Black Iron Magician

The battle, which was surprisingly lasted only a moment, ended with Satou stuck into the ceiling. The last one standing is Haru with her smug face.

「It took about ten seconds from the start to the end. How was it?」

While confirming that Satou and the others are still breathing, I ask Haru about her impressions. Yikes, Satou-kun’s condition is awful.

「They were weaker than I expected. I was not sure, but they seemed to be in a hurry…」

From what I see, it seems that they were insufficient to be her opponent.

「Shishō, are you healing them?」

「Hmm? Well, yeah.」

Tanaka was hurt by the door that Haruna blew off, Takahashi fainted due to the pain from the poison stone stuck in his left shoulder, Suzuki whose face is in a tragic condition, and Satou who is in the most awful condition. I’m applying recovery magic enough so that they don’t die. Haru is watching me strangely.

「…… What?」

「No, were you a person who shows such mercy to the enemies? …… Ah! Don’t tell me, are you an impost――」

「――Hey, just what kind of inhumane person am I in your mind?」

If you keep doing that boxing stance, I’m going to cry because of your quick action.

「Ah, that listless tsukkomi, you are the real one. I’m sorry!」

「…… Were you seriously suspecting me?」

For me, I’d be more suspicious of a high school girl who tried to kill her classmates this easily. These guys were simply lucky. Any attack from her could lead to death if they hit a dangerous spot. As a disciple of mine, who seems to be famous for being inhumane, that is a good thing. But, it’s definitely wrong as a human being. But still, that’s good.

「The country will pay more if they are alive. In this situation, we’d better have at least one more dish for dinner, right?」

「I see, that makes sense.」

「I’m glad you understand. Now that we’ve kicked out the main force, the rests are the remnants and Tron… Haru, take care of the rest by yourself. The bald, greasy old man is Tron, so keep that guy alive. I’ll sell him to Midnight for the same reason.」

「Bald and greasy, is it… memo memo. What are you going to do, Shishō.」

「I will go to help the kidnapped girls in the basement as soon as I recovered them. I’ll bring this Itou-kun and that slave girl too.」

Saying that, I point to the fainted Itou who’s laying down on the floor and the slave girl covered with a cloth. The girl had regained her calm, but Itou is still in a dream.

「Got it! Then, I’m off to eradicate the remnants and capture Tron-san!」

Haru rushed out of the room in good spirits. Somewhat later, I heard the sound of a door smashing and a rough scream. I’ll teach her about covert action later.

「Well, now…」

After the medical treatment, I placed Satou and the others next to Itou and took a certain thing out of the bag that makes a chain jingling sound. Ah, right. Let’s ask her about it.

「Hey, you. Can I have your time?」

I attached a customer service smile on the face and called out to the slave girl.

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

「Hmm…」

I gradually wake up from the blurred consciousness. This is the same feeling as when I fell asleep after playing a game for a long time. It’s an uncomfortable way to wake up. Well, what was I doing? My head hurts so badly and I have heartburn. If I’m not wrong, they ordered me to―― ah.

「H-Haruna-chan!?」

I remembered my fateful encounter with Haruna and unconsciously called out her name.

「No, I’m her master.」

「!?」

However, the one in front of me was the man who was with Haruna-chan. He’s looking at me with his usual dead eyes as if he has no interest in me.

「Whoa!」

「What, you can let out a loud voice, eh? Keep up with it.」

「E-ehh?」

I don’t understand the situation. What happened after I passed out? As I recall, they said something about exterminate the evil from the root or something… no, more importantly, where am I?

I look around and see that I’m in a prison. There are no windows and the room is dimly lit only by the candles hung on the wall. The floor and walls are all made of stone, making it a very cold room. However, I somewhat recognize this room――

「――Are we in the basement?」

Yes, this is the underground where the kidnapped girls and slaves live. However, there’s something different from what I remember. The one hanging from the handcuffs on the wall is not the tragic girl, but me.

「U-um… is this some kind of joke?」

「What, it will be sad if you are being left out, right?」

The man turned his gaze to my side. Lured by him, I also looked that way and saw that Satou, Suzuki, Tanaka, and Takahashi were detained like me. The fact that they open their eyes and frequently glare at the man seems to indicate that they are conscious and have a fighting spirit. However, their mouths are tied up so they can’t speak.

「Well, now that your friend is awake, let’s get to the point. You are now wanted in secret by this country. Well, of course you are. You fleed from the castle after all.」

Not minding about what was in my mind, the man started talking on his own.

「In addition, kidnapping and assaulting multiple girls from the castle town, as well as the act of violation of authority toward the slaves that ignored the laws from the country―― these alone are enough for a death penalty, but it seems that you were doing whatever you want in the slum too, eh? The Midnight was so furious, you know? You can’t have a normal death with these.」

The man talked indifferently as if reading out our crimes.

H-huh? Could this possibly include me…?

「I-I didn’t do it! It was all done by them!」

「H-hnnhhh――!!」

Satou is trying to shout something through his gag, but now is not the time for that! The bad ones are these guys, it was not my will!

「Hmm, is that so?」

「As I told Haruna-chan, they forcibly took me along with them. That’s why I didn’t do anything wrong!」

Yes, I just need to push all of the faults to them and everything will work out fine. And then I will return to the castle and start over. With this, Haruna and I――

「But, you see, the country wants to erase all of you. They want it quickly before the information goes around. Of course, that includes you, Itou-kun. You put your hands on that girl, right? I asked all of the kidnapped girls here, ‘Is there someone you want to kill within them?’. And you, too, were splendidly nominated. Good job.」

「――――Ha?」

E-ehh…?

「So, you see, I don’t care what’s on your minds. Whatever the circumstances, you slipped out from the castle without permission. You guys are a lump of the country’s secrets. Criminals who took out secret information will be punished. See, it’s only natural, right?」

I don’t understand what this man was talking about. No, I didn’t want to understand. How could that happen just because I listened to Satou’s worthless command? I’m not the one who should die in such a place…!

「Hnn!」

「Hnn―― hnn――!」

Satou and the others are resisting until the end with all of their might, but they can’t remove the handcuffs and can’t even shout.

The strongest Satou can only do this much, so nothing will happen no matter how hard I try. Damn it…!

「Well, don’t make such faces. This is where this man, who is known for his kindness, gives a proposal to you.」

「…?」

The man walks to the prison’s door with a smile that has a hidden meaning. For some reason, that smile made me feel very uncomfortable. And when the man snapped his fingers, somehow the handcuffs that tied my hands came off. It was the same for Satou and the others, and even the gags came off.

「You see that box next to you guys? Satou-kun’s sword is a substitute since Haru broke it, but I brought each of your favorite weapons. Now, pick them up.」

When I looked into the box, I saw my staff and other weapons. Satou quickly takes out his sword and confronts the man.

「…… You bastard, what are you up to?」

「Well, I’m just giving you guys the last chance. Right now, we’re the only ones in the basement. In other words, you guys can luckily run away if you beat me. …… I don’t have to explain the rest, do I?」

The man politely unlocked the prison. If we beat the man and get out of here, we’ll be saved. That’s what he says.

「B-but, why? Why are you going out of your way to put yourself in danger…?」

「The reason? It’s not a big deal. I don’t know why, but you guys were so scared of Haru and fight miserably. One of the reasons is to measure your real strengths as hero candidates. The rest is, well, I guess I just want to get some physical exercise myself? Sparring with Haru is going to be tough if I don’t put in some effort. My~, starting to exercise again after a long time is tough at this age.」

「「「「「…………」」」」」

As if there was no ill will, the man ended his talk like that. Not only me, but Satou and the others seem to be dumbfounded. However, that silence doesn’t last long.

「Y-you bastaaaaard――!!」

While spewing abusive words, Satou charges toward the man. His expression is so dreadful, just like when he was feared by the delinquents from other schools. Still, the man’s expression doesn’t change, and he barely moves his right hand forward. Then, Satou’s right leg is blown off. No, it disappears? Anyway, Satou lost his right leg and collapsed on the cold floor.

「I-it huuuurts――!?」

Since we are in the basement, Satou’s scream reverberates quite loud. However, I feel that my heartbeat is louder.

「…… Huh? Are you guys not coming? He~y.」

There’s no way we can win. Satou’s condition, who is lying at the feet of the man, is telling everything. We absolutely can’t win.

「Come on, show some motivation… Well, I said physical exercise, but look at what I did. Okay, I won’t use any magic. How’s that?」

「You bastard…!」

Being able to say that even after being shown such a difference in power, I think Satou has some guts. However, I――

「Ah, that’s right. Itou-kun.」

Suddenly, my name was called.

「You like Haru, right? Sorry, I took the girl you are aiming for before you.」

「……Ha?」

What is this man saying?

「Haru is living with me now. We live together under one roof.」

「……!」

I imagined things I didn’t want to think about. However, I was seething with anger.

「Haru’s home cooking is exceptional. I can eat it every day and never get tired of it.」

That’s the bento I’ve been wanting to eat every day, that――

「Well, my bad, Itou-kun. I ate her.」

Something snapped inside me. Then, I confronted the man who has a distorted smile――

Well, I guess it’s too late asking this now.

Which do you prefer, should I keep using Shishō or change it to Master?

Note that I’m using Shishō because there will be other characters calling him master (goshujin-sama, etc.)