"Ha!"
A few meters away from me, Log is roughly swinging his sword with his tiny body. The wooden sword I gave him didn't fit his size, so it made the scene of him swinging it a bit comical.
We're currently outside the city, in a grassy area, where we're free to move around. Though, it's actually only Log who was doing work and moving around. I'm merely sitting on a rock, carefully watching over him.
Log begged for me to teach him. I hesitated to do it at first, so he tried his best to convince me. With one simple condition, I gave up and agreed to do it. The condition was for him to never steal from others again and give up on being a pick-pocket. Of course, he easily accepted it.
That leads us to the present.
Beastkin generally don't have much talent in regards to magic. In exchange, they are significantly more physically gifted than most races. With that knowledge, I decided to teach Log swordsmanship, rather than magic, which is what I'm actually more adept at.
Sweat trickled on Log's forehead as he endures the hard training I'm putting him into. Coincidentally, because of his constant running from his assailants, he managed to gain a significant amount of stamina. All he has to do now is improve his strength and learn the techniques.
With that said, he still needs to start with the basics. Having him swing his sword repeatedly over and over will help him gain some strength and imprint in his body one of the fundamentals of sword techniques.
"That's enough! You did good, Log," I stood up and praised him.
Seeing how tired and dehydrated he was, I handed him a small water container.
"Tha-thank you, master..."
"Take a rest, we'll go to the guild later."
Log nervously gulped when I confirmed our plans. As I said, Log will be coming to the guild for the first time. He's not going to register to become an adventurer yet, I'm just going to teach him the intricacies of being one. As it turns out, he never went to the guild before.
I'm feeling bad for pushing a kid to work in such a dangerous field, but it's necessary for his growth. If he wants to become strong, he will need to defeat monsters and bandits.
All I can do now is secure his safety. If I'm by his side, he can surely grow without the risk of being permanently injured or getting killed.
The truth is, it's irresponsible for me to be doing what I'm doing now. What if he gets killed by an enemy he can't defeat in the future? I won't be staying by his side in the foreseeable future after all...
What I'm saying is that I might be leading him to his death.
But at the same time, it was the choice he made. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn't listen.
For a kid, he understands his situation very well. His argument was, even if I'm not there, his future would be stained in violence, or at the very least, he would simply perish in the street in starvation or by getting beaten. The risk of his death would be even greater if I do not prepare him for it now.
Because of that, he managed to corner me and convinced me to teach him instead.
Now that I think about it, I easily agreed to teach Fin when he came and ask me to teach him magic. Perhaps because he was already an adult that I think of his request as valid and reasonable. While I see Log as just a simple and unknowing child.
"Master?"
Too engaged in my thoughts, I left Log waiting.
"It's nothing... Ah, like I said, you should take a rest. I cooked food for you, so you should eat that too."
"Really!?"
Just like that, the tension and nervousness in his eyes were gone, and they were replaced with excitement.
He did not hesitate to munch on the food when I brought it out.
I feel like a parent in a school's sports festival...
"Fufu... we'll go back home and take a bath after this. We'll need to clean up before going to the guild."
Hearing that, Log suddenly stopped eating and stared blankly at me. Seconds later, his face turns red and he starts to panic. His ears perked up, and if he still had his tail, it would be doing the same.
"A-are we going together again, master!?"
"Of course!"