Chapter 9: OUTDOOR TRAINING

During the outdoor training, I had too much spare time. While 20 students are taking part in the training, the only monster that appears sporadically is three groups of wolf-type monsters. In the forest, sitting with a good view of the cliff behind them, there’s no stress. It seems overkill to defeat a monster with multiple people. 「A—, I’ve got nothing to do. Let’s do something else. 」 「Me too. This is not very efficient. 」 Somebody responded to my monologue. It looks like someone was listening. As I turned my body towards the voice, a grey-haired guy was looking at the battle, looking bored. I’m pretty sure his name is Patrick Ashbaton. He came from Count households in the remote area, just like William. By the time he entered the academy, he was already level 10. Among the students, I imagine he has plenty of experience fighting monsters. 「I think it’s fine to have a few more monsters. 」 「True. We can split into the vanguard and the rearguard and work together. 」 Oh? It may sound cold, but it’s for someone to talk to me. It’s been a while since I had conversations with my peers. I was a little happy, so I kept on talking with him. 「Did you split into vanguard and rearguard when you were leveling up in the Ashbaton territory? 」 「Yeah. The vanguard will hold back the monsters while the rearguard attacks. That’s our basic strategy. 」 In that situation, won’t the leveling be one-sided? The amount of experience points you get is determined by the damage given to the monsters. 「When you do that, isn’t the Vanguard growing stronger? 」 「The previous strategy will be reversed. When the rearguard stops the monster’s movement using magic, the vanguard will attack. But the stability is reduced. 」 I see. I know how to level up efficiently individually, but when it comes to a party, it’s probably different. 「Can that strategy be done by everyone here? 」 When I inquired if the students here could level up using his way, he answered in a wondering tone. 「I think we can manage that…… But the monsters are too small, it’s useless. 」 「If you said the monsters are not enough, and I have something for it. 」 The principal said it would be okay for me to just observe, but I can help a little. I take out a monster-summoning flute from my pocket. 「Is that? Monster summoning flute?! Oi, stop blowing——. 」 For some reason, Patrick’s face paled, and he tried to restrain me, but I had already taken a big breath and blew the flute. The teacher who noticed the flute’s sound was about to step forth to protect the students, but I stopped him. 「There’s no need. It seems that Patrick-kun will guide the theme. 」 I said that while pointing to Patrick, he quickly joined the students’ group and started giving instructions. 「Split into vanguard and rearguard! The vanguard will be focusing on preventing the monsters from moving! If you get injured, step back quickly and use your potion. And the rearguard with a lot of magical power will become a range attacker! When the rearguard is attacking, the vanguard will stop them if you miss! 」 Patrick’s precise instruction impressed me, and it seems that they will come in contact with a group of monsters. The bush in front is rustling. As a result, they were able to survive the wave of monsters without anyone getting injured. There was little waste at their party as Patrick directed. I was not familiar with group battle, so I was impressed. After the fight was over, the students looked exhausted, and some were sitting down, perhaps out of power. 「Oi, Yumiela! Why did you suddenly do that?! 」 Although he was leaving to help hold back the group of monsters, Patrick still looked full of spirit, and he was coming up to me in a furious manner. Why was he angry? Oh, he’s a vanguard. Is he mad because he didn’t level up? 「You don’t need to worry. It’s all right. Since some of you may be out of magic, I’ll hold them back. 」 Patrick looked at me in doubt when I smiled and assured him that I’d help the vanguard level up. You don’t need to worry much, and it’ll be fine. I blew the monster summoning flute loudly once more. I’m going to explain to everyone here what I did because they can see what I’ve done. 「Since I stopped the monster’s movement, the vanguard, please attack, and no need to rush. 」 Using Dark Bind, I stopped the monsters one by one from jumping into the clearing. Dark Bind is dark magic where black hands appeared from the target’s shadow; those hands then hold the target, making them unable to move. The students were sitting when the second wave of monsters appeared, but they soon realized that the monsters were caught in the shadow and couldn’t move. The vanguards are attacking the monsters one after another. By the time the monsters have been defeated, the scent of blood hangs in the clearing. Normally, if all of this were left for a day, the monsters attracted to the smell would gather. Only this time it won’t occur. 「If you want some of the raw materials… Please collect it. I’ll wipe out the corpse later. 」 When I said that, surprisingly, everyone began to gather the raw materials from the monsters. The most valuable materials from the wolf-type monsters are the fangs. The girls have timidly stripped the wolves of their fangs, and the local nobles seemed quite strong. If this were the central nobles, they would hate to touch the monster’s corpse. After waiting for everybody to finish picking up the materials, I melt the corpse until nothing is left using dark flame. Patrick was watching me finish my job before speaking to me. 「Yumiela, next time, let me know in advance when you are going to blow the monster summoning flute. 」 He looked tired when he said it. 「Thank you for your hard work. Patrick-san’s leadership was excellent. 」 「Yeah …… no offense. 」 「What are you talking about? 」 No offense? Did I do something wrong here? He looked even more tired when I asked him what he was talking about. There was a sound from the bushes behind him, and when I turned around, a monster came out. Patrick was near, and I didn’t want him to get dragged into this, so I thought I was going to attack it, but he suddenly jumped in front of me. The unexpected event makes my mind go blank. Why, why did he go in front of me? At any rate, it was too late to think of protecting Patrick, his left arm already bitten by the monster. 「Black Hole! 」 Being impatient, I spontaneously cast my magic, and all but the monster’s head disappeared. 「Ughh, potion… 」 He removed the monster’s head using his right arm while moaning in pain, asking me to prepare his potion. 「You’ll be fine. I can use recovery magic. Heal. 」 In this world, Heal is light magic, but dark magic also has Heal. In the game, there’s a boss character with a subordinate who uses healing magic. Even though the subordinate is a monster with a dark attribute, they can use Heal. Yumiela never used it in the game, but I can use it normally. There’s a claim that the hidden boss can use recovery magic; it can’t be helped that recovery magic is useful. The only drawback is that it looks horrible. When you use light magic to heal, it will wrap up the wound in light magic and heal, but with dark magic, the wound will swell up and regenerate the flesh. The injury itself will be healed, but the process is unusually grotesque. 「……Uwaah. 」 Patrick was lost for words, looking at the scene, and he groaned too late. 「I think this is fine. Do you feel any pain? 」 「No, it’s okay. I was saved. 」 Hearing that, I was relieved because I was a little worried if there were any side effects for those who weren’t dark. 「Why did you jump in front of me? 」 「Sorry, I thought it was dangerous…… 」 Dangerous? The monster? No, I am. Does it mean he was worried about me? 「Dangerous? For me? 」 When I was strangely wondering, Patrick raised his voice. 「Take care of yourself more! Why aren’t you wearing a protection charm? It’s too late, and something has already happened. 」 He looks worried about my protection. Somehow, for the first time, I feel embarrassed about this. 「Ah… thank you. 」 I thanked him, and he went on. 「Hey, I still have something to say! Generally, you don’t need to blow something like a monster-summoning flute! There were some people here who saw monsters for the first time! And— 」 「Um, etto… sorry. 」 I apologized right away, but Patrick’s scolding for my lack of common sense lasted for a while.