“Oh, they’re here.”
Gilbert’s team had been waiting for Han’s team at the training ground.
Among them, the mage Stella showed particular interest.
After saluting Han, she asked for a moment and approached Lara.
“What is it? As far as I know, we’ve never met before.”
Lara didn’t appreciate a stranger approaching her so casually. She didn’t step away, but subtly leaned her body in the opposite direction.
“Ah. You probably don’t know me. I’m the only one who knows about you.”
“Pardon?”
“You graduated from Ariel Magic School, right? I went there too.”
“Ah…. Yes.”
Lara flinched slightly at the mention of Ariel Magic School.
Her expression seemed to twist for a moment before returning to indifference.
“So?”
“What?”
“We went to the same school. So what exactly are you trying to say?”
“…….”
Stella froze, blinking both eyes.
She couldn’t hide her bewilderment at Lara’s curt reaction.
Fabian decided this might turn into a problem and stepped in.
“Do not be too surprised, miss. This small and ill-tempered child is simply rather immature. And because she is immature, she is rude and violent. Hahaha. …That aside, may I ask your name? And your age as well, if you do not mind.”
Fabian smoothly continued into flirting.
Watching him, Lara muttered things like, “Is he seriously sane?”
As for Stella—
“Ahahahahaha!”
She burst out laughing.
“What’s wrong with this one now? Ah… no. What seems to be the matter with you?”
Lara at least tried to maintain polite speech because Stella was her senior.
She wanted to ignore her, but for the time being, she waited until the laughter subsided.
“Ahaha…. Ah, it’s been a while since I laughed that hard. Sorry, sorry. You’re exactly like the rumors said, so I couldn’t help myself.”
“…….”
“I’m Stella. Hill Stella. It’s nice to finally meet the ‘genius I’ve only heard rumors about.’ Nice to meet you, Junior Lara.”
“…….”
Stella held out her hand to Lara.
Lara simply stared at it without taking it.
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
Then she ignored it and walked past her.
Stella’s hand remained awkwardly suspended in the air.
Stella considered herself a fairly tolerant person, but even she almost failed to maintain her composure.
“Oh dear. Our little troublemaker has once again behaved without the slightest manners…. Allow me to apologize in her place. A pleasure to meet you. I am Ross Fabian. You have remarkably beautiful hands.”
Fabian took Stella’s abandoned hand instead.
He gave her a handsome smile, and Stella raised the corners of her lips for him as well.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Hill Stella. And I’m twenty-four.”
“Twenty-four! No wonder. I thought you were more radiant than a flower, and now I see why. …By the way, did you perhaps have some connection with our little troublemaker in the past?”
“No, nothing like that…. Lara was right. We’ve never met even once. We’re complete strangers.”
“Ah, I see…?”
Fabian was smiling, but his reaction suggested he found something strange.
He watched Lara walking away.
Stella also looked toward Lara before continuing.
“But… maybe it’s because I heard so much about her. Lara doesn’t feel like much of a stranger to me. Well, anyone who attended magic school around the same time would probably feel the same way.”
“……Oh-ho.”
Fabian nodded along.
She didn’t elaborate any further.
But judging by the flow of the conversation, it seemed the stories he had heard weren’t all pleasant ones.
A short while later.
“Everyone, gather around. We will now explain the rules of the joint training exercise.”
Han and Gilbert assembled all the team members.
***
Each team would take offense and defense.
In other words, one side would play the Special Unit, while the other played the criminals.
The criminals were hiding inside the abandoned building in Training Ground B.
The victory condition was to incapacitate or eliminate the opposing team within the allotted time.
Han’s team would play the Special Unit.
“So you’re out once the opponent gets paint on you three times…. The rules are pretty simple.”
Swish! Swish!
Lara swung the specially made practice sword a few times.
Solid paint coated the edge of the blade, and touching it with a hand left sticky pink paint behind.
The revolvers were also loaded with paint rounds, making successful hits clearly visible.
“…….”
Lara looked the same as usual, yet somehow she also seemed irritated.
Fabian quietly watched her.
“Why are you staring so hard? What if you get attached to me?”
“…You appear to be rather resilient.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Pay it no mind. I was merely speaking to myself.”
Fabian looked away from Lara.
Han then gestured toward the practice sword she was holding with his chin.
“Even though they are practice swords and paint rounds, getting hit will still hurt considerably.”
“You mean we should treat it like a real battle?”
“Always train as though it were real combat. That is the basic principle.”
Han nodded.
The guns went without saying, and the practice swords had iron cores inside them so their weight would match real swords.
If someone took a proper hit amplified by Mobility Gear, it might not end with a simple bruise.
“For reference, how much will it hurt?”
Samuel reacted immediately to the mention of pain.
Lara frowned, displeased by how weak he sounded.
“You coward. You’re already scared before we’ve even started. What are you going to do?”
“Why…. I can at least ask for reference.”
“Oh, really? Then for reference, I’ll hit you myself so you can find out.”
“Ah! Don’t! What if you actually hit me?!”
“Our paint colors are different, so it wouldn’t even count as an out. What’s the problem?!”
Lara took a stance as though she were about to swing the practice sword.
Samuel raised both arms to shield his face.
Then—
“Enough. Enough.”
Han stepped between them.
It was good that none of them besides Samuel seemed nervous, but this was still supposed to be training.
Why were these people bickering among themselves?
Fortunately, Gilbert’s team had already entered the abandoned building.
Otherwise, they might have witnessed this embarrassing scene.
After silencing his team members, Han continued.
“…In any case. I do not know what you think of Gilbert’s team, but they are strong. Naturally, they cannot even be compared to Brock Renner’s group that we arrested previously.”
Fabian agreed with Han.
Excluding Gilbert himself, the members of Gilbert’s team had an average of four years of service in the Special Unit.
And they had survived all that time with all four limbs intact.
That alone was more than enough proof of their strength.
“Normally, they are opponents you would need to approach cautiously after preparing proper strategies and tactics. But experiencing them head-on without preparation should also prove valuable.”
Han gave his team no advice.
Thinking back, when Han had trained at the academy, they had also thrown him in without any preparation at first.
That made the advice given afterward far more valuable.
“Then I wish you luck.”
Han stepped away.
As he left, his gaze briefly settled on Louis Allen, who still hadn’t uttered a single word.
Then he looked away.
The results would reveal themselves soon enough.
Han’s role now was simply to wait.
“…….”
The fact that Han had left meant the training exercise had begun.
Surprisingly, Allen was the first to move.
“Do you intend to go alone?”
Fabian asked Allen.
Allen clearly wasn’t deaf, yet he gave no response.
He didn’t even nod.
He simply continued forward in silence.
Lara watched Allen and clicked her tongue.
“I know I’m pretty lacking in social skills too, but that guy is seriously something else. Sheesh. What are we doing? We can’t exactly just let him go off like that.”
“We should accompany him. We cannot leave him alone.”
“All of us?”
“…No. That would be a poor move. The entire group could walk straight into a trap.”
Fabian scanned the outside of the building once more before deciding.
In Team 251 without Han, the role of leader naturally fell to Fabian, who had the most experience.
“The building has two entrances. Allen appears to be heading toward the front entrance, so it would be better to split into two groups and have one enter through the rear.”
“What about the rooftop or the windows? Aren’t we moving a little too honestly?”
“Starting from below and moving upward will allow us to block off as many escape routes as possible. …If possible, I would like to station someone on the roof as well, but if we divide our already limited manpower too much, we will be defeated in no time.”
The criminal team had one additional victory condition.
If not a single member was captured before the allotted time expired, they would win.
It was unlikely, but Gilbert’s team could choose that approach, so they couldn’t ignore the possibility.
“I will go with Allen. We have no idea what kind of unexpected situation he might cause, so it would be better for someone with substantial field experience to accompany him.”
“Oh.”
“What is it?”
“You seem surprisingly dependable at times like this. You’re actually pretty analytical.”
“‘Actually’…?”
“Whatever. Got it. We should get going too, Samuel.”
“Yeah….”
Han’s team split into two groups.
Fabian followed Allen, while Lara and Samuel headed toward the rear entrance.
“…Why is it so dark?”
“It’s an abandoned building. Did you expect it to be bright? And walk a little farther away from me. You’re getting in the way.”
“O-Okay.”
“I still don’t understand. If you’re that much of a coward, why the hell did you choose this kind of job?”
“…….”
The two reached the rear entrance while bickering.
Before entering, Lara stopped Samuel and moved her mana.
VZZZZT—.
Blue mana spread out in perfect order according to her command.
Lara closed her eyes and felt its flow.
“Tch. Looks like that Stelly or Stella or whatever is Fifth Tier too.”
“How do you know?”
“Even though she’s inside the building, she’s interfering with me so thoroughly that I can’t detect her mana from this distance. If she were a lower tier than me, I’d at least be able to get a rough sense of it.”
If Stella had been a higher tier than Lara, Lara wouldn’t even have realized that Stella was interfering with her detection.
So while there was some room for error, Stella was most likely Fifth Tier, just like Lara.
After learning this, Samuel let out a sigh of relief.
“That’s still a relief. If you’re the same tier, you won’t get overwhelmed one-sidedly, right?”
“…….”
Samuel expected Lara to respond that such a thing was obvious and that she could actually overwhelm Stella instead.
But her answer came later than expected, with noticeably less confidence.
“Support…. Yeah, okay. I’ll do my best.”
Samuel tightened his grip around his revolver in determination.
Lara, on the other hand, looked as though complicated thoughts were running through her head.
“Whew…. All right. Let’s go.”
She took a moment to clear her mind of distracting thoughts before stepping forward confidently.
Step. Step—.
A dark corridor.
It was fairly wide, but there wasn’t a single candle or window, cutting off all light.
The surroundings were so quiet that the sound of their footsteps echoed softly.
As though the cold concrete floor itself were announcing their arrival.
“Wait.”
Lara slowly extended a hand.
“From here onward, I can feel pockets of dense mana. Looks like they planted formulas all over the place….”
They were standing at the end of the corridor.
Another two or three steps forward would open into a wide space.
Samuel slowly moved his head and cautiously asked,
“Should we find a way around?”
“What are you talking about? Obviously we’re going straight through.”
“But you said there are formulas planted everywhere.”
“Right. But who’s standing in front of you?”
Samuel thought for a moment.
“…Lara.”
“You idiot. Who asked for my name? Ah, forget it. Just shut up and watch what I do.”
Lara, the genius girl who had become the youngest State-Certified Mage.
Blue mana wrapped around her body before gathering in her eyes.
Then Lara’s irises turned yellow.
Her newly colored eyes laid bare every formula the enemy had concealed.
“I’m going to advance while removing those annoying things. Focus on watching our surroundings.”
“Got it. Leave that to me.”
“They really planted a ridiculous number of these. Are they trying to kill us or what?”
Lara calmly advanced and stopped, advanced and stopped, all at a rapid pace.
Samuel, following behind her, couldn’t see the formulas disappearing.
But he could at least sense the clusters of mana concentrated in various places vanishing one after another.
“But…. Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“If you can remove formulas this quickly, don’t you not need to stop? No…. I’m not criticizing you or anything. It just seems like you’re stopping more often than necessary.”
“Don’t worry about pointless things like that and just keep watch…….”
Suddenly.
Lara sensed mana spreading.
At the same time, a voice echoed throughout the open chamber.
—Team Leader Han did not tell you? It seems the other team members still do not know.
Lara’s eyes darted around as she tried to locate the source of the voice.
“Lara. Over there.”
Samuel, who had been keeping watch, identified the exact location first.
He extended a finger toward one spot.
Having been discovered, Stella slowly stepped out from behind cover.
—That will not do. If members of the Special Unit possess information their teammates do not know, they are practically strangling themselves. Especially when that information is directly related to combat.
“…….”
Lara narrowed her eyes.
She moved her mana and rapidly began completing an offensive formula aimed at Stella—
“Dodge!”
But Samuel suddenly shoved her aside, causing the spell to fail.
She avoided the paint round by a single step.
—You should have told your teammates beforehand that you ‘cannot cast while moving’ so they could prepare for it, should you not have, Junior Lara?
Name : Lara
Gender : Female
Age : 17
Characteristics : Youngest State-Certified Mage (Currently Fifth Tier)
Special Notes : Cannot cast while moving. Must temporarily stop moving when casting a formula.
…….