Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter SS

Bonus Short Stories

A Day in the Life of Lorraine Vivie

“Lorraine! I don’t get this part!”

“Miss Lorraine! Help me too!”

“Lorraine!”

A number of voices inside the cramped room called my name. We were gathered in a private classroom in the city of Maalt. I occasionally came here to help the students with their studies, so they were pretty familiar with my presence.

Since it was a private classroom, there wasn’t an easy way to discipline the students. The children were of various ages and at varying levels, so it was difficult to make the classroom feel cohesive. In this situation, it was a bit too much to ask that all the children quietly focus on their studies.

When one of the children got too out of hand, I did, on occasion, chastise the child in question. But since there were also children as young as three or four years old, raising my voice wasn’t the wisest course of action. I had learned to strike a careful balance in tone. In the end, the students were willing to listen when it was something of importance, and they all took their studies seriously.

I wasn’t doing any of this for payment, though. I was volunteering. I did this because the community in Maalt was built on mutual aid, and this was part of that way of life.

Most of the students here were children of poor farmers and the like, the sort who couldn’t afford to attend an expensive private school. They did technically charge tuition here, but it was a token amount, so many parents sent their children here for a better future.

I felt that was a worthy thing to do. Education was the most effective way the poor could climb the ranks in society. Of course, there was the option of becoming an adventurer and achieving success through force of arms, but that path was only available to a select few. Besides, busy classrooms like this one were an indication that the city was doing well. That didn’t mean I didn’t face a constant string of problems every day, though.

“Lorraine!”

A child suddenly burst into the room and called out my name. He didn’t have any classes today, so he had no reason to be here. Yet here he was, looking tense.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“Jad fell into the underground sewer!”

Jad, another one of my students, usually acted without thinking, and he was constantly getting into trouble. This was just another incident among that growing list. However, the underground sewers were concerning. Everyone knew that there was now a dungeon beneath Maalt, but parts of it were connected to the sewers—or rather generated from them. They had yet to find all the routes connecting them and the dungeon, and powerful monsters would occasionally appear there. Ordinarily, skilled adventurers patrolled or watched the sewer entrances, so this shouldn’t have been an issue.

“What entrance did he use?” I asked.

“We found a new one the other day,” the student said hesitantly.

“Take me there now. Everyone else, stay here and behave yourselves.”

The students in the classroom all nodded seriously. They knew how dangerous the sewers were.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Oh, there really is an entrance here,” I muttered.

We were in a secluded corner of Maalt, in a part where numerous buildings had collapsed. Not many people came this way. In the debris, there was a small opening barely large enough for a child to walk through. I squeezed my way between the rubble and slowly hopped my way onward.

Gerge, the boy who’d come seeking my help, acted as my guide. He’d brought me to what was clearly a sewer entrance, but it was small enough that it made sense no one had found it yet. I was somewhat impressed that the children had spotted it, but that happened when childish curiosity met with a penchant for getting into trouble. At any rate, the most important thing was finding Jad.

“Gerge, you stay here,” I instructed.

“Huh, but—”

“And if I don’t return, go find Rentt. Understand?”

Rentt also occasionally stopped by the classroom. He was actually quite knowledgeable in his own way. Part of that was because I’d forced him to learn certain things, but most of it was because he recognized the importance of knowledge. It made up for what he lacked in fighting skill and magic. In truth, he was a better teacher for young students than your average scholar.

“Y-Yup. He lives at your house, right?” Gerge asked.

“Yes. Now, I’m off.”

The air in the sewers was moist, and a thin stream of water ran down the middle of the tunnel. As I proceeded deeper within, I felt the mana around me grow thicker.

“I hope he hasn’t gone too far in...” I prayed.

Immediately after I murmured that, I saw a child lying face down a short distance away. I ran over to his side. A quick glance confirmed that it was Jad.

I checked to see if he was still breathing and sighed in relief. “He’s still alive. And he’s not drained, it seems. But...why is he unconscious?”

Suddenly, the answer to the mystery materialized right in front of me.

“You’re going to...take him away?”

When I looked up, I saw the blurry outline of a girl in white. I stood and pointed my staff at the apparition.

“I’m afraid so. You should leave as well,” I suggested.

I’d made sure to issue a warning, but the girl in white opened her mouth widely—almost inhumanly—and screeched, “I won’t let you! Won’t let you! WON’T LET YOU!”

Her mouth was much larger than any human’s, and her gaping maw spouted fangs that lashed out at me. It was a mimic, a monster that pretended to be a human so that it could drain its prey of strength and then eat them. Fortunately, this mimic seemed rather weak.

“Foteia Borivaas.”

I unleashed a single fire spell, and it consumed and incinerated the mimic. I picked up the magic crystal that had dropped from its ashen remains, then picked up Jad and quickly left the sewers. I also made a mental note to report this entrance to the adventurer’s guild.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Lorraine, you’re finally back,” Rentt greeted me when I arrived back at the classroom. While the mask obscured his face, I could tell from his demeanor that he was tired.

“Oh, you were here, Rentt?”

“Gerge came to find me. He was panicking. I figured you’d be fine, so I decided to check in on the students instead. If things had been more serious, you would’ve found some other way to contact me anyway.”

“I’m grateful. The fruits of our long acquaintance, hm?”

“So, is he okay?” Rentt asked.

“I’ve given him a potion, so he should wake up soon. He wasn’t particularly drained either. Still, I’m going to give him a talk about going into the sewers.”

“Ah, so he’s getting a lecture. Poor kid,” Rentt said sympathetically.

“Would you like to sit in on the lecture?”

I’d only offered in jest, but Rentt laughed dryly. “I’m a little too old for that, aren’t I?”

This was what my daily life in Maalt was like. Perhaps I would enjoy it if these days were to continue on indefinitely, but that hadn’t been an option as of late. Even this little incident was pretty dangerous. Maalt had plenty to offer, but it was still perilous. I needed to make sure that these children understood that.

I quietly renewed my oath to myself.