After reaching the Tetra island, we go to the beach near the harbor. The ground is very soft, and I leave footprints behind me.
The wind is cooler than when I came here in the summer, and the temperature is overall more agreeable. I see seaweeds and shells washed up on shore here and there.
Noir tells us to go check-in, so we head to the hotel right away.
It’s decided that I’ll be responsible for cleaning out monsters in the afternoon, because I’m a B rank, and I’m knowledgeable about magic and monsters. Those are the reasons Noir gives for picking me.
A lot of my knowledge about monsters comes from my experiences in my exclusive mage days, but I didn’t expect to put them to use like this.
In any case, I’m the leader.
Leader… Sounds nice. The guy at the top of a group. The guy that can give orders to his subordinates.
I’ve never been a leader before, so it’s like a dream.
“It’s nice to dream, but be careful about giving instructions, because there are these annoying power harassers nowadays.”
Says Lela with a serious expression.
“Good grief, what a tough world for bosses.”
“Remember the grief it caused you, and don’t make the same mistakes as Ruby. Don’t make other people walk the same road.”
Says Mars, and they’re both right.
The chain of power harassment stops with me. It’s important to use my experiences to take things in a good direction.
Well then, we have a lot of adventurers here today. Thirty, counting the ones from Luminous. That’s twenty from Minerva, and ten from Luminous.
First, we take a roll call to see if everyone’s here, so I ask Mars and Lela to get them to line up.
“The great mage asks that you form a line!”
“Everyone line up quickly!”
“I’m in front!”
“No way, I’m going in front! I was the first to notice the greatness of Mister Loyd!”
Wah! Wah!
A fight is breaking out over who gets to be in front.
“You’re popular, Loyd.”
“Of course you are, sensei!”
“Don’t be impressed with me, stop them.”
““Yes!””
Geez, is being popular this troublesome…
After that, they line up nicely. Not as well as a chivalric order or something, but still nicely.
I don’t have any experience as a leader, but I’ve seen Isolte work numerous times, so I know the drill, mostly.
I’m using her as my model to play this part.
“I am Loyd, an adventurer from Minerva. I am going to be taking command here, so if there is anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask me.”
I say as I look around. It makes me a little nervous seeing them all listen to me with serious expressions.
I start by telling them about the flying jelly and armored slashers that usually appear around here.
Flying jelly are jellyfish that fly. They’re dangerous because they land on people’s heads and unleash shocks that numb them.
Armored slashers are crab monsters with high defense. A weak attack isn’t going to scratch them, and their big scissors can even cut steel.
“The armored slashers in particular are more dangerous because of their high defense. Beginner rank magic isn’t going to put a dent in them, so use mid rank.”
“Great mage, how should we deal with multiple armored slashers?”
Asks a girl wearing a robe.
“Depends on the distance between you and them, but the safest option is the high ranking spell Thunderbolt. It’s their weakness, so it can wipe out ten of them at once.”
“Sensei, no one here can use high level magic.”
Says Mars with a serious expression while raising his hand.
“Hm? They can’t?”
“Even a genius like me can’t.”
Says Lela, with a smug expression for some reason.
I knew she couldn’t use high level magic, but I didn’t expect the same to apply to everyone else.
I look around just to check, and see everyone shaking their heads.
It looks like they really can’t.
Hm, if they can’t, they can’t. I just have to propose something else.
“If it looks like the enemy will surround you, use the beginner level spell Flash. It stuns them temporarily, so you can change the battle situation to something more favorable.
I propose Flash, a type of support spell. Its most common use is to communicate with allies far away, like a smoke signal, but it can also be used in battle because it’s effective at taking away an enemy’s vision.
It should work immediately on most monsters.
Then, the girl that asked the question looks at me with her eyes wide open in surprise.
“Eh!? You can use Flash like that!?”
“I thought it was just a weak spell.”
“But then I can’t see either.”
So close your eyes when you use Flash.
Apparently no one else knows about the usefulness of Flash.
“While we’re at it, I’ll use this opportunity to tell you about the usefulness of Flash in battle.”
“The great mage will teach us magic!?”
“We’re really being treated like VIP here!”
Everyone starts making a fuss.
“Forget about me being a great mage or whatever, I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“!?”
“C-cool!”
“That struck a nerve~!”
Sounds like they have a really high opinion of me.
That’s not a problem at all, but they might end up misusing Flash because I recommended it.
And misusing magic is putting yourself at risk.
“If you get hurt, you put everyone in trouble. Make sure to remember that when you fight. You’re not alone, don’t forget you’re part of a team.”
““““Yes!””””
Everyone responds loud and clear, their voices overlapping like we’re in a cave.
Then, we split into groups and start working.
Everyone joined in groups of three or four, so we keep those groups. I’m with Mars and Lela, so it’s business as usual for me.
“Loyd’s got some leadership to him.”
“It was like looking at Miss Isolte.”
“Thank you for everything, Loyhd.”
Who’s Loyhd? Anyway, I need to prepare too.
I open the map of the Tetra island, and we head out to our post, an area to the north, while walking along the beach.
There’s no sign of monsters so far, so we walk on the sand while chatting.
“Loyd, how many people do you think will participate tomorrow?”
Lela is asking about the fishing tournament.
I cross my arms like I’m thinking.
“There were about fifty in the summer festival, so I’m thinking maybe twice as many.”
I say, but we won’t know until tomorrow.
There might be more than expected, or none at all. Even Noir doesn’t know. She’s the one organizing it, but she’s completely haphazard.
The summer festival season has come and gone, so there’s a good chance fewer people will come. I wonder how much Noir advertised it.
By the way, if too few people take part, we’ll participate too. She bragged that she would give lessons to the amateurs if it comes to that.
This woman really will hold the tournament no matter what. I think her enthusiasm towards fishing is wonderful. No one shines brighter than her when she’s talking about it.
…Is she really an alchemist?
Well, having a hobby you’re really into is great. It’s proof that you’re enjoying life.
I want to find a hobby that can make me lose track of time like that too.
“If a hundred people show up, it will be hard to keep things safe. There’s bound to be people who don’t respect the rules.”
“Like littering or fights breaking out.”
It might end up being worse than dealing with the monsters.
I learned from my days as an exclusive mage that the most troubling monsters are the customers putting a lot of orders.
“Deal with that as a leader when the time comes, Loyd.”
“Don’t just push everything bad on me just because I’m the leader. If anyone annoying shows up, you force them out too.”
“Can I ask why you’re looking at me too?”
“No, you’re one of us too, Mars.”
I respond immediately.
“That’s awful, leader.”
He says with an awkward expression.
The three of us are a united front, so I’m taking a stance that we can push trouble on each other.
They ask me weird things all the time too, so we’re the same.
“Ah, Loyd, look. Flying jelly.”
Lela points forward, where a flying jellyfish hovers in the air.
It’s about two meters tall, and half transparent, so we can sort of see its insides. It’s moving around irregularly, and gradually moving closer to us.
I stand in front of the other two, and hold my staff forward.
“Ice Cannon.”
I use the mid rank spell Ice Cannon, and a ball of ice the size of a cannonball is fired with a high pitched sound. It hits the flying jelly on the head, and blows it away.
This attack destroyed its core, so it falls limply on the ground.
“Nice hit on the head, sensei.”
“I’m confident in my magic control.”
“You were good at horseback archery too, Loyd. I kind of want to recruit you for my hometown.”
Lela says that with a tone that tells me she thinks it’s a shame she can’t.
She’s talking about that game we played in the Luminous farm a few months ago.
Magic and bows are quite different, but also similar in how you make minute adjustments to hit a target.
In my case, I can control it with a precision of millimeters.
“I’m not planning to leave Minerva for now.”
“That makes it sound like you will eventually.”
“Well, I’m feeling more confident now, so I’m thinking it wouldn’t be bad to go adventuring in different places.”
I used portals to go to different places, but it was in a narrow scope, to pick materials.
There are a lot of things I don’t know about those very same places. My common knowledge has been built up in a closed off world.
I’m always thinking about changing this.
And then, Mars raises his hand high.
“Sensei, when that happens, let me come along!”
“No fair, Mars! I want to go too!”
“I don’t mind you coming along, but I’m running through Area Zero.”
“That’s a pretty high hurdle…”
“But that’s getting me fired up again. Okay, I’m going to become a master rank in one year! Will I do it if I train twenty-four hours a day?”
“Oh you, Mars. But I need to train more seriously with magic too, if I want to follow Loyd.”
Both respond enthusiastically, leading to my lips curving into a smile.
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