Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei - Volume 22 - Prologue of Disturbance (II) Read online

Fumiya's arguments proved to be compelling. It seems that this was the thinking of a young inexperienced person when unnecessary details were discarded.

  "Society", which provides the Yotsuba family with the products of civilization, is indispensable. And the magical skills necessary for their existence, like magicians, they have enough of their own. The Yotsuba family had the power to defend itself only by themselves, even in the event of a conflict with the Stars from the USNA, which have a reputation as the world's strongest magician unit.

  "In case of emergency, even if it comes to total war with other Numbers, all the forces of the main and branch families should be thrown to the support of Tatsuya-san and Miyuki-san."

  "My instructions do not change." Completely ignore all plans for turning the next head into an idol. In case of an attack, you can answer at your discretion.

  It is unclear whether she supported the last utterance of Fumiya, but with these words, Maya put an end to the discussion of this problem.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  His shoulders rose and fell to the beat of his heavy breathing. The legs almost did not obey and could hardly stand on the floor. However, the light of fighting spirit has not yet extinguished in the eyes of Saburou standing in front of Erika. These eyes were not looking with malice. They just watched.

  Erika's lips curved in a smile. And the next moment her silhouette disappeared. The image of the knife fell from Saburou's belt.

  A dull sound was heard twice to the left of Saburou.

  Starting to move to the right, Saburou turned to the left. A wooden sword with a length of wakizashi, which he held in his right hand, he exposed in front of his face.

  Erika's wooden sword touched the wrist of this right hand.

  - Well, it's much better than before.

  After Erika lowered her wooden sword, Saburou also left the fighting stance.

  There was no pain from the received impact. After fights began with Leo, a long training with Erika was only now completed.

  This could be called an additional occupation. Erika tried to attack at a level of strength just slightly above Saburou's skills, and Saburou, using his psychokinesis, tried to slow Erika's moves and get a chance to counterattack. And this has been repeated many times.

  Since he did not receive any real blows, there was also no need for medical magic. However, he had to constantly move all this time, so now all the muscles of his body ached from spasms.

  "Okay, we'll finish up for today." I will not tolerate negligent work.

  - ... Thank you very much!

  Because of fatigue, the language of the bowed Saburou twisted, and his words sounded like "Spa ... shoee."

  When he lifted his head, Erika had already disappeared from the dojo. It looks like she went to the shower.

  Saburou's body collapsed to the floor, as if he had been paralyzed. Leo seated in the vicinity, looking at the half-chilled Saburou, thought about Erika.

  The training that Erika appointed Saburou was not her style at all. Leo could not tell what was going on, but it was clearly different from the approach to his training technique "Usub Kagero."

  Erika took Saburou's help very seriously. She wanted to give him the power, not skills.

  At least, so it seemed Leo.

  And this, in Leo's opinion, was not in the style of Erika.

  Leo came to the Chiba dojo, because he was asked to become an opponent of Saburou in training. Leo himself believed that it was rather "forced", rather than "asked." Therefore, since Saburou's training ended, he no longer had any reason to remain here. Leo said goodbye to Saburou who was still unable to get up, and went to the shower room for the dojo pupils.

  The last time Leo was deceived and he came across Erika in the bathroom. At that time, the compensation for seeing Erika's body wrapped in a towel was such that, compared to her, the cauldron in hell would seem like a cool bath. Although he thought that he was lucky enough to get rid of it easily, he swore to himself that "the second time it will never happen again."

  In the distant past, the dojo adhered to the rules of "taking a cold bath when sweating," but in the present era, a modern hot shower is simply irreplaceable. The huge Chiba family dojo has a shower room, where there are ten fully enclosed shower cabins in a row.

  The problem is that there is no division for the male and female parts (and most of the students are men), but there is no reason to worry about spying, since the cabins are locked from the inside, and there is enough room to change. In addition, women were allowed to use the bathroom of the main building, so the shower room of the dojo in fact was used mostly by men.

  Only one booth was occupied. Not caring about this, Leo walked into the next booth with a bag of change clothes in his hand.

  Without much fuss, in automatic mode, it took him about three minutes. Just standing, smeared with all the universal liquid soap-shampoo and quickly washed off the sweat. He massaged his hair with his fingers, and while washing his face with his hands, the rest he left to the shower machine, thereby he quickly finished taking a shower.

  But the automatic shower cabin was only in the washing of the body. Drying off and changing clothes were also necessary. Having included these actions in the total calculation, he left the shower cubicle 5 minutes after entering.

  On the opposite side of the shower walls was a mirror, and next to it was a simple dressing table. Leo usually just wiped his hair, but today he suddenly wanted to use a hairdryer.

  Now he was in a T-shirt and shorts. The jacket remained in the locker in the dojo. Now, in the middle of April, on the street in this form it will be pretty cool, however here, in the shower room it was warm, because the air conditioner worked.

  Perhaps, because of the relaxed atmosphere, he succumbed to the temptation. Standing in front of the mirror, he strained his biceps. The kind of strong hand was enough to satisfy the pride of the young guy.

  Feeling better, Leo, who had only strained his right hand, added a left to her. He puffed out his chest and bent his elbows over his shoulders and stood in the most famous pose, called "Double biceps in front".

  Then he put his hands on his waist, and straightening his shoulders, stood in the pose "Wide back muscles in front."

  The developed latissimus muscles of the back formed the shape of an inverted triangle (the shape of the letter V).

  Then, slightly bending forward, taking his fists slightly forward from the waist, straining at the same time the muscles of the arms, chest, shoulders and neck, this was the "Most Muscular" pose.

  Leo returned to the original pose with one right hand raised, looked at that hand and sighed contentedly.

  - ... What are you doing?

  - Ueeaa !?

  Leo, who had lost his alertness, did not notice Erika reflected in the mirror until she spoke.

  - Yes, and took a hair dryer.

  Leo, who was flushed, hurried to turn away. In addition to the thought that he was found in this shameful activity, there was something else.

  - T-why are you in this form !?

  Leo simply could not look directly at the reflection of Erika in the mirror in such an unseemly appearance for a girl.

  She was wearing a T-shirt, the length of which was barely enough to cover her breasts. And from below there were only short tight shorts, covering the legs only slightly at the base of the thighs. The slender waist, arms and legs, as well as the skin on the top of the chest (so called "décolleté zone"), reddening from the rush of blood, were completely naked.

  "Ha-ha?" It's a normal look when you get out of the shower. All the necessary clothes are on me.

  - E-this I understand! N-But why are you here ...!?

  - Why not? I was too lazy to go to the main building.

  Saying this in a tired voice, Erika sat on a stool next to Leo and held out her hand to the fan.

  "Well, do not you want to dry your hair quickly now?" It looks like your wonderful behavior has already subsided.

  - N-no, I, perhaps, I'll go!

  Leo threw the hair dryer in a sharp movement, quickly turned and walked towards the exit from the shower. Seeing the departing Leo, Erika shrugged her shoulders. Having finished drying her hair, she threw a robe over her T-shirt and shorts and went to the extension, which plays the role of her room.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  At a meeting that continued with tea drinking, the theme of Tatsuya's report flowed into the story of a magical attack that was supposedly "Tuman Bomba."

  - That is, even Tatsuya-kun could not recognize the user of this magic?

  - Yes. - Tatsuya confirmed Katsushige's guess.

  "But if this magic was "Tuman Bomba, "then ..." Katsushige thought for a moment, then expressed his thoughts. "... This means that the New Soviet Union has really begun to implement the ultra-long-range auxiliary targeting system in practice."

  - Auxiliary targeting system in ultra-long range ... Like the Third Eye, used for the Material Burst?

  Katsushige nodded to the inquiring Yuka.

  "Although, because of the supposed properties of this magic, the accuracy of aiming, like the Third Eye, is not needed." On the other hand, it seems to me that the computing power of just one magician will not be enough to compute the copying of an infinite number of magic sequences, changing the values of variables for simultaneous activation. I think they use a complex system that includes a large computer that helps with calculations.

  After the first sentence, the rest he spoke, turning to Maya.

  - Really. Tatsuya-san, what do you think?

  "I think that's a reasonable assumption." Moreover, when using a large CAD that has such integrated functions that allow all variab
les to be preliminarily entered into the activation sequence, the load on the magician must be heavily reduced.

  - That is, the magician will only have to count the ready activation sequence?

  - Even reading the activation sequence can be automated.

  - Does all this really reduce the burden on the magician? - Yuka expressed her doubt about the discussion of Maya and Tatsuya. - After all, if magic is activated by automated reading of the activation sequence, then the magician can get into a situation when the finished magic will exceed his capabilities?

  - Magic, beyond their abilities, simply will not activate. Although, if you use the "Sorcery Booster", then, perhaps, it will. - There was no hesitation in the voice of Tatsuya responding to Yuka.

  - Speaking about the amplifier, did you mean " Sorcery Booster", which was distributed by the Hong Kong mafia? Was not the organization that produced them destroyed?

  - This does not mean that the manufacturing method was lost. Well, all this of course is just guesses.

  - That's right.

  It seemed that Yuka still wants to say something, but the tone of Maya's response made her retreat.

  - I'm also interested in how this magic works, but there is a more urgent question ...

  Finishing her sentence, Maya looked at Miyuki with the question "Is it interesting, did she understand?" in the view. Perhaps there was some teaching lesson for the next head.

  "I think the most urgent task is how to protect ourselves from magic, which is supposedly "Tuman Bomba. "

  Fortunately, Tatsuya had already told her about it last night, so Miyuki was not troubled to answer. Maya nodded in satisfaction. She did not know that Miyuki's answer was actually overheard from Tatsuya, or she did not care that you can get answers by fraud.

  "To begin with, let's put aside the question of whether the magic that generates a detonating gas and explodes it is a Tuman Bomba." How would Miyuki-san defend herself against this magic?

  About this Tatsuya also gave her a lecture, only on the way here on VTOL, not last night.

  - If you can predict the activation time, then I think it can be stopped by the "Freeze Flame". But to catch the right moment is a rather difficult task ...

  "Freeze Flame" is magic that prevents a fire, keeping the temperature of the target object below a certain level. Even if the "Tuman Bomba" magic combines hydrogen and oxygen without application of heat, the synthesis still releases heat, which can be stopped by the "Freeze Flame", which is precisely designed to prevent heating.

  - Understood. What about Katsushige-san?

  - Hmm ... I think, depending on the scale of the attack, I can get by using the "Density Manipulation" to isolate the oxygen from the hydrogen immediately after their creation, thereby causing an error in the logic of the attacking magic and forcing it to fail activation.

  - What does Fumiya-san think?

  "I think I will not be able to do anything other than trying to protect myself with a barrier, but my sister's "Perfect Diffusion" will probably be able to prevent the activation of the magic.

  One by one, the so-called detoxification facilities gradually created an optimistic atmosphere.

  - It is theoretically possible to neutralize with the help of "Density Manipulation" and prevent activation with the help of "Perfect Diffusion", but ...

  At this point, Tatsuya intervened with criticism.

  "As Miyuki said, the main problem is whether the moment of activation of the enemies magic can be guessed. This high-speed distribution of magic sequences by copying, I for convenience called "Chain Casting". I believe that it will be quite difficult to have time to call up your magic before the end of the call of enemy magic.

  - However after all this, supposedly Tuman Bomba requires water on the whole area of the attack zone? On the sea or the lake everything is clear, but on land it is necessary to create first a fog or a puddle of water? I think, in this case, to some extent it is possible to predict the attack in advance.

  This time, Yuka spoke in an unexpectedly serious tone. However, Tatsuya refuted these arguments without saying anything superfluous.

  "If I were the user of that magic, I would just wait for a rainy day." We are in Japan, not in the desert in the Middle East. Finding the opportunity will be easy.

  Yuka only shrugged her shoulders. Tatsuya could not understand whether she expresses any meaning in this, or does not think about anything at all. He only worried for a moment, and decided to give up thinking about it.

  - Chain Casting copying is extremely fast. If the right moment cannot be precisely determined, it is better to be protected by barrier magic if possible.

  When the words "Barrier Magic" sounded, the views of all those present, except Tatsuya and Miyuki, involuntarily rushed behind Miyuki's back. Standing there and kept silent all the time Minami cringed under the gaze of five people.

  ◊ ◊ ◊

  After returning home and entering his room, Leo immediately went to the videophone. He could not get rid of the thoughts that haunted him all the way home, and could not suppress the desire to talk with someone.

  After a long call waiting, an image appeared on the screen of the videophone. There was an interior of the room in Japanese style. Given that the owner of the room is a schoolboy, one could call it "a study room," but because of the availability of bookcases that reach to the ceiling and are completely stuffed with paper books unusual for this time, this room was more like a "library."

  - Leo, a call from you is quite a rare occurrence. - Mikihiko said from the screen of the videoconference.

  - Oh, Mikihiko. Did I interrupt you?

  - ... Did something happen?

  Seeing Leo's unusually depressed expression, Mikihiko also changed in the face.

  - Yes, I wanted to hear someone's opinion on one issue ...

  The atmosphere of seriousness was transmitted even through the display. However, at this point something completely unexpected happened.

  - Yoshida-kun, in the bathroom ... Ah, I'm sorry.

  On the side of Mikihiko, the microphone caught the girl's voice calling from far away (possibly from the entrance to the library). But that was not all. At the very edge of the display, partially appeared the figure of a girl who looked in the doorway, in which Leo recognized Mizuki.

  - Excuse me! I interrupted you!

  - Wait! Leo, you're wrong! You've misunderstood everything!

  The panicking Leo trying to turn off the video, he tried to stop the even more panicky Mikihiko.

  "... I do not know what I misunderstood." I do not think you called to your house to do something n-indecent.

  - Wh-What does it mean n-n-indecent !?

  - N-well, that's it. Between a man and a woman ...

  - I would not do anything like that! I would not be so rude to Shibata-san!

  - Yes, I said that I do not think you did it!

  - Yoshida-kun, did you say something about me ...?

  Mizuki reappeared at the door at a time when the confusion between Leo and Mikihiko reached the limit. However, unlike the previous time, not only Mizuki appeared on the screen.

  - Mizuki-and, for a long time?

  This time, Mizuki did not just look in the room, and entered her, and behind her was another girl.

  Leo remembered the face of this girl. It was his classmate who is a member of the Arts Club.

  - Ah. Yoshida-kun is talking on the phone. Then we will postpone the work on the ice sculpture and do something else. Because there is not much time left.

  This schoolgirl took Mizuki's hand and dragged her along.

  - ... I suppose that other members of the art club also came? - Waiting until the girls disappeared from the screen, Leo asked.

  - That's right. Shibata-san and I are not alone here alone. So do not say stupid things.

  "Did he mean that something could happen if they were only two?" - Thought Leo. However, he decided that continuing to talk about it would be rude.

  - Sorry.

  - ... Come on. Tell me, what did you want to hear about my opinion?

  Leo felt relieved that his misunderstanding did not turn into a conflict, and the conversation returned to the original theme. And then he remembered why he even called.