"Arcs Ray!"
Lefiya dodged the boy's hand chop and fired a magical arrow of light. The white radiance born from the tip of her wand flashed across both their fields of vision and slammed straight into the wall.
"It worked?! Ow... ow, ow!"
Lefiya clutched her wand in delight, only to take a direct hand chop the very next second.
As though he had deliberately held back, the pain lasted only an instant.
"You only managed to cast Magic while dodging. Don't let your guard down. An enemy won't just stop there."
Bell reminded her that this was only one part of Concurrent Chanting. It could not really be called a true success yet.
"I know that! It still hurt, you idiot!"
Lefiya rubbed her forehead with teary eyes. The tears were not from the pain. They came from the overwhelming joy of finally breaking through from nothing.
The Concurrent Chanting she had worked so hard to master had truly taken shape under the boy's guidance. Excitement and confidence kept welling up inside Lefiya, moistening her eyes.
"Huh? I already held back. Did I still hurt you? Sorry."
Bell was, unusually, a little flustered.
Everyone's body was different. Lefiya might be an adventurer blessed by the gods, but she was also a soft, delicate elf girl. Seeing the tears sparkling in her sky-blue eyes, Bell thought for a moment that he had misjudged how much she could take.
"I'm fine. You really are an idiot..."
Lefiya wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and answered with a smile.
When she thought about how this rare side of the boy had appeared because he was worried about her, Lefiya's cheeks warmed slightly.
Seeing Lefiya's smile, so happy she looked ready to jump for joy, Bell immediately understood what her tears meant. The corners of his mouth lifted, and he replied teasingly:
"Generally speaking, the person who keeps calling others idiots is usually the real idiot. By that same logic, someone who keeps calling other people permanently horny rabbits is the one who's actually in heat..."
"That is absolutely not true!!!"
Lefiya loudly cut off the boy's nonsense.
She huffed and complained, "That is so rude! I'm not like you, chasing after a harem or anything..."
Although she sometimes spaced out whenever she thought about the boy, those were perfectly healthy fantasies. For him to accuse her of being in heat was completely unreasonable!
"Then, Lefiya-san, have you ever fantasized about being surrounded by handsome boys?"
Bell asked casually.
"What is that? That sounds kind of gross..."
Lefiya frowned in distaste. She blinked, then added, "If they were all girls, that would be nice."
"Lefiya-san, could it be that you..."
Bell deliberately trailed off.
"That's not it! I just think girls are all cute, so I don't mind everyone being together!"
Lefiya understood what he was implying and hurried to explain.
"And besides, if it were you, I-I wouldn't hate it..."
Lefiya's voice grew quieter and quieter, until the last few words could no longer be heard at all.
Bell could more or less understand. The fact that the two of them were alone together here was proof of [affection].
"Lefiya-san, I don't hate you either."
Bell followed her phrasing and voiced the warmth in his heart.
"U-Um... don't misunderstand. I didn't mean anything else. I was just answering your question from earlier..."
Lefiya replied, her face bright red.
Her fingers brushed lightly over her wand as she changed the subject. "Let's practice Concurrent Chanting a little more. I feel like I just figured out the trick."
"Mm."
Bell nodded along and began their two-person dance once more.
With the experience from her first success, Lefiya kept dodging while firing magical arrows of light again and again.
"That should be enough."
Bell stopped, satisfied. Under his attacks just now, Lefiya's Concurrent Chanting had already reached a sufficiently high success rate.
"Huh? We're done already?"
Though Lefiya was drenched in sweat, she had only just stepped through the door to a new world, so she still felt reluctant to stop.
"No. I just mean the training is about ready to move into the second phase."
Bell took a bottle of Mind Potion from his bag and handed it to her.
"I can't accept this."
Lefiya politely waved it away.
"Saving training time is far more valuable than this potion. Lefiya-san, do you want me to feed it to you like I did the other day?"
Bell used a provocation that proved extremely effective.
"I-I understand!"
Lefiya quickly took the potion and drank it all in one gulp.
"Then wait here a moment. Next, we'll try chanting area-of-effect Magic. I'll bring back a bunch of monsters."
As Bell walked toward the passage entrance, he emphasized, "Remember, you can only fight them with Magic. You're not allowed to knock them down with staff techniques."
The fifth underground floor had small-to-medium frog-type monsters. Their method of attack was to lash out with their tongues, with about the same force as being struck by a wooden stick. They would not cause Lefiya any dangerous injuries. But there were many of them, and their individual attacks could pile up into a combined assault, making them perfect for training evasive Concurrent Chanting.
The reason Bell had chosen this place for training was precisely because of that trait.
"..."
Lefiya stared at the boy's departing back, unable to process his words for a moment.
What did he just say?
Bring back a bunch of monsters...?
As unease filled Lefiya's heart, the ground began to tremble.
"Ribbit, ribbit..."
When Bell appeared, countless frog cries flooded the passage, surging in after the boy.
A monster delivery.
Lefiya turned pale from the completely unexpected army of frogs.
Fear and nausea churned inside her, but she still obeyed the boy's instructions and did not swing her wand to sweep the monsters away.
"Proud warrior, snipers of the forest... Guh..."
Halfway through her chant, a one-eyed frog-type monster shot out its tongue and struck Lefiya.
This was the outfit she had carefully chosen for today!
As Lefiya looked ready to cry, a small tear opened in her blue-and-white outfit. Even worse, her cute clothes were now stained with rather disgusting slime.
Lefiya herself was not in any danger, but her clothes were not so lucky.
"Keep it up! I'll be cheering Lefiya-san on from here the whole time!"
Bell, hiding at a distance from the monster horde, called out his encouragement.
"Ugh..."
Anger and embarrassment flashed through Lefiya's eyes.
The frog monsters constantly shooting out their tongues were incredibly annoying.
The boy watching from afar was just as annoying.
She had agonized for so long before finally wearing this cute outfit here.
And yet, he actually...
He actually let the monsters tear her clothes! And now she was covered in disgusting slime!
No, wait. Could this humiliating sight be exactly what he wanted?
Permanently horny rabbit!
Damn it! Monsters or him, she was going to blow them all away!
Lefiya gripped her wand tightly, a single thought filling her mind:
She had to fire a shot at Bell Cranel!