By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 26

Chapter 5 Episode 26: Bonding

That night...

“And then we took our leave. Now that I’ve gone through it, it seemed a lot longer than a few hours.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

For the fourth time that night, I had recounted the events of the day, this time to Elise. She seemed understanding and familiar with Orest’s character. The conversation was beginning to drift to another topic when I realized something, after all this time. “Um... Do you all...”

“Yes?” Reinhart prompted.

“This may seem like an awkward question... But do all of you try not to talk about my past?” Time froze in the room, as everyone’s expressions turned very stony. Figures...

“What made you think that?” Reinhart asked bluntly.

The thought had first occurred to me when Orest had asked me various things at the Moulton Company. Whenever Orest tried to discuss my past, one of the three adults there interrupted. Even when I asked to become a technician, the room felt heavy (I thought they were about to tell me some other downside to the gig) before he would just ask how I acquired my knowledge and skills. They had imagined some particular backstory for me after seeing how high my pain tolerance was. I’d always felt their care to sidestep the topic, and Gain said that people would normally keep from asking about them. After all this time, it took today’s encounter for me to finally realize that maybe they were taking the matter of my past more seriously than me.

“Um... I appreciate the thought, but I don’t think it’s bothering me as much as it is all of you.”

“You sure? You’re not just saying that?” Pioro asked.

“Yes, I’m not downplaying it or anything. Of course, I don’t enjoy being interrogated, but if it’s with people I can trust like you, regardless of my position...”

In fact, the Gods had gone through the trouble of whipping up a backstory for me. Not mentioning it myself might have worsened their misunderstanding, but as far as I was concerned, they could have asked me any time.

“I’m sorry to put you on the spot... But if I didn’t bring it up now, I thought I’d lose the chance...” Now that I’ve noticed, I don’t want them to continue feeling bad for me when I could simply tell them... It was still a fabricated backstory, of course, but I just wanted to reassure them.

“It’s fine, Ryoma. No need for you to apologize,” Reinhart stated.

“Indeed. We were a bit dramatic, weren’t we?” Serge chimed in, and the room filled up with forced chuckles. How awkward.

Elise cleared her throat. “Well, then, Ryoma. I would like to hear your story, at least as much of it as you are comfortable telling us. Like your grandparents who raised you, for example.”

“Of course.” I prepared my status board and visualized two titles I had never shown anyone before. “Nothing special; this was back in my village. They raised me, helping me study and teaching me how to fight. But I’ve been told they were rather famous outside of the village. These might explain things.” I handed Elise the status board, and she let out a gasp before she even took it. Once she did, she covered her face with her free hand.

“Elise?” Her husband asked.

“Just take a look...” She handed the board off to Reinhart, who had a similar reaction. Then the card was passed to Serge, followed by Pioro.

“S-Sage’s Apprentice?!”

“Champion’s Apprentice?! For real?!”

“It says it right there, doesn’t it...?” I’d heard that they were supposed to be famous, but watching their reaction made me realize that they were a really big deal. It took some time for the four of them to calm down, after managing to deduce who had raised me from those two titles.

Reinhart sighed. “Ryoma... Have you shown this to anybody else?”

“No, you’re the first to see it.”

“Good...” He answered in blatant relief, clearly with the unspoken signal that I shouldn’t be waving said titles around.

“Judging by your reactions, I feel like that would cause quite a stir if it got out.”

“Damn right it would,” Pioro exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you don’t know about who those two were?”

“I had some inclinations while they taught me that they were extraordinary people... But they were never the type to brag about that, or flaunt any stories.” I explained that I only considered them an elderly couple who were slightly stronger and more knowledgeable than most.

“It makes sense now,” Reinhart nodded. “This makes things quite clear indeed.”

“Their humility didn’t do you any favors, in this case,” his wife chimed in.

“No wonder you got all sorts of information in there... And no wonder you’re such an ass-kicker.”

“With those two being your only frame of reference in a secluded environment, no one could blame you for not recognizing your own talents.”

The four adults all sighed again for the umpteenth time this evening, looking rather exhausted. They went on to list some of the numerous legends they had heard of the old couple.

According to them, my grandmother, the Sage Meria, was a brilliant woman who excelled in most fields of study, but especially in medicine and magic. She had attended the academy in the capital, having published many theses and research papers from that young age; each field of academia contained a sect of “Merian” scholars, and her studies were still highly praised to this day.

My grandfather, the Champion Tigral, had never lost a match to anyone his age, even before receiving any training. He began hunting monsters at age seven, and set out looking for those stronger than him to seek their tutelage. With talent and dedication, he quickly grew to outclass each master. By the time of his death, the legend he left behind was that no weapon could withstand his full strength, and that he always destroyed his own weapons. While this story was unverified, the fact remained that he was a blacksmith, and an excellent one at that; any one of his pieces would fetch the price of a decently sized house.

In any case, the adults spent the rest of tea time talking about how highly regarded they were, and how they were on another level from your average fighter or scholar. It was interesting to me, since I got to hear a lot more details than what I was told before, and I was grateful for that, since I was going to visit where they had lived. Besides, I felt closer to those in the room for being able to talk about my past. That being said...

“Just so I’m clear... If someone with nefarious intentions finds out about this, then...”

“You’ll be in danger.”

“They’ll come after you.”

“I’ve said this a bunch over the past few days, but those in power can’t get enough knowledge and skills.”

“Your history of studying under those two alone has great value.”

I wondered if Gain and the others made up this backstory because they thought I could get away with anything if I just said I studied under those two. As I walked back to my room, I resolved to ask them about that the next time I saw them.

■ ■ ■

The next day arrived, and as I started my fifth day in the Duke’s residence, I was getting used to the extravagance of my room.

Apparently, the servants were getting used to me as well. “Oh, Master Takebayashi, the head chef was looking for you just now. He wanted to know if you were available to attend a tasting for wedding food offerings around noon.”

“Thank you. I would love to be there.”

“Hey! Are you going to finish up the venue this afternoon? I heard some guys arguing whether it was going to be finished today or tomorrow.”

“We finished the foundation yesterday, and I think the upper half will be mostly done today. But we still need to decorate, so it won’t be completely finished until that’s out of the way.”

When walking through the manor, I was being spoken to much more often. Up until now, although we had been preparing the wedding together, the servants had always kept a distance appropriate for a guest. While they still maintained a threshold of professionalism, I felt a little closer to them.

“The experiment you began the other day is doing wonders,” Lulunese said. “The way you dealt with the girls who were almost dismissed spread through the grapevine, along with rumblings of your kindness. I’ve also heard them say that they feel like they can ask you anything.”

Ask me anything...? Wasn’t that a normal thing for most people? On second thought, I recognized that many people wouldn’t share my sentiment. What does normal mean, anyway? “I’m just glad they’re not afraid of me.”

We casually walked to the magic training grounds, where the experiment to improve the sugar scrubs was already underway. I spotted Fay and Ox near the corner.

“Thanks for waiting,” I called to the volunteers who had gathered in the courtyard. It was time to start the sugar scrub experiment.

“Now then, we tried combinations of scented oils last time, but I wanted to focus on improving the scrub itself. Which oil to use, how fine the mumiteau particles should be, and so on. Compare two samples under the same conditions, and make note of anything you notice, no matter how insignificant.”

I called Ox and Fay over. Those who worked for the Duke, especially those who had worked under Fay, were very diligent, so I felt safe delegating supervision to them. If all I needed to do was collect feedback, I didn’t have to be involved every step of the way; ergo, I’d decided to multitask by starting to prepare the crafting process of magic potions for Ox. With the wedding approaching quickly, I wanted to be as efficient as possible.

“Thank you for waiting.”

“I’ve brought my weapons and status board as you’ve asked, Master.”

“And a supply of magic potions as well.”

“Thank you.” The best way to fine-tune the magic potion to Ox was to balance out the potion’s recovery amount with Ox’s expenditure of magic while wielding his sword. If the potion was too ineffective, his magic would run out eventually, but if the potion recovered too much magic too quickly, Ox would become overmagicked by the excess magical energy. To find the right balance, I needed to find out how much magical energy he stored, and how much of it he spent every second. Lucky for us, the status board showed the exact numerical value of that person’s magical energy.

I explained all of this to Ox and had him show me his status board. “Your magical energy count is...315. I’m not sure if that’s less or more than I’d expected.” I had heard that even those who mainly used physical weapons could cast sufficient supplementary spells with a magic count of about 500.

“I never used to rely on magic... This is all I have, after I trained myself as much as I possibly could once I’d lost my hand. I doubt that this is a significant amount.”

The lower his total magic count was, the easier it was for him to OD on the potions. I would have to start low and scale the potions up. “Well, let’s just see how long you can keep up that spell for now. Miss Lulunese, do you have the watch?”

“Right here,” she said, producing a magical item in the shape of a pocket watch. I tasked her with keeping the time, and handed the status board to Fay.

“I’m told that magic expenditure is affected by one’s mental state. We’ll measure this repeatedly and find the mean value. Later on, I’d like to explore different scenarios as well. But let’s start with a full-force match.”

“Understood!” Ox obliged.

We continued measuring Ox’s magical endurance until noon. The sugar scrub testers had evidently been sneaking glances our way. I felt bad about how Libiola had to run around reprimanding them. No surprise that all the commotion would have made them curious...