I hate being wed in a fantasy world!

“Lad? Are you alright?” I ask Kenta-kun, who is currently busy sorting his limbs after he was flung through the air. I'm rather impressed that he actually managed to break the fall somewhat, maybe he has a surprising amount of experience with being hurled?

“Ahhh...” It seems that groaning in pain isn't something only old people do. I have little experience with that, as barbarians are supposedly tough and my former enemies usually had no time to feel physical pain when facing me.

Except in case dying hurts.

The lad stands up, seemingly pissed at himself and me: “Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit!”

If he can complain, he can also dodge. I kick up a pebble which he barely evades, but the air current around it makes him lose his balance, which allows me to step up, grab his arm and hurl him through the air once more. This time he could have flown over a building!

“[Rising Point]!” He uses his skill to create an aircurrent himself before he hits the ground, but I'm already there, grabbing through the wind as if it were just the breath of a child, this time slamming him lightly into the wet ground, which creates a nice mud hole.

“Here I come.” I step on his back, making it impossible for him to stand up, as he drowns in the mud.

“[Wrsng Prrnt]!”

Oh? This time the air current is less of a breath and more of a breeze, though it takes a lot more for me to lose my stance. The spear slams into my side, bending under the pressure of my muscles, which may have lost a lot of buff over the years, but remain firm and strong.

I grab the shaft and whip it out of Kenta-kun's hands, then I touch his nape with the tip. “I won again.” Then I lift my foot, allowing him to stand up again.

“SHIT!” He yells at the sky, as he rubs his bruises which begin at his feet and end at his head. “WHAT IS THE POINT IF MY ATTACKS DO NOTHING IN THE FIRST PLACE!!?”

“You need to hit harder then.”

“I GAVE IT ALL! I USED A HERO SURGE!”

“Then your ‘all’ is just too weak.”

“GRAAAAH!” He kicks the ground, but that's to be expected. “Why don't you teach me [Rage] then!?”

“Lad, you're too angry for that.”

“Isn't that the fucking point!?”

How to explain... I look at the spear in my hand. “What you ask, lad, is like asking me to teach you to use the spear this way.” I grab the blade, only leaving a bit of the tip uncovered, while doing stabbing motions with it. “Anger is just the tip. You have a lot of it, it may serve well, but it's just a small bit of what rage is.”

“So I have to be calm!?”

“No, you have to be furious!”

“AND I'M NOT THAT ALREADY!?”

“Not the right way.”

“GRAAAAAAH!” Sorry lad, I can't explain it well. “So why teaching me in the first place!?”

“This isn't me teaching, this is us looking at your limits.”

“So!? Disappointed!?”

How could I? He’s got guts, he’s got smarts, he’s got drive. My only redeeming quality is pure power, but that's why I learned to use it to its fullest. “Let's do it once more, to make sure you showed everything.”

“Phew... give me my spear back then?”

I throw it aside while cracking my knuckles. “I think not.”

The result is as expected and the limping lad returns to the farmstead to seek healing from Kyou-kun, who is wet and exhausted, but very excited for some reason.

On the other hand, I take a drink from the barn, to keep away from the crowd. Yet I'm not alone there. “Mirianne-kun?”

“Ah... hello...” She looks pale and sick, big dark rings under her eyes. That's what happens when other people don't sleep enough!

“Bad dreams?” I ask with concern, knowing too well how those can be painful.

Then she does something I didn't expect. She starts to cry. “Uh...ughuhhh...”

Well, time to take her into my arms, whisper some nothings into her ears, then slowly start being more forceful, kiss her cheeks then moving to her lips, laying her down, and---wait, wait, wait, I shouldn't do that here!

I mean, I could. She also looks pretty enough. If a woman feels bad, bedding her is the right thing to do, at least that's how I’ve lived my life so far. Yet something resists inside me, which leaves me with no option but wait for her to calm down a bit.

…

…. … …

Come on, it has been several minutes! Maybe I could say something, but what? How did I handle things like that way back with... her...

Oh no, tears want to escape my eyes, I suck them back with sheer willpower. I'm above those feeble emotions! No, that's another person talking! A person who almost became me!

While I was busy fighting back way too old emotions, Mirianne-kun finally went from wailing to sniveling “I-I'm sorry, it's---just...” Please don't stop talking, I won't know what to do otherwise! “Just... Well, Red rejected me. Maybe because I'm too plain... I mean, he's with a princess, after all.” Tears run down her cheeks: “I'm just a farmer girl. I reek, I'm full of dirt, my hands are rough, and I know nothing but farm life.”

I have no idea what to say, but I also don't want to listen: “Lass, what you say isn't bad.” I take her hands: “You call them rough, but these are hands that create. Rine-kun and Kenta-kun got the hands of people who kill, and that's still light compared to me.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“It just sounds different to you. Nothing amazing there.” There never was, even though I had fun for a long time. “I wish I would have learned how to till a field, how to farm animals, how to build a chair. Instead, I spent my time wandering around, taking whatever I couldn't make myself, which was everything.” Every time I think about it, it makes my stomach cold and my throat sore.

“But you can still learn how to do farmwork.”

“What about you learning something else then?”

“I--- I missed my chance. I'm too old to learn a craft, my mom wants to marry me off, there is nothing I can do!”

“Lass, look at me. I'm not even sure how much time I have. If you give me the chance to learn, what is hindering you?”

“...what about Red?”

“That's up to you and him, right?”

“...I can't beat her.”

“Then either give up or find a way.”

“...” Mirianne-kun sits down, hugging her knees.

I take a seat next to her. It feels right. Taking some care of her makes me feel a little better about myself, even though our troubles are so much different from each other.

Taking care of someone... If I just learned that decades before...

―○●○―

I'm with Rine alone in a room, as Kyou-san and Ara-san left us alone for obvious reasons.

“And that's how we started jumping around, it was really funny!” I listen to Rine, who talks about how they tested her spells out. In this case [Uplift], a spell which makes people and objects 'floaty', as she calls it. I seriously need to interview Ara-san later, as Rine is a very imprecise source. “How was your training, Dear?”

“Painful.” Even after Kyou-san's treatment, I feel every bruise by memory alone. “Don't see the point yet, but Jii-san said something about testing my limits.”

“Ah yes, that usually hurts. Instructor did that a lot.”

“How so?”

“For example, I had to do a handstand for an hour while balancing two plates on each foot.” ...OK, this seems unnecessarily complicated. “It took me weeks to do that.” Maybe that's the reason why she can move her body that freely? “Mou, I really need to get stronger. How can I beat a shockwave, though?”

“Well, how would Gottfried do that?”

“Cut it.”

“Figures. Why can't you?”

“Maybe I can? I don't know, I can't see it, and only Grekk is there to test it out and he's busy training you.” Fair enough, his attack is basically invisible and quick as fuck. Couple that with his nigh indestructibility and he's a hell of an opponent.

“You can dodge a lot without seeing it though.”

“Yeah, my body just moves, but sometimes it doesn't, because it feels like there is no point. Or just enough to block it as much as possible.” True, Rine always had problems with AoE-attacks, or those who just overwhelmed her with the number of hits. She tends to make the best out of the situation, even if she's hit by a mountain, but I totally get why she laments her lack of power after fighting Gottfried.

Even though I wish I had half of hers.

“Well Rine, there is no one able to teach you, but for the moment you're a hero and can just use that for the time being.”

“Hn?”

“Level up, learn [Skills], [Classes], and [Class-ups], and get stronger that way. If you can't cut shockwaves, learn a [Skill] that does so. Maybe [Scytheshield] can do it?”

“It's too slow.”

“And [Rising Point] is not supposed to break falls, and I don't care.”

“...yeah, you're right! Thanks Kenta! I love you!” She hugs me before I can even say something, and I feel her toned body on mine, which is immediately punished with an elbow in my side: “Ah, Dear!”

“...” I want to groan in pain, but I also don't want to act like a baby in front of my girlfriend.

“Let me help, [Heal]!” She touches the spot she just hit carefully, as if to check if her spell was successful. Then she rubs it carefully: “All well.” She looks caring and resentful at the same time, and this somehow speaks to my groin. “Oh, sorry!” This time it's for grabbing my side and twisting it, causing a ripping pain: “[Heal]!”

“Phew...” How much easier it used to be when I didn't allow myself to be aroused by her unless I was at a distance. I might relieve myself every now and then... oh shit, I haven’t done it for a week or so by now! Is that the reason?

“Hm... I wanted to have my first time with how I am, but maybe this will help?” Rine suddenly becomes less athletic, she just changed her class to [Tailor]. Also, why are you so direct with your first time!? “I feel like I won't accidentally lethally hurt you this way!”

But you will hurt me nonetheless? Well, the mood is kinda ruined already. “Phew...”

“Dear?” She wraps her arms around my neck: “I know I make a lot of trouble, but I want you to know that I really love you and I want to be with you in every sense.” Then she purses her lips, and after a second of hesitation, I go for it. There is no way that anyone could resist if a girlfriend as beautiful as Rine is coming on to them.

Around ten minutes later.

“You know,” Kyou-san stares coldly down at my wrecked body: “I didn't learn [Rejuvenate] for this.”