Black Iron Magician

The dinner at Nell’s mansion was very luxurious. Since there were even rare foods that were prepared in advance, I’m sure she was planning to invite us from the beginning today. As for the table manners that Haru and Chinatsu were afraid of, they had a servant assigned to each of them to teach them how to eat. ‘It’s delicious, but I can’t calm down,’ such a thing was showed on their faces. Looking at them was quite amusing.

「Shishō, I and Chinatsu are in this room.」

「Yeah. Don’t stay up too late, okay?」

「I return that word to you exactly as it is!」

Since Haru and Chinatsu hadn’t seen each other in a long time, they were placed in the same room. I suggested that it would be better for them to enjoy their friendship after a long time. Am I kind? Nah, that’s to prevent Haru from coming into my bed. I allowed her to sleep with me, but I can see that it would be a big problem if we sleep together in Nell’s mansion. I indirectly warned her before, but I still need to be careful. I gave her a shackle called Chinatsu and devised a way to prevent mistakes that might happen by chance. At any given time, a tactician must look one step or two ahead.

「Deris, come with me for a moment. I got some good wine.」

「Haru ordered me not to stay up late. I should sleep――」

「Good. You have free time, right? Come on, just obediently come with me.」

Yes, I was expecting this kind of invitation from Nell. However, I just couldn’t think of any countermeasures. As I tried to sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s expedition, Nell grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and took me to Nell’s room without allowing me to resist.

「I heard it from Haruna. It seems that you haven’t been drinking at all.」

Nell asked me as she placed the wine glasses on a small table next to the window and poured the wine-colored liquid. Her behavior is a bit rough, unlike the refined one she showed at dinner. Maybe because it’s just the two of us. She was always like this in our adventurer days.

「Well, I try to refrain from drinking. I don’t know how you can ask me to join you for a drink after something like that….」

「I don’t mind about that.」

「No, as a woman, you should mind about that.」

There was a time when I drank too much alcohol and then made a blunder. I will skip the details, but I did it. Unfortunately, I had no memory of the incident and only found out the result when I woke up in the morning. That’s why when Haru was in my bed before, I was really shaken.

「Then, will you take responsibility?」

「I tried to take it many times, didn’t I? But we fought about three times to the point that the house was burned down.」

「…… That was an unpleasant incident.」

「It was because of your magic, though.」

In order to prevent the unpleasant incident that Nell mentioned, I stopped drinking as much as possible after that. Whether it should be said to be fortunate or unfortunate, it seems that both of us had feelings for each other, so we lived together, parted, lived together, parted――after a series of such events, we ended up in our current situation.

Because we sometimes had a flashy quarrel, our relationship was exposed to the knights. Well, I think they placed an unspoken rule to feigning ignorance or to not doing anything that will make Nell run out of patience. Muno is a heretic, though.

「It isn’t that you are weak to alcohol, right? Then, accompany me for a bit.」

「…… Just a bit, okay?」

I sit down on a chair and receive the glass. It’s probably not a cheap one like in the bar at that time, but an extraordinarily high-class one. Then, I guess I won’t get drunk.

「What are we toasting to?]

「Hmm, to our adorable disciples?」

「What the hell is that? Well, that’s fine though.」

We lightly clinked our glasses. Normally we wouldn’t clink our wine glasses, but as adventurers, we used to toast with barrel mugs. It’s a lot more elegant now, so this is acceptable.

「So, what kind of person is your adorable disciple? You especially chose her among the many transported students, didn’t you?」

「Let’s see. How should I put it, her bloodlust and ambition were bare naked in the castle. It was love at first sight. ‘This girl might be able to improve drastically!’ is what I thought. Now, her atmosphere has changed for some reason, so she doesn’t look like before…」

「Yeah…」

It may be because she learned that Haru, who was the source of her concern, is enjoying this world to her heart’s content. To put it the other way around, I think she will spare no effort to prevent Haru from falling into a pinch situation.

「That’s right. It’s a copy of Chinatsu’s status, do you want to see it?」

Nell flutters a piece of note.

「You don’t mind if I see it?」

「After fighting Haru today, I somehow got a grasp of her status. It’s not fair at this rate.」

「It’s not that we are competing or anything though.」

「We are, you know? I’m planning to let her participate in the graduation festival.」

「Ha…?」

Chinatsu will participate in the graduation festival? What’s that? It’s my first time hearing that. Rather than that, is she going to use her authority as the knight leader? That’s an abuse of right!

「Fufu, it was worth making Chinatsu a disciple just by looking at that face. Here, check it out quickly.」

When I was stunned, she forcibly handed the piece of note to me. Well, I will see it if that’s the case.

==============================

Rokusai Chinatsu | 16 years old | Female | Human

Job: Priest LV4

HP: 65/65

MP: 470/470

Strength: 44

Endurance: 20

Agility: 254

Magic Power: 278 (+60)

Intelligence: 510 (+60)

Dexterity: 74

Luck: 185

Skill Slot

◆ Light Magic LV84

◆ Calculation LV79

◇ Evasion LV54

◇ Danger Detection LV55

◇ Sword Arts LV7

==============================

「…… She sure has a high base value.」

「So you understand that.」

「Yeah. At a quick glance, she hasn’t acquired any skills that increase endurance, so this 20 is the initial value. Haru’s numbers were all 1 though….」

It means that even among her classmates, there’s a difference in their status even before they acquired any skills. Was Satou, who seemed to be at level 4 as well, this high? He was broken before I could grasp that after all.

「The only low-level skill is Sword Arts. Did she pick it herself? Sword Arts for a priest is weird, isn’t it?」

「It seems that she has been doing her best on practice swinging for the past week. Well, I guess that’s a reasonable level if it’s just practice swinging.」

Nell pours the wine into my empty glass. Perhaps because I’ve become accustomed to Haru’s progress, I feel a great sense of discomfort here. That’s right, this is what normal is.

「It’s not that bad, right? Her priest level will soon become level 5 and the skill rank up is near too.」

「I’m planning to look at it in the long run. There are three weeks left until the graduation festival after all.」

「Ahh, right, there’s that…」

「What’s with that unmotivated face?」

「Ah, no. Muno-kun, who was defeated in an instant by Haru today, participated there last year, right? I heard that Canon was also top-ranked, so I don’t think there will be any new stimulus for Haru.」

In the beginning, just like Nell, I was looking at it in the long run. There’s a nice miscalculation, though.

「My Chinatsu will be participating, you know? Besides, there seems to be an unusual prodigy this year. I heard that this person is the most outstanding student ever since the beginning of the institute.」

「Hee. Come to think of it, Gan-san also said something like that. Well, we are going to take the overall victory, though.」

「Don’t make me laugh. Setting that prodigy aside, there’s Chinatsu. Don’t come crying later, okay?」

I’d be even happier if that happened.

I was in a good mood as I drank the wine that was poured by Nell.