Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Recruiting Teammates

“Haha, now that I think about it, even if our departments are different, we are friends in the same year, aren’t we? If a friend is in trouble because of me, I cannot simply stand by.”

“…It looks like the reward was surprisingly appealing to you?”

“Let us not worry about trivial things between friends, shall we?”

Karin seemed quite displeased by my swift change in attitude, but since she did not particularly have another choice either, she wrote my name down on the team member submission form with a relieved expression.

“Then you are settled. Now I have to bring in one more person.......”

“What about Jaeger?”

“I already asked him. He cleared out all his commissions and schedules this week because he is making something. I do not know what suddenly got into him.”

Perhaps I should have expected nothing less from Highsmith’s disciple. 

It seemed his eyes had gone wild when he heard he could use my ‘High-Grade Mana Crystal’ as a crafting material.

“If he is unavailable, I will just make an offer to someone else.”

“…What? Do you have someone in mind?”

“I do. One highly skilled person.”

Karin wore a strange expression.

“I do not know who it is, but the high-grade students have probably already been taken by other teams.”

Usually, that would be true. 

Since this was a department-linked class, with only about two days left before the tournament, all the skilled students would have already been recruited by other teams.

However.

“The Black Magic Department.”

Karin flinched at my words.

“Even if your department students wanted to earn credits, they would not have wanted to bring a Black Magic Department student onto their team, would they?”

“That is true, but I am a little uncomfortable with Black Magic too.......”

Karin trailed off with a dissatisfied expression.

Well, that was the common perception of Black Magic seen around us.

Black Mages used Black Magic too, after all.

No matter how the Dark Empire, which mainly used Black Magic, had maintained its long history until now, it was also a fact that Black Sorcerers were running rampant outside the academy.

Lucia was the unusual one. 

She had hidden the fact that she used Black Magic until now.

Thanks to having lived diligently here all this time, she was doing well even after the Disciplinary Committee ended, but if someone knew from the start that the other party was a Black Mage, they had no choice but to keep their distance like Karin.

…Of course, since I was a Black Mage too, that gaze did not look pleasant to me at all.

“Do we have to bring in a Black Mage? We can just bring another student.”

“No, thank you. If I am going to do something, I am the type to do it properly.”

I stepped forward and jerked my chin at Karin.

“Let us go. We are going to recruit a Black Mage.”

“Who exactly are you planning to bring?”

“Lloyd Desmond.”

***

“You want to recruit me as a teammate?”

After hearing the circumstances, Lloyd frowned slightly at me.

“The offer is tempting. If they are giving additional credits, there is no reason to refuse.”

Lloyd gazed steadily at Karin.

“But have you finished discussing this with her… with Karin? Her expression does not look very good.”

“It is mutually beneficial, so there is nothing bad about it, right?”

“Let me give you one piece of advice, Damon. I do not know how you think of it, but Black Mages are not exactly welcomed by the people around them. Because of the Black Sorcerers outside, the perception of Black Magic is not very good either.......”

“I will introduce you to ten more good restaurants I know around Saengterminum.”

A gleam appeared in Lloyd’s eyes.

“…What is the atmosphere like?”

“Except for one or two places, I would say they are suitable enough. They should suit your tastes.”

“…And the quality?”

“I guarantee it. If you do not like them, I will even pay you ten times the penalty.”

I had no choice but to be confident, since these restaurants were part of the list Lloyd had introduced to me before my Return to the Past.

Since I knew all the restaurants he had discovered and refined during his school days, there was no way he would be dissatisfied.

The corners of Lloyd’s mouth rose.

“If you go that far, I cannot refuse your offer.”

“Hehe, of course.”

Thus, recruiting Lloyd as a teammate concluded successfully without any major problems.

Karin also agreed and wrote Lloyd’s name in the teammate section.

“I mean, I am glad a high-grade teammate is joining us. But Damon, you use Holy Magic. And Lloyd, you use Black Magic.......”

“You are worried that our powers will cancel each other out, then?”

Lloyd also looked at me and let out a low hum.

“Come to think of it, this is my first time forming a team with a Holy Power user too.......”

Karin and Lloyd’s concerns were not meaningless worries.

Holy Magic and Black Magic were opposites.

Normally, if they came into contact with each other, a repulsive force would occur, and each other’s magic formulas would be altered.

…Yes. 

Normally, that is.

“I will handle that myself.”

At my words, Lloyd and Karin’s gazes gathered on me.

“Does that mean you have a method? What should we do?”

“Lloyd, you can use Black Magic however you like. I will match it.”

“…Match it?”

Lloyd asked back because he did not understand, but it was also difficult for me to put this into words.

‘It would be laughable to compare Sword Radiance’s Holy Magic before my Return to the Past with Lloyd’s current Black Magic.’

Even with my present ability, it should be more than possible to deploy Holy Magic in accordance with the undead Lloyd summoned right now.

“I have never done it directly before, but I know the method, so do not worry.”

“…That is the most worrying thing I have ever heard in my life.”

“Hey, do I look like someone who would make things up?”

The two of them looked at my kind-looking face in Polymorph form, then fell briefly silent.

“Your impression is good, but your words and actions are rather.......”

“You do seem like you would make things up well.”

These bastards.

***

The next morning, the first thing I saw as soon as I opened the Dormitory door was a narrow-eyed man.

“Hehe, good morning.”

“You startled me.......”

Jaeger Maximov was looking at me with that distinctive sinister expression of his.

What was this? 

Déjà vu?

Considering it was morning, I would give him credit for not knocking, but from the receiving end, this felt rather unpleasant.

“Can’t you open those damned eyes of yours a little wider? Anyone who saw you would think you were standing in front of the door trying to stab someone.”

“Ahaha……. Do you mean these?”

Jaeger touched his temple and laughed hollowly.

“I grew up around a blacksmith’s forge firebox since I was young, so the light was dazzling and I started keeping them slightly narrowed… and before I knew it, this became more comfortable.”

“You have lived quite the hard life too, haven’t you?”

Well, I had already known that.

I held out the ‘Mana Crystal Dagger’ to Jaeger.

“You came to receive this, right?”

“Oh… finally.......”

The narrow eyes of Jaeger, who received the dagger, opened slightly.

“Truly, the moment I saw this, I could only sigh. No, how could someone handle such a precious ‘High-Grade Mana Crystal’ like this? Does this make any sense? Covering it with such low-quality leather is an insult to the ‘High-Grade Mana Crystal.’ Besides, look here. Here. The blade is made of commonly obtainable steel too.......”

Sorry, but even if I looked at it, I did not know the details.

The Headmaster had intentionally concealed the ‘High-Grade Mana Crystal’ as a surprise gift for a student, but it seemed that from Jaeger’s perspective as a blacksmith, it had provoked his temper.

Anger gradually rose in Jaeger’s voice as he continued speaking.

“Hoo……. I do not know who made this, but if I see their face, I will smash their head in with my hammer.”

“The Headmaster made it like that.”

“…Ahem, ahem. What did I just say?”

As expected of Headmaster Levia. 

Simply hearing her name could quell a student’s anger.

After clearing his throat lightly, Jaeger continued.

“I will modify this Mana Crystal Dagger separately so that it can be used in actual combat as well. My teacher would not tolerate leaving such precious material in this state either.”

“That sounds good to me. Let me know once you have worked on it.”

In truth, I wanted to reinforce that weapon further with materials suited to me, but if I did that, the production time would become too long.

For now, it would be better to let Jaeger do what he could within his limits.

When it came to knowledge about Weapon Crafting, he was better than me too.

“Then, excuse me.”

With those words, Jaeger rushed away in one breath.

“…He still loves making things as much as ever, that guy.”

I looked down at the back of my right hand.

For now, I had to hear advice on how to use this Holy Power.

Given Yulia’s upright personality, which led her to train from the morning, this should be the time when she was at the Training Hall. 

It was perfect timing.

***

Since it was the first day of the holiday, the Training Hall lobby was fairly quiet.

That also meant it was easy for the people inside to recognize each other.

“Who do we have here so early in the morning?”

Viole, who spotted me entering from the entrance, came over warmly.

She was wearing a Combat Uniform, not a student uniform.

Since sweat clung to her hair and the nape of her neck, it seemed she had just finished training.

“It looks like you came to practice too?”

“Yeah. I have not been handling that… Double-Bladed Axe for very long either. I have to learn it diligently.”

Viole had accepted my advice and changed her combat style from using a Mace to using a Double-Bladed Axe wrapped in ‘Holy Light Forging.’

Of course, at first, the Holy Magic Department professors who saw her Double-Bladed Axe had shown displeased expressions.

‘Right? It does not suit me, does it? It is strange, isn’t it? You want to tell me to quit immediately, don’t you?’

‘I did not say anything quite that harsh.......’

‘No. You have to!’

Rather, Viole had not merely welcomed that concern. 

She had outright embraced it.

In truth, the person most uncomfortable with the Double-Bladed Axe was Viole herself.

However, talent was truly a frightening thing.

Even the professors who had been worried had no choice but to admit that her movements and combat style had noticeably improved compared to when she only used a Mace.

It reached the point where, after seeing Viole’s Double-Bladed Axe for the first time and finishing class, the professors each gave Viole a comment at the end.

‘Student Viole? I would evaluate changing to the Double-Bladed Axe as a divine move.’

‘The Double-Bladed Axe… It may look that way, but it is good, is it not? Once Holy Power is applied to it, it is good for defense, and its destructive power is quite.......’

‘It is useful. At least three times more useful than the Mace you used before.’

Perhaps remembering the professors’ advice, Viole’s eyes grew distant.

“How is it that not a single one of them told me it was bad.......?”

“What can you do when you use it that well?”

“I am grateful because you recommended it to me, but.......”

In any case, after even completing the professors’ verification, Viole had now completely made up her mind to use the Double-Bladed Axe.

Though she was still uneasy about using it.

“Yulia also said earlier in the Training Hall that I was better off using an axe……. I really do not know whether this is a good thing.”

So she had come together with Yulia after all.

“You came to train too, right?”

“I came to train and meet you two at the same time.”

“Hm? Me and Yulia?”

“I wanted to hear some advice from you two regarding Holy Power.”

“Oh I was starting to think you would come ask us soon… This is good timing. We also have something to talk to you about separately.”

Viole walked ahead and gestured with her chin.

“Then shall we go in together? Yulia is still inside.”