The Second Dragonoid's Tale

Chapter 24: Short Side Love Story

"Gobta," I stated directly, "You are without a doubt the last person who should call themselves a love expert."

"Oh, does Lord F/N have some experience with it?" Gobta was now moving closer to me.

"As a matter of fact-" I suddenly felt a pair of eyes drilling into me and turned around, it was Shuna and Shion.

"As a matter of what fact?" Shuna asked, smiling maliciously.

"I'd like to hear this fact too," Shion added, scaring Gobta behind me with the rest of those there.

I cleared my throat, "I was going to say, as a matter of fact, I am an expert on love."

This declaration caused a single reaction from both of them, "What?!"

The malicious aura they had given off was completely thrown sideways as they hadn't expected me to continue what I was actually going to say. This left them dumbfounded, as either could make a scary expression anymore and were now invested in knowing what I knew of love. As a twist, we all ended up going back to the school, where they all sat down while I stood in front of the board.

My claim might have been an exaggeration. While yes, I was dating Sofia for a number of years, ten to be specific, I wasn't sure if this world's definition of love perfectly matched this world's. To top it all off, this was the first time I had ever actually given advice on love, dating, and confessing. Considering the abnormal circumstances behind how Sofia and I began dating, convincing the group that I was legitimate in my claim seemed it would be an uphill struggle. Worse case, I rely on being their lord as an out.

"Love," I started, writing the word on the board and tapping it with the chalk, "Is what we risk in the pursuit of happiness with another person," I suppose the ideas of happiness and love go hand-and-hand. "However, lust shouldn't be mistaken for love, Gobta."

"Hey, it's rude to call someone out by name," Gobta stood up before I flicked the chalk at him, hitting his forehead and forcing him to sit back down.

"No, that was rude." I accidentally said aloud, "Where was I going with this? Anyway, that said, lust is neither good nor bad, it just shouldn't be mistaken for love. Because love..." What's a good analogy. "Thanks to you I lost my train of thought." I tried to place blame on Gobta to give me more time to think.

The door to the classroom then opened, revealing Rimuru and the teacher the young hobgoblin was crushing on, "So this is where everyone was. I was wondering why only Rigurd was at the conference room."

"Sorry for that," Shuna stood up, "We happened across Lord F/N and wanted to walk together on our way there when we overheard an interesting topic."

"An interesting topic?" Rimuru looked at me.

Love, I mentally told him, earning a flinch from Rimuru, "Feel free to take a seat."

"Sure..." Rimuru took the closest open seat and Shuna returned to hers, I gestured for the teacher to join and she too took a seat.

"There isn't a correct type of love. Some people value gifts, considerate actions, others... intimate validation. However, there is a toxic kind. My first relationship was a love of..." I stared at the single word on the board. "We never settled for less from each other... But that chapter ended." is honesty, I wrote after the single word then turned to the hobgoblin in love, "If you have a crush on her," I pointed to the teacher, "Then start by being honest about it. And if you're both willing, find common ground and work from there. Lesson's over. Go."

With that single command, the young hobgoblin was the first to leave the room, followed by Gobta, his friends, the teacher with Shuna and Shion, leaving Rimuru and I to leave the classroom last. He stood up slowly and walked over to the board, the clicking of chalk in the silent room stopped a short moment after.

Love is honesty. Both are challenges.

I didn't argue with the addition.

"Shion," I called to get her attention, she and Shuna had been waiting outside the school for us, "Later, do you want me to teach you how to cook?"

She took me up on my offer. However, before it was time for us to meet up, Shuna approached me and gave me a warning that Shion would be difficult to teach. Way back, long before I entered their village, Shuna once tried to teach Shion how to cook. It took, in her own words, months for Shion to make something borderline eatable.

However, after she stopped teaching, Shion reverted to bad habits and a less than beginner level understanding of cooking. As time went on, it was treated as a lost cause to teach Shion cooking. I thanked Shuna for telling me and told her that I wasn't planning to make Shion a master chef. At the end of the day, if Shion was happy and if her cooking became less poisonous, then it was a good time spent together.

This did immensely backfire the next day, as Shion showed up to make breakfast. The result included the destruction of my kitchen, a mess of matter that could not be called breakfast, and Shion's proud smile she prepared the table, which the 'food' started to melt into. At least her determination is commendable.

After cleaning up the mess, I brought her to the kitchen, "Let's start from the beginning, like yesterday."

"Get all the tools first and then ingredients," She started to draw the sword on her back.

"What did I say about using weapons to cook?" My question made her slowly re-sheath it.

"That I shouldn't," She pouted as I continued to get things ready.

Going through the steps one at a time together, we still ended up with a mess. The food remained poisonous, but at least the potatoes weren't whole and uncooked. And the other half of my table didn't melt. Progress is the path of failure that over time, eventually, hopefully, was a success. It's a good thing I have [Poison Nullification].