Black Iron Magician

「Um, the memo of the scrolls that Shishō asked… there it is! Now, let’s enter――」

「――Oh? Could it be that you’re Haruna-sama?」

「Eh?」

When Haruna was about to open the door of the store with the shopping list in her hand, someone suddenly called out her name from behind. When Haruna turned around, she saw an eye-patched man with gray hair. He looked familiar, or not. Haruna tried to remember with all her might, but all she got was black smoke emanating from her head.

「Err…」

「Oh, I’m sorry for the late introduction. My name is Bigar, and I work as a secretary at Quitet General Trading Company. Pleased to make your acquaintance.」

「Ah, yes. P-Plea, pleased…. Nice to meet you!」

「Haha, thank you very much.」

She couldn’t say it.

「U-Um, excuse me, Bigar-san, have we met somewhere before? Why did you know about me?」

「No, this is the first time I’ve met Haruna-sama like this, so please don’t worry about it. Our company president, Alezel, often talked about you, so I remembered your appearance.」

「Ah, I see. So that’s why you knew about me.」

「That’s right. Still, I wasn’t sure when I called out to you, but to think that you were the real person. The world sure is a small place, isn’t it?」

「Ahaha, maybe~」

Even in the middle of the conversation, Haruna didn’t neglect to observe Bigar. He’s wearing clothes suitable for the high-class shopping area, but his skin has many visible scars and his looks show that he wasn’t living a normal life. To put it bluntly, it’s clear that he’s a super strong man. Then, there’s only one action that Haruna would take.

「Bigar-san, you look very strong, but did you do anything special before working for Alezel-san? I can smell something dangerous.」

She asked him directly. Unlike her master, who’s good at probing other people’s intentions, Haruna’s course of action is simple and clear. At the same time, Haruna was halfway into hunting mode.

「First, let me say that I have no intention of being hostile to Haruna-sama. Besides, I will lose if I were to fight the current Haruna-sama. It seems that you met me about a month too late. Unlike the past me, I’m now in a position where I can’t recklessly throw my life away.」

「Uh, that’s too bad. Ah, no, I didn’t even think of asking you to fight me with our lives on the line, okay!?」

Haruna quickly released the mode. It seems that she judged that Bigar wasn’t lying.

「By the way, about my previous job…. Ah, it’s not something we should talk about in front of the store. I’ll prepare a reception room. Would you like to have a cup of tea there? It’s for personal use, but I just bought some good Gobu tea.」

「Yes!」

She answered immediately. After that, Haruna entered Quitet Magic Item Store with Bigar, greeted Owner (his real name) who was in charge of the store inside, and checked the items Deris requested while chatting lightly. After accomplishing her initial goal, she was taken to a high-class reception room.

「Here you go.」

「Thank you very much. Wow! This Gobu tea is really good!」

「Oh, you can tell? You are young, but you are amazing. I’m already at this age, so I’ve been consuming something healthy lately. After traveling around the world and trying many different kinds of tea, I finally found this Gobu tea. If you want, I can share it with you.」

「By all means! My friend has been under a lot of stress lately, so I thought I would use it in a dish and serve it to her.」

「…… Let’s prepare a little more. I hope your friend’s stomach gets better.」

Perhaps he has heard about Chinatsu’s stomach from Alezel, Bigar willingly prepared Gobu tea leaves for two people. What a kind man.

「Let’s continue where we left off. Before I started working for Quitet, I was a mercenary with my comrades. That said, we were more of a jack-of-all-trades. Sometimes we would run on the battlefield, sometimes we would guard clients, and sometimes we would assassinate important people. While doing these things, we, who were from the village of Japita, became famous as the 『Mercenaries of Japita』.」

「A mercenary, and a jack-of-all-trades…! Amazing words appeared!」

「I am ashamed to say that I only knew such a way of life. However, even we weren’t a match for the real powerful people. Various things happened and we were supposed to assassinate President Alezel, but now we’re working under her. I would appreciate it if you don’t ask the details, so you can guess it yourself.」

「I-I see….」

Haruna understood that Alezel probably did something unreasonable.

「I also heard it from President Alezel, but it seems that Haruna-sama will go to Dai continent tomorrow.」

「Y-You know that much!? Uuh, Alezel-san, you talk too much…. Um, please keep it a secret, okay? It’s very, very top secret after all!」

「I understand. Teaming up with Carmine as a companion of the Demon King is not something you can reveal to the public after all.」

「That’s right. According to Shishō, unlike Alezel-san and the others, Vakala-san’s country has clearly declared hostility to the human race, so it seems that our situation would be complicated. Uuh, it’s something difficult to understand….」

「Haruna-sama, black smoke is coming out of your head again.」

「Eh? Awawawa!?」

By the way, in countries ruled by humans, the Great Eight Demons that are generally regarded as dangerous are, in descending order, Vakala, Maria, Agalia, and Hund. In the first place, non-undead races are prohibited to enter Vakala’s country, and coupled with his title as the Great Eight Demons, he’s judged as such. Maria is regarded as dangerous purely because she’s an unrestrained moody person. No one has seen Agalia’s activity on the surface, so people are uneasy about the unidentified first rank. As for Hund, it is because the disturbances on the Jiba continent are still fresh in people’s memories.

Other than that, Rimudo, Zex, Alezel, and Lilyvia contribute to people’s lives in terms of tourism, development, commerce, and red-light district, so they are not seen as hostile that much.

「…… The world sure is a small place.」

「What’s wrong?」

「No, just talking to myself. Still, hmm…. It’s a little unfair that I know Haruna-sama’s secret one-sidedly. Then, let me tell you about the secret of 『Mercenaries of Japita』.」

「Fueh? The secret?」

「Yes, it’s a top secret. I would appreciate it if you could keep it to yourself, Haruna-sama…. Well, if you want to tell someone, please keep it to your friends and masters, just like how President Alezel talked to me.」

「T-The scope is pretty crude, huh…. But, I understand! I promise!」

「Thank you. Then, I will tell you our secret. Actually, we mercenaries of Japita were originally belonged to a special unit of a certain country. The name of that unit was the 『Shadow Corps』――」

Haruna listened to Bigar’s story for more than an hour, and was very late for her appointment with Touko.

――――The 82nd day of training is over.