The clanking sounds of swords rang out throughout the mine. As we attentively watched the sparks and glint of the two beings fighting over their lives, there was Risa, groaning to a magnitude of an earthquake.

“Shakna would really be happy if someone hands got cut off, or better yet, if someone’s head would roll on the floor, preferably the human, though.” Risa quietly said as she sat beside me, her hands hang on her monotonous face.

“You’re going to get in trouble if they hear you, you know?” I said, a bit sternly.

“Shakna would rather be in trouble rather than watch these pitiful acts of childish play.” Although I was reprimanding her, I wasn’t entirely against her. Though calling it a childish play was rather ironic.

Elird barely dodged the desperate slashes of the kasak. He groaned and breathed heavily as he touched a slice of wound on his hands. The reason why we weren’t worried was because it was a controlled environment. After defeating a group of kasaks, we captured one and used it to train Elird. What better way to practice than actually experiencing it, right?

“Idiot!” Takana shouted, the sheer volume of his shout could be enough to make me go deaf. “Don’t slack off! Continue attacking him, you dumb idiot!”

“I know, I know, dumb and idiot have the same meaning!” Since Elird had a professional trainer before, he knew the basics such as how to properly hold a sword, stance, footwork and he likewise had ample stamina.

Although my knowledge about kasaks was limited, I could see that it was tired. Its action had been getting slower, especially with its wounds and the unwavering hate and bitterness stayed persistently on the its face. But so far, its will to live still burned furiously, never diminishing.

“Damn monster! Your existence makes my blood curl!” Elird went on the offensive. He went in low as he targeted its body. The sword on his hand swiftly made contact with the kasak’s. The sheer force of the slash caused the kasak’s hand to be send back, leaving the kasak wide open. With an opportunity in front of him, Elird wasted no time to slash the kasak on its stomach, blood fell on the floor as the kasak shrieked.

“HAHAHA!” he laughed maniacally as he let his sword down. He raised his foot. “You’re just a lowly piece of monster! Don’t you ever go against —“as he indifferently stepped on the kasak, the kasak retaliated, deeply scratching his feet with its sharp claws.

Elird screamed, prompting Takana to pull him away and Merry to kill the kasak while Kihana healed him. Though the situation looked grave, Risa’s face looked like her favorite food was in front of her as she smiled satisfyingly.

“I told you, stop doing that to them! When you get the chance, kill them! These monsters don’t differ from you and me, they want to live! And they will do anything just to live!” Takana shouted, clearly his voice reached Elird’s ears but it didn’t registered to his brain.

“I know! You’re like my brothers, always repeating themselves.”

The same scene happened many times already. Elird’s problem didn’t lie on his physical performance, Elird’s swordsmanship and footwork, as expected of a professional, his mentor did a great job. The problem laid on his mentality. His ego impeded his performance and his emotion caused him to be blind to his own shortcomings. Additionally, he had a condescending attitude, especially towards to those who he deemed inferior to him. Fiss mentioned before that attitude of him took form because of his father. I simply hoped that his mentor touched this subject, at the very least.

At first, Takana completely refused to teach Elird, and I commended him for that. But when he saw a few gold coins rattled in Fiss’ pouch, he instantly switched sides. Now, he was teaching him, or more like shouting at him.

During a battle, one’s mind must be at ease. Rationality led to victory. But of course, I experienced this firsthand, so I could safely say, during a battle, being rational was extremely difficult, if not, virtually impossible especially with a feeble mind. A strong mind was essential because it resulted in rationality. That was our job, to make Elird to less irrational and to hopefully make him understand to not underestimate people. But since this method wasn’t working, well, time for a new one, I guess.

*

“Tell me, why are we here?” Elird asked. He wore a uniform with a hat for the clerks in the post office. Takana decided to stay in the inn and take a day off while Merry and Risa strolled around the market to buy ingredients for the food she intended to cook later. Merry and Risa continuously getting close to each other made me smile as my wish for her was to become closer with them, though, with the other three, it seemed it might take a while.

“Well,” I started. “Your training for today is to man the post office. Our friend needed help since the other clerk had an emergency. ”

“What!?” he screamed. “That’s it? Let me call one of our servants in the house, combat is better than standing around in here.” He started to unbutton the clothes he wore.

“No, no, no!” Fuyuki touched his hand and stopped him from doing so. “The store is about to open! If you leave, who will man the station?” Fuyuki tilted her head, her blonde hair hanged as clueless as her.

“I still do not see why this is necessary. I will compensate them for the time and customer they will lose.”

“D-Don’t worry, Elird…we will s-support you!” Kihana shyly raised her voice.

“Elird,” Fiss stopped him. “We should trust them. They did say this is your training, maybe you won’t understand it for now but you would notice along the road.” I mentally bowed my head to thank Fiss. Without her, a rock would be easier to persuade.

“But…” Hesitation clung to Elird’s face.

“If you can’t trust them, then at least trust me.” Fiss looked at him directly in his eyes, her eyes full of confidence to my party.

“Fine, I concede.” He hung up both of his hands in the air.

The strategy here was to make Elird experienced all walks of life. Elird always keep looking down on people and this led to him underestimating his opponents, which then led to him plausibly losing.

Clearly, our method left much more to be desired. We were wanderers, not tutors. Yes, we had the necessary experience to set him up in the proper course but this job was way over our head. But still though, when it came to understanding people, choosing our party was a great choice.

“Hey, Chance,” I said. “Thanks for helping us out.”

“No problem.” he gave a thumbs up. “Many people want to become a mailman but nobody really wants to work in a post office. Though, I agree, exploring the world is a hundred times better than being stuck in here.” He joked.

Well, I won’t disagree with that.

“Anyway, you got a handful person to help there.” He reviewed Elird from top to bottom.

“Well, it’s not like we got better things to do.”

He laughed while scratching his head. “A mailman only comes in a town after three months, so we have to wait for a while before we could go on the road again.”

“Ahh, that’s not what I meant.” I hurriedly corrected myself. “What I meant to say was there is nothing to hunt, so we might as well take this job.”

He laughed again. “I know, I know, I’m just kidding.” He got me there. “But do you really think he will learn not to look down on others in a couple of days?”

“Hmmm, yeah. As far as I know, when you own a business, you have to be humble and make them happy for others to buy your products, right?”

He rubbed his chin. “I guess, you’re not wrong about that.”

The first customer of the day entered.

“Welcome, welcome!” Fuyuki greeted. “Right this way, lovely madam. Oh, let me support you.” The first customer was an old woman. She looked fragile, so Fuyuki decided to support her.

“A new youngster, huh? It’s always nice to see young people, it makes me young, too.” the woman quipped.

Elird, surprisingly, smiled. “How can I help you today, ma’am?”

The old woman nodded. “Good, good. I’d like this to be delivered to my son at the capital.” She gave him a beautifully well-kept letters. How much would it cost?”

“No need to pay anything, ma’am. As a matter of fact, that young man will pay for everything.” He pointed at me innocently. His face’s mask hid a monster hungry for revenge.

Wait, what?

“Oh, thank Shaina for that.” she then told us a story about why she was delivering a letter to her sister. It turned out, death came and knocked on her door once. She survived but she knew her time was running out, so she decided she wanted to spend her last moments with her son but her money barely suffice for anything and she didn’t want to trouble her son, so helping her out on this situation would help out a lot. And as a decent human being, I gave up and decided to pay for her fare, though, the act actually made me feel happy with what I did.

She lovingly pinched my cheek, her feeble fingers barely had the strength to pinch it. “Thank you for that, young man. Just know you made an old woman very, very happy today.” She then happily left, with Fuyuki supporting her.

After she left, I looked at Elird, who was smugly smiling. “I noticed what you were all doing. I know my attitude as I see it everywhere within my family. Nobles do it, too, whenever I see them. It’s difficult to stop what you’ve been taught and told your entire life.”

“…But not changing yourself for the better is surely more difficult, right? Then, wouldn’t that mean it’s worth it? If you want something, you have to work hard for it. at least, that’s what I think…” out of nowhere, Kihana spoke. In this room, Kihana overworked herself to the point she’d often sleep with her books. Although it might not look much, she strived to change herself and I believed that the most important of it all was to try. I knew this because Kihana and I were nearly the same. You’d know people who experienced the same situation as yours.

Kihana’s determined gaze caused Elird to look away. “Fine, I will try. But it’s not like my attitude will change in a few days.” He looked away, taking a peek from Kihana from time to time.

“The important thing is to try.” Kihana smiled. You’re right. It is the important thing.

*

A couple of days had passed. Elird had encountered many people as he diligently worked as a clerk for the past few days. He had gotten his hands dirty from all the letters he took, his clothes dusty from all the dust from the customers and the not-so-helpful ceiling. But the most vital change of it all was his face whenever he would talk to a person. It became soft and light, like the heavy pieces of burden on his face slowly being picked up and thrown away.

As a son of a businessman, he surely had experienced dealing with a couple of customers. He knew work ethics, how to keep the place clean, and to be always professional but personal at certain cases. The original staff liked him, too, not because of his status but because he sought hard to communicate with them properly.

But today might be his most the turning point of his situation.

A man entered the office. His brows furrowed and his lips pursed. The clothes he wore resembled an affluent-looking person. Talking to him might get you in trouble.

“Welcome, welcome!” even though the sun begun to set, Fuyuki’s voice was as bright as the sun.

The man looked at him menacingly. “Shut up, or I’ll make you shut up, woman.” That made the office froze. The other clerks that had already returned visibly looked scared, their heads turned when the man looked at them.

The man went to Elird. With a heavy thud, he put a letter on the desk.

“How may I help you…sir?” Elird forced a smile.

“I want this to be delivered to the capital as soon as possible!” he shouted. “The last letter I sent, I didn’t receive a reply! Why is that!? This place is full of incompetent people!”

“Is that all, sir?” an indifferent tone came out from Elird. In normal circumstances, I’d allow him to punch him but this might be the test that would turn the battle.

“Huh? Didn’t they tell you to respect your customers? What kind of imbeciles do they put in here?”

“The only imbecile here is you, sir. This place is a respectable establishment and anyone that causes any noise or disturbance shall be immediately kicked off the premise.” Elird prudently explained, his clear, cold eyes sharply looked at the man.

“Why, you!” the man raised his hand. His hand, going for a punch, suddenly stopped as the man scratched his head.

“Please leave!” Kihana had bonked her staff at the man’s head. The man looked at Kihana bitterly but he stood still as Kihana locked her staff at his face.

“You think you can just do that to me!?” the man pushed aside Kihana’s staff and went for her, not knowing what his intention was. Then suddenly, he stopped on his tracks.

“I told you, those that cause any disturbance will be kicked off!” he held the man’s suit using only his one hand. He then used it to throw away the man, slamming him at his desk. For a second, he looked at him but then turned away to help Kihana. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you…”

He then looked at me. “Terrin, I’ll let you pay for the desk.”

“Yes, yes, I will.” A couple of silver coins was nothing compared to him being a better person.

“So, what now? It seems like he’s already okay.” Fuyuki said.

“Well, let’s just see it in action.”