CH 250

“Zeros, nice to meet you, leader.”

“Nii-sama, please do your best.”

“Are you sure you’ll be able to lead us?”

Today was the day for the announcement of the members of the inter-school competition. As a matter of course, I, Sophie, Shana and Claudia were chosen as members. The three foreign students chosen were Bequa, Elira and Carina. The other three were chosen from the general student body. Well, we are ordinary students, too.

And since we had won the last school competition, the leader was me again, and the vice-leader was Sophie.

“If you say so, do you want to change the leader?”

“No.”

Elira asked me if I was okay with it. I tried to change, but she said no.

“Uh… is it okay for me to be the representative instead of Urza?”

Carina must have wondered if she should be chosen instead of her twin Urza. I was about to follow up on this when Bequa put his hand in front of mine and stopped me.

“Don’t be naive, Carina. You just want to be told that you can handle it. If you don’t have confidence, work on yourself until you do. Don’t be such a pathetic beastman relying on others to give you strength of mind.”

“Yes!”

It’s a line that only her older brother, Bequa, could say at this moment. I think Carina wanted to be told that it was going to be okay. If I told her that, then maybe it would be okay this time. But if she doesn’t hear the same thing again when something similar happens, it might not give her the confidence she needs.

“And Urza, next time, try to be so strong that everyone can see that you are more capable than Carina.”

“Yes!”

In our view, Urza and Carina are almost the same in ability. So it wouldn’t have been surprising if either of them had been chosen for this year’s team.

However, I think it was significant that Urza’s opponent on the second day of the Garden competition was Sophie and Carina’s was Claudia. Urza couldn’t do anything from start to finish, while Carina couldn’t do anything at first, but she was able to get back at Claudia in the end. I selfishly think that the difference between the two was the deciding factor on which one to choose over the other. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

“Well, then, let’s get on to the practice field and show Zeros what beastification is all about!”

“Take it easy on me.”

“Unfortunately, my teaching is spartan, so be prepared!”

There was nothing much to do that day other than announce the members, so I headed to the practice field on that foot.

“Hey! What’s up!”

“Damn…”

And now Bequa and I are having a mock battle with the binding that the only skill we’ll use on each other is beastification. Of course, that binding leaves the constantly activated skills, like my divine speed reflex, as unusable.

“You’re not fighting back at all!”

“It’s not that I’m not fighting back…I just can’t!”

If I fight only with beast force, it’s all I can do to avoid getting hit with Bequa’s attacks. I’m not even able to move in a way that would allow Bequa to create an opening.

“Damn! I can’t!”

“Ah?”

I can only see a future of losing if I keep going as I am, so I put out a second tail.

“……”

“Here we go!”

The look on Bequa’s face when I let out my second tail was a little amusing. He looked happy, frustrated, dismayed…a complex mix of emotions.

“Impossible…I lost!”

“As far as beastification goes, you’re not even close!”

This mock battle ended in my loss because I gave up. Thanks to the divine speed reflex, Bequa’s attack didn’t hit me properly. And thanks to the two tails, my status had increased, so I was able to fight a pretty good fight from the halfway point. However, without any recovery enchantments, I had no stamina to last. If I had gone on any longer, I would have lost the fight because I couldn’t avoid the attacks.

“As I thought Zeros, you don’t know what beastification is.”

“What do you mean?”

Bequa said this to me as he approached me who was lying down right after I gave up. What on earth did Bequa want to say?

“Beastification is a skill that literally turns you into a beast. The way you fight is too human-like. While in beast form, you should fight more like a beast, free and uninhibited, unrestrained by the human form. Your reflexes are better than those of a beast, so you should be able to match them.”

“Thank you.”

After all, Bequa knows more about beastification than I do. I’d like to get a lot of advice from him.

“Zero-niisama. I’ll teach you devil magic and devilfication carefully and hands-on!”

“I’ll teach you about spirit magic and spiritualization.”

“Hahaha! Thank you, both of you.”

Apparently Sophie and Elira are going to teach me too. I have a surprisingly large amount of free time between now and the start of the inter-school competition. I’ll use that time to try to master spirits, devils, and beasts as much as possible.