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"No wonder Lord Rosen thought of this too! He really does think of everything!"
Miko Yotsuya had been racking her brain earlier, wondering how she was supposed to fight in a crowded place.
But now, hearing that Rosen had prepared a special training exercise for exactly this scenario, her admiration for him shot up another level.
Mai Sakurajima glanced at the girl, speechless that someone could get this excited over something like that.
But then again… maybe that kind of simple, straightforward personality wasn't such a bad thing?
After all, she herself had been through the grind of the entertainment industry—her emotional tolerance was way higher than the average person's.
Before long, they locked onto a target: a spirit disguised as a child holding a balloon.
It lingered among a group of kids, copying their playful movements. Sometimes it would step right in front of one and ask if they could see it—but every time, the children just walked straight through it.
Still, the spirit wasn't about to give up.
They weren't exactly smart creatures, just repeating the same behavior mechanically. To them, catching even one person's attention was a win.
"Killing a spirit in a crowd isn't easy," Rosen explained. "If you're clumsy about it, you'll look like some chūnibyō weirdo. But if you're careful, you can get away with it just fine."
"First rule: in public, flashy weapons like the Spear of Light are out. But you can condense holy light into smaller forms. Like this."
Under the two girls' watchful eyes, Rosen raised his hand.
In his palm, holy light gathered, glowing faintly as it solidified into the shape of a dagger.
"As long as it doesn't draw attention and still gets the job done, the shape doesn't matter."
Then, right in front of them, Rosen walked casually up behind the spirit and reached out.
The light dagger sliced clean through it, splitting the ghost in two.
And then he simply strolled back to them, calm and unhurried, like nothing had happened.
A few people had noticed him—but only because they were women staring at his looks and aura, not because of the fight.
"Lord Rosen that was amazing!"
Miko clasped her hands together, eyes sparkling with admiration.
"Which of you wants to try first?" Rosen asked.
Miko immediately volunteered, then picked out a spirit to go after.
Shaping her holy light into a weapon wasn't hard—but every time she tried to sneak up, the spirit noticed her.
Startled, she always overreacted, throwing herself into exaggerated fighting stances.
She at least remembered Rosen's advice and didn't summon a glowing spear, but to the people around, she just looked like a random girl suddenly breaking into a dramatic chūnibyō dance.
Parents quickly pulled their children away, watching her with wary eyes.
"Lord Rosen, why does this keep happening to me?" she asked miserably when she came back.
"That's probably just your constitution," Rosen said. "You've always had spiritual sight, so spirits are naturally drawn to you."
In the original story, Miko often ended up attracting stronger spirits than average.
Those ones were smarter.
They couldn't touch her until they were sure she could see them, but they always found ways to force that—by scaring her, tricking her, luring her—anything to make her acknowledge them.
It was only thanks to her strong will that she managed to keep insisting to herself that she couldn't see them at all.
Anyone else would've broken a long time ago.
"You just need more practice," Rosen told her. "Next up is… Bunny Girl-senpai."
The nickname made Mai Sakurajima blink, then flush red beneath her mask.
She shot Rosen a sharp look of annoyance, then turned and strode toward another spirit.
Swish!
Before the spirit even knew what was happening, its head and body were already separated.
All Mai had done was swing once.
Her holy light had extended into a blade longer than her arm, gleaming even under the bright sunlight.
Yet somehow, none of the people nearby noticed anything out of the ordinary.
"Eh? Wait, how?!" Miko's jaw dropped.
Nobody saw that?
Were these people blind, or were they all just pretending?
"That's the 'erased presence' skill at work," Rosen chuckled. "Mai's better suited as an assassin than a fighter. Honestly, this sort of training is child's play for her."
"Well done," he said warmly. "The two of you could even split roles in the future."
"I just had the advantage of my skill…" Mai murmured, face still pink.
She'd been praised countless times as a celebrity, but being complimented by Rosen stirred something completely different inside her.
And seeing Mai's flawless performance, Miko clenched her fists, quietly resolving to work even harder.
By the time the sun dipped low, the training was over.
"Alright, that's enough for today," Rosen said. "Let's go grab a big feast."
"Yay!" Miko cheered.
Not long after, the three of them were seated in a high-end wagyu buffet restaurant.
Miko's eyes nearly popped out when she saw the price—fifty thousand yen per person. She swallowed hard.
"This place must be crazy expensive, right? Maybe we should go somewhere else, Lord Rosen…?"
"..."
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