Once they entered the tavern, Cain's repeated protests finally persuaded Roxy to put him down.
"Oh!"
The adventurers around them whistled and applauded. More than a dozen parties, making up over half the guild's adventurers, gazed at the blushing Cain and Roxy with admiration and cheered them on.
"Well done, Cain! Roxy!" Zoldat led the cheers, giving them both a thumbs-up.
"S-so many people..." Roxy pressed her lips together, gripped her staff, and edged slightly behind Cain.
"You're such a fool, Master."
Cain's face grew hot too. He shifted to shield Roxy behind him, then couldn't resist turning back to complain to her under his breath.
Why did Master have to carry me in front of everyone? Didn't she see how many adventurers were here?
"D-don't call your master a fool." Roxy puffed out her flushed cheeks, pouting in displeasure.
For that remark, Cain was made to write "I must respect my teacher" a hundred times at the inn that afternoon.
What Cain didn't know was that killing three Red Dragons in one battle would make his name known throughout every Adventurers' Guild in the Three Magic Nations.
Some even gave him the title of Cain the Dragon-Slaying Sword God. His master, of course, became Roxy the Unerring Water God.
They were only titles. Roxy's Water Magic had not reached Divine Rank, but as the Sword God's master, she deserved a divine title.
"Cain, do you like exploring labyrinths?"
Cain was at the mahogany table in Roxy's room, writing "I must respect my teacher" for the ninety-eighth time. He turned to find her cheeks faintly pink as she played with the blue bangs over her forehead, and tilted his head in confusion.
"Huh? Labyrinths? To be honest, I've never been in one. Do you enjoy exploring them, Roxy?"
"Mm... They're all right. Want to give one a try? Clearing a labyrinth is fun."
Roxy's blue eyes shone with excitement as she looked expectantly at the boy twirling a pen in his hand.
Of course, she only said it because she wanted to teach Cain how to explore labyrinths. It certainly wasn't because she wanted to raise a perfect disciple who could stay by her side forever. No, definitely not.
Roxy, your thoughts are written all over your face...
"Sure, as long as you can find the way there, Roxy..."
Seeing her expectant expression, Cain scratched his cheek helplessly and spoke with a twinge of embarrassment. He was a Sword God with no sense of direction, after all...
There was no way Cain would enter a labyrinth alone. If he did, he would definitely get lost...
"Th-then it's settled. Tomorrow, okay? We'll explore a labyrinth together tomorrow."
Roxy spoke with her lips pressed together and a blush on her face. They had only spent a few days together, but honestly, she was already having trouble sorting out how she felt about this foolish disciple of hers.
For now, they were master and disciple, and they would remain so for the foreseeable future. Roxy had no intention of changing that. Certainly not into some strange sort of relationship. Yes, it was purely a master-disciple bond and pure friendship. At most, there was a tiny bit of... a tiny bit of affection.
After all, he could slay an S-rank Red Dragon, and he was so considerate toward her. It was only natural to feel a little something. Just the fondness one felt for a friend... probably.
Cain looked at Roxy's faintly flushed face, smiled helplessly, and nodded with a soft "Mm." Then he opened the window a crack, letting streams of white mist drift out past the snow piled on the sill.
Was the room really that hot? Look at Roxy—her whole face is red.
"Oh, right. Cain, you're from the Demon Continent too, aren't you?"
"That's right. Was there something you wanted to ask, Roxy?"
Cain gave Roxy a gentle smile and stopped twirling his pen, taking it firmly in hand.
"Ah... What about your family?"
"Well..."
Cain pressed his lips together and sighed softly.
"I don't know... My master found me not long after I was old enough to remember anything."
Found was generous. Raised like an animal might be closer, though his master's methods had been... harsh.
Sometimes he had sent Cain, still a child, against a whole pack of Pax Coyotes with nothing but a battered sword. In a cave on the Demon Continent, he had made Cain fight an Acidic Dire Wolf King, a B-rank boss, alone—and wouldn't feed him until he killed it.
Right. Remembering all that doesn't make me miss him much...
Cain's soul had crossed into this world when the body was three years old. Its original owner had already starved to death, his soul dispersed, leaving Cain as the body's only soul.
He would not have lasted much longer himself, but at the last moment, he met Gal Farion, the Sword God, who took him in.
Cain smiled faintly at the memory. His master had looked delighted when he found Cain, though the scars on his face had made his smile look rather fierce.
Still, his master had called him a rare sword-fighting prodigy and asked if he wanted to come along. If Cain hadn't had just enough strength left to nod, things might have turned out very differently...
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Hmm? Why are you apologizing, Roxy?"
Cain tilted his head at Roxy, whose flushed face now held an apologetic look.
"Because your family is gone, isn't it? I shouldn't have asked."
"It's fine. I don't remember them anyway."
Cain smiled unconcernedly. Back then, just staying alive had been a miracle. He had hardly been in a position to worry about anything else.
As he spoke, Cain sketched beneath the lines of his punishment, drawing different kinds of armor from memory.
His aerial battle with the Red Dragons had made him aware of a weakness.
With his Blade of Light, he could cut almost anything he wanted in two, whether at close range or from a distance. Even the thick, hard scales around a Red Dragon's neck could not stop his blade.
In other words, he had swift, devastating attacks.
Of course, the Demon Blade: Instant Void his master had bestowed on him deserved much of the credit. It was so sharp it could cut through iron like mud.
But even as a Divine Rank swordsman, Cain's body was too vulnerable, even with ordinary steel armor protecting it. He wanted special armor with strong defensive capabilities.
That raised another problem. Whether heavy armor, light armor, or plate, even the lightest cloth and leather armor would slow him down.
As a swordsman of the Sword God Style, speed was something he absolutely could not sacrifice. That left Cain stumped. And even if he solved the weight problem, cloth and leather armor offered too little defense to protect him properly.
Cain had been thinking about it ever since they returned, but he still could not come up with a good solution.
"Cain?"
The interruption made Cain frown slightly, but when he saw it was Roxy, he turned back with a faint smile. At the sight of her flushed cheeks, his hand paused over his armor sketch.
"What is it, Roxy?"
"How old are you, Cain?"
"Twelve."
"Huh? You're that young?"
"Roxy, even coming from you, that's going to make me mad."
"S-sorry. I assumed you were a member of the Demon Race, so I thought your appearance had stopped changing at a certain age."
"I see... But it looks like I do grow as I get older."
Just a little more slowly than other kids my age.
Before you continue