Cid was sweating internally.
Yeah, who would have thought that this Nishimura that was his… classmate, right?… would become one of the Knights, forces that protect humanity (actually Japan) from Magical Beasts, aka lowest-tier trash that even a noble child would quickly dispose of. Well, Magical Beasts, as it comes from their name, have magic, and this magic grants them very strong regeneration, unless your attack carried over your own magic.
What does that mean for Cid himself? Well, it seems like old dusty Earth has now become this light novels trope that was popular back in his time… Uh, something about towers and dungeons and people who go into them to fight monsters? Something like that, yeah.
Oh, Nishitane finally collected herself and was now ready to dish out her thoughts!
"What is it you wish to get from me, Lord Shadow?" she inquired. Nice, let's go-!
"Preposterous!" uh, Victoria? "How dare you talk to Divine Lord-"
"Quiet."
He raised his hand to stop the elf from speaking.
"U-Understood, my Lord," great, now she's sulking!
"As for your question…" a small pause as if he thinks on an answer, "I repeat: I can grant a lot. But I will ask no less."
"So it would depend on how much I ask, huh?…" Nishikage said with a sad irony.
She went into thoughts. He didn't mind that, he still needed to set the course onto his next role… Actually, what will be his next role? Hmm…
"How much will it be for me to obtain power to protect the world I live in and love?" Nishimura raised her gaze.
"Easy," reply came out faster than he could think, "I will become your Sensei for the time being, and after your world repels the threat successfully, you are to serve me with your soul."
'Guess it's set, then; I didn't play out the role of enigmatic Sensei yet, so why not?'
"…That simple?" she couldn't believe it.
"Indeed. In fact…" Todd, papers, please! "Here, contract."
In a second he made a small contract and showed it to Nishitane.
"Akane-san, no!" one of her teammates suddenly shouted, "Don't do it! Trading your soul for power is exactly how the downfall begins!"
"Do we have any other choice…?" she retorted sadly and started reading the papers.
The neat thing about contracts is the fact that they are readable. Don't get it? Well, no matter what language you write contract in, both parties will always be able to read and understand it as if it is their own language. And even if they don't know how to write and read, contract will still be understood as if they can! Though it only counts in sentient beings; anyone not being able to have a conversation will not be able to read it and, therefore, sign it, because contract has to be signed with at least basic understanding of its contents.
Of course, to make things easier for both parties involved it would be better to write it in a language that is understandable for everyone, so he wrote it in Japanese.
The contents could be summarized as follows: Shadow (aka Cid Kagenou) was to offer power and knowledge necessary to repel the invasion of Magical Beasts (ten pages describing what are Magical Beasts), Akane Nishino (he could swear that her family name was Nishikage, but anyway) was to offer full servitude (then ten pages about not twisting the words for her own benefit, not trying nor thinking about harming him and his allies with speech, actions, other contracts, etc, etc) in case Shadow fulfills his part of the deal; should Akane violate her part of the deal, she will experience a horrible death and her soul will enter his domain; in case Shadow does not fulfill his end of the deal the contract is null and void.
Yeah, Todd already created about ten or so contract samples just for these kind of deals; just add water- uh, the contents!
As Todd explained while dying of laughter, this whole thing was scam riding the deceit while cooking deception: let's take "offer … to repel invasion" as example. Nishimura asked for him to grant her power; Todd twisted it into "offer". What's the difference? In first case, Cid has to give her enough power to steamroll the Beasts, in essence, grant power. In second case, Cid can either give her power — grant, — or steamroll them himself, thus offering his power. And that's only the first example! Out of at least hundred that Todd didn't bother to explain! Cid quickly needs to up his knowledge! It doesn't matter that Inner Beasts are technically a part of him, he wants to do so!
Of course, there were things like "Shadow is not to inflict any serious, lethal, and/or irreversible damage to Akane's body and soul", but by that point Todd was already under the table (where did they even… oh, right, Sanctuary), so Cid didn't bother asking. He could already understand what it meant, anyway.
Apparently, world didn't care about whether their participants did it by the spirit (aka how both parties wanted it for themselves) or by the letter (aka exactly the way it was written).
"I accept," Akane's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Moments later, Cid felt a connection forming. Great!
Because it doesn't matter how he could twist a contract, he wanted to play the role of a Sensei!
"Wonderful."
After hearing Shadow's voice, Akane Nishino suddenly found herself in desolate place. The only other living beings here were Shadow himself and his beautiful companion that scowled at her presence.
And for some reason, she could swear that she saw some dark place, full of monsters that made Magical Beasts look like harmless kitten in comparison…
"Then, we shall start."
She turned her attention back to him and readied herself. There's no going back now, after all.
"But first, you will be gifted a proper weapon. Can't have my student to carry around that…" even though she couldn't see his face, she was pretty sure he was not all that pleased at her current weapon's state.
As ashamed as she was to admit, humanity's cold weapons were not that great even after they discovered the ways to use magic. The main reason being the fact that you can't charge machinery with magic enough for it to carry over to weapons, and without usage of magic at the crafting stage… Well, Beasts surely didn't care about something that barely scratched their skin. Of course, even then Knights could use swords like these, and even fight properly, but… Yes, she did need a better weapon.
"Hmm, what should I give…" he closed his eyes, thinking about something.
She patiently waited (and tried to ignore the stares from the woman behind him).
"Ah, right, this thing," he snapped his fingers, "A bit sentimental to gift it, and the quality is not that great, but… It does have a lot of potential."
He raised his hand. She waited with bated breath as something started swirling towards the center of his palm. And once he was finished…
"Take it."
He offered her a crowbar.
"Huh…?" was all she could say as she took the tool into her hands.
"What?" did she imagine it or was there really a chuckle?
"But that's… Not a weapon?" she was really dumbfounded, alright?
"You think so?" she was 100% sure he raised his brow.
"Uh… Yeah?"
"Take position, then," he took the crowbar back, "ready your sword."
She did as she was told.
"Attack at any time you wish."
Akane inhaled and started looking for vulnerable points. But there was one problem.
His whole position was full of vulnerable points! No matter how she attacks, she will hit him easily!
And so she immediately went on the offensive… Only for her sword to be easily taken by crowbar's notch and ripped out of her hands.
She looked in shock at her weapon lying on the ground. She raised her gaze, only to be met with two red orbs staring from the darkness.
"Pick it up."
He played with crowbar, seemingly not caring about her being this close to him. However, Akane couldn't even move properly as she continued staring at the crowbar. And she could swear that she could hear its laughter.
"Pick. It. Up."
Shadow's patience was running thin. With a gulp, she picked the sword up and took the stance, shaking.
Until the end of the day, he continued fighting her with crowbar, pointing out more and more mistakes of hers.
On the second day he gave her the crowbar. It was early morning, and the first task he gave was…
"I should do what?" she couldn't believe her ears.
"Use crowbar as the shovel and dig out a small trench, about one meter in length and height. I will prepare the food for you in the meantime."
Akane wanted to protest, only to find out he already went somewhere and now she was left with that suspicious woman. With a sigh, she got to work. Five years ago, she was one of the upper-class citizen; then, she became one of the world's protectors; now, she was working as excavator. Life is strange…
By the time she finished digging, it was already evening. Exhausted from all the work, she barely got out of the trench she made and saw her new Sensei cooking something. Upon seeing her he nodded and waved to the seat near him. With a groan she crawled towards the spot. Surprisingly, the woman was now looking at her with less hostility.
"Good job. I honestly did not expect you to actually finish it in one day…" if she had any strength left she surely would scream. What was all this suffering for, then?! "Which means you get a reward. Here, double for you."
Double? Well, the smell was heavenly, so… Yeah, she deserved that! Now, give-!
She stared at the meal she got. It looked normal… Until it didn't.
"S-Sensei…" her voice faltered, "What is that?!"
"Oh, that's something I created," he spoke nonchalantly as he ate a spoonful of the meal (she still couldn't see his face), "Rich in nutrients, gives a lot of energy, and has a good effect on your health and body strength. Trust me, two weeks later you will not recognize yourself."
"Y-Yeah… I surely won't…"
Of course she won't. It looks like the meal actually wanted to eat her instead…!
Two hours later, she finally finished the first plate, silently cursing the woman that got normal food in the process. The amount of injuries she got trying to eat it? She doesn't want to talk about that…
On the third day, her task was to increase the length to two meters, and height to two meters. Sensei once again left somewhere, probably to find yet another set of ingredients for the meal.
Akane sighed and readied her now trusty crowbar. Today it felt way lighter than usual; either yesterday's feats really improved her strength or the crowbar itself was actually sentient…
She started digging. Yesterday doing so was heavy and tedious. Today, she didn't even think about anything as her hands moved by themselves. In the afternoon, her task was already finished.
"Not bad, not bad," of course, Sensei was already here and cooking yet another meal.
This time the meal felt way less threatening. She finished the plate in half of hour.
On the fifth day, her powers were enough to extend the trench up to fifteen meters. After that, Sensei finally decided that it's about time for her to move onto the next step.
"Now that your body is barely passable," she suppressed the wish to drop right here and then, "I have prepared another course for you."
"And that would be…?" she inquired cautiously.
"Crafting."
With that, he took out another crowbar and a plank of wood. What happened next would make any self-respecting craftsman become an alcoholic in the last stages.
In barely a minute Sensei made from an unassuming plank a detailed figurine of that woman… which, by the way, now only looked at Akane in curiosity and wrote everything down; they still didn't talk even once…
Oh, he also did all of that with crowbar.
"This is the result that would place you into high-tier craftsman in my eyes," he said as she stared at the figurine in shock.
Yeah, she has a long way to go.
"Now, I shall explain how, exactly, should you do this… That is, if you want to make yourself a normal house, of course."
Oh, yeah, did she mention that while he somehow (well, now she knows how) made a good-looking house that would put even upper-class citizen to shame, she was sleeping in the small hut? Talk about motivation…
By the end of the day she finally managed to make a small figurine of snake. After being asked why snake, she answered that there was Green Serpent, Apex Beast that was surprisingly not hostile and only wished to fight someone who could best it, and she made a figurine in its form. Sensei went silent after hearing that.
On the seventh day, she finally managed to create a proper figurine that showed all the small details of Green Serpent. She herself didn't know how she was able to do such a feat, especially with a crowbar. Apparently, Sensei really was some kind of a divine spirit.
Oh, and a peculiar thing happened…
"You. Talk."
These were the first words that she heard from suspicious woman.
"Talk?"
"Yes. Talk."
It was really hard to understand what she was saying. Apparently, while Shadow could freely converse in any language she could think of (she tried to test him with English, German, even Chinese and Russian; now she has to live with this knowledge…), his companion was not so gifted… Well, what did she expect from divine spirit?
She nodded at the woman and waited for her question.
"You. Adapt. Good."
It was a pain to understand what she was saying, but it was a progress! Of course, she shouldn't say complicated things.
"Sensei. Good. Teach. Well-"
"Can. Understand. Can't. Speak."
Oh.
"Sensei taught me well, I am myself surprised that I went that far in such a short time," Akane sighed.
"Lord Shadow Divine!" for some reason, that one was said almost without errors and in one breath, as if she repeated it for a long time. Come to think of it…
"Are you his apostle?"
"Yes! Me! Apostle!" the usually stern woman suddenly turned into some kind of fangirl.
So he really was a divine spirit…
"Say, would you happen to know why, exactly, did he choose me?" it was worth a try, right?
"No," woman shook her head, "Lord Shadow. Knows. Best. I. Follow."
'Hum…'
After that the dialogue died out. Akane continued polishing both her skills in using crowbar and the figurines themselves.
On the tenth day…
"Sensei, what is this?!"
"Oh, that?" he turned to her, "I got that one from some forest. Great, right?"
"Sensei, that goose is a Magical Beast!"
He did, in fact, somehow bring a whole living Canada goose into their training ground. And that goose was, in fact, a Magical Beast. Of high-level, even. Almost close to Apex Beast level.
"Magical Beast?… When I was bringing it here, it didn't have an ounce of magic, though…"
"You want to say you created a Magical Beast without knowing it?" she stared blankly at him.
He nodded.
"You know, I start to think it was you who opened Earth to magic…" she joked weakly; however, instead of chuckling or reprimanding her, he only went in thought; then he nodded slowly, "No-no-no, it's just a joke, right…?"
She didn't want to think that Sensei was so Sensei-ish that he single-handedly granted magic to this world!… Though it would actually be a possibility, but… No, just no!
"So, what do I do with that goose?!" she decided to change the topic.
"Beat it."
Upon hearing his words big (two meters tall) goose slowly redirected its gaze on her and started hissing.
"S-Sensei, are you sure I am ready?…"
"Yes."
And so she charged into the battle.
Needless to say, goose just flapped its wings, and she flew away with severe injuries.
On the fourteenth day, after realizing that beating the goose was not equal to killing it, she finally managed to tame it.
Now she had a big pet Magical Goose. Sensei even said that it was excellent completion of task and allowed her to take it with herself. She named the goose Minoru to honor the boy from so long ago… Though for some reason Sensei coughed after hearing it. Could he have a cold?
Well, true to Sensei's words, after two weeks of training she did, in fact, could not believe how far she has come. Even now, while fighting against a high-level Magical Beast that could easily crush multiple squads of trained Knights, she held her ground. She did not win, per say, but she could fight back for dozens of minutes. That was a progress!
After seeing how she could easily wield the crowbar for any task — don't ask her how she came from being a complete newbie to expert in less than two weeks; she has no answer, either, — he took the sword and said to get ready for fight.
Sensei said he will just stand in one place and defend. Her task was to break the sword out of his hand or touch his clothes once. She would lose if she was to lose her own weapon or get too tired.
She still lost, but she could see the progress; when he tried to take away the weapon with well-timed strike, she counter-attacked so fiercely that it was him who almost lost the sword. He nodded approvingly and gave a lecture; if it was to be said without all the water that took about 99.9% of overall speech, it would be "fight effective, use cheap tricks".
Sensei deemed her worthy. Tomorrow, as he said, he will give her the final exam.
She doesn't even feel that bad now about leaving to serve him. The only thing she regrets is not meeting that boy since…
Akane sighed. Maybe, just maybe, if reincarnation exists, she will find him again.
Shield Hero?
Nah, Crowbar Hero!
Also for that one who really wanted to know who "HE" is: you agree that author does not hold any fault about any and all physical, emotional, astral, soul, or any other damage that you get upon receiving this knowledge.
Now, answer: Hapsiel.