Chapter 12: Logically, You Are Indispensable to Me

The morning after the sleepover. When I woke up, the two sets of bedding laid out on the consultation room floor were already empty. Only a neatly folded duvet and a sloppily rolled-up sleeping bag remained.

“…Where did those two go this early in the morning?”

Tilting my head in confusion, I made my way to the training grounds behind the guild. A tense atmosphere was already drifting there, as if tearing through the cold morning air.

“Good morning, Nagi.”

The owner of the voice was the Ice-Flame Prodigy, Fran. Looking at her face, my eyes widened. The faint shadows under her eyes from yesterday had vanished, and a healthy blush colored her porcelain-like skin. Her complexion was dramatically better.

“Good morning. From the looks of it, you managed to sleep soundly.”

“Yes. Your ‘permission to sleep’ and the sense of security from being managed right beside you flawlessly corrected my sleep onset errors.”

With an extremely serious face, Fran casually dropped something incredibly heavy. Then, with a fluid motion, she readied her expensive staff and pointed the tip straight at me.

“Today, I want to prove my degree of recovery as objective data. Nagi, please have a combat-style mock battle with me.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I want you, my operations manager, to evaluate my magical output and control precision in actual combat with your own eyes.”

“Evaluate what? If I’m your opponent, I’ll be a charred corpse one second after we start. My combat power is zero.”

“Rest assured. I will hold back appropriately so it doesn’t reach a lethal dose.”

“That’s not the problem here.”

There is nothing less trustworthy than a genius mage “holding back.” Just as I was racking my brain on how to escape this unreasonable demand, it happened.

“Hold it right there!”

Bam! A silver bullet leaped over the training ground fence and burst onto the scene. It was Lise, the A-Rank swordswoman, holding a wooden sword in one hand.

“I won’t let you point your magic at Nagi! If you need a target, I’ll be your opponent!”

“…Oh my.”

Without lowering her staff, Fran shot Lise a glance with a cool expression.

“I suppose that’s fine. As a ‘moving target’ for my output test, an A-Rank swordswoman is an ideal environment.”

“Hehe. This target fights back, you know, so you better be careful!!”

“Both of you, wait! Don’t destroy the training grounds…!”

My attempts to stop them were in vain. Tremendous sparks flew between the two.

Fwoooosh!!

A pale blue flame, unleashed by Fran without an incantation, scorched the air as it closed in on Lise. Lise, on the other hand, didn’t flinch at all. With a terrifyingly powerful step, she swung her wooden sword and cleaved the flame right in half with nothing but sword pressure.

“Oho, going at it pretty flashy this early in the morning!”

“Guild Master! Don’t just watch, stop them!”

“Ain’t it fine? It’s good for the youth to be energetic. Oh, and the repair costs for the training grounds will be deducted from your salary.”

“That’s way too unreasonable!”

Even as I held my head in despair, the mock battle (a.k.a. the great monster showdown) continued to heat up. Fran’s magic was nothing compared to a few days ago when she had been panicking that she could “only output eighty percent.” Sharpness, power, deployment speed — all of it had returned to a state close to her prime.

“Hehe, wonderful. The connection of my mana circuits is surprisingly smooth!”

“Guh… hasn’t her output gone up!?”

Lise grimaced as she continuously slashed down the flying barrage of ice shrapnel. The aftermath of the magic blew the training dummies into smithereens one after another, gouging out the ground. At this rate, the training grounds really will be reduced to an empty lot. My salary is going to plummet into the negatives!

“That’s enooooough!!”

I blew the provided whistle with all my might and crossed my arms in a large X. At that signal, the two of them stopped their movements completely.

Lise was breathing hard, and a thin layer of sweat beaded on Fran’s forehead. Putting her staff away, Fran walked over to me with a proud smile on her face.

“Did you see, Nagi? This is the result of your management. For both output and control, I was able to produce numbers infinitely close to my prime.”

“Yeah, it was terrifying (in terms of repair costs).”

“Securing my sleep time and freeing me from self-loathing. Thanks to you giving me an external ‘standard,’ I am able to function flawlessly once again.”

Fran’s words were filled with undeniable gratitude. As the person in charge of the consultation desk, it was a recovery I should honestly be happy about.

However, Lise, carrying her wooden sword on her shoulder, cut in with a pouty face.

“Hmm. So you’re all cured now, huh. Good for you.”

“Yes, I am in excellent condition.”

“If you’re cured, then you don’t need Nagi’s ‘management’ anymore! All right, that concludes Fran’s consultation! Bye-bye! See ya! Take care!”

Lise declared triumphantly. It was true. If her mana drop had improved, the original purpose of the consultation had been achieved. It was time for her to be independent.

But. Fran raised the corners of her mouth slightly and shot back in a voice as cool as ice.

“No. It is not concluding.”

“…Why not?”

“Don’t misunderstand, Lise. I am able to function normally because I am under Nagi’s management. If his operations management were to be lifted now, it is self-evident that I would just produce errors again.”

“T-That’s just splitting hairs! If you’re cured, you can sleep by yourself now, right!”

“No. Continuous management is required to maintain functionality. Being satisfied with a temporary treatment is highly irrational.”

Fran completely ignored Lise and stepped directly in front of me. Then, catching my eyes straight on, she quietly spoke incredibly heavy words.

“Logically, you are indispensable to me.”

“…”

Thump, an unpleasant noise rang behind my eardrums. These weren’t words of gratitude like “thank you.” It was a theory of “encirclement,” constructed entirely through logical reasoning.

“Therefore, from now on and forevermore, manage my sleep and my life.”

“…Fran. That’s—”

“Nagiiiii! What does she mean!?”

Faster than I could retort, Lise grabbed me by the collar and started shaking me violently back and forth.

“I don’t know either!”

“Even though I’m your exclusive solo! Why is she calling Nagi indispensable!?”

“I am merely stating a logical necessity. Please refrain from screaming emotionally.”

“I don’t belong to anyone!!”

Under the blue sky, right in the middle of the half-destroyed training grounds, my scream echoed in vain. A swordswoman with abandonment anxiety, and a mage with a logically justified dependency on being managed. The more they recovered, why did these girls’ obsessions only grow heavier?

The guild’s morning began today with yet another battlefield that aggressively scraped away at my stomach lining.