A Little Gossip

After quickly flipping through two magazines, Rhode took off his glasses and prepared to begin today's physical training.

"I told you not to crawl under the bed."

Rhode held Worm by the scruff of his neck. Worm's four legs dangled naturally, with a bit of his tongue sticking out, his little horns drooping as he wore a pitiful expression that seemed to plead, Please don't scold me.

"Actually, this works out nicely." Rhode set Worm down, then went to the laundry room to fetch a basin of water and a rag.

Worm obediently sat on the floor, waiting for Rhode to wipe his fur.

However, Rhode tossed the rag to him instead. "Since you got yourself all dirty anyway, clean under the bed for me while you're at it. It's inconvenient for me to do it."

Worm: ???

"If you finish cleaning it before I get back, I'll buy you cookies tomorrow. See you later!"

Worm hesitantly lifted the rag with his little paws.

Rhode shut the door with a click and went downstairs for a run.

His route was slightly different from yesterday's. Now that he roughly knew his limits, Rhode adjusted where he turned back, estimating that he would collapse from exhaustion just as he got home.

At the beginning of the run, he could still think about his future training plans, wondering whether he should get a punching bag to bring home.

By the latter half, the only thought left in his mind was, One more step. One more step.

This kind of training was effective—at the very least, Rhode was getting increasingly skilled at applying cold compresses and rubbing medicine onto his injuries.

By the time he dragged his leaden legs upstairs while clutching the railing, he found a "little gray dog" squatting by the door.

"You really cleaned it? That deserves some encouragement."

Rhode shuffled over to the bed and threw himself onto it. His first thought was: Damn it, I'm covered in stinky sweat. I'll have to change these sheets too.

Worm stuck out his tongue and watched Rhode think for a while. Then he jumped onto a chair, then onto the table, grabbed the bottle of medicine Rhode had used yesterday, and leaped onto the bed.

"Thanks." Rhode laboriously pushed himself upright and took the medicine bottle, immediately noticing the gray smudges Worm had left on the bedsheet.

"..."

Worm looked guilty under his gaze, took several steps back, and jumped off the bed, leaving several more pawprints behind.

"Fine. I'll bathe you first."

Summer dawns always came especially early. By the time Rhode opened his eyes, the sky was already bright.

Worm, who had originally been sleeping at his pillowside, had vanished again just as before.

Rhode still could not figure out whether it was because his magic power supply had stopped after he fell asleep, or because summoned creatures had a time limit on how long they could remain.

He got out of bed, put on his slippers, and stretched. The soreness in his legs and the clearly increased magic power within him made him feel deeply reassured.

Maybe because his starting point was so low, he could easily see results as long as he worked hard.

"Ding, MP maximum +10!"

Rhode provided the voice-over for his silent cheat ability.

An increase in magic power was certainly good news, but what made him even happier was what he had discovered when he tried to sense the Rift Scuttler through his necklace after meditating last night.

Rhode had not only "seen" the Rift Scuttler dive into the water, but also seen an entire river channel and... another Rift Scuttler.

The other one leisurely wandered around farther downstream, as though it were patrolling.

Rhode had a feeling that, if he wanted, he could summon this Rift Scuttler at any time.

Once the injured Rift Scuttler recovered, he should be able to summon both at once.

He sensed his own magic power—well, he still needed to train for a few more days.

Rhode washed up and headed out. As usual, he greeted Goodman, then casually summoned Worm.

He also did not forget to buy Worm a bag of cookies along the way.

His funds decreased by 500J.

Watching Worm happily swallow a cookie in one roll of his tongue, Rhode began considering a feeding plan.

In the game, Poros needed to eat Poro delicacies to grow up... Although they looked like cookies, what ingredients were those things made from?

Should he find more ingredients and let Worm distinguish them himself?

That was one possible approach.

Lost in thought, he arrived at the guild.

As usual, Rhode did some cleaning. Once Marcus, whom he had arranged to meet yesterday, arrived, they went to the backyard together.

He had already asked around about Marcus. He used Sand Magic and was considered quite skilled in defense, though weaker in offense.

As for his overall strength...

Mira tactfully described him as "not very eye-catching compared to Erza," which was probably her way of preserving Marcus's dignity.

Rhode considered it carefully and felt that what she had probably meant was that he was not particularly outstanding within the guild as a whole.

Then Rhode lost again.

Although Marcus could not take down the Rift Scuttler as cleanly as Natsu had, he could still block its charge.

When the Rift Scuttler slammed into the sand barrier with a thud, several sand ropes wrapped around its legs and restricted its movements.

"Looks like it really can only serve as a utility-type wild monster." Rhode finally understood the Rift Scuttler's role.

Marcus walked around the Rift Scuttler toward Rhode. "Want to keep going?"

Rhode assumed a fighting stance. "Fight."

There was no way he could win. How could his mere two experiences of fighting compare to someone who got into brawls every so often?

Even Marcus, whose strength was not particularly outstanding, could easily handle Rhode.

Marcus was simply more particular about stopping at the right point, so he did not leave Rhode with bruises or anything like that.

In Marcus's words, "I don't want a friend I just met to stop wanting to talk to me the next day."

For someone who liked talking to people, listeners were extremely important.

Since Marcus liked it, Rhode figured he could chat with him for ten bucks' worth before work.

It just so happened that Rhode needed to communicate with others, whether to obtain more information or correct his common language.

"A quick way to increase magic power? How could such a thing exist? Of course, magic power can only grow through diligent training.

"Oh, right. As you get older, your magic power naturally increases a little too. Take me, for example. I'm sixteen now. In another seven or eight years, I'll definitely be very strong.

"Eh, how old are you again, Rhode?"

"I'm almost nineteen..." Rhode froze. How was he supposed to calculate his age and birthday from now on?

"Eighteen? Then you're the same age as Erza, Mira, Bisca, Alzack, and the others..."

Marcus thought for a moment, then patted Rhode on the shoulder as if to comfort him. "You need to work hard."

"..." He had not been comforted at all.

"Come to think of it, Bisca hasn't been learning magic for very long either, but she can already hold her own. So you really don't need to be anxious. As long as you work hard..."

As Marcus continued talking, Rhode's gaze fell on the green-haired girl chatting with Erza.

That was Bisca. Although Rhode had not officially greeted her, Laki had introduced her to him.

Bisca was very close to Erza and also used Requip Magic, though what she requipped were various firearms.

Besides that, Mira had enthusiastically explained some things to him—gossip, really:

Bisca had learned Requip Magic because she admired Erza, and she also liked Alzack, who was skilled in Gun Magic.

According to Mira's observations, Alzack would occasionally stare blankly at Bisca's back. She believed the two of them would end up together sooner or later.

Alzack... Rhode looked around and, sure enough, found a handsome man dressed much like a cowboy not far from Bisca.

Rhode realized that not only did his guild have plenty of eccentrics, it also had quite a few handsome men and beautiful women.

Some readers said they could not match the names to the characters and could not remember who was who, so I added some illustrations to earlier chapters. I'll also try to include pictures in later chapters.