Author's Note: Woohoo! This marks the 20th *full* chapter of Monster with no Magic! We've come pretty far haven't we guys? I'm quite proud having stuck out this long. Hopefully, I'll be churning out many more chapters with our loveable, plant named MC.

Now, here's the newest chapter.

Convinced but Always Unwilling

It’s been about a week since last saturday.

During that time frame, I’ve spent most of it doing everyday things. Nothing interesting really happened.

Although Ami has kept true to her word and stuck with me throughout all this time. At first I found her constant presence annoying, and even now, it’d be a lie to say she wasn’t still annoying me. Eventually though, I grew used to it, well, to some degree at least.

It was similar to how one develops an immunity to a pesky virus after constant exposure.

My situation was kind of like that… No, it was exactly like that.

Now, about Ami… one thing I’ve discovered throughout this week is that she’s very stubborn. Hardworking, yes, but also, very, very, stubborn.

She’s also persistent to say the least, and her resolve to constantly keep close to me also got annoying rather quickly. She was like an ever present shadow, following me whenever and wherever I went. To make things worse, she was kind of hard to ignore, especially since she attempted to initiate conversation very frequently.

According to her, this was because talking helps build relationships, but in my case, it was a very annoying gesture.

Of course, I tried shaking her off this whole time, really, I tried. Alas, like I half expected, it was next to impossible. Like I said earlier, she was very stubborn. Ami was next to or near me everyday of the week. The only brief reprieves I got were when it was class time, and late at night when it was time to sleep.

The former was an obvious conclusion, I never doubted that an honor student like her would not miss class, even if it was for a mission. The latter was something I actually had to fight for though. I had to do some serious convincing in order to get her not to “sleep over”.

I was a guy in the middle of puberty after all. If such an event were to occur, I don’t think I’d have any self control in the matter…

Well anyways, it wasn’t like it was that bad. Rather, I might be exaggerating a bit.

***

Today was kind of like any other day.

It was another saturday, and after a week of school, I was dead tired. Such daily activity was pretty mentally taxing for a former shut in like me. Right now, I was leisurely lazing about in my bed, reading manga the traditional way (books and not through a computer screen).

I was having a pretty good time since it’s been getting rarer and rarer for me to have such free time, but you know what would have made this day even more enjoyable?.

... If I were alone.

Right now Ami was also in the room. She was currently sitting near the coffee table, doing some busy work for the student council. Really, even after coming all the way here to see me, she still does things like that…

Scritch Scritch Scritch

The sound of scribbling pencil on paper was actually something I found surprisingly enjoyable. This was for two reasons. One, the scribbling was calming, sort of like the fuzz of background noise.

The other reason was that it told me that Ami was doing paperwork. And whenever she does do paperwork, she doesn’t really bother me, and I enjoy not being bothered.

Ami was one thing, but she wasn’t the only one with me today. In total, there were five living creatures who decided to take up space in my already cramped bedroom.

There was me, who was on the floor, under a layer of comforters and bed sheets. There was Ami, who was quietly working at the coffee table. And the rest were as followed; Avril, Nanami, and Quinn.

Quinn I didn’t really mind. She was still a little kid, and she was kind of my responsibility.

When I picked her up, I weighed in the possibility that she might get whisked away to some government research facility. After all, a little girl who came from an undiscovered SS ranked monster’s stomach, would bound to arise some suspicion. And that’s not even to mention that she’s blue skinned with green hair. So my logic became; I found her, so I got to take care of her, otherwise, it would be a stain on my conscience not knowing the fate of this peculiar toddler.

No, for this reason I didn’t mind Quinn hanging around, I mean, it’s the least I could do. Plus, for some odd reason, she always looks really happy hanging around me... Does she admire my lifestyle? Maybe Quinn’s a future shut-in in the making…

Well, aside from Quinn, the other two… how do I say it… they're kind of a nuisance.

Nanami’s been making quite a bit of effort to spend more time with me. She especially gets fired up whenever Ami’s around, actually, now that I think about it, her fervor in “family bonding” (as she so aptly puts it) recently heated up when she found out about Ami… and I kind of had a bad feeling about that…

Although luckily, for the time being it seems like they get along well enough to some extent, so I don’t have to worry too greatly.

Avril on the other hand… I don’t know how, but she managed to nonchalantly wedge herself within the group… quite sneaky if you ask me.

Well, that’s the crowd I’m hanging out with today, so I don’t really have much hope for that quiet alone time I’ve started dreaming about.

Nanami and Avril were busy chatting. Their topic was something I wasn’t really paying any particular attention to. It was only when they mentioned something related to me that my ears perked up.

“Doesn’t Kelp’s room kind of smell?” Avril suddenly pondered outloud.

If you don’t like it, leave….

I inwardly retorted but otherwise kept quiet and continued to listen in as the others began to comment.

“Well, it does smell a bit…” Nanami hesitantly said while casting sidelong glance in my direction.

“Smelly!” Quinn yelled enthusiastically as she jumped off the bed and tackled me through several layers of comforter.

Her words and actions elicited a hearty laugh from Avril.

“That’s right Quinn! It’s pretty smelly in here isn’t it!”

She laughed again while I sighed.

I don’t even know how they got to this sort of topic….

“Well, the smell isn't too bad.” Ami suddenly interjected.

While I’m glad that she sort of defended me and try to lessen the damage, she never denied that my room smelled…

“It could always be worse…” Ami continued as her nose wrinkled due to a distant memory.

Avril blinked in Ami’s direction for a second, before she shifted once more into hearty laughter.

“Hahaha! That’s right, the smell isn’t that bad, but it still smells!

Kelp, you should really clean this place up!”

“I haven’t really had much of an opportunity to do that while all of you are here everyday!” I reflexively snapped with a hint of irritation in my voice.

Hearing this only caused Avril to laugh even harder. Of to the side, Nanami had a regretful expression on her face. Wordlessly Nanami began to clean up, probably due to some form of weird guilt she developed after hearing that stupid egghead. Quinn also began to clean, but that was probably since she thought doing so was “interesting”.

“...”

I looked over at my sister and the toddler, who were earnestly tidying things up.

I kind of felt bad for Nanami and Quinn, but, truth be told, my room really did need a cleaning… so I left them alone….

Despite Nanami’s actions though, Avril stayed where she was and nonchalantly continued her conversation.

“I don’t really know why you started spending so much time with him…” She directed towards Ami.

Hearing this, for some strange reason, I feel like their conversation is taking another weird turn…

“It’s not like you like him or anything, right?” Avril asked, a little bit more seriously and with poorly hidden enthusiasticness.

“I-its *cough* Its not like that. Its only because of orders.” Ami spoke while maintaining her original pokerface, although you could catch a slight blush in her cheeks if you looked close enough.

“EH~ Is that so…” Avril narrowed her eyes as she replied. Going by her capricious attitude, it looked like she wasn’t the least bit convinced.

“It is so.” Ami responded. She shot a glance in my direction which I met with my own. Once our eyes met, Ami hurriedly shifted them over to Avril.

“I’m just trying to befriend Kelp so that he’ll do a favor for me.” She defended.

To the Avril and Nanami who didn’t know why Ami had started hanging out with me, this was news to them.

“So that’s why you're hanging out all of a sudden with Kelp…” Avril awed.

“Although…” Hearing Ami’s reason, Nanami couldn’t help but shoot a pitying glance over towards Ami.

Ami, who had noticed, lifted her pencil from the paper for the first time and frowned.

“Although?” She inquired.

Nanami hesitated for a bit, looking over at me weirdly, before she looked back at Ami.

“Do you really think that’ll work?”

“Hmph! Of course its going to work, friends help friends out. That’s common knowledge.”

Ami stated a bizarrely innocent outlook on friendship.

“hm… to think Ami-senpai was like this…” Nanami mumbled

“Hahaha, Ami, you’re surprisingly…” Avril trailed off as well.

“Hmm? What?” Ami tilted her head, as in confusion.

Avril shook of her earlier surprise, and continued speaking.

“Regardless, I think you might be mistaken Ami.”

“Mistaken? How so?”

Nanami replied this time.

“Well, for starters... I doubt you’ll get Kelp to do anything, even if he does start to like you.”

“Eh?” Ami, a bit shocked, widened her eyes and replied. “W-what do you mean?”

Nanami awkwardly scratched her head. She didn’t really know how to explain it.

“Kelp’s the type of guy that hardly does anything for himself, let alone others.” Avril replied in Nanami’s stead.

“Unless its a matter of life and death, its unlikely Kelp would do anything for someone...and even then, its a bit questionable.” Nanami followed up, finally grasping at what it was she wanted to say..

“Lashy! Lashy! Papa Lashy!” And as if to confirm, Quinn blurted out as she dashed at me again in full sprint.

“Wait, that can’t be right…what about..the favor…” Hearing this barrage, Ami’s eyes slowly developed a lifeless hue.

Ami’s words trailed off as she came to realize her efforts had all been in vain.

Well it’s true, I probably wouldn’t have helped..

I inwardly commented to myself..

A despondent expression flashed across Ami’s face as she slumped over the coffee table.

“All my efforts….why exactly then did I spend all this time…” She sighed.

Seeing the depressed Ami, I couldn’t help but sigh while Avril laughed.

She moved over to Ami, and patted her back reassuringly.

“Well, it’s not like you completely hated spending time with Kelp right?”

“....”

Ami said nothing and buried her face on the table. After a few minutes, Ami lifted her head back up with a sigh and looked despondently at the pile of paperwork on the table.

“... Even if Kelp’s not going to do it, I still…*sigh*

Vice president told me in the worst case scenario, that if I couldn’t convince Kelp, I still needed to find someone strong to do the mission since its pretty dangerous…”

“How dangerous is it?” Nanami asked out of curiosity.

“...I’m not to sure, but going by how frantic he was, I’d say its between an AA to AAA rank mission… Plus, he’s even more urgent than ever, especially after hearing a student is currently missing right now.”

“Missing?” Nanami widened her eyes.

Ami nodded in response.

“A student’s been missing for about a week now. Vice President thinks it has something to do with Setohanda forest, since its not all that uncommon for some of the students to venture out into the forest on weekends.

Something could have easily happened to one of those students.”

I listened in on their conversation while I haphazardly played with Quinn. The little green haired munchkin squealed in delight as I began to tickle her feet. Tickling was her punishment for jumping on top of me earlier.

“If its that important, why didn’t you go look for someone else sooner?” Avril asked, continuing the conversation along.

“I would have, but I was specifically ordered to find someone exceptionally strong. Right now, all the other students who meet this criteria are either busy or away from campus. And to top it off, it really is difficult finding someone strong when most of the 4th and 3rd years are still away on labyrinth expeditions…”

Ami finished explaining with a sigh. I guess even this usually calm faced person could still be affected by stress and the like.

“It must be tough for you, huh…” Nanami lamented, while Avril nodded in agreement.

Hearing this, Ami let out another tired sigh.

The two other girls all turned and fixed their gazes towards me.

“Why don’t you just do it Kelp?”

“Yeah, just do it onii chan.”

They told me. The pressure from their glares was enough to cause a cold sweat to form on my back. I gulped while I hastily avoided eye contact.

“Don’t you feel sorry for Ami-senpai? She’s such a hard worker, can’t you just do this one favor?” Ami continued to goad.

“I-I’m pretty busy too! I may look like this now but…” I trailed off into weak laughter, knowing full well I’m not a very convincing person. Although if things continued at this pace, I fearfully felt that I’d end up doing something I’d rather not do.

Nanami sighed upon hearing my flimsy excuse. She turned back to address the still depressed Ami.

“If you really want to get Onii chan to do something for you, then you’ll need incentive.”

“I-incentive?” Ami lifted her head to look up at Nanami, a faint light of hope lingering in her eyes.

“O-oi Nanami, don’t give her any weird ideas…” I tiredly interjected.

Nanami of course, ignored this and continued to talk.

“Yeah, incentive. I found that whenever I want Onii--”

ring! ring! ring!

Suddenly, a noise reverberated near Ami.

She bent down and pulled out her smartphone, which basically looked like a clear piece of thick rectangular glass. This device was powered by mana, and was probably 50 times more efficient than my old phone.

Really, it’s inventions like that that make me wish I could use magic.

“Ah… it’s the vice prez.” Ami stated blankly as she looked at who was calling.

“Excuse me…” She placed the phone near her ear, as she quietly listened to her superior. Although the phone wasn’t on speaker, I could still hear the persistent screaming of Cadbye as he obnoxiously ordered around Ami.

Ami and Cadbye conversed for a few minutes, although it was mainly just Cadbye screaming. I couldn’t really hear properly, since most of it was just garbled yelling, but I’m sure it had something to do with the thing Ami is currently despairing about.

In a short while, Ami hung up with a sigh as her expression once again darkened.

“If this keeps up, I’ll have to go do it myself….” She mumbled under her breath.

“What’s wrong with going by yourself?” Avril asked out of curiosity.

“It’s not that I don’t want to do the mission… the truth of the matter is, I’m simply not strong enough. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble…” Ami once again sighed.

While Ami did have a large mana capacity, and good grades, she mainly focused on large scale AoE attacks. Much of her arsenal was built for crowd control and large scale destruction. As a result, her spells generally took longer to prepare. And this lag in time would prove fatal if she were to venture out alone into an area currently rated with a danger level of AA.

Seemingly having resolved herself, Ami straightened up and for the first time today, she looked directly at me. Her eyes gleamed with determination, even to the point of causing me to gulp down in anticipation of what was to come next.

“Kelp.” She solemnly spoke.

“Y-yes.” I tried to respond as straight faced as her.

“Please, help me.” She bent down and bowed. Her head touched the floor as she sincerely begged me.

I looked over at this site for a while before I sighed.

Really, how far will this girl go….

I sighed once more before I lazily said,

“Ah geeze! Raise your head up Ami, there’s no need for you to go so far…”

Hesitantly, Ami looked up towards me. Her eyes glistened once more, this time, it helped compliment the puppy dog expression she was currently making.

It was a rather weird, yet strangely charming expression. It greatly contrasted from her usual stoicness which only added to its… cuteness.

‘S-so…?” Ami hesitantly asked.

It would probably be a real hit to her pride if I were to refuse at this instant…

I contemplated such a cruel action before letting it go with a sigh.

I couldn’t just do such a thing, especially after the determination this girl showed throughout this week.

I hadn’t expected it when it first started, but strangely, I kind of grew attached to Ami. I was starting to consider her as a friend. Rather, I’m sure we were already friends.

So I guess, in a sense, her “let’s be friends” strategy worked.

“Ah, fine! I’ll do it.” I unwillingy replied.

Hearing this, Ami’s expression instantly brightened. I could see the edges of her lips curve upward in slight glee.

“But, you better not think I’m doing this for free. You owe me a favor, got it?” I spoke rather indignantly.

Ami happily nodded up and down as she asked, “Sure! What’s the favor?”

I faltered a bit as I scratched my head to think. “Er, I haven’t thought about it yet, but just remember.”

Ami curtly nodded as she rose from her seat.

She was way more excited now, especially when compared to a few minutes earlier. She ran across my small bedroom floor before she made a grab at my collar. With a surprising amount of strength, she yanked me out from underneath my comfortable cave of comforters.

“O-oi, what are you doing?!” I asked while I dangled helplessly in the air.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She said matter-of-factly as she proceeded to drag me across the room.

The rest of the girls, even Quinn, looked on at me blankly, a slight smirk masking each and everyone of their faces, even Quinn.

“No it isn’t obvious!” I replied, while tiredly trying to shake her off.

“You’re going to go do the mission.”

“Wait, eh? R-right now? Like right right now?”

Ami only nodded curtly while her lips curved into a self satisfied smile. “Of course.” She spoke simply as she dragged me out of my room, leaving the rest of my party behind.

****

A little while later, we stood near the edge of the forest.

Ami looked excitedly (well, as excited as one can look with a flat faced expression) towards the overgrown crop of trees. She had prepared herself before hand, and brought a small backpack full of camping gear. While the backpack may have been small, I knew before hand that it utilized the same type of storage magic that Morgan’s backpack used to store more objects than it should have been able to physically hold. In short, it was a magic tool.

Although I doubt something like that was necessary. At most, I assumed this whole debacle would just be one tiresome afternoon.

That’s why I’m simply standing here with the clothes that Ami dragged me out in. I even still had a pair of house slippers which fashioned my feet.

Although that’s not to say I wasn’t prepared. I brought the best survival tool I could think of; Timmy.

“Oooh” Ami awed upon seeing Timmy, who stood rather imposingly to my side.

Timmy dorned a nostalgic expression as he looked longingly at what was once his domain.

“Wow, this monster looks really strong. What rank is he?” Ami asked as she hesitated whether or not it was okay to stroke Timmy’s hide.

I moved my hand over hers and gently pushed it towards Timmy’s side.

If she was going to touch it, just touch it already. No need for such hesitation.

Unexpectedly, such an action caused a slight blush in Ami’s stoic face. Her hand tried to jerk backwards in surprise, but the force of mine blocked it. Her unwillingness and rather shy attitude was something I couldn't’ quite understand. Was Timmy’s fur really so smooth as to cause people to blush? I mean it was soft, but still…

I lifted my hand from over Ami’s own dainty fingers and scratched my head awkwardly.

“Ah, I’m not so sure as to his rank…” I lied. I figured, going by how much trouble my “strength” has caused me thus far, maybe it was a smarter move to play it low for a while.

Besides, I could only imagine what her reaction would be if she found out Timmy was a rank AAA- ah, no, currently Timmy should be around Rank S. Well, if she found this out, I could only guess as to what type of face she’d make.

“Hmm, I see…” Ami looked rather disappointed at my response, but quickly brushed it aside and continued talking. “Here were the papers that you so graciously declined when you first entered the Stucco room.”

She handed me the manila envelope that I gave back to Cadbye. With another one of my trademark exaggerated sighs, I reluctantly opened the package, and silently read the contents.

After a while, I returned the contents back into the envelope before I decided to speak.

“So… In short, we have to find out why the monsters are getting stronger?” I summed up the rather unnecessarily lengthy walls of text I stupidly read through.

Ami nodded and further explained. “Also, the Vice President wants us to keep an eye out for the missing student. He thinks that both issues might be connected to each other.”

Hearing this I lazily nodded. “I see…”

I quietly lapsed into silence, looking out into the forest with half glazed eyes. After a while of doing this, I sighed once more and stated.

“Well, I guess, let’s get going…”

“Yup!” Ami excitedly ran into the forest, something I didn’t think the usual stoic princess would ever do. I guess the stress from the previous week had finally gotten to her.

I didn’t follow Ami just yet though.

With one jump, I pushed myself off the ground before I lightly landed on Timmy’s back.

Timmy let out a startled grunt before he quickly calmed down. The experience from when I first rode him kicked in as he leisurely began to stride into the forest.

Truth be told, this was the primary reason why I brought Timmy along. I was too lazy to be bothered with walking in the woods. It was way easier, and more comfortable to just sit here and watch from above.

Like this, I followed Ami’s receding silhouette deep into the underbrush, already regretting my one act of kindness.

****

Deep into the woods, we aimlessly wandered.

Although I did accept this task, which in a school setting like this, they usually refer to it as “Quests”, I really didn’t know where to start.

“Hey~! Ami, where are we supposed to go?” I called from above Timmy’s back.

Ami, who was still walking with her own power, looked resentfully up at me. I had offered to give her a ride, but for some reason, her stubborn pride had stopped her from getting on Timmy’s back.

Although I do think it was due to a bit of fear. She might have admired the monster, but she was still reluctant to get on its back.

As a result, Ami was still walking. You could tell she regretted her decision, as she heavily panted from the pure weariness of walking through the woods for 2 hours straight.

“I *hah*.. I’m not sure.. *pant*...” She attempted to respond.

“Hmm...I see….” I sat down and pondered my next move rather leisurely.

If we’re talking about places where monsters could get randomly stronger then… nothing really comes to mind. Although there is something at the tip of my tongue...I really can’t recall it though.

Oh well, if it was anything important, I probably wouldn’t have forgotten it in the first place.

For now, I’ll go with the safest bet. I immediately shifted the control to this stupid quest over to the most reliable member of our party; Timmy.

“Hey Timmy,” I spoke out loud as I patted the boar near its head.

He responded with a quiet grunt. I could tell he was a bit more excited than usual, solely by the inflection in his throat.

“I’m going to let you do your thing for now. You’re our best bet at solving this quest.” I spoke simply.

Timmy grunted in understanding.

“Hah~?” Ami suddenly interjected. She had a wide eyed, open expression of disbelief.

“What are you saying Kelp? You can’t seriously hand over the core of our judgement process over to your tamed monster?”

I sighed out loud while leaning back onto Timmy’s broad back. The fur entangled me softly as I looked up at the canopy above.

“Relax Ami,” I stated. “Timmy’s a lot more reliable than he looks. Plus, he’s lived here for a long time. If anyone’s going to notice something odd, it’d be this guy.” I nonchalantly patted my boar on the back.

Timmy grunted happily, glad for the recognition of his skills.

“nmm…” Ami didn’t look quite convinced, but she held her tongue, which was good.

So with a final pat on the back and a quick order of, “Do what you want, “ Timmy leisurely set off towards another direction, a pair of confident eyes guiding his way. He sniffed this way and that as he moved further along an invisible trail of broken twigs and fallen autumn leaves.

Ami also reluctantly followed, but she was a bit slow when compared to Timmy’s movement speed.

****

After a while, through Timmy’s guidance, we ended up in a sparse clearing.

Ami stumbled through the floor, beads of sweat hastily running down the tip of her forehead.

She panted heavily as she attempted to survey the scenery.

Noticing that we had stopped, I lazily sat upright and stretched out my arms as I also looked around.

The area where we ended up in was like a small clearing in the otherwise sea of trees. In the middle of the clearing was an old, decrepit looking tree. Compared to the rest of the forest, its branches were severely lacking foliage, and the thing looked like it would tumble and disintegrate into dust at any moment.

Surrounding the tree, was a bunch of worn out, and trampled soil. I may not be an expert, but from the looks of things, several monsters came through here. And they were probably less than amiable, indicated by the blood stains everywhere.

Ami, who had regained her strength, stood upright, and continued to visually take in her surroundings. Now, her usual stoicness was back as she quietly noted every discrepancy her sharp eyes could observe.

After a while, she stated with a grim expression, “We’re getting close…”

I unknowingly nodded. I also felt the same. Whatever problem Cadbye wanted us to solve, I was pretty sure what happened here was somewhat related.

Although I wasn’t as serious about this as Ami though, who meticulously examined every detail of the battle scene.

As she was doing this, I naturally got bored and began to ask questions.

“So, Ami, why are you here?”

“Huh?” Ami uttered, not bothering to turn around to face me.

“I mean, why are you here with me in the forest? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I don’t appreciate your help, rather, I’m thankful, but I thought this was a solo quest.”

I paused to properly sort out my thoughts. After a while, I finally asked,

“Why are you helping me?”

Upon hearing my question, Ami stopped moving and quietly sat there, still looking away from me. The silence led me to think that she was seriously pondering over an answer to my off-the-top-of-my-head question.

After a while, she continued working while she responded.

“Its simple. I don’t trust you.”

“Huh?” I managed to blurt out. I expected some harsh reason, but it really wasn’t what I expected.

“I didn’t think you could do this job alone, s-so I took the liberty of helping you out. Simple.”

“Ha…” I thought about this response for a bit, before I broke off into an awkward laugh, while I habitually scratched my head.

Well, considering how she normally is, such a reason wouldn’t be too unrealistic, but…

I shook away my train of thought. I didn’t really care what the reason was. As long as she was helping, it made my task much easier.

After a few more minutes, Ami finished whatever it was she was doing and motioned for Timmy to move onward. It seems like along the way, she had grown to trust this amiable big boned boar.

We continued onward. Hopefully, as we wandered this forest, we were getting closer to reaching our goal.

After all, I really didn’t want to spend too much time out here. I’m pretty sure the mosquitoes have it out for me.

****

Author's note:

Thanks for reading, comment, follow, rate, favorite, to show that you enjoyed the chapter.

And while I'm here, I can't help but do a little self advertising. It might be a bit tactless, but I can't help it. It's in my author blood to want to get my newest story out there and known.

I hope you guys try it and enjoy it as much as you enjoy this one.

http://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/1729

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