Chapter 80: Marin-sensei’s Tuition Fee

"Wait! Brandon, wait!!"

Browning-sensei stops Marin-sensei. Marin-sensei looks puzzled, as if asking why she’s being stopped. Right now, I’ve just blocked Marin-sensei’s powerful overhead strike. Her eyes are completely gone. They look like the eyes of a predator about to take down its prey—mixed with a touch of madness, overflowing killing intent, and what seems like joy. What exactly does Marin-sensei think I am? Is she so resentful of me that she’s trying to cause an "accidental death" during sword training?

"Brandon! What are you doing!? You’re not the one attacking—the kid is supposed to attack you, and you’re the one who receives it!"

"Ehhh~? Is that how it works~?"

Marin-sensei sounds incredibly disappointed. How does she not understand something so basic? She looks way too bummed out. That’s why Browning-sensei says,

"Of course that’s how it works! You’re supposed to be teaching the kid swordsmanship. You’re trying to show him how to attack, so why are you the one striking!? If you want to be taught too, bring money! For now, just focus on being the kid’s opponent!"

"Ehhhhhhhh!? Yesss..."

She gives a reply with her mood completely in the dumps. Still, when I attack, she at least properly receives my strikes.

Marin-sensei watches enviously as Browning-sensei gives me all sorts of advice. If you want to be taught, you have to pay the tuition fee, you know. Tuition fee.

"Brandon, if you want me to teach you too, bring one large copper coin. Then I’ll teach you."

"Yes!! Understood!!"

She answers happily. I’m paying one silver coin, yet Marin-sensei only has to pay one large copper coin... Isn’t this discount weird? What’s with this price difference? I’m pouring all the money I’ve earned from my meager part-time work into this! Later, when I complained to Cass,

"That’s normal! You don’t normally get paid a whole silver coin for just two half-day shifts! You only receive that because you’re Robbie-sama, a member of the royal family! Please keep that in mind!"

She gently scolded me. She’s right. Sorry about that.

Unlike the neighborhood kids who get knuckle sandwiches on the head, my lesson ends without any such punishment. After that, we head to Browning-sensei’s wife’s cafeteria. The three of us have to pay, but the neighborhood kids eat for free thanks to my tuition fees. Those kids would eat infinitely if left unsupervised, so we order the fixed daily special set meant for them. As for me... the wife comes out to greet us and says she’s troubled because she doesn’t know what I’d like to eat from the kitchen.

Since I’ve experienced shockingly terrible meals before, I asked for the cafeteria’s signature dish. But apparently they only serve the fixed daily special at lunch, so that’s what I end up with. In other words, she came to confirm if the set meal was fine. She also asked that next time, before going to the open-air classroom, I stop by the cafeteria first and let them know. She wants time to mentally prepare.

After this, I continue attending Browning-sensei’s classes, but he ends up being pulled into night watch duty. Thanks to his connection with Marin-sensei, word of him reached the city’s security department and he was scouted. Night watch seems like a good fit even without a left hand, since the job is basically "cut down and throw away the bad guys."

Anyway, putting the later story aside, I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Browning-sensei’s wife’s cafeteria. It’s only natural that a city cafeteria is different from the meals in the inner palace. You eat with a spoon and fork, and knives aren’t used. The fact that chopsticks aren’t used in this world probably means there were no Japanese people among the previous world-transferred or reincarnated individuals—or that the Japanese people who came here couldn’t provide particularly useful knowledge.

As a side note, the units of length and weight used in this world are yards and pounds. I’m sure some British or American person who transferred in the past must have spread them. In high fantasy and low fantasy stories, it’s always only Japanese people who get transferred or reincarnated, but in reality it should be people from many different countries. Those people would have influenced the world and spread their knowledge in various ways. During the meeting to decide on standard gauge, the Japanese transferee probably stayed quiet and couldn’t stubbornly push their own principles. The common Japanese sensibility of staying silent when faced with different skin colors, hair colors, larger body sizes, and loud voices must have gotten in the way. I’m sure of it.

Well, it doesn’t really bother me, so it’s fine. My daily life is within walking distance anyway.

In any case, finding a delicious commoner cafeteria was a happy discovery. Even without Browning-sensei teaching me, I secretly decided I’d come here occasionally.

After lunch, we return to the royal palace. Cass and Marin-sensei keep a distance so I can’t hear them and are whispering the whole way. Isn’t it weird for a bodyguard to keep distance from the person they’re protecting? But my current combat skill level is about even with Marin-sensei, so it doesn’t really matter whether she’s there or not.

Because I walk around the commoner district every day, my routes have become pretty fixed. As a result, people greet me when I walk through the city. Most of the people who greet me are women, and many of them are young girls. At first it was mostly the mothers, but now girls around my apparent age greet me too, which makes me happy.

It’s not like the girl from the fruit parlor before—Marianne and Ilia, I think their names were—who came up to me in a friendly way and asked my name. And unlike in the inner palace or royal palace where people call me an idiot, my appearance seems to be well-received out here.

After greeting me, I hear comments like "Kyaa!" or "I greeted him again today!?" so I think it’s safe to take it positively. As both a sensitive boy and a thirty-year-old man on the inside, those reactions make me happy. On the surface I stay calm, but inside I’m grinning like an idiot.

However, today’s escort Cass says things like,

"What was that!? How dare they casually call out to Robbie-sama!"

And,

"They’re being way too familiar!! You mustn’t let those kinds of women approach Robbie-sama! I won’t allow it!"

Marin-sensei joins in too, saying,

"That’s right! We can’t let Robbie-sama be stained by the filth of the secular world!"

Come to think of it, Cass once declared, "I won’t let any young maids near Robbie-sama!" That’s why there are no young married female maids around me. The only teenage girl was Stevie.

I think Cass is worried and blocking things so I don’t devour young girls, but honestly, I wouldn’t mind being the one getting devoured...