"What?! Boss, you actually know me?!"
When he heard Yuto say he knew him, Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin.
After finishing their ramen, he and Jiraiya hadn't left right away—they'd decided to sit a while and let the food settle.
Just as Naruto was about to start chatting, Yuto mentioned that he knew who he was, which stunned the boy.
Delicious as the ramen had been, Naruto had no memory of this man at all.
His shocked reaction left Jiraiya looking both pained and helpless.
"Yes. Jiraiya-san mentioned you last night," Yuto said with a calm smile.
Only then did understanding dawn on Naruto's face.
"Why did I end up with a student as dense as you? How could that not even occur to you... Sigh... there goes my good name." Jiraiya crossed his arms and sighed, thoroughly put upon.
"Come on, it just slipped my mind for a second! You're such a pain, Pervy Sage!" Naruto scratched his head with a sheepish laugh, then snapped at him, before turning back to Yuto.
"Even if you already know me, Boss, I've still got to introduce myself properly!"
He jabbed a thumb at his own chest, his young face set in a bold, defiant look, as his eyes turn serious.
"The name's Uzumaki Naruto! A genin of Konoha and the man who's going to be Hokage one day!"
His tone brimmed with pride and confidence—every inch a boy full of ambition.
Yuto smiled and nodded.
"Hmph! If an idiot like you ever becomes Hokage, Konoha's done for." Jiraiya sneered.
Naruto blew up at once and started yelling "Pervy Sage" at him, but the thick-skinned old man didn't care in the slightest.
Yuto watched them and smiled quietly to himself.
Jiraiya right now was nothing like the man he'd been while drunk the night before, and that awkward turnaround touched Yuto a little.
It was just like an elder who was obviously proud of his own child but insisted on acting as though he weren't.
In their hearts, these two probably did see each other as family.
While Naruto and Jiraiya were arguing, El-Melloi II—the man Gilgamesh had been waiting for all this time—finally arrived.
The instant he stepped inside, he met the King of Hero murderous stare.
Those brilliant golden eyes were fixed on him, full of anger and ready to ignite.
But El-Melloi II showed no fear and no reaction at all, his face stayed cold and composed.
He was no longer the timid boy who hadn't dared move an inch in front of Gilgamesh.
He was one of the Twelve Lords of the Clock Tower in London now, the man who had inherited the name El-Melloi!
And above all, he was Iskandar's subject.
For a subject to flinch on his king's behalf would be a disgrace!
"Good evening, Boss." He nodded calmly to Yuto, then took the seat beside the Hero King.
"Why are you so late? Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?" Gilgamesh demanded.
The answer he got was perfectly level.
"Writing up a lesson plan took some time. Surely the King of Heroes has that much patience to spare?" The calm words carried a hidden barb.
Gilgamesh frowned, anger ready to flare across his face.
Iskandar and Gilgamesh got along, but El-Melloi II's relationship with Gilgamesh couldn't be called good.
If anything, it was tense—and that went back a long way.
An arrogant king cared nothing for his own deeds, nor for anyone else's feelings.
But a subject, face to face with the one who had once killed the king he served, couldn't stay entirely calm.
The occasional jab was how those feelings came out—the old resentment the boy once known as Waver, now El-Melloi II, had never fully let go.
Fortunately, whenever these two crossed paths, someone was always nearby to smooth things over.
Iskandar, for one.
Or Enkidu.
After a little mediation from Enkidu, the mood eased.
The Hero King lifted his chin again and looked at El-Melloi II, raising his voice. "Answer me, El-Melloi. How do you intend to teach my student?"
El-Melloi II stayed composed. Rather than answer at once, he snapped his fingers.
"Boss, a cup of mead please."
He hadn't been one for alcohol in the past, but after reuniting with Iskandar, the man had slowly gotten him used to it.
Only once he'd taken the cup and had a sip did he answer.
"As we agreed, you'll handle practical combat, and I'll take theory. Tohsaka Sakura was born in my era, after all—the Magic Circuits in her body are better suited to modern magecraft theory. I've already put together the knowledge from the Clock Tower that fits her. If she's diligent and sharp enough, then once she's taken it all in, she should be able to stand on her own as a mage." He spoke evenly with a trace of cold in his voice.
Gilgamesh gave a small nod with a hint of satisfaction on his face. "Good enough. Knowledge come by too cheaply would be unworthy of my student. You modern mages are weak, but the theories you've pieced together are at least interesting."
By now the Hero King had sealed away Ea, the Sword of Rupture, in exchange for a nearly endless supply of magical energy.
His command of magecraft, measured against the whole of human history in his age, would rank among the very highest.
So when he weighed the strength of modern mages like El-Melloi II, his words were fair, and hard to argue with.
El-Melloi II knew it too, and didn't rise to the remark.
"Let me remind you of one thing, Gilgamesh. Tohsaka Sakura isn't only your student. She's mine as well. Since she's my student, I'll see to her myself. There's no need for you to fret so much."
"Hmph. Don't misunderstand! This isn't worry. It's simply my duty as her teacher."
Gilgamesh said it in that proud, imperious tone, and Enkidu couldn't help but smile at that.
Enkidu had no gender, but his form came from a divine courtesan, and even a faint smile from him was a pleasure to see.
In Gilgamesh's eyes, though, that smile was plainly mocking him.
Others might not read Enkidu, but how could he fail to? He understood perfectly!
The Hero King huffed and shot Enkidu an angry glare. Enkidu didn't mind at all and only kept smiling.
El-Melloi II watched them from the side, his brows drawing together slightly.
He couldn't help thinking of a manga he'd confiscated from a female student during class that day.
For him, its contents had been like an earthquake!
He'd flipped through it in his room for a while, and his face had gone completely red. At first he'd wondered why girls these days liked that sort of thing.
But now, watching Gilgamesh and Enkidu, he couldn't stop the thought creeping in—'this scene was a little like that manga...'
"Oh, right, Boss—you said Pervy Sage was talking about me last night. What'd he say? Did he badmouth me?"
Naruto, who'd just finished trading insults with Jiraiya, suddenly turned to Yuto about the night before.
As far as he was concerned, Jiraiya must have said something bad behind his back.
At that, Yuto raised a brow, his eyes flicking toward Jiraiya.
The face Jiraiya had kept so thick-skinned all night finally showed a flicker of nerves.
"Hey, hey! I'm a respectable sage—why would I go talking behind anyone's back?!"
"Yeah, right. Like I'd believe that. What kind of sage peeks at women's baths?" Naruto stuck his tongue out at him, his face full of doubt.
Jiraiya's mouth twitched in irritation.
Naruto turned back to Yuto, clearly seeking the truth.
A faint smile rested on Yuto's lips—he'd noticed Jiraiya's embarrassment too.
Jiraiya had just been mocking Naruto, if Naruto found out the man had gotten drunk the night before and praised him to the skies, it would be strange if he weren't embarrassed.
"He didn't say anything bad about you," Yuto said mildly.
Naruto blinked, still not quite convinced.
"Really? He actually didn't? Guess I had Pervy Sage all wrong, then. So what did he say?" He kept digging.
This time, before Yuto could speak, Jiraiya slammed the table with a bang.
Naruto nearly leapt out of his seat.
"Pervy Sage, what are you doing?! You scared me half to death!" Naruto looked wronged.
But Jiraiya's face was deadly serious, as if something huge were about to happen.
"Damn it! I forgot something really important! Naruto, we have to head back!"
The grave face and grim tone fooled Naruto instantly.
He nodded blankly, his own expression turning serious, fully believing something urgent had come up.
"Then we'd better hurry."
Jiraiya nodded just as solemnly.
The two of them stood, paid, and left—and through the whole thing, Jiraiya's expression never slipped once.
Watching it, Yuto couldn't help being impressed.
'Another fine actor like Ainz!'
"I forgot something important" was the kind of excuse only Naruto would swallow. Yuto didn't buy it for a second but Naruto was still young, after all.
Just then, Fafnir, still lost in his game, finally pulled off his headset and turned his gaze toward Yuto.
Yuto caught the look at once.
After a brief exchange, he went into the kitchen and started cooking for him. Fafnir had been gaming from the moment he arrived, and now he was finally hungry.
While Yuto was cooking, Reiko came in looking rather cheerful.
She'd seemed happy for the past few days; Yuto hadn't had the chance to ask why yet.
Reiko ordered fried ham, then propped her elbow on the table to wait.
By the time Yuto brought out the fried ham, Sakura and Hestia had arrived too.
The moment they walked in, Gilgamesh and El-Melloi II both smoothed their expressions—they'd only just been discussing Sakura's lessons, and that had to be kept from Hestia.
Luckily, Hestia wasn't the sharpest goddess.
She didn't catch the change in the two men's faces, just smiled, sat down next to Reiko, and started ordering.
Sitting down after her, Sakura quietly let out a breath.
Thank goodness they hadn't been caught!
"Are you drinking tonight too?" Yuto asked Hestia with a smile.
The goddess shook her head fast, her twin tails whipping around like little cracking whips.
"I drank way too much last night. When I woke up this morning everything was a blur and I felt awful. No more for me tonight."
While watching her, Yuto quietly glanced at Sakura beside her.
The little girl looked a bit sheepish under his eyes.
After all, the one who'd gotten Hestia to drink so much the night before had been her.
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