Master’s Smile

C79 – Unpleasant Smell

“I knew it! Sorglos is really strong!!!”

Lucille looked at Sorglos with sparkling eyes as she slaughtered the monsters that tried to attack her one after another.

He looked at her with respect as she easily defeated powerful monsters with her superb skills.

“Geez~ it’s embarrassing~ (I’d rather be praised by Master than Lucille-dono, yes.)”

Sorglos replied while putting her hand behind her head, yet she didn’t look embarrassed at all.

For her, it seems like this was no big deal?

Yeah, yeah. As Sorglos’ guildmaster, I’m proud of her.

“I wonder if I can become stronger too? Maybe if I imitate Sorglos, I can also-…!”

“Well, I don’t think that’s possible, yes.”

Lucille said while swinging his sword, but Sorglos quickly refuted him in a fed up manner.

It is true that Sorglos’ fighting style and his seem to be fundamentally different.

Sorglos is mainly a mid to long-range attacker with a high level of throwing skill, and she is skilled in surprise attacks.

I honestly don’t know about Lucille as I haven’t seen him in combat that much, but he seems to be the power type who slashes directly in front with his sword.

Forcing himself to imitate her would only be a disadvantage.

“Oh…?”

A lively sound of “gyurururururu…” echoed through the air.

It wasn’t me and… it couldn’t be Sorglos either. She’s a bit special.

So, by process of elimination, we were left with….

“Hehe. I’m hungry.”

(TLN: “Onaka peko peko” – a certain sword princess)

Lucille scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.

I looked up at the sky and checked the sun’s position.

It was right above our heads, brightly illuminating the area.

I was so engrossed in the search that I didn’t realize how much time had passed.

Just the right time. Maybe Apollo and the others are already waiting for us at the meeting place.

“I see. Then, we’d better get to them quickly. I’m hungry, can we pick something up to eat along the way?”

Lucille asked and looked up at me.

Hmmm, are we going to have lunch here today?

I was thinking of going back to the guild during lunch time….

“No, no! We should eat here together with Lucille-dono and the others, for the sake of goodwill, yes!”

Sorglos quickly replied to my mumbling.

I-Is that so? I think we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well already….

“Haha! Master may have done so, but we still haven’t yet, yes.”

Sorglos proudly claimed so.

Umm, that’s not something to brag about, is it?

…Well, if Sorglos says so, I guess we’ll have lunch with them.

“(Good. With this, we can prevent the intervention of those troublesome members.)”

Sorglos clenched her fist.

By some chance, does Sorglos want to get along with them?

That’s a very good thing. I’ll do my best to help.

“Hey, let’s get going….”

Lucille looked at me and Sorglos with a wistful look in his eyes.

I’m sure he’s nearing the end of his rope due to his stomach growling from hunger.

I apologized with a wry smile and started walking.

“BUMOOOOO!!!”

At that moment, a boar-like monster appeared in front of us.

Unlike a normal boar, it had a different body size amongst other things.

In addition, it had very long and sharp tusks with its eyes glowing bright red.

Let’s see… What was its name again?

I do remember that it was a very threatening monster with its charging power, though.

“Sigh, this is troublesome, yes….”

Solgros took a step forward.

Well, she’ll be able to defeat it in less than a minute.

“Wait a minute! Let me do it!”

However, Lucille pleaded to Sorglos.

…Sorglos. Even if the only part that everyone can see is your eyes and Lucille can’t see you, your eyes are saying as if it’s completely troublesome, you know?

“Come on, isn’t it fine, Master!?”

Lucille asked me instead of Sorglos as if he understood that it would take a long time for her to reply.

Hmm… Well, if it’s Lucille, you might be able to defeat this monster….

Apollo had asked me to take care of you, so I can’t let you be too reckless.

I’ll help you if it gets worse, would that be okay?

“Yes!”

Lucille smiled and stood in front of the monster.

“Lucille-dono, are you going to be alright?”

Sorglos asked after stepping back and standing beside me.

She’s… not worried, I see.

She looked at Lucille and the monster as if she didn’t care about both of them.

Yeah, I think he’ll be fine.

From what I can tell, it’s probably just about the right kind of monster for him.

Well, I have been away from the frontlines for a long time, so what I said had no credibility, though.

Lucille was probably inspired by the way Sorglos fought.

If his friend had fought with good skills, it would be natural for him…to want to join in.

“…Friend?”

Sorglos. Let’s stop making gestures like you don’t understand what I’m saying.

If Lucille is cornered, we need to help him… Would you be willing to go that far?

“If it’s Master’s command, we will gladly do it to the fullest… though some kunais might get stuck into him in the process.”

Alright, I understand. I’ll take care of it while Sorglos can keep an eye on us.

I smiled bitterly and looked at Lucille fighting the monster.

◆

“Ah~… that didn’t go so well….”

Lucille grumbled while holding a fruit in his hand.

His eyebrows furrowed as he scowled, seemingly unconvinced.

As expected from what I judged, that boar monster was quite strong.

If he had magic or means of attacking it from a distance, like Sorglos’ kunais, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to fight, but Lucille, who was all about melee combat, had a lot of trouble with it.

In the end, things got a little dicey, so I helped him out.

…I wiped the boar out without a trace with just a single magic bullet, though.

I think I need to go back to the frontlines and learn to control myself a little more.

“You’re not eating, Sorglos?”

“We are already full just looking at Master’s back, yes.”

No, that can’t be true.

My guess is that she just didn’t want to eat the fruit that Lucille gave her….

I-I don’t think she would be that horrible, wouldn’t she…?”

Nevertheless, you picked quite a lot of fruits, Lucille. Do you think you can eat this much?

When I asked him, Lucille smiled shyly.

“Well, I thought I’d give some to them too… I don’t know if any of these grow in shallow areas.”

Aah… I felt warm once again.

I see, I see. So that’s the reason why he had his arms full of fruits.

I hope you’ll forgive me for giving a wry smile when I thought that you’re a glutton.

I’m sure Apollo and the others will also be pleased with it.

“I-Is that so…? W-Well, it’s fine if they aren’t happy about it.”

Lucille looked away out of embarrassment and huffed.

I can’t help but smile when I see him like that….

“We’ll arrive at the meeting place before long, yes.”

Sorglos called out to us.

Just like what she said, a short walk later we were finally in front of the small lake we had found yesterday.

Apollo and the others are… still not here, it seems….

“That’s true. Tch, they are late. I’m going to eat all of this instead.”

Lucille ran up to the lake while pouting.

But, something wasn’t quite right.

Apollo and his friends, who are very protective of Lucille, would have probably waited for him ahead of time rather than being late because they were worried about him….

As I tilted my head, Sorglos brought her face close to mine and whispered.

“Master.”

Then she said it like it was nothing.

“We can smell blood around here, yes.”