Chapter 239: Mansion Chill
———Orrel———
<2: 31 pm>
“...Can we watch something else?” I said, feeling a rare sense of displeasure due to boredom. I don’t really consider myself who can get bored easily, but something about this show is rather unimpressive. In fact, it feels like a lot of media nowadays aren’t very exciting.
“Like what?” Useph said, lazing down on the sofa with no hint of motivation to do anything. He has been like that for a while, probably because he hadn’t been able to organize any meetups for a while.
“…Anything at all? Even the news would’ve been better than whatever nonsense you put on auto play, regardless of all the misinformations.” It’s been a boring day so far for the two of us while everyone else is going outside and adventuring to different towns and cities.
Admittedly this was because of his mother more than anything from mine or his end. She was pissed the last time we went outside for a long period of time. She somehow noticed that we went out of town while other parents seemed to have no inklings on what we were organizing at all.
She’s certainly an enigma, and in hindsight there were a lot of weird things about her that I never realized. A lot of information on her has been scrubbed off public records, for one. Secondly is that Useph was never quite sure where her source of income came from. He just said that both of his parents were businessmen and that’s it.
The absurd amount of wealth doesn’t exactly make them look innocent either. I can’t even tell if that gold ship was just a way to flex their wealth. I don’t even know if that’s even a thing that actually exists or not. I’ve only seen pictures, but Useph had sworn that he had been on it as a kid.
Regardless, we have been stuck not doing much outside of lazing around in here and waiting for the ban on Useph going out to be over… It’s not a strict no going out, but she made us promise that he can’t go outside of town without a group of at least five trusted companions. I’m one of them, but she said having a son-in-law being in potential danger means I actually don’t count. I really don’t see how that makes any sense, but I am glad I got her approval at least.
If he didn’t get kidnapped that one time maybe we wouldn’t have such a strict limit on our movements right now compared to the others. It doesn’t help that she clearly has the power to back it up. She beat us senseless the moment we tried to stir up a protest. It was not a fight in the slightest. I’d rather not think about it any further.
“Hey. Orrel.” Useph suddenly spoke up.
“What is it?” I didn’t expect him to suddenly say something after slumping down on the sofa for a long time and looking like his brain isn’t even functioning properly.
“Is there… an easy way to gain power that you can think of?” Him even asking that is rather concerning, but I’ll believe that he’s asking that so he can be more prepared once he can leave the town again.
“Not really. Slumping down on the sofa certainly won’t help.” If he wants to be stronger, the best he could do is either develop his skill or gain raw power. He’s obviously not doing either at this current time.
“…But I really don’t feel like it today.” He complained. That’s certainly not the words that should come out of his mouth if he really wants strength.
“Then you’re lost on that front. Maybe we can both go to the dungeon together tomorrow.” I said before looking at the table in front of us. I haven’t eaten anything since morning, and I would like something to at least get me through the boredom. Let me take a look at the tablet here…
*Beep*
There we go. I should hopefully get that in a few minutes.
“Hey. Orrel.” Useph called out to me again in that drowsy tone. He might’ve genuinely slept on the wrong side of bed yesterday.
“What is it?” Hopefully it’s something substantial and not something that boiled down to him venting a bit more.
“Is it better to be specialized or more flexible? Someone like Seni and Kenni is pretty adamant on sticking to being a healer and a glass cannon. They still feel much stronger than me even though I felt I should be able to bear Seni one-on-one, at least. Is that a weird feeling to have?” He asked. Certainly an interesting question to have…
“I’d say it’s complicated, but generally speaking specialization would work out better at least in the short term. It’s best to start out from a single point then branched outwards. When you’re very specialized in an area of magic, your conversion rate of mana to the spell’s quality is night and day. Admittedly I am still not sure what to focus on myself. For the likes of us who already know to at least use multiple elemental spells and some enhancement spells, there’s a bit of decision paralysis. Being specialized in one area does come with the risk of predictability, but if your power output is so great then even a good counter to it might not work unless they are specialized in that area as well.” It effectively takes the complexity of a battle and boils it down to how favorable the particular matchup is for you. “People using only one or two basic spells could be construed as them choosing to master specific abilities, but in actuality it’s just that they don’t have much choice in branching out either due to lack of insight and practice, or even a lack of natural talent. You could say that the weaker folks are doing it unintentionally.”
“Huh… So are we… indirectly gimped then? I think everyone in the school has multiple options in a battle with so much training and first-hand experience going around.” He asked.
“No. The fact of the matter is that every student here was trained and forced to expand their mana pool and learn to use it properly. Even the weakest ones would’ve been comparable to semi-regular dungeon explorers. You could say everyone got the quantity down, and in terms of quality they shouldn’t be that far behind an average specialist, as arrogant as that may sound. It does look like they never plan on forcing anyone to become a specialist, at least.” It’s not really in the school’s place to tell them what they should focus on. If they aren’t comfortable with it, it’s not going to work. “I suppose for you specifically, you could either go for being defensive with your sword and shield combo, but I am really not in the place to suggest that. I’m more of a spellcaster. I don’t consider the nuance of that set of weapons often. Why did you use that, by the way?”
“It just seems balanced. Weren’t you the one that said that it’s better to at least have a shield with me if I’m not planning on using a greatsword?” He pointed.
“It was ultimately a suggestion more than a strict rule. Though I guess I am a bit at fault for causing the current indecision.” I didn’t expect him to take it that seriously. “It should come to you eventually. I can’t even be certain at what threshold can someone be considered a specialist.”
“...Been a few months. I still can’t really figure it out.” He muttered.
“Excuse me, young masters.” One of the maids walked into the room with the stuff I ordered. She put it down on the table before silently walking away with a bow.
“Those look… deadly.” Useph remarked, seeing the massive portions of food including fried rice, ramen, pasta, and soup. All of them look spicy just from the red color and the presence of many chili peppers clearly visible. “You usually don’t order spicy options. Why now?”
“I want something to stimulate me. It has been rather boring here, as you can tell.” If there’s one thing you cannot deny about spicy food is that it doesn’t make you feel stimulated. It’s hard to not feel alerted and at attention when pain is involved.
“You could maybe use a less… misconstrued word?” He said, sounding a bit embarrassed for whatever reason. It can be used in a more crude context, but it’s not really important when we’re the only two people here.
“It doesn’t matter right now. Let’s dig in.” The portion is so big for each item that they have separate plates and bowls for us to put our own portions into.
…It’s very hot. That’s to be expected. Good thing this room is cold and I make sure to order a lot of milk and other remedies as well.
“Ah! What level did you order?” Useph asked as he looked like he’s about to have a panic attack.
“I simply put in a note to make it extremely spicy without killing us. Does that help?” I said while feeling like I need to take a deep breath. I can still endure it for now…
“*Gulp* Haaah…” Useph quickly grabs a glass of milk and chug it down. It was only a few spoonfuls of rice and it’s already difficult… There’s also quite a lot of food to go through as well, but at least they are on heated plates and bowls. It’s not gonna go cold even if this room is. “What… were we talking about again?”
“No way you got distracted by only that…” I said, still not feeling the need to grab one. I need to pause for a moment before I continue. “You still don’t know… what you should focus on when it comes to battling. I’d say… we still have plenty of time. Perhaps… you should just refine what you have right now and don’t stray too far from it. Does that work?”
“I guess…” He said before he continued eating.
“Do you two require assistance?” Sully said as she walked into the room.
“...Maybe. Be on standby.” I said while leaning back.
“Very well.” She said before giving us some space. I know she is his mom’s favorite and the one with the most authority, but it’s still odd that she is attending to us personally with many capable maids on deck.
…This mansion having so many maids is still one of the strangest things I’ve ever witnessed. It’s not that there are maids, it’s that they are all wearing the kind of uniforms you’d typically see in fictional media to tell the audience they’re maids. The kind that is not common in real life in the slightest and can be considered quite risque.
Useph ended up being seen as a creep for a while because everyone thought he was being unrealistic in his expectation of maids in other places. It was quite an embarrassing incident.
Ah it hurts… At least it also tastes good. I really can’t hold it in. I need some milk as well…
“*Gulp* Haaaaaa…” It’s hard to stay focused with my mouth burning badly. “By the way… what is the progress so far? On your battle technique, I mean.”
“...Not much, honestly.” He replied, still remaining composed. At least there is life in his voice. Those spices wake him up real good.
“That’s… actually not too bad. Then you can be more focused on what to work on.” I said. It’s more of a consolation than anything else.
It’s not as if it’s a bad thing to have a variety of skills to deal with different situations. It’s just that most of us really can't afford to be good at everything. The saying of good offense being good defense also exists for a reason, so many could at least focus on boosting their firepower before worrying about their lacking defensive abilities like barrier or even more crucially healing.
I hope he doesn’t have Emmie set as an example. She’s an enigma in every sense of the word. Her esoteric abilities that feel like something she can do out of instinct instead of being a skill she learned and refined are terrifyingly efficient. No normal person could ever hope to match it unless their strength is significantly greater than hers. Otherwise, kiss your chance goodbye.
…Alright. Deep breath. Don’t let the spice break your composure. Stay strong…