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Although I usually kept a courteous distance from others, I couldn’t help but treat this fourteen-year-old more casually. “You have to sleep to grow.”

“Do you like tall people, Vice-captain? Then I’ll make sure to sleep early from now on!”

“Mm… Right. There’s a good boy,” I replied, wondering if the boy was always this boisterous. It felt like he was much friendlier to me now than when we first met.

“I’ll do my best to live up to your expectations, Vice-captain. After all, you’re my lifesaver,” Sevi said, gazing at me with resolute eyes. The details of the Blue Flames incident were highly confidential; however, because he was involved, Sevi knew the truth. And so, ever since he found out about it, he had shown infinite trust toward me, which was somewhat perplexing. Did Mayer leave too strong of an impression when he transformed into Sevi…? Perhaps the sight of the captain stopping Wipera in the boy’s form was too memorable—I could see the man’s image overlap the boy’s figure vividly. When Sevi let out a shy laugh, I couldn’t help but imagine the captain doing the same and goosebumps appeared all over my skin.

Despite how disconcerted I felt, that didn’t mean I would exclude him from the special unit. Latent mages could hardly be considered common and Sevi was the most promising member of the special unit so far. Therefore, I had no choice but to get used to it.

Patting Sevi on the head, I had him take a seat before casting a glance around the conference room where the special unit was gathered. Right next to the head of the table sat August, with a woman clad in vestment stealing glances at him.

That was Julieta Clawa, an acolyte. I had almost overlooked her because as a member of the church and not of the Dark Knights, her name didn’t appear in the party window. Still, inspired by Axion’s idea of having seven priests in a party, I thought it would be good to add one more priest. And so I checked out Nochtentoria Monastery, where I ended up discovering a hidden treasure—a woman possessing potential far superior to any I had ever seen among the corps. That was when I forced Julieta to join the Dark Knights.

“With the pride of the Order, Brother August around…” Julieta mumbled, eyes darting back and forth cautiously. “I don’t get why I was chosen to be here when I haven’t even managed to become a priest yet… Besides, I cause trouble every day…” Due to her lacking holy power, Julieta’s hair was more straw-colored than golden. Her lack of spirit wasn’t a surprise as, apparently, she was often scolded in the monastery. Shutting her eyes tightly, Julietta bowed and shouted, “I’ll take Brother August as my role model and… and… and work hard to improve my healing skills! I’ll do my best!”

“Come now, Sister, your healing doesn’t need improvement. That isn’t what you need to learn from Reverend August,” I said.

“…Pardon?” Julieta shot me a blank look.

Staring at her with a serious expression, I explained. “What you need to learn from him is toughness. See those muscles?” I pointed at August. “That’s what you need to follow. Instead of praying, I want you to take up a mace.”

“What!” Julieta jumped to her feet and stared at August’s sturdy muscles. The priest’s brow visibly twitched at the sudden situation, his face displaying his current feelings very clearly: ‘What bull is this?’ However, as a man of the clergy, he couldn’t bring himself to say such words out loud. Julieta, on the other hand, was appalled by the mental image of her body with August’s brawn. “Y-you must be joking! You’re just teasing me, aren’t you, Sister?”

“I’m speaking very honestly, Sister. I’m certain that a mace will suit you very well.”

“Are you sure about it being a mace? Not lace? Did I hear you right?” Julieta insisted.

“How useful could lace be in a dungeon?” I chuckled. “Yes, you heard me right: I’m talking about that heavy, thick, brutal mace.” I put on a serious yet sincere expression to convey the truthfulness of my statement. Yes, Julieta possessed outstanding potential as a melee attacker. All the troubles she caused in the monastery were related to this: damaging furniture, ripping habits while washing them, causing brick walls to suddenly crumble… Those were the only sort of accidents she caused. All this time, that overflowing power of hers had been waiting for the moment to shine; it had been waiting for me. I calmed Julieta with a bright grin. “Now, now. I’ll eventually explain everything regarding the individual direction of growth for everyone, separately and in detail.”