Chapter 46

46 – Hiiro’s Decision

Apologies for the delay everyone. I started watching and got addicted to Game of Thrones.

Question: How do you want character dialogue to be handled?

Case 1: Yoraikun does not add the names of the people speaking because it doesn’t have it in the RAW. It’s easier when reading Japanese, but you’ll have to figure out who’s talking by context. Shouldn’t be too too hard though.

ie. “Hey kids!”

“Hello, Uncle”

“Sup, old man”

Case 2: NetBlazer adds the names in parenthesis after the dialogue. ie. “Hello” (Person A)

Case 3: XCrossJ has the name of the individual speaking, then the dialogue. ie. Person A: “Hello”

For this chapter, I’ll be using XCrossJ’s format for consistency’s sake.

Also, looking on the Terms poll on the Chapter 44 page, it seems like “Japanese” and “Both” are fairly close together. I’ll use both as there may be readers who may not know the meaning of certain terms, but please feel free to suggest alternative ways I should format it.

Arnold: “Are you alright, Muir?”

Muir: “Nn… Eh? E-Eh!?”

Muir doesn’t understand why she was lying down and becomes confused. However, she suddenly gasps and remembers about how she had just been in a game with Rarashik.

Muir: “Um… I…”

Arnold: “Do you remember now?”

Muir: “Y-Yes… U-Um, the game…”

Muir looks towards Rarashik with an uneasy expression on her face. Seeing that, Arnold lightly pats her on her head.

Arnold: “It was your win”

Muir: “…Eh? R-Really?”

Muir’s eyes gradually widen as Arnold’s words start to sink in. Arnold nods his head again.

Arnold: “Yeah, you did really well”

Hearing those words, the realization that she had won starts welling up inside her and she began to get teary.

Muir: “Uu… Uuu… I’m so glaaad”

She must have truly felt happy. Up until now she had been nothing more than a burden, and she was afraid that she would ruin the chance Arnold gave her to be able to train under the best master.

However, she won the game and was to learn how to fight from Rarashik. She started to cry tears of joy thinking about how she could finally be of use to Arnold and Hiiro.

Hiiro: “Hey, chibi. You might have won the game, but this is only the start”

(TL: chibi = midget; rude way to address kids or people shorter than yourself)

Arnold glares at Hiiro, as if to say he didn’t need to say that right now. Ignoring Arnold, Rarashik adds onto Hiiro’s words.

Rarashik: “Well, I lost so I’ll train the jou-chan, but if I ever feel like she doesn’t have what it takes I’m going to throw her out”

(TL: jou-chan = little girl)

Arnold: “No way!”

Arnold: “S-Shishou! Please train her until the end!”

(TL: shishou = master)

Rarashik: “Don’t say something so spoiled! I’ll certainly train her, but I don’t have the free time to waste on someone who can’t do something no matter how much I teach her!”

Arnold: “Ugh… But…”

Muir: “It’s fine, oji-san”

(TL: oji-san = uncle; male adult)

Arnold: “M-Muir?”

Muir: “It’s as Hiiro-san and Rarashik-san says. I can’t be spoiled forever”

Arnold: “…”

Muir: “I decided to become stronger. So I’ll do my best! I’ll do my best to become stronger! And then I want to be able to stand next to oji-san and Hiiro-san!”

There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in Muir’s words. In her words, Arnold felt a strong determination. She was that serious.

Arnold: (…Gin. This girl is exactly like you…)

In this cute girl’s face, Arnold also saw traces of an old acquaintance. Especially the eyes full of determination after one decides what to do. Those eyes were exactly the same as that person’s.

Arnold: “…Shishou, please take care of her”

Arnold politely bows while saying so. Muir staggers while standing up and bows deeply as well.

Muir: “I’ll be in your care!”

Looking at those two, Rarashik giggles.

Rarashik: “My training is strict. Arnold-boya over there can vouch for that. If you’re still willing to train under me, then call me shishou from now on”

(TL: boya = boy)

Muir: “Y-Yes! Shishou-sama!”

Muir answers energetically. Rarashik nods as if satisfied by her response. Arnold sighs with relief, as if he had just finished an important job.

Rarashik: “By the way, Arnold, what are you going to do?”

Arnold: “Yes?”

Rarashik: “Are you going to train with this girl too?”

Arnold: “Um… Is that… No good?”

Arnold tries to take advantage of the opportunity. Arnold had also planned to become stronger by coming back. Rarashik glares at him for a bit, but sighs and shrugs.

Rarashik: “Well, one person, two people, there’s no difference. Back when I was still in active duty, my disciples said especially stupid things”

Hiiro: “Oh, is that so?”

Hiiro opens his eyes a little. Arnold responded to his question.

Arnold: “I told you, right? She is the one who created >. Everyone came trying to become her disciple. Rather, most of the people who stand at the top of this country are shishou’s disciples”

According to Arnold, the king and even the > were her disciples. Hearing that, Hiiro reaffirmed that this woman called Rarashik was an incredible individual.

Hiiro: “Rather than that, I’m surprised that a perverted old man like you was able to learn from her”

Arnold: “Don’t call me a pervert! It’s been a while but you haven’t forgotten about it, huh, you bastard!”

However, Hiiro was serious about his question. It wouldn’t be strange to wonder how Arnold, who was neither royalty nor a citizen, but just an adventurer and a cook, came to be taught by someone so amazing.

Arnold: “W-Well, I can understand why you might ask that. I was just lucky…”

Hiiro: “Lucky?”

Rarashik: “I was forced to take him in”

Arnold: “S-Shishou!”

Hearing this, Hiiro frowns and looks back and forth between the two. Muir blankly looks at them in the same way.

Rarashik: “It was a request from an old drinking buddy. Arnold-boya was brought by that person and he asked me to look after him”

Hiiro: “Hmmm”

Arnold: “No, what do you mean ‘hmmm’? And, if it’s just by name then you know him”

Hiiro: “Huh?”

Arnold: “It was Judom-san”

Hiiro: “Judom? If I remember correctly, he’s the kingdom’s guild master, right?”

Arnold: “Yeah, that’s right”

Hiiro: “I see. You said he was an acquaintance, but it was that kind of a relationship”

Arnold: “Pretty much. I was introduced to shishou by that person, and that’s how I came to be trained by her”

Rarashik: “I didn’t want to. I was forced to do it”

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Arnold cringed hearing those words. They were the truth so he couldn’t deny it and could do nothing but became depressed.

Rarashik: “But, it’s a pretty nostalgic story. When Arnold was young he looked so cute, unlike the old man face he has now”

Rarashik smiles as she recalls old memories.

Arnold: “W-Wait, shishou!”

As if embarrassed, Arnold raises his head and raises his voice.

Rarashik: “Ah, by the way, what are you going to do, boya?”

Hiiro: “Ha?”

Hiiro instinctively responded after being asked so suddenly.

Rarashik: “No, I’ll be training these two, but you… Arnold?”

Arnold: “Eh? Um…”

Arnold feels troubled and scratches his head. As for why, it is because Hiiro is not a Gabranth. This training is for Gabranth to learn the ability to use >. However, for a human like Hiiro, there is almost no meaning to this training.

Arnold: (I mean, Hiiro can’t even use >… What do I do…)

Not knowing how to respond, Arnold looks towards Hiiro. Then, Hiiro answers curtly:

“I don’t need it”

Hiiro: (I’m not some sports enthusiast. Like hell I’m doing training for Gabranth)

Rather than that, Hiiro wanted to do more training with his >. He determined that if he were to do such supposedly strict training, he would have no time left to train on his own.

Rarashik: “Hmm, I had an interest in boya, too”

Rarashik says so in a somewhat dejected tone.

Hiiro: (You have to be kidding me. She’s seen me using >. If she gets too curious she’ll happily turn me into her guinea pig)

Hiiro gets goosebumps as he thinks that. He thought that she’ll probably ask him about his magic until she’s satisfied and run experiments on his body. He decided that he will never become a disciple of hers.

Hiiro: “How long will the training take?”

Hiiro asked Rarashik, who turns to face Muir.

Rarashik: “Hmm… This jou-chan herself is… Well, in order to train her to the level of holding her own as an adventurer, it’ll take at least six months. Fortunately her level is already decent, so basic combat training, >, and practical techniques. With all of that, it’ll take about that long”

Hearing that it would take six months, Hiiro had already come to a decision. He turns to face Arnold and Muir.

Hiiro: “Is that so. Then, this is goodbye”

Muir gasped and looked sad, while Arnold shrugged as if to say “I thought so”.

Arnold: “I thought so. Well, it can’t be helped”

Arnold has already given up, but Muir hasn’t and begins to talk.

Muir: “W-Why? Even if you don’t train, why don’t you stay in this country?”

Hiiro: “Sorry, but I have my own goals”

Muir: “G-Goals?”

Hiiro: “Yeah, to see the world. I can’t sit idly by for six months”

Muir looks downcast hearing Hiiro’s words. It was only for a short time, but looking into Hiiro’s eyes she understood that he wasn’t the kind of person to change his mind just by listening to other people.

She understood that she couldn’t do anything about it. Looking at her, Arnold has a bitter smile on his face. He knew that Hiiro was that kind of person so he wasn’t surprised, but to Muir, he was someone who journeyed with them together, and she was sad to see him leave.

If you look closely they may seem like family, but they are of different races, and Hiiro definitely doesn’t think of them as family. But Muir took a liking to Hiiro. If she were to honestly say so, she didn’t want the person who was like an older brother to her to leave.

However, they knew that Hiiro would never change his mind once he decided something.

Arnold: (I don’t think we can bait him to stay six months with food…)

Arnold thought that, noticing that Hiiro shows an abnormal tenacity when it comes to food, but decided it was impossible and shook his head.

Arnold: “…Hey, Hiiro. What are you going to do from now on?”

Hiiro: “Good question. After taking a little time to gather information I’ll take a look around the continent, and after that…”

Hiiro was in the middle of talking, but noticing Rarashik was looking towards them with a curious expression on her face, he stopped.

Hiiro: “…Is none of your business”

Arnold: “…Haa, I thought so”

Arnold says so, but he had also noticed Rarashik staring at them and didn’t press him further.

Arnold: (He’s probably going to the Evila’s continent. He’s said something about it before)

If Rarashik had heard that, she’d probably ask about how he plans to get there, how is a Gabranth going to get there, and it would become troublesome. Because the two races had just been fighting a war with each other.

That being the case, Hiiro and Arnold decided to keep that to themselves. Sure enough, Rarashik frowned as if dissatisfied.

Towards the Muir who was depressed until now, Hiiro looks at her as if looking down on her.

Hiiro: “Hey, chibi”

She twitches, then slowly looks up. Their eyes meet.

Hiiro: “In six months, if I become bored I’ll come back. Until them, make sure you become somewhat useful”

Hiiro didn’t plan to say these words. Curiously, looking at her being depressed, Hiiro became annoyed. He didn’t know whether he was annoyed towards her, or himself.

However, listening to his words, Muir smiled, and he felt as if the tense mood had relaxed a little.