Black Iron Magician

On the way home, we filled our shopping bags until they were bulging. By the time we arrived home, the sun had set and it was about the time we get hungry.

While Haru is skillfully preparing dinner, I’m reviewing today’s rewards and Haru’s growth. I’m sure she’s grown even more with the experience of fighting villains, which is different from fighting monsters. Not only the status aspect, but her mental growth―― no, her mental state was a monster from the start.

「Shishō, I’m done cooking, so please put away the money on the table ~」

「Yeah, sure.」

The rewards piled up on the table were received separately from the Adventurer’s Guild, Midnight, and the country. The latter two were received in secret, so the amount is quite large. ‘Don’t tell anyone about this matter, okay?’ this money has such implications. Even though I won’t cause such troublesome things, they sure are worrywarts. Well, I’ll receive what I can get, though.

Oops, a good scent came. Enough with the greedy talk, let’s get that dirty money out of the way.

「Ta-da! I tried making it like Acqua Pazza!」

「Ohh, it looks good.」

The freshly cooked seafood and tomatoes on the large platter stimulate my salivary glands and stomach. However, the portion is insane. This platter is big enough to occupy half of the table, it’s by no means a portion just for the two of us. The main course, this fish, also has a surprising size. Even I won’t be able to eat half of it, but it’s Haru’s job to finish most of it. Or rather, I’m sure she will eat most of it. Of course, the dishes are not limited to this. There are also three or four dishes on the plate. All of them have superb steam and each of them are definitely delicious. But, you know, even when I was in my growth period, did I ever eat this much?

「I sweated well today, so I did my best on making them .」

「You usually do your best on everything, don’t you?」

This owan or maybe donburi, or whatever is that, is filled with a lot of rice. I’m sure this alone is enough to fill me up. A top grade athlete consumes more energy more than others, and that seems to apply to Haru. I pity her that the nutrition doesn’t go to her height and chest even though she eats that much. However, when thinking that as a way to keep her opponent off guard, the way she’s now is――

「………… (Stare)」

―― Haru is waiting, so let’s eat first. She won’t eat before me after all. She’s drooling already.

「…… Itadakimasu.」

「Itadakima~su!」

Well, once I start eating, Haru eats twice as much as I do while I take a bite. Oh, this is delicious.

「Come to think of it… Haru, did you confirm your growth today?」

「Fueh?」

No, don’t ‘fueh’ me.

「You can do it while eating, so check the results of today’s battle. I think your status has improved a lot since you were immersed in actual combat all day.

「P-please wait. I’ll check it now!」

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Katsuragi Haruna | 16 years old | Female | Human

Job: Magician LV3

HP: 700/700

MP: 52/190 (+50)

Strength: 149

Endurance: 139

Agility: 109

Magic Power: 132 (+30)

Intelligence: 29

Dexterity: 64

Luck: 1

Skill Slot

◇ Hand-to-hand Combat LV57

◆ Dark Magic LV28

◆ Staff Arts LV45

◇ Pleasant Sleep LV18

◇ Evasion LV17

◇ Throwing LV23

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After confirming her status, Haru looks at me apologetically.

「Shishō, my job level hasn’t increased…」

「No no, that’s not something that goes up within a day, you know? You are leveling up at an insane pace, you know?」

『Evasion』 and 『Throwing』 that she just learned at noon have already risen to around level 20. Despite that, Haru seems to be disappointed that her efforts were not enough. Listen here, it takes an ordinary person 10 years to get to this point, you know?

…… That said, the total value of Dark Magic and Staff Arts is 73. The rise of her job level is relatively near.

「Well, whatever. How were your new evasion and throwing skills?」

「I felt that I could move my body more precisely than usual. Even if I was attacked by a large number of people at once, I was able to avoid them quickly, and I felt that my control at throwing was better. Also, the throwing power was somewhat raised…?」

The feeling that Haru sensed was correct. The characteristics of these two skills are roughly as Haru said.

The evasion skill is a skill that makes it easier to take evasive action against approaching attacks. It was also used in the fight with Satou and the others. Well, you can say it’s a useful skill for Haru, a magician who loves close combat. Not only she adds fantasy elements in her martial arts, but if she has a high evasion, she’ll be unmanageable. The status increase when the level rise is +3 to agility and +1 to dexterity, which is making up for her shortcoming so far. The only drawback is that it’s not related to the job magician

The other one, throwing skill, is a skill that gives correction to the throwing control, speed, and power when throwing things. You can also make a curveball, such as forkball, when throwing a round object. Haru often throws mud created by Adva or something that weighed by Gravi to the enemy. She even said something misunderstanding things like ‘magic is something you throw’. However, I can’t say that’s wrong since she can raise her skills more efficiently than studying. Let’s just hope that in the future she won’t be called a ‘throwing wizard’. By the way, the status increase when the level rise is +2 to strength and +2 to dexterity. And of course, this is also a skill that’s not related to the job magician. It’s normally learned by entertainers or people who work underground.

Well, these new skills were intended to strengthen Haru’s fighting method. With this, she’s one step closer to a ‘hit and run’ magician. Even though She is not very good at using her head, including actual combat to raise her level is also a choice. The only skill that hasn’t leveled up is Pleasant Sleep, but its level will rise on its own when she sleeps.

「Having actual combat from now on may be good, huh? As for reading book, a cookbook is enough in your case.」

「R-really!?」

Yeah, studying is inefficient after all. I acknowledge her efforts, but I’ve keenly realized that studying is not suitable for her. And that joyfulness is telling the reality more than anything else.

「Instead, you must use magic until you empty your MP every day before you sleep. Your dark magic is already over level 20, so you should be able to use new magic.」

「N-new magic…!」

Don’t look at me with those sparkling eyes. There’s still a lot of dull magic around that level. Well, it depends on how you use them though.

「At level 20… it’s 『Diese』. It’s a magic that produces black smoke and is usually used as a smokescreen.」

「Smokescreen, is it?」

「Yeah, smokescreen. It may be disappointing, but――」

「――No, I think it’s a wonderful magic! I’ll do my best to master it!」

「I-is that so? Well, I’m glad if you like it…」

This joy, did she come up with another strange way to use magic? You can’t throw smoke, right?

「I still have some MP, so I’ll use it immediately after this!」

「Sure… ah, don’t use it at home. It’ll fog up and can be mistaken for a fire.」

「Ah, you are right. I’ll be careful.」

After completely eating up dinner, Haru cleaned up the dishes and boiled the water for the bath. Once the chores were done, ‘Now is the test run for the long-waited new magic!’, she cheerfully ran to the backyard training grounds while saying so. Her dark magic is about to reach level 30, so she may be able to learn new magic again tomorrow.

While thinking of the plan for tomorrow, I soaked my body in the bathtub.

――Fifth day of training, ends.