Pushing Yourself
Iruma POV
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
"Whuuaaaaah!"
I'm woken up by Rimuru's loud voice filling my bedroom, nearly jumping a foot into the air. If my bed wasn't as large as it is, I'd probably be on the floor right now.
Glancing out the window, I can tell it's way earlier than I usually wake up, well, that and the fact my alarm hasn't gone off yet either.
"Why are you waking me up this early, Rimuru?" I question.
"For your training, of course! Why else?"
"Oh…"
"I thought we could go do the morning exercises with the Student Council as a start, then do the more intense stuff after school. Now, get out of bed so we're not late!"
"But isn't that too much? I mean, I still need to be with my actual tutor later too…"
"Yeah, yeah, that can be taken care of later. Right now, just get dressed and ready to go."
First rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I roll out of bed.
Rimuru is really taking this backup tutor thing seriously…
"Does Ameri know we're coming?" I ask.
"No. Why does she need to know?"
"Won't she be mad if we show up out of nowhere?"
"Has she ever been upset to see you, Iruma?"
"No."
"There's your answer."
"Well, at least I can get some reading done with her before school starts. I'm sure she wants to read the next chapter. Their exercises don't start for a few hours, right?"
I remember the time they started from my own time helping the council. I can't be exactly sure though, cause it is a different season now.
"Yeah, I just woke you up at the time Ciel told me to."
"Wait, it was her that told you to only let me get 3 hours of sleep?"
"That's all you'll need to not exhaust yourself today. As a human with your magicule count, she calculated that, and Ciel's never wrong, y'know. At least when it comes to- ow! Hey!"
Rimuru grabs their head suddenly, wincing from apparent pain.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong."
Well, that's concerning…
We head outside under the starry sky; I always did kinda wonder why there even are stars and moons in the Netherworld. I still don't know though, and I guess that's alright. The sky would look a lot worse without them anyway.
"So, for starters, you'll be running to Babyls while wearing this."
Rimuru holds out a weird, large, turtle-shell-looking thing with backpack straps.
"What even is that? Why is it blue? I didn't see any blue turtles in Tempest."
"Just because you didn't see them on your trip doesn't mean they don't exist. But, in this case, it's artificial; I made it myself. Now, put it on; it weighs 100 kilos though so be careful."
There's no way I'll be able to move while wearing that thing if I don't use my skills… I'm guessing that's Rimuru's intention here.
The backpack, as expected, is ridiculously heavy. I need to activate Body Boost right away just to avoid being crushed by it.
"Uh… Rimuru?" I asked a bit nervously, feeling my knees shake as I struggled not to tip over with the huge weight on my back. "Are you sure… this is safe?"
"Of course I'm sure!" She insists, "it'll be easier to manage with momentum; that's how it's meant to be used. So start running!"
"A-ah!" If there wasn't a 100-kilo weight pinning me to the ground I would have jumped at the thundering sound of Rimuru clapping her hands. I start forward, struggling to lift the massive shell, but at this rate, I'm not even moving faster than I normally walk.
"C-can't we… ease in?" I puff, "start… with something… lighter?"
"Nope!" Rimuru's answer is absolute. "You'll only have two chances to get to Dalet rank before the end of the year, and you don't strike me as the musically minded type. You need to be in peak form if you want to keep that schoolhouse you care so much about!"
"It's… not just… a schoolhouse…" I want to argue with Rimuru, but this exercise she devised really is leaving me with no extra breath.
"Don't go talking it up, Iruma. I know you guys worked hard for it, but it's just a few gaudy rooms and a big chair–doesn't matter if the Demon King took his classes there."
"It's… important to… the people here… though!" I protest. "Wouldn't… T-Tempest…"
"I know, I know!" Rimuru groans in frustration. "Doesn't change it. Now stop using your air to talk, you'll end up passing out!"
I can't argue with that. I literally don't have the breath for it right now.
Rimuru is right, it got a bit easier to move once I focused on running for a few minutes. The weight on my back is literally pushing me forward, but I have to keep a pretty steady jog to avoid falling and being crushed.
Demon Lord training regimens are really demonic–even more than those of actual demons! I guess that's fitting, though.
"Your face is giving away your opinions about my help," Rimuru suddenly says. "Less thinking and more moving, 'kay?"
"S-sorry…!" I squeak, my voice cracking from the pressure.
"Remember what I said? No talking!"
"Y-yes ma'a–"
"No talking!"
After what feels like an eternity, I see the gates of Babyls up ahead. Feeling a second wind come in now that I'm near the end, I start straining to try and pick up the pace.
"Nuh-uh," Rimuru's hand suddenly grabs my shoulder, keeping me at my original pace. "Don't spend all your energy just because you think you're done. It leaves you vulnerable."
"Uuugh…" I couldn't help but groan. I can do this, though!
After a few more agonizing minutes, I step foot through the gate of Babyls. Then I encounter a new problem.
"Uh… R-Rimuru…!" I pant, "I… can't… stop…!"
The weight I've been wearing has kept me stumbling forward this whole time, but now that I've reached the end I don't have the strength to slow its momentum.
Suddenly the pressure on my back disappears, and the contrast is so different that I shoot forward faster than I've ever run before, Body Boost propelling me toward the wall of the courtyard.
"A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I shriek, until I'm suddenly grabbed from behind and stopped.
"Wow," Rimuru says behind me, and I look back to see her holding that crazy weight above her head with one hand. "You really were pushing yourself, weren't you?"
Rimuru lets go of me, and I collapse to the ground, relishing the feeling of letting my body relax.
"Ahhh…" I sigh, rolling on my back. "That was so hard," I whine.
"Hmm…" Rimuru leans over me, the weight disappearing into her skill. "Normally I would have to punish you for letting your guard down, but I guess I pushed you a bit too hard too early. Here." She tosses a vial with a sparkling light blue liquid in my lap.
I down the low potion before speaking. "What?" I ask, "but, we made it to Babyls, so…"
Rimuru raps my head sharply, and I wince. "Don't be so naive," she scolds. "In situations where you really have to push yourself that hard, you can never rely on being completely safe. Besides," a wicked grin crosses her face, "we still need to exercise with the Student Council, remember?"
"...uuugh!" I moan, collapsing back on the ground yet again.
"Haha." Rimuru grabs my hand and I let her pull me up, ruffling my hair. "Let's go, 'bro.'"
We head inside and go right to the Student Council's room.
"What are you doing here?" Ameri asks as soon as Rimuru throws the door to the room open without knocking. "I didn't ask for your assistance today, Rimuru."
"I'm here because I wanted to be here. Plus, I'm helping Iruma with his training for the Harvest Festival and thought you might want to help with that."
Ameri, who had been completely distracted by Rimuru's dramatic entrance finally seems to notice that I'm standing in the doorway too. Her annoyed expression immediately fades.
"Hi, Ameri. Can I join you guys on your morning exercises today?" I ask quietly.
"O-of course! Yes, you are always welcome to train with us!"
"Well, in that case, I'll see you later, Iruma."
"What? You're going somewhere?"
"I just have some business to take care of. I'll be back in time for school to start, okay?"
"Sure. I'll see you later then."
…
The Student Council's exercises were hard, but thanks to the potion Rimuru gave me and my skills they were much easier than what we'd done on the way to Babyls.
Now I'm in the Royal One, watching everyone file in. I'm the first one here today since Rimuru got me up so early. For some reason, she isn't here yet, even though the class is almost starting.
My classmates look exhausted as well, probably drained from the intense training they've all been doing. I kind of wish I could get some potions for Rimuru to share with them. I know it isn't possible, but they're really nice to have, and I feel bad that I get to take advantage of them without everyone else…
"Master Iruma! I missed you this morning!" Azz cheerfully greets me.
"Yeah! Where were you, Iruma-chi?" Clara asks and runs right up to me, nearly tackling me.
"Oh, sorry, I was doing some extra training with Rimuru this morning. Sorry that I forgot to let you guys know."
"To be expected of my Master! Working hard long before the sun rises! You have nothing to worry about, Master Iruma, your sister informed me of the situation before I waited too long for you."
"Riri messaged me too! See? See?" Clara waves her phone in the air.
"Oh, really?" I'm a bit surprised. It's pretty nice of Rimuru to do that, though. "But… um… are you okay, Azz?"
He's completely covered in bruises, some of them pretty dark and painful-looking. Azz places a hand on his chest, cheerfully declaring, "I'm not worthy of your worrying, Master! But now that we are reunited, I have never been better!"
"Uh, okay…" I really wish I could get some potion from Rimuru for him. It's making me feel a bit guilty.
The school 'bell' suddenly screams outside, signaling the start of classes. Rimuru slides in the door just as it's finishing.
"Miss Tempest," Kalego scowls, "you are late."
"Hmph."
Rimuru doesn't even respond, just flopping into the seat next to me. Kalego gives her an odd look but scoffs and begins the class.
"Hey," I lean over and whisper, "what's up? You never miss a chance to argue with Professor Kalego."
"It's nothing, Iruma." Rimuru whispers back, "I'm just a bit annoyed. Don't worry about it."
I'm a bit worried because it's not like Rimuru to be late, but she probably would just get mad if I tried sticking my nose in her business. I decide to let it drop for now, Rimuru is a super-powerful Demon Lord anyway; I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.
Rimuru POV
At the end of the day, Iruma stands up from his seat, looking like he's a bit sore, but I'm sure he's fine. I bet the Student Council pushed his limits a bit this morning too, so I expected this anyway.
I still have more training in the works for him, though, so he'll have to cope with some pain in the meantime.
Iruma starts heading toward the door, but I stop him by grabbing his arm. I bet he's trying to go meet with that sorry excuse for a tutor that's been pushing him around for the last two weeks.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Uh… to my tutor?"
"She can wait. You have work to do first."
"B-but-"
"I get it, you're tired from this morning, but that doesn't matter."
"No, that's not it, I need to-"
"We've got a lot of time to make up in your training, so you'll have to make every minute count."
Just like I thought, he was trying to go right back to that abusive tutor that I promised not to confront. I'm not going to allow that, though. If that 'tutor' wants him, she can come to get him from me, and I'll be standing right there to defend Iruma against any nonsense she tries to pull.
If an argument happens, it happens; I only said I wouldn't confront her, but if she confronts me, that's a different story.
[[Master is quite the manipulator at times.]]
You're one to talk, Ciel.
[[Everything I do is for your sake, Master.]]
Yeah, I know; that's why it doesn't bother me most of the time.
Anyway… based on what I've heard from Iruma about his crappy tutor, I know I can bait her out. It won't take more than me holding onto him during the time she wants him 'serving' her. She'll come looking for him immediately, and when that happens, I'll give her a piece of my mind.
Once I brought (dragged) Iruma to an open part of the school grounds where we could train without worrying about hurting anyone else nearby, I finally addressed the repeated questions of what we'll be doing that Iruma has been asking the entire way here.
"Time to practice your magic. I get the feeling you're sick of physical training for today."
Iruma nods, "which spell?"
"I want to see how well you can use Raffire when you're not acting all edgy. Will your control and intensity be as good when you're not as… fired up? Haha…"
"That was lame, even for you…" Iruma mutters. "Have your jokes gotten worse now that you're a parent? That's something I heard, that people with kids make really dumb jokes all the time."
"First, no. And second, don't bring that up here! What if somebody overheard!? The rumors would be horrifying!"
I might even need to 'clean' a few minds if that happened…
"Sorry," Iruma mumbles, ducking his head.
"It's fine," I wave him off. "I like that you're getting more confident. Now, try and reach the same level of power you had during your 'evil cycle', and we'll work on your control."
Iruma turns his ring up to the maximum safe level and concentrates, closing his eyes. Then, putting his hand up towards the sky, he shouts, "Raffire!"
It's a decent-sized flame. Not up to the level of his evil cycle, but definitely improved from before. I put a hand to my chin in thought as the flames die down.
"Alright. That wasn't quite as much as I wanted, but we'll work on your control first since that's more important. It's definitely more impressive than it used to be. So."
I grin and point both my palms toward the ground, saying, "Quan Quan!" Two tall bushes spring up on either side of me. "Shoot Raffire at me," I said, "but you have to hit me without burning the bushes."
"Eh?" Iruma balks, "but…" then he pauses, eyebrows creasing. "Okay," he nods. "I understand."
"Great!" I smile, "put as much juice into it as possible, okay? No holding back, we need to practice controlling your force at its maximum ability."
"Right!" Iruma salutes, cute, and starts focusing again. After a moment he shouts, "Raffire!"
The two bushes I made are stumps on the ground, and Iruma is looking pretty disappointed.
"Don't worry," I reassure him as I regrow the shrubs with Quan-Quan, "this is why we're practicing. Do it again."
[[Master, another individual is approaching your location with hostile intent.]]
Is it directed at Iruma?
[[No, you are the target.]] Ciel sounds pretty disgusted, but I'm happy. My plan is about to come to fruition.
She's coming towards us pretty quickly, but Ciel notified me with enough time in advance for Iruma to get a few more practice shots in.
"HEY!" A shout comes from the distance as a pink-haired, pigtailed demon lands with a massive crash in front of me. (Deja vu?) She sticks her nose in my face, chewing a pocky stick while saying, "who do you think you are, taking my servant from me!?"
Huh. More Milim-like than I expected… I just stare down at her with Thought Acceleration activated, letting my opinions run before I 'get into character.' She doesn't even come close to my 'Bestie', though.
I deactivate the skill and give her a purposeful, condescending smirk, arms crossed. "What do you mean? I'm just practicing with my brother for the Harvest Festival."
"M-master!?" Iruma is stunned, of course, having not noticed this demon's approach until the last second.
[[This individual's name is Bachiko Barbatos, Master.]]
Thanks, partner.
"So, you're my brother's so-called 'Master.'" I smirk. "Bachiko, was it?"
Her eyes twitched looking up at me, I made this form a similar height to Iruma which means I'm actually taller than Bachiko. Not by much, but it's enough.
"And just who are you?" She growls dangerously. It's kind of funny, seeing her trying to intimidate me. This will be fun, I haven't gotten to do something like this in a while. Nobody back home, even foreign nobles, is brave enough to ruffle my feathers anymore and it's honestly boring.
"What, you're forcing my brother to serve you and don't even have the decency to ask about his family?" I snap, feigning irritation.
"Uhm, R-Rimuru, there's no need to get–" Iruma tries to intervene but fails because of Bachiko. She shoots him a furious glance and Iruma immediately shuts up, standing at attention with a look like a kicked puppy.
Okay, that's actually making me mad. He's completely under her thumb by the looks of it, and I was working hard to help his confidence. Bachiko is undoing all my hard work!
"You listen here," I poke a finger into Bachiko's chest, leaning over it. "You were hired to train Iruma for the Harvest Festival, and yet you're manipulating my brother. You seem to think you've got some kind of clout, but that's no reason to bully him into submission–especially after you were trusted with his progress!"
"Well, it's his fault for not standing up for himself!" Bachiko shouts back, face beet red. After my years of political experience, I can detect embarrassment behind her anger–she's probably never had someone talk back to her like this if the attitude is anything to go by. "I can't have some spineless weakling for a student, you know! If he wants me to train him, he has to earn it!"
"The fact he's stuck around this long is proof he's got more spine than you!" I retort, "unlike someone here, he's actually interested in improving himself, so if you won't do your job right, I will!"
"Ggghhhh–!" Bachiko is absolutely steaming. Ha, too easy.
Yes, I'm genuinely a bit angry, but the enjoyment I got from pushing this spoiled brat's buttons was balancing it out pretty nicely. I didn't like to admit it, but emotional manipulation had become a bit of a hobby of mine to try and break up the monotony of all the suck-ups and 'yes men' that met with me in my work.
I'm a Demon Lord, and I know it. I'm a nice guy, but messing with people a bit is definitely not outside my moral boundaries.
"W-well shows what you know!" Bachiko tries to cover up with a smirk of her own, leaning back so she can straighten up and fold her arms. "This whole time I was training him in secret. No demon has ever mastered the art I'm going to teach him–he's gotta be prepared! Concentration! Discipline!"
"Oh really?" I grin, "it doesn't look like it. You need to train him properly, and maybe–maybe–I'll like the results."
"And why would I need to prove anything to you?" Bachiko scoffs, "if you're his sister, then I bet your rank isn't all that impressive. Step aside and let the adults do things right!"
"I'm rank Vav!" I snap, angry again. "And if you don't shape up and prove you haven't been wasting Iruma's time, I'll tell our Grandpa Sullivan!"
I don't exactly like pulling the whole 'I'll-tell-grandpa' card like a spoiled kid, but Sullivan is a pretty big deal in the Netherworld, so I figured it would have some effect and make this a bit easier for me.
Actually, it was much more effective than I expected.
Bachiko reels back as if I'd just slapped her, her previously burning rage immediately snuffed out as cold realization hits her in the face. Then, a few seconds later, tears start to prick the corners of her eyes.
Wow, is Sullivan really that scary? He seems generally soft to me.
"You know what!?" Bachiko shouts, "You–"
"GUYS, STOP IT!" Iruma screams suddenly, forcing us to both fall silent. I'm surprised by how forceful he just sounded.
We both look over at Iruma, who has been trying to stop our argument for some time now. A little guiltily, I notice he looks really worked up.
"I'll stop once she agrees to do her job right," I answer calmly, shooting Bachiko an expectant glare.
She grumbles indecisively for a moment before finally responding.
"Fine!" Bachiko growls, stomping her feet. "You want me to train him!? Just watch, with my help, he'll win that festival!" Stomping away from me, she grabs Iruma's arm and says, "Come on moron, we're leaving!"
I'm not very happy about that nickname for him, but I can let it slide this once. Dragging Bachiko back now would defeat the purpose of this argument.
"Eh–Master? Rimuru!?" Iruma sputtered, looking back and forth between us as he was dragged away. "What are we doing!?"
"I'm going to teach you one of the most impressive and difficult forms of magic out there, and you're going to learn it! I won't let you do anything less!"
Iruma's face lights up with excitement.
"Thank you, thank you! I know I can do it! Please teach me, Master!"
I let Bachiko take him away, satisfied that Iruma will be just fine now.
As they leave, Bachiko looks back at me from over her shoulder, sneering at me as if saying 'I'll show you, brat!', but that's just fine. I'm glad I motivated her, actually. I just smile back and wave my hand, which she responds to by turning her nose up and looking forward again in the most dramatic way possible.
"Mission accomplished," I quietly say to myself as the two walk off.
I can only wish Iruma good luck now, but I'm confident he'll be able to pull off whatever it is that she's going to be teaching. And, when he does, I'll be sure to replicate it for myself. I'm always eager to learn some new magic and Bachiko talked this one up like it was something special. I'll patiently look forward to finding out what it is.
[[Master, we can analyze her right now and replicate all of Bachiko's spells and abilities.]]
No, that takes the fun out of it. I think I can wait for Iruma to learn it first.
I don't want to take that away from him. Yeah, shamelessly copying it after Iruma learns it from hard work isn't the nicest thing to do either, but I'm sure he won't mind.
Iruma POV
Master Bachiko is gripping my arm hard enough that I almost activated a skill to stop her from hurting me. She seems really upset after arguing loudly with Rimuru a few minutes ago.
"I can't let that brat tell Lord Sullivan… I won't lose!" she grumbles to herself.
"Master?"
"I talked a big game, so you better not fail me! I don't put my faith in people lightly!"
"I'll try my best!"
"You need to do better than trying if you want to beat your sister in the Harvest Festival! Standing up to me… she must be pretty strong, right? I was trying to make her cower and she acted like it was nothing!"
I still remember the intimidating air around Master Bachiko while she and Rimuru were arguing. It scared me a bit, but not enough to stop me from stopping their screaming. I've had to endure that sort of thing before a few times.
"Very strong!"
"Tell me her name."
"Huh?" I'm confused; I wasn't expecting that since I'd already said Rimuru's name right in front of her.
"Her. Name. What is it? I need to know."
"Rimuru."
"I'll remember that…"
Is that… admiration? It's hard to tell, but I think Rimuru might've earned Bachiko's respect, somehow. I guess Rimuru did say that showing strength was a way to do that.
"Don't look at me like that." Bachiko scolds me with a scowl.
"Like what?" I ask, genuinely confused about why she's mad.
"Never mind."
Bachiko keeps walking and I keep following, wondering to myself what this special magic might be.
"So… what exactly will you be teaching me?"
"I won't be teaching you anything until you build yourself a weapon."
"A weapon?"
"Isn't that what I just said? Sheesh. Yes, you need a weapon for your training, it's part of the package when it comes to using this magic."
"Do you mean… like a sword or something?"
"No, you idiot!" she bonks me on the head, seeming kinda offended by my guess, "Jus' shaddup, you'll see when we get there. I'm gonna give you a demonstration first."
"Alright."
We end up scaling to the peak of some cliffs, leaving me huffing and puffing for air by the time we got up there. I'm definitely still tired from all the exercise I did earlier.
"Listen. I have a confession to make, but I couldn't admit it in front of that spitfire of a sister you got, so you can't tell her, got it?"
"I promise I'll keep quiet."
"I… forgot I was supposed to be training you until that sister of yours, Rimuru, pointed it out."
"What?! So that wasn't training I was doing up until now?!"
"Of course not! You thought that was actually training!? I know I used that as an excuse, but I didn't think anyone would actually buy that nonsense! You were just my errand boy, plain and simple."
"So blunt…"
"But you don't really need training either. Not like that, at least." Bachiko walks closer to the nearby cliffside and I move to follow, but she holds her hand up to stop me, "Don't get any closer." she commands and I stop.
"There's only one thing I can teach you. I'm sure you know already that I'm related to Robi, right? He's from a branch family, and I'm from the main family, but we pretty much have the same abilities."
Bachiko holds out her left hand and hot pink sparks start to form around it, stretching, pulsing, and quickly forming into a long, thin, crescent moon-like shape as tall as she is.
The magic has formed into a bow, arrow and all, all the same matching pink and with an aesthetic that perfectly matches her style of clothes. It's adorned with ribbons, flowers, and candies, looking very cute for such a powerful weapon; and I can definitely tell it's powerful.
Energy is just pouring off it, visibly whipping her hair and dress as pulses of pressure fill the air around Bachiko.
"My partner in crime is this uber, super duper cute baby," she explains while holding the mana arrow, ready to fire it at any moment.
"They call me The Winged Devourer of Despair, Undead Archer Bachiko Barbatos," she announces, holding her arrow-holding hand above her head, splitting the single arrow into dozens. "And this is 'Hundred Bullseyes'," Bachiko smirks.
Closing one eye, she aims at a distant pillar of stone with a small flag on a post, "Gotcha." The arrows are all sent flying in a blinding flash of pink that forces me to squint, but after the bright light fades, I look where she had aimed.
The flag pole is split from the top, the arrows clearly had magically changed direction mid-shot, going forward before shooting straight down to target the flag's pole. Crackling pink mana still lingered around the remnants of the post and flag, showing the sheer ferocity of the attack.
"So, with the Barbatos family Bloodline Ability, Hundred Bullseyes, as long as you can keep concentrating, you can continue shooting arrows that will hit their targets without fail. It's the evolved version of Robi's Bullseye Shot, which he can only use once a day. The only ones that can hit the mark 100% of the time are me and two others, who are both exceptionally strong demons. I've had plenty of demons come to me to learn how to shoot, but they grew bored and impatient and lost interest quickly. Striking down any enemy at any distance and helping their allies survive… people fear this weapon since it can change the tide of battle, and all it takes is one demon."
The bow in her hand disappears.
"If you manage to learn it, you'll advance far past Dalet rank, you might even surpass your sister, but… it's impossible. But you don't care about that, right? You said you would do it, and so did I, so let's make the impossible possible, how 'bout it?"
This entire time, I've been watching her with awe. That magic was crazy cool and crazy strong, and I'm determined to learn it!
"I'll take that dumb look on your face as a 'yes'."
"H-huh?! My face? Was there something weird about it?"
"Yup."
"Oh… but you were so cool, Master! Are you really going to teach me that super cool thing!?"
"Stop making me repeat myself. C'mon, let's go."
She walks me to a very familiar door.
"This place is famous for making all kinds of insane things. The Magical Apparatus Battler! Your first assignment will be to get these crazy guys to make your bow which'll be your partner!"
"So, uh… I'm actually sorta a member here, even though the battler isn't exactly active right now." I sheepishly explain.
"Wha-! What the hell!? Why didn't you tell me sooner!?"
"I had no idea we were coming here!"
"You- …ugh… and after I said all that stuff! Fine! Whatever!" Bachiko groans, "I never would've thought you were a member of this crazy bunch, though."
"Well, it's not too crazy now."
Now that a certain someone is gone.
"It's mostly just storage space for magical apparatuses now."
I open the door to the battler room and find the same cluttered sight I saw last time I was here.
"Huh, what a dump," Bachiko complains, "Well, get lookin' around already."
"Looking around for what? A weapon?"
"No, you moron! Find something to make your weapon with!"
I give her a blank stare, not quite sure what she means by that. She rolls her eyes at me and says, "Watch."
Master Bachiko walks over to a nearby table and picks up a small piece of wood.
"Quartz-Quartz!" she commandingly casts what sounds like the name of a spell, and her pink mana surges around the piece of wood clutched in her hand.
What's left behind after the bright light of the mana fades is a wooden bow and arrow, held by the grinning Bachiko.
"I'm able to make bows out of pure magic due to my Bloodline Ability, but normal demons need a core to store their mana in. With wood, you can make a wooden bow. With flowers, you get a flower bow. With iron, you get an iron bow. By using Evolve: Quartz-Quartz, it's basically like we're making the bow grow into the shape we want it to using the core as the material."
"That's amazing! So I just need to find something to use as a core?"
"Hold on, there's more to it than that. You need to pick something compatible with you; this spell reflects your personality, so if you pick a core that doesn't fit you as a person, it won't work as well. Choose wisely."
"That's easy to say, but… how do I know which one to pick?"
"You have to figure that out yourself."
I take another look around the room. Honestly, I have no idea where to even start trying to find something suitable for this. There's so much stuff packed in here that it almost makes your eyes glaze over when you look too closely.
It takes me a few minutes, but I finally track down something I recognize.
"Wait, those are…"
I pick up one of the dark-colored but slightly shimmering feathers and hold it in front of my face. It's a feather from the Guardian of Cutthroat Valley, the same one whose baby I saved near the beginning of the school year.
"Hmm… give it a whirl with that."
I thought I was supposed to decide on my own...? Oh well.
"Y-yes, ma'am!" I answer firmly to her stern order.
I hold out the feather in front of me, picturing a cool bow like the one that Bachiko made, "Quartz-Quartz!"
I end up with a bow that fits the picture in my head, combined with the black feather I used as a base for it. It definitely looks like it's made of feathers.
I marvel at what I just made, thinking it looks really cool. It still has that slight glimmer that the original feather had.
"I did it! Did you see tha-?"
Bachiko's leg goes careening right through the bow, knocking it out of my hands and smashing it to pieces.
"What!?" I shout, shocked for a moment before dropping to my knees out of sadness. My awesome bow is completely destroyed!
"Wh-what was that for?" I whimper the question out, holding back tears while clutching my broken creation in my hands.
But, Master Bachiko just rolls her eyes at me, "Don't give me that. That's some impressive mana, but I can tell you were just copying me with that one. It didn't fit you at all." she scolds, getting right up in my face, "You need to visualize the bow that you actually want."
"The bow that I actually want…?"
I want a bow that can protect everyone… That's the reason I want to improve myself, after all. I want the strength to protect my friends, family, and everyone else from danger.
Holding that thought in my head, I cast the spell again, using another feather.
"Quartz, Quartz!"
Again, I get a super-cool bow, this time with a shield on the front of it. I guess that's how the whole 'protecting' thing manifested in it.
"Nope, totally off! Next!" Bachiko scolds me again and smashes that one too, but that doesn't discourage me, I just need to try harder!
I pick up another feather and try again.
"Quartz, Quartz!"
It ends up less shield-y and more weapon-y, all spiky and scary looking. I bet it's powerful, but…
"Not a chance! Next!"
Just like I thought, Bachiko doesn't think it fits me at all and splinters it too.
She sighs, clearly disappointed in me, and picks up a feather out of the small box of them. First taking a breath, she says "You have one more chance."
"But there are still plenty of feathers left…"
The box has at least a dozen more, which means a dozen more tries.
"You don't get a second chance on the battlefield. The next school event, the Harvest Festival is an exam where you'll be fighting for your survival. An archer who can't use opportunities to their advantage on the battlefield won't survive. If you're gonna become an archer, you have to be able to make decisions when it counts!"
Only one chance…
Staring at the feather in my hand, I start thinking very hard about what she just said. It's not that I wasn't taking this seriously before, but Bachiko's words still hit me hard.
I've been told what the Harvest Festival would be like, sorta, but until now I didn't exactly see it as a 'battlefield'. This won't be like execution cannonball where it's just a game used for an exam, but something else entirely. I need to do this right, not just to impress Bachiko and prove her doubts about me wrong, but to keep myself safe in the long run.
"Where's all that drive, that strong motivation you were showing earlier?"
My silence seems to have upset Master Bachiko. I think she's misreading it as me falling into defeat.
"You're not going to give up and leave like the oth-... I mean, you're not going to make me regret talking so big earlier, are you?! Show some results already!" she continues.
"I will! I just… need to do some thinking."
With only one chance, I can't screw this up!
"Hmph. In that case, I'm gonna go shopping and come back to check on you later. Don't… disappoint me."
With that, she leaves me alone with nothing but the quiet of the room to keep me company, and the shimmering raven-like feather in my hand.
