbering so while I was stuck with Sleet and Lucille's friend, Zyra at the back, Fafnir, Laceresta, and Zath were at the front, leading the way because they changed faster than me.
Am I pouting because of Laceresta's simple choice of clothing, Zath's ability to change quickly, and the fact that Fafnir didn't need clothes while I, with my uniform, had to throw on several different articles of clothing? Tediously?
Pffft- of course not- well only by a little bit but I’m not that bitter.
“Neophyte you're scowling, are you okay?” Sleet flinched when I directed my glare at her, “uhhhh-”
“Is my uniform over the top?” I suddenly asked.
“No?” She replied, “that's the standard uniform generals on the battlefield wear right?” She pursed her lips and frowned in thought, adding, “well- I guess guys wear long sleeved jackets instead of a waistcoat but-” she paused, raised her finger, opened and closed her mouth like a fish, before sighing, “I'm trailing off, why would it be over the top?”
“I just feel like it is,” I answered, “well, it's fine, let's just head to the classroom, maybe I'll think that it's normal when that happens,”
“Okay?..”
Compared to what I expected of continuing to feel bitter about my uniform, I actually spent most of our walk back to our classroom thinking- worrying really, if I can teach Lucille properly or if- if- I kill another Hero like an idiot and I was effectively forced to dwell on my worries until I sat on my seat.
By then, I was feeling like the world was going to end and everything I did was meaningless and I'm sure that if I wasn't with my class I would be hyperventilating and- and-
“Neophyte?” A pair of fingers snapped in front of me and I slowly turned my head to follow the arm they were attached to- okay, weird line of thought- which is good- weird is good- yep-
“You're pale, Neo. Are- do we need to go to the infirmary? Did the shampoo- were you allergic to the kind of shampoo the school provides-”
“I'm fine, Nav,” I smiled at my friend to reassure her, which didn't do anything, “I'm not some fragile girl made of glass,” I defended, “just… I'm thinking about something and- it's nothing important,”
“It is if you went pale.” Naviri steeled her gaze, “so what is it?”
I looked away but a pair of hands grabbed both my cheeks and turned my head, forcing me to look at my friend eye to eye, “What. Is. It?”
She was now demanding answers- great.
“Can you leave me alone?” I didn't want to do this and not because- my train of thought snapped in half, “Naviri you know I hate it when you look at me like that,”
Her look of betrayal started to morph into an expression that was about to cry and I- “Naviri, please, not this again-”
I know that this is an act- I swear to Goddess why do I fall for it every time?
“Neo. Tell me what's bothering you,” she leaned forward, “you know you can trust me,”
I looked around, hoping for a lifeline in the form of everyone else but the seats around us were empty-
Where- where the hell did Fafnir and the rest go? I mean, I get Laceresta being late since she had to check everyone entering the classroom but- I turned to the door and saw them all there.
They're with her? Wow… talk about unlucky.
“I know how you feel,” I started, “but can you trust me to handle this problem by myself?”
She didn't trust me, I knew that, her look of disbelief was proof enough.
“Have you ever?” She rebuked.
“I will, this time,” I did my best to sound tough, certain, confident, “so please-”
She hugged me, “fine,” her hand came up to my head and started rubbing my hair to soothe me and like always, it worked, I let my body relax, “but if you want anyone to talk to, then I'm always here for you, okay?”
“I'll remember,” I replied, “I promise.”
My friend broke the hug, “you promise?”
“I already said it, didn't I?” I giggled.
“Well, for once I wanna say that I trust you, Neo.” her worried gaze became warm, and she looked at me with… something I couldn't read but knew it was full of love and compassion.
The look that she gave me was why my next line of thought was-
Maybe I also needed to trust myself?
And-
I'm sure that I'm competent enough to teach Lucille, right?
A sweaty Lucille pushed herself up after her spar against Inferno, who didn't hold back and now, the inside of the ring that Instructor Quoketh drew on the ground was full of fire of varying degrees and colors, with dark orange being the most common.
Some areas even had puddles of molten rock in them and yet despite that Lucille looked… kind of fine, she didn't have a single burn mark on her body and only had singes on some parts of her skin.
I didn't know what kind of Technique she used to defend against Inferno of all people, but it worked and thanks to it, Lucille was fine even after going through a barrage of Fire Balls and Fire Lances. Even her clothes were fine, having no other signs of damage save for a few black spots in some areas.
"She's doing well,” I commented to the agreement of Fafnir, who nodded, “a bit more time and she'll become someone who I won't have to worry about,” mostly, this world is dangerous and full of literal monsters so I doubt that she'll ever be 100% safe.
Even I, even after so many playthroughs, have never had a perfect, deathless run but I wasn't asking for the impossible, just… something.
“A bit more,” I said under my breath, “a bit more and she'd be able to fight the Demon General that's leading the current wave alongside us,”
Well me saying a “bit more” may be an underestimation…
Lucille wouldn't be strong enough by then, I'm sure of it, this world doesn't run on game logic anymore where numbers were the only thing that mattered and a Demon General is simply impossible to be killed by a freshman, Hero or not.
Well, I could probably do it but that's a big what if.
And I had the advantage of all my game knowledge and my training since childhood.
Lucille doesn't.
Even if I somehow managed to teach her everything I knew and gave her a lot of resources to maximize her training, it still wouldn't be enough.
Back in the game, the player had to fight a Demon General who has been weakened by a lot of dead soldiers before it got to the Player and their party, and even then, the damn thing is called a Boss for a reason- the fight was hard.
The problem is though, the Player- or myself for that matter, - only had regular soldiers as allies to assist them.
Meanwhile, I'm going to be there to help her and with my current strength, I'm sure that I'll be able to guarantee a safe fight for Lucille during that time.
I can make sure that her fight against the Demon General isn't impossible and let her live through it- that’s my goal.
And for that, I needed to- not just help her out during the fight but also train her.
Not just… leave her alone and fend for herself.
That's something that I realized while watching Lucille fight Inferno and for once, get hit by an attack.
She's not invincible and she can still be killed and this place- this world- is full of dangerous beings that can easily kill a newbie Slayer.
Lucille needs to be strong enough to take on everything that can possibly come her way- which is why I… needed to train her, it's the only way and I should've realized this was inevitable and- and-
“She's going to be unbeatable if we teach her well,” I stopped worrying and eyed Fafnir, who shot me an encouraging smile, “the Demon Lord is not going to stand a chance,”
The Demon Lord huh?..
By that point- and if we ever reach it, that is, which we will, I'll make sure of it, - everything and everyone would no longer be threatened by the Demons and more importantly, they'll finally be safe from my mistake.
… in that time, Lucille would have to sacrifice herself, or even me, or- or- any of us really, there's a high chance that we're going to die during that fight but at least- at least when we reach the Demon Lord, I know that the world will be safe.
I wasn't confident in anything- in any of this at all but Fafnir's right, if we teach Lucille properly then there will be nothing in this world that can stand in her way.
"Yeah, you're right,” I agreed with a smile.
Small talk on how all of us can teach Lucille in the future was what occupied us while we waited for the rest of our classmates to finish sparring, which took a while but thanks to that, me, Laceresta, Fafnir, and Zath managed to brainstorm a semi-decent plan on what to teach the current Hero.
And the plan goes as follows- I'll teach Lucille all of the tiny tricks I knew about monsters while at the same time, give her information on high level Techniques.
Meanwhile Laceresta would be the one to teach her how to fight and how to handle herself in a fight, allowing for Lucille to effectively be a more competent combatant.
Fafnir's role would be teaching Lucille how to manipulate Light, which she is unsurprisingly good at.
And finally, Zath would teach her how to do miscellaneous tasks out in the wild- a common thing for Slayers to do, - such as setting up tents, starting fires, and cooking her food using haphazard tools as well as various other things that I didn't know about.
All in all, the plan was shaping up to be pretty good.
And I know it wasn't perfect, but it was a start.
Our talk continued until the end of our combat class, dwindling only after we went to the showers to wash our sweat off with warm water.
I kept brainstorming more ideas about the training plan even as I cleaned myself- well, more like letting the water from the shower wash me while waiting for more ideas to come to me but you know, it's something. And besides, this is a pretty good headstart for when I discuss things with everyone else later at the suite.
It's also worth mentioning that the warm water jogged my brain and let me cook up ideas easily and shower thoughts or not, the plans flowing in my head right now looked prettyyyy valid in my eyes.
I raised my hands and grabbed my scalp and I slowly and meticulously started breaking apart my silver hair with my fingers to let water in between the strands, I did that until I was sure that using shampoo would actually form bubbles instead of… whatever oily abomination gets produced whenever I don't rinse my hair enough.
When I felt water course through my hair and down my back, I considered it was wet enough and used the shampoo. Which yeah, does exist in this world, and not just shampoo, but a wide variety of beauty products as well, making Everlast quite advanced compared to the medieval ages that it was inspired from.
I can still remember my older sister's shock when she learned that things like these existed here.
She was a historian and well, when she saw the bottle of shampoo and conditioner in one of the cutscenes- just a picture, and not an actual cutscene so… picture scene? Something like that.
Anyways, back then- as in, our own earth's history, - she said that peasants didn't have access to anything other than ash or sometimes lime to clean themselves.
I didn't know if she was exaggerating or not- she probably was, knowing her, - but I did believe her when she said that hygiene wasn't exactly a concern for most of humanity's history.
Here though?.. Hygiene's importance was widespread enough that villages basically had public bathhouses so that villagers could clean themselves.
Where was I going with this?
Ah, right- Lucille's training plan (which, come to think of it doesn't involve shampoo products or conditioner for that matter,) is going well! We have a plan for it and uhm…
I placed my head directly under the shower and rinsed the shampoo off of my hair and as I went back to pushing my fingers beneath my strands to scratch it apart and let water flow in, my thoughts went back to Karsten and Prescine's words on what I want and…
Do I want to teach Lucille?
My thoughts were a genuine mess right now and I didn't know how I felt about that particular thing but I'm thinking up plans for it now so…
… I do, I realized- I wanted to teach Lucille but… I'm not exactly confident in doing that-
I blinked when I heard a sigh, and then someone's voice broke through the fog of noise, their next words let me know that it was me who let out that sigh just now, “Neophyte are you okay?”
I laughed it off, “uh, yeah!” I yelled back, noting that my voice was barely audible thanks to the sound of falling water around us, “uhm- just wasted a bit of shampoo because I squeezed too hard!”
“Yeah… you still don't sound like you're okay,” I listened in to the speaker and, huh, I thought Korbinian was the kind of girl to just ignore this sort of thing. Sort of- er not really- but to be fair, Korbinian and I did start our friendship thanks to her nosiness.
So I guess this is expected?..
Are crows nosy? Maybe…
“I mean the conditioner!” I replied quickly and without thinking since I felt that my silence would make her more worried- wait- I'm pretty sure my reply just now made things worse.
“Neophyte?”
This was a bad idea- talking like this and looking unconfident I mean, and worse still, everyone is hearing it- wait, everyone? - Charcoal should still be here with how long she likes her warm showers-
“Well I uhm, accidentally soaped my eyes again-”
“Again?!” I smiled, thank Goddess my sister was still here, now for her words of concern- “do you want me to go there?!”
“No- no, I'm fine,” I felt warmer than the water running down my nude body, I was happy that she cared enough to rush across the bathroom just to help me out, “thanks though!”
“Be careful! You know you're too strong for regular bottles!”
I giggled, “yeah- I know, sorry,”
“Well I'm close, so if you want help, then I'm here alright?”
“Thank you, Korbinian,” even her too, huh?
I let myself smile. Glad that no one saw how mischievous, and warm, and happy it was.
…
I was the last one who went out of the bathroom and the stares everyone sent my way as I opened my locker and changed into my standard uniform was… unique to say the least- and also understandable since with how many parts it has, the damn thing was downright tedious to put on.
Everyone's stare was along the lines of being stuck between impressed, shocked, and slightly amused.
All in that order- which I assume was how they felt when they heard Charcoal talk about how I struggled with shampoo bottles earlier but I'm sure that it's fine- and where was I going with this? Ah right- training Lucille, I have a few ideas that I want to suggest to everyone else and I think they'd love it.
And supposedly, the opportunity for me to do it came when all of us started filing out of the locker room and into the hallway to head to our class.
And I should have told the rest of my friends about all the ideas I cooked up as we were walking but sadly, we were all chaotically spread apart from one another- well, more like I was apart from them, - thanks to the fact that our class formed this neat, singular line without any sense of numbering so while I was stuck with Sleet and Lucille's friend, Zyra at the back, Fafnir, Laceresta, and Zath were at the front, leading the way because they changed faster than me.
Am I pouting because of Laceresta's simple choice of clothing, Zath's ability to change quickly, and the fact that Fafnir didn't need clothes while I, with my uniform, had to throw on several different articles of clothing? Tediously?
Pffft- of course not- well only by a little bit but I’m not that bitter.
“Neophyte you're scowling, are you okay?” Sleet flinched when I directed my glare at her, “uhhhh-”
“Is my uniform over the top?” I suddenly asked.
“No?” She replied, “that's the standard uniform generals on the battlefield wear right?” She pursed her lips and frowned in thought, adding, “well- I guess guys wear long sleeved jackets instead of a waistcoat but-” she paused, raised her finger, opened and closed her mouth like a fish, before sighing, “I'm trailing off, why would it be over the top?”
“I just feel like it is,” I answered, “well, it's fine, let's just head to the classroom, maybe I'll think that it's normal when that happens,”
“Okay?..”
Compared to what I expected of continuing to feel bitter about my uniform, I actually spent most of our walk back to our classroom thinking- worrying really, if I can teach Lucille properly or if- if- I kill another Hero like an idiot and I was effectively forced to dwell on my worries until I sat on my seat.
By then, I was feeling like the world was going to end and everything I did was meaningless and I'm sure that if I wasn't with my class I would be hyperventilating and- and-
“Neophyte?” A pair of fingers snapped in front of me and I slowly turned my head to follow the arm they were attached to- okay, weird line of thought- which is good- weird is good- yep-
“You're pale, Neo. Are- do we need to go to the infirmary? Did the shampoo- were you allergic to the kind of shampoo the school provides-”
“I'm fine, Nav,” I smiled at my friend to reassure her, which didn't do anything, “I'm not some fragile girl made of glass,” I defended, “just… I'm thinking about something and- it's nothing important,”
“It is if you went pale.” Naviri steeled her gaze, “so what is it?”
I looked away but a pair of hands grabbed both my cheeks and turned my head, forcing me to look at my friend eye to eye, “What. Is. It?”
She was now demanding answers- great.
“Can you leave me alone?” I didn't want to do this and not because- my train of thought snapped in half, “Naviri you know I hate it when you look at me like that,”
Her look of betrayal started to morph into an expression that was about to cry and I- “Naviri, please, not this again-”
I know that this is an act- I swear to Goddess why do I fall for it every time?
“Neo. Tell me what's bothering you,” she leaned forward, “you know you can trust me,”
I looked around, hoping for a lifeline in the form of everyone else but the seats around us were empty-
Where- where the hell did Fafnir and the rest go? I mean, I get Laceresta being late since she had to check everyone entering the classroom but- I turned to the door and saw them all there.
They're with her? Wow… talk about unlucky.
“I know how you feel,” I started, “but can you trust me to handle this problem by myself?”
She didn't trust me, I knew that, her look of disbelief was proof enough.
“Have you ever?” She rebuked.
“I will, this time,” I did my best to sound tough, certain, confident, “so please-”
She hugged me, “fine,” her hand came up to my head and started rubbing my hair to soothe me and like always, it worked, I let my body relax, “but if you want anyone to talk to, then I'm always here for you, okay?”
“I'll remember,” I replied, “I promise.”
My friend broke the hug, “you promise?”
“I already said it, didn't I?” I giggled.
“Well, for once I wanna say that I trust you, Neo.” her worried gaze became warm, and she looked at me with… something I couldn't read but knew it was full of love and compassion.
The look that she gave me was why my next line of thought was-
Maybe I also needed to trust myself?
And-
I'm sure that I'm competent enough to teach Lucille, right?
