Black Iron Magician

Chapter 186 Party

―――― The 29th day of training.

The day after Touko was kidnapped by Lily. As if yesterday’s deadly battle was a lie, the mansion is truly peaceful.

「It’s so peaceful~」

「It sure is~」

It’s been almost a month since they got transferred to this world, and the unfamiliar environment of another world has been a series of hardships. It’s been a long way to get here, but the days have been so rich that it feels as if they’ve passed in an instant. Looking back on those past days, it’s rare to have a day with nothing happened like this.

Helping with housework, working as an administrator for the knight order, training together as a breather, and going to the counseling office. There’s no trouble-ish trouble. Chinatsu is earnestly enjoying this momentary peace today. As for Haruna, she is now helping Chinatsu in the counseling office to improve her Calculation skill.

(Well, if it weren’t for Deris-san, Shishō, and Touko, this would be normal. Yep, the existence of troublemakers is big.)

Chinatsu suddenly thinks about such a thing after seeing off the first counselee today. She is uncertain about the safety of Touko who was taken away by Lily, but she decided not to think deeply since Touko probably won’t die. Punishment is punishment, and the crime needs to be atoned for. As a person with common sense, Chinatsu thinks so.

(As for training her as a woman, well, that’s… on second thought, let’s not think about it too much…)

There are times when there’s nothing she can do. With a slightly red face, Chinatsu shakes her head to brush off the thought. Following the flow, she also recalls about yesterday’s underground training ground.

After Lily left, Aralkar regained her core and restarted. Haruna and Chinatsu were reflexively on guard, but she didn’t seem to care about them and started to repair the damaged training ground. She took the broken rubble into her body, crushed it into small pieces, and reconstructed it. She used her body as a link to plaster the damaged walls and floors. Just like concrete that dried up, the flat pavement gradually hardened. Aralkar even finished repairing the iron door in such a way. By the time she returned to the back of the door, everything was back to normal. It was the appearance of the engineering slime.

「I was wondering what to do with the tattered training ground, but I’m really glad it’s fixed… and that iron door too…」

「Chinatsu-chan, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden?」

「No, I just think that a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.」

「?」

In fact, the underground training ground has now regained its brilliance and is as good as new. There’s no rough spot no matter where you look, and it’s like the work of a professional. Nell probably would find out because of this, but it’s a hundred times better than showing her the destruction state. The cause was Aralkar, but they were the ones who started it, so Chinatsu is just grateful now. Thank you, former sixth rank-san. Chinatsu put her hands together in front of the iron door and thanked her. Namu namu.

「By the way, did you meet Tachibana-san and the other girls that Touko-chan took out?」

「I went to greet them yesterday because I wanted to tell them that Touko is going to be away for a while. They sure are lively after leaving the castle.」

Even though Touko is not here, the girls that she took out of the castle have their own lives. Leaving aside about Touko, Haruna seems to be worried about them.

There are five girls living in the community that Deris has prepared for them. Tachibana (level 4 fighter) and Asakura (level 3 chef) are members of the karate club headed by Touko, Kudou (level 4 magic swordsman) and Sae (level 3 merchant) belong to other club activities, and Oishi (level 3 hunter) is a glasses girl who belongs to go-home club.

「Asakura-san’s job is a chef, right? Then, I guess there’ll be no problem with their eating habits. I introduced the adventurer guild the other day when I went to see them, so I think they can earn living expenses normally.」

「Some of the girls have raised their level, so it seems that they can live normally. I wonder if they were trained by Touko?」

A few days before Touko’s disappearance, Haruna introduced them to the adventurer guild, and then they registered as adventurers. Since they were introduced by Haruna, the one whom the head of the guild has high expectations for, and they are all young girls, they were attracting attention in the guild.

「Touko then became the leader and named the party. I didn’t know there was such a custom because I basically act alone when taking a subjugation request.」

「The leader left immediately, though. Haha…」

The adventurer party in this world has a system of registering the party name in order to make the team name easier to recognize. If it’s just a temporary party, there’s no need for a name. However, if you are teaming up with others regularly, registering the party name will make it easier to gain fame and get good works. By the way, it seems that the name of Touko’s party is 『Flame Cat』. It’s said that it was named so because everyone is a cat person.

「Party name, huh. Hmm.」

「What’s wrong?」

「I’m thinking about what would be a good name if I and Chinatsu-chan were to form a party.」

「With me? I’m not an adventurer, though…」

「It seems that it’s okay to register as one even if you are the country’s soldier. Even Shishō and Nell-san are still registered.」

「Eh, is that so?」

Chinatsu is a little surprised since she was told that they had retired.

「Well, it’s just that Gramps Gior didn’t remove their registers and just left them on the document. He secretly told me about it the other day.」

「Haruna, you were shrewdly collecting amazing information, huh… Um, they were adventurers, right? Did they have a party name?」

「Ah, I didn’t hear that much… Uhh, now I’m curious. Chinatsu-chan, how about we go to the adventurer guild after the consultation work?」

The party during the adventurer days of Deris and Nell. Chinatsu is wondering if it’s okay to look for their past, but she’s actually curious too. Then, she carefreely accepted, thinking that it’s okay if it’s just the name.

「Alright! Then, let’s solve more of the worries of the lost lambs! Oohh!」

「Haruna, it’s good that you are motivated, but… something like the answer you said a while ago is no good, okay?」

At the consultation of Muno, the first troubled person today. He has some mixed feelings after he heard that Nell, the knight leader he respected and worshiped, is going to get married. He wants to congratulate her, but he also has hazy feelings. In response to his problem, Haruna almost proposed him to have a battle with the groom (Deris). The idea was if they exchanged blows on a riverbank under the evening sun, they will feel refreshed. Is that some kind of passionate story?

Considering Muno’s personality, Chinatsu quickly guessed that he probably would accept that proposition. There’s also a problem in Deris’s personality, and it’ll be bad if it’s found out by Nell. Using her Fast Thinking, Chinatsu searched for the safest solution. She interrupted Haruna’s talk and changed the direction. She then proposed an alternative solution faster than Haruna, and it ended without incident.

「Yes, I’ll be careful!」

「If you understand, then it’s okay. Yep, today is peaceful~」

This level of trouble is okay for Chinatsu. Rather, it’s calming.