Black Iron Magician

As an adult, you will still have the heart of a child. It sounds simple, but it’s actually difficult. Belonging to society is equal to taking responsibility, and your heart will eventually lose its composure. How do you find your position, control yourself, and control others in such an environment? It is inevitable that people will compete with each other and become desperate. That’s why it can be said that someone who can truly return as a child in such an environment is someone who truly becomes an adult.

This degree of introduction is enough, I guess? To be honest, I don’t care about this kind of introductory remarks. What I’m trying to say is that right now, right here in this place, there are splendid adults, who can return to their child’s minds, running at full speed!

「Oi! What are you going to do if you burn the forest!? Control it properly!」

「Hmph, I’m holding back so that it will disappear at the last minute if you fail to catch it. Could it be that you are no longer able to catch this level of magic? That’s disappointing. Yes, I’m very disappointed. Did you lose your touch? Haha, you’ve become rusty!」

「… Hohou? Fine. I was thinking that as an adult, bullying you until you cry hard like in the past is questionable. It seems that I don’t need to worry about it, right, crybaby Nell-san!?」

「Haa!? Just what story are you referring to!?」

――Adults who can return to their child’s minds, when going too far, are childish. I know, but… if I back down here, I will lose my honor!

「Deadly Roast!」

While running, Nell manifested five small fireballs from the five fingers of her left hand and shot them toward five separate locations in the direction of my path. All the balls are formed with different trajectories and speed, and are using the blind spot of the trees that serve as obstacles, making them extremely difficult to see. Dealing with these five fireballs is very troublesome, but the scariest thing is their power. The appearance of 『Deadly Roast』 that Nell is using is very similar to the 『Fire Ball』 that you learn in the early stages of fire magic. However, it’s an ultra-dangerous substance that causes a massive explosion when touched. Each of those fireballs contains the power enough to blow up a small village, so it makes me, the receiver, want to complain.

Then, what should I do now? Do my best to catch up with all the fireballs and extinguish them? Hit them with magics that has equal or more power and adjust them to avoid all the damage? Nah, why the hell do I have to do such a troublesome thing? A capable adult does everything smarter and more efficiently.

「Gravietas!」

I create invisible swirling darkness that’s so small, which you can’t see with your eyes, on the palm of my hand. The moment I used this magic, Nell got angry.

「Ah, you sly!」

「Hahaha! A loser’s bark sure feels good!」

This Gravietas is the same magic that was used to capture the previous masked man, Dinbellar. The generated microscopic black hole doesn’t interfere with physical objects, but instead attracts everything formed by magic. Just like the destination of Dinbellar’s teleportation magic being fixed, Nell’s magic will be attracted without question.

I make fine adjustments so that they don’t hit the trees when being pulled. Then, all left to do is to let them come on their own. After everything is put together, I generate a different kind of black hole and throw it into a different space. It’s a very efficient way for me to complete the mission in the shortest amount of time without shedding a drop of sweat.

「Now, it’s my turn, isn’t it? Bidove Advas!」

I shoot the purple specially made concentrated poison ball at high speed at a place far away from Nell. This is a magic that is so corrosive that it instantly turns the ground in contact into a rotten sea. If I drop it by mistake, this forest will be destroyed for sure. Now, that’s a big responsibility, Nell! And for me too!

「You cheeky!」

―――― BAAAAM!

Nell glared at the ball. Then, the ground under her feet was dyed bright red as if melted, and after that, the sound of an explosion can be heard. That’s Nell’s special movement technique, which is her favorite. It’s a real brute force move, she explodes the ground and uses the impact to move. Still, the power is enormous and it has succeeded in outrageously raising her original agility and instantaneous power. In fact, Nell has already caught up with my magic.

「Hmph, you really are losing your touch!」

With both hands engulfed with flames, she extends her hands to purify the poison.

「Fool, the real thing starts from here!」

The second stage of Bidove Advas. I manipulate the poison ball, split it into pieces, and then spread them. It’s the so-called explosive ball. Fuhaha, you won’t be able to catch them easily!

「I said, you are cheeky!」

Nell first grabbed a piece of poison ball that was about to fall on the ground. After melting the liquid with all its toxicity, a sound of an explosion can be heard in the air. She changed directions again and again, faster than the speed of the remaining scattered poison balls, and forcibly grabbed them. Rush and rush, whatever it is, just rush and everything will be solved. It’s a truly Nell-like fighting style.

「Did you think that I didn’t predict that you would do this much? Too bad, there’s no woman who knows a lot about your nastiness as I am!」

「You don’t understand, Nell. Did you think that I would unleash such a dangerous thing if I don’t know you can defend against it? In a sense, I believed in you!」

The first throw completely ended in a draw. Well, I guess it’s enough for wait-and-see. The real game starts now. Yeah, let’s do it. I hate troublesome things, but I also hate losing.

「「―― Round twooo!」」

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

A few hours later. After finishing the training, Haruna and Chinatsu returned to Deris’s house. However, it seems that Delis and Nell have not yet returned.

「They haven’t come back, huh? Where did they go?」

「Well, I don’t think we need to worry about them. Still, the sun is already down… Ah, was it okay that I took bath before Deris-san?」

「Shishō won’t get angry by such a thing~. We were both sweating after all, and maybe he would get angry if we stayed like that instead. Besides, you are helping me with the cooking… Ah, Gobuo-kun, please use that plate.」

「…… Gobu.」

「Well, this much is nothing.」

Chinatsu skillfully handles the kitchen knife and cuts the cabbage placed on the cutting board into strips. When the pleasant rhythmic sound was resounding in the kitchen, the front door suddenly opened.

「Ah, it looks like they are back. Welcome ho… me!?」

「My~, I somehow feel refreshed. It was a draw at the end, but hey, it’s just a trivial matter. People sure need to let out stress at some point, yep!」

「You are right. It’s been a long time since I got serious, so it feels very nice. I was so absorbed in that I forgot the time. Tehe ♪」

Deris and Nell who came back have a very refreshing smile on their faces.

「Welcome back, Shishō!」

「N-Nell-shishō, welcome…」

Haruna doesn’t mind at all, but Chinatsu can’t hide her surprise at how much they look very different from usual.

On that day, they were in a good mood from beginning to end, and Deris told the two to stay for the night. In the end, the two stayed on that day and Chinatsu was decided to sleep together with Haruna in her room. However, Chinatsu can’t help but worried about what’s going to happen. It seems that Chinatsu’s sleepless night will continue for a while.