Black Iron Magician

Haruna and Chinatsu are working hard in their special training. In the sky, the sun’s rays are pouring down mercilessly, but fortunately, this is a deep part of the forest. The dense and thick trees spread their huge umbrellas overhead and the forest is quite cool. Even so, the girls are sweating. The amount of exercise in the special training is excessive.

「Ho!」

Haruna, who’s running through the forest, picks up a pebble that has a moderate size and throws it while maintaining her speed. The fastball, which was released almost at the same time she touched the pebble, passes through the trees and then curves on the way. The distance is quite long, so it’s probably closer to being a bullet liner than a thrown ball.

And then, the one who’s chasing that dangerous ball is Chinatsu with her katana. She, who’s faster than Haruna, runs like the wind toward the magic ball thrown by Haruna. The attack speed, destination from the trajectory change, wind direction, et cetera―― by cultivating predictions from repeated experience, she can determine the destination in the dim forest. If she can catch up with it up close, there’s only one thing to do.

「Hah!」

That is to slash the pebble that flew at high speed with the katana. If she misjudged the distance, she would be directly hit by Haruna’s poisoned special bullet. She has to draw near to the limit and cut the small pebble accurately. Just in case of an unexpected situation, she applies Recover Bless, which gives abnormal status resistance, to herself. This one must be constantly on, so she has to always pay attention. By doing so, overworking her physical strength, mental, and brains, she finally able to deal with the pebble.

「The 37th throw is a success! I’ll keep my distance!」

Even after the success, the two never stop. They keep repeating it, crossing the vast forest as it is. This forest is a habitat for monsters, and of course, they will eventually come across monsters if they keep doing that.

「Guo?」

In the direction of the two people’s course, two ash kobolds discovered Haruna and Chinatsu. Probably thanks to their wind intuitions, they sensed the danger that approaching them. On the other hand, Haruna and Chinatsu don’t even look at them.

「Next, the 38th throw!」

「Gugi…!」

「Come!」

「Gyaa!」

With their sharpened senses, they can roughly grasp the enemies’ location even without looking. If they keep their speed as it is, they can arrive at the monsters’ location before they could call their friends. Then, the rest is really easy.

The moment they passed each other, one of the ash kobold’s neck was twisted mercilessly and the other one had its head beheaded. They were just unlucky. They probably didn’t even know what was happening to them. After that, Haruna and Chinatsu continued their special training without a problem.

And when they reached their target, 100th throw, they leaned against the base of a large tree as if they were collapsing.

「「Gulp gulp gulp―― Puhaa, it tastes bad!」」

After training, the two appease their thirst with the MP potion. By the way, this potion tastes bad, so they remove the bad taste by drinking water they prepared separately.

「Haa… haa… I-I’m tired… The slope is unexpectedly steep and it’s hard to run around. This training is harder than I expected.」

「But, it feels really good. I can now do training that I couldn’t do before, and with Chinatsu-chan here, the air becomes tense.」

「W-Well, yes. Still, why are you looking fine~… Your stamina is inexhaustible as ever.」

「Well, it was more tiring for you since you were on the intercepting side. Let’s do the opposite next time. I’ll run with the black staff and you throw Glitter Lance.」

「Are you going to run with that heavy staff? W-Will you be okay? Even I felt like I could barely hold it…」

「It’s okay! I was fighting swinging this thing around in the last expedition. Besides, Shishō told me to get used to it before the main equipment arrives.」

「The main equipment, huh…」

It seems that she will participate in the graduation festival with that said main equipment. What kind of dangerous weapon will Haruna hold more than this? Chinatsu, who might be her opponent, is a little worried.

「Okay, let’s do the second half. Chinatsu-chan, ball please.」

「It’s a spear, not a ball… got it. I think I won’t be able to control it properly at first, so be careful.」

「Rather, bring it on!」

After that, they switched roles and continued their training. Chinatsu shoots a Glitter Lance and Haruna hits it with her black staff. Haruna reads the flow of the power with the Magic Power Detection that she just learned, and Chinatsu works hard to control the spear of light to avoid hitting the trees. This time, they are crossing the forest reversely on the path where they came. Also, the appearance of monsters is somewhat less than when they came.

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

「Oh, they are doing well.」

I and Nell came to the forest following the presence of Haru and Chinatsu to see their situation. Fortunately, thanks to Nell, who has the Presence Detection skill, they could be found immediately. No, well, there’s also that the light from Chinatsu’s Glitter Lance was stood out in the dark forest.

「Ah, they are doing something nostalgic. I feel like we were playing like that when I was a child.」

「Let me tell you this, that wasn’t playing. I was doing that as training, you know?」

「Is that so? Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s fun. Let’s see, I can use this playing for training… yep, I think it’s a good idea. Should I use it to train the knights next time?」

It’s not playing and I feel sorry for them, so stop that. Ah, now I remember. When we did this training, she was smiling from the start till the end. I was worried for a while thinking that she felt pleasure from pain. However, her essence was super S. Hahaha, this old man wants to cry.

「I’ve been thinking that it might be more efficient for Haru and Chinatsu to train together like that. Both of them train seriously and have a competitive spirit after all. Every day might be impossible, but when you have some free time, come over to my house with Chinatsu. Haru will be pleased and they can compete.」

「Eh? Ah, y-yes… I’ll do that!」

Okay, this will alleviate the worry that Chinatsu might break. After all, Nell calls this run, throw, and slash training loop a child’s play. I don’t know what she will do for her training. Well, I won’t let her do something unreasonable as long it’s within my reach. I’ve repaid the favor with this, Chinatsu.

「It’s been a while, I think I will have a little bit of fun with them. Fufu, I will show my skill――」

「Ahh, I suddenly want to do it too! Alright, Nell, I’ll be your opponent! I will show you my ability where I was called as fire extinguisher Deris!」

「Is that so? If you are my opponent, I guess I can take it seriously. I’m going to clear away the humiliation when I was a child!」

I-I’ve repaid the favor, Chinatsu…!