In the warm bed, both people watched each other silently—while ignoring her strange reaction, Ryuji dressed himself under the maid's leering gaze.
'Her eyes are a little dirty...'
Ryuji wasn't sure if these strange actions were because she wasn't human. So he didn't make an issue of her watching his naked body and lying on his bed in simple underclothes.
'This woman hasn't removed her gaze from my crotch for some time...'
"You are a maid, not some kind of con artist, right?"
"Yes... of course I am... W-Wait!" The fox then rushed out of bed, wearing his underwear, before quickly changing into her maid outfit with red cheeks.
'Although I hate to doubt people so easily. However, the king clearly said something about the red star of the calamity. Will Fate bring the two together? Did he arrange this to avoid calamity, maybe?'
The king only spoke of this briefly, a note given to him on the way back to his room... It related to the calamity star and seemed to mean that no matter what Ryuji did, he and this girl would slowly gravitate towards each other.
However, the longer it takes, the more damage would come to the land.
"Hmmm... then shall we go, Master?"
Ryuji watched her movements and realised, from her firm and tight movements, that the woman had likely trained in martial arts or a combative style. Despite this, she acted like a fool, which irritated him.
However... when she noticed his gaze, her huge fox ears twitched along with her tail.
"Please, cease your acts and just be normal. Old Woman!" Ryuji said in a low voice.
He felt irritated because something inside would rage when their eyes met, or she acted in a way that he found attractive.
"Old!?"
To his words, she frowned, seemingly angry.
Yet the next moment, she snorted and looked in the mirror as they passed, giving a triumphant smirk when she saw his gaze fixated on her rump, swaying her hips with a wider arc as if she felt some kind of victory.
"Fufu, silly boy."
Ryuji wanted to continue but remembered his mother would beat him whenever he called her old or mentioned her age... The beatings still caused his bones to ache even now, over a year since she passed on.
'Damn middle-aged women, why did they both look so young and youthful...'
He also remembered Alex's tips to stay a virgin forever to mention their age. However, this was information from a virgin who only interacted with 2D women.
Ryuji wanted to get revenge—he hated to lose.
Especially to this damn proud fox maid.
"Yumiko, remember, as a maid, avoid seducing your master like this. If you can't control your excess libido, I'm tempted to sell you to a brothel."
A small smile appeared on his lips—however, Ryuji was oblivious...
This might have been the first genuine smile he showed since the moment his mother passed away.
"Huh!? Master, how could this innocent maid seduce you!? It's your fault for showing that brutal thing so close to my face! A fox has a keen sense of smell, and it oozes from your damn body. Master, maybe you should join the brothel instead!"
"Wow, this is my first time encountering a female pervert. You want to use your meagre wages to sleep with me?"
Ryuji Vincenzo sarcastically mentioned before walking ahead of her, trying to remember Alex's advice—Yumiko was going to speak back, but when she noticed his lips curled into such a wide smile and his normally fierce eyes looking so gentle...
She remained quiet and followed quietly.
"Yumiko… let's work together." Ryuji nodded gently, confirming his decision, before looking back at her. "From today, I will consider you my partner. Okay?"
"Well, my master used my name in such a gentle voice. I have no choice but to assume my task as his partner, right?"
Despite sounding confident, her forehead became damp with sweat while her eyes darted away from the strangely kind look on Ryuji's face.
However Ryuji ignored these signs, instead feeling the maid was mocking him with her shaking voice and unable to look at him properly.
'How do I make this dumb fox woman understand? Since the king mentioned the world calamity, the kingdom will probably monitor both of us.'
Ryuji tried to come up with something useful.
However, the door suddenly opened before them, and a soldier stood wearing full armour.
No, maybe a knight?
"Oh? You're already up. Commendable! It is time for the heroes to be informed of their task. Breakfast will follow, then training begins."
Ryuji struggled to adjust momentarily, frowning—Alex mentioned many clichés existing, but how could this school summon have sudden military training? Well, he found it nice for them to give information though.
'I guess my career path is to become some kind of soldier?'
The guard then moved past the pair, walked to the first door on the left, and banged on the door. It seemed everyone would soon be here, so he increased their pace.
Ryuji looked at his uniform, which was light leather with black and grey tones. It seemed to be a basic type of clothing, with light armour padding his stomach and arms.
"Yumiko, wear padded armour above your underclothes."
He felt that although the king didn't seem like a bad person, there were many cases where heroes were being used like disposable pawns in the many books Ryuji browsed, and because he lacked connection to his class, this woman seemed to be his only company.
'The knights are strong and give me a dangerous feeling—even if I wanted to leave the castle, it's impossible. I lack knowledge of the world, systems, laws and power…'
Yumiko made a little sound; her steps seemed silent as she suddenly wrapped an arm around Ryuji's left arm; her eyes peeked at him with a wet look as she whispered.
"I don't quite understand why, but if you are worried about me, I will wear some."
It seemed she became pleased by his words as her steps became light and bouncy.
'Hmmm? Why so obedient?'
Ryuji pondered while taking the lead and heading towards the meeting place the knight mentioned.
He saw knights wearing shiny armour and faces young and old—they formed lines as the other heroes appeared with sleepy faces, and many of them looked exhausted.
***
They all seemed to struggle to wake up, yawning and scratching their heads. Yet Ryuji felt they hid their frustration well. Some seemed to have a face that screamed, 'Let me go home, you fuckers!' or a more gentle, 'Please let us go home.'
'Would I be the same if Mother was still waiting back home?'
Before he could introduce himself properly, he realised many students gazed at him with strange glances, especially the girls.
A handsome knight with blonde hair entered through two huge double doors into this strange training ground filled with dirt and wood.
'This guy seems important…'
Though older, the blonde knight was around Ryuji's size and approached while frowning.
"Hello, my name is Alan, and I will train each of you for the next six months into first-class heroes to fight for the nation."
"Huh? When did we agree to fight?" a rough-looking male with dyed hair shouted; he seemed the type Ryuji was mistaken for. "I ain't fighting for a country I just arrived in! Send me home!"
Alan didn't frown or seem surprised by the male student's words—Ryuji noticed his armour was different, holding a certain air of nobility. Was it that strange emblem of a shield?
'Damn, what is this cliché of militaristic nobles?'
Alan continued without caring for the male student's words—nobody could leave.
"Each morning, you train, eat, then study magic or combat skills. Because it's forbidden for heroes to get pregnant or have children, we will teach their partners contraceptive spells."
'Why is everyone looking at me and the Maid??'
Ryuji didn't understand the atmosphere while Alan glanced at Yumiko beside him. "Keep your bitch on a leash—beastmen are not very welcome in this kingdom. Especially former slaves."
"Damn, so that transfer student is already banging that short-stack fox girl?"
"Tsk, damn delinquent already sleeping with defenceless women... how will scum like him help us heroes? Stay away from him, Erika!" Haruki warned the blonde Erika, who stared at Ryuji curiously.
'I feel many want to beat me up… Well, I guess she is no longer a slave, which is good. I'm glad.'
"Then, after dinner, you will study ancient languages, tactics and the history of our war with the demons." Alen continued before the delinquent from before shouted again.
"I ain't doing it!"
Alan suddenly unsheathed a strange sword covered in red crystals and pointed at the delinquent student.
"Yumiko, help him!" Ryuji whispered, clasping her hand.
Suddenly, a blade of fire rushed towards him. Ryuji watched in shock while Yumiko tightly clung to his arm before hiding behind him. The delinquent seemed too shocked to react until a strange female shadow appeared and pushed him!
The shadow exploded into dust, leaving the student with burns all down his back.
"Fuck!?" The delinquent hit the dirt while the flames passed; Alan sheathed his strange sword, glancing harder at Ryuji than the others.
'Did he realise it was me? Alex mentioned clichés, but how could an instructor kill a student?'
Ryuji felt a complex feeling towards the future after instinctively ordering Yumiko to use her strange power to save the student—he felt it may have been a mistake after the knight noticed his interference...
However, the fact that Yumiko obeyed his request so accurately shocked him.
'There is a lot to take in, but I know the more effort we give, the more freedom they will grant. Yumiko isn't welcome, yet they wish her to perform as a hero. Damn selfish bastards.'
Ryuji disliked such clichés: heroes forced to fight after being summoned to another world. Yet... since his existence became bound to another, there seemed to be a little light shining into his dark, gloomy world.
'Her face looks cute when she gawps at me with her mouth open like that...'
"Student… if you refuse training, I will burn you alive like that shadow trick," Alan warned while Ryuji glanced at Yumiko clinging to his hand. Before Alan gave a strange smirk before adding, "Or that beast might just get slaughtered."
Yumiko trembled, tightly wrapping her arms around Ryuji's arm while whispering. "Hero... something tells me these people wouldn't hesitate!"
"It's fine. I will train and endure everything. Don't worry about it."
'If I show weakness here and abandon this woman, my mother above would beat my ass even if I lived.'
Alan continued his speech without care, and Ryuji silently promised not to trust anyone from the kingdom while training to the limit…
They seemed to plan on testing them in a week, organising them into groups with four members.
When they made a list, two individuals from Ryuji's group were non-combatants.
A cute girl with a bob haircut given the job of weaver, and a chubby boy with red hair and the class cook.
'So much for a fantasy world where I make powerful friends, have fun and kill the demon king. However, let's make sure these two survive no matter what!'