Vol. 3 - Chapter 8 - Beginning of assignment
"You guys seriously have many difficulties in store..."
Even in a bad way, the situation generally was something which hadn\'t betrayed the expectations.
Teresa had been chanting repeatedly, but her mana control was in extreme disorder. With this, no matter how much she tried, the magic would not be activated.
In Cliff\'s case, the mana control itself was working, but the amount of mana needed to put into the magic word rune was not enough. He was probably unconsciously saving his magic power for fear of an outburst.
On the other hand, with a sour look, Pluto was striking the ax against a big tree. Contrary to his outward appearance, Pluto\'s frail body was too inefficient to perform such physical labor.
The last person, Mia, was—
"Wind Cutter!"
"Woah!!?"
The wind blade passed through Pluto\'s face, cleaving down the tree.
Avoiding the trees that were cut down and falling, with teary eyes, Pluto shouted in a voice of criticism.
"Hey, do you want to kill me!?"
"After all it\'s no good....."
Mia looked at her right hand with a dejected expression.
"Don\'t shit around! You almost cut me in half!!"
Pluto showers Mia with his criticism.
"I think you were also in the wrong here, being absent minded like that."
Cliff said sarcastically.
"What!? Don\'t shit with me! You do have the nerve to say after looking at the situation!!"
"You are being too impudent for a commoner. Be careful how you speak."
At last, a standoff developed into a shouting match.
On the other hand, Mia, the true culprit, was so shocked by the lack of control over her magic that she leaned against a large tree and slumped down.
As for Teresa, she picked flowers from the ground and started to make flower decorations.
Is this an elementary school where the classroom is in chaos!!?
I held my head, screaming inwardly.
To complete the first task mission, they needed to acquire three kinds of new mid-rank magic. It was impossible if they just stumbled down on the [Wind Cutter].
The data given by Seig showed that they were capable enough of making daily efforts and had the talent to clear it. I knew they took their magical training very seriously every day.
And yet they were so beat, maybe because in their minds, they were somewhat soft on themselves.
It was outrageous that they became pessimistic and stopped thinking, not to mention that they started fighting and playing.
"Stop it."
If that was the case, then I needed to change my ways. Anyway, with the willpower of these slacking losers, they would not be able to keep up with my assigned mission. It was already noticeable that they would lose their life sooner or later.
"Spy, are you here?"
"By your side."
A man dressed in black with a black cloth covering even his whole face was kneeling beside me.
"Okay, okay, pay attention!"
I clapped my hands, forcing everyone\'s eyes to look at me.
"I will have you guys fight with him. No victory condition. Just live. That\'s it."
"Huh!? What are you saying?”
As expected, Pluto\'s eyebrows furrowed as he spoke out his rebuttal in a high-handed manner.
"That\'s what it means. I\'m in charge of Class G’s failures. Anyway, you guys are probably already the target to be expelled from this academy. Then be quiet. I\'ll make sure you pass the test myself!"
Cliff inspired himself with words that were vigorous but without any evidence.
I didn\'t even look at the students as I approached Spy.
Give the four of them the biggest scare you can. But don\'t hurt them.
Spy put his hand on his chin and pondered, but then he said.
All I have to do is instill fear in them without leaving any physical defects, is that it?
Without any physical defects. Well that\'s right. Spy was a capable person. I was sure he could handle it.
Hmm. I\'m counting on you. I\'ll be out in a moment to prepare for the next training.
As you wish!!
Giving a sidelong glance to Spy who bowed his head, I teleported to the first floor of Sagami Company in Straheim.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
When I returned to the site of G class, there were four children with pale, bloodied faces.
All of them had completely lost their earlier bravado.
Cliff crouched down and clutched his hand, muttering, "I\'m sorry, I\'m sorry. I will not disobey anymore, so please. I don\'t want to be a spider anymore." Meanwhile, Pluto only silently hugged his body, shivering.
Teresa was laughing dryly at the trees, saying things like, "Hmm, that spider over there has nice, hairy legs."
As for Mia, she was blowing bubbles and completely fainted.
Umu. It was the perfect finish for the beginning.
"Form a line!"
I shouted, but there was no reaction to it. I guess it wasn\'t scary enough.
The beginning of anything was crucial. First of all, you needed to scare them from the bottom of their souls to the point where they didn\'t feel like defying you.
"Spy-kun, seems like your training isn\'t enough. I will be out for a while so I\'m counting on you."
"Yessir!"
Spy took a step forward, and Cliff and Pluto stood up like spring-loaded machines, standing tall in front of me like erected pins.
Teresa, on the other hand, made her way over to Mia.
"Mia, if you don\'t wake up, children will be coming for you again. Lots and lots of them.”
As Teresa shook Mia\'s both shoulders, saying something incomprehensible, Mia\'s eyes snapped open and she stood up to attend while changing her expression. Teresa also hurriedly joined the line that was delayed due to waking Mia up.
"Good, seems like all are present here."
I nodded my head in satisfaction as I saw that Teresa was the last in line.
『Really Master, you are nasty.』
Then without paying attention to Mura\'s amazed words, I gave each person a task.
In any case, the starting point was to be able to handle the lower-rank magic as soon as possible. It was impossible for the current Pluto and others to complete the assigned mission. If we continued on to the next level, we\'d die in all likelihood.
I guessed I should start with Teresa. I\'d have to learn to control my magic before I could even talk about it. I had just the right magic tools. I put the bag taken out from the item box in front of Teresa.
"What\'s this!?"
Perhaps relieved by the disappearance of Spy, Teresa\'s eyes lit up as she picked up the bag and began to examine it carefully, showing none of the intense anxiety she had felt earlier.
What a terrifying quickly switching girl.
『In actuality, I also want to learn from her.』
For once, I agreed with Mura completely. Judging from the uncertain situation, I doubted our normal training would work for Teresa.
"This is a magic bag. Adjust it."
This is the 『Moving Storage Education Version』. For the convenience of the merchant\'s logistics, I had purchased some magic bags as samples from Giresse and had the technical department investigate them, and some of them were modified by the Eternal workshop for the purpose of magical education. I borrowed it from a daycare centre run by "Revise Family."
Compared to the usual magic bag, it had up to 50 times the capacity and could be adjusted in five formats: easy, standard, hard, professional, and god.
After clearing the hard mode, no further adjustments were needed, but adjustments themselves could be made, and after clearing the god mode, the bag would glow gold and clear prizes would appear inside the bag. It was that kind of system.
The color of the bag would change if you put in the right amount of magic in a certain order, and a voice would instruct you on the next amount of magic. Because it was a game-like system, it was the kind of setting that could be used by young children who lacked concentration.
In other words, this was an item for young children to acquire the ability to control their magic power.
"Ehh, but Teresa is bad at controlling it."
Teresa\'s mouth twitched as she spoke her objection. It was really hard to believe that she was the same girl who was so scared just earlier. In other words, I couldn\'t read beyond her thoughts. It was the type of thing I had the most trouble with.
"I know. Rather than you being bad at it, you can\'t possibly even do it, right?"
"......Yes"
She nodded, biting her lips in frustration.
"Try to adjust the color according to the navigation of the magic bag."
"Like I said—"
While holding the magic bag, Teresa was once again trying to open her mouth.
"Now everyone, first of all, put the magical power into the bag. I wonder if you can do it~ ♬"
A sweet female voice could be heard.
"Fuee!?"
Teresa looked around and saw that the voice was coming from the bag, and with a face full of joy, she began to play with the bag as innocently as a puppy playing with it.
For the time being, this was enough for Teresa.
"Now then, the next is—"
When I looked at my half-brother Cliff, his body stiffened in startle.
I had never had a good impression of this kid, as well as Linda, from what I\'d seen so far.
Indeed, Cliff was arrogant, shallow, and ignorant of the world. I didn\'t feel anything but displeasure about the way he, along with his stepmother and Linda, tortured the servants.
But that was all. He had never committed a crime that was beyond the realm of humanity like stepmother and Zuke. Considering his age of 17 years old, he should be able to go back.
I knew better than anyone how much a single education could change a person. It was too early to give up on them. I felt that way.
Besides, the Millard family had Sebastian and Dame. If I could succeed in converting Cliff, the next head of the family, everything would be fine. Yes. What a good idea!
"Krama!"
A man with a short beard and eyes as sharp as a hawk appeared.
"My Supreme Lord, I\'m extremely delighted that you have called me."
He placed his right hand on his chest and bowed reverently.
"I\'m sorry, but I need you to play with that child."
Krama fixed his gaze on Cliff, his eyes narrowing.
"Is it okay even if things get rough?"
"Okay, I don\'t mind."
"Wait a minute! Why me? First of all, isn\'t her and my treatment too different!?"
Smiling at Cliff, who was throwing me the hardest look ever of a puppy separated from its mother, I said my judgement.
"Take him away."
Fufu, forgive me Ibokei-dono (half-brother). Unlike Teresa, I had no reservations about you. You would be a worthy pillar of the Millard domain. (T/N - I didn\'t change the meaning since he specifically says “Ibokei-dono,” unlike simple words which mean half-brother. So I just left the raw word along with its meaning as it is.)
"No, I don\'t wantt!!"
Cliff was dragged into the forest by Krama, who grabbed him by the neck of his back collar and twisted his face into a vicious grimace while he screamed pitifully and shamelessly. If he were literally dying, the fear of an outburst would have been blown away.
『Devil or... Buddha.』
And then Mura\'s voice reverberated in my head, as if he was truly disgusted from the bottom of the earth.