My Disciples Think I’m Strong – Chapter 185

“Teacher! It’s snowing!”

Tina shouted as she jumped around a hill covered in snow. I looked up at the sky and exhaled. A white breath dispersed into the air.

“Is it winter?”

Just as I was realizing that the year was almost over, Iris approached me.

Iris, who had grown taller than my shoulder, handed me a cup. By the way, I was a bit over 180 centimeters tall.

“Teacher, it’s coffee. Would you like some?”

“Sure, I’ll drink it.”

Slurp.

As I tasted the bitterness spreading in my mouth, I looked at Iris’s cup. It held the same black liquid as mine.

“What’s in the cup?”

“It’s coffee.”

“I think it’s a bit early for you to drink coffee at your age.”

“It’s definitely bitter. But if it’s something you like, I want to like it too. Hehe.”

With a smile, Iris held the cup with both hands. Perhaps feeling the warmth, she sipped the coffee that way.

“Not much of this year is left now.”

Iris muttered while watching the snow fall from the sky. I replied shortly, “I see,” while sipping my coffee.

“I heard the slave liberation is happening next week.”

“Yeah.”

Months had passed since my deal with the Emperor, and there was still a month left until next year. The extraction of the magic stones wrapped up last month, and now the matter of slave liberation was progressing in earnest.

“It seems like they really intend to keep their promise.”

“Should be that way.”

“Even so, I won’t forgive them for freeing other races from slavery and declaring independence until the day I die.”

“The Emperor won’t tell you to forgive him either. Even if he says he changed his mind now, what he did cannot be forgiven.”

“Is that so…?”

“By the way, why are you not dressed properly?”

In the middle of winter, wearing only a cardigan and a long skirt.

The lower part looked decent, but the upper part seemed very cold. Not that it was truly that cold.

“Oh, I’m fine. I have a warmth magic, so it’s warm enough dressed like this.”

“Is that so?”

Slurp.

I answered indifferently and took another sip of coffee.

“And… um… I don’t want to wear anything else because it’s clothes you gave me. How should I say this? I feel more attached. It’s really a shame there’s a hole for my tail…”

“Nothing you can do about that. Clothes shouldn’t be uncomfortable.”

“Yawn. Teacher, please let me know when you’re going out.”

Just then, Maria strolled in, rubbing her eyes. Perhaps irritated by the falling snow, she snapped her fingers to keep the snow from touching her within a certain range.

“Isn’t it the fault of the one who overslept?”

“Beautiful people are said to need more sleep!”

She knows she’s pretty, huh?

Now, Maria had grown up to the point where I couldn’t call her a kid anymore as she smiled and casually linked arms with me. The unique sensation of her touch on my arm carried quite an aura, even with just a light touch.

I tried to ignore the sensation and looked at Tina, who was jumping around. I felt like I would become overly conscious if I stared too long.

“Maria, has your chest gotten bigger again?”

Iris said that as if she had noticed Maria’s chest. Maria pressed her hands against her chest, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“Hmm. It suddenly started getting bigger recently. At this rate, I think I have to make new underwear every time.”

If not for the shapewear, I felt like at least a button on her shirt could pop off at some point.

“Lucky! I want to be that big too.”

“You’ll get big too.”

But can you two talk about that in front of me?

I pretended not to hear and downed my coffee.

“Let’s head inside soon.”

“T-Teacher!”

“Yikes!”

I couldn’t react to Tina’s assault and fell straight back.

Maria, having swiftly released her linked arms, looked somewhat annoying. Wouldn’t you catch me this time?

Lying on the snow, I sighed and looked up at the sky. With clouds thickly covering, it was a dark morning despite it being daytime.

“Hehe. You okay?”

Tina, who was sitting on my stomach, asked with a big smile.

“…Do I look okay?”

“Yes!”

My ribs ached like they were broken but yeah, I’m totally fine. I better drink a potion later in a place where no one can see.

As she had grown, I could no longer bear her jumping on me like this. Of course, Tina was the shortest among the three of them. And in addition, had a smaller chest.

I endured the pain and sat up.

“T—”

“Teacher!”

“…What is it?”

“Let’s have a snowball fight!”

“A snowball fight? With who?”

“With you, Teacher!”

With that, she sprang up from my stomach and started making snowballs. The rounded ones were already poised to be thrown.

The moment Tina took a step, the snow piled on the ground rose, creating a small crater.

Bam!

The instant the snow Tina threw hit a tree, it left a dent. Is this what I know as a snowball fight?

“Wouldn’t that kind of intensity be a decent hit?”

…If that hits, I’d at least suffer internal injuries. This isn’t the snowball fight I knew!

“Um, that does seem alright.”

So that…?

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Where…?

“Okay, then it’s decided!”

No way, why are you guys deciding that on your own?

“Ariel, please be the judge!”

Tina jumped up and down while shouting. When I turned to look, Ariel was nodding her head from the roof. When did she get up there?

“Judge? What do we even do?”

Ariel, who landed in front of us, asked.

“Uh, we won’t throw hard enough to kill each other, so… like three hits and we’re done?”

You want me to endure the impact of that tree three times? I feel like I’d die after just one hit!

Ariel glances over at me, as if asking what I’m going to do. Thanks for worrying about generic folks like us.

“…You guys do it yourselves.”

“Ahh~ Teacher! It’s no fun without you. I want to wish for something from you!”

Look at that sly, using the snowball fight as an excuse to request a wish. How much like Seri she is.

…Thinking about it, I did see them flirting a few months back with Seri.

I remembered when they refused to turn down the discussion of prizes and wishes back then. Could it be they learned that from her?

Lost in such thoughts, I suddenly realized I was the one who first brought up the idea of wishes and felt disheartened.

“If the loser grants the winner a wish, how about that? If you win, you can demand something from us!”

What would I want by making a wish from you?

What I wanted was nothing more than to see an ending like, “The heroes safely defeated the Demon King and everyone lived happily ever after!” Other than that, I never needed anything else. Since I’ve done enough for them, it’s like I could give that for free.

“I’ll judge.”

“Well then, you must fulfill the wishes of us all if you win.”

“What a sneaky thief’s mindset.”

“If you don’t like it, then fight back!”

The other heroes were already fired up about the wish idea. They’re doing whatever they want.

“If I win, there will be no wish.”

I don’t know if they took my words as me entering the snowball fight, but I distinctly felt their gazes on me sharpen.

“Hoho. Guess I should go all out then.”

“Yeah. With that kind of power, it wouldn’t kill me if I got hit a few times.”

No wait, that power would totally kill me! Each one would be a fatal blow!

It looks like I might have to stake my life in this snowball fight.

“How should we split teams? I think teams would be better than individual.”

“But if it’s teams, we won’t get wishes when we’re on the same side with you, Teacher. Then it’d be pointless.”

Pointless…? So your goal was me, huh?

“Not at all, right? You can just write us wishes. Like, for example, have Teacher not come within a hundred meters of us for a day!”

“Oh!”

…With a hundred meters, I’d have to sleep outside, wouldn’t I?

“Right! That sounds amazing! During affection displays, we can wish for you to watch from the side without interrupting.”

“Oh…”

“Oh!!”

What the…?

I was the kind of person who absolutely wouldn’t interfere with kids’ matters. I had already set that rule in stone. The heroes had all agreed to that as well. They didn’t forget that, did they?

“If you’re going to make a weird wish, then don’t.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll save it until we become adults.”

“Until you become adults…?”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, who knows~?”

I sighed at Maria, who was teasingly dragging out her words. The more she grew, the less she seemed to listen and grew more cunning. Who’s been educating her, anyway?

“Then let’s choose the person who will be on Teacher’s side.”

“How do we do that?”

“Hmm.”

After a moment of thought, the three heroes seemed to have their ideas spark simultaneously and exchanged glances.

“Got it! That’s the only way!”

“Exactly. That’s the only way.”

“That way…?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Tina raised her fist high, looking all serious. Iris and Maria followed along with serious expressions.

“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”

*

Thanks to the heroes’ ridiculous dexterity in reading each other’s hands, we went through tens of rounds without conclusion. Eventually, I made an executive decision and had them stand back-to-back to play rock-paper-scissors.

As a result, Iris and I formed a team. Tina and Maria looked displeased and began gathering snowballs, saying, “Today, Iris is my enemy!”

“Teacher, I look forward to working with you!”

“Yeah.”

I answered while giving a glance to the wandering spirit in the air.

“Pasma.”

[Yeah. I can’t die here.]

…You felt I was going to die too, huh?

“Thanks in advance.”

While lightly drawing my sword, I activated the spirit. Preparing by channeling into Pasma.

Just then.

With a cutting sound through the wind, a snow bomb whizzed toward my face. Pasma barely managed to deflect my head to the side to avoid it.

Drip.

I felt something flowing down my neck and checked—oh no, I was bleeding. I got hit by a snowball! What the heck? Am I gonna die…?

“Too bad! I could have gotten a hit! Truly, it’s impressive, Teacher!”

It was clearly leagues faster than when she threw it at the tree.

Being threatened by demons was infuriating enough—do I really have to deal with these heroes too?

“Hey! We haven’t even started yet! Throwing early is no good, Tina!”

I glanced at Ariel. She was yawning from a distance, looking completely relaxed as she watched us. Where did the judge go?

“First strike wins!”

“‘High-Speed Movement.’”

Tina swiftly dodged the snowballs she threw in rapid succession. Maria, seeing this, was amazed and lifted every snowball she had made into the air. What the heck is this?

“Oh, as expected, Teacher! You’re super fast! Now, let’s see whether you can dodge this too?!”

“What the…?”

“Take that!”

Boom boom boom!

I stared blankly at the barrage of snowballs heading my way. What the heck! Who uses magic in a snowball fight?!

“‘Phantom Dance.’”

Kaboom! Kaboom!

In an instant, the snowballs that had been raining down were sliced in half and fell helplessly to the ground. Iris had sliced through the incoming snow with her sword. How could a sword and snow collide and make that sound?

“Iris! Who fights with a sword in a snowball fight?”

“Then what about you, Maria?! Using magic in a snowball fight to launch it like that? This isn’t sparring!”

“Geez~! Iris, you broke the rules!”

Tina drew her All-Cutting Sword. Instantly, she put the snowballs on the blade.

Then she suddenly hurled the snowballs up into the air.

Watching the scattered snowballs in the air, Tina took her stance.

“‘Phantom Dance.’”

Kaboom!

Every single snowball was slashed by her sword, and they rained down on us. To use artifacts and skills like that!

“‘Phantom’s Dance of Guilt.’”

The Guardian of the Sanctuary had the snowballs lined up in a row. Whether it was the one throwing snowballs or the one taking them, both of them were monsters.

But is this really a snowball fight…?