Chapter Chapter 16: RATH 16 TL: Eevee (1/2)

RATH 16

TL: Eevee

2. What is this. Scary. (9)

#13 Their story: A certain host’s story

The first conversation with the instructor in a while. But his ability to piss people off is the same as ever. But, the instructor does not know. The surprisingly fearful world of a host!

It is because he does not understand. What it means for I, the Empire’s best host to have to temporarily retire from a place connected to the organization simply because of women’s power struggles.

The organization had determined the faction wars that had been occurring there were dangerous, and they were right.

Because the ones fighting were none other than the young ladies of ducal houses, of which there were only three of in the entire Empire.

Those girls are fighting over me. And not even with words or power but with actual physical fisticuffs!

And the extent of their skills were such that I couldn’t even look out for myself if I was caught in the middle!

To think a disciple who had undergone the training from hell would struggle to block some young ladies’ faction wars!

And the truth that one who so easily restrains them every time with just two bottles of beer is a regular clubber who keeps getting rejected every time he tries, and this fact depresses me.

But I heard a lot of things in that place and I could train myself.

The women there all had quite the backstory behind them.

Having to close off their hearts in social circles with a fake smile plastered on their faces, used for arranged marriages to strengthen their families’ standings, being discriminated against despite their superior skills and talents just because they were women, each and every one of them had similar wounds on their hearts and the majority of them were brought to this club by others with similar scars.

And they said they couldn’t express how happy they were that they could heal their hearts in this club.

To be honest it was something that pricked quite a bit at my conscience. I wanted to go into a paramilitary force like Rood or Ragnum, but to think I’d end up in the Intelligence Agency, which the instructor said could cut you off like a lizard’s tail at any moment and working as a club host! And backstabbing these kinds of women as well!

Me, the one who was nicknamed the conscience of Instructor Naruan’s third cohort!

And so I did my best to respond to them sincerely, and I didn’t even try to fish for information from them.

This was my conscience’s last struggle against my circumstances. But on the contrary the results were a great success.

Did my honest feelings get through, the number of requests for me rose and I took the position of the club’s ace within just two years, and my skills improved accordingly as I met countless women.

Sometimes I would consult with a young lady of a martial house at a bottleneck and help her with a breakthrough, and at other times I would discuss new magic theories over wine with a lady from the magic tower.

And very occasionally I would be requested for an expensive on-site callout and even acted as a swordsmanship sparring partner.

Thanks to all these there were my own skills improved as well.

I said these was all the bare foundations of training, but the primary training centers were the entirety of my basic training! Since immediately after that the difficulty shot up from easy mode to hell, no, evil god mode, and because it was the type of training where we all struggled and crawled to not fall off the cliffs into hell, our basics were unexpectedly quite poor.

And the most important thing was, mm. That’s it. Practical experience. And with my life and chastity on the line.

Our club is an adult entertainment facility but it is no brothel. It’s actually quite a clean club where even young ladies who’ve just made their social debuts seek us out.

Plus the patrons are all either nobles, or incredibly rich!

The moment I rub them the wrong way, the survival game begins where death is the only ending.

Sia told me that either to catch the common host who dared lay his hands on their daughter(s) from the noble families, or the possibility of falling in love and blindsiding the organization as a future traitor, both outcomes meant that I was now number one in terms of likelihood to get a knife through my viscera.

Although her odd smile gave me massive cause for concern, but since that instructor-lover swore it on the instructor’s name, it’s probably true.

But because I was too good at my job, there actually were noble girls that tried to physically push me down, and because I had to avoid hurting their feelings and push them away at the same time it really was a period where my crisis management skills were honed and hardened.

That kind of person, namely me, wouldn’t be looked down on by my juniors with just around a year of training!

I speedily pushed through the trials. Since I’d already been through them once before it was easy.

The most difficult ninth trial is easy as well if you know where the hole to the next room is. Open the door and make a straight path with ice magic, do a sliding jump onto it into the hole, done.

Although it erases all your senses, it’s not like all your senses actually disappear so it’s easy to pass like that.

Tak!

“Uh…”

I can see the three of them surprised at my cool appearance. Are you looking, sir instructor? Now I will show you my skills. The growth of my skills!

“Do not be alarmed. I am your…”

Senior that came to test you! Was what I wanted to say but I never got a chance to finish. Because.

“Kill it Surtr.”

The blazing heat I felt behind my back even before I finished talking and.

“Now I will definitely finish you off!”

“Die.”

And the other two diving at me. Wait, do you even know who you’re trying to kill?

Then I realised. These kids, were my juniors. And also the instructor’s disciples…

‘Please sir instructor. Sia too but please include some character building in your training regiiiiimmeeeeee!’

I screamed internally as I pulled out my sword.

***

“They need urgent character development!”

The moment he came back after fending off the kids first strike, valiantly fighting and eventually coming out victorious this is the first thing he says.

My. What bullshit. Why?

“You shouldn’t be looking for character in an evil organization.”

“Ah…”

A well-natured evil organization, that’s like saying a demon king would set up a democracy.

“But, but… an immediate attack the moment they see their senior! Isn’t that way too overboard?”

“They probably attacked because they thought you were a doppelganger. Plus considering your cohort I don’t think your personalities would anywhere near behind theirs.”

“That, that’s just around four of us starting from Sia!”

“Out of seven, at least four. You’ve already passed the majority.”

Then again they immediately started counterattacking against me the moment they got used to the bat.

Thank goodness I’d prepared the metal bat early. Metal always hurts more than wood.

After I diligently beat the crap out of them they became a lot quieter and so I had no more cases of them rebelling until their graduation.

“Th, then what about putting explanations on the trial doors? When I listened to the kids talking I heard they thought that their bored workless seniors came to beat them up themselves.”

“Life is a real fight. To kindly explain what trial it is, do you think it’s some hero growth dungeon from some storybook?”

Life is always a matter of practical experience. No matter how much you look up cooking recipes on the internet it’s a whole different story if you actually try it.

“The difference between knowing an arrow is coming or not is significant. Same with the vanishing five senses, same with the fights against the doppelgangers. And even in the final trial’s explanation, there is a significant difference between knowing everything and only a part.”

“But doesn’t the final trial actually need an explanation? They might die.”

“You did it as well.”

“I didn’t participate in that! What, to remove the weaknesses in that hellgate as well! We literally nearly died when we did that stage. Starting from magic attacks from the ceiling, arrows from the left, knives from the right, a giant rock from in front of us and the floor splitting open from under us, and you only gave us two seconds between each stage!”

“For the record, your cohort added summoning circles that summons two devils from behind one’s back as well.”

“Devils?! No wait, those kind of things weren’t there when we graduated?!”

“Rood and Sia used their first pay packet to bring in the organization’s magicians to engrave them in with happy hearts.”

“They really were devils…”