Estimated reading time: 5–7 minutes
Chapter 19
It was just another day.
The party of adventurers came to me with an odd request.
「Master Eld! We want to become stronger! Please let us train!」
「Ha…?」
I have no complaints about their income so far.
Ever since the mage Akane joined them, they’ve been able to take on even higher difficulty quests, and their efficiency has improved as well. I didn’t think there was any need to further increase their earnings.
「No, Domingo. You guys have been working hard already.」
「No, we want to be even more helpful to Master Eld!」
「Well, if you insist…」
And so, I agreed to assist them in their training.
Here is how the training goes:
First, two of the three will fight seriously with each other.
Then, after the battle, I will heal the two who are injured.
The third acts as referee and gets some rest.
Then they switch places and repeat this many times.
By repeatedly damaging and recovering their muscles, they get stronger.
And by repeatedly fighting real death matches, they steadily gain power.
Usually in quests, they only battle monsters at a difficulty level they can clear.
By occasionally taking risks and battling seriously, they gain strength.
「You guys are really going at it…」
The adventurers were genuinely trying to kill each other.
As a result, their arms were getting torn off and eyes were being smashed in quick order.
I wonder if they have too much faith in my healing magic?
「Oww!」
「Kyaa!」
「Gwaa!」
The three continued their merciless barrage of attacks.
And I went around healing them one after another.
「Take it easy guys…」
To be honest, even though it’s for the sake of getting stronger, I’m a little disturbed at how far they’re taking this.
It must be painful, yet they keep overdoing it because they know I’ll heal them…
But thanks to this, their combat abilities increased tremendously.
Domingo for example is now a super muscular macho man, completely different from when I first met him as a slave merchant.
Otto’s arms have become grossly overdeveloped from too much bow shooting, to the point where if you saw them in the dark you’d think he was some kind of monster.
As for Akane, even though she is a mage, her magic power keeps increasing.
Somehow, it seems that when I heal Akane’s body, her magic power also recovers to some extent.
Magic is directly connected to mental and physical strength, after all.
At any rate, through this cycle of wounding and healing, the three obtained tremendous, superhuman strength.
◆
The party of adventures grew stronger, eventually attaining the A-Rank Adventurer title.
Then one day, when they returned…
「We barely…made it out alive this time…」
「Uggh…almost…died…」
The three returned covered in blood, on the verge of death.
Several of their arms were also missing.
I immediately rushed over to them and provided treatment.
「Hehe, thank you Master Eld. You saved us.」
「What happened to you guys…!?」
I asked.
They had never returned this gravely injured before.
Of course battling monsters means getting hurt to some extent.
But this…
Could it be their quest ended in failure…?
「Well…we challenged a rather difficult quest. Since we’re slaves, dying isn’t a big deal, right? And you know, it’s Master Eld’s birthday soon? So we wanted to accomplish some great feat for your sake no matter what…Therefore we attempted a quest right at the S-Rank level of difficulty… And this is how it turned out…」
Domingo explained.
I blew my top.
「You idiots!」
「Huh…?」
「Dying would be meaningless, wouldn’t it! (All my effort raising you guys would be wasted!)」
「Master Eld…」
「I don’t care about accomplishments or whatever! (What I want is a stable income)
Value your lives more! (If you die, it just means a net loss for me)
Don’t make me worry! (What I need is money)
If you guys die…I’ll…! (Won’t that mean no more stable income?!)」
I passionately scolded them with tears in my eyes.
It seems they don’t properly understand my intentions.
They need to cherish themselves more.
A slave’s life is never cheap.
I have to somehow instill this mindset in them…
「We’re very sorry, Master Eld. We’ll work harder and become stronger! So you won’t have to worry about us!」
「No, you’re already plenty strong. Just take moderately difficult quests from now on.」
「Master Eld… You care so much about us… How kind…」
◆
【Domingo’s POV】
「You idiots!」
「Huh…?」
When I explained what happened, Master Eld suddenly grew angry.
He scolded us like a parent worried for children out late playing.
「Dying would be meaningless, wouldn’t it! 」
「Master Eld…」
We’re just slaves. Yet Master Eld said that with a serious expression.
「I don’t care about accomplishments or whatever!
Value your lives more!
Don’t make me worry!
If you guys die…I’ll…!」
Master Eld appealed to us passionately in tears.
Seeing his figure, I was also moved.
Only this person would tell slaves to value their lives.
Even though we’re disposable slaves, he worries about us…
Not just that, he’s even shedding tears…
「We’re very sorry, Master Eld. We’ll work harder and become stronger! So you won’t have to worry about us!」
「No, you’re already plenty strong. Just take moderately difficult quests from now on.」
「Master Eld… You care so much about us… How kind…」
In order to repay Master Eld’s warm consideration, I thought that we absolutely must not die.
For this person’s sake, we will become even stronger.
I swore this in my heart.
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