My Disciples Think I’m Strong – Chapter 24

“Hmm….”

Is this what they call game-like coherence?

Watching the kids who were scared just moments ago indiscriminately slay Wolf Monsters felt oddly like playing a game.

In an instant, the Wolf Monsters fell like dominoes.

No monster dared to raise its head where they stood.

“What are those kids?”

Dex rushed over, breathless, eager for any information that could be worth something. I had only one thing to say to him.

“None of your business.”

I went into the carriage and brought out a towel and some water.

Maria was clean from a distance since she only used magic, but Tina and Iris were smeared head to toe with wolf blood.

I approached them.

I handed the Purification Stone to Iris first.

“I’ll get rid of the magic. Hold this. Once a decent amount of the magic is gone, pass it to Tina.”

“Ah, okay!”

Iris grabbed the Purification Stone with both hands. I dipped the towel in water and wiped the blood from her face, gently removing the stains to avoid damaging her skin.

“Iris.”

“Yes, yes!”

“You did well.”

“!”

Iris looked at me with wide eyes, surprised that I would say such a thing to her.

“Did I… prove my worth?”

Her question was filled with hope, her tail wagging eagerly.

“Yes.”

“Ehehe.”

Her bashful smile made me momentarily lost in thought, captivated by her first smile, free of worries.

“Aaa~ Tina too!”

Suddenly, Tina appeared, grabbing my arm. My arm was hopelessly pulled by her strength.

“Why is Iris the only one getting treated like that? Don’t discriminate! You said you’d fill our bellies!”

“This isn’t filling your belly.”

“Then make sure to clean me up too!”

Seeing Tina look worse than Iris made me chuckle softly. Reluctantly, I used a clean part of the towel to wipe her face.

As I looked at Iris, she had a slightly disappointed expression.

“…I can’t wipe everything anyway. There’s a valley outside the forest. Go wash yourselves there.”

I concluded the face-wiping session with indifference.

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

I glanced over at Maria, who was a bit sulky.

“Then let’s put the sword away first—”

“Hand over the sword.”

What did she think I was going to put away without wiping it clean?

Iris and Tina exchanged glances, then obediently handed me the sword. I started wiping the blood off the sword with the towel.

[It’s been a while since I felt the sensation of slaughter. My friend.]

Did I really just say that in front of Tina?

If her mindset started to get weird, I’d be handing her a bill for that. Seriously.

“Not something one should say in front of a young child.”

[Don’t worry. You’re the only one who can hear my voice just by touching my sword.]

Now that I think about it, I did hear Pasma’s voice without using skills back in the abandoned village.

I passed it off then because I was too frazzled, but looking back, it’s pretty amazing.

[I can’t possess without using skills. Since I can’t possess, there’s no way you’d hear my voice. Yet you, my friend, are different. You can hear my voice without using skills.]

Could it be that there’s some setting I don’t know about?

No, that can’t be it.

The control was so awful that I had to meticulously observe each episode to clear things smoothly.

If there’s an unknown variable, it could only mean that this character I’m currently possessing has some unknown power.

“What a curious thing.”

[It’s my guess, but maybe your mana resonance matches mine.]

“Mana resonance?”

[Do you remember when I took possession of you and used Aura Sword at my will?]

“I do.”

[At that time, I felt the mana flowing through your body as if it was me. It felt like becoming one body again. Like being reborn.]

In a nutshell, the weapon “Unwavering Revenge Sword” suits me better than Tina.

Wait, why does the protagonist’s weapon suit me better…?

[I think I handed my weapon over to that black-haired girl who just awakened. Instead, why don’t you use it? After all, you’re going to possess her whenever you talk with Eri, and you’re the only one who understands that situation.]

“Even so, maintaining the spirit state puts a lot of burden on me. I can’t do that many times a day—”

“Hey, Praus. Who are you talking to?”

When I slightly lowered my head at Tina’s question, I saw the two girls staring at me intently.

Was it weird to be talking to empty air?

Since they couldn’t hear Pasma’s voice, it makes sense.

“…How long are you going to stare? Hurry up and go wash yourselves.”

“Yes, yes!”

At my words, Iris and Tina hurried off toward the carriage.

“Maria, shine the light so they won’t get lost.”

She had the potential to master all four elements, capable of using derived attributes like light and darkness.

“Aren’t you going to wipe my face?”

As I watched the two head to the carriage, Maria snuck up beside me.

“Why would I wipe a girl who isn’t even dirty?”

“I’m sweaty.”

She looked perfectly clean to me, especially compared to someone who had traveled for a week.

“Wipe your own sweat.”

She puffed out her cheeks in displeasure at my response.

“I’m your disciple, Praus. No, Teacher!”

Who decided she was my disciple?

“Don’t call me that. I have no desire to take on a disciple like you.”

It was a meaningless teacher-student relationship when the disciple surpassed the teacher.

It wouldn’t be convenient for her to be my disciple since I wasn’t even skilled in swordsmanship or capable of using magic with mana.

“Just go with the others.”

“I won’t go until you accept me as a disciple.”

She sure is bold for someone who was just a slave a few days ago.

I sighed.

“You have nothing to learn from me. You, now one with mana, should freely implement magic and become familiar with the attributes. Then you’ll grow on your own.”

“…I see. I knew you were purposely being difficult, but so this was my first lesson.”

…That’s not it.

“It would’ve been better if you had been more straightforward!”

“What do you mean—”

“Anyway! It means don’t rely too much on your teacher, right? Certainly, there will come a day when I’ll be independent. I shouldn’t lean on you too much. Got it, Teacher! I’ll work hard!”

What is she interpreting from my words?

I gawked at Maria, who was fervently igniting her own resolve.

“I’ll go catch up with the others now. I’ll come back for more advice later. Thank you for accepting me as your disciple!”

After talking to herself and reaching a conclusion, Maria bounced off toward the carriage where Tina and Iris were.

She really is on her own path, that one.

I felt the frustration of swallowing hundreds of sweet potatoes.

[That’s quite a woman. I didn’t think you’d get caught in her pace.]

“There’s a difference between not listening and being caught in someone’s pace.”

It felt better to be talking to a wall than dealing with her.

Thinking about living with someone like her in the future already gave me a headache.

I cleaned all the filth off the sword before putting it in the sheath.

Then I glanced over. I was still contemplating how to deal with Dex, who was listening like a hawk.

“…Dex,”

“Yes, Lord Praus!”

“Get lost.”

“Eh~ why so harsh? I want to become one of Lord Praus’s disciples too. If I become a disciple, can I suddenly get strong like those girls?”

“No.”

Dex’s character remained the same from the start to the end. Even when forming a party to go on adventures together, he didn’t gain experience.

This was probably because he was an NPC who had fixed stats.

If an NPC could keep leveling up over time like a player, the game might end up being impossible to clear.

“…What use is someone who has already reached their limit?”

“!”

Dex’s ever-cheerful smile vanished.

“Oh? Do you think you can tell how far a person’s talent extends?”

Eriel approached and asked.

“No. I just get that feeling.”

The reason I could gauge someone’s capabilities was that I played the game and knew its information.

If I hadn’t died dozens of times while clearing it, I wouldn’t have cared.

“Hmmm… If you’re hiding it, I have no words left.”

She shrugged her shoulders. Dex looked shocked.

He was probably despairing at the fact that he could never get stronger.

He likely sensed it long before asking me if he could.

A guild leader wouldn’t slack off in their training.

“I’ll be back shortly. I’m going to the carriage.”

Fortunately, the shocked Dex didn’t follow me. Instead, Eriel clung to me like a leech.

“…Can you really see the future?”

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

“From what I hear from others, your responses are surprisingly outstanding? It’s like you predict… no, are certain about what’s going to happen in the future.”

Eriel’s eyes sharpened.

Being a Spirit King, she must have experienced all sorts of things over the centuries, so her intuition would naturally be acute.

“What exactly are you? How did you know those kids were ‘heroes’?”

“I have no obligation to tell you that.”

“Then let me change the question. What do you plan to do with those kids? If you intend to misuse the heroes, I’ll have to kill you right now.”

At her fierce tone, my body jolted.

The air pressure changed.

An unknown pressure weighed down on me. If I relaxed, I might just kneel to the ground.

“Hey, Pasma, do something about your girlfriend.”

[…You’ve used that phrase before. What does ‘girlfriend’ mean?]

“It’s short for ‘girl friend’… no, it means lover. It refers to the girl you’re dating.”

Why is he so calm when I’m about to get killed?

[Oh, so that’s how you can refer to opposites! I learned something new today.]

Of course, the term ‘girlfriend’ only exists in our world. Shouldn’t I be telling him how to distract Eriel instead?

“Are you talking to Pasma right now?”

“Indeed.”

“Is that possible without possessing him?”

“I don’t know why, but just by touching Pasma’s sword, his voice echoed in my head.”

…So envious! Give me that sword!

Eriel’s finger wiggled, and the sword moved through the air, landing in her hand.

“Pasma. Pasma? I can’t hear you. Do you dare deceive a Spirit King?”

‘She’s gone completely nuts on her own.’

“What an insane woman.”

I might’ve been enjoying my quips but then thought, could she really incite a Spirit King when her life is on the line?

For heaven’s sake, can’t she consider her audience? I want to live a long time!

“Sigh, I wish I could hear it too.”

Eriel lamented as her hand wiggled the sword was returned to the sheath.

“So, Praus, what do you intend to do with the heroes you’ve gathered?”

Returning to a serious topic, we diverted to discussions about Pasma, which lessened the pressure somewhat.

I glanced at Eriel as I climbed into the carriage.

“…I just want to live.”

“What?”

[What?]

It must have been such an unexpected answer.

Eriel and Pasma uttered simultaneous dumbfounded sounds.

“The Empire will soon be attacked by the Demon Tribe, suffering disastrous losses. I merely gathered heroes to protect my life.”

“Does that mean you’re planning to use the heroes for your own sake?”

“No. That’s not my intention. When they become strong enough and of appropriate age, I plan to let them be independent. I think that’s all I will do for them.”

“Is that really all?”

“Yes.”

“…You’re such an unpredictable person.”

Eriel snorted lightly.

I’m just an ordinary guy.

Even right now, I couldn’t do a thing about those kids. How can you think I’d be able to exploit them for life?

Perhaps aside from Tina, there are feelings of resentment against humanity from both Iris and Maria.

My role was just to support them as they grow and then step aside.

If I managed to do more than that, even demanding they bow toward my house three times a day would be understandable.

[However, if the girl named Tina, to whom I handed my sword, gains independence, won’t it become difficult for me to talk to Eriel?]

“That might be the case.”

I nodded in response. Pasma pondered for a moment and then made a suggestion to me.

[Instead, how about you use my sword?]

“With this sword? But….”

[I’ll talk to Eri about it. I’ll ask for a new weapon for that child.]

“If you say that, would you even give me the ‘Spirit King’s Sword’?”

*

“Sure, take it.”

Is this really happening?

“???”

As I stared in disbelief at the green-bladed sword I had used to block Phantom Dance, question marks swirled above my head.

[You have equipped the “Wind Sword – Aura.”]

[You can use wind-type magic below the eighth tier.]

[No durability exists. It is an indestructible item.]

Why is he giving me a sword that should be obtained by participating in a ‘Man vs. Man war’ right now?

The Spirit King’s sword was supposed to be a relic acquired by clearing all tasks assigned to the Spirit King. Receiving it outright left me bewildered.

[Pasma said that, but if it’s a weapon for a sword master, I suppose it’s okay to take it. Ah, perhaps I should summon the other Spirit Kings to strip down some more weapons?]

…What is going on with this story?

I was truly taken aback by an incomprehensible development.