Chapter 98

Chapter 98 Strongest Sage, Services Training Site

"Can we borrow the schoolyard for a bit from now on?"

In the evening of the day we got the magic stone .

I've come to the principal office in order to borrow the place we're going to use for training .

"Schoolyard? What are you using it for?"

"Independent combat training of our party . We will have to break the schoolyard temporarily, but it'll be back to normal by morning . "

"I don't mind . The school encourages promising students bettering themselves, and I owe you a mountain of debt . "

The principal clapped his own head while saying that .

. . . . The cultivation project of the principal's scalp looks to be progressing well .

◇

About ten minutes later .

All four members of our party have gathered in the courtyard .

"Did you get the permission?"

"Easily . Look . "

I showed them the permit I got from the principal .

"T-there's even a permission to break the schoolyard . . . . Is it going to be that hard?"

Besides the permission to use the schoolyard, the permit also allows us to break the schoolyard as long as it's fixed before 7 AM in the next day .

"Yeah . It's an indispensable permission for training with limited time . . . . Now then, first of all I'll be setting the schoolyard . "

"Setting? We can't use it as is?"

Alma looks at the schoolyard .

The schoolyard isn't that neatly maintained, but there is no obvious unevenness or obstacles, it looks fairly usable .

But of course, that's no good .

"The purpose of the training this time is different . . . . That said, doing it manually will take too much time, I'll use magic . You three, back away a bit . "

"U-un!"

"Got it!"

After making sure the three has backed away, I prepare the magic .

" . . . Umm, aren't you using too much mana?"

Ruli asked me when she saw the activated magic .

It seems Ruli is able to see mana well now .

"Yeah . It's a relatively mana-consuming magic . You use it like this . "

After saying that, I ran to the center of the schoolyard–while rapidly shooting huge fireballs at the yard .

The fireballs immediately exploded when they hit the yard, gouging the ground, creating craters .

I repeated that for a bit more–and then the area around the middle of the schoolyard became a wasteland with nearly no even surfaces .

"T-the schoolyard!"

"An extremely effective way to make use of the permission to break the schoolyard . . . . "

Several spots on the destroyed schoolyard have turned into glass and are breaking apart, it's become exceedingly difficult to walk on .

Also, since there were still burning fire on some spots, I sprinkled water to put them out .

Due to that, the area around them are filled in water .

. . . Yup . It's the optimum environment for training .

"Alright, looks good . Let's start our combat training . "

I beckon the three who were waiting .

"D-don't tell me . . . . We're going to train here!?"

"I thought for sure that you asked the permission so Iris could fight without worries . . . . "

The point of this training would be lost if I did that .

Iris got into danger that time because of imperfect footing .

The footing on the school's training site is properly maintained, however, having easy-to-walk footing in an actual combat is rare .

Having it this bad is also rare, but if they get accustomed fighting here, they will be fine in most sites .

"Iris, use this sword . "

I hand over a reasonably sturdy sword to Iris .

The blade isn't nicked off because I'm the one who's going to be her opponent, but it's a high performance sword that is okay to break .

It's also been augmented to increase its strength to the extreme .

. . . . Ruli has become quite capable at augmenting .

We've got ourselves some dragon materials after all, I should ask her to make a reasonably good sword next time .

"I understand!"

After watching Iris receiving the sword, I turn toward Ruli and Alma .

"Ruli and Alma, you're going to practice shooting with this augment magic . The target is–"

Target marks used in the current world is too big, they're not good for practices .

To begin with, practices with non-moving targets will not amount to much in the actual battles .

That said, preparing a target that properly moves around will take time–oh right . There's a good target here .

"For the time being, you should aim to shoot this . "

I put a shell from a hermit crab monster on top of my head .

Cause they probably will hesitate if I tell them to aim for my body .

I can fight with a shell on my head just fine if it's against the current Iris, so this should be fine .

"On top of Mathi-kun's head!?"

"It's too dangerous, we can't do that!"

But you know, I can't think of any other method that's as effective .

"Alma, try shooting an arrow over there . "

I pointed at an area with nothing in it in the schoolyard .

"Eh, there? . . . Like this?"

The arrow was shot with a swoosh sound .

And I–

"Whoops . "

Approached it by running, shifted its trajectory with magic toward me and caught it in my hand .

If it's just light arrows, I can just divert them away .

Of course I have no problem coping with arrows flying toward me either .

"True, doesn't look like we need to worry . . . . "

"But it's getting dark now . . . Won't an arrow enter your blind spot by chance?"

"No worries . Human's skin is an exceedingly high performance sensing organ . Even if I completely lose my sight, I can deal with arrows that aren't concealed fine . "

"I-is that true! I thought things like having small legs was inconvenient, but humans are amazing!"

"No, I think people who can do that are already getting out of the realm of human . . . . "

Iris was amazed, Alma sounded like she couldn't believe it .

True, dragon's skin has dull sense in exchange for its sturdiness .

The combat training began while we were having that conversation .