Black Iron Magician

In the basement hidden room after Deris and Haruna had left. Midnight’s boss, Requiem, is lost in thought as if he had just seen something strange while putting his legs on the desk. Beside him, his trusted retainer, Tuds, is cleaning the dirt off his clothes by brushing it off with his hands.

「I didn’t expect her to land a hit on you. And more than that, I was surprised that you stopped the fight halfway.」

「I’m sorry for making an arbitrary decision.」

After mostly dropping the dirt, Tuds stood at is it and apologized to Requiem. The one who decided whether Haruna passed or not was Requiem, but it was Tuds who stopped the mock battle.

「Don’t apologize. When it comes to fights, I think that your decision is more correct than mine. More importantly, was this Haru kid strong enough to intervene in the Ash Rope case? Her movement sure wasn’t that of an amateur, but you were fine even after completely receiving her attack on your abdomen, right?」

「………」

Tuds silently put his hand on his abdomen that got hit by her fist.

「What’s the matter?」

「No… I was impressed with the attack since it was heavier than I had imagined. It was such an amazing blow that I couldn’t believe it came from that small body.」

「Hee, it’s rare for you to compliment someone. Is it going to rain spear tomorrow?」

‘How many years has it been since the last time something like that happened?’, Requiem looks up at the ceiling with an exaggerated gesture. His trusted retainer, Tuds, is a quiet, yet intelligent and capable subordinate. In addition to his outstanding strength, he can be attentive, has a good physique, and does his job thoroughly. However, he is very strict when it comes to nurturing people, and he rarely praises them. Tuds glared at the three Chihuahuas in front of the shabby inn before, but it was his basic attitude toward his subordinates. Within Midnight, he’s feared as a demon higher-up.

「I was just giving my honest opinion. Oh well, Deris-san has taken a great fighter girl as an disciple.」

「That much?」

「Well, it was my impression after exchanging just a few blows. Rather than that, I’m amazed by how fast she switched over. I didn’t realize until I was facing her directly that she could switch her mind to a fighting stance in an instant. Even though she was acting cheerfully until the last minute, she had the eyes that can kill people the next moment―― that’s not something you can get with skills. It was as if I was facing a skilled assassin. Just what kind of life she had to be able to do so at that age…?」

To determine Haruna’s ability, Tuds was thinking about making some adjustments. However, when he confronted Yuna and witnessed the change, his intention to hold back was greatly shaken. Even if she was just a small girl, she was clearly an enemy with her eyes that were murderous. When Haruna jumped in with the start signal, Tuds made a mistake in his adjustment and swung his fist. Then he thought this.

(――This is bad, I’ve done it…)

He swung the fist as a result of his defense instinct working unconsciously. Haruna, who was approaching from the front, avoided it and even did a counter attack. He was not sure if he should take it as a blessing in disguise. But, he would have to take it seriously if he were to continue this mock battle. No, he already did. Because he has passed through fighting scene many times, the things that are absorbed in his body made him move like that. That’s how serious the battle was. It was close to killing each other, so he stopped.

「Truly, she was frightening.」

Even so, he had a good grasp of her abilities. She’s probably a level 4 brawler, or maybe assassin. Then, there is no problem for her to go with Deris to the Ash Rope’s place. Tuds judged so.

「Whew… whether it be those five people or Deris’s disciple, there sure are many extreme youngsters came out, huh?」

「We have to work hard at training our young people.」

「Well, yeah. Come to think of it, what did that Deris bastard do to you after the match?」

With Requiem’s approval, Deris and Haruna left the room immediately. But, Deris turned around just before reaching the door and then said something to Tuds in a small voice. Requiem didn’t have a good feeling that much toward Deris, so he was wary of something troublesome.

「What he did, is it? Ahh, he was doing something tactful. He used his magic to heal the part that was attacked by the young lady. That blow had that much power in it. I was feeling a bit hurt, so that was a big help.」

「What, you were enduring it and acted tough?」

「Even I have my pride. So I played it cool.」

「Haha! She hurt Tuds! She sure is a big deal!」

The room is filled with the sound of their laughter. He was uneasy about Deris taking a young girl as a disciple, but now he feels stupid. When he thought about the figure of Deris who’s deadly serious in teaching her, he laughed even more.

――However, Requiem and Tuds didn’t properly understand what the pain in his abdomen was caused by.

Haruna added dark magic 『Adva』 and 『Gravi』 to her blow. Adva is a magic that produces mud of poison, which is currently her strongest magic, and Gravi is a magic that allows you to increase or decrease the weight of the object you touch, which can be learned at level 10 dark magic skill.

Haruna’s Gravi, which is still in the practice stage, can change the weight about 10kg at best and it can only work for a very short time. Therefore, Haruna decided to apply this magic to her fists and feet to increase their weight at the moment she hit her opponent. As a result, the attack released by Haruna, who is small and light, was heavier than it looked. Still, it wasn’t powerful enough to deal damage to Tuds, but considering her future growth, it could be a powerful weapon.

Furthermore, Haruna created a mud of poison on the surface of her fist that made contact, making a weapon similar to a pseudo poison hand. The pain in Tuds’s abdomen was caused by this, but he misunderstood it as something that he got from the heavy fist. Deris healed him was simply to remove the evidence, not because doing something tactful. By the way, this poison is produced by Haruna’s magic power, so it’s harmless only to her.

In this way, Haruna has begun to devise a new tactic by combining the benefits of dark magic into her own martial arts. Staff art is no exception. The Ash Rope’s hideout that they are heading to is a test site to test her ability. Deris defines it that way and he does not consider the presence of Haruna’s classmates to be a threat. On the contrary, he was looking forward to seeing her disciple grow up close to him.