Volume 2, Chapter 41 – The World’s Best Master

About an hour had passed since Tianyin received the allegiance of Sharl and Orgum.

During that time, the whole group hadn’t made any move, still resting in place.

However, Tianyin wasn’t exactly idle during that hour. Following Samael’s suggestion in her mind, she spent a few minutes roughly assessing the remaining forces from those who had withdrawn from the Northern Fortress and survived countless battles along the way.

The Kingdom faction’s soldiers were down to just over four hundred, most of whom were ranged units. Among them, archers alone made up more than three hundred, while the remaining seventy or so NPCs were priests, mages, swordsmen, and similar types.

As for the Beastmen from the Stronghold, their numbers were quite a bit higher than the Kingdom’s, but the vast majority of them were close-combat fighters. Incidentally, these Beastmen weren’t the kind usually seen in teams. Their appearance wasn’t too different from humans, just rougher in features.

Green skin, tall and burly bodies, and bulging muscles that made people think Beastmen were all brawny fools with more muscle than brain.

Of course, most Beastmen really were muscleheads, but there were also a few born different, ones capable of constant thought and reflection.

Such Beastmen could become the unique shamans of their Stronghold.

And, as luck would have it, Orgum was one such Beastman Shaman. Although he didn’t look much different from the others, strictly speaking, Orgum wasn’t suited for melee combat at all, but he was a pure spellcaster.

That realization made Tianyin understand why, among all the Beastman commanders, only Orgum had survived.

As for Sharl, he was a swordsman who looked like a young boy, but in truth, he had just reached adulthood.

Gifted in swordsmanship, he had joined the army at the age of twelve and gradually rose to become a squad leader commanding a hundred men.

Incidentally, all the soldiers under Sharl’s command had been archers.

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One could imagine that for a swordsman to lead a troop of archers, there must have been some kind of shady backdoor deal. Tianyin refused to believe otherwise.

“Well… anyway, I think we can’t go back anymore, so we’ll move forward. Ideally, we’ll reach the edge of the Stronghold’s territory.”

An hour later, Tianyin gave the order to advance.

In truth, her command was basically the same as before. After all, retreating could risk running into the Undead pursuers, and hadn’t a group already gone back that way? So, following Samael’s suggestion, Tianyin decided to move toward the Stronghold’s direction.

After giving the order, Tianyin, as usual, stayed far behind the marching column. Considering that they would have to keep traveling nonstop, she allocated all her newly gained Attribute Points into Stamina.

However, to her disappointment, even though her base Stamina attribute had improved to rank D, under the 80% reduction penalty, she couldn’t feel any noticeable improvement in endurance.

“Ugh, why do I have to be a loli? Why couldn’t I have been a beautiful young girl?”

At that moment, Tianyin could only grumble in secret at the glowing System Orb.

Just then, a familiar voice came from beside her, it was her loli disciple, Xiaomengyao.

“By the way, Master, didn’t you say you weren’t going to agree to their request? So why did you?”

Xiaomengyao looked up at her with puzzled eyes full of confusion.

Honestly, that question was one even Tianyin herself wanted to ask.

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“Eh… well, um, how should I put it? You see, loli disciple, your Master is actually a very kind person, you know~”

“Kind?”

Xiaomengyao looked blank.

“I know Master’s an idiot, but kind? That’s news to me…”

“W-Wha?! You’re the idiot! You! How could you say that about your Master, you stupid disciple!”

For some reason, the word “idiot” hit Tianyin especially hard.

“Well, Master being an idiot is what makes her my Master, right? Think about it, since I’ve known you, how many stupid things have you done?”

“Have I? Where? I don’t remember.”

The two completely forgot about Xiaomengyao’s original question and began arguing over whether Tianyin was stupid.

Seriously, do girls’ conversations always jump around this much?

“Well… Master’s done tons of dumb things. Like suddenly tripping on flat ground, or when danger comes, you crouch down and cover your head, then stay there until your legs go numb and you can’t get up, or when you’re spacing out while walking and walk straight into a tree~”

Hearing Xiaomengyao list her blunders, trivial as they sounded, Tianyin still felt utterly humiliated, like she was being executed in public.

“…Stop it… just stop…”

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A faint blush rose on Tianyin’s small face.

“See, Master? You refuse to admit it, but now you know just how stupid you really are!”

“I’m not stupid, I’m not! Those were accidents!”

Tianyin argued weakly, cheeks still red.

“Excuses don’t work, you know~ In my eyes, Master’s the hopelessly stupid type of Master~”

Hopelessly… stupid!!!???

Tianyin felt a twinge of bitterness in her chest.

Had she really fallen to such a hopeless level?

Thinking that, her mood sank sharply from cheerful to gloomy.

“There, there~”

At that moment, a small hand gently landed atop Tianyin’s head, brushing through her long silver hair.

Tianyin lifted her face and looked up to see Xiaomengyao smiling warmly at her with that adorable face.

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“Pat, pat. There, there, Master. No matter how stupid you are, to your disciple, you’re still the best Master in the world~”

“Eh… wh-what do you mean, best…?”

Tianyin was momentarily speechless.

After all, she hadn’t really done much for Xiaomengyao so far.

So being called the best Master in the world… made her feel incredibly guilty.

“Of course you are the best Master ever. Back then, when we faced those players, Master chose to protect me, even at the cost of exposing that five-minute ability. So to me, Master will always be the best Master in the world.”

Ah… right, that’s how it was back then.

She had wanted to protect her disciple.

That simple thought.

Tianyin fell silent.

“But, Xiaomengyao… Could you please stop bringing up the words ‘five minutes’?! Ahhhhhhh!”