“Charlotte, another business trip today?”
“Mm… It is a business trip, but I’ll just be spending time inside the Association building, so it doesn’t really feel like one?”
“Ah, mentoring?”
“Yes. Because of that, I borrowed one of the training rooms inside the Association for a bit. I’ll probably… spend a few hours there before coming back.”
I obediently answered the team leader’s question as he sipped a cup of coffee.
After all, I had to make a proper report before I left.
The day before yesterday, I’d had a light regular counseling session with Bathory, and yesterday evening I’d met Saran for dinner. Now that today was the day I’d be meeting both of them at once, it hit me all over again that my schedule was packed.
But I couldn’t ruin something that had already been decided from the start, and it wasn’t as if I was that exhausted yet, so I picked up my coffee and tablet and rose from my seat.
I was jealous of the professional salary thieves who leisurely drank coffee while playing on their phones, leaving some random document open on their screens as they zoned out.
But work had to be done….
“I’ll be off on my business trip….”
With that, I left on my business trip.
Well, even if I called it a business trip, the place was located on the third basement floor of the very same building…?
I took the elevator down, and as soon as I descended, two women who had become somewhat familiar to me came into view.
The two of them were waiting politely in front of the assigned training room.
One was a dokkaebi girl with black-and-white hair, smaller than me.
The other was a beauty with black hair, taller than me, and frightening eyes like a snake’s.
How should I put it… Seeing them standing like that, I felt like I could definitely understand Bathory’s feelings.
Compared to Bathory, Saran had a far more overwhelmingly cold impression and looked like she had a much stronger presence, and when someone like that stood beside the small, gentle-looking Bathory….
If the location had been an alleyway, I felt like every bill and coin in Bathory’s wallet would have vanished.
Of course, Saran wasn’t the kind of person who would do that.
“You got here first! You could have gone inside and warmed up first, you know. Shall we head in for now?”
“Yeah.”
“Y-yes, yeees…!”
…Anyway, I took the two of them into the training room.
Since I was an office worker, this wasn’t a place I normally visited often. But as an Association employee, I had recommended this place to heroes from time to time, and I knew about its functions and various features, so after entering, I easily operated the inside of the training room.
I turned on the lights and adjusted things so that sound and other things wouldn’t leak outside.
I made it so the two of them could spend their time as comfortably as possible.
It was possible to set the surrounding background and various other things, but I decided to change those gradually for now.
“How is it? It’s cleaner inside than you expected, right?”
“W-wow…. I had no idea there was a place like this underground in the Association…. I never heard about it when I debuted either….”
“Haha…. Ah, Saran, you’re familiar with it, right? Since it’s been quite a while since your debut.”
“Yeah.”
Bathory was probably the only one using this place for the first time.
As if to prove it, she had been looking all around from the moment we came in.
In complete contrast, Saran simply stood still and looked at me.
In that situation, I realized anew just how different the two of them were, but because of that, I actually thought this would be helpful to them.
Even if it didn’t go as far as a sense of rivalry, I had the positive thought that through their differences, they might influence each other in various ways and help one another resolve their problems.
Of course, if it didn’t work… then that would be a shame.
“Umm… Saran?”
“Yeah.”
“I can help you as far as setting up a place like this, but as for the teaching part after that… you understand, right?”
“Yeah, I know. I just have to teach her what she’s lacking?”
“Hehe, about that, the two of you can discuss it between yourselves….”
“Yeah. Got it.”
Was she a veteran hero after all?
Even without me explaining too much, Saran easily understood what I meant, and I handed her the tablet that could operate the training room.
After that, she manipulated the room as if she were used to it.
Once she finished the simple adjustments, several mannequin-like sandbags were installed in the very center of the training room.
It was a sight that made me think all over again that the Association’s technology was impressive.
Bathory was unable to hide her admiration at the sight, but her happy time ended immediately.
“So, what do you want to learn?”
“Ah, um, uh, th-that is, I… I’d like to learn how to fight…!”
“…With that body? Do you use a gun or something?”
“Ah, no…? I usually fight with my fists, but, um… my ability….”
“……Ah.”
After the two of them began talking and only a few words had passed between them, I realized a huge problem.
And that was that I hadn’t properly introduced the two of them… last time…….
“Haa…….”
Was it because there had been a lot more work lately, and my brain had turned completely to mush?
Blaming myself, I had no choice but to approach the two of them again.
“But she’s not fighting with her current body, right? For her to fight, she’ll need to use her ability to some extent. Wouldn’t teaching her like this be pointless?”
“I’ll substitute that by cheering her on enthusiastically from the side!”
“…Do that, then.”
On top of that, Bathory’s ability conditions were somewhat tricky, so we had run into that issue.
But I solved it by not merely watching, but continuously and enthusiastically cheering her on from beside them, and the mentoring began in earnest.
“Fighting! You can do it! Wow! So cute!”
“Ah, uuuuh…….”
Several mannequins and two heroes.
From a spot about ten meters away from them, I cheered hard for Bathory… and Bathory seemed a little embarrassed by my cheering.
But her body was honest, and in an instant, her physique began to grow.
Her small, soft height of 135 grew to around 145, making her only about one palm’s difference shorter than me.
I was surprised that she had grown much taller than expected, considering I was the only one cheering her on….
Well, when she drew attention out on the street, she had even exceeded 150, so it wasn’t a big problem.
“If she gets any bigger than this… it shouldn’t be a big issue.”
“Haha….”
“Fighting!”
“…Shall we begin?”
“Y-yes, yeees…! Please take good care of me…!”
“I’ll teach you some light combat techniques first. Before handling a weapon, it’s better to know how to handle your body. Especially if you’re E-rank… you’ll mostly be dealing with petty thugs or robbers. Bare hands should be enough. You said you get stronger too, right?”
“Y-yes, th-that’s right!”
A veteran hero who was usually extremely blunt.
That was about how I thought of her, but perhaps because she had already spent six years in the hero industry?
Or was she more suited to this mentoring sort of thing than I had expected?
Saran was much more… sociable than I thought?
No, with an extremely businesslike attitude and tone, she began explaining things point by point.
“Combat techniques fundamentally involve using the entire body, and what matters is how efficiently you use that body. Flashiness? That crap is useless in the field. You need to focus solely on delivering strong blows to your opponent with your body and inflicting damage.
“Y-yes!”
Bathory was afraid of her… but the mentoring continued.
I also kept cheering Bathory on from the side and frequently shouted encouragement to Saran, telling her she was doing well.
Since I was an office worker, and even my ability was absolutely not combat-related, it was honestly difficult material for me, but perhaps to the two of them, it felt much simpler?
“Remember the locations of vital points. They’re the easiest places to injure an opponent, and at the same time, places where you can subdue them.”
“Yeees…!”
“Especially since some vital points can outright kill someone, it’s more convenient to aim for the ones that won’t kill.”
“Yeees!”
“Vital points are usually blocked reflexively. Even if someone isn’t an Awakener, they tend to instinctively defend them. So simply twisting an arm or breaking a leg is also a good method.”
“Hic….”
…Of course, because of the subject matter, the conversation was a little chilling.
Still, the two of them were conversing smoothly.
Mm, if it was going well, then it was going well.
“Here, here, and here. These exact spots are places where, if you slash them with a blade, the target will almost certainly die from excessive bleeding.”
“Y-yes, yeees, yeees….”
“And eyes usually lead to blindness. So don’t aim for them.”
“Yeees…!”
“In the past, there was someone who reflexively went for the eyes and crippled his opponent just like that. If that happens at E-rank, it’s actually socially dangerous.”
“H-hic….”
…Bathory received various advice about hero activities and learned techniques and things like that.
And Saran, in the process of teaching those things, let slip some of her own stories here and there, things she could talk about, and felt a sense of openness.
“Ahem….”
I was very satisfied.
Because the situation and effects I had imagined when first coming up with the project were successfully taking shape!
Of course, the mentoring project itself had come from the team leader’s mouth, but our down-to-earth team leader had said there would be no additional allowance for this mentoring, so I didn’t think too much of it.
…Well, in the first place, I had come down here during my original working hours to do this.
It would have been a little ambiguous to get extra pay for it.
Anyway.
“Fighting!”
“Hieek…!”
And so, I cheered for Bathory as she drove various combat techniques into the mannequins.
To be honest, it was pretty fascinating too….
Thwack—!
Thwack—!!
Every time sounds like that burst out from the mannequin’s direction, I had no choice but to acknowledge anew that Bathory was strong as well.
Although her ability hadn’t fully activated yet and she was still smaller than me… when I saw the violence she unleashed on the mannequins, I felt like she could probably subdue someone like me in an instant.
Honestly, if we fought one-on-one, I felt like I would definitely lose.
…In the first place, my body was so soft and squishy that there was nothing that could even be called muscle, and due to continuous company work, my stamina, including my lung capacity, was absolute rock bottom, so I wasn’t particularly sad about it.
“Hmm….”
By the way, how long was I supposed to keep cheering here?
With that slight doubt in mind, I even kept clapping as I continued watching the two of them carry out their mentoring activity.
Just like that… until it was time to leave work.
And the next day, I had no choice but to face a hell of work I would normally never encounter.
Today, for some reason, I hated our cute, pretty, sleek, and fluffy heroes.