Side: Yuki

I couldn't help but feel uneasy about the group standing before me.

No, it wasn't because anyone had bad intentions.

But if anyone saw what I was seeing, they'd probably feel the same way.

In fact, the more someone knew how innocent she was, the more anxious they'd become.

"Ah, it's Onii-chan!!"

"We've found Anii-sama!!"

Up to this point, everything was fine.

The problem lay in the two who came after, as well as the thing one of them was holding.

"...Ah, Yuki."

One of them was, naturally, Labyris.

"...Yuki-san."

The other was the rabbit-eared princess, Sheila.

Neither of them looked well... No, not in the sense that they looked unwell, they looked extremely troubled.

And the reason for those expressions was—what Aslin was carrying in her arms.

"Bauu!"

The creature let out a bark the moment it spotted me.

"Ah, Yuki-san! Isn't Aslin-chan amazing?"

While I stood there with a deeply conflicted expression—watching a beaming Aslin and the creature in her arms—Amanda-san noticed me and came trotting over.

"Err, what do you mean? More importantly, why are you with Aslin and the others, Amanda-san?"

For now, I attempted to get a handle on the situation by talking to Amanda-san.

I had to figure out a way to deal with the thing Aslin was holding.

"Ah, sorry about that. Well, today we're supposed to give a live demonstration of monster hunting in front of the Level 1 students. Samantha and I were assigned to Aslin-chan's group!"

"Ah, I heard something about that from Tori and the others."

"Yes! Tori-san and her group were incredible, too. With them around, the Level 1 students will be safe no matter what happens. You can leave Aslin-chan and her group to us without worrying!"

"I see. Well, please take good care of Aslin and the others. If they don't listen, feel free to give them a strict scolding."

"Yes, understood! Though they're such good kids, I don't think that'll be necessary."

"So, what was it about Aslin that was so amazing?"

Anyway, I needed to wrap up this conversation with Amanda-san quickly, snatch Aslin away for a talk, and do something about the thing in her hands.

"Ah, right!! It turns out Aslin-chan doesn't just have talent for magic—she has the talent of a Tamer just like me!"

No, calling it a talent for taming is an understatement; she's miles ahead of you, Amanda-san.

Aslin alone can command monsters by the thousands.

In fact, all those l*li-con monsters back in Weed swear absolute loyalty to Aslin over me.

While I digested that thought internally, Amanda-san blew a whistle with her fingers. A monster identical to the one Aslin was holding emerged from the academy building.

"This child is a wolf monster called a Black Wolf, and the one Aslin-chan is holding is a Black Wolf pup. Monsters don't usually warm up to humans, and Black Wolves are especially ferocious. I found this one when I was a child too, but it took a long time to become friends. There was even a moment when it was almost put down, but that actually became the trigger for us to get close... Ah, I got off topic! My point is, Aslin-chan has already befriended a monster that's normally incredibly difficult to tame. That's an incredible talent!"

Amanda-san chattered excitedly.

Seeing her like that, I finally understood why Labyris and Sheila looked so troubled.

"I was surprised when she stroked my Black Wolf without showing any fear, but knowing she tamed one herself despite being so young makes complete sense!"

"Ehehe~ Onii-chan, everyone praised Kuro-chan!"

"Bauu!"

Aslin smiled proudly.

She had summoned Kuro-chan with pure, innocent intentions.

Unfortunately... Kuro-chan wasn't a 'Black Wolf'—he was 'Black Fenrir Lord'.

Kuro-chan here was one of the Ten Beast Attendants serving directly under Aslin.

Or rather... To Aslin, he was simply one of her pets.

However, since "Fenrir" bears the name of that legendary god-devouring wolf, it was a monster so far beyond a mere Black Wolf that they weren't even in the same universe.

In terms of level it's around 250, so the Holy Sword Wielders aren't even opponents, and even the Dullahan Peace Guardworld is like a child. In fact, Peace never defies Asulin's ten pets. If you let it rampage on this new continent, one of them could easily take down a country in terms of combat strength.

Normally, all of her pets, including Kuro-chan, acted as guards back in Weed. Mainly serving as playmates for the kids at school—or rather, everyone's shared pets. Right now, it had taken the form of a tiny puppy, but its true form was a massive, terrifying wolf roughly the size of a large semi-truck.

And as you might expect, the monsters summoned from Weed were no fools. All of them understood human speech, and higher-tier monsters were capable of full conversation.... Which meant Kuro-chan was definitely not just a cute little puppy that could only say "Bauu! Bauu!"

"Aslin, can I borrow Kuro-chan for a second?"

"Yeah, sure!"

Receiving the handed-over Kuro-chan, I turned my back to Amanda-san, Aslin, and the others.

"So, Kuro. Why the hell did you come here?"

"Naturally, because it is the wish of our Princess, Master. Furthermore, I must ask you not to abbreviate the name bestowed upon me by our Princess. No matter if you are the Master, I cannot tolerate it. Please address me properly as 'Kuro-chan'."

A deep, gritty voice replied.

Forget gap-moiety; that's just plain terrifying.

Also, "-chan" is definitely not part of your name; I'm pretty sure Aslin just attached an honorific by mistake.

"Yeah, yeah. Kuro-chan. So why exactly did you come here? And what are you planning to do now?"

"So why exactly did you come here? And what are you planning to do now?"

"My purpose is obvious. To protect our Princess. What greater duty could there be? Ordinarily, her sisters stand guard, leaving no role for us. However, this time I was personally chosen. After all the kindness my Princess has shown me, offering her my absolute loyalty is only natural."

"I see. So why is Amanda-san's Black Wolf over there standing with its tail tucked between its legs, shaking in absolute terror?"

"Because I threatened it. It was the very creature responsible for summoning me here. I spared its life solely because of that. Under normal circumstances, its actions would have warranted immediate execution. If anything, it should be grateful for my mercy."

"What? That mutt actually did something?"

"It had sunk its fangs into our princess. The princess probably thought it was playing, but looking at that mutt's expression makes it clear. It was trying to sink its fangs in and establish which of them was superior. Goodness, the caliber of its owner—that young girl—is plain to see."

Ah, I see. So that was what had happened.

Well, Aslin's own doppelganger is ridiculously high-level, so getting bitten was fine and she didn't flinch at all, and then a higher-ranked puppy lookalike was summoned. No wonder Amanda-san's Black Wolf looked ready to faint.

"I understand the circumstances. So, do you understand what comes next?"

"Naturally. Please do not treat me the same as that ignorant cur. I shall protect the Princess, Filia-sama, Sheila-sama, and Labyris-sama while playing along with their house-playing games, correct, Master?"

"...Calling it 'playing house'... well, I suppose that's not entirely inaccurate. But listen. I want you to expand your protection to include everyone in the group."

"Why? Doing so would leave that young girl and the mage girl with nothing to do, would it not?"

"Idiot. Who told you to do the demonstration in their place? Even if it's only temporary, these members are Aslin's schoolmates, just like back in Weed. If they get hurt, Aslin and the others will be sad."

"...Understood. However, should an enemy beyond their abilities appear, I shall intervene."

"That's fine. Aslin and the others can't reveal their true strength anyway."

"Indeed. For the Princess and her friends to go all out implies that we, the Ten Beast Attendants, would also move at full power. A fragile academy like this would be blown away easily."

"Make sure you adjust things properly. There's still a lot about this new continent we haven't investigated yet."

"I understand. I shall not cause trouble for the Master."

"Good then."

Satisfied, I handed Kuro-chan back to Aslin.

No matter how capable he was, I couldn't bring myself to trust him completely.

"I'm counting on you two. Eris and the others are treated as Level 3 students, so it's hard for them to barge in on the Level 1 students."

"We know. Leave those two girls and that one beast to us."

"Yes. We'll properly keep an eye on Aslin, Filia, and Kuro-chan, so please rest easy."

Labyris and Sheila's reassuring replies felt infinitely more dependable than Kuro-chan's.

* * *

After a bit of light small talk, I informed Eris, Tori, and the others that mana was strangely concentrating around this academy area, asking them to look into it to the extent that it wouldn't disrupt classes. Then, we parted ways.

"Still, it's strange, isn't it? Why are there so many monsters concentrated only around this area?"

"Who knows? But if we figure that out, it might help move various things forward."

Right now, we were in the middle of practical monster extermination training, stepping into the monster forest managed by the academy.

While chatting casually with Taiki-kun, I kept a sharp eye on our surroundings.

With Eoid-kun present, I couldn't openly use call-related functions or system features.

Since I usually relied heavily on convenient, top-tier magic, this served as great training under the assumption that those options were sealed off.

"Ria, Taiki-kun, how are the surroundings looking? Personally, I don't feel any particular presences."

"I don't feel like there are any monsters around us either."

"Same here."

If the two Hero-class combatants said so, there shouldn't be any major issues.

Even in the preliminary survey, the most dangerous thing mentioned was a Wyvern deep in the mountains. Though those survey results were surprising in themselves... For a continent where even Orcs were considered rare, there was actually a region where Wyverns existed.

What on earth was causing it?

It likely had to do with mana concentration, but there wasn't a established method for measuring atmospheric mana density.

I could read the flow when people or monsters cast magic, but... man, I wished I had something like a Scouter. Appraising every single thing to check manually was a pain.

"Y-You're all so relaxed... Is this kind of thing common for mercenaries?"

Eoid-kun, who was trailing at the very back, called out to us.

"I don't think it's strictly because we're mercenaries."

"Is that so?"

"People who gather herbs or hunt in forests regularly have to watch out for goblins and wild animals as a matter of course."

"Ah, I see..."

"Besides, Eoid-kun, haven't you entered this forest several times before?"

"Yes, this makes it my seventh time."

"Then why are you hanging back so timidly? You should be used to it—certainly more than us."

Indeed, ever since entering this forest, Eoid-kun had been strangely jumpy.

It wasn't just nervousness; his posture was completely cowed.

"I'm sorry..."

"No, it's not something you need to apologize for, but could you tell us why you're like that? Did we do something wrong?"

"No, Yuki-san and the others didn't do anything wrong at all. If anything, it's my own problem."

"Your own problem?"

"...Yes. Well, keeping quiet and causing trouble later would be bad, so do you mind if we rest a bit while I explain? There aren't any monsters nearby, right?"

"Yeah, I don't feel any, but how about you two?"

"No change from earlier. I don't think there are any."

"Yup, same as Ria-san."

"Alright. Then let's take a break and hear what Eoid-kun has to say."

Don't tell me he has some weird condition where he can't display his power unless the heroine is nearby?

"Yuki-san, could this be one of those classic tropes where he can't use his power unless that Amanda-chan is around?"

Taiki-kun whispered in my ear.

As expected, he was on the exact same wavelength as me.

When two otaku arrive at the same conclusion... I get a really bad feeling about this.

After drinking some water and taking a breath, Eoid-kun spoke up apologetically.

"Umm... well, as for why I was so jumpy... it's because I can't use magic."

"""Huh?"""

Wait, is that so?

Was Eoid-kun's situation just having mana control, but unable to learn distinct elemental magic?

But since he can use mana itself as a weapon, shouldn't that be fine?

"I can't use magic myself, but I can steal it."

"""Steal?"""

What does that mean?

He doesn't have Skill Hunt, Taker, or Learning-type skills on him, though.

Taiki-kun and Ria looked at my face, silently asking if he had an "eye-learning" ability, but I shook my head since he didn't.

"How should I put it... Ah, could someone use magic for a second? Fire would be great if possible."

"Hmm, yeah. If it's just that."

I agreed and generated a light fireball—a small Fireball.

"W-Wow, incredible. As expected of the husband of Eris-san, who defeated the Headmaster. Casting without a chant so casually..."

Actually, forget all my wives—even Taiki-kun over there could easily pull off chantless casting at this level. In fact, my wives and Taiki-kun are fundamentally warrior types.

...Wait, now that I think about it, don't almost all my wives have close-combat-focused occupations? Aren't Rurua and Eris the only rear-guard mages? What's with this muscle-brained party? As for dedicated healers, it's literally just me and Rurua.

Putting that aside, how was he going to steal this fireball I summoned?

"So, what are you going to do with this, Eoid-kun?"

"Ah, sorry. Borrowing this for a moment!"

With that, he effortlessly snatched control of the magic and drew the fireball to his own hand.

"Ah, I see."

"Yes. I can only steal magic that someone else has already cast and manifested. Usually, I team up with Amanda, so it wasn't a problem... but whenever I team up with other people and use this skill, they give me awful looks. Because of that, people pick fights with me, and it's led to duel commotions and all sorts of trouble."

I see. Or rather, that's almost too cliché.

"Personally, I think that's an incredible talent, but I guess the other students didn't see it that way, huh."

"Ah, thank you very much! The only ones who have ever said that to me are Amanda, Cleana, and the Headmaster."

Who's Cleana? Is he raising flags with another girl already?

Yep, Eoid really is a protagonist.

"It's not that I can't fight with a sword, but that doesn't earn me good evaluations. And since I can't use magic on my own, I'd just be tagging along. So Amanda said it was a good opportunity and suggested I join Yuki-san's group for the monster hunting."

Saying that, Eoid threw the fireball he stole from me at a tree, scattering it harmlessly.

Ah, thank goodness. I intentionally cast a tiny spark-level spell; if I had cast at my usual output, that fireball wouldn't have vanished until it burned through the entire forest... It wouldn't have been a mere forest fire at that point.

Sweating cold sweat for a very different reason, I called out to the apologetic Eoid-kun.

"I see. I don't mind it at all, so I'm happy to hunt monsters together. What about you two?"

"I don't mind in the slightest."

"No objections here either. In fact, since it's a good opportunity, why don't you use this chance to learn magic, Eoid?"

"Eh? If it were that easy to learn, I wouldn't be struggling like this, Taiki. I've tried all sorts of things on my own up until now, but nothing worked."

Well, that makes sense.

If it were easy to learn, he wouldn't be standing here apologizing to us.

However, that was because he was self-taught.

"Don't worry. I'll teach you properly. I can use mana manipulation too."

"Eh?"

"Don't look so surprised. It's not a special skill unique to you, Eoid—though it's true a lot of people don't know how to apply it. Yuki-san, could you cast a Fireball like before?"

"Sure thing."

Responding to Taiki-kun's request, I generated a Fireball, and he immediately snatched control of it.

Seeing that, Eoid-kun was utterly shocked.

"I-It really worked..."

"Well, normally you can't. Actually, stealing Yuki-san's magic is normally impossible—this guy puts multiple layers of protection on his spells."

"Protection? But you just stole control so easily!"

"That's because the power was super low and didn't matter. For spells where a misfire would cause catastrophic damage, the control structure becomes completely unique to the caster. Unless your compatibility is exceptionally high, you can't steal control. Don't you remember anything like that?"

At Taiki-kun's question, Eoid-kun paused to think for a moment.

Then, realizing something, his face lit up in realization.

"Now that you mention it... during that duel with the guy who picked a fight with me, stealing his Wind Storm was really hard. He cast it three times, and I barely managed to steal control on the last one to win."

"...Honestly, at that level, stealing it should be a breeze."

"Eh?"

Don't look at me like that!

"Ah, never mind. Anyway, do you get now why I can teach you?"

"Yes! Please, teach me! I don't want to be a burden to the girls anymore. I want to become a man who can stand tall beside them!"

""Ooh, what a handsome line.""

My voice overlapped with Taiki-kun's.

Hey, it couldn't be helped.

Not many people can utter such an embarrassing line with a straight face.

As expected of a protagonist.

"Alright, to become a man who can stand tall, let's start practicing right away."

"We can start right now?!"

"Yeah, we can. Here, try stealing control of my Water Ball."

"...Taiki uses chantless casting too, huh."

"Don't get depressed over every little thing! You're the absolute novice among us anyway. Hurry up and steal control!"

"How cruel... S-So, like this?"

"Good. Now maintain that state until the monster hunting is over."

"Huh?! That's impossible! You can't maintain magic stolen from someone else for very long. Five minutes at best!"

"Dude, the guy who stole control of Yuki-san's Fireball is standing right in front of you. It's already been ten minutes, you know?"

"Ah."

"Well, the reason you can't maintain it is that you haven't mastered that element's magic, so you don't know how to maintain it. Look, your Water Ball is shrinking. Hold it together!"

"W-Wait, how am I supposed to maintain it?!"

"Just pour your mana into it to replenish what's missing!"

"I told you, I can't use water magic!!"

"Calm down! The fact that you stole control means you are using water magic. In your case, the problem is that after stealing control, you isolate the magic. You just need to connect it directly to your own mana. Usually, isolating it with mana control like that is the harder part!"

What Taiki-kun said was true. However, in Eoid's case, because he was called a thief, he learned to isolate the magic without touching it directly.

In other words, he accidentally mastered creating magic isolation first.

By the way, if you practice and refine that, you can create a zone that completely nullifies magic.

Anyway, easier said than done—Eoid-kun promptly let the water sphere burst and scatter all over himself.

The cause was that his mana supply stopped, making it impossible to maintain the shape.

"Well, I didn't expect you to get it right from the start. Alright, we're doing this until you get it. This time, a bigger Water Ball. If you can't maintain it, Eoid, you're getting drenched."

"Ehhhh?!"

"Don't expect to learn anything without putting in the work. Here it comes!"

"W-Wait, time out!!"

"No mercy!"

And so began a drenching scene featuring the handsome protagonist—something I had zero interest in seeing.

Well, he was seriously getting soaked.

It wasn't cold out, but walking around drenched in water without drying off was going to drain his stamina and make him chilly.

Hang in there, Eoid, you're the protagonist!!

This is... yeah, the training arc!

"Yuki-san."

"What's up, Ria?"

"W-Would you like to get wet too?"

"Eh, no thanks. Why?"

"I-I just think seeing you walking around all drenched would look really cool, Yuki-san!"

"...I'll do it for you when we're not on duty, so could you please put away that giant water sphere floating up there?"

While expressing her wish, Ria was floating a water sphere overhead that was incomparably larger than the one used for Eoid-kun's training.

Her cheeks were flushed red, so if I rejected her poorly, I'd end up suffering the same fate as Eoid.

"Is that a promise?"

"Promise, promise. So let's toss that away safely, okay?"

"...Understood. If Yuki-san hated me, I'd practically die, so I'll restrain myself. Hup!"

Saying that, Ria threw the massive water sphere far into the distance.

CRASHHH!

SNAP!

BOOM!

GYAAAH!

Wait, what was that volume of water?!

There was a sound like trees snapping, followed by a weird screeching voice at the end...

As I stared toward the sky in the direction of the noise, the owner of that strange voice revealed itself.

"Ah, it hit a Wyvern."

"Ah... I'm sorry."

What terrible luck for that Wyvern.

Consider yourself lucky to still be alive.

Thinking that, I watched the Wyvern circling in the air, when suddenly a shout echoed from somewhere in the distance.

Reacting to the voice, the Wyvern let out a roar and began diving toward the source.

"W-What should we do?!"

"Ria, from now on, let's dispel things safely without causing collateral damage."

"...I'm sorry."

Ria looked crestfallen.

Well, since it was a seed we planted ourselves, we had to fix it before any real damage was done.

I was about to quickly explain the situation to Taiki-kun and Eoid so we could rush over to help, but...

"Yuki-san, a Wyvern just—!!"

"Yeah, I saw it."

Eoid ran over to us with a panicked expression.

There was no way I could tell him that we were the cause.

"I-I heard Amanda and Samantha's voices shouting, too!! Please!! Lend me your strength!!"

"""Eh?"""

Hearing Eoid's words, Taiki-kun—who had just caught up—and the rest of us froze.

"Eris-san and the others are with them, so they should be holding out somehow!! Normally, we ought to run, but I don't want to abandon Amanda and Samantha and run away!! Please!!"

Without giving a verbal answer, we broke into a sprint toward the direction of the Wyvern's roar and the shouting.

"T-Thank you so much!!"

Taking our action as a gesture of rescue, Eoid thanked us joyfully and chased after us.

However, our minds were elsewhere.

Regardless of the Wyvern's disposition, there was no way Eris and her group would lose.

Except, among the current members was Aslin—who absolutely loved monsters. And alongside her was an idiot who offered his absolute loyalty to Aslin as his princess.

"AWOOOOOOOO————!!"

"""Ah."""

A monstrously huge wolf howl echoed through the forest, and we redoubled our pace, knowing full well we were already too late.

Damn it, this time's event is our fault!!