"So… I guess I should be our representative. The name is Boss. Nice to meet you."
After the van drove out of the school, it became silent, so Boss had to break the ice by introducing himself to the new girl.
"Hi…Hi~!"
Surprised by the unexpected conversation, Celesta answered in a cold voice before using a lovely voice.
"… You are one of those, aren't you?"
Boss noticed the difference in voice and brought it up with a suspicious face.
"W-what? One of which?"
She panicked
'Did he catch me?'
"You know, the introvert type. But she is an "I afraid of people" type, and I guess you are the cold type, the "I don't like people."
Boss deduces the possibility of her personality in just one interaction so that he can use the proper approach to the conversation.
If she hates social interaction, he can stop not to make her uncomfortable.
"N-No! I doze off."
She denied it and put on a smile.
"Ok, I believe you."
He didn't believe it but didn't want to pry any further.
"Well, let me introduce the people. The muscular girl over there is Nova. Hi, Nova~. She's pretty strong."
He may not be a friend of Nova, but they are on good terms and have seen each other quite often.
"Hi~. But Boss, where is my rematch with Aria?"
She smiled back before using her two hands to squish his face like a sandwich.
"Don't ask me. Go ask her!"
Boss tried to push her hand off, but again the second strongest, he got no chance of winning.
"Tsk. If she didn't run every time!"
Nova pulls her hand back and starts pouting in frustration.
"And that grumpy girl is Gianna. She is a good mage specializing in wind magic."
After surviving another crisis, Boss pointed to the other member in the car, a blonde beauty playing on her phone.
"Hm!"
Gianna turns away.
"And that guy is Jack, maybe?"
Boss is not sure. He had never met or spoken to Jack before.
"My name is Jack! I can teleport! Nice to meet you, miss Celesta."
The boy teleports himself between Boss and Celesta and grabs her hand.
'!'
Celesta leaves out a disgusted face, and her other hand is glowing.
"Wow! Quick, aren't you?"
After being burnt by Aria for unknown reasons MANY times, Boss instructively spoke to Jack to stop him from further provoking Celesta.
'MAN! Why is every girl I talk to a landmine!'
Boss learned that the best way to calm the girl down is to distract her.
"If anything happens to you, I can get you out to safety in no time!"
Jack spoke with a lively voice, like a dog trying to present itself again to his owner.
"T-thank you, I will remember it."
What Boss did was work as intended. After realizing she had almost burned her teammate alive, she put up a fake smile and pulled her hand away from Jack.
"Then what about you? What is your power?"
Boss asks Celesta to try and keep her distracted.
"Uh… I can use fire."
Celesta answered with a terrible voice.
"Oh! A destruction type, nice."
Boss complimented her and was very happy to have her in his group.
Nova is a physical damage type, Gianna is a hybrid, and her wind magic doesn't pack that heavy punch. Still, it offers various utilities, and Jack teleporting, having her, will undoubtedly improve his team's performance.
"Why didn't you tell her your power is talking to an animal? Oh, right. Maybe there isn't any animal to talk with in the rift!"
Gianna spoke up after seeing Boss didn't tell Celesta his power.
"Hey! I can bring some nearby birds with me to help us do scouting, maybe."
Talking at his power is like an attack on his weak point, his only weakness.
"Let's hope so, or it would be a 4 people mission instead of 5!"
She is spiteful at Boss's cockiness; seeing him speak to such a beautiful girl and act like a team leader pisses her off!
"Calm down, kid. If you don't like how your friend's power has a condition, I get it, it's frustrating to get on some dangerous mission with someone unprepared, but this is only to show you what you lack. No need to be angry."
Bob, the veteran adventurer, intervened from the front seat.
He turned back and lectured Gianna.
"And to be honest, good thoughts from you, planning to use your ability to scout. Information is the best weapon one can have."
And also, he has secret respect for Boss because the boy breaks the silence and introduces a new member to a team; it takes courage and self-confidence to do it, even though Bob doesn't have such balls to do it in his group.
"Yeah, if he can find one, and that one listens! His power is to speak with animals, not control them. Last year, I can't count how often he failed to negotiate with them to do his bidding."
Gianna pointed out the biggest downside of Boss's power; he can't control animals!
Like other living beings, animals don't want to die.
He never succeeded in persuading any animals to fight, and the crow sabotaging his opponent's life is the closest thing he ever achieves.
She doubted any animals would follow him to an extreme place like a dimension rift.
"Wow, you should save money to buy a tamed beast. I have a friend who used animals in the rift. If you want, I can contact you. She can be helpful to you on how to find these types of animals."
There are beasts specified to breed and tame for fighting, some even from the other world, and have power equal to the monster in the rift.
"That would be helpful. What is her number?"
Boss may not afford the beast, but it doesn't mean he can't ask for some advice.
A beast-related adventurer is very rare to find. He always wants to speak with one.
"She didn't have a phone, but you can visit her here."
Bob wrote the address on a note and gave it to Boss.
'An address. Quite far from here, I should go on the weekend.'
Boss saw the address and signed. The distance is too far to go on a weekday; he has to spend a whole day traveling if he wants to go to this location.
"Anything I should tell her?"
Suddenly barking in without an introduction seems inappropriate.
"Tell her you can speak with animals and need help. That should do it, and if it doesn't work, tell her you are Mila's student."
Bob answered.
"Thank you, mister Bob."
"You're welcome!"
After the situation calmed down, the van returned to silence. Jack teleported back to his seat and stared at Boss with jealousy because he knew so many beauties, and they were willing to talk with him; Nova was sleeping, and Gianna was playing with her phone.
"Hey, Miss Gianna, I have heard of y-"
Jack tried to copy Boss but failed. Gianna didn't even react to his words and pulled out an earphone.
"Heh…"
Celesta left out a small laugh and a genuinely happy smile.
"Damn, that cold."
Boss felt sorry for the guy, also terrified of Celesta's lack of empathy.
This woman laughed at a man's failure!