-1414- You don't want us?

"Interesting..."

Watching Lecty trembling as she took a stance, raising her twin magic swords with an uncertain and completely clueless expression, Rozen displayed a fascinated look.

If it were someone else, they might not notice Lecty's uniqueness and would only think she deserved her reputation as the weakest Sky Wizard in the F-rank squad.

But Rozen had a keen eye.

From Rozen's perspective, although Lecty appeared anxious, her stance was nearly flawless. Though not as perfect as Edelweiss, she was on par with a swordsmanship expert like Ikki.

Rozen felt that when Lecty assumed her stance, the area around her became an impenetrable domain. Anyone stepping into it would immediately lose their head.

Such a master...

"There's no mistake. She must be from that place."

Rozen confirmed his suspicion.

The reason Rozen took an interest in the E601 squad was because it had two buried talents of notable backgrounds.

One of them was Lecty.

Rozen wanted to fight Lecty personally to confirm his guess.

Now, Rozen was sure Lecty was indeed from that place.

But if Lecty was from there, why had she ended up as a member of the weakest E601 squad?

Rozen thought about it, and after observing Lecty's personality, he had an answer.

"Let's try."

Rozen decided to make the first move.

So...

"If you don't attack, I'll come at you first."

With that, Rozen narrowed his eyes, releasing a tremendous force from his body.

It was telekinesis.

Using this, he converted magical power into telekinetic force.

"Buzz...!"

Under Rozen's telekinesis, the ground around him trembled, and the dirt lifted, forming bullets of mud.

"Go."

In the next instant, the mud bullets turned into a barrage, pouring down on Lecty's direction.

"Ugh...!"

Seeing countless mud bullets shooting towards her, Lecty's face finally showed fear.

However...

"Yah...!"

As the mud bullet rain was about to hit her, Lecty let out a shout.

As if she had given up, Lecty's twin blades started dancing.

It was an extremely refined unparalleled sword dance.

The twin blades in Lecty's hands moved like butterflies, light and agile, yet stung like bees with precision. With a flash of the blades, she unleashed countless slashes, slicing through the space around her.

"Spluf!"

At that sound, the first mud bullet entering Lecty's absolute domain was split in two by a sword flash.

"Spluf!" "Spluf!" "Spluf!" "Spluf!" "Spluf!"

With countless sword flashes around her, all the mud bullets were cut in half without exception.

In the blink of an eye, Lecty completed numerous slashes.

It looked as if a flurry of blades had appeared around Lecty, disintegrating all the mud bullets in a brilliant display.

"Good!"

Rozen's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise.

However...

"Now, try this."

Rozen extended his hand, gathering the scattered mud into a mud sword.

"Here I come."

Like he was reminding his opponent, Rozen applied telekinesis to himself, closing the distance with Lecty in an instant, silently and swiftly.

"Whoosh!"

The mud sword in Rozen's hand came down like a windmill.

This strike carried no technique, nor any real strength. It was merely mud compressed into a sword shape by telekinesis.

Given Lecty's earlier display, this strike should be easy for her to counter.

However...

"Ugh...!"

Seeing Rozen close in on her, Lecty's body stiffened, and panic appeared on her face.

In her panic, Lecty couldn't react.

"Thud!"

With a crisp sound, the mud sword struck Lecty's white shoulder, smearing her with mud.

"Oww...!"

Lecty felt a sharp pain and a chill on her shoulder. Realizing what had happened, she hurriedly tried to back away but tripped over a stone that had been moved there by Rozen's telekinesis.

"Ouch...!"

Lecty fell to the ground, a pained expression on her face.

Rozen looked down at the teary-eyed girl before him.

"So it's true..."

As if confirming something, Rozen sighed helplessly.

Meanwhile, the battles on the other two fronts were also nearing their conclusions.

"Damn it!"

Amid Rico's annoyed voice, an armored beetle's mud dummy broke through her sniping zone, leaving mud on her.

"Ahhh! Stop running away!"

Misora had completely lost it, continuously chasing her dummy but never managing to land a hit, only taking all the attacks herself.

The E601 squad ended their respective trials in such a state.

Rozen scratched his head, feeling both speechless and amused.

"Looks like this is going to take some time."

That was Rozen's final assessment.

And so, the training ended.

...….

"..."

In the center of the training ground, three girls stood in a line, their expressions far from cheerful.

Lecty was dejected, curled up with her twin swords in hand, mud from the sword strike on her shoulder but otherwise unscathed.

Rico was scowling, arms crossed, eyes closed, but her body had several muddy spots.

Misora had completely slumped her shoulders, bent over, looking utterly defeated.

She was entirely covered in mud, looking like a mud person.

Looking at the three girls, Rozen pursed his lips.

"Looks like I don't need to say much."

Their current state clearly showed their performance.

"Lecty could easily deflect the attacks, but her panic led her to be hit directly."

"Rico started off well but became rash halfway through, getting hit multiple times."

"And Misora, I don't even want to comment. Just blindly chasing the enemy, impulsive and reckless."

"You all have more issues than I imagined."

Rozen's words left the E601 squad in silence.

"So?"

Misora spoke up, resigned.

"You don't want us too?"

Hearing this, Rozen was dumbfounded.

Why did that sound so strange?