Chapter 59 - Real Combat Practice (2/2)

“I know, I know.”

“As for the Attacker… Diniel should be a good fit. Having a bow with us should make training scenarios more easily adjustable.”

Eunice nodded and immediately went over to call Diniel, who looked to still be sleepy while munching on a sandwich. Barbara, while sipping some sort of clear yellow fruit juice with a straw, cracked a bitter smile.

“Eunice really dislikes you, doesn’t she, Tsutomu?”

“Well, it’s a good thing that she’s still capable and cooperative. Hahaha…”

Tsutomu had seen a fair share of people with great capabilities but difficult personalities back in Live Dungeon; among them, Eunice still was in the relatively manageable portion. Reminded of his game Clan Members, some of which were incompetent to top off their undesirable personalities, Tsutomu’s eyes turned into those of a dead fish… which was then further intensified by Barbara’s chuckle.

“By the way, Barbara, I’ll be having you practice in actual combat more and more from today on, so it would be very helpful if you followed my direction as much as possible.”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

“Well, I say direction, but it’ll mostly be the timing with which you use <<Combat Cry>>, so there’s no need to be that nervous.”

“Ah-all right.”

Barbara, having occasionally been given the strict treatment from Tsutomu during battle, looked clearly relieved as she held her straw in her mouth. The Golden Tune’s policy during battles was for every individual to decide their own actions without any specific instructions, so Barbara was quite surprised by Tsutomu’s style of giving out precise commands.

It was not necessarily the cast that she was afraid of Tsutomu’s words, but each time during battle when she thought she had just messed up, Tsutomu would always give out instructions to help correct her approach. Barbara did not particularly think it to be unpleasant, but she simply could not keep herself calm and composed knowing that his sights would never overlook anything.

“I’m aware that I might have come off as quite self-important when giving out orders, so let me apologize now if you think that is the case.”

“Oh, no, I don’t find that offensive at all. It’s just… you’re kinda scary, or something,” Barbara cut off her sentence awkwardly, and proceeded to blow into her straw, bubbling up the fruit juice in her cup.

“Huh…”

Getting that sort of reply from Barbara, Tsutomu was at a loss for words. He himself was not so aware of how much he had raised his voice, but since Barbara felt it was scary, he now figured that there must have been a tone discrepancy between them. Feeling that he had misread Barbara’s personality, and in turn inappropriately acted toward her this whole time, Tsutomu had a few drops of stressful sweat run down his forehead.

“I’m… sorry about that. I’ll try not to sound scary from now on.”

“Wait, no! I do think you’re acting with our best interests in mind… And I know I’ve been spoiled in some way by the leniency of this place, so…! I think it’ll be better if you kept being strict with us!”

“Ah, if you say so… Still, I’ll try to watch my tone, at least.”

Somewhat pulled back on track by Barbara’s loudness, Tsutomu eventually nodded in agreement with her.