Deku Up! 1

B : "Congratulations, Deku. You are not officially a teacher."

D : "... Uhh, Bertund? Don't you mean you are 'now' officially a teacher?"

B : "No, Deku. You are not officially a teacher."

Deku's face distorted in a weird, gringy way.

D : "... Then... Why am I here? Why take me all the way to this part of the library if I'm not a teacher?"

Bertund's smile seemed more sinister than before.

B : "Because you are not an official teacher."

D : "But, why?"

B : "You see, Deku...

Bertund's brows twitched a little bit as he scooped the slime on his head onto his neck, to act as some sort of cooling scarf.

B : "As an official teacher, you are required to devote yourself to the curriculum dedicated to you, as well as being equally capable of solving problems that the students would often encounter. However, we have... a rather special batch of students today, whom require something that a teacher cannot provide - Intensive care and upbringing."

D : "... You mean to tell me..."

B : "Yes, I do. Congratulations, Deku. You have been appointed by the management staff of the Sage Raufid Magus Academy, as a caretaker for our special batch of students."

D : "A CAREtaker?! I wanted to be a teacher, not a babysitter!!"

B : "... Deku, please. This role... Your role as a caretaker actually precedes the role of a simple teacher here."

D : "BUT I DIDN'T EVEN APPLY FOR CARETAKERSHIP-... What?"

B : "Your role as a caretaker actually precedes the role of a simple teacher. You won't simply be teaching these students for a while - You'll be teaching this batch until they graduate. As compared to teachers whom only get a chance to see their students for 1 or 2 years before they graduate, you get a chance to actually bond with the students in this batch for at least 8 years, until they properly graduate."

D : "... Oh..."

B : "And when they finally graduate, you would look back, at how you helped them at every step of the journey, and truly be glad that you had became a caretaker instead of a mere teacher. Your students would send you off smiling, and remember you every so often. They might even come back to visit, and even teach in your place sometimes! Not to mention, that being a caretaker is both an initiation as well as a requirement to become a teacher, because the workload of a caretaker is actually lesser than a teacher's."

D : "... Well, if you put it that way, I can't really argue, can I..."

B : "Don't fret, Deku."

Bertund patted his hand on Deku's left shoulder.

B : "You have been working hard thus far to help students with their problems, but you haven't actually started an actual job yet. You'll get used to working life soon, and this is a good place to start."

Bertund used his free left hand to open the door, and revealed a beautiful room.

The room, despite its small size, is of a wonderful, elegant design - There are wooden panels fitted onto the top part of the wall which extends to the ceiling, there are also some windows around the room, there is a small corner of white walls allocated for hanging drawings and art of the children, there's a small kitchen area outfitted with a proper stove and fire pit, there's only one door in the room other than the entrance where Deku is currently at, and a toy chest resting at the side of the small table and tiny stools.

In the center of the room were two young children - a really young boy and a slightly-older girl.

B : "There's no actual need to lock this door, so you won't need to carry any troublesome keys with you. In any case, I trust that you would be able to take care of Mister Jiel's kids. As they say in Ohde, Nonakk bless you."

Bertund swiftly left, and closed the door behind Deku gently.

D : "Wait, what do you mean, Mister Jiel's kids? These are Mister Jiel's children?!"

Deku tried to open the door, but to his disbelief, the doorknob has been locked by magic!

D : "Explain yourself, Bertund! Bertund?! BERTUND!!!"

Deku slammed his fist against the door, and no reply echoed back.

D : "DAMN IT!..."

Deku backed from the door a bit, and readied his stance to use a powerful magic to blast down the door-

Something tugged at Deku's trousers.

D : (?!)

Deku spun around, to see the little girl look at him with sad, gentle eyes. Her hair, being a really beautiful hazel brown, was tied into twintails, and her small stature sort-of offsets the intensity of her emotions, but not enough for Deku to realize that she truly seemed saddened by something that just happened.

"... Daddy says not to use the 'D' word. You shouldn't use the 'D' word, mister."

D : "..." (Wha-... Well, yeah, I suppose Mister Jiel would discourage his children to swear...)

Deku lowered his stance, and relaxed himself a little bit.

D : (... I just got lectured by a little kid... Heh. I have a lot to learn...)

"... Mister?"

D : "Yes, girl? What is your name?"

T : "... I'm Totta, and... That's my younger brother, Seiene."

D : (Totta and Seiene, huh... Classic Findel names. You don't see names like that common in Findel anymore - As expected of Mister Jiel.) "So, Totta, is it?..."

Deku glanced briefly at Seiene, and back at Totta.

D : "Is your brother Seiene okay? He seems rather..."

T : "He's alright. Daddy says he's not old enough to talk yet. He also gets tired really easily."

D : (... I'm dealing with toddlers? Really? That's going to be a problem, I'm not prepared to raise a child yet...) "... Okay... So, Totta, do you have anything you want to do? Or do you have anything you'd like me to do?"

Totta's eyes widened and lit up at the request, and she scurried quickly toward the door's underflap. She crawled through the small hole meant for animals, and left the room.

D : "!!" (Er... What? She... She just left me all alone in this room?...)

Deku stared at the swinging doggy door, which he could never hope to fit into with his large stature. Its creaking swing was a torment that slowly clawed at him, being all alone in the room with nothing much to do.

Then...

The little girl came back from the door, holding a small book in her hands. It was a book about Guineaux and Croxa.

T : "Mister, mister!"

Totta got back up on her two feet, and walked toward Deku, holding the book out in front of her chest.

T : "Read this to me, mister!"

D : (Guineaux and Croxa? She wants to read Guineaux and Croxa's legend? That's a rather tough book for her, isn't it?) "Uhm, isn't that a little bit too hard for you?"

T : "No, not at all, mister. Read it to me please!"

With pitiful eyes, the little girl Totta looked up at Deku, while resembling a little like a puppy.

D : "... Okay. Sit down, then."

Totta took a tiny stool, and sat on it, eager to hear the story.

D : "... Storytime with Deku, eh... How have I fallen this far..."

And so, Deku began on a small portion of the story.

*** ***

Guineaux is a loyal, loving pet of Croxa, the Findeli God of Weather. It had traveled far and wide with Croxa to many, many places, the two sharing a deep, partner-like bond with each other.

On one occasion, Guineaux had been left outside a store, while Croxa's reincarnate Sigurd entered the small eatery to patronage its delicious food. To Guineaux's surprise, someone had wanted to claim the title of Godslayer and had put something into Sigurd's wine cup. Out of loyalty, Guineaux went into an outrage, and ate the entire cup for itself.

When Sigurd returned, he sensed something wrong with Guineaux, believing he had been poisoned. But, without knowing the cause of poison, Sigurd could do nothing but stare at Guineaux in pain. Without much choice, Sigurd made Guineaux open its mouth, and sent electrified water down its throat, in hopes that it is potent enough to neutralize the poison.

It worked.

It was excruciatingly painful for Guineaux, but after drinking electrified water for 10 minutes, it was finally able to calm down. Thought it wasn't resistant to lightning at all, it endured the pain to understand its master's concern for it.

With that, they two continued their journey.

*** ***

D : "The end."

T : "..."

Totta is now sound asleep, and Deku slowly carried her to a side of the room with straw mats to sleep on. Meanwhile, the little brother Seiene seemed to have woken up, and actively looking around the room curiously.

D : (... One sibling falls asleep, and the other wakes. This... This is going to be hard to handle... I need both of them awake at the same time so I can put both asleep at the same time.)

Little did Deku know, that the point of the caretaker training is not to train one to handle things - Rather, it is a test to one's endurance and stamina to continue on an unpredictable schedule throughout the whole career.

Bertund quietly observed them from the window, and left for his office.