Published: August 2, 2025
That night.
“—So that’s how it was. Looking back, those few hours felt unusually long...”
“It must have been tough…”
Tonight marked the fourth gathering. The five of us, now quite accustomed to these tea meetings, explained the day’s events to madam.
She seemed to know about Mr. Orest, and nodded in understanding.
Once the story was told, the conversation shifted to another topic, but—
“Um... everyone.”
I suddenly realized something I hadn’t thought about before, and decided to clarify it.
“What is it?”
“This might be sudden... but are you all perhaps avoiding touching on my past?”
The moment I asked, time seemed to freeze for an instant inside the room.
Their reactions were so dramatic that everyone’s expressions stiffened.
I thought so…
“Why bring that up all of a sudden?”
Mr. Reinhardt asked directly, as if steeling himself.
The reason I noticed this was because when Mr. Orest was prying during the Molton Trading Company visit, whenever he tried to talk about my past, one of the three would always interrupt.
Even when I was invited to become an engineer, the tense atmosphere made me expect some hidden disadvantage, but it turned out all they wanted was to know why I had such knowledge and skills (my past). That was it.
This was because when we first met, my unusually high pain tolerance made them speculate about my past.
I had felt their considerate restraint all along, and Gain and the others said it’s common to avoid such topics.
But now, upon recalling today’s events, I realized something.
“Wait… could it be that they’re taking it more seriously than I thought?”
“Well… I appreciate your concern, but I probably don’t care as much as you think.”
“Really? Aren’t you just forcing yourself?”
“No, really. It’s not about holding back. Of course, I don’t like being interrogated in detail, but if it’s with people I trust like you, then aside from engineer talks, a little bit is fine…”
Actually, that’s why Gain and the gods went to the trouble of creating this past story for me.
I might have deepened the misunderstanding by leaving it alone, but I was ready to talk about it anytime.
“Sorry for causing confusion. But now that I’ve realized, if I don’t talk about it immediately, I’ll probably miss the chance in the future…”
Since I realized it, I didn’t want to unnecessarily let them worry, so I thought I’d just be open.
…Still, I do have some lingering feelings about this fabricated story… but more importantly, is everyone okay with this?
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Ryoma-kun, there’s no need for you to apologize.”
“That’s right. Yes, we probably overreacted a bit.”
Dry laughter echoed in the room. It was an awkward moment.
“Uh, um. Well then, Ryoma-kun, may I ask about what you can share? Like about the grandfather and grandmother who raised you.”
“Of course.”
I prepared my status board and visualized the two titles I had never shown anyone before.
“I just lived in the village, learning normal studies and fighting methods, nothing special. But they were apparently fairly famous outside, so I think you can understand by looking at this.”
I handed the status board to madam.
“Eh!?”
Before even taking it, she gasped, then covered her face with her other hand.
“Elise?”
“You’ll understand if you look for yourself…”
Then Mr. Reinhardt, who was handed the card next, soon reacted similarly, followed by Mr. Serge and Mr. Pioro receiving theirs.
“Wh-‘Sage’s Disciple’!?”
“‘Disciple of the Martial God’!? Seriously!?”
“It’s exactly as written…”
I had heard they were famous, but seeing this reaction made me truly realize what kind of extraordinary people they were.
It took quite some time for the four to calm down after realizing who was considered my foster parents from the titles.
“Phew… Ryoma-kun, have you shown this to anyone besides us?”
“No, you’re the first.”
“Good…”
Mr. Reinhardt openly expressed relief and then advised that these titles shouldn’t be shown to others lightly.