I Reincarnated as the Mob Flame User Destined to Die in the Early Stages of the Game, but When I Cleared the Event Before the Protagonist, the Heroines Followed Me - Chapter 3 - Old Man Zes & Training

Chapter 3 – Old Man Zes & Training

I was still lying on the ground when my father brought me some water.

After a while, I got up and saw Dust with his lackeys looking at me.

Once my father goes to work, he’ll probably bully me.

He can’t afford to spend all his time with me because he has work too.

I thought about Dust.

He made a paper plane and called it a “paper plane,” but there are no airplanes in this world.

And he keeps saying he’ll become a hero and knows that I’ll die at 18.

There is no doubt that Dust is a reincarnated person.

It would be troublesome if he discovered that I’m also a reincarnated person.

The worst thing that can happen is I might get killed.

Dust is stronger than me at the moment.

That means Dust will be able to kill me, hide my body, and live his life pretending to be a child.

I don’t think anyone in this village would suspect a villager of murder.

When my father returned to work, Dust approached me.

“Why are you trying to lose weight?”

Depending on my answer, he might know I’m a reincarnated person.

With a confused look on my face, I said,

“Dust told me I was fat and disgusting! You’ve been so mean lately!”

“Did I really say that?”

The surrounding entourage said all at once,

“Yeah.”

“You say stuff like that often.”

“You say that all the time.”

Ignoring everyone, Dust continued,

“Why were you swinging your mace?”

“Because you said I was clumsy!”

Dust said in a small voice, “Will these actions change the future?”

It seems like it worked out somehow.

Dust walked away without bullying me.

…Phew, that was close.

“Hey!”

Dust suddenly turned around and shouted.

“W-what?”

My heart pounded. Did he figure it out? I didn’t say anything that would give me away!

“Are you going to learn magic?”

“Right now I’m training my body.”

“If you want to learn magic, learn fire magic. Everyone! Remember this! Gett will receive the unique skill of ‘Fire Enhancement’. Remember it until we reach 15! I can see the future! Hahahaha!”

Dust said with a smug look on his face.

Dust didn’t say that to help me, he said it to make himself look amazing.

But I can use this.

“I see. Got it. I’ve always thought fire was the coolest! If I learn magic, it’ll be fire.”

Once I train my physical body, I’ll learn fire magic.

Now, even if I learn fire magic, I won’t look suspicious.

If I acquired fire magic before the age of 15, it might have raised questions about how I knew the future.

But Dust told me to go for fire magic.

I can learn fire magic naturally.

I need to become stronger quickly.

I also need to consider hiding my growth along the way.

I continued training with my father for a while, then moved to live with the priest at the church for training.

The priest, Old Man Zes, is feared by the children, so my parents probably thought that I would be less bullied if I stayed with him.

I would sometimes come home bleeding from being beaten with wooden sticks.

Also, it seems like the adults in the village are asking about my situation.

In Japan, you could sue and be done with it, but this is the uncivilized Middle Ages.

Just because I got into a fight or faced some violence doesn’t mean I can retaliate.

Even in Japan, children used to throw stones and get into fights, so maybe this world feels similar to the Edo period?

It seems like even my father learned how to use weapons from Old Man Zes as a weapon shop owner.

When I went to the church, my mother hugged me.

“Gett, be a good boy! If things get tough, come back anytime!”

“Mother, it’s okay, I’ll be back.”

My mother was really worried about me, and I could really feel her maternal love.

But my mother is very beautiful, and I got a bit excited.

Feeling guilty as if I did something wrong, I turned and headed to the church.

In this world, even mob characters are beautiful.

Old Man Zes was standing in front of the church, waiting for me.

“Well done, are you not afraid of me?”

“I’m sorry for trying to take the apples from the church the other day.”

“That’s not it. I’m asking if you’re afraid of me.”

“If I don’t do anything wrong, you won’t get mad, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then it’s okay.”

“Hmm?”

Old Man Zes looked at me.

A little while ago, I tried to pick a ripe apple at the church and got scolded by Old Man Zes. At that time, I was so scared that I cried.

“I want to lose weight! I want to be able to use a mace properly!”

Old Man Zes smiled and led me inside the church.

Then… I worked plowing the field.

“Old Man Zes! Why am I tilling the fields? What about my training?”

“Hohohoho, using a weapon and using a hoe are quite similar. Besides, you should lose more weight.”

Strange… I feel like I’m being deceived.

But thanks to Old Man Zes, I’m no longer bullied by Dust.

Besides, I had wanted to do some home gardening.

Let’s change the mood.

I silently tilted the soil.

It’s surprisingly fun if you change your mindset.

After that, my muscles started hurting and my hand started trembling holding the hoe.

~ ~ ~

“Come on! Move faster!”

There it is! The same stepping exercise as my father’s, but it’s even stricter.

I continued stepping in four directions, front, back, left, and right. Once I got used to it, I trained to move in eight directions.

“Come on! Try to hit me even once!”

Old Man Zes understand and can use a variety of weapons, so the level of my shield and mace naturally increased.

Old Man Zes is good at teaching!

I kept blocking attacks using the shield, and my shield level was increasing more than the mace level.

“Now use the mace!”

I did as I was told and swung the mace.

If I move as Old Man Zes tells me, I can attack at a good tempo.

He really knows what he’s doing.

“Now use the shield!”

I blocked an attack with my shield as I was told.

“Shield! Mace, mace! Shield!”

It’s like practicing boxing.

I had Old Man Zes watch me train every day, and I changed from being overweight to just a bit chubby.

Resting, I leaned against a wall.

“Gett.”

When I heard the voice, I turned to see Alicia watching me from outside the wall.

“Alicia.”

“You’ve lost weight, nyaa!”

“Yeah, thanks to Old Man Zes.”

“The way you speak has changed too, nyaa~”

“I changed it. I changed it for when I become an adventurer.”

“I see. Are you not going to play with me anymore, nyaa~?”

“I want to become a little stronger.”

“Because Dust is bullying you? In that case, I’ll protect you, nyaa.”

“That’s one of the reasons, but I want to become strong enough to protect everyone. Sometimes monsters might come into the village, but the adults protect us, right? I want to be like that too. That way, I can protect Alicia too.”

“…I’m probably stronger than Gett, nyaa.”

“Yeah, maybe, but I plan to become strong enough to not lose to you when I grow up.”

Alicia, Dust, and I are the same age, but I’m weaker than them.

But I can feel that my movements are changing through training.

The basics are really important, after all.

“Ah!”

Alicia sensed something and fled.

“That was Alicia, huh? She’s small, but quite agile. Do you want to be stronger than Alicia?”

“I want to be stronger.”

“Then don’t worry. As long as you practice the basics, everything will be easier. Although you might not understand until you experience it.”

“I don’t understand everything, but I feel like I’m getting better at swinging the mace.”

“Break time’s over. Let’s continue training.”

“Yeah, let’s begin.”

◇

Like this, I turned 10 years old, still receiving training from Old Man Zes every day.

I was skeptical when Old Man Zes asked me to help him work in the fields, but he’s kind.

I started to understand the meaning behind tilling the fields with a hoe.

There are similarities between swinging the mace and swinging the hoe, something that you won’t understand until you experience it.

Both daily chores and combat have common movements.

I’ve come to realize that it’s better to help out in a variety of ways, even if they seem unrelated to my training.

As the level of my mace and shield increased, I felt the dots becoming connected like a line.

Old Man Zes is kind.

He raises his voice during training because he doesn’t want me to die.

He scolds everyone and guides us so we won’t face trouble in the future.

His teaching is for my own benefit.

I don’t want to die.

I don’t want to die when I reach 18, and I don’t want to be killed by Dust.

Dust thinks I’m incompetent.

But I’m getting stronger now. And then, I’ll get back at Dust!

I’m not the kind of person who will just stand still when messed with!

~ ~ ~

T/N: This novel is really long compared to my other translation, dem…

Anyway, does anyone here have a problem like mine? My phone sometimes would restart over and over again, it’s a xiaomi phone. I think it’s called boot loop? After 20-30 minutes, it’d go back to normal. It can happen like 3-5 times a month, sometimes more. Any tips on how to fix it?