“Hey, don’t you think we’ve been hanging out together too much?”

“What do you mean, young master?”

Harry got confused by my question that was seemingly out of place.

“I mean, we’ve never really made friends with the other adventurers do we?”

“Yeah, our days were just filled with doing missions or training, that’s how we rose the ranks in such a short time, relatively speaking. We never had time to make friends with the others.”

“Yeah, you never let us rest.” Chris cut in.

“Huh.”

They got a point; by my insistence, we kept doing missions and more missions right after finishing the former. If we’re not doing missions, I was training these two and I also did some training of my own. We’ve gone up the ranks and have gotten stronger thanks to that, but I might have been too strict with our schedules.

I can’t believe it took me a whole year to realize this. Well, Harry getting attacked might also have been a catalyst for such strictness but I can’t keep blaming outside factors for something that is my own fault.

“Well, let’s stop doing missions or training for a while.”

“?”

Harry and Chris looked at me with surprise.

“I’m giving you guys a paid vacation. One whole week.”

“Really?”

They both said with a wide grin. They must have been so happy with my generosity.

“But what about potential attacks? Haven’t we been sticking together this much for that reason?” Harry asked.

“You guys are already strong enough to fend for yourself. Harry at least would win if he’s fighting someone on the level of those two assassins.”

“Well then, here’s your expenses.”

I flicked two gold coins towards the two. One for each of them.

“Just this much?”

One gold coin is 10000 Fantz which is equivalent to about 100 dollars in my previous world, and the cost of living in this world is lower but Chris was ungrateful with the amount of payment I gave him so I shot back.

“You have your adventurer money don’t you?”

“Stingy.”

I waved my hand as I walked away from the two of them to enjoy my free time.

***

“Hey, are you an adventurer?”

My first destination was the orphanage in town. I bought some food and clothes to donate to the orphanage, and I also gave them some gold coins for funding. I thought as a child I need to make friends around my age, but apparently, I’m too mature for my age. I wonder why.

“Yeah, I’m an adventurer.”

“Woah! Are you strong then?”

“I guess I am, I’m an A-rank after all.”

“A-rank? What’s that?”

“It just means I have a high position in the guild.”

“Woah~”

Small children were flocking around me asking questions about adventurers. None of them were my age though, they were around 6-7 years old. I wondered where the others were and was about to ask the madam that runs the orphanage when an arrogant-sounding voice spoke.

“Hmph. It’s not that impressive.”

‘Huh? Where did he come from?’

A boy with white hair was leaning on the door frame of the orphanage. Was he trying to look cool? He looked like he’s around my age too.

“You’re right, it’s not that impressive.”

“Huh?”

I said to show that I agree with him. He was confused by my unexpected answer. I said again.

“You want to spar with me?”

“What? Are you looking down on me?”

He said angrily. He looked funny though.

“What, are you scared?”

“You- fine! I’ll beat you in a spar or whatever!”

“Is that fine?”

I asked Mrs. Dorothy, the lady that runs the orphanage.

“Fufu, sure. Just make sure nobody gets hurt.”

Alright, that’s an approval. I reached for two wooden swords in my bag. I don’t know why I brought these with me, it seemed like I was expecting to teach some kids how to wield a sword.

“No, Arthur! He’s an adventurer, you can’t beat him!”

“She’s right, don’t be reckless Arthur.”

Two more kids came in and tried to persuade Arthur. They looked like his friends, one of them was a girl with blond hair and a cute face, while the other was a boy with black hair and a slightly dark complexion. He was taller than the one whose name I presumed was Arthur. Both of them are handsome though. Although not as handsome as me.

“It’s fine, I can handle it,” Arthur said with a confident smile.

“Let’s go then.”

All of us went to the orphanage’s backyard where there was enough space for us to spar.

I handed Arthur the wooden sword and we faced each other in a stance. Mrs. Dorothy became the referee and was responsible for announcing the start of our spar. She doesn’t look like someone who has experience with sword fighting so I don’t think she’s a qualified referee but I know how to hold back so it’s fine. We just needed someone to announce the start of the fight.

“Ready! Start!”

Arthur started running towards me with his sword beside his waist. He was too slow, however. He was full of opening, it was horrible. He was a kid so I didn’t judge him for anything. But it was indeed horrible.

He brought his sword above his head and swung it down. I just stepped aside a bit to dodge it. He was shocked that I could dodge his sword.

Hey, aren’t you looking down on me too much? I’m an adventurer, you know?

He swung his sword again haphazardly, his stance barely holding on. I dodge or block every single of his strike. It was so weak I felt like blocking air, there was no weight behind the attacks at all.

I got good at swordsmanship too quickly so I’m struggling to see things from the perspective of a beginner. Is it because he’s still a kid? I got bored so I decided to finish it. I hit his hands and he let go of his sword in pain. I didn’t hit his hand too hard but his hands were red. It might leave a little bruise.

Mrs. Dorothy stopped the match and tended to Arthur’s hands. His two friends ran to him too. I got a bit jealous at that sight. I miss Elise a bit now, she was the only friend I had that is around my age. I walked towards him with a self-defeating smile.

“It’s just a slight inflammation. Just put ice on it and it’ll be fine after a few days.”

Mrs. Dorothy checked on Arthur’s hands and confirmed that it wasn’t that serious.

“That was fun.” I held out my hand.

It wasn’t that fun but I wanted to make friends. I don’t have any experience in my past life so I’m also a beginner in this.

“Tsk, I’m going to beat you next time.”

He had a determined look on his face. I smiled at his bold declaration.

“I’m looking forward to that.”

He smiled and grabbed my hand.

“Ow.” he pulled back his hand quickly.

Oh, I forgot I hurt his hands. We both laughed and everyone entered the orphanage building to get ready for dinner. I found out the name of Arthur’s two friends that night; the girl’s name was Alya and the boy’s name was Darwyn. All three of them were 11 years old, it was kind of annoying when Arthur started rubbing the fact that he was older all over my face the whole night.

We had a delicious dinner that night; I helped with the food preparation so of course it’d be delicious. I always helped at the kitchen back when I was at the mansion so I picked up some skills. Although I’m not yet a 5-star chef I could make decent meals, which is a useful skill for an adventurer. I had fun with the kids at the orphanage and I even got close to Mrs. Dorothy and the other caretakers which were all young girls around the same age as Rebecca. I’d say that my mission of making friends around my age was successful, with a bonus.

The few next days I also spent at the orphanage, I taught the kids, especially Arthur some swordsmanship and magic theory. It was just enough to cover the basics but the kids were very interested. They were very lucky since magic would only normally be taught to the privileged few, and although swordsmanship could be learned virtually anywhere it was hard to find a decent swordsman to teach you.

I didn’t think too much about it though since I only taught them on a whim. They were one of my very first friends so I gave them special treatment. I just hoped it’d help them in some ways.

“I’ll be going now, good night Mrs. Dorothy.”

“Goodnight to you too Richard.”

I excused myself one night and Mrs. Dorothy saw me off with a warm smile. She was a kind lady, I thought she was a noble going by her demeanor sometimes.

I sauntered down the still busy road and suddenly turned before entering the dark alleyways. I walked slowly and leisurely while humming a song in a relaxed manner.

Shiin

My sword was quickly unsheathed and repelled an incoming flying dagger. The dagger got stuck on the ground and I looked at a dark corner of the alleyway.

“Yo. Took you long enough to find me.”

I said while looking at a dark corner of the alleyway.