Chapter 5: Chapter 5: A test… And some self reflection.

"Come back anytime, don't y'all forget the other deal!!!" Said the dwarf rather exaggeratedly.

The man that proclaims himself as a god just nodded in response. 

After the attack of the giant devil, I went with the god of humans to learn magic from him. 

He said that I needed some clothes first so we went to that dwarf earlier to look for some.

Tutoring me can be hard at times as I lose interest quickly but magic is just so different that my usual behaviours do not apply here.

The god of humans and I walked through the town trying to find some kind of inn for the night. Inns are like hotels as such I find them dull and unappealing.

"An inn, finally!" The god of humans said with a relieved expression under his green cloak. Now that I think about it, what was his name again?

We went to the inn with a rather thin presence. The god of humans said that he doesn't want to garner any attention and I do not have any problems with that.

"I'd like to stay for 3 weeks," he said which surprised the receptionist woman.

"Uwa! Sorry for not noticing you! Please wait a minute!" The receptionist said while bowing exaggeratedly. 

She then revealed a book that was under the table.

"Pl-please answer these questions!" 

The table was maybe around my chest in height so I could see the contents of the book. It was only a card, how many nights we stay, the quality of our stay, these kinds of things.

I then noticed the name section. It seems that it was mandatory to put our real names there making me get the chance to know this guy's name. Now... Show me.

For an unexpected reason, he left the name section empty and passed the book to the receptionist lady already.

"Thank you for staying in the inn!" She exclaimed with a 90° bow while we walked to our room.

"Why... didn't you fill in the name section?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

He looked at me for a bit with a surprised expression and sighed in defeat.

"You saw through that?" He asked me.

"The... What?" 

"The name section. I used illusion magic to make people think that I put my name there."

"Why?" I asked out of curiosity. 

"Because I can detect a strong magician with that trick."

We stop talking for a bit and entered a door. It seems that it was our room and we will be likely staying here for 3 weeks.

Our belongings were just quite a few so we didn't need to improvise that much.

"Now," he continued our conversation. "How do you think I can detect someone strong with that kind of trick?" He asked me as he sits in the bed. It seems that this is likely to be a test.

I thought for about 4 minutes deeply thinking about the answer. I don't want to make a mistake that may or may not destroy our whole apprentice and master relationship so carefully choosing my reply would be my best bet.

"Perhaps," I started. "You can somehow notice the individual that saw through your illusion magic? People of such calibre would be either a strong mage or someone who has met some conditions that made them see through the spell," I concluded.

After some brainstorming, this was the only logical thing that I have come up with. 

"Ho," he exclaimed with an amused face. "Why do you think someone can see through it without being strong though?"

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He asked me as he opens his luggage beside the bed.

"Because... I don't think someone like me can see through a spell that is made by the god of humans himself. Surely I have met some conditions that allowed me to do so," I said with confidence.

He remained silent and continued to bring out his belongings. This made me nervous for a bit because he still didn't respond to me meaning that he either is disappointed or just want to test my patience. Just a little bit more.

He then faced my direction with a seemingly neutral face while having an intimidating aura even though he isn't releasing one.

He rested his chin on his hand. I was prepared that something might happen but he did something unexpected, he laughed. He laughed and ruined the tense atmosphere that originally made me suffocate.

"You... You really are something Lapiz," he said after a maniacal laugh that I even shivered from.

"Th-thank... You," I said with a stutter as I bowed in front of him.

"Though I have to clear out some things," he announced as he raises his hand. "First of all, I cannot feel the specific individual that saw through my magic. Secondly, you are half right about the specific condition argument. You met the specific conditions and at the same time, you are strong enough to do this kind of feat," he said before he stopped and ate some barbecue that he somehow bought outside.

I'm... Strong? That's debatable. I can't even compare myself to those who kidnapped me.

Those people that made me slaves are powerful. I don't plan on doing revenge as it only leaves a bitter taste and it will always be stale. Though if I saw those people I'll try to kill them for a tribute.

"Lastly, The illusion magic's main objective isn't detecting specific people. It's for hiding my name," he said the last bit of the sentence with a serious tone of voice.

This made me think twice about learning his real name. It isn't worth the trouble.

"What do I call you then?" I asked with genuine curiosity. Calling him the god of humans every time will be troublesome. Even a nickname would suffice.

He thought for a second before giving me an answer.

"Just call me wrath then. It's my most used nickname."

I nodded just agreeing with him. Wrath huh? I wonder what made him use this name.

"From now on you can call me wrath or master though you probably wouldn't care about it. You can also call me in a lot of variety like a Teacher, sir, anything you like. I probably wouldn't care much," teacher said as he shrugged his shoulder.

"By the way," he looked outside the window with a frown. "It's already night. You should sleep here. I don't need to slumber to live so I'm not going to rest here with you."

I also nodded to his explanation. This is my second life already so I have matured quite a bit from my first life. Making reckless decisions like my past life did just for the sake of it is not approachable any longer because, at that time, I was just curious about certain things in life and if it is still worth living or not.

I went to bed while Teach had already gone outside. The business he had is surely not to be messed and tampered with as teacher, the God of humans even frowned just by the sheer scale of the predicament.

Now that I think about it, this is the first time that I slept on a comfortable bed.

3 years? 4 years? Maybe even 5 years. Counting it was only a hassle in my opinion so I never got the correct number. The number of years that I was held imprisoned that is.

There were no beds at the time there so sleeping on the floor was the only option. It was an unpleasant yet bland experience. 

Nostalgia also hit me when I went to this bed as it has been a long time since I've been into one.

Though everything said above, nostalgia is also a bland and stale experience. 

I grew tired of it at one point in my first life. 

Maybe this time, my experience of this new world would be better. Maybe this time, the world wouldn't be as stale as before. Maybe this time, this world will have new things to play around with.

...

I can only wish, wait, and see. Goodnight.