Soon after lunch, the other heroes also began to gather at the training grounds, led by a blue-haired knight, Commander Alice.
Following right after her was Arthur Blythe. Blindly devoted to that shiny lady, he was unanimously appointed as the leader of their group of heroes. I`d say that mostly because no one wanted to take on the burden of the position, and also have to oppose Arthur`s ferventness at that. I often see him during morning, on the way to the training grounds, while he receives some extra lessons on strategy and other related subjects. He carries his hero relic, a sword, on his hips. I`m not sure of what it does, but I assume it must be better than this stupid shield, that can only change sizes.
Behind him was Flora Cortez, cheerfully talking to the rest of the group. Gentle in nature. However, not one to take the initiative and express her will. She prefers to simply follow the group, even if the end results were to go against her own beliefs. She also has a hero relic, a stick with the shape of a flower. She specializes in healing, though I've seen her performing some kinds of offensive conversions as well. Apparently, healing is a very rare type, capable of restoring someone in the verge of death to perfect health in a matter of minutes. I`m not sure how that works, but it seems it's not capable of restoring already permanent damage, such as restoring lost limbs, or, well, resurrecting people…
Which takes us to the girl following at the end of the group, with a taciturn expression. The complete opposite of Flora. She introduced herself simply as Hel. And, huh, she`s somewhat of a mystery. Mostly keeping to herself and using the bare minimum of words or gestures to interact, and that only when it`s absolutely necessary. She also refuses to reveal any information from her own world… Though I do understand why someone could want to not have anything to do with their old world anymore… But none of that matters. If I had to say one thing about her is that she creeps me out. And not just because her conversion is used on corpses to make them fight like zombies. Rather, on the times when we trained together, she would smile clearly having fun every time someone got seriously hurt, which wasn`t that uncommon as we were just getting used to mana expression…
Following diagonally behind Flora, was Alex Barton. There`s not much to say of his personality, since all he does is simply conform his opinion to that of the rest of the group. His hero relic is a bow, though I don`t remember having seen him using it yet. Honestly, I haven`t interacted with him enough to have a clear picture of him.
Diagonally behind Flora, on the opposite side to Alex, is an idiot who continues to steal glances at her ass, as if no one was noticing. His name is Jinssei Ryuuzaki, and ironically to his name, his conversion allows him to transform parts of his body into those of dragons. I can`t stand his personality, but at least he treats Owari nicely, unlike the others. He does pack quite a punch when transforming his arms.
Coldly staring at him from behind, with eyes as if she was looking at trash, is Maria. She said she doesn`t have a surname… Seemingly a diligent person, but only in topics that are of her interest. She doesn`t dedicate herself very much to practice, but you can always find her by herself reading books on mana during free time.
Finally, at the center, is Mila Schwarz. She`s talking to Flora, Jinssei (subtly indicating for him to stop ogling Flora) and Alex at the same time, while also guiding Hel and Maria, arranging so that everyone continues to follow Blythe. She`s the one who irritates me the most. We had a fight in the second day… She`s an asshole, pretending to be nice.
"Looks like they're here today too…" I say, expressing my delight in having to see them…
"Ahhhh… It must be so nice to have that level of abilities from the start… They can wake up anytime they want, order any food…" Owari says, with a small hint of envy.
"Well, whatever. Maybe their ability level was determined by how deep the stick up their ass---"
"…"
"Hey, did you just look at me with a "you`re one to talk" face?"
"N-nope! Must've been just your imagination…"
"Whatever. Either way, I prefer Mr. Brownie way more than that woman…"
"Who'd have thought… I had no idea you thought of him like that…" He says, trying to insinuate something.
"Oh, shut up, Owari."
"Hahah, yeah, but I know what you mean. There's something about her eyes whenever she looks at us…"
"Hmmm? Lost in her eyes, are you?"
"Heh, good comeback---"
The Commander's head suddenly makes a sharp turn as she stares in our direction, taking the smiles out of our faces. Maybe we'd been having fun for too long.
"Wh-Whoa! D-Did you see that, she just glared at us!" He says without hiding his surprise.
"Well, it's only natural since we were staring at her first…"
We were looking in her direction while laughing after all---
"Oy kids, did I say it was time for you to rest already?!" A loud voice from behind suddenly catches me off-guard.
"Kyaaa---!!! Oh! Damn it, Mr. Brownie, don't scare us like that!!!"
Owari has a half grin plastered across his face, as if he already knew Mr. Brownie was approaching from behind. He must've kept quiet in order to see me getting scared…
"Did you just scream "kya", Fumiko? That was kind of cute… Now that's what I call a payback."
"Let's see for how long you can keep that smile Owari… You'll see…"
"*Caham!* I've already said my name is not Brownie, it`s Borauni… Oh, I see how it is, the other kids are here already…" Mr. Brownie pauses for a second and observes their training.
"They seem to be starting the physical and combat training… Oh! Impressive! Commander Alice is doing some great work there. Though it would've been better if they weren`t beginning their training this late…"
"Ugh… Even you are full of praises to them, Mr. Brownie…" I say.
"*Sigh…*" And Owari sighs dejectedly.
"Hahaha! Don't worry, kids, you'll catch up to them soon enough! Since you have something in you that they don't!"
"Lack of sleep?"
"Muscle cramps?"
"Almost! Hard work, friendship and the guts to face anything that might come your way!"
"Wow! I never thought I would hear such a generic training speech like this in real life! It makes me feel like I'm in a movie!"
"I think I did see Owari`s guts at some point during training. It wasn`t as pretty as you`re making it out to be…"
"*C-caham!* Moving on, since we're already done with physical training for the day, now's the time for conversion training! Especially you Fumiko!"
"Yeah yeah, I know I suck at it…"
"Don`t say it like that, you just have a lot to learn! Oh, but before I forget, always remember to pay attention to your surroundings, so you won't be surprised. Though if you continue to train your screams, you might even manage to surprise your enemies back…"
"Urgh… That`s it Mr. Brownie, now you`re on my blacklist too."
"I have no idea about who that 'Mr. Brownie' is, but I'm sure glad it's not me, since my name is Borauni, HaHa! And you shouldn't laugh like that Owari, you didn't help Fumiko this time either, so who knows when you might be next… Remember to always pay attention and properly warn your companions when you notice something! Though I'm also curious to know how that competition of yours will go, HaHa!"
Mr. Brownie moves on to the part of the field specialized for mana conversion training, while laughing loudly. Even though Owari was also scolded, he's next to me giving me some provocative smirks…
I give him a good smack on the head.