Episode 5: "brute": the origins

A week had passed since Taro learned how to feel his mana. From then on, he could be found either in the church’s yard or on a huge rock in the outskirts of the village, sitting, focused, feeling his power grow

Taro: (at this rate, soon the ball will overflow, that's when I’ll be able to enhance myself with mana according to Nagye. But damn, things have gotten so much better, I actually feel like an isekai protagonist now, I'm training for my powers, and I even met a cute girl that visits me every day. Sure, nothing romantic has happened yet, and she always leaves fast without giving me a chance to get to know her better,, but what if?, what if?!, eheh) eheheh

Ari: You're thinking about lewd stuff aren’t you?, creepy brute

Taro jumped off the rock startled

Taro: waah! you, scare!, when come?

Ari: I got here a little ago, I just didn’t wanna interrupt, you seemed very focused, I thought you were praying. but I guess I should have interrupted, you were just having dirty thoughts anyway

Taro: not dirty thoutz, mana ench–en… mana enha! (I never get that word right dammit)

Ari: mana enhancement? no way, you can't get stronger if you just sit all day, to mana enhance yourself you gotta breathe in and get in fighting stance, like this!

Ari’s mana was somewhat visible despite the light of day, it was if light sparks emanated from her body

Taro: you, bad teecher, zitting, better, for me

Ari: bad teacher? hmph! despite all the things I’ve taught you

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a memory came to both Taro and Ari, of how they met

Taro went to the guild office for the first time, expecting to see some rough adventurers staring at him and being covertly or overtly rude, what he found instead was a mostly empty lobby, a group of out of shape people with such minimal equipment that they could barely pass as adventurers in any anime, and the clerk

guild secretary: any questions? of course not, you’ve done this since forever, but its protocol you know? I gotta follow the procedures or the guild master will get mad, safety first, and speaking of, you’re not wearing your leather plate under your shirt, you can't fool my eye

short guy: give me a break man, its hot today, and if I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die drinking

the clerk was visually striking; an eyepatch, a huge receding hairline, and a prosthetic hand with little levers and screws on the wrist, with which he controlled the movement and position of the fingers to hold the papers close to his only eye

but what impacted Taro the most was the girl in the group. Her long brown to reddish hair, tied in a ponytail, her halberd, shiny but chipped, and her extra leather protections made her stand out as some sort of fantasy heroine

Taro: (woah, so this is what anime girls look like in real life)

Ari: Who's that over there?

the girl noticed Taro staring at her, she approached and started inspecting him

Ari: I haven't seen you before, are you the other Transported the church rescued?

he was too intimidated to speak

guild secretary: don't scare him Ari, what if he doesn’t know how to speak the language yet?. What Do You Need?, Come Here, Friend

The guild secretary tapped the counter and tried his best to communicate without words. Now all eyes were on Taro

Taro: G-goomorning, I uhh, quezt pleaze

guild secretary: you’re here to issue a quest?

Taro: n-no

guild secretary: oh? you’re here to take a quest then?

Taro: yez

Ari: So, we got a newbie adventurer here huh? I got just the quest for you

Taro: huh?

guild secretary: you’re gonna take him on patrol? hmm, I don’t think I can let you do that, if he’s gonna register, his rank doesn't allow him to go on patrol yet, he needs to take the basic patrol instruction

Ari: That's why I’m taking him with me, to give him the basic patrol instruction

guild secretary: while on a real patrol huh?... denied

Ari: c’mon, nothing ever happens anyway, and if something were to happen, I promise to protect him with my life, you know I’d never lose

guild secretary: that's what we all say, until we lose our hands and eyes and legs

Ari: that happened to you in a dungeon, we’re just gonna walk around town and enjoy the breeze, besides, look at him, all scrawny and unprepared, it's better if we teach him the ropes early before he gets hurt on his own

meanwhile, Taro was thrilled to think that his first ever quest would be a patrolling quest, on a town that, by all accounts, was peaceful and very careful with security, under the guidance of experienced people

Taro: I go, pleaze

guild secretary: huh? you want to go?, you can wait until the weekend to take the patrol class with the guild master, you know?, it's safer and, well, to be fair, it is very similar to an actual patrol

Ari: see? it’s all set then, let’s go, newbie, what’s your name?

Taro: ah, uhh, my neem iz Taro

Ari: hmm, weird name, but ok, I’m Ari, follow my lead if you want to live

short guy: girl calm down, you’re gonna scare him away

spear guy: she wants to be a teacher so bad

the group laughed and threw banter all the way to the patrolling start point, Taro just followed them and kept to himself

Taro: (even if I knew how to speak fluently, I don’t think I’d get along with them, they sound a bit heavy handed)

shield guy: alright newbie, first thing you need to know about patrolling is: the newbie carries the bags

the group started stacking their bags on top of him, at first he could manage, but then it became exceedingly heavy

shield guy: there we go, strong as a busel

spear guy: of course, man, he’s always out there carrying water, he’s a whole brute

short guy: he even speaks like one!

they all broke out in laughter and started advancing. Taro was already regretting his decision, and he was wondering what a “busel” even was.

they took a stop at a place that looked like a rudimentary camping site, it had some logs to sit on, and a circle of rocks, presumably for fire

Ari: Who let this here?, the protocol says that we must rest in unpredictable places to avoid ambushes

shield guy: girl calm down, ain’t nobody have enemies around here

spear guy: perhaps the other team forgot to pick them up, right? hehehehe

they took a glance at Taro, who was still on his way there, his legs were visibly shaky, and his expression was of pure regret

short guy: why are ya shaking so much? it ain’t even that cold hahah

spear guy: nah man he wanna take a piss, but careful, you gotta piss according to the protocol, or the enemies will rip it off! heeeeheheheh!

shield guy: don't worry, the teacher right here will teach you how to piss under the guidelines ahio-hio-hio!

Ari: “ha-ha” very funny, you idiots. Hurry up, newbie. wait a minute, are you even using your mana?

she took a good look at him, and noticed no mana whatsoever

Ari: I can’t believe it, you have been carrying all that without any mana enhancement, you truly are a brute. give me that, I’ll teach you how to enhance your body with mana, pay attention

while the others were unpacking their bags and preparing to cook something, Ari repeated the same instructions to Taro over and over

Ari: let’s try again, breathe in, and feel like your body is burning!, like this!

Taro: (this is going nowhere, I just wanna sit down. Wait, do I smell alcohol?, these guys are unbelievable)

Ari: practice what I told you while we eat, don’t forget. I can’t believe they brought booze again, hey, I’m not gonna be carrying your drunk sleeping poc body if something happens!, put that booze away!, you’re giving the newbie a bad example!

Ari continued to scold absolutely everyone the whole rest of the mission, the other adventurers just laughed and enjoyed themselves, and Taro had to ask for rests multiple times. In the end, everyone ended up carrying their own bags

guild secretary: here’s your pay for your first quest. so, how was it, champ?

Taro: bad, bad bad, I… never go (I will never ever go on a quest with these guys again)

Ari: But don't forget what I taught you ok?, about the mana enhancement, and how to eat while on patrol, and how to rest while taking cover, and what to do if you hear something suspicious, do you remember all that?

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Taro:... terrible teecher, I no learn nothing

Ari: hmph!, It's not my fault that nobody pays attention. Who taught you that sitting was gonna make you stronger anyway?. don't you know that mana enhancement boosts the strength you already have? If you're weak, there’s not much to enhance

Taro: (woah, now that's something I didn’t know. So, if I get stronger physically, will mana multiply that? I really need to start working out then!)

Ari: so?, who taught you?

Taro: zecret

Ari: c’mon, tell me, or I’ll get it out of you

Ari started wrestling Taro. At first he was not budging, but then she activated her mana, and overpowered him to the ground

Taro: owowow, wait, hurt, hurt

Ari: Then tell me, or deal with it, you’re a man aren’t you?

Taro: yez, but still hurt (also your face is too close!)

Ari let go of him, what he said had more of an impact than any of them expected

Ari: sorry… anyway, I got distracted with you, I was supposed to go somewhere, I’ll just let you sit there, thinking your lewd thoughts

Taro: not dirty, mana enha!