A Hundred Girlfriends Who Really Love You... In Another World! 03 (Patreon)

"This is gonna take some time..." After grumbling those words, Eris knocks me on my ass. With a quick slash from her wooden sword, my own wooden sword goes flying to the skies. "Gal had it wrong, even if you trained your whole life you aren't gonna reach Saint ranking in anything." That...

I glare at her. "Just wait a moment, I'll definitely show you...!" I... I have to have some sort of talent! There's no way I suck at this, because what kind of isekai dude sucks at sword fighting!? Probably the Subaru Natsuki kind...

Eris sighs. "So you have an ego huh? That can be a good thing, once you reach a certain level, but..." She points her wooden sword at my neck. "You are far below that level." I instinctively swallow my saliva. I know Eris isn't gonna kill me or anything, but this is still scary.

I look away. "Whatever." It goes without saying that my pride is hurt. And it isn't because of something like losing to a girl, I'm not that stupid. I just expected my isekai cheat to kick in, that's all.

Eris kicks me in response, though it doesn't hurt nearly as bad as when Nina did it. "I don't wanna hear any snarking from you, apprentice!" As expected, Eris is this type of teacher... Violence against students has become illegal a long time ago!

I hold back any swearing, calling Eris something like bitch might... definitely means death. "Sorry. No snarking." What an abusive soulmate I have! "What's the point of this though? It's not like you actually taught me anything..." She just gave a wooden sword and started to beat me up.

She shrugs. "I wanted to gauge your talent with more precision. It's as expected, you have some talent for the Water God style, since you keep trying to instinctively defend yourself, you have no talent for the Sword God style at all and... I guess you have decent talent for the North God style. Aiming for my eyes like that." Eris looks at her own sword. "But you aren't anything special." I... Maybe I'm talented at magic. Yeah, that has to be it.

I pout, sitting up. "I don't even know what those mean. Maybe if you explained it to me, I would do better." I don't want to call Eris a good teacher, but I also don't want to admit I suck. A classic conundrum I have found myself in many times.

She smiles. "The whole point was that you didn't know though!" She pauses for a moment. "I think it's alright for me to explain them now however... Basically I'm talking about the three most common sword styles of the entire world. Water God is a defensive style, North God is a bullshit style, and Sword God is a offensive style. I focus most of my training in the last one." Your description of the North God style is the real bullshit here!

She continues. "And the ranking stuff goes like this, there's beginner, intermediate, advanced, saint, king, emperor and god." So it's the classic isekai power system... Well, at least they didn't name it using things like S-Class and the like, now that is something that has been done to hell and back. "By the way, I'm Saint-Ranked in the Sword God style." So... above average?

I smile. "Just you wait, I'm gonna reach the god rank in all of those!" As expected of a legendary hero...! Ah, she started laughing for some reason. Ah, she isn't stopping. I wonder if there's a easy way to commit suicide around here?

She does stop laughing eventually though. "I doubt it, but hey I won't abandon you until you become a... decent swordsman." She smiles. "And at least you're pretty fit! So we don't have to make you catch up!" I didn't even think about that.

If I was the type of NEET who never exercises, Eris would have definitely made me throw up with her training just now. Still, even though Eris says I'm physically capable, I clearly can't go around breaking rocks or anything... Warriors here must use the classic isekai maneuver of reinforcing themselves with mana, and I'm guessing Eris will teach me that eventually.

If I even have mana that is, I am from another world after all... Ah, if something like me not even having MP happened this really would be the worst isekai ever. No talent as a swordsman, no talent as a mage, and my soulmate is taken by another guy... Just end my life at that point!

I groan. "Yeah, I guess I'm thanking dad for that one." He didn't meant to make me work out so I could keep up with my isekai sword training, but it's certainly coming in handy! Of course Kenichi Natsuki always makes the right decisions.

Eris tilts her head. "Your father huh? Why did the guy make you work out, but didn't train you in any swordsmanship whatsoever?" He trained me in wrestling... Though I don't think that's gonna help me right now.

I awkwardly scratch my head, thinking about how the hell I'm supposed to explain this. "I guess he just wanted me to be healthy, but I was never trained to be a soldier or anything." I imagine someone with military experience could actually impress Eris...

She pauses for a moment, but then nods. "I see, I guess he had some wisdom in him... Even people like mages should try to keep a healthy body. So, do you still live with your family?" She then flinches. "Sorry, my bad." It's fine, you didn't say anything too bad.

I'm guessing she's feeling bad for bringing something like this up, considering I got teleported and all. I honestly don't care though, so I wave her off. "It's fine... But yeah I liv- I used to live with my parents." A worthless NEET who was leeching off them.

Her eyes widen. "Huh, I expected that, but I'm still surprised somehow." I'm being judged even here...!? "How old are you anyways?" She points to herself. "I'm eighteen by the way." Ah, she's older than I thought...

I awkwardly smile. "I'm eighteen too..." I guess it's only natural this soulmate thing would make us close in age. It would be really awkward if some old hag with four hundred years of life or something fell for me.

She huffs. "Well, I'm close to nineteen, so I'm older than you!" Who cares about that!? And how do you know I'm not close to nineteen too huh!? Damn it, assuming things like this is just like Eris.

She points her sword at my own sword. "Anyways, get up and go get your own weapon, then I can start teaching you some real skills... I don't have all day you know? Since I want to train by myself too." Ah, that's true, I shouldn't be a bother.

I get up, it's a bit painful to do so, but it's manageable. "On it!" And I begin walking towards the weapon she knocked away, thankfully she didn't give me a limp or something... This place has mages with healing powers of course, I know because they healed my face, but it would still be inconvenient to bother them. Also they refused to explain how magic works to me, so they're officially in my shit list!

After picking up my wooden blade, which means it's not really a blade, I walk back to Eris. "So what are your orders!?" Oh, I can't wait to learn a super special move! Like how to make my sword catch on fire or something!

Eris smiles, for some reason I don't like it. "Your orders are... repetition!" I'm not learning a cool move am?" "The key to all martial arts is training your body on how to do something, so I'm gonna make you do certain moves over and over again. Eventually your body will remember them." So basically I have to train my muscle memory.

That's understandable enough, so I nod. Eris smirks after it, seemingly happy with a obedient student. "Okay, just copy what I'm doing it. I'll fix any mistakes you do..." Her eyes then widen. "By the way, only train in front of me. It's importan that I am always able to see where you are messing up so I can correct it. If your foundation is born broken... It would suck." Another common martial arts idea.

So far it doesn't really feel like I'm learning some super special sword style, it just feels like learning... a normal sword style I guess. I actually used to take kendo lessons, so this isn't too bad. By the way, I took those lessons because swords are obviously way too cool.

I don't take my eyes off Eris as she swings the wooden sword. It's not exactly a complication position to do it either, so I try to imitate it. "Hah!" She didn't shout, but I do so by instinct. Kendo has taught me it's good pratice. Well, maybe Eris does scream when she's not actually doing the most basic of stances ever.

She doesn't say anything about my form, so I simply do it again. This time though, she raises a hand. "Wait a second, tense your shoulders more, and put your left leg a bit more to behind." There it is, the corrections I was waiting for.

I smile. "Don't worry, this future legendary swordsman will quickly fix his position!" I try to do as she instructed. "Hah!" Hopefully by the end of this she will realize that both her and the Sword God were wrong. I have talent, damn it!

Eris' eye twitches, and now her tone of voice is becoming angrier. "Wrong again. I just told you what to do, so why didn't you?" This is the thing I feared the most, Eris being a impatient teacher. It's only natural considering her peculiar personality, but I still don't like it.

I flinch. "Sorry, I tried, but I don't know exactly where I messed up." Damn it...! Where is my legendary talent... At this point I might as well give up on it. It's clear that I'm just not a swordsman by birth.

Eris glares at me. "How don't you know? I tol-" She then shakes her head. "Nevermind, you tried, I guess." She drops her sword and gets closer to me. "I-I guess I'm gonna have to show you, since you're so stupid." She's now blushing and stuttering...

Why did she suddenly enter tsundere mode!? Just what was the trigger for such a beautiful form!? No, but really, Eris really does look beautiful while blushing. Her hair and her eyes just perfectly compliment her expression. 

It's like the best artist in history decided to capture the sunset in the form of a goddess. A beautiful, flawless moving picture, actual priceless art, not the type of stuff you see nowadays that is just made for money laundering.

Eris' blush gets even more pronounced. "Hey, what gave you the idea of just looking at me with such a intense stare without saying anything? You wanna get beat up?" Oh, I got lost in my cringe thought! Damn it, this girl brought out the worst part of me!

I awkwardly smile. "Sorry, I got blinded by looking at the sun." It might be my favorite star from now on... Ah! What the hell, I just said something even more embarrassing...! Please don't kill me Eris!

Thankfully she doesn't, instead she looks down, hiding her face. "I-I see! I c-can be pretty blinding... I guess!" She didn't flinch!? Or cringe!? Or die!? Then whatever, I might as well play it confident. Yep, I'm the incarnation of confidence from now on!

This is a medieval land after all, so maybe lines like these come out more like Lancelot and less like online creep. Wait, I don't wanna be Lancelot! My explicit goal is not ruining the loving relrelationship between the sun incarnate and Delinquent King Arthur Goku!

Eris eventually shakes her head. "Well, enough wasting time!" And then she gets on her knees, immediately my mind is flooded with images that a legendary knight should not be thinking about. Thankfully with the power of self control I manage to not pop a boner.

She grips my leg with two hands. "Move this one a bit more..." And starts moving it. I can see what Eris is doing now, she's gonna act like I'm a marionette and guide me into the exact position. Another thing that is not unusual in martial arts, but...

Damn it, a beautiful girl who's around my age is gripping my leg! And she's blushing too... Maybe because of my previous comment, or maybe because of this situation... Probably both honestly. Yet again, I'm receiving too much stimulation for my poor weak virgin heart!

Slowly she moves each part of my body into the correct place, it feels like this process is taking forever, and the fact that we have now started being completely silent doesn't help. I try to think of any corny jokes I could make to break this silence, but I fail miserably.

C'mon Subaru Natsuki! Play the fool, play the clown...! That's what you have been doing for years now, so why can't you do it to escape this...!? Ah, it's probably because... definitely because... I don't want this to end. Stupid soulmate thing.

I heard before that the best thing about relationships is intimate contact, and not even sex... just a couple touching each other. Now I am both Japanese and a virgin, so it goes without saying that I have never received such treatment, be it in public or in private.

Until now that is...! Damn it, this girl has a boyfriend, so why am I so... "Hey Eris..." Words finally escape my mouth, they aren't a joke, but it's at least something. If I couldn't break the atmosphere that was following us... I might have died of a heart attack.

She raises an eyebrow. "W-what?" It's a short word, but hearing her voice sends shivers down my spine. Her stutters, her tone... Since the silence took it away from me for so long, I missed it, craved for it. I'm... so down bad.

I take my time to answer. "I... thanks for all of this, like really." It goes without saying that even if Eris started to hate me... I owe her a massive debt. If it wasn't for appearing on this place I might have died in a dark shack in the middle of a slum or something, who knows?

She takes a step back, and gets up, her job done. "Don't mention it. I... was in a similar situation to yours once, so I wanted to help." I figured. I'm not the smartest guy around, but it was clear that she sympathized with my circumstances. "Anyways, do the attack, just like I did." Right, I can't fail after... that.

I close my eyes, and the move. "Hah!" I slash the air, my body does move more smoothly then before. Though it's not too much of a big difference... I guess I don't have a good eye to tell though.

Eris nods with a smile. "Good, now go back to that stance and repeat it." I do as ordered, but she groans. "You're doing it wrong... seriously, I just showed you..." Sorry! But I'm obviously not gonna learn with only one try. I'm apparently not super talented after all.

A blush returns to her face. "I g-guess I just gotta show you how to do it again." I both look and don't look forward to that. Damn it, I really am a fool in some many ways.

///////

"He really has zero talent." I sigh while watching my newest, and first apprentice swing his sword. It reminds me of Rudeus in a way, except Rudeus started training really young... He also had the help of much more amazing people than me. He had his father, who apparently was talent incarnate back in the day, and he had Ghislaine, who is Ghislaine.

And Rujierd of course... Rudeus quickly reaches his peak after obtaining his demon eye. Maybe that's what my apprentice needs? I can't exactly find some crazy eye granting demon though...

Geez, why am I thinking so hard about this? I already wasted enough time here, I should be training... Ah, I know why. I really just want to watch him, since I'm such a stupid pervert. Sorry Rudeus, but it's not... it's not anything roman-. I'm just watching.

It's strange really. I have always been perverted, I know that, and I fully accept that, even if I at least know how to control it, differently from some people. Even so, I never reacted to someone like this before... All Greyrats love beast people, that's just like... a thing.

When I look at Subaru Natsuki I can't help, but think that he is far more beautiful than some random dog eared lady...! Seriously what the hell is wrong with me!? I definitely didn't feel this way towards anyone else in the past, not even Rudeus...

It's gotta be love. I'm not the little kid I used to be, I can recognize when I love someo- What the hell am I thinking about!? I met this guy yesterday! And sure, I can sympathize and understand his struggle, that should make sure we become friends quickly, but... this is way too much.

Mind control. He's mind controlling me. It's just like it was suggested before, he's some weird Witch Cultist or something. Who knows, maybe an Archbishop has escaped that flying, isolated nation and come down here to seduce me...! Yeah, right, as if.

There are potions and spells that can make someone... feel things, but I know he didn't use them. How? Instinct. Warrior instinct. I know some people might call me foolish for believing something like that, but those people don't know how it's like having it.

My thought process is cut off by my apprentice. "Hey Eris, how much longer do I need to keep doing this!?" He already far surpassed the time I had planned for him, I just want to hear him pant, I want to smell his sweat, I want to see him blush. Subaru Natsuki is a weakling, but that's cut-

Shut up, stupid brain. "Just keep training damn it! Don't question my teachings!" In the end he's a weakling without any talent, so I have to push him farther than anyone else. Surely the motivation of going home back to his parents is enough to drive him through my training?

Parents, family, love. I want a big, big family...! He hasn't stopped talking. "But it already took so long for me to get those stances!" He actually did it everything right starting from his ninth try. I wanted to keep feeling his body though, because I'm a Greyrat, and that's how I I show lov-.

Shut up, stupid brain. "I said back to work! Are you stupid or something!?" I got up to shout him, and he flinched backwards from it. It can't be helped though, I know this guy's type, he's a complainer, if I let him have his way, he's gonna lock himself into a room and sleep forever.

Still, why did a pit open up in my stomach when he flinched? Why do I hold back against him? Why did I get so mad when Nina kicked him? I already know the answer, it's lov-

Seriously, shut up stupid brain. "Ah... sorry, can I take a break though?" Thankfully my apprentice has taken me off my stupid thought process. This is why I let all thinking to other people!

I take a moment to think and nod. "Yeah, sure. Let's go to the cafeteria, I'll show you the way." I'm hungry! Also I want to spend time with him... In a non-romantic way of course! I-I already love Rudeus!

I mean, this isn't a fairytale! I didn't fall for a guy as soon as our eyes crossed or anything! That's stuff that happens in ancient legends! Like that of the Three Heroes and the Witch, or the war again Laplace... Didn't I always want to live a fairytale? Besides, these are all real things that happened...

Yes, but...! But even when I was young I didn't  care for romance! Sure I always wanted to reach the levels of people like Reid Astrea, or get my hands on a few of the treasures guarded by the Belzerg Stylish-Sword royal family, but... I never cared about the love at first sight that is so common in stories like these!

Subaru smile. "Awesome, let's go then!" My heart melts, love at first sight is definitely real and great! No, it isn't! And I'm punching Subaru later, for making me all confused and stuff...!

My heart just isn't made for messy situations at all.