Hard Work Will Never Betray Me - "Okay, then. Are you ready?" "Yes." Iris and I, who had been ordered by the division to head to the "White Witch", were ready and met in front of the imperial mansion of the Fahrenheit family. 'What happened to the room in the apartment you had rented?" 'I've already cancelled it."' "You're acting fast." "Originally, I was going to cancel the contract as soon as I was accepted by the Special Division". "I see. So you were living in a cheap apartment until you passed the entrance exam.' "Yes." If you are a member of the Special Division, you are guaranteed a very high salary. There is no need to go to the trouble of living in a cheap apartment . "So you can travel without any worries." "That's right." I take Iris to my room. I'm not going to do anything **crazy* in the morning. I'm going to cut the trip to Heidburg short by using the transfer magic circle in my room. 'I've never done that before." I" think most people haven't." In addition, I, who know a great deal about magic theory (although I am not as good as a first class researcher), supervised the project, so the probability of an error is about the same as the probability of a jumbo jet crashing. ("But if you think about the probability of being reincarnated in another world, it seems much higher. ......)" Since no one knows about the afterlife, perhaps all human beings have been reincarnated in other worlds after death, but there are not many otherworldly reincarnation related religions on earth, so perhaps a case like mine is quite rare. I think the idea of reincarnation in Buddhism is close in terms of image, but it is also not the same thing. I'm not sure if there are any other reincarnations in this world. Well, whether there are or not, as long as they don't hostile me, I'm fine with it. Even if they are not Japanese, I think it would be fun if we could talk about Earthlings. Well, that's just another idle talk. It's not like I'm going to let Iris wait and get lost in my thoughts. 'Let's go then. ......" ""Bye!"" The servants come to my room to see me off. Since I couldn't fit everyone in there, Alice, my personal maid, and Hendrik, the head butler, as well as a few others, were standing in a tight group. 'I am grateful for your help, even if it was only for a short time. I will probably be back more often, depending on what the division requires of me, so please do me the favor of coming back then." "We, the servants, are always looking forward to your return, Master Eberhard." I'd be grateful if you'd say so. " I'm glad to hear that. ......, Iris." "Yes." It's not going to be a long separation. It would be strange to be too gloomy, so I decided to say a quick goodbye and leave. We climbed on top of the transfer magic circle and poured our magic power into it to activate it. Lightly

“Are you ready then?　I can come back, but I don’t want to waste my magic, so I won’t come back unless it’s something important.”

“Don’t worry. I have everything I need in my inventory.”

“I’ve already transferred everything to my new inventory.”

“Okay. Well, then, let’s go.”

The next morning. Lily arrived just as the sun was rising and rushed us to make final preparations for our departure. However, I had already put everything I needed into my inventory, and Iris had an inventory that Mei had given me because she was a friend of mine, so I was practically empty-handed. The only preparations we had to make were washing our faces, eating breakfast, and changing into clothes for the trip.

“Please be careful.”

Mei , who came to see me off, handed me something while saying so.

‘What’s this?”

“It is a shield still in the prototype phase. When it is activated, it deploys a sphere of hardened magic power that is as hard as steel. However, it is still a prototype that needs to be replenished each time it is used because it runs out of magic power after a single use.”

“You’ve made another useful thing, haven’t you?”

“, since it is also a test, I am are it away for free.

It seems there are three of us , enough for the number of people.

“I’m off then.”

“Have a safe trip “.

“Well, I’ll be returning from time to time, so don’t be sad and create more magic tools ”

“I’m off.”

The rest of the family had already seen us off, so all we had to do was fly away with Lily’s transfer magic.

Lily kneads her magic and creates a large magic circle that covers the three of

us . The magic distorts space-time. After a moment, we were transported to the demon forest.

✳︎

“Hmmm, it’s still as dense as ever.”

“There seem to be a lot of insects.”

‘There are rather more monsters than insects. ”

“It’s cold.”

“I’m sorry, Hal. ……’

I feel the ladies are looking at me coldly. Lily’s eyes even made me feel pathetic. It’s sad.

I’m not going to let you down. I’m the one you can count on when the moment comes.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Not very gentlemanly.”

“Ugh… 　All right, damn it!　I’m sorry I made that cold gag!”

Looks like the majority’s violence won’t win me over. Guess where the rights of minorities ar:e…….

“Let’s see, you two. Can we have a word?”

“What?”

“You two are from military, so you might be okay, but I’m just a human who can use magic, so I might cause you a lot of trouble along the way. I apologize in advance for that.”

Hearing those words, Iris and I couldn’t help but look at each other.

, “Oh, no, you don’t. It’s okay. We’ll go at your pace, and since we’ve done a lot of preparation, I don’t think it will be that hard.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m not good at this either.”

To be …… frank, Iris’s “not good at it” is only by the standards of the Special Division, not literally not good at it, but let’s keep that to herself for the sake of Lily’s pride. There are some things in this world that you don’t need to know. In the military, there are things that ordinary people, even the duchess of a ducal family, are required to know that would make them gasp in astonishment.

Well, this time, I don’t intend to make the trip that hard. At the very least, I will limit it to a slightly difficult hike or trail run. The location is the Forest, a very dangerous area that can be entries at …….

“Well, let’s go.”

I say as I take out my magic sword, Raikiri, from my inventory and put it into my waistband.

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

The two of them nodded heads and we stepped into the forest of demons.

✳︎︎

“Iris, there’s a pack of wolves at your three o’clock. Use optical camouflage stealth and take them out one by one!　Lily, fire a barrage of basic magic at the gangwolf pack as well, and keep them in check!　I’ll take the orcs in front”!

“Roger that.”

I’m on it!”

The harshness of the demin Forest was experienced firsthand as soon as

we entered the Demon Forest.

The boundary between the outer edge of the Demon Forest and the normal forest is somewhat vague. Like a brackish area where fresh water and sea water mix, there are many monsters in the middle of the area, and the trees are of different sizes. In that area, there are slightly more monsters than in a normal forest, but it was relatively easy to get through without any particular difficulty in advancing.

However, after entering the demon forest , the situation changed drastically. The atmosphere had clearly changed. The trees growing in the forest were all over 20 meters high. The number of monster had increased considerably, and their ranks were at least C rank or higher. It’s not as if it feared as one of the three most difficult places in the empire , along with the Great Mountain Range and the Great Labyrinth.

“Be my dinner tonight!”

I use my magical sword, Raikiri, to cut off the heads of the orcs. Orcs are of C- to B-rank , so when they come at in packs like this, it’s a little tough when

without g Cloak”.

However, if I keep cast t it ” against such small fry, no matter how much magic power I have even over 50,000, I will eventually run out of it.

Gangwolf…… they are too many of them !

“Lily, do you need help!?”

“I can fight …… a little  longer !”

“I’ll do my best. ”

Gang wolves are also C-ranked , but there are so many of them. However, the durability of each and every one of them is not high, so if to keep them in check and take them out one by one, as we are doing now, we should be able to beat them.

……Okay, last one!”

The fact is, a pack of gang wolves can be beaten in an instant if I am use the “Absolute Domain Killing Zone,” but that would not be good training for Lily and Iris. . I wanted to train myself to cover my friends and turn to other enemies, so I did not dare to fight the gangwolves.

And it seems that this intention was well understood by the two of them, who asked for my advice but did not want to directly ask my help , and seemed to be doing their best on their own.

‘Bmoowwww ……’

The last of the orcs fell. At the same time, Lily and the others seemed to have finished defeating the gang wolf , and the demon forest, which had been filled with the sounds of battle earlier, became quiet at once.

‘Ha …… ha ……. That was a bit close. It’s hard to keep going.”

“I need to learn to hit the target a little more accurately, too. ……”

They both seem to be well aware of the challenges they face. I can’t say that my coverage was perfect either, and above all, the biggest problem is that my close combat ability is not very high when I am not clad in “cloak “. I can handle it if it’s only an orc, but if it’s a high rank, like A rank, I won’t be safe.

I don’t know if the unique skill of “practice make perfect that extend to physical strength, but for the time being, my immediate policy is to strengthen my fighting style . The description of the skill also says, “Hard work always pays off, and as long as you continue to work hard, your ability will continue to grow as well. “In whatever form it takes, there will be no growth at all. Up until now, I have focused on developing my magical power and spells , but from now on, I think it would be a good idea to develop in a well-balanced way.

And yet, this is what happens the moment we set foot in the demon forest. I feel like I’ve been forced to confront exactly what I’m lacking at the moment.

I’m not sure if this is a part of the training program that the “White Witch” has planned for   us ?

But it is not inconceivable. If one is not capable enough to break through the demon forest, one is not qualified to have training . Even if it is possible to break through, one should not just simply make it through the forest, but should break through while overcoming challenges .

……It is quite possible. It is rather appropriate considering the fact that the threat of demons and the Principality is increasing day by day, and there is no time to waste.

“This …… has a long way to go.”

Anyone who thinks it is just a forest will be in for a world of pain. The training of the “White Witch” has already begun.