After school, the four of us left school together as usual and went back to our respective dorms.
　When I returned to my room in the boys' dormitory, I immediately jumped out the window. After activating my "toughness" to soften the impact of my landing, I headed for the girl's dormitory where Mize was staying, avoiding people's gazes as much as possible.

I'm here~

　I unconsciously hummed a song. She quickly closed her lips and pulled herself together.
　It seems that Mize's song that I heard at lunchtime has stayed in my ears more than I thought.

　He took a quick look around, but no enemies were lurking.
　At this time of day, just after school, the castle town is bustling with students as many of them leave the school. It is not a good time for stealthy activities. The bandits who were after Mize might have refrained from conducting their operations during this time.

　In less than ten minutes, Mize came out of the girls' dormitory.
　She had been wearing the school's uniform, but now she was wearing the school's sportswear.

　She passed the students on their way out of the school and headed towards the school.
　She was headed for the training grounds.

"Well, today is .............

　Under her breath, she observed Mize in the training grounds.
　She was practicing her magic.

I've already learned to use rage to some extent. It's also a good idea to learn remote fire magic,......, but first you need to learn magic to protect yourself,.......

　While whispering to herself, Mize practices.
　Magic is not something that can be learned overnight. The first step is to accurately recognize the magic power circulating in your body, then practice until you can control it at will. Once you are able to manipulate magic power, you need to put into your mind the knowledge of the magic you want to master, and finally practice using that knowledge to activate it.

　By repeating this process over and over again, a person can finally learn magic.
　Mize was performing this task with tremendous concentration.

　What she is practicing now is a close combat magic called "shield".
　It is a spell that creates a hard shield made of magic in front of you and prevents your opponent from attacking.

　If you use it correctly, the outline of the shield will be clear, but the shield that Mize created had a distorted shape. It would not be able to withstand an opponent's magic or even a bare handed attack. As if sensing that the magic did not work, Mize erased the shield and created a new one.

"......

　Over and over again, Mize invoked the same spell.
　Sweating, breathing hard.
　All alone, without asking for anyone's support, she is immersed in her practice.

　It would be wrong to interrupt him. So I turned on my heel.
　I've already confirmed that there are no enemies inside the school. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on him for a bit.

Hey.

　As I walked down the corridor, I was approached by a male student in a white uniform.
　His face was familiar.

I think it's ...... from the SS.

I'm glad you remember me.

　It was a boy who seemed to belong to the paternalistic faction of the Misericordia.
　I think this guy is just using the name of the SS to stalk Mize. ...... No, if you say that, I'm like him.

You can't get a closer look?　You can't see into the training grounds from here.

"I don't want to interfere with her concentration. Both paternalists and purists agree on this.

　Apparently, the SS also have a sense of moderation.
　I'm going to change my perception of them.

"Does Mize always practice magic like this?

Yes, he does. As far as I know, he practices like this at least five times a week.

Five times?　You mean all the days you have classes?

I also come here on weekends. I also come on weekends and holidays. In that case, I practice like this all day long.

　The SS man said, somewhat proudly.
　The SS boy said somewhat proudly, "I see," and walked out of the school building.

　--I didn't know that.

　I didn't know they always did this after school.
　I had no idea.

　She once told me that she entered the Builders Academy to become an adventurer.
　If you want to be an adventurer, you have to learn a lot of magic.
　That's probably why she's working so hard right now.

　Seeing Mize so self-consciously practicing magic, I was momentarily reminded of myself in the past.
　When I had just been picked up by the agency. I was just like Mize now, dripping with sweat and desperately practicing magic.

　But me and Mize aren't the same.
　I was doing what I had to do under orders from my instructor. I was only doing it because I didn't want to be physically punished.

　Mize is different.
　She's training herself voluntarily and desperately.
　She has found out what she wants to do and is pushing herself to make it happen.

　That means that she is living her own life.

...... is awesome.

　What she's doing is something I could never do.
　That's exactly what I'm trying to do right now.



　I felt a mixture of envy and respect.
　The "freedom" she showed me felt like "hope" to me, who still didn't know much about my own life.

　That "freedom" should never be tainted.
　That's what I thought.

　So I thought...





"Don't get in my way.

"Ugh!

　In the alleyway just past the school gate.
　I've found the enemy and I'm dealing with them.

"Mize is working towards his goal right now. Don't let ...... that hard work go to waste.

　He went behind the man and clamped down on his neck, silencing his voice.
　It's a good idea to keep the pressure on the carotid artery to stimulate the nerves. Eventually the man fainted.
　Place your index finger on the back of the man's head as he falls to his knees.

　--The "magic bullet".

　With a faint popping sound, the man's brain plasma splashes out.
　It's already dark outside. It would be easy to camouflage this. I contacted Chris via the News Letter and asked him to take care of the body.

　This man was probably planning to attack Mize when he returned to the dormitory.
　The bandits seemed to have some knowledge of Mize's behavioral patterns.

　This man was also wearing a reddish-brown cloak, just like the man I had defeated last time.
　It seems that the bandits who are trying to take Mize's body are a well-established organization that can at least unify their equipment. When I stripped off the cloak and checked the man's equipment, I found several daggers and poison. These are tools that assassins like to use. Perhaps the bandits have expertise in assassination.

"...... may be a nastier enemy than we thought.

　The enemy is undoubtedly a professional assassin.
　Not only do they want to kidnap Mize, but they also have the tools to kill anyone who stands in their way.
　It might be better to take action before they get serious.

　I downsize my black cloak, put it in my pocket, and leave the alleyway.
　Just as you return to the school, a mise-en-scene emerges from the school gate.

　--Do you want to hide?
　--No, I need to ask you something.

　I should probably hide, but I don't have all the information I need to make an escort yet.
　We've been running into each other morning, noon, and night, so it might look suspicious, but this is probably the last time we'll see each other like this. If I don't interfere excessively in the future, I won't be considered suspicious.

"Mr. Toate, ......?

What a coincidence.

　I raised one hand in greeting as Mize looked at me in surprise.

What are you doing here at this hour?

"Taking a walk. What are you doing at the school, Mize?

I've been doing a little ...... studying.

　Practicing magic is part of your studies.
　Apparently, I don't like to show off my efforts more than I have to.

It's dark outside, so I'll walk you back to the girls' dorm.

What?　But wouldn't that bother Mr. Toate? ......

Let's continue our walk. I was going to walk a bit more, so that's good.

Oh, really? ......, please.

　It was a bit forced, but I decided to accompany Mize back to the girls' dormitory.

I've seen you around a lot today, by the way.

Yes, I have. Well, it's all a coincidence.

　To tell the truth, I'd like to know more about Mize's life cycle in order to establish a schedule for the escort. But I've got the basic cycle pretty much figured out today. From tomorrow onwards, monitoring from afar should be enough.

Speaking of which, in the men's dormitory, rooms on the fifth floor or higher have a view of the school from the window, is the same true for the women's dormitory?

Yes. But my room is on the fourth floor. That's what my acquaintance said.

I see. ...... Well, if you can see the school, it means that your room faces the main street. It gets a little noisy in the morning around here, so I sometimes have trouble sleeping in a room facing the street. Do you ever do that, Mize?

My room is right on the opposite side of the street, so I don't feel that way. But a friend of mine said the same thing as Mr. Toate. On holiday mornings, I'm usually woken up by the sound of the fruit vendor's voice.

　Mize says, smiling.
　After some random chit-chat, we arrived in front of the girls' dormitory.

I'll leave you to it.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow.

　After watching Mize enter the girls' dormitory, I went around the back of the girls' dormitory instead of going to the boys' dormitory.

The room on the fourth floor, directly opposite the main street, ............ is around there.

　I shrunk my body to avoid being seen, and observed the room on the back side of the fourth floor of the women's dormitory.
　A few seconds later, a light came on in one of the rooms I was observing. It was hard to say for sure, but it was probably Mize's room.



　Just in case, wait until all the rooms on the back side of the fourth floor are turned off.
　A few hours later. I made sure that the last room was turned off and went back to the boys' dormitory.