The first marathon using the great hammer ended mostly without trouble.
There was a small accident where 『Infernal Heavy Rain』 grazed me a bit, but overall it finished without any major issues.
After that, I escorted Diana-chan back to Lukmine Village, then returned to Meiyu Village and had Jisrare-san soothe my exhausted body and mind at her clinic.
After being taken care of for about an hour, I went back home and ended the day. It was a tiring day in many ways, but it also felt fulfilling.
…Well, just spending a pleasant time with Jisrare-san is usually enough to make any day feel fulfilling to me.
Anyway, moving on to today.
In contrast to yesterday, which was full of battles, today was calm and relaxed.
「Like this?」
「Yes」
「Mm-hm. Like this, then. This is… pretty tight on the fingers」
Right now, I am in the living room, learning how to play the guitar from Mother.
「Miriam-sama, something about the sound feels off…」
「Try playing it one more time」
「Yes」
Nana-san is here too. The two of us are learning the guitar together from Mother.
Because of that, the usual living room somehow feels like a guitar classroom.
This all started because I made a guitar out of wood.
Relying on memories from my past life, I tried to create something resembling an acoustic guitar. That became Woodworking Series Part 30 『Guitar』.
I managed to make something that at least looked the part, but unfortunately, I cannot play the guitar. I did not have that hobby in my past life either.
I tried strumming it randomly a few times, going jang-jang and all that, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
So, I decided to toss the guitar onto a shelf in my room and leave it there.
That was probably about three years ago.
And yet, the guitar that should have been left there all that time somehow disappeared from my room.
Then, Mother, who likely took the guitar without asking, started practicing it on her own.
And before I knew it, she had improved to the point where she could teach others how to play.
…It is not like I mind, but I wish she had at least said something before taking it.
That said, it is still impressive. There may have been similar string instruments in this world, but there probably was not a guitar itself.
And yet, Mother had reached the point where she could play the guitar fluently and perform actual songs.
At this point, she is practically the Guitar Progenitor-sama. The founder and originator, the one who gave birth to the guitar.
Technically, I am the one who made it, but I have no choice but to hand that title over to her.
So, since the Guitar Progenitor-sama happened to be close at hand, I decided to have Mother teach me how to play.
「Gnnngh, my fingers will not move」
「Practice is all there is」
And so today as well, I am learning the guitar from Mother.
By the way, the guitar I am using now is not the one Mother took. I made a second guitar.
「Miriam-sama, I still cannot produce a clean sound…」
「Try playing it one more time」
「Yes」
Nana-san watched Mother and me practicing and said she wanted to try too. So now she is learning together with us.
Incidentally, the guitar Nana-san is using was also made by me.
Since Nana-san has the 『Woodworking』 skill, I thought she could make one herself, but she said, 『Master will surely make it better』.
Hearing that did not make me feel bad at all.
「This really is difficult」
「It is」
「The sound feels dirty somehow. Why is that? Is it the guitar’s fault?」
「Hey」
She had said such sweet things before I made it, and yet I never imagined I would be betrayed like this.
「Both Alec and Na-chan are doing well. You are improving little by little」
「Yeah」
「Yes」
Since Mother says so, we must be getting better little by little. I will keep at it steadily.
「When you get better, let’s have a presentation in 1-1」
「A presentation in 1-1…」
A presentation is one thing, but that is the venue.
What does Mother think a dungeon is.
No, that is not something I can say. No matter how I look at it, this is entirely my fault.
「Then let us stop here for today」
「Yeah. Thanks, Mother」
「Thank you very much, Miriam-sama」
It seems today’s guitar class is over.
After thanking Mother, Nana-san and I left the classroom. For now, I will go put the guitar back in my room.
「A presentation, she says, Master. That makes me nervous」
「It still feels like it will be a long way before we can play a proper song」
At the moment, I cannot even properly hold down what seem to be basic chords. We still have a long way to go.
Well, that is not necessarily a bad thing. It may take a long time, but my life is long too.
There is no harm in having plenty of hobbies like this.
「Personally, I would like to improve as quickly as possible」
「Is that so?」
「I wish to improve quickly, and scream my dissatisfaction with society on the sound of the guitar」
「…………」
From what I heard before, Nana-san is apparently into punk rock.
In my previous life, I listened to music broadly and shallowly. All kinds of genres.
And Nana-san has inherited those memories. Punk happens to be her favorite.
So, she wants to sing while playing punk. Very punk-like, she wants to criticize society and the system.
「Dissatisfaction with society, huh」
「I wish to scream」
「Hmm…」
But Nana-san lives in Meiyu Village, right. And the village chief of Meiyu Village is Father.
Which means, in other words… would that not be dissatisfaction with Father?
I really want her to refrain from screaming about that.
「Well, never mind that. More importantly, Nana-san, I have something to talk to you about. Could we gather in my room?」
「Yes? That is fine, but a talk?」
「Yeah. Just a bit」
Today, I plan to have that meeting with Nana-san.
「Ah, I see. A meeting, then?」
「Oh, as expected of you, Nana-san. You figured it out」
「Of course I did. How many years do you think I have been with you, Master?」
……It has only been about two years, right? I do not think our association has been that long, though.
「So that means it is that meeting, correct? The one about how to improve Master’s far too low ‘Agility’?」
「That is not it」
Not at all.
……….That is certainly something I would like to improve somehow, but that is not why I called this meeting.
「Then… is it the meeting about how we should make use of Master’s ‘Glowing Moss’?」
「That is not it」
That is also something I have been thinking about, but…….
By the way, the Glowing Moss I grew on the wooden sword during yesterday’s experiment was still glowing as of before the guitar lesson.
It is almost been twenty-four hours now. Hang in there, Glowing Moss.
「Then what could it be? A meeting to fix Master’s terrible womanizing habits?」
「I told you it is not. …And anyway, do I really have bad habits with women?」
I do not think that is the case.
It is true that there seem to be frequent incidents involving women, but those are mostly caused by Ralina-chan…
「Then perhaps it is a meeting about Master’s――」
「Stop. Please stop, Nana-san」
Please stop already.
It feels like all you are doing is pointing out my shortcomings.
next chapter: Dungeon Conference
Leave a Reply