-1494- Ready for a fight

The Floating Academy City—Mistgun.

Within the squad building, specifically on the floor belonging to the A-Class squads, Rozen and his group suddenly appeared.

Seeing Rozen and his group here, the students who were active on this floor, members of an A-Class squad, were quite surprised.

"Isn't that the S128 Special Task Squad?"

"What are they doing here?"

"And even Rorelei-sama is with them..."

"Did something happen?"

The crowd buzzed with speculation.

However, the members of the S128 Special Task Squad paid no heed and continued discussing amongst themselves.

"It's been a long time since we last came to this floor."

"Our squad room used to be on this floor too."

"Even though I didn't stay here long after joining, we quickly rose to S-Class and left, but I still feel nostalgic about this place."

Chloe, Kanata, and Yuri chatted excitedly.

Being able to follow Rozen back to the floor where they once stayed was a memory-evoking experience for the S128 Special Task Squad, so much so that the three of them momentarily relaxed their expressions.

Particularly Yuri, who looked at Rozen's back with extreme joy. If not for her self-restraint, she might have already started jumping up and down, possibly even humming a tune.

Kanata and Chloe were in similar states, feeling quite at ease.

This showed just how irreplaceable Rozen's position was within the squad, earning the full trust of everyone.

However, when they thought about the person they were planning to recruit next, everyone felt a bit helpless.

"To think that one day, we'd be trying to recruit someone like that."

Kanata scratched his head, looking somewhat helpless, yet also amused, as if he was prepared to take it one step at a time.

"But when it comes to strength, she is indeed impeccable, enough to rival any one of us except Rozen."

Chloe recalled the person's feats and praised her.

"But will she even accept our invitation?"

Yuri expressed her concern.

Rozen directly answered this question.

"Probably not," Rozen said bluntly. "She has always been competitive with us, and she's also the captain of her squad. Considering her past behavior and character, it's highly unlikely she would choose to switch to our squad."

For Sky Wizards, recruiting and switching squads wasn't an uncommon thing.

Everyone wanted to climb higher, to join a more advanced, stronger squad.

Every squad had its issues, affecting their performance and unity, which often led to disbandment.

Naturally, each squad would want to extend an olive branch to strong and promising individuals, inviting them to join their ranks.

So, for a Sky Wizards squad, recruitment and switching squads were quite common.

If it were another squad, Rozen might succeed in recruiting someone in no time.

After all, an invitation from an S-Class Special Task Squad—who wouldn't want to join?

But this time, the person Rozen and his group were planning to recruit had a very high chance of rejecting them outright.

Because the odds of this person joining the S128 Special Task Squad were extremely low.

"Mena Purpleton, a second-year student in the Sky Wizard Division, belongs to the A177 Squad. She's not only the captain of the A177 Squad but also its ace."

Yuri then began to list the information about the person Rozen and his group were looking for.

"Her weapon of choice is a magic battle axe, known as the strongest in close-combat destructive power among all Magic Alchemical Weapons. A full-force strike can even shatter the magic barrier of a protective suit. Once hit by her lightning-infused axe, the opponent is undoubtedly struck down, hence her nickname—'Lightning Flash'."

This was the person the S128 Special Task Squad was preparing to recruit.

And that's not all.

"Mena uses an armor-type protective suit, which, while consuming a lot of mana, offers incredible defense. Her extraordinary destructive power combined with exceptional defense is her greatest strength. To date, she has only been struck down once, and only one person has ever survived after being hit by her magic battle axe. Everyone else has been taken down without exception, earning her the title of 'Ace Shot.' Her strength is undoubtedly on par with ours."

Chloe added further details.

Even Kanata chimed in.

"It's said that Mena's family has been protecting people from Armored Beetles as knights since before the term 'Sky Wizard' even existed. So, most of the members of her lineage are honest and upright like true knights, with a long history that even surpasses the Flamel family, which often produces individuals with the Clairvoyance ability."

Kanata showed an unexpectedly thorough knowledge of the subject.

"Is it really possible to recruit such a person?"

Yuri was increasingly losing confidence.

Not just Yuri, but even Kanata and Chloe seemed doubtful.

"Leaving aside whether Mena would even consider switching squads, even if she did, it wouldn't be to ours, right?"

Chloe sighed.

"After all, the A177 Squad is currently the top A-Class squad, second only to us, the S-Class Special Task Squad. They've always been competitive with us. This time, they've mentioned several times to the Division Head that they want to compete against us in the Sky Wizards Martial Arts Festival to qualify as the representative squad. Given this, plus her upright and honest character, and the history of our previous confrontations, she definitely wouldn't choose to abandon her teammates and join our squad."

Kanata agreed.

"By the way, the person who blocked Mena's full-force magic battle axe strike without being struck down was our squad captain, and the one who struck her down was also him."

Chloe kindly reminded them.

"Senpai..."

Yuri immediately looked at Rozen with a complex expression, full of respect and internal conflict.

"Don't look at me like that. At the time, we were opponents, and she had heard that I was the strongest in the squad, so she came straight at me. Of course, I had to fight back."

Rozen looked innocent.

"But this means there's no way she'll accept our recruitment, right?" Kanata said nonchalantly, "Anyway, I think it's a long shot."

Anyone who heard about this would likely agree.

"I still don't understand why the Division Head recommended Mena to join us."

Yuri was puzzled.

"Considering that the Division Head is very responsible, learning that we are going to undertake such a challenging mission, it's normal for him to try his best to recommend a strong teammate to us."

Chloe explained.

"In any case, we won't know if it'll work until we try." Rozen casually said, "Although I don't think it's necessary to fill the roster, I wouldn't mind recruiting someone to help out a bit."

They were heading to Vebel to participate in a competition, but who knew what might happen there.

Given that, whether Rozen needed it or not, if the S128 Special Task Squad members wanted to take the plunge, having a strong teammate by their side wouldn't be a bad thing.

As for Rozen himself, if he needed manpower, he had plenty of familiars and shikigami he could summon, so there was no need to worry.

Therefore, Rozen was approaching Mena with a mindset of trying it out; it would be great if it worked, but no big deal if it didn't.

"You guys better be ready for a fight later."

Saying something unsettling, Rozen led the group to the A177 Squad's room.

"Shhh!"

The squad room's automatic door immediately opened, revealing the scene inside to Rozen and the others.

In the next moment...

"It's you guys?"

A slightly surprised and astonished voice rang out.