Black Iron Magician

――Fifth day of training.

「Hah!」

「The axis is slightly off. Do you wanna take a break?」

「No, I can still do it!」

Haru’s staff art is growing steadily. No, I guess I have to say that it’s growing too fast. She’s training with the black staff that she got from Gan-san while assuming a personal battle with me. I’m not sure if she was originally practicing martial arts that can be applied to the staff arts, but she absorbs what I teach her one after another like a sponge. In the end, the master hopes that his disciple will be able to surpass him, but at this rate, she may be able to do so real fast. She will be a level 3 magician soon.

「Okay, let’s take a fifteen minute break. Your improvement is rather fast, isn’t it?」

I said master-like things even though I didn’t mean to. This girl, her improvement is ridiculously fast.

「Haa, haa. N-no, I still have a long way to go! I couldn’t even lay a finger on you.」

And on top of that, she’s a mass of ambition. This is out of control. The master is going to scream because of the excessive joy.

「I’ll completely lose my dignity if you could hit me in such a short time while holding that heavy staff… More importantly, how is your body? You trained with that stupidly heavy staff yesterday and now you are using it too. Don’t you feel tired or have muscle pain?」

「Hmm, sure, I felt really tired after training yesterday and slept in the bed like collapsing… but I was refreshed when I woke up! It was thanks to the pleasant sleep skill that Shishō recommended to me, yes!」

It’s strange. I have the same skill, and with a higher level at that, but I’m still pretty tired. Is this the difference in youth? Or is it because she’s Haru? …… Maybe both.

「I’m glad if my advice was helpful. You had no problem with fighting monsters, and the training is favorable. The food is delicious and the house is clean. I’m amazed that it’s favorable.」

「Ahaha, I’m enjoying my days too.」

Yes, Haru’s development is going well. It’s going well, but… I wonder why? I somehow have a baseless premonition that something bad is happening in a place I can’t see. I hope this is just my imagination…

「That’s right, Haru. How is your status?」

As if to distract myself, I asked Haru about her current status. The last time I checked it was the day before yesterday, was it? Let’s see the results of your staff training.

「Let me see, now it looks like this.」

I check the status while filling my mouth with honey lemon and Haru’s radiant smile.

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Katsuragi Haruna | 16 years old | Female | Human

Job: Magician LV3

HP: 445/535

MP: 110/140 (+50)

Strength: 70

Endurance: 106

Agility: 44

Magic Power: 93 (+30)

Intelligence: 19

Dexterity: 1

Luck: 1

Skill Slot

◇ Hand-to-hand Combat LV43

◆ Dark Magic LV18

◆ Staff Arts LV26

◇ Pleasant Sleep LV18

◇ Not set

◇ Not set

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「Bfft!」

「S-shishō!?」

I reflexively spout out the honey lemon slice that Haru made for me. I mean, you know――

「―― Isn’t your magician’s level already at level 3!?」

「Eh… Ah, you are right!?」

Has she just realized it after I pointed that out…? Her black magic has a bad growth as usual, but her staff arts surpassed it in these two days. The pleasant sleep skill also reached the same level as the dark magic. She’s a type that learns with her body. Her hand-to-hand combat skill somehow raised even thought we didn’t train it!?

「I’m sorry. I fell asleep immediately yesterday, so I guess that’s why I didn’t notice…」

「W-well, I also at fault for not checking it. I’m sorry. Still, we have to think again about what skills to learn…」

「That’s right…」

If you are a level 3 magician, he’s already a splendid full-fledged one. For example, Nell’s subordinate, that Canon guy, is also a level 3 magician. She reached that level on the fifth day after becoming my disciple. And in terms of battle sense, she’s already far surpassed Canon.

「Shishō, I want to ask this as a reference, how long does it take to get to level 4?」

「Hmm, let’s see. The total value of the related skills should have reached about 100. For adventurers and knight, level 4 is already at the domain of great veterans. Many bet their lifetime but still ended at level 3.」

「Uh-huh.」

At this stage, her total is 44 by adding dark magic and staff arts. She hasn’t even reached half of it, but in her case, it will rise before one knows. It’s scary that that thing is likely to happen, but it’s interesting at the same time.

Still, if she’s gotten this strong, I might as well let her help me with my work a bit. She can show her ability more than the status numbers after all. That work’s request that Nell hid in her dialogue yesterday, let’s give it a try.

「Haru, let’s try to go hunting in the afternoon. It also can serve for your real combat experience again.」

「Hunting? Oh, I get it! I guess it’s nice to have meat for dinner today!」

Well, it’s a little different, but that’s okay because I want to eat meat too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We came to classic adventurer guild with a dash. Alright, now I know that the current Haru can get down the mountain in half an hour if she does her best. At this rate, we can get home by dinner.

I’m tempted to get in line for the beautiful receptionist, but I’m running out of time right now. I will just be patient and go straight to the reception counter with the usual shortcut line.

「Gramps Gior, hello!」

「Oh, Haruna-chan, hello. You’re looking cute and lively today too. However, I won’t treat you like a child anymore.」

「Jeez, what are you talking about?」

…… Who the hell is this old man who looks kind? Oh, it’s Giorgia. I thought that he reincarnated and his personality changed. Now, my turn――

「Yo, gramps Gior. Hello.」

「It’s just Deris, huh… The way back is that way. Have you surrendered yourself to the corps?」

「The difference in our treatment is cruel, isn’t it!?」

What an old man, changing his attitude so blatantly when he sees someone. You were rather excited when we met again the other day…!

「That’s because you let Haruna do tough work. You knew that there was an ash kobold boss in the nest, didn’t you?」

「Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let’s talk about our future work rather than the story that was over.」

Saying so, I hand over the request form I took off from the request board to Gramps Gior.

「… You brought something troublesome again. Just to confirm, are you the one who will do this one?」

「‘Of course, Haru will do it,’ is what I want to say, but I’m going to do my job at a similar place, so I’ll be tagging along this time. Don’t worry.」

「It’s hard to be relieved when you are the one saying so… Haruna-chan, you should run away immediately when it gets dangerous, okay? You can just leave Deris behind, I won’t mind about it.」

Hey hey, I do mind about it, though?

「I can’t just leave Shishō and run away! I will do my best fight fair and square together with Shishō and win!」

Ha-Haruuu…!