Chapter 43

5. The Guide's Calling

The residence for awakener pairs was sufficiently spacious. There was one fairly large bedroom, a living room with a small sofa and table, and the kitchen space even had a tiny refrigerator. Ah, so cool. Opening the freezer door, Nain stuck his head into the empty space for no reason and marveled. It was compact but had everything one could need.

Nain looked around restlessly, unable to find a place to rest his eyes. While Nain was admiring the quite excellent facilities for a dormitory and looking around here and there, Ash sat on the sofa in the living room and only followed Nain with his eyes. He had absolutely no interest in the space.

"Nain."

"Yes?"

"Is that all your luggage?"

Ash asked, gesturing downward with his eyes. He was looking at the luggage bag Nain had set on the floor. The small bag, which even a child could easily carry alone, contained all of Nain's belongings. Even opening the bag, there wasn't much that stood out. Just three or four sets of clothes provided by the center and a notebook.

The person from the next room who had offered to help with unpacking had also sighed bitterly upon seeing the simple luggage that fit in just one bag.

'You're always prepared to leave at any time.'

'Huh? Me?'

Though that wasn't the case at all, it seemed to appear that way to others. On the way here, he had heard people ask if that was all his luggage five times.

Strictly speaking, Nain's belongings weren't as few as others thought. If he took everything out, he had enough possessions to fill one wall of the living room.

And most of them were magical tools including magic scrolls and magic potions. Since he had gotten caught up in an accident while going to meet Cheche without unpacking any of the tools he used at the academy dormitory, his spatial expansion pocket still contained everything he had used at the academy. Unfortunately, they were items unsuitable for use here.

"Yes. This is everything."

It was bothersome to explain. Since there was no need to explain everything to Ash in detail, Nain answered simply. When he demonstratively opened the bag and emptied it by taking out just a few pieces of clothing, Ash let out a hollow laugh. He seemed to think Nain looked pitiful.

"Nain, come here for a moment."

He wiggled his fingers. It was ridiculous.

"Am I a puppy? Why do you keep telling me to come..."

Though grumbling, Nain turned around and approached the sofa where Ash was sitting. When he got close enough, Ash reached out and pulled Nain's arm. Even without much force, once balance was lost, the body tilting was instantaneous. Nain looked down at him with an awkward posture, supporting himself against the sofa backrest. What are you trying to do now?

"I'm tired, so will you hug me?"

"...What?"

"I'm asking for guiding. I used my ability too often today."

It was quite amazing how he could make ordinary words sound suggestive. Nain paused for a moment before muttering.

"Stop showing that you like me."

"I don't want to. If I show it, Nain pays attention to me."

"I'm not paying attention to you... No, forget it. Let's say that's the case."

Let's stop talking. This man wasn't the type you could reason with anyway. When Nain gave up and shut his mouth tightly, Ash looked up at him.

"Be nice to me. Who knows? You might end up liking me later too."

"...Why would I?"

"No one knows what will happen in life. I'll gladly let you string me along, so try it."

"..."

He no longer had the energy to say anything. He was tired to death, so let's stop arguing now. Instead of vehemently insisting it wasn't true, Nain changed the subject.

"Aren't you going to bring your luggage over?"

"Ah. If I said I was bringing it over, would you help?"

"No."

Nain answered firmly. Then Ash grumbled "Ah, that's too much. I said I'd help you" and hugged Nain's waist. Nain put more strength into the hand supporting himself on the sofa and held on.

"I'm going to wash, so let me go."

"Can you wash alone?"

"..."

Seeing the muscles around the man's eyes twitch, he was definitely holding back laughter. In other words, he was revving up to tease him.

'This perverted bastard...'

Strength suddenly went into his hand. He'd better watch what he said next. Nain stared at Ash with a terrifying expression as if he might smash the man's head with his fist at any moment.

"I got it."

What a glare. He grumbled. But that wasn't a face that understood at all.

"So you won't do guiding?"

"I don't know how."

"Nain just needs to stay still."

Ash turned Nain's waist and pulled him into an embrace.

"I'll hold you for a bit."

The notification came only after he had already embraced him. But the feeling of his back being surrounded by warm blankets wasn't entirely bad, so he just stayed quiet.

Today had been a really long day. So many things had happened. Perhaps because he was tired, Ash's chest surprisingly felt stable and comfortable like an armchair. Staying still in the same position like this made him sleepy. A yawn burst out naturally. When Nain's eyes were half-closed, Ash asked.

"Don't fall asleep, Nain. I'm bored..."

"Ah."

Only then did Nain realize he had been nodding off. When he suddenly raised his head and gasped, he heard trembling laughter from behind him.

"Will you tell me something interesting?"

"..."

Seeing that he couldn't stay still for even that brief moment, his attention span was at a 3-year-old level. Maybe even worse. Nain answered in a displeased tone.

"You'll just say it's boring anyway. With that kind of reaction, what can I say?"

"That wasn't your story."

"Well..."

Ash had asked for interesting stories. So he had no choice but to tell stories about classmates from the academy or plots of plays he had seen. After telling all those stories, Ash would give a bland response like "What's interesting about that?"

"I want to hear Nain's stories. I'm not interested in other stories."

"But it won't be very interesting to you, will it? There's hardly anything special and it's too ordinary."

"How was it ordinary?"

"...It's just nothing special? You've been inside gates, seen monsters..."

...Almost died too. Nain glanced at the fog following the man and swallowed the rest of his words instead of saying them out loud.

"Anyway, you've experienced all sorts of things that ordinary people would find hard to experience even once in a lifetime. Compared to that, I just ordinarily attended the academy and studied."

"Were you a good student?"

"Just average, I guess."

"What do you learn at such places?"

"...Various things."

When he vaguely brushed it off with "various things," Ash met his eyes and slowly blinked once as if asking him to be more specific. Let's see, what did I learn... Nain looked into space for a moment thinking before speaking.

"How to implement magic circles or magic potion manufacturing methods...? I also learned biology and herb-related things... I think I took all subjects related to magic potion manufacturing without discrimination. Because I wanted to go to the pharmacy department. Sometimes I was the only one who applied, so it became private tutoring."

"...Private tutoring."

"There were many subjects I couldn't take because I don't know how to handle mana. Healing magic types were the only academic field that was relatively accessible to non-mages. But Ash, can you understand when I talk about such things?"

"Actually, I don't really know."

In a way, it was natural that he couldn't understand. This was a world without the concept of magic. Instead, schools in this world would teach other subjects.

"What do you learn in schools here?"

Nain asked.

"I don't know. I've never attended school."

"..."

"I awakened when I was very young."

Nain was speechless at the straightforward answer. He felt like he had said something he shouldn't have.

"Then are those children we saw today also children who awakened early? Do they grow up here?"

"Those kids have different circumstances. Their residence is near here, so they'll just receive initial education here and be sent back home. If they don't have abilities helpful for gate conquest, there's no reason to take them in and raise them."

When Ash's eyes met Nain's, he grinned and continued.

"I had an ability most similar to what the center desperately desired."

"A desired ability?"

"Honestly, from my first training, I could tell very well how much they expected from me."

He rolled his eyes once, recalling the past.

"My first training took place in front of a newly formed emission-type gate. They told me to grasp the gate's structure while monsters I'd never seen before were crawling out and a passerby's arm was severed."

Even while speaking, he snorted as if it was absurd. Ash raised his arm and pointed at the air with his finger. Suddenly, the residence corridor appeared where the window had been. Nain held his breath and stared intently at the scene. The clicking sound of someone's footsteps invaded the space. When Ash lowered his arm again, that spot returned to an ordinary window.

"You saw it."

"...Amazing!"

For almost the first time today, Nain's face lit up completely. It was fascinating that he didn't just move locations but made the spaces themselves overlap.