「Look, look, what’s the matter, Lean-sama? …Don’t worry, I heard that vampires are tough. You won’t die so easily♡」
Saying so, Tiana-san the monster chased after me with a smile on her face.
I run and run and run to hide.
She has been shooting her magic at me in a barrage of unbelievable magic, but she shows no sign of running out of her magic power.
Somehow…I have to escape somehow…
「Ah, there you are. Found you♪」
「Wai, what are…Hiiii!?」
Somehow, Tiana-san seemed to have figured out where I was, released a spear of ice that flew away two inches above my head, and pierced a tree.
That’s not cool!? If I get hit by this, won’t even I die!?
「Don’t worry! We have a special formula built into the magic so that even if it hits a living creature, it won’t die. However, it will hurt to death, so please be careful… Now, here comes the rapid-fire gatling, so make sure you avoid it, okay?」
「Hiiiiiiiiii!?」
How did that sweet Tiana-san end up in this situation?
The time goes back to about an hour ago―――
◆◇◆◇◆
Tea Party with Isuzu-sama… After the discussion was over, I had a good night’s sleep for the first time in a long time, and after a bit of stretching, I left the room that had been assigned to me.
The room was a dormitory-like place where the lower-ranking members of the Demon King’s Army were put. The higher up you go, the better treatment awaits you.
I heard that once you join the Demon King’s Army, the Demon King does not give you special treatment, even if you are a member of the same family. It’s pretty tough.
…However, if you ask me if the lower dorms are shoddy, the answer is no. They have decent beds, the rooms are reasonably spacious, and there is a proper caretaker, so they seem to be clean.
And then there is the food. There is a cafeteria, from which three meals a day are served.
And this food…
「…Yum!?」
It was outrageously delicious.
It was at a level that made me want to punch myself for thinking that the demon tribe might be eating something pretty terrible, dragged down by the image of their previous lives.
It’s 8:00 at night now, so it’s dinner… I don’t know what it was, but it was a breakfast-like menu, perhaps because they took into account that I was awake in bed and that I am a vampire. Bread, soup, salad, and eggs. Well, breakfast on the high street. Well, for a vampire, it’s dinner.
However, the taste was far beyond my imagination. The chef must have been very skillful, but the ingredients were delicious. I have heard in a previous life that vegetables that taste good don’t need dressing, and that’s exactly how I felt.
I finished my meal with tears in my eyes because I had been eating only hunted animals and wild plants recently, and thanked the diner lady and left the diner.
I didn’t realize that this dormitory, where the lowest level of people is supposed to be gathered, was so high… What’s going on with the demon army?
At any rate, I returned to my room and was basking in the afterglow of my first good meal in a long time. There was a knock at the door.
「Yes, who is it?」
「Good evening…? Good morning? Well, for that matter…Lean-sama, this is Tiana.」
「Ah, Tiana-san. Good evening is fine. Please come in.」
「Now, if you’ll excuse me.」
The person in front of the room pronounced… I invited Tiana-san, an executive of the demon king’s army, into my room.
「I’m glad you slept well, Lean-sama. How is the comfort of your room?」
「I am surprisingly comfortable. Is this a place for ordinary soldiers of the demon army?」
「Yes. After all, the demon tribe has more than half of the world’s territory, even though its total number is vastly inferior to that of humans… They have an abundance of land and other resources.」
「Oh, I see… Also, the food was really good. I cried a little.」
「It is, well, a foregone conclusion. The elves are vegetarian and adept at vegetables, the beastmen, on the other hand, are fussy about meat, fish, etc., and the dwarves are unrivaled in making alcohol and many more. As a result of this mixture of numerous races, the excellent food knowledge of each race was mixed, and as a result, the table was enriched. As I mentioned earlier, we have an excess of land, so we can farm all we want and dairy all we want.」
Ah, I see! Makes sense!
「Now, may I get down to business?」
「Ah, excuse me! Go ahead.」
「Well then… While Lean-sama resting, a special executive meeting was held. As a result, I have decided to step down from the front lines for a while.」
Eh? Is it okay to move the third highest-ranking executive out of the front lines?
「I will teach Lean-sama some magic in the meantime. I look forward to working with you.」
……eh?
「Hold… I had heard that Tiana-san was going to teach me… Pulling back from the front lines, you mean for me!?」
「Yes. Demon King-sama and the executives considered Lean-sama’s talent, the disadvantages of my leaving the front lines, and various other factors, and came to this conclusion. I am sure that Lean-sama’s talent in combat is one of the best in the Demon King’s army. If that is the case, I think it would be a good idea to attach at least one executive to her and nurture future executive candidates.」
Seriously. It seems I was expected a lot.
I have to be firm about this. I’m going to work hard every day to live up to expectations…
「Well, let’s get to it.」
「Eh? Go where「《Teleportation》.」……eh?」
Before I had time to resist, I was brought to… What a place.
It looks like a combination of a large forest and a jungle, divided by two… Such an unfamiliar atmosphere makes no sense.
「The important thing when learning magic is to compile a formula and to have a good imagination. And a sense of danger.」
「Ah, yes… Huh? A sense of danger?」
「I’ll teach you how to compile a formula later… As for the imagination, well, this is up to Lean-sama. The rest is a sense of danger. This is the feeling that magic is dangerous.」
「I-I see?」
「The feeling that magic is dangerous makes it possible to compile magic more safely and precisely. If this is not enough, forced composition and imagination can mess up a formula, or worse, cause it to explode.」
…As someone who once died in a gas explosion caused by an idiot with a lack of sense of danger, I can’t believe this is a story about someone else.
No, that was God’s power intervening though.
「Powerful magic is magic that can be invoked safely, efficiently, and powerfully. Based on someone else’s mistakes in the past, we must be very careful not to make the same mistakes, and we must be very careful to eliminate as many hazards as possible, and only then can we call ourselves first-rate magicians.」
…I guess it takes more subtlety than I thought, magic.
It’s that dangerous.
「Now, that leads me to what brought you here, Lean-sama.」
「……Eh? Uh, yes.」
「To summarize what I just said…『If you don’t know the dangers of magic, you can’t use magic』. It doesn’t mean you can’t use it, it just means it’s very dangerous to use it.」
「Mm-hmm.」
「In other words, Lean-sama needs to know the horror of magic. So, you will run away from me.」
「Umu-umu… What did you say?」
「I will attack Lean-sama with my magic, so please avoid me and run away. The time is… I’ll give you about half an hour.」
「Hold on…um…」
「When you have a fear of magic and overcome it, that is when you have taken the first step as a magician. And this is the fastest way to instill a fear of magic. Shall we begin then?《Fireball》.」
「Eh? Wait a minu…Oh my God!?」
「Oh, you avoided it well. Now, let’s move it up a gear.《Cyclone Blade》.」
「Hiiii! Please wait a minuteeeeeeeeee!?」
◆◇◆◇◆
「Hey, Demon King-sama. I don’t mean to say this after it’s been decided, but are you sure you’re happy with Tiana?」
「Hmm? You know she’s good at what she does, so why all of a sudden?」
「No, her magic is real, but…more than that…」
「…Ah, I see. Tiana had『that』thing…」
「A genuine, hidden S… That new guy isn’t dead, is she?」
「I don’t think so… Well, she may be in worse trouble than dead…」
「She’s probably Tiana’s favorite, you know? I wonder if she’s doing something nasty in the name of training?」