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“Is this everyone?” asked Sevi as he glanced around the room. His elbows were almost lined up with his shoulders, a consequence of sitting at a table tailored for people—like the captain—who were absurdly tall. Even I found the table big.

Adding the purchase of a new set of tables and chairs to my mental checklist, I continued, “I intend on choosing one or two more members in the upcoming recruit examination. Until then Sevi and Sister Julieta will proceed with the early stages of training. Once every member is accounted for, we’ll begin exploring dungeons.” At this, both newbies gulped nervously and I had to suppress a laugh over their cuteness. “I plan on having the special unit consist of three existing corps members and four rookies. The idea is to have the existing members provide minimal support while focusing on the growth of the new ones,” I explained. “I dare say you’ll all have to push yourselves a little harder than you think necessary once we’re in the dungeons.”

August then raised a hand and as soon as I nodded in permission, he asked, “Who will be chosen from among the existing members?”

“Reverend August, me, and for the last member, I think an experienced melee attacker would be good. Oh, I have someone in mind, of course. That person couldn’t attend today due to some circumstances.”

“…Do you, Vice-captain, also count as an existing member?”

I supposed that as far as everyone was concerned, I was a rookie too. With my low level and little-known experience, it couldn’t be helped. Nevertheless, at times of such doubt, there was a magic word that could solve everything so I calmly answered, “Naturally. That’s how I made my report to the captain as well. He didn’t say much.”

It wasn’t surprising that anything was acceptable in the Dark Knights so long as one had Mayer Knox’s approval. August seemed like he had a bunch of things he wanted to say, but in the end, he kept his thoughts to himself.

* * *

And so, the short-term growth special unit was formed and I began instructing the rookies. I started with Sevi, who seemed skeptical about his abilities despite his unfaltering belief in me. He gazed at his hand in confusion and asked, “I have a talent for magic?”

“You’ll awaken as a mage in no time if you do as I say,” I assured him. “Of course, you won’t be able to use magic in dungeons right away. You need to spend a long period getting used to it…”

“I’ll do anything to become a mage! I can complete any training, no matter how difficult it is! I could even stand in a fire if you tell me to…!”

As he didn’t have the potential for fire magic in the first place, I hastily pulled in the reigns on the boy who was bursting with too much motivation. “No, I won’t be asking such dangerous training of you.”

Meanwhile, August gazed at us with twitching brows. He seemed doubtful as to whether Sevi truly had latent magical powers, and it was understandable. The ordinary humans of this world possessed magic resistance; in other words, they were incapable of sensing mana. An extreme few, however, were exceptionally sensitive to certain elements of mana, and this minority were those who had the makings of an elemental mage.

It was, in a way, like an allergic reaction. The way an ordinary person acquired magical powers was similar to how one would get an allergy. Continuous exposure to an element one was sensitive to resulted in the production of antibodies against that element, triggering an immune response. That immune response was what enabled the accumulation of mana and casting of magic. Unfortunately, just like with allergies, there was a problem to this; it was terribly difficult to tell which of the many elements an individual was sensitive to. One could try exposing oneself to the correct element, but there was no way of knowing which was correct… There were many stories—so many that it was hard to specify one—of people approaching fire to have a shot at becoming a flame mage only to end up burning to death.

But all of that had nothing to do with me since I had a way of checking a person’s latent magic element. I took the fired-up, motivated Sevi to another place so he could begin training. “H-hang on, Vice-captain!” he stammered. “You said there’d be no dangerous training…?”

“And there won’t be, I promise you. Not dangerous at all. I’ll tie you up nice and tight,” I replied soothingly.

Then I took Sevi to the top of the castle spire, the highest place in Nochtentoria Castle.