The Veteran's Training Method (1)
"It's the girl, child. That Phoebe you speak of."
On the way back after receiving the mace from Phoebe, not long after we'd left the church, Grandpa cautiously broke the silence.
'Why? What about her?'
"She seemed to be going through a great deal of turmoil."
'Phoebe is?'
I tilted my head at his words. And honestly, who could blame me? The Phoebe I knew was someone built like a great, towering tree.
Steadfast as a tree that would never break, no matter what storms raged against it. Someone who could let everyone rest in the vast shade she cast. Even if a few of her roots rotted away, she was the kind of person who would grow even taller without so much as a wobble.
That was Phoebe.
This was a girl who, throughout her personal story, had faced hardship after hardship without ever once furrowing her brow, always showing the composure of a true saintess. Was she seriously supposed to start wavering now, when she had nothing to endure at all?
"And another thing. That child seemed to envy you."
'Oh, come on. Now you're just making things up.'
Grandpa, if you're going to slander someone, at least pick something believable. Envy? From Phoebe? Those two words don't even belong in the same sentence.
I've cleared her route who knows how many times in the game, and not once, not a single time, did I ever see the saintess display jealousy toward another person.
Why are you trying to turn some girl who has nothing to do with you into a villain, Grandpa?
"Child. Would I have reason to lie to you?"
'...Phoebe is actually jealous of ME?!'
Huh? Why? What could she possibly have to be jealous of? Objectively speaking, is there a single thing about me worth envying?
I genuinely cannot understand this.
'Why, though?'
"She appeared to covet the grace of Armadi that has been bestowed upon you."
Ah, so it's that.
Well, fair enough, I suppose. She's spent her entire life devoted to the gods and never heard a single word from any of them, and then this mesugaki who until recently was raising hell inside the church starts receiving divine grace right before her eyes. Yeah, that would turn anyone's stomach inside out.
If it were me, I'd have told that perverted Chief God bastard to get lost—'you really think I believe in you?'—but Phoebe isn't the kind of person who could do that.
Come to think of it, this is a situation that never happened even once in the game. Armadi in the game never spoke to the player, after all.
I don't know exactly how Phoebe would react to seeing someone receive Armadi's love firsthand.
But I can guess. Because I know exactly what kind of person she is.
'She'll be fine.'
Phoebe might stumble. She might waver. Even carrying the title of saintess, even being closer to sainthood than anyone else alive, in the end she is still human.
But Phoebe will be all right. Because at the end of it all, always, she overcomes and smiles again—that is who the saintess Phoebe is.
I trusted the image of her, beaming brightly, at the close of that bleak, miserable personal story of hers.
"I suppose that would be for the best."
'Don't worry about it. When has anything I've said ever been wrong?'
"...Fair point, that."
'Anyway, Grandpa. Let's talk about how I can get even stronger from here.'
That was the more urgent matter. Who knew how many threats would come knocking now that I'm known as Armadi's apostle?
After all, Nakrad had only charged at me, throwing his original plans out the window to try and kill me, because he sensed Armadi's power radiating off my body. Who knows how many more situations like that would arise from here on out?
The best countermeasure was for me to get stronger. Trembling in fear of whatever variable might pop up next is a far worse plan than deciding in advance that whatever variable shows up, I'll smash it to pieces. Right?
"You are strong enough already as you stand."
'It's not enough.'
Raw physical specs, I could grind out and shore up on my own somehow. But the art of combat is a different beast entirely. That's not something you build through mindless repetition alone.
Right now, at every critical moment, I'm leaning on Grandpa's judgment to one degree or another. And that can't continue. Fighting Nakrad taught me that: waiting for his word before I move is simply too slow.
I need to reach the point where I arrive at the same judgment he does before he even opens his mouth.
'Because I don't want to die, you see.'
"...Hmm. Very well. Let me ponder what might be done."
'Thank you, Grandpa. Oh, and there's one more thing I need to ask.'
"What is it?"
'You remember all the lectures I sat through at the Academy, right?'
So here's the thing. A quest popped up telling me to take first place in the midterm exams. And I spent most of my classroom hours at the Academy making out with my desk instead of the material.
Which means if anyone asks me what I've learned so far, my answer is limited to 'um' and 'uh.' Grandpa's help is absolutely essential here! I'm counting on you!
"Hahh. Child."
'Yes!'
"Could you not invest even one-tenth of the passion you show in your physical training into your studies? Have I not told you before—as a noble, you...!"
Having sighed at my shameless request, Grandpa eventually launched into a full-blown lecture. Since this was far from a once-or-twice occurrence, I let it flow in one ear and straight out the other.
You're going to help me anyway, aren't you, Grandpa? I already figured out ages ago that you're a textbook tsundere!
The next morning.
I was going through my usual preparations to drag Frey off to training when Joy came looking for me. She thanked me until I was sick of it in the infirmary just yesterday—surely she wasn't here to say thank you again?
If she really intended to, I'd just blow the sentiment away with my Mesugaki Skill before it could land.
So I waited for her to speak, braced for more gratitude—and what came out of her mouth was something that flew completely past my expectations.
"Please help me become stronger."
Uh... huh?
What was that?
Help her get stronger? I'm having trouble understanding why a mage like Joy would come to me with a request like that.
If she wanted guidance, weren't there plenty of more reliable places to look? The Academy's other professors, for instance. Or a private tutor hired through the Patran family's connections.
Granted, I could help her. It's not as if the characters I've raised in Soul Academy were exclusively melee builds.
I'm the veteran who has memorized the optimal growth path for every single class in the game. I was simply curious why she'd bring a question like that to me.
'Why ask me of all people?'
"Airhead Lady. Can you really not think of anything besides airheaded thoughts? Why would a mage ask a knight for help?"
"It is not your instruction in magic that I seek. I simply wish for you to make me into someone worthy of standing at your side. If only to repay the debt I owe you."
Roughly speaking, I understood what Joy was saying. She wants to stand beside me to pay back the life-debt she owes me. So she's asking me to help her become someone I'd want to keep at my side, essentially?
Let me rephrase that just a touch.
'You want to party with me, don't you?'
"Hehe~ Airhead Lady. You want to party with me? So you actually enjoyed getting teased by me, huh? What a pervert lady~ Gross~"
"...I will let the last part slide. It is true that I wish to be in a party with Lady Alrn."
Having Joy join as a party member? That was more than welcome news. She was a high-performance mage in the game, after all.
It depended on how you built the party concept, but whenever I wanted a devastating backline, Joy was always one of the first names on the list.
From my position—constantly feeling like our damage output fell short every time we fought—I had no reason to refuse her joining the party.
Except.
'I wouldn't refuse you as a party member. However...'
"I'd be happy to take you on if you just begged and pleaded about wanting to join, you pathetic cowardly lady. But can you actually set foot in a dungeon?"
There it was. The problem.
Because of the incident where she fell into the Alchemist's dungeon in the past, Joy carries trauma around dungeons. No matter how outstanding her in-game performance was, a character who can't enter a dungeon is dead weight.
If this problem wasn't solved, I couldn't take Joy on as a party member.
When I simply stared at her in silence, urging an answer, Joy's lips fluttered before she gave a slow, deliberate nod.
"I... believe I will be all right."
'Really?'
"Airhead Lady. I know you lo~ve me, but don't you dare put on an act. This time I really might wet myself, you know?"
"I cannot speak for other times, but if Lady Alrn is at my side... I am certain I will be all right."
If I'm there, she'll be fine.
At those careful, tentative words from Joy, I simply could not hold back my laughter.
Seeing the Favorability 70 notification had made me happy, truly it had—but watching my beloved favorite character visibly relying on me right before my eyes made holding it in an impossibility.
'So I'm what makes it okay for you, huh!'
"Ahaha♡ So you can't do anything without me? Pathetic~ Coward~ Don't tell me you can't even go to the bathroom at night without me there?"
I could see Joy's clasped hands trembling in front of her, but there was nothing to be done. The scene I had wished for so desperately, the one I'd never once been able to have, was unfolding right in front of me.
How on earth was I supposed to keep a straight face?
Only after laughing until I was out of breath did I finally notice the real Joy—face flushed crimson, head hanging low.
Hmm. That may have been a bit too far.
'Fine. Joy. We'll go into a dungeon together.'
"Got it. You're just a baby lady who can't do aaaanything without me, after all? I'll be sure to look after you."
"Thank you."
Joy's voice as she answered was shaking like a leaf.
Joy, you might be regretting this right about now—but it's already too late. You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.
The moment you declared you'd become a member of the veteran's party, you committed yourself to rising to whatever standard I demand. That's just how it works.
'In exchange, there's one condition.'
"Well, Airhead Lady, I can't exactly babysit you for free, can I? I have conditions too."
'And what's that?'
'Follow every single thing I tell you to do. All the way to the end.'
"Do as I say. All the way to the end. None of that pathetic quitting halfway through."
Back when this world was a game, there was no way to schedule my companion NPCs' training down to the day. Giving them a general direction was the best I could manage.
But this is reality now. Things the game system once blocked me from doing, I can now do freely, without the slightest burden.
Before, the best I could do was teach a character good skills and deck them out in good equipment, and that was the end of it. But now? Now I can sculpt the gem known as Joy from start to finish, with my own two hands.
Is there a veteran alive who wouldn't get worked up over this?
I can say with absolute certainty: no. There isn't.
Joy, utterly unaware of what plans were taking shape inside my head, crossed her arms and spoke up with a confident grin.
"What exactly do you take Joy Partran for? Do I look like the sort of person who gives up that easily to you?"
'Really?'
"Really? You're that confident? A pathetic little airhead lady could nee~ever endure what I'm about to go through, you know?"
"I will not disappoint you."
The moment I saw the resolute determination in Joy's eyes, I nodded.
If she's willing to go that far, there's nothing I can do to talk her out of it.
Ahh, well. Can't be helped.
I didn't want to torment my beloved favorite character—but when she insists on it that badly, what am I supposed to do?
Time to put her through the wringer.