Black Iron Magician

「My village is around here, on the east end of Snowtail, at the foot of the mountain.」

「I was expecting it, but it’s still quite a distance…. Well, be careful not to get in an accident.」

「Um, Deris-san. Is it really okay? You weren’t really into it until a while ago….」

Chinatsu shakes my shoulder as if complaining why I did it. Goddess Chinatsu, please don’t make my head shake too much. My neck hurts.

「A little while ago, yes. But now I’m in full cooperation mode. I’m not so heartless as to let a weak girl go alone, you know?」

「No, I’m not asking about that nonsense.」

Nonsense!? Hey, Chinatsu, watch your mouth!

「Deris-san is an interesting person, huh.」

「That’s right. Shishō is also good at jokes.」

「Haru, you too…. It’s still better because it’s a little indirect, though….」

「Deris, you’re going off topic.」

「Ah, that’s right.」

It’s a complete mystery why my sincere attitude is not conveyed, but regardless of whether they believe me or not, what I should do remains the same. First is to negotiate with Alezel and persuade her, and second is to make this monsters’ subjugation beneficial to Haru and Chinatsu. From what I heard, it seems that the white monkey is just level 5. There’s no point in sending the girls on a long expedition just to fight them.

「Haru, I’ll put restraints on you for the duration of your expedition.」

「Restraints?」

「That said, it’s not something physical. It’s like an order from me. Listen, during the expedition, close combat, such as using martial arts and your staff, is prohibited. You should subjugate the monsters using only your magic.」

「E-Ehh!?」

「Oh, that sounds interesting. Chinatsu, I have an order for you, too. You, on the other hand, are forbidden to use any magic at all. You should use only your sword.」

「I see, a battle with restrictions, huh….」

Yeah, Haru can’t use her aiki, and Chinatsu can’t use her recovery magic. They have to act in the opposite position and play the opposite role. If the enemies are level 5, I think they can win easily. However, in this harsh environment, they can’t let their guard down during the expedition. Even the slightest mistake could lead to a big problem. This is a good warming-up before leaving them to Alezel.

As for Zeta, let’s see…. She’s probably level 7, and I expect her to be quite close to Haru and Chinatsu in terms of ability. That damn Zex, he’s raising a good disciple. If it’s her, she won’t get out of step unless something goes wrong. At present, there’s almost no need to worry in terms of combat. Rather than that, I’m worried about them getting lost. Well, there’s Chinatsu and Zeta, a local person, so I think they will be fine.

「Ah, that’s right. Can I invite Touko-chan too?」

「Come to think of it, Touko should have been staying at the inn, right? I haven’t seen her at all….」

「Touko-san? Is she good enough to go with us?」

「Yes! She’s as strong as me and Chinatsu-chan, so there’s no problem at all!」

「There’s a big problem, though.」

「Eh?」

「Rather than hearing my explanation, it’s faster for you to see it directly. Look.」

I open the door leading to the next room. There――

「「Suya~….」」

――Lilyvia and Touko are lying together on a bed in harmony. They are sleeping soundly, not caring about us having a conversation in the next room.

「Shishō, are they… having a nap?」

「Almost right. It’s sleep-learning」

「Almost right, huh….」

Yeah, it’s not just a nap. At first glance, they seem to be slacking, but in fact, Lily is using her ability as a succubus to train Touko in her dream. I can’t peek into the dream, but looking at Touko’s painful expression, it seems that the training is quite harsh. On the other hand, Lily seems to be having fun and that’s irritating, but well, we are talking about Lily here.

「So, Touko will be staying at the inn. It would be bad to interrupt her training after all.」

「Also, let’s set a deadline. Making a round trip and annihilating the target monsters, you have to finish everything before this hour at the day after tomorrow. If you can’t, you will receive punishment while we are moving on the ship ♪」

「I-I will do my best….」

「I will do my best!」

「E-Err, I’m sorry for troubling you?」

Punishment… I hope it’s not something that will cause the ship to fall down…. Still, this Zeta girl, is she really belonging to Zex? Unlike him, her excitement is low and she looks like a good girl.

「Then, Zeta-san, please take care of our disciples.」

「No, I’m the one who should be asking that. I’m looking forward to working together with them.」

「…… I can’t believe Zex could raise such a good girl.」

「Deris, has someone said the same thing to you?」

「Haha, I get that a lot!」

Somehow, the criticism turned toward me even though I’m a gentleman. The world sure is strange.

「Um, are Deris-san and Zex-sama acquaintances?」

When I was worried about the state of the world, Zeta asked such a question.

「Hmm? We are acquaintances, but he’s more like a business partner of my old friend, I guess? Well, Zex’s creations have been a great help. Even the ship we are going to board was developed by Zex. I didn’t know he has a good disciple like you, though.」

「M-Me being his disciple is preposterous! I’m just like one of the cogs, nothing more! I just want to be useful to Zex-sama….」

「I-I see.」

I don’t really understand, but I feel a tremendous passion from her. What did he do to this girl? Is he holding a hostage or something?

「Well then, Shishō, we don’t have much time, so we’d better leave now.」

「Yeah, you can find food along the way, so it won’t be a problem to go as it is now.」

「Chinatsu, hunt the most, okay? You are the vanguard this time, so it’ll be easy, right?」

「Uhh, the pressure is terrible….」

Nell was being nice until a while ago, but the backlash is coming now, huh? There’s this carrot and stick thing, but I feel that the proportion of stick is higher. I don’t want the ship to be destroyed, so I’ll properly tell Nell later.

「I’m off!」

「I can do it, I can do it….」

「I’m sorry for bothering you.」

The girls left the inn. Haru was energetic, Chinatsu was somewhat not good, and Zeta was well-mannered. Yeah, I’m a little worried about Goddess Chinatsu.

「Ara, are you not going to follow them this time?」

「It’s not that they are going to fight against the Great Eight Demons, so I’ll leave it to them this time. I can just see the situation through the 『Book of Hawkeye』, and I’m not that overprotective, you know?」

「Hmm…. Is it not because you don’t like the cold?」

Ugh.