In the outskirts of Mirage Town.
There, one could see warriors with brown skin and red eyes lined up. 15 in total.
Every one of them possessed good amounts of battle experience, and in their eyes one could see the pride they had in their own abilities. In short, they were full of confidence.
The 15 elites were the forest ogres that the village had selected to send to the Mirage Town in sign of their cooperation with Makoto, or Raidou which he is known for. In that group, one could see Akua and Eris who were the ones that Makoto was fed up with. Makoto's follower, Tomoe, reformed the barrier and the need for strong combat force was lost, so the personal selection was done without any restraints.
The forest ogres that were invited for a preview of the area were surprised by the environment of Asora and were singing praises to it. The selected people were allowed to reside in the forests and have autonomy. The forests that were not included in that are still in consideration of who should manage it.
Today is the first day of the already announced combat training. There was still time before it began, but since everyone was already there, they were just waiting for the three who would be overseeing them.
The three of them refer to Raidou, Tomoe and Mio. The strongest three of the Mirage Town. They seriously thought that they were just coming to oversee them and were thinking "Don't get surprised by our training". In a sense, they were a blissful bunch.
"Oh~, as expected of a personally selected group. You are all gathered already"
The first one to call out the lined up group was Tomoe. A girl that has blue hair and wears Japanese clothing that has never been seen before in this world. Of course, no one knew that this clothing is a samurai's clothing. It just struck as eccentric.
"… Looking after small fry just doesn't give me the drive"
The bad tempered one, who one would have to wonder if she had low blood pressure, is Mio. Having black hair and wearing a different type of Japanese clothing. This one would be classified as a kimono. At simple glance, it doesn't look like the type that one could move properly in. Her appearance isn't that of someone accompanying in training.
"Why was there a need for me to come as well? I feel like Shiki would have been fine though"
The one who looked like he was filled with dissatisfaction is the person that possesses the highest authority in this land, Makoto. He looked like he wanted to quickly go back. He felt like he was being restraint from going to Academy Town and was dragged in a useless event. He was questioning himself about why he is here and so early in the morning.
Leaving aside Tomoe, the other two didn't seem like they had any motivation at all. The expressions of the forest ogres warped equally.
"So you have come. I don't like that there are people without motivation but, is it okay to think that you have just come here today to look at our independent training right?"
The representative male forest ogre confirms with the three people that had just arrived. Taking into account that the forest ogres are on the slim side, this man's physique was concentrated in the muscles and one could see fearlessness from his face. There was no need to say, this man is the one they call Shishou or pervert.
"Nope, that will be suspended-ja" (Tomoe)
"… What did you say?" (Pervert)
Hearing the nonchalant words of negation from Tomoe, the pervert doesn't hide his displeasure and responds.
"You are as energetic as always huh. If I remember correctly… you are Mondo right? Even though your name is first-class, you are quite the pitiful one" (Tomoe)
"Are you trying to pick a fight, Dragon onee-san?" (Pervert)
"By no means. Today we are changing plans. I was thinking of having you guys show us your abilities you see. If you pass a certain threshold, the ones that succeed will be able to move to the village and be depended upon, but if you are unable to, we will have to train you" (Tomoe)
Tomoe gives out a sound-looking reason. But her face is grinning. Just as Mondo said, one could only see her as picking a fight.
"Are you saying that you are dissatisfied with us?" (Mondo)
"… Mondo, I think this is something you would all be looking forward to though? From now on, you guys will be dividing in teams and have you fight us. For that reason I went through all the trouble of making time for Makoto-sama and Mio to come after all-ja" (Tomoe)
"… Heh~" (Mondo)
Mondo makes a mocking face. For Tomoe, he isn't a dangerous threat so there was no point on making such coercing filled eyes though.
"It is fine to make teams of five. In any case, Mondo and his two disciples will be in the same team right? I am thinking of having you guys fight Waka" (Tomoe)
"That is… fine! We were also wondering ourselves, just how strong is Makoto-sama" (Mondo)
"I see, I see. Now, the next thing is a criterion" (Tomoe)
Tomoe continues to explain with a beaming smile. She didn't pay much attention to their tone and the abusive language that was pouring out of them. If there was a need to say anything, it would be that Mio was silently hiding her lips with her folding fan. There was no change in Makoto at all. "I wish this ends soon…" is what his eyes were saying.
"Criterion? There should be no problems if we just bring you down right?" (Mondo)
"Of course-ja. If you guys are able to beat us, you will be approved without any complains. To be specific, the teams that are able to bend the knees of me or Mio or are able to crumble our stance is enough. Regarding Makoto-sama… you will pass if just one attack gets in. If you are unable to do so, you will have to follow the afternoon training menu okay?" (Tomoe)
Tomoe's words were small whispers, but they spread out widely like ripples.
"Understood. Understood but, you have seriously taken us for fools. We will soon divide the people. Don't regret it" (Mondo)
"You guys as well, go all out so there are no regrets okay? The exam time will be from now till noon. Rule is anything goes. However, we will not do any fatal attacks and the injuries that you receive will be properly treated so don't worry" (Tomoe)
Then, go prepare yourself.
Saying that, Tomoe waves her hand to shake the forest ogres. A gesture that could be taken as "go away".
"Tomoe~ are you serious when you said it will be from now till noon? Moreover, what is with that about only one attack? Aren't you putting the hurdle too high for me?" (Makoto)
"Waka, forest ogres are a bit weak in the brain. Must be because they have a rash rationale. They are instinctive and don't understand the strong ones. They have been influenced by the hyumans in a bad way. Well, no worries. It seems that these guys are slowly forgetting the fact that they can't freely leave, that they can't escape. Teaching them where they stand will serve for us in the future and it will also help us advance the training smoothly. Please, I ask for your cooperation. There is no need for you to attend the boot camp that will take place in the afternoon so" (Tomoe)
It seems there was not a single trace of her thinking that they would be able to land a hit on him.
"B-Boot camp you say. Did you extract another weird memory again? Well, I won't be able to come here that often so I will cooperate in as much as I can while I am here" (Makoto)
"Why do I have to stay in the afternoon as well-desu no? I want to be together with Waka-sama-desu" (Mio)
"Mio, it's because if you are here with me, they will fall into deeper despair. No matter if it was useless, they still tried to hurt Waka you know? Accompany me even if for the sake of making disciplining them" (Tomoe)
"Now that you mention it… I haven't punished them huh. If it's that…" (Mio)
Mio withdraws with Tomoe's words. She didn't notice the evil intents of the forest ogres in the beginning. After that, she heard what they were planning to do to Makoto, so she didn't hold any favorable impressions of them. Well she herself gave in, so her thought process was that if they are useful there is no helping it. Makoto also said that he won't be bringing Tomoe or Mio with him to Academy Town anyways, so she seemed to be slightly putting up with Tomoe's request.
"Then, to an extent where they won't die, I will have them reborn with my new body clone's training menu. Kufufufufu~~" (Tomoe)
With the first generation clone destroyed, Tomoe poured her strength into a new clone that would work as the new manager of Asora. As a result, the second body became that of a small girl with high combat ability. Moreover, even when she is a clone that was created from her own strength, she has a dangerous-looking crimson ring as her core, and there are shady rumors that this second generation secretly battles with Mio. Tomoe was shivering with expectations at the training that will unfold tomorrow.
Even though they showed a hostile attitude to him, Makoto still felt pity on the forest ogres.
—-
The results of the fights were terrible.
For the forest ogres this was most likely the first time they have experienced such a crushing defeat.
Mondo may be a brainless idiot, but he isn't incompetent in battle. Before the battle, he confirmed with Tomoe and got the approval of her not saying a single word in their training any more if only one team is able to pass. He did neglect the most important point, but this could be taken as Tomoe's ability with words and her skills with provocations.
Of course, Mondo sent out the weakest group out against Tomoe and the next 5 against Mio. Then sent out the strongest 5 against Makoto. Taking into account his internal ranking of them, his actions were not that much of a surprise. In first place, he doesn't know that it was Makoto's magic power that caused the accident (or so they told him) which occurred while Mondo was touring Asora.
Even though they were given quite the amount of time after the sun was in the middle of the sky, the time it took to fight against Tomoe and Mio didn't even give the chance for the sun to rise that high.
Tomoe didn't even unsheathe her sword. Using an anguish mist, all of them fell down foaming and were driven unable to fight in just 15 minutes. There wasn't even the chance to show their individual abilities or their teamwork. The agonizing screams were becoming faint and when it turned silent, she released it. That's the only thing that happened. After that, Tomoe took out some documents in one hand and began pondering about how to make the katana's scabbard and guard design. This was cruel.
In Mio's case, as soon as the fight began one of them threw a spell, but without trying to evade, Mio took it on with her body. As if nothing happened, she captured the four people that were trying to attack her from the ground with the spell's timing and the magic caster with threads. To the bunch that looked like bugs caught in the web of a spider, they could only let themselves be drained of their energy and be done for. Even when noon came, out of the five, the strongest one was the only one who could move, but his movements could only be compared to the motions of a newborn deer. Moreover, Mio didn't even move a centimeter. After everyone lost their consciousness, she went to look for a random rock and sat down. She was only confirming the state of the make-up she recently learned. This was also cruel.
Then, if we talk about Makoto…
He was confronting the five elites that didn't hide their killing intent while thinking of a way to dispose of them. But Mondo came out with a proposal. To try connecting one hit. Since they don't know how strong he is, they didn't know how much they had to hold back so Mondo went to the front and told Makoto to try hitting once.
Makoto began liking a bit this loveable idiot. He would surely be one of those guys in stories that shout in surprise "WHaT?!" or "How in the nine hells?!" is what Makoto thought while making a wry smile. Because even without Mondo stating such a condition like "hitting once" he would have proposed it himself.
That's why Makoto released an attack at Mondo, whose face said to hit there. Seeing Mondo flying to neverland, the others stood stunned. The remaining four were dumbfounded, unable to even pursuit him and could only look at the place where their master had flown, only after a while they returned to their senses and ran to the place they guess he landed, but as expected, the weak-looking Mondo had his eyes rolled after being blown off.
"Truly a big mouth…" (Makoto)
The words that Makoto whispered were heard by no one and just flowed. After a while of doing nothing but look at the clouds, the forest ogres returned. They were most likely doing treatment. For now it seemed like Mondo was okay.
After that, they for some reason slandered Makoto as underhanded and began their attack. Makoto only made a barrier covering all directions, coupled it with [Sakai] and then left them alone. Even when they did attacks in all directions or concentrated their attacks in one spot, it felt like there was no effect at all. Magic, swords, arrows; everything was easily repelled. For the forest ogres, it felt like they were doing continuous attacks on an unbreakable rock.
In a case where he might as well just defeat them, he just left them to exhaust themselves and after constant offensive, noon arrived and they were all dried. In that time, Tomoe saw that Makoto was growing restless, so she took a bow and left it at his side. After five shots, everyone was unable to even stand on their knees. They didn't have the strength to stand and their breathing was rough. After Makoto asks Tomoe if it is fine with this, he left just like that.
The ones left were the 15 forest ogres that even with their wounds healed, were destroyed from the root. There was no trace left of the attitude they had when they came here. Tomoe nods at the expected situation.
"Now, as all of you have failed, you will have to take my training" (Tomoe)
"… Understood"
The response that was returned had a sense of hidden meaning mixed in. What was mixed in was fatigue, but there was also opposition. Nevertheless, Tomoe just laughed.
"Tomoe, aren't you letting them get a bit ahead of themselves? If so, wouldn't it be better to leave them in that mist of yours for half a day and make them learn their own position? It could even make them more motivated" (Mio)
Hearing the words of Mio, the forest ogres that fought Tomoe paled and held their heads. They foamed with only 15 minutes. If they were left for half a day, their soul could be destroyed. In this area, the ones that had their mind broken the most are probably them.
"Now now, Mio. Don't bully them. Let's leave that as a punishment game for the people that don't show good results" (Tomoe)
"People like this that take our attacks so amusingly, are they really of any use? In Waka-sama's case, they were even let to attack all the time and they still ended up like that" (Mio)
"They have enough quality-ja. If we train them from zero, we can make them useful" (Tomoe)
"Even in Asora, they could be counted as the lowest of the lowest though" (Mio)
Not knowing what Tomoe was expecting from them, Mio tilts her head. It is of course but, there was no shred of consideration for the forest ogres in their words.
"I won't deny that. They are like kids that think they only have good qualities-ja. Waka also seemed to have taken that in mind when dealing with them" (Tomoe)
"… Instead of punishment, it feels like it will turn into nursing in the middle of it-desu wa" (Mio)
Yareyare. Being sure that in the future it will turn out this way, Mio worried about what will happen from now on. To a person that will soon break if they are bullied a bit, she felt like it would built up stress instead.
No matter what they said, the forest ogres that lost completely had no right to object. They followed the training menu just as Tomoe ordered.
The training that continued till evening was harsh for Mondo and the others that couldn't slack off even a bit because of the supervision of Tomoe and Mio, but there were a lot of areas that took in account the limits of their bodies and the forest ogres felt doubts from it. From tomorrow on, there are no scheduled trainings. They will just be in the forest waiting for time to pass. Just what was Tomoe expecting from this? Is what they thought but didn't say out loud.
"Okay, that's all for today!" (Tomoe)
With Tomoe's words, a number of them felt relieved for not being basked in the anguish mist. But the real hell began after this.
Tomoe declared without any glossing to the 15 that had grouped and lined up.
"Then, tomorrow it will be all day long. Prepare yourselves" (Tomoe)
Is what she said.
"?!! Don't mess with us! The next training observation should be in the next 15 days!" (Mondo)
Mondo fearlessly throws out words of objection to Tomoe. Because her words went against the agreement of letting them do independent training and having them inspect every now and then.
"What are you saying? Didn't I say in the beginning that such a thing is a no go?" (Tomoe)
"That is…! Wasn't it so we wouldn't stop you even when you are not only watching?"
"Such a thing is just your own reasoning. By the way, I also said that I looked at ability. If you guys were below the standard, I would have you take the training, is what I said" (Tomoe)
"Right now, at this instant, that training is over right?!" (Mondo)
"… Forest ogres are truly stupid huh. I did say we would begin training at evening, but I don't remember saying "when" it would be over. By the way, from my plans, the shortest it will take will be at least one month" (Tomoe)
One month is the shortest. Those words made a number of forest ogres crumble in place. To be supervised by a person in a whole different magnitude and not knowing what kind of training they will be given, it's the same as being tortured. They thoroughly refused such a thing. But they couldn't refuse by force. Their only way left was to escape.
"The one saying sophistry is you! Isn't it obvious that the training should end the same day it is done?!" (Mondo)
"Yeah, I don't care if its sophistry. The weak ones' truth and reasoning can't compare to the reasoning of the strong ones" (Tomoe)
Mondo's words were becoming bitter. Even if he does his best, he already understood that with how those two are, the training wouldn't end just with what they had done today. Mondo knew for sure that even if the 15 of them tried to attack those two while they are drunk or sleeping, they would still be utterly defeated. On the contrary, they might even "mess up" holding back and kill them in the process. Their body and mind understood that the two, blue and black women, were the absolute strongest. And that they can't even put a single finger on Makoto. They attacked for many hours and were still unable to destroy his barrier after all. Even when he could have defeated them anytime he wanted. They understood that for Makoto, they were only children he was playing around with.
"Ara ara, before the fight you even had the galls of saying something about "if we complete one of those conditions" but now you are clinging to such petty things. I won't say any complicated stuff but, do you think the weak have any right to choose against the strong?" (Mio)
"..."
Akua and Eris were pretty docile. They couldn't even be opponents of Makoto, and after the training they were spoken ill of a lot. Moreover, because they repeatedly felt like they could almost succeed, but fail, their state of mind and body was in shambles. Honestly, those girls and the other two that fought against Makoto already felt like instead of worrying about tomorrow's plan, they just wanted to go back and sleep. The remaining 10 were totally discouraged. The ones that literally couldn't think about anything are the five that fought Tomoe. The ones that were already thinking about escaping were the ones that fought Mio.
Tomoe leaves the snapping Mondo for now, and looks at the other members.
"What a truly easy to understand bunch. You guys are tired with only this level of menu. Half of you are probably thinking of escaping huh" (Tomoe)
"?!"
"But… think about it with that lacking brain of yours. Where are we? How did you guys get here? Don't tell me you guys thought this place is in the vicinity of your village right? You guys are naïve, way too naïve" (Tomoe)
"… What do you mean?" (Mondo)
Mondo's wringed out voice. He also had the thoughts of escaping in a corner of his mind. Instead of being harsh, it was more like the fear of a death probably happening.
"There's no other way of saying it. This is inside a special barrier that was created by Waka. It is on a completely different level from the barrier that Waka created a few moments ago. If you want to slip out and escape… you need to have enough power to destroy Waka's barrier with a single fingertip" (Tomoe)
Her words were full of lies. There are way too many properties in Asora that they still don't know about. Of course, there was no chance for the forest ogres to return by land, so being impossible is still the truth.
"With a finger? No way, that's just crazy"
Since they couldn't even destroy the simple barrier of Makoto, the forest ogres were in a hopeless situation. Akua and Eris were dumbfounded when they learned that barrier was a simple spell. "Now that I think about it, he didn't even chant an aria" is what they finally thought of.
"Did you understand your situation now? There is nowhere for you to run. And while at that, the forest ogre village is also at the mercy of my hands. The moment you ended up lower than the standards, all your escape routes ceased to exist in this world. If your execution is bad, I don't care about what happens to your village you know?" (Tomoe)
Tomoe says over and over that she is the law and threatens them.
"Well, you won't die so, you would just return to your village as crapped goods huh. Or maybe you will successfully become worthy. If you have the spirit, then show it" (Mio)
Mio continues after Tomoe. Those words were what Tomoe told her to say and had memorized before the training. She was asked to act as a demonic instructor and she accepted. Mio wasn't able to go with Makoto to Academy Town, so she had free time anyways. Then why not watch their training? Is what she thought.
Tomoe's threatening and Mio's blasting. Both of them were only fanning their true motives. It is fine if they reach to a decision by tonight and show results, so Tomoe didn't care that they are currently pathetic.
More like, since she has grasped the approximate ability of them, the true training will officially begin tomorrow. It's a training style taken from the world in Makoto's memories, one that uses both misunderstandings and distortions.
Tomoe named it exactly as how the information in the data she scooped out said, boot camp. She planned it in her mind and she used Makoto's memories as reference so she took the letters T (of Tomoe) and M (of Makoto), and made it TM boot camp.
"Ku fu, with this the future plans of selling medicines has advanced one step forward. This ingenious idea that will spread the name of our company and will even allow us to collect information. I have obtained one seed that will surprise Makoto-sama" (Tomoe)
Tomoe whispers in a rather low tone. Even if Mio could hear the contents of what Tomoe said, she couldn't comprehend much anyways, so she only watched the forest ogres return tottering. That she didn't lend a helping hand was truly like Mio.
"The customer is god!"
"I will thoroughly calculate the profits!"
"Please do patronize the medicine selling of Kuzunoha Company!"
"When you are in trouble I will be there to help!"
Are the numerous words the forest ogres shouted while they worked hard in their training. Their training form could be seen in the outskirts in the next day. Also the shrieks and shouts were mixed in.
Your voice is too low, your smile is too tepid, your self-awareness is not enough, weak, you're not fun. At times they would be faced with violence for an unreasonable pretext while doing physical training, combat techniques, stealth mobilization, and information gathering. They also pushed into their minds and body the information of hyumans.
Tomoe's boot camp that brainwashes through fear continues even at present.