Recruiting Party Members (6)
Chrome Midas had supported countless academy students both materially and spiritually, contributing enormously to the improvement of their abilities. Yet the wicked, prejudiced, and foul-mouthed Professor Black—who nevertheless possessed scam-tier looks that earned him the fervent support of users—found the young man displeasing and expelled him from the party on unreasonable grounds. The gentlemanly Chrome could endure insults directed at himself, but he could not tolerate the thought of his teammates facing danger while he twiddled his thumbs. Determined to make Black repent and rescue his companions, he volunteered for a perilous journey.
Beyond the horizon stretched an endless cemetery. Moving corpses wandered the graves as though they despised all living things. While exploring that death-soaked land, Chrome encountered the mysterious girl Joy. At the moment he was surrounded by the undead in a desperate crisis, the evil dragon sealed within his right arm awakened…!
"Why are you only running away? Those things aren't even worth a single punch! Watch, like this—"
"Stop, stop! Didn't you see them multiplying earlier? Knock it off, you walking disaster!"
Chrome had briefly escaped reality with some idle banter and wild imagination, but Joy's inability to restrain herself forced him back to his senses as she prepared to cause yet another incident.
Eight zombies at present. If he provoked the creatures that kept multiplying like Planaria, their numbers would finally reach double digits. After that, counting them with both hands would become impossible.
When even running failed to increase the distance between them and the zombies, Chrome shouted at Joy.
"You! That method you used to move last time—use it to shake these things off!"
"Huh? It'll hurt, though."
"It'll be fine, just do it quickly!"
"Got it. One second."
After scratching her head for a moment, Joy looked Chrome up and down as if pondering something, then released several iron balls from her sleeve. Chrome tried to catch them, but the spheres ignored him and settled into the gaps of the bag he was carrying.
"Bite down."
The next instant, Chrome's body was literally launched like a cannonball. It felt as though he had been ejected from a roller coaster seat while still carrying all that momentum. Up and down became indistinguishable from front and back, and the rushing wind deafened his ears. Yet the sheer speed proved effective; by the time his feet finally touched the ground, the zombies had vanished without a trace.
Retrieving the iron balls that had served as an impromptu booster, Joy asked, "You okay?"
"…Aside from the bag being wrecked and feeling dizzy, I'm more or less fine."
The spatial-expansion backpack he usually relied on now showed signs of rough abrasion where the balls had struck. Even if it wasn't armor, it was still a magical tool—how had it ended up in this state? Did she normally carry these things inside her clothes for travel? Her combat control was impressive enough, but the fabric itself seemed far from ordinary.
Deciding he could finally catch his breath, Chrome asked the question that had been bothering him most.
"By the way, why are you here?"
"Taking a walk!"
"……"
The answer came without a single second of hesitation. Chrome stared at her with a thoroughly unimpressed look. Joy, who had been smiling confidently at first, began to sweat as she realized her excuse was falling flat.
"A walk. Right. A walk, you say."
"N-no, I mean…"
When Joy tried to offer some excuse, Chrome spoke first.
"I was going to call it complete nonsense, but… hmm, how should I put this?"
"Yeah?"
"Thinking about it, you really might be capable of that. If you live life in a simple, straightforward way, I guess taking a stroll through Star Land is possible too."
"…Uh, yeah? Uh?"
"Everyone has their own differences. If you don't understand that and dismiss anything that doesn't match your common sense as a lie, that's when conflict starts. It's fine. I get it!"
"……"
Did she… accept that? She must have, right? Yet Joy found herself oddly irritated that he had believed and accepted her words so readily. Caught between wanting to argue and not wanting to argue, she pursed her lips while Chrome patted her shoulder with a benevolent expression.
"Anyway, since we've met like this, it's fate. Want to come along? A walk doesn't really have a fixed destination, does it?"
"W-well, that's true, but actually, over there—"
"Then let's go! I was looking for something anyway, and having you around would be reassuring. Man, I'm glad we ran into each other."
Anyone who knew Chrome well enough would have advised Joy to either knock him out first and continue the conversation later or simply go her own way, but unfortunately Joy—whose education in the ways of Chrome Midas had only just begun—could not choose the wisest option.
'If those zombies attack again, dealing with them alone will be way too tough.'
Meanwhile, Chrome was equally desperate in his own way. He hadn't actually believed the ridiculous "walk" excuse, but since it was currently working in his favor, playing along was the best move. He had plenty of Attribute Stones for offensive magic and a generous supply of potions for emergencies, but even Chrome hadn't prepared a countermeasure for zombies that multiplied the more you touched them. If he had, he wouldn't have come to a place like this alone in the first place.
Yet as just demonstrated, with Joy around he could easily escape the horde. Anyone with half a brain could see that traveling together was the obvious choice. Of course, there were a few minor issues—such as the unclear nature of Joy's true objective, or the fact that Professor Black had sent him here specifically to stop relying on others and improve his own skills. But… he hadn't brought her along, had he? Recruiting a neutral local as an ally was also a sign of personal capability, wasn't it?
Q.E.D. Proof complete. Not a single speck of shame remained in his heart.
Finishing his lightning-fast self-justification, Chrome smiled brightly—by his own standards—and extended his hand. From Joy's perspective, it looked exactly like the face of a scheming villain. That much was no secret.
Eastern Mountains.
A forbidden zone where even seasoned mountain folk refused to enter unless absolutely necessary. Beasts possessing several times the physical prowess of their kin elsewhere, venomous insects whose single drop of poison could kill instantly, and plants that released hallucinogenic pollen—all demanded that ordinary people prepare for death the moment they set foot inside. It was a place where even observation and communication spells failed due to excessively saturated mana.
Professor Black gazed down upon it from above.
The rustle of wind. Leaves brushing against one another. The cries of insects. The texture of the ground. The dampness of puddles. Hostility and wariness toward intruders. Even sensations too intricate to express in human language.
Through her eyes, she watched the brown-haired mercenary swing her sword at a wolf clad in jet-black fur. She heard the red-haired princess freeze a swarm of black insects with chilling cold. She sensed the silver-haired priestess healing a comrade being carried to the rear.
Amidst the vast flood of information that ordinary people could neither comprehend nor properly distinguish, she remained calm. Even an ability that had driven imperial mages insane when they attempted sensory sharing for tactical purposes was nothing more than an ordinary daily scene to her.
This was hardly the first time, either. For someone tasked with monitoring hundreds of candidates and evacuating them to safety when necessary, keeping watch over fewer than twenty people was almost disappointingly simple. Moreover, the students' abilities far exceeded expectations. Though it was only natural, given that they had been raised for this very purpose, these students—who had not even reached the originally planned third year and were merely early in their second year—already possessed skills comparable to the empire's elite forces. In the cases of Ligret and Lyla, they had already surpassed the level of mere elites; only the aces of each military branch or the representative knights of great territories could be compared to them.
The only humans who could confidently claim to defeat those two were probably fewer than ten fingers' worth, including Istal and the Eastern Legion Commander. Though a half-step or full step behind them, the student named Rabaul was also remarkably strong in his own right.
If one were to ask who deserved credit for nurturing these extraordinary talents far faster than the academy had anticipated… the answer was already decided. Not only Black, but the other representative professors would agree on this point.
Yet the reason she had given that young man a low evaluation was twofold. One was that, regardless of his contributions, his personal combat ability was too low to be deployed on this front. And the other…
'If only he weren't so fond of underhanded tricks, I might have acknowledged him more easily.'
On the opposite side of the Eastern Mountains from where her gaze had previously rested, through her "eyes" she saw the scene below. Watching the black-haired girl being cheated by that young man who once again could not resist his old habits, Professor Black clicked her tongue.