Chapter 8:
Power Leveling
“ All right—and then, squeeze it. Your opponent is a small animal, so it doesn’t have to be very hard. The trade-in value will decrease if you damage it. Try to keep the image of small pellets with high-speed propulsion in mind.”
Following Mile’s advice, Reina cast her spell, gaze steeled. “Come, O water, to my aid! Sphere of water, form! Now freeze! Change form, into a sharp icicle. Turning, turning, spinning! Now, fly!”
The water gathered and froze, condensed into cylinders of ice, then flew away, rotating quickly.
The icicles shot perfectly, right into the targeted tree branch.
It wasn’t a hole-in-one shot like Mile’s were, but she could tell that Reina would have no trouble hitting a distant target.
“I-I did it!” Reina grinned widely at her success.
It would be unwise to use fire magic in the forest, and the ground of the location they were practicing in was covered in leaves rather than gravel. However, thanks to Mile’s advice, which helped her improve the accuracy of her ice attacks by increasing the compression and speed of the icicles, Reina felt her skills improve immediately. She would never have imagined that she would be able to work with ice magic—which wasn’t even her specialty—to hunt more effectively, and yet, there she was.
Mile had devised a series of lessons to get them to this point. At first, she hadn’t realized that Reina wouldn’t understand that a large ice bullet would be affected by gravity and thus need course correction, unlike the specialized fire magic that Reina usually used at combat practice. Additionally, Mile noticed, the effect of the spell’s added guidance in helping conjure the necessary image was immense. Making the icicle bullets spin was another helpful addition.
Now Reina would be able to use powerful magic even in battles and on hunting expeditions, where fire couldn’t be used.
Nearby, Pauline was practicing, as well. She already possessed reasonable magical skills, but—whether because of her personality or the fact that she was a bit clumsy—she was no good at attack magic, which required continuous production. In the near future, Mile figured, it would be good to teach her at least one attack spell for self-defense, but the present moment was still a little too soon for that.
Instead, Mile taught Pauline something that she thought her friend might find even more useful.
“Come, O water, to my aid! Sphere of water, form! Droplets dance, like a burning soul!”
Thanks to the spell, a gradually heating ball of warm water appeared.
“Yes! That’s perfect. With this, baths and cooking will be a breeze. It expends a lot less magical energy than putting a fireball into water, and it can even be used indoors to make smaller quantities—pretty handy for making tea, you know?”
“Th-thank you, Miley!”
“No worries. I’d like to teach you even more soon!”
Rather than trying to impart to them the fundamental knowledge of how to utilize thought pulses and nanomachine efficiency rates, Mile simply gave them the instructions they would need to grow in terms of general magic efficiency, helping them craft slightly more precise spells to invoke the necessary physical and chemical reactions. At the same time, she took careful precautions in order to ensure that they wouldn’t inadvertently stumble onto more power than they knew what to do with.
Even so, the two girls’ progress was remarkable, and Reina and Pauline practiced with zeal.
“Um…”
A voice came from behind her. Mile turned to see Mavis, looking sullen.
“There isn’t anything you can show me, is there? Like a special technique, or something…?”
“Ah…” For Mavis’s sake, Mile thought hard, but nothing came to mind.
She really didn’t know much about Western sword techniques, and all the special moves she had seen in anime and games were impossible. If Mavis had been able to use magic, Mile would surely have been able to come up with something, but the older girl had no magical skill…
“Maybe we could do some practice swings?”
“…” Mavis let herself fall to the ground. Mile’s suggestion wasn’t something that would grant her a particular skill.
“U-um, I’ll be your practice partner! I don’t have much training, so I have no idea about sword techniques or anything, but I have confidence in my power and skill! If you get used to my speed, I’m sure you’ll be able to see through other opponents’ attacks more easily!”
“Really?” Mavis sounded doubtful. She was pouting.
“Really! It’s true! Probably…” Mile spoke the last word under her breath, so upon hearing Mile’s reply, Mavis finally brightened.
***
When the sun at last began to set, it was time for them to return to the capital.
“We didn’t catch very much today, but this was still a productive outing! Thank you, Mile!”
“Thanks so much, Miley!”
“Don’t thank me! We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“I’m your friend too, aren’t I? Are you forgetting me?” Mavis was still a bit sulky.
“Of course! That’s right!” Mile said. After, there was moment of silence, then she piped up, as though she had suddenly remembered something. “It’s going to be super annoying if we go back to the guild like this. The boys will all make fun of us for coming back with so little! I’m going to try hunting by myself for a bit.”
She pulled some of the pebbles from her pocket.
“Umm, if you could keep your voices down…”
Fwip!
She walked away briskly and returned with a jackalope in hand.
Zip!
A large bird tumbled out of a tree.
Bwoosh!
Vwip!
Ka-shunk!
“M-Mile…”
Reina’s mouth hung open.
“What? I use compressed air to make the pebbles fly. It’s really just normal wind magic…” In actuality, Mile was doing it with her finger strength alone—there was no magic required.
“W-well, even if that’s the case… how are you finding the prey so easily?!”
“Um… Intuition?”
Mavis and Pauline looked at each other and shrugged, trading looks that said, “There’s no point trying to understand this one.”
***
When Mile and company returned to the guild, they turned in their birds and jackalopes and were paid twenty-four silver pieces in total. The male students stared, wide-eyed.
“Thanks, but…are you sure you want to share this?” her friends wanted to know.
“Yep! We all went hunting together, after all!”
“Mile, you—well, that’s fine. I will gratefully accept. And I will definitely return the favor someday!”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
The girls split their earnings for six silver each and happily made their way out of the guild, with the young men’s gazes still fixed on them, a bit jealous of their productivity.
***
And so, Mile continued giving Reina and Pauline magic lessons. In order to keep things from getting out, she forbade them from telling others what she was teaching them. They worked in private, going over spells, magical effects, and information about physics and chemistry in their dorm room, saving any actual practice for the hunting trips they took on their days off.
In time, Reina’s fire magic became much stronger, and even Pauline began to learn some combat spells. Mile also taught the latter about the structure of the human body—bones, internal organs, blood vessels, nerves, cells, and the like—so that she would be able to use her healing and recovery magic more effectively.
The two of them made steady improvements, and as they practiced hunting, even their aim began to improve, so that they could earn more on their own, without Mile’s help.
And they all lived happily ever after…
Except for Mavis, who Mile had forgotten about entirely.
“Miiiiiiile!” Whenever she spoke Mile’s name, dissatisfaction could be heard clearly in her voice.
***
As it wasn’t a huge problem to be seen practicing with Mavis, they used the indoor training grounds during their free time, including their lunch and dinner breaks.
“All right! First, let’s try it at about 1.2 times the speed of our fastest classmate.”
Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack!
“All right! Next, 1.3 times.”
Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack!
“All right! Next, 1.4 times.”
Clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack clack!
“All right! Next…”
“W-wait! Wait just a minuuuuuute!!”
“Hm? If we speed up just a little bit at a time, you should be able to acclimate yourself to the quicker speed, right? That’s what the ninjas did: they planted a hemp seed, and every day they practiced jumping over it…”
“I have no idea what a ninja is, but this is impossible! Impossible, I tell you! Anyway, I’m assuming what you’re saying is that they improved a little bit every day. They didn’t get faster every two minutes!”
Mile didn’t understand what Mavis was so unhappy about, but since her friend looked as though she was about to cry, Mile tried a new approach.
“Okay. Wrap this long sash around your waist and try running fast enough that the sash never touches the ground.”
“Um… Okay.”
Mavis agreed, put the sash on her waist, and started running. She didn’t come back.
There was no way she could turn around without letting the sash touch the ground. After some time, she finally came back, her feet dragging. She was exhausted, and there was a bruise on her forehead, as though she had run into something.
“Let’s… let’s try a different method…” she said, still short of breath.
“Well,” Mile mused, “there were once people who would hang upside down and move water from a barrel on the ground to one higher up, using a tiny cup…”
“I’ll do it. I’ll do anything if it will make me stronger!”
Unfortunately for Mavis, every special training method Mile knew came from manga, anime, or movies.
And so, the long days of “Mavis’s Speed Improvement Plan” began. The goal was to get Mavis to measure up to Mile. In looking forward to that day, Mavis prepared a name for the special technique that she would surely invent in the future.
That technique was called “Godspeed Blade.”
It would be an invincible sword technique, one that could slice down enemies with divine speed—or so she hoped.
***
In spite of their hunting, Mile and her roommates still didn’t have much money to spare.
Because they were responsible for providing their own lighting, their lack of funds meant that they couldn’t burn their candles very long at night. However, as they also couldn’t possibly fall asleep immediately, they spent every night after crawling into beds talking with one another before they drifted off.
They talked about practice, and their classmates, and rumors they’d heard—but because they spent much of their time together, and always saw and heard the same things, they often ran out of things to talk about.
Even when they talked about themselves, Mavis was the only one who would speak freely of her family and upbringing. As the first daughter, she always had stories to share about how her parents spoiled her, or the way that her three older brothers were just a little too doting. Mavis herself was the only one who seemed unaware of how these stories sounded.
Blegh…
Apart from the members of Mavis’s family, the three girls probably knew more about Mavis’s childhood than anyone in the world—despite the fact that they had never wished for such knowledge. Since hearing only Mavis’s stories had begun to feel a little grim, Mile also began joining in with the evening chats.
Her talks were on the fundamentals of magic, but—in order to include Mavis—she spoke of other things, too. She told them folktales and legends from Earth, or stories from action dramas, anime, and games, readapted to fit their world.
Her roommates were hooked. Reina loved the stories of powerful sorcerers and magical girls. Pauline loved the rags-to-riches tales, and of course, Mavis loved the heroic legends and epic adventures.
They pestered Mile into continuing every night, none of them realizing that they had contracted a serious illness—one said to afflict all children around the age of thirteen: the obsessiveness of adolescence known as chuunibyou.
***
One day, on the way back to the dorm after dinner, Mile realized that she had left a letter behind in the classroom. One of her male classmates had handed it to her earlier, saying, “Please read this later.”
As she always did with such letters, Mile planned to take it back to the room to look over with the other girls, then come up with a reply. Forming a reply was always a collaborative project—Reina was always the author and Pauline the editor, while Mile took on production. As for the theme, well, it was always heartbreak.
When Mile returned to the classroom to retrieve the letter she had left behind, she heard a strange tapping sound from the direction of the lectern. Upon looking up, she saw a boy who appeared to be practicing writing characters on the board.
“Writing practice?”
“Y-yeah. It’s embarrassing to do it in my room in front of the other guys, and if I use the chalkboard I don’t have to waste my paper or ink. I don’t even need a quill for it.”
“Oh, I see! That’s smart!”
Mile was moved by the boy’s pleasant, straightforward explanation. She felt a sense of fondness and kinship welling up, as she remembered how she had been unable to purchase paper, pens, or ink when she had first arrived at Eckland Academy so long ago.
“Um. If I remember correctly, you’re a swordsman, right?” she said.
“Yeah. I can also use magic, a little bit beyond basic utility even, but not well enough to actually become a magic user. So, I fight with my sword and just use my magic for the extra things, like drawing water and recovery. It really is a big help, though. It’s hard going solo…”
“Solo?” Mile asked, perplexed.
Except for special cases like herself, solo jobs were too dangerous and inconvenient for anyone but a true veteran to undertake. Unless you were an oddball or the circumstances demanded it, solo work was not something one undertook willingly.
“Yeah, I’m an orphan from the slums. Er, well, I guess I haven’t left yet, so I’m still a slum dweller… Anyway, I have a lot of little guys to look after, so I can’t go off adventuring with a party.
“At the moment, I go check on them after dinner, and on rest days I hunt food for them to eat. If I join a party when I become a real hunter, that means I’ll be traveling far away for days at a time, you know? But if I do that, there’ll be no way for me to look after those little squirts.”
“But wait—once they turn fifteen, they’ll be able to live on their own, won’t they?” Mile asked. “And the next generation will be able to look after the little ones for you…”
At Mile’s words, the boy looked a bit surprised. “That’s wise of you. And, well, I guess most of them are about that age. I’ve already paid back the favors that were done for me, so really, I suppose my role has ended. Still, I don’t mind keeping an eye on them.
“The thing that really bothers me is that no matter how much time passes, life in that place is never going to change. But if I become a C-rank, I’ll be able to take the little ones out on expeditions to gather herbs and things whenever, you know? It’s rare for the guild to sponsor guarded gathering expeditions, and even when they do, you still have to pay for the guard’s participation. With me, it would be free, and under my supervision, they could even try a bit of hunting. I’ll be able to train them, and if they can become D-ranks, forming a party of just us orphans someday wouldn’t be out of the question.”
He shook his head. “But maybe that’s just one man’s foolish dream.”
Watching the boy smile to himself, Mile thought, A swordsman who can use magic.
He was a generous soul who, despite having a chance to escape the slums, remained for the sake of the other orphans. Not only that, but he was obviously a hard worker, studying writing as he did, all on his own.
Since they had begun their power leveling, Mile and her party had more or less risen to the top of their class. Even if she had placed herself at the bottom of that pack, that meant she was ranked fourth in the class. In other words, she needed one more person ahead of her to put her in fifth.
The term “sacrificial lamb” suddenly popped into her head.
“S-say, just hunting with a sword isn’t very effective, is it? What if I told you there was a magic you could learn that’s perfect for hunting birds and jackalopes?”
“Huh…?”
***
“It sure took you a long time just to go and get that letter.”
“Oh, well, there was a guy in the classroom, and we were just talking for a while…”
“What? A guy?!”
“It was just a chat! A short chat!”
Reina was smoldering, but Mile simply waved her hands as if it were nothing.
“Anyway, here’s the letter in question.”
“Let’s deal with it like we usually do.”
“O-okay!” Mile and Pauline agreed, powerless.
***
Veil was an orphan.
He had never known his parents’ faces. By the time he was old enough to be aware of his surroundings, he was already living in the slums, in the shelter of a crumbling, abandoned house along with the other girls and boys. The eldest was a boy of twelve or thirteen, who they all called Andy.
It was only a few years after Veil’s first memories that Andy disappeared.
Perhaps he had died from illness or an accident. Maybe he’d gone off somewhere to become a hunter.
No one ever told them, and Veil never asked.
After Andy, there had been “Big Sis.”
He remembered the day when Big Sis went away.
Instead of the rags she always wore, Big Sis showed up in a pretty new outfit and brought the orphans lots of food and clothing. Then she went away with some adults they had never seen before. She never came back again. That was the last time he ever saw her.
The next leader was Brother Jon. After him was Brother Dahl.
Each of them vanished when they were around fourteen or fifteen years old.
Perhaps they died, or perhaps they simply became adults who could finally live on their own and left the slums for a happier life elsewhere.
Before he knew it, Veil was the second eldest, with only Brother Dahl ahead of him in age.
He thought to himself: It’s my turn now—my turn to protect everyone, to take care of them. To pay back all the help the ones before me gave.
But this time, I won’t disappear. I’m always going to look after them.
Because this is my home, and these people are my family.
***
The capital was a difficult place for an orphan, and yet in some ways, it was also kind.
If one were caught stealing or picking pockets, one would swiftly be caught and indentured. Several bands of orphans had been captured in this way, and their homes demolished. However, if one did honest work, people tended to overlook the house-squatting, and now and then some charitable adult might even donate a scrap or two of food.
Particularly egregious abuses were rare. The authorities were relatively just and made little distinction between rich and poor. More importantly, many of the local thugs and hunters had come from the slums themselves and were thus kind to their juniors—at least in the cases where they themselves had nothing to lose.
At the age of six, Veil registered as an associate hunter, so that he could do odd jobs around the city and help pay for everyone’s food. The moment he turned ten, he registered as an official hunter.
At that time, another hunter, himself from the slums, gifted Veil a cheap sword that was destined for the scrap heap, as he had recently acquired a new one.
Veil was so happy he wept. He had never felt so lucky in his life. Previously, he’d planned to fight with a wooden staff until he could afford to buy a sword of his own.
And then, when that precious sword of his finally broke, he saved up a bit of money to purchase a slightly older, used sword.
Someday, he would give his sword to one of his juniors. He swore it to himself.
So that the little ones could eat.
So that they could purchase medicine when they got sick.
So that, now and then, they could buy new clothes from the secondhand store.
The smaller kids earned a little from odd jobs and guild-chaperoned gathering expeditions, but it didn’t amount to much. Even though Veil became an official hunter at age ten, he was still an F-rank, and his earnings weren’t enough to fully support a number of orphans.
He had to earn more. He had to get more money.
However, there weren’t many parties who would take a boy from the slums with no special skills, and even if he found one, he couldn’t join a party that would travel far away and leave him unable to look after the little ones.
There were solo jobs that wouldn’t take him far and required no special skills, but they didn’t grant him much experience, nor did they let him challenge himself. He spent his days gathering herbs and hunting jackalopes and other small beasts, with no hope of promotion. Furthermore, his skills as an amateur swordsman were his only means of hunting, so his efficiency was low.
There was no point in buddying up with others from the slums, either. They were F-rank amateurs, just the same as him, so the jobs they could accept would be no different, and they had no unique skills that he could learn from them. If he formed a party with hunters the same age as he, he would have no way to progress. The only thing that could change with this method would be if he could become more efficient at locating prey.
And then the day came when Brother Dahl disappeared.
One night, he simply didn’t come home.
And that was that.
Maybe he had perished, or perhaps he fled.
If he had left the slums behind and joined a hunting party somewhere, he would be fine. Perhaps he joined a party that had gone off to another town, or perhaps he’d gone off to another town, and then joined a party.
Either way, the orphans were left without their top earner.
Veil, now suddenly the eldest, was caught, anxious, between the weight of his new sense of responsibility and the dark and hazy future ahead of him.
It was then that a man’s voice had called out to him.
“You there! You’re still rough, but I can tell yer pretty handy with a sword. Whaddya think? You gonna take the entrance exam for the Hunters’ Prep School?”
The man, who was associated with the guild hall in the capital, told Veil that while he was in school, he would himself check in on the orphans now and then. And at any rate, even while Veil was at the school, he would be able to go look in on them during the evenings and on days off, too. More importantly, the training the school offered was completely free. Veil would be able to work on his days off, and if he and the other orphans worked hard, in just half a year, the quality of their lives would improve immensely.
If Veil could become a C-rank, everything would be just as the man said.
“As long as you can do well on the exam, anyway,” the man explained. “Even if you can’t read and write, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to pass. Still, the chances of getting in are slim—incredibly so…”
Despite the man’s warning, Veil replied, “I’ll do it!”
And so he had.
Even after he became a C-rank hunter, being able to read and write would make choosing jobs much easier for him. In addition, not being able to read and sign his own contracts and the like could be disastrous. With that in mind, every night after dinner, he returned to the classroom to practice his letters.
With the others in his dorm room, it was hard to find space to practice there, and besides, if he used the board in the classroom, he could save money he might have spent on paper and ink. It wasn’t unusual for the other students to return to the training grounds or the indoor practice area after their lessons, but no one came back to the classroom.
That was what he thought, anyway, until someone did come.
“Writing practice?”
It was an earnest, friendly girl of twelve, three years Veil’s junior, who was said to be able to use storage magic. A lucky girl who was not only smart and good-looking, but would also never want for anything. A flower on a mountaintop, blooming miles out of his league.
And yet there she was, standing before him and talking with him, perhaps due to some passing fancy of her own.
We’re classmates , he thought. They’d simply happened to meet alone in the classroom—it wasn’t so terrible for them to make small talk, was it? She was probably a nice girl who would never judge someone based on differences in status or wealth.
With that in mind, Veil turned to speak to the girl, but then…
“S-say, just hunting with a sword isn’t very effective, is it? What if I told you there was a magic you could learn that’s perfect for hunting birds and jackalopes?”
“Huh…?”
What was she saying?
***
Over the following weeks, the girls’ efforts at power leveling progressed swimmingly, with Reina, Pauline—and, to some extent, Mavis—increasing their strength by the day.
Mile didn’t bother teaching Reina and Pauline any basics, nor did she instruct them as to how to naturally convert an image into a solid thought for specific magical purposes. Nevertheless, their skills improved.
She took care to stop them both at a level that would rank them only as “advanced,” in terms of the school’s training, so that no one would be aware of their immense progress. At least, this was her intention; however, she had no idea whether their classmates and instructors were actually fooled.
As for Mavis’s sword training, there was no need to be secretive, so Mile poured all her efforts into the task. No matter what, Mavis was a still a completely normal person and the results fairly standard for the kind of intensive training Mile was giving her. It wouldn’t exactly be a huge matter of note if she turned out somewhat more impressive than most. Because her practice partner was so fast, her reactions grew quicker, and her own movements did as well. Still, she remained very much in the category of what one might call “a passionate student with exceptional potential.”
That progress, and in particular her improved reaction time, startled Elbert, but as he didn’t attribute that success to Mile, she didn’t mind him taking note.
Contrary to her fears, he paid very little attention to Mile herself beyond that first day. There were other students to attend to, and even if Mile were pressured into sword training, she would never be able to practice it seriously. Furthermore, it was out of line for a teacher to try and tamper with a student’s future profession on a whim, so it was probably just as well that Elbert found other things to attend to.
Besides, it was only in terms of power and speed that Mile’s swordsmanship was exceptional. She didn’t possess any particular talents in the realm of basic technique—not in terms of handling, footwork, or even reading her opponent’s movements. She was probably worthless and uninteresting to a sword instructor. After all, just having exceptional physical abilities did not mean that one had the makings of a true swordsman.
Furthermore, Mile did have exceptional magical ability, so it was clear to all that that would be how she made her fortune. It was easy to imagine that the two magic teachers had staked their claim, worried that interference might crush a student with great magical potential.
Even though Elbert was the principal and main instructor, he was still under employ himself. And if something went wrong, the higher-ups would catch wind of it.
***
“Spill it, Mile,” Reina pressed Mile one afternoon as they sat in the classroom.
“Huh? Spill what?”
“Don’t play dumb! I’ve been keeping an eye on you. What are you doing in the classroom with that guy every night after dinner?!”
“Er…” Mile mumbled, which only put fuel to the fire.
“Don’t tell me you’re dating , or that you’ve made some kind of arrangement…”
“We’re not, we’re not! I’m just using him as a sacrif… Er, no…”
“What do you mean? Explain yourself immediately!”
Mile explained herself.
Reina was horrified. “What are you thinking? You’re making him take a bullet for you just so you don’t stand out? I can’t believe you…”
I bet that boy has a crush on Mile… Mavis and Pauline thought, sending up a prayer for his happiness.
“Well, it’s true that you might be in danger if your family ever caught up with you, so I can’t say that I don’t understand. And since you’ve taught us so much, it would be wrong of me to complain. But still. Just keep it casual with this guy, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am…”
***
Veil, the orphan boy, was making vast strides in his magical skill, thanks to Mile’s teaching.
She had quickly realized that Veil had neither immense magical power, nor a talent for spells that were particularly complicated. Anything that required extended concentration was similarly difficult for him. So, she decided to teach him two simple spells that he could easily reproduce.
The first was air bullets.
She figured that this would allow him to hunt small animals with ease.
By avoiding complicated productions, such as summoning, freezing, and shaping water, and by eliminating the need to do something labor-intensive like making or gathering rocks to shoot, he could hunt with something that would always be on hand, no matter where he was.
It was just compressing and propelling air, but it would be enough to kill—or at least render unconscious—any bird or small animal.
Furthermore, when facing larger opponents, it would be enough to break a monster’s guard or drive them off, ensuring that the incident wouldn’t end fatally. Above all else, the spell was short, fast, and easy to use.
In their world, wind-summoning magic was common, but there were limits to this power, due to the general ignorance of barometric gradients, thermal expansion, updrafts, and rotational power due to the Coriolis force. Certainly, they had yet to stumble upon the notion of compressing and firing air, so Mile’s lesson was quite useful.
The second spell was a fatal technique: a magic blade that could cut down large prey and human enemies alike. For the sake of secrecy, and to maintain the element of surprise, the sword’s blade was covered in a magical coating only just before launching an attack, a tactic that also helped to conserve magical energy.
By coating the sword in magic, its strength was increased exponentially, and the cutting edge became exceptionally thin. It was strong, durable, and sharp: the three components of a swordsman’s dreams, made reality. Even a cheap, scrap metal sword could transform into a divine blade with this sort of magic!
As both were single-step processes, the procedures were easy to use, if a bit clumsy. Furthermore, the time it took to actualize both spells was quite short, so the consumption of magical energy and amount of brain fatigue caused by exerting the thought pulse were both fairly minimal.
Most importantly in the context of battle, the incantations were short. They would still be reasonable to use, even during a sword fight.
With a magically enhanced blade in hand, Veil had become, without a doubt, a “magic knight.”
Time and again, Mile warned him that he was absolutely forbidden to tell anyone else about their trainings. He was to keep these techniques to himself, Mile said, threatening that if he were ever to share this magic, then both he and the people he taught would disappear. However, she didn’t bother to say who, exactly, would be responsible for the disappearances. Such details were troublesome to think of.
In truth, the air bullets were pretty easy to understand and imitate once one saw them. The magical blade, though, wasn’t something that could be figured out with a glance.
Even so, she told him to keep it a secret. If she became known for inventing all sorts of magic, there would be a big to-do. Moreover, she would hate for her techniques to be used to kill hundreds of people or somehow alter the balance of the world. Still, as long as her name wasn’t attached to the magic, maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad if a spell did spread—especially if the spell in question was something like healing magic or a technique such as the air bullets, which had non-lethal applications.
Even if Mile’s actions had some influence on the world, it wasn’t as though God was looking to stop her. In fact, the gods appeared to have abandoned all management of her world, so any influence she might have most likely wouldn’t be a problem.
Veil took the lessons he received from Mile every night and tried them out while hunting on his rest days. Then, the week after, he returned to discuss the results with Mile and receive new lessons based on his experience out in the field. Thus, while his skills didn’t grow at the same rate as her party members’, he nonetheless continued to improve steadily.
After Mile spilled the beans about Veil, he also began practicing swords with Mavis during school hours. Mavis was thrilled—not only because she had made a new friend, but because she finally had someone other than Mile to practice with. She sulked much less thereafter, so this was a positive development for Mile and the others, too.
“You know, I just realized something,” Reina said one day. “‘Veil’ and ‘Mile’ are pretty similar names, aren’t they? Is there any connection?”
“Huh? Ah, I guess you’re right… No, it’s just a coincidence. They both just happen to be short names that end in ‘L’ sounds! I mean, it would be weird to think that there is some connection between you and our classmate Nina just because both your names end in ‘na,’ wouldn’t it?”
“I guess you’re right…”
Despite Reina’s pondering, the similarity between their names really was just a coincidence.
Still, Mile wondered, what if it turned out that the person I chose to be my sacrificial lamb was actually my long-lost brother? No no no no no! Mile shook her head wildly. Don’t even think about that!
***
As the days went on, Mile’s work continued steadily, with classroom lessons and training on the weekdays, money-earning and independent magic practice on the rest days, and sword training with Mavis and Veil in between.
Her bonds with her classmates, even those outside her party, began to deepen, and though their school wasn’t a normal one, Mile soon found herself living a version of the normal student life she had always hoped for.
Even on the days when they trained fiercely, the other students thinking seriously of their futures, Mile saw it all as an enjoyable part of student life. The days passed in the blink of an eye, and soon, graduation was just around the corner.
One day near the end of their schooling, it was announced that they would be going out for some field training.
“…A class field trip?” Mile said.
“It’s field training!” their instructor said. “What is this ‘foldtripe’ you’re talking about?”
“Oh, like camp!”
“What are you even talking about?!”
They weren’t going to be fighting ogres or anything. As many of the students were inexperienced hunters, they would be going out in search of orcs and goblins instead, in order for them to get accustomed to killing humanoid creatures. Without such preparation, there was a far higher chance of students dying in their first battle, surrounded only by their fellow rookie hunters rather than those with experience in the field.
On top of all that, field training would also give them the experience of camping in the wild.
***
Several days later, the students of the Hunters’ Prep School found themselves in a forest about a half-day’s walk from the capital. It was time for field training.
Each team—or rather, each party—would train together. As usual, however, the teams had to be reorganized in order to address the imbalance of professions among the girls’ parties. These rearrangements were left up to the students. As such things often happened when parties participated in large-scale operations, forming the parties themselves was considered good, practical experience.
While the intent was a general redistribution, complete disassembly of the existing parties would have been a waste of all the bonds the students had formed throughout their schooling. Therefore, the male students proposed that they only dissolve the girls’ teams and redistribute their members among the boys’ parties.
Of course, this plan dissolved the moment they rushed to extend invitations to the girls they hoped would join their parties.
“Wh-why don’t you come with our team, Miley?”
“No, come with us!”
“No no, ours is definitely the best choice! There are four of us to look after you!”
“All of you shut up! Mile can serve as an advance guard for our party—we don’t need any of you boys!”
“Huh? Miley’s a magic user, isn’t she? And just having you four girls in a party isn’t really enough people.”
Staring at the obstinate boys, Reina thought for second, then called to a boy standing toward the back. “Veil! Get over here with our party! If the girls from Team B join the rest of your party, they’ll have another sword user on board, so they’ll be fine without you. Team B, is that fine with you?”
“That’s fine!!”
The four girls of Team B readily accepted, miffed at the boys of Teams 1 through 3, who had ignored them all and run straight to Team C Mile. Boys’ Teams 4 and 6, as well as Team 5, Veil’s team, had remained calm and unmoving—plus, there were some cute guys on Team 5, to boot.
“Way to go, Veil!”
Though they hadn’t been able to snag Mile, the most coveted prize, the other boys of Team 5 got the chance to mingle with four cute girls, instead. It was a wise compromise.
“Now then,” said one of the girls on Team A, “we’ll divide up and join Teams 4 and 6!”
“What…?”
The five remaining girls on Team A shot the boys of Teams 1, 2, and 3 a cold look.
Team 1 Boys: 5
Team 2 Boys: 5
Team 3 Boys: 5
Team 4 Boys: 4, Girls: 2
Team 5 Boys: 3, Girls: 4
Team 6 Boys: 4, Girls: 3
Team C Boys: 1, Girls: 4
“How did this happeeeeeeen?!?!” The boys of Teams 1 through 3 let loose a scream of frustration.
In truth, though, they had only themselves to blame, but from that moment until the day of their graduation, half the boys in the class looked upon Veil with jealous eyes.
“How did you end up with seven teams?” Elbert said, looking rather troubled. “I thought you were just going to shuffle the girls into the boys’ teams for six parties. I only brought two extra hunters to chaperone…” Including Elbert, there were four instructors, so even with the other two hunters along, they were now one person short.
“It’s fine. Mavis, your party will be all right without a guide, won’t you?”
“Y-yeah…”
It was always Reina who called the shots, and among their classmates, Team C was known most frequently as “Reina’s Crew.” Still, as far as the instructors were concerned, Mavis was the leader.
And at that point, none of that really mattered, anyway.
“No problems here.”
“Leave it to us!”
Reina and Mile gladly agreed. Ultimately, it just made things easier for them.
“Well then, I’ll leave it to you!” Elbert said, trying not to let on how worried he truly was.
***
Deep in the forest, far from base camp…
“Starting today, I’m lifting the ban on using the magic I’ve taught you in front of others,” Mile said. “We’ll be graduating soon, and this magic is meant to be used in your life as hunters after graduation. It’s about time to get some real practice.
“It would be strange if you could suddenly use this magic right after graduation, so if you start now and use it a little bit at a time in front of the rest of the class, then it will look like it’s just the results of all our training. After all, you’ll have to show your full power in the official exit exams.
“Now. Showing off your magic is one thing, but—You. Must. Not. Tell. Anyone. Else. How. To. Use. It… or share the fact that I was the one who taught you! No matter what, you must consider what you’ve learned to be a secret! Do I make myself clear?!”
At Mile’s uncharacteristically serious expression, the four others nodded fiercely.
***
Slash!
Smack!
“Now me! My turn!”
“You guys…”
Pauline and Reina hunted the goblins gleefully, while Veil shied away.
He wasn’t surprised by Reina’s ferocity, as much as he wished he could be.
However, among their classmates, Pauline was known as a meek and mild-mannered magic user, specializing in healing and recovery. Amongst so many boisterous young women in their class, she was a breath of fresh air, a precious commodity not unlike Mile—or so she had been.
“Dance, water droplets, into a raging boil, grrrahh! DIIIIEEEEEEE!!!”
Mile collapsed onto a fallen tree in shock at Pauline’s outburst, while Mavis slumped forward, as if her very soul had left her body.
***
By the time Mavis and company returned to base camp, most of the other teams had already arrived and were making preparations for dinner. Naturally, they were cooking their own meals, with the prey they had hunted themselves. In fact, sharing one’s catch with other teams was forbidden. Those who weren’t strong enough hunters would go to bed hungry. That was the hunters’ way.
The students, unaccustomed to cooking, stumbled through their preparations.
“All right!”
While other teams put together nice little meals out of tree fruits they had gathered and the jackalopes they hunted in between exterminating goblins, Mile pulled an entire orc out of storage.
Shwack shwack shwack shwack shwack!
Mavis chopped the meat with lightning speed.
Bwoosh!
Reina roasted it with her fire magic.
“Soup’s up!” Pauline called.
She had made a broth by pouring water into four bowls, along with gathered herbs, orc meat, and leafy greens, which she then boiled.
“Hey! What about mine?” asked Veil pitifully.
“Oh, I’m so sorry! It was only out of habit…”
Hurriedly, Pauline rustled up another portion.
“Grrahh!”
Blurb blurb…
Elbert watched them, slack-jawed.
“You all sure are handy…” he muttered.
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