69 Chapter 68. A New Trainee

The woman who led us here quickly left the office after closing the door, leaving behind a wry-smiling Bo'guth and a curious Asteora who was examining the demon from head to bottom.

Nicole's fear for Bo'guth also appeared to be contained much more than before, as she wasn't reacting as strongly as last time, but I couldn't tell if it was because she didn't fear him anymore or if Asteora's presence was doing something about it.

"W-well… this is quite the unexpected visit…" Bo'guth said with an unusually low tone of voice. "It's good to have you here… Lady Asteora, Embodiment of Magic."

"Hm…" Asteora replied, still considering Bo'guth.

I took a step forward to stand in the middle of their gazing. "I'm here for the same reason I gave you a few days ago: I'm going into the Tainted Land."

"A-ah! Yes, of course! There was that," Bo'guth said, turning to walk to his large desk and awkwardly sitting down on the chair. "As I said before, you're free to use it however you please. I just won't be coming with you this time."

"Oh?" Asteora said with raised eyebrows. "You went in there together before?"

"Yes, indeed. It was quite a strange experience for me too, but as you can see, everything went well!" Bo'guth answered, before laughing with a slightly subdued tone.

Asteora's eyes finally shifted from Bo'guth to me, only that this time, her curiosity was replaced with a strange smile.

I ignored her and focused my eyes on Bo'guth. "I also decided to pay you a visit, not only to see how you've been doing after what happened, but also because Nicole wanted to."

"H-hello!" Nicole said, her body half hidden behind Asteora.

"Aww, how very kind of you," Bo'guth said with a smile. "I'm doing just fine. The house, on the other hand, not quite that fine, but those are just things. We can get them fixed."

"Ah, that's good," I said, bringing the backpack forward and taking the armor and clothes he had first given to me for 'a buck'. "I think I'll return these now. The things that your family gave me are more than enough going forward."

"Right! I almost forgot about it," Bo'guth said with a face of realization. "I would tell you to keep it, but I can see that you really don't need it." He gestured to the desk. "Leave them here and I'll find another use for them."

I walked to the desk. While doing so, I reached for the Magic Pocket that they also gave me, tapping it with my magic to bring out the sword that he had given me with the previous armor. "I'll also return this to you. That black sword is also much stronger."

"Very well, although…" Bo'guth turned his eyes to Asteora, or rather, to Nicole, who was standing half-hidden behind her.

Asteora noticed where Bo'guth was looking at, so she moved aside to let the girl be seen, who appeared to be flustered by that.

"Wouldn't you want to wear these instead?" Bo'guth asked as he looked at Nicole and pointed at the armor and weapon I left on the desk.

"E-eh!? N-no, I'm not currently a fighter and I can't use such a large weapon either," she answered while denying it with a shake of her hands.

"Hm…" Asteora hummed, bringing everyone's attention to her as she looked at Nicole. "I think you should take it."

"E-eh?! Really…? W-why do you think so?" Nicole asked, looking between the gear and Asteora.

"Because… I want you to come with us to the Tainted Land," Asteora calmly said.

Both me and Bo'guth looked surprised at her proposal. Bo'guth might not know what kind of person Nicole was, especially what her powers were, so he couldn't really say anything about it, but I had been training her for a few days, so I knew that Nicole wasn't ready for actual combat.

"E-eh… I'm not sure that's such a good idea…" Nicole replied and I nodded along.

"If you've been keeping track of me, then you should know that she's not nearly experienced or powerful enough to be fighting in that place yet," I followed up.

"That might be so… but I believe a Fire Deviant should at least have a proper look of what they're expected to face," she said with a soft smile directed at Nicole. "Besides, your kind also grows their magic much faster than everyone else, and I don't think they're doing the kind of proper training that you need in that institute."

"W-well… I think Alhea is doing a good job…" Nicole followed up, turning a wry smile my way, as if expecting me to help her, but I also wanted to hear what my master wanted to say.

Asteora chuckled and shook her head. "Althea is indeed a gifted child, but she has greater things to worry about, and she also has to train a lot, so she can't give you the attention that you need."

"Wait, are you saying that…" Bo'guth said with widened eyes.

"What…?" Nicole asked, looking between Bo'guth and Asteora.

But Asteora simply smiled as she looked down at Nicole. "I'm going to train you."

"Huh?!" Nicole exclaimed.

* * *

An explosion and a crashing sound resounded in the darkness of the Tainted Land. My rock spear had cleanly pierced a small group of Dark Beasts, leaving behind nothing but a mist of darkness and a hole in one of the cave's walls.

Behind me, Nicole was hardly moving with a terrified expression as she covered herself close to Asteora.

Nicole was currently wearing the same armor I had worn the first time I came here. It fit her slightly better than me, as she said it wasn't too tight, but as for the sword, she was currently unable to lift it, so I had stored that extra one into the Magic Pocket for her to carry. She also had the backpack I brought, and so far, had just mostly quietly screamed whenever a Dark Beast appeared.

Asteora was dressed the exact same way she was when we first met today. The only difference was that she was floating in the air as if she was lounging on a large chair, with her arms even resting on the sides as if there really were armrests.

She hadn't bothered to do anything besides keep an eye on Nicole, who would constantly run back to her wherever something unexpected appeared—mostly Dark Beasts.

With a sigh, I picked up a Magic Stone left by one of the Dark Beasts and made my way to them to give it to Nicole. "I told you she wasn't ready for something like this."

"Hm?" Asteora leisurely replied as she looked down at Nicole. "It's better for her to get used to it."

"But it's clear that she's terrified," I said while looking at Nicole, whose eyes were wide open as they shifted from one side to another, eventually settling down on me.

"I-I-I am. But… I-I-I just have to get used to it, hahaha…" she said, and a small noise could be heard coming from somewhere deeper in the darkness, prompting the girl to jump and turn to look at it. "What was that!?"

"Probably just a rock from the impact," I said, since there really wasn't anything around us at the moment.

"Phew…" Nicole sighed in relief, placing one hand on her chest, only to be startled once more when a screeching sound came from the same path. "Eek! I don't think that was a rock!"

Indeed it wasn't, as this time, a humanoid Dark Beast was running full speed our way, its eyes glowing red as a maw of red teeth was wide open and a screech came out of it.

Nicole quickly moved to stand close to Asteora, and I stood in the way of the Dark Beast.

So far, I had avoided using Darkness and Hellfire, since on one side, I didn't need to use those powers to deal with these lowly monsters, and on the other one, I didn't want to display those powers in front of Nicole.

With a wave of my hand, rock spikes popped out of the ground, impaling the Dark Beast as it crashed with them on its mindless rush. It twitched a couple of times, before the red light in its eyes faded and the darkness that gave it form burst into a mist.

"Maybe you should try fighting one of those," Asteora suggested as she looked at the mist of darkness. "It could help you get used to them, more so now when they're as weak as a magicless puppy."

"A-are you sure? T-they don't seem that weak to me…" Nicole said, not moving one step away from Asteora.

I didn't like that my master brought this innocent girl to this place as her first training exercise, but I had to agree that now that we were this deep, and that the enemies weren't strong, that she should try fighting one of them.

"I guess that… if anything goes wrong, I'll make sure you're alright," I said as I walked over to Nicole, giving her a reassuring smile. "Not only can I deal with it for you, but I can heal you if anything goes wrong."

Nicole's expression lessened slightly, but remained reluctant to the idea. Asteora also noticed it as she floated down to look at her as well. "Besides, you're with a 'SSS rank mage' as well. I would feel somewhat insulted if you didn't trust that I could save you if anything happened."

"U-um…" Nicole waveringly replied as she looked between me and Asteora, before turning to look somewhere deeper in the caves. "O-okay… But please make sure to watch my back…"

"Yes, don't worry," I said, turning around to continue walking on the caves.

If she was planning to fight, then it would be better if I warned her of the next enemy that appeared and be ready to handle it myself before she did it, so it was better for me to keep walking at the front. The only thing that worried me was my master… since I still wasn't sure about what her intentions were, especially more so after learning that she had been working with Salrak behind my back, so I wasn't willing to leave Nicole's safety up to her.

Regardless, they were both already here, so we had to deal with every situation as it arose.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking, we finally met with another one of those Dark Beasts.

This one had the shape of a small goblin. The only thing that assured us that it wasn't a real one was the fact that it was composed almost completely out of darkness, and that the eyes were glinting with a dim red glow.

Like all the Dark Beasts before it, it screeched and rushed its way to us once it noticed the little bit of light that I was using to lead the way.

"Here comes a small one. Time to move, Nicole," I said, gesturing with my hand to the goblin as I took a step to the side so the girl could move ahead.

Nicole took a couple of fearful steps, standing still after taking them and not doing anything for a while as she simply looked wide eyed at the incoming Dark Beasts.

"Nicole," I called out, but she didn't do anything. "Nicole! Use your fire!"

"H-Huh?! R-right!" she exclaimed, placing both her hands forward as she focused—or tried to—on the magic that she was hoping to summon.

A small fireball appeared in the air right by her hands, but her eyes were too focused on the Dark Beast and not on the magic, so it didn't properly complete and the small fireball flew off.

The saving grace was that it was at least pointed at the Dark Beast, so the small spell managed to hit the tiny beast; however, it was so weak that it hardly did anything to even leave a mark of the fire on the being's surface, who kept moving as if nothing had happened.

"A-ah?! It didn't do anything!" she exclaimed, stating the obvious.

"What are you planning to do? Going to stand there and let it kill you?" Asteora asked, her expression as leisured as the pose she was floating in.

"Stop it! You said you were going to help me!" Nicole exclaimed, taking a step back while turning to look back at my old master.

"If you turn around like that, you're going to end up dead," Asteora pointed out, prompting the girl to quickly turn around again to look at the incoming Dark Beast.

"U-um…! Uh…!" she scrambled as she looked at her enemy, not really doing anything about it.

"Come on, Nicole. You've practiced plenty of Fire magic with me, you should at least be able to properly attack it," I said, the Dark Beast already getting into the range of the Light Orb light.

"B-but! We were just starting and—ah!"

The Dark Beast interrupted the girl as it suddenly jumped from where it was to go straight for her. She raised her hands up to protect herself, and I worried that she might get hurt, but she reacted, either by instinct or something within her telling her to move, punching the small Dark Beasts with a fist full of fire.

The Dark Beast was engulfed in flames, flying a short distance away from Nicole, before bursting in the same mist of darkness mixed with fire, as these beasts did when they were defeated.

"That's more like it," Asteora said with a half-smile as she floated right behind Nicole. "See? It's not that hard."

"I-I did it?" Nicole asked, her fiery fists still hanging in the air.

I softly smiled and nodded. "Yes, you did it."

"I did it!" she exclaimed, lifting the fiery fist up in the air.

It was then that a group of different kinds of Dark Beasts appeared somewhere deeper in the caves. It didn't take long for them to notice the joyous Nicole as they all turned their eyes on her.

The girl froze, just like the fire in her fist that quickly disappeared.

"Well then, let's see you do it again," Asteora said.

And as if being called by her, the Dark Beasts screeched and broke into a run as they tried to get to our position as fast as they could.

"W-wait!" Nicole exclaimed, taking a step back.

I stood next to her, the large black sword in my hand as I smiled at her. "Let's see you do it again."