Necromancer 28

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28. Joint Training 1

That night, I summoned Mirage to my room and started talking.

"I'm really not good with joint training."

The topic was the joint training scheduled for tomorrow.

"Is that where you’ll be training with the other heroes?"

Mirage asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

Unlike the other servants, this one seemed to retain some degree of human emotion.

The others—like Swordsman or Red Mage—had once been human too, but now only simple emotions remained.

Though they had enough intelligence to carry out my orders, conversing like this with them was impossible.

So here I was, talking to Mirage instead—

"I always end up falling behind, getting called a failure or useless... That’s the usual pattern."

"You? Falling behind everyone else?"

"My stats were the worst in the class until my skills evolved."

I gave a bitter smile.

"Well, I think I’ll be fine now, but still... all those past experiences make me a bit uneasy."

"You’ll be fine. You're strong."

Mirage's voice was firm, giving me a sense of comfort.

"Face it with confidence. I can see it—

The look of surprise on the other heroes' faces when they realize your true strength."

"...Thanks, Mirage."

I expressed my gratitude.

"Because of you, I feel braver now."

Alright, just as Mirage said—I’ll tackle tomorrow’s training with confidence.

The next day.

The day of the joint training arrived.

The training setup was simple.

Each unit had 100 knights and 20 mages.

Three heroes would command these units, engaging in mock battles against each other.

The battlefield had a barrier that reduced damage, ensuring no one would die.

Additionally, everyone wore magical devices that quantified damage, and once a certain threshold was reached, the person would be removed from the field.

Victory would go to the team that either wiped out the enemy or had more survivors when the time ran out.

"Um... nice to meet you, Shigure-kun."

"Tch, it had to be Shigure."

The two people assigned to my team were both female students.

One of them was a girl I’d worked with in a recent battle against mid-tier demons.

After I saved the team and defeated the demon back then, her attitude toward me changed—she no longer mocked me.

Her name was Moe Shindo.

She had bright brown hair trimmed at shoulder length and wore flashy makeup—

The typical "gyaru" style.

Her skill as a hero was [Tri-Wall], which allowed her to switch between three types of barriers.

The other girl did not attempt to hide her disdain toward me.

Her name was Sera Seira.

She stood nearly 180 cm tall and was a member of the volleyball club.

Though she was known for her upbeat personality and had many female fans, she was always harsh with me.

Her hero skill was [Control Bomb]—

'A series of controllable light spheres', modeled after volleyballs, used to attack.