Chapter : 16

  Ken let his mouth hang open slightly. In his head, he was thinking, "Wait a minute. What kind of setup is this? Is this one of those anime tropes where the lazy guy gets surrounded by an all-female warrior squad? Oh man, this is going to be so much work. Women are always way too organized and strict. I just know they are going to yell at me for leaving my snack wrappers on the floor."

  Finlay stepped forward and cleared his throat. The loud, booming sound made all six girls stop what they were doing and look toward the door.

  "Attention, 13th Unit!" Finlay called out.

  The girls immediately stood up straight and gave a respectful salute. They moved with perfect discipline. It was obvious they had been training together for a while.

  Then, their eyes shifted from Grandmaster Finlay to the messy, slouching boy standing right behind him.

  Ken felt six pairs of eyes staring at him. He didn't feel intimidated or scared. He just felt incredibly awkward. He gave them a weak, lazy wave and a goofy smile.

  "Uh... hi," Ken said, his voice echoing slightly in the large room.

  The girls just stared at him. Nobody smiled back. Nobody said hello. They looked at his untucked shirt, his crooked tie, and his sleepy face with total disbelief. They looked like they were wondering if Finlay had accidentally brought a lost pizza delivery boy into their secret training base.

  Ken slowly lowered his hand. This was definitely going to be a very long morning.

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  The silence in the training hall was heavy enough to cut with a knife. The six elite female warriors of the 13th Unit continued to stare at Ken Eliot. Ken stood there, leaning slightly to the left because he was too lazy to stand up perfectly straight.

  He scratched his cheek and looked around the room one more time. He looked at Finlay, then back at the girls. He let out a small, awkward laugh.

  "Um... this is strange," Ken said out loud, pointing a finger around the room. "Is this the right place? Because everyone here is a girl. Not that I'm complaining, but I was kind of expecting some big, angry dudes with beards."

  Grandmaster Finlay crossed his massive arms over his silver chest plate. "You are in the right place, Eliot. I am the Commander of this unit, but you are the only male servant on the team."

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  "The only one?" Ken asked, pretending to look shocked. He did a highly exaggerated gasp, throwing his hands up in the air. "Oh no! This is terrible! If there are heavy boxes to carry, I'm going to be the one who has to do it! My fragile spine is going to snap in half!"

  Suddenly, a soft, familiar laugh came from the side door of the hall.

  Ken turned and saw Princess Iris walking in. She was wearing a simple, practical training outfit instead of a royal dress. Her silver hair was tied back tightly, and she looked just as tired as she did yesterday, but she had a warm smile on her face.

  "You do not need to be so tense, Ken," Princess Iris said gently, walking over to join the group. She looked at the six girls, who immediately bowed to her, and then looked back at Ken. "The girls will not eat you alive. They are just elite warriors. They are the best of the best, and they are here to protect the unit, just like you."

  Ken dropped his arms and slumped his shoulders again. He looked at the girls. "They don't look like they want to eat me, Princess. They look like they want to throw me in the garbage can."

  As soon as he said that, the girl with the bright red hair jumped down from the wooden box she had been sitting on. She landed lightly on her feet, showing off her quick reflexes. Her name was Naomi. She had a fierce look in her eyes and a confident smirk on her face.

  Naomi walked right up to Ken. She stopped just a few feet away, crossed her arms, and looked him up and down. Her eyes scanned his messy hair, his totally wrong uniform, and his cheap, scuffed shoes. She let out a short, mocking laugh.

  "Don't worry, farm boy," Naomi teased, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You are not exactly on the menu. In fact, you're not even that good-looking. So you can stop worrying about us falling in love with you."

  Ken blinked slowly. Most guys would be incredibly offended by a comment like that. A normal proud mage would probably shout back or try to start a fight to defend their honor.

  But Ken was not a normal guy. He was a guy who wanted to do zero work. He actually found her insult absolutely hilarious. To him, this was the perfect situation. If they thought he was an ugly, useless farm boy, they wouldn't ask him for favors.

  Ken decided to lean into the joke. He placed both hands over his heart and made a fake, highly dramatic face of pure heartbreak.

  "Ouch!" Ken cried out, pretending to be deeply wounded. He staggered back a step as if she had actually stabbed him. "Right in the pride! Oh, the pain! And here I was, practicing my cool guy poses in the mirror all morning! I thought I was going to be the handsome prince of the team!"

  He dropped his hands and immediately switched back to his lazy, sleepy face. He let out a long sigh. "Well, what a relief. That takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders. I was really worried I'd have to fight off your affection with a stick. Now I can just focus on finding a good corner to take a nap in."

  Naomi’s smirk disappeared, replaced by a look of pure annoyance. She opened her mouth to snap back at him, clearly frustrated that her insult didn't make him angry or sad.

  Before she could say anything, the tall girl with the glasses spoke up from the bench. This was Sayma. She closed her thick spellbook with a loud thud and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

  "Ignore him, Naomi," Sayma said calmly, she had wholesome smile in her mouth. "He is obviously trying to get a reaction out of you."

  The other four girls—Zinia, Laxmi, Ira, and Luna—didn't even give Ken that much attention. Luna let out a small yawn and went back to stretching her legs. Zinia turned away to pick up a training staff. They completely dismissed him. To them, Ken was just a weird, weak commoner that the Princess brought in for some unknown reason. He wasn't worth their time.

  Ken watched them go back to their business. He felt a deep sense of satisfaction warming his chest.