Black Iron Magician

「Nell, Alezel, come here for a minute.」

The first thing Deris did was to call out to the two and beckon them to a place a little farther away from Haruna and the others. Nell and Alezel seemed to know the reason, and without saying a word, they went straight to Deris’s side. The Unprecedented meeting started abruptly, but the disciples didn’t know what was going on, so they just looked at each other.

「What happened?」

「Hmm…. Maybe something happened while we were in the hot spring?」

「Crap, I was so absorbed in enjoying the hot spring….」

「Don’t worry, Touko-chan. I was also enjoying it with my all!」

「I see! It’s fine then!」

「No, it’s not….」

Yes, it’s not fine if it’s an emergency. However, there are some points that are inevitable. They have 『Magic Power Detection』 and 『Danger Detection』, but they don’t have 『Presence Detection』 that specializes in reading the presence of hidden people. Also, they were so exhausted after playing tag, so they were in a blissful state when they entered the hot spring.

「Oh, they’re back.」

Chinatsu was racking her brains, and Haruna and Toko were having a hot spring discussion, so Zeta was the one who noticed that the three had finished talking and came back.

「I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve been a little busy.」

「What happened?」

「Ahaha, it’s not a big deal. When Deris was waiting for us to get out of the bath, he received a message from one of our employees. It’s a sad fact of being a merchant that work comes to you even when you’re on vacation.」

「So, I and Deris will accompany her on this job. We’re going to go for a while now.」

「Eh, now?」

「Yes.」

Nell’s toes are already pointing toward the changing room, perhaps she’s going to change back to her knight attire. Deris and Alezel are the same.

「It won’t take long, so you don’t have to join us. I’m sure you’re pretty tired, so you can have free time today.」

「I’ve asked for the meal, just in case something like this happens. You can take another bath in the hot spring, or use your time as you like. You can even stay here if you want.」

「So, don’t worry about us. Just enjoy yourself. Just think that it’s your reward for landing a hit on Alezel.」

「My~, that was really a splendid accomplishment.」

Saying so, the three quickly went to the dressing room to change their clothes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Deris and the others left the hot spring place, the girls followed the words of their masters and took a free time. They re-entered the hot spring, the excited Zeta gave a commentary on the facility when they were having an endurance contest in the sauna, Touko fell down, anyway, they were so active that it’s unknown whether could get rid of their fatigue or it just accumulated again.

「There!」

「Geh!?」

They borrowed a ping-pong table, which was somehow placed in this hot spring facility, and are now playing a round-robin hot spring ping-pong game. The result is, as you might expect, an overwhelming victory for Haruna.

「Victory!」

「Guh! I-I can’t win…! Even though I used my special move ceiling smash, I couldn’t get a single point…」

「Haruna is stronger than regular members in most competitions. Table tennis is also the same, so I can only say that she’s on a whole different level. More importantly, why do they have this here….」

「I’m sure it’s a product developed by Alezel-sama’s company. It seems that she heard the story from a transferee from another world and somehow reproduced it.」

Zeta explained again while swinging the racket she’s not familiar with.

(That transferee might be Deris-san…. Anything is possible for the Quitet Trading Company, huh.)

Haruna, Chinatsu, and Touko somehow suspected that Deris was a transferee. It’s not like they’re going to do anything about it, and they don’t intend to question him. However, if that’s the case, the fact that Deris is still in this world leads to the fact that there might be no way to return to Japan. Haruna and Touko don’t seem to be bothered by it, but Chinatsu is different. When she thinks about her family and friends she had left behind in Japan, she feels a little uncomfortable.

「But, there’s a possibility that Deris-san is just satisfied with this world…. Yep, he’s married after all….」

「Um…. What’s wrong, Chinatsu-chan?」

「Chinatsu, the racket is spinning like crazy.」

「It’s like a propeller.」

「Eh?」

When Chinatsu noticed, she was spinning the racket at a high speed. She was so deep in thought that she unconsciously moved her hand. The frictional heat on the palms of her hand is amazing.

「It’s hot!」

「It’ll be hot if you spin it that much. You’re stupid, huh, Chinatsu.」

「Uhh, I don’t want to hear that from Touko….」

While holding her palm that’s still a little tingling, Chinatsu let out a sigh from her self-reflection.

「Hey, Haruna, Touko.」

「Hmm?」

「What? I’m thinking of a new special move right now, so make it quick.」

「I wonder what’s our current goal? It was far from the expectation of Mage Prime Minister Joseph, but as a result, the crisis on the continent of Jiba has disappeared. We’ve finished our role as the heroes in this world, right?」

「……?」

Zeta doesn’t know the situation, so she has a question mark above her head. On the other hand, Haruna and Touko are――

「My current goal? Become strong enough to defeat the Great Eight Demons and stand at the top with Shishō!」

「I have various goals, but… the first one is to win against Haruna, right? I also want to punch Alezel once, and eventually, I want to have a good relationship with Danna….」

「………」

「Um, Chinatsu-san? What’s wrong?」

Without any hesitation, Haruna looked straight with her pure and innocent eyes, and Touko started fidgeting. Leaving aside the usual Haruna, Chinatsu is perplexed that Touko is also fully motivated to stay in this world.

「W-Well, I’m thinking that our families in Japan might be worried…. I mean, Fuchi-kun and the others are also looking for a way to go home, right?」

「My family has a non-interference policy, so I think I can stay here until I’m satisfied. Even when my dad went missing overseas, my mom was leaving him alone…. If anything, I think she’s cheering on me at home~. As for my younger brothers, they probably think something like, 『Aah, another expedition, huh』.」

「I don’t get along well with my parents and I live alone, so I’m not in such a hurry. Well, you see, if I have a good relationship with Danna, I guess I will consider going home to report it, ehehe…. Ah, it’s just an example, okay!?」

「………」

The answers are so far above expectations that Chinatsu is at her wits’ end. But well, it was terrible to ask for a normal answer from these two.

「…Um, Chinatsu-san. I’m just guessing from your conversation so far, but did you come from another world and are looking for a way to return home? If so, I don’t have the proof, but I might be able to help you.」

「Eh?」

Then, Zeta brought unexpected information.