Welcome, you two.

　Alice and Monica walked in, making some kind of noise. I look up from the material I was looking at and welcome them in. By the way, Rita hasn't come in yet. Well, there's still 10 minutes until the end of the lunch break.

The best thing about this is the fact that it's a very good idea. Sensei.
'Mmm-hmm!　I'm here for you!　Teacher!

Yeah, nice to meet you, you two.

　Monica is extremely horrified, but Alice is normal. She's forced Fee to tell her everything and screw her over. I don't mind because I know him, but Alice's guy is reckless too. I'm sure people will say a lot of things about him.

　So I quickly put away the materials and decided to introduce those guys.

'Okay, you can all come out now.

　Then the corn creeps out of a box on the desk. All of them, from No.1 to No.4, seemed to be in good health. It's worth having Rita take care of them. In addition, this guy is strangely understanding these days. It's a good thing that they're not bullying me anymore.

　What kind of education did Rita give him?


".........!

　They all gingerly raise their hands in greeting. Yeah, this kind of gesture had never happened before. Maybe Rita was a gem after all.

''Wow........this is a homunculus........pretty.......''
Sir!　Is this really a homunculus?

　Alice asks me that, and I answer with a smug look on my face.

'Oh, sure!　I've incorporated the greatest achievement of my research, a fully independent artificial intelligence.
Wow.....you're amazing after all...

　As Alice says this, she is pecking at No. 1 with her fingers. The first one is also reacting to that and is tupping her fingers with her hand. It's a very wonderful sight. A true encounter with the unknown. Alice and Monica are also curiously interacting with each other.


　Then the door opens. That's right. It was Rita who came.

''Hah ... hah ... just in time, it's safe, right!
Yeah but what's so urgent?
Ta-da!　Two new people are coming, so I bought a cake!　We'll eat later!　I'll put it in the fridge.
Oh that's clever.
'Oh!　Um, Monica and Miss Alice!　My name is Rita Medis it's nice to meet you.

　Rita bows her head in a bow and they both greet each other. I watched such a scene with a smile on my face.

''Monica Dunn.........!　Yo!　Best regards!　Rita-san!
I'm Alice Canovaglia. Nice to meet you, Rita. It's nice to meet you, Rita.

　Then the three of us shook hands with each other in turn. There are three of us in my seminar. It feels like we're finally getting into the swing of things.

Ah, sensei. The first one is here. Now, if you'll excuse me...

　When Rita says something like that, she throbs, "Mmm! and get into some kind of body position.

　What is it?　What are you going to do?

Watch out!　Number!　One, two, three, four!　Yes!　Rest!

""What?"


　When Rita says this in a very stern voice, the first group of people all get into a bishu posture and salute with the call of the numbers. Then, once they make a resting stance, they spread out as before.



　Rita has some kind of satisfied look on her face.

　Huh?　What are you doing?

Well, Rita. What's going on here?
'What?　I'm just trying to educate you.
Wait, education?
'Yes. The doctor assigned me to take care of you, so I did my best.
By the way do you have any references or anything to refer to?
'It's a book about military training. I didn't want to read about how to grow vegetables or anything like that, so I went with that kind of book I have at home...I'm glad it worked out. People don't go wild like they used to anymore, do they?
Uh-huh. Yeah. So that's what you're talking about when you listen to me so desperately...


Oh, wow. That's very impressive, Rita.
'Rich, there's another soldier in this room...?　No way... right?

　Monica and Alice are also reacting to each other, but today we should practice alchemy in earnest for a bit.

　Thinking about that, we headed to the outside exercise area.


　◇


'Yes. Then we'll do some practice today.
""Yes."

　After getting them to change into comfortable clothes, we were gathered in the exercise area. It's good to study indoors, but it's also important to understand the theory in your own body. Let's start in earnest today.

Well then ... probably Monica is the best at this, so please follow my example.
'Yes. So what do you want me to do?
Hmm. Let's make a pillar of ice. A really thin one. It'd be nice if we could make a column of ice as big as your head.
I understand, Doctor.

　When Monica hears my words, she puts her right hand in front of her and begins to concentrate.

　Then I think I see a block of ice form at Monica's feet, and it stretches upward, thinner and thinner.

'It's done,'

　What was completed was a pillar of ice with no blurring at all. As expected of a platinum-class "platinum" alchemist. Speed, accuracy, quite a high standard. It must be the result of hard work that he was able to be so accurate without a smelting team.

''That's pretty good. But couldn't it be a little thinner?
Well I thought it would probably fall apart if I did any more, so...
I see.

　I pay off my right hand lightly with a huff and smelt the same one as Monica's. However, mine is even more extremely thin. From a distance, it's so thin that it's not very recognizable.

''.........Wow, that's amazing Sensei.''
'I'm not asking you to aim for this level of accuracy, Monica, but you should aim here and gradually improve your accuracy. And for future battles in the labyrinth.
Yes!

　To be frank, I don't have that much to teach Monica. So I decided to have her do the rest of the training on her own.

''Sensei. What should I do?
"Can Alice be smelted without a smelting camp?
Hmm. Only the easy stuff...not quite like Monica.
What about Rita?
I'm doing much better, thanks to you!
So let's do the same kind of training you two did with Monica for now.
"Yes!


　Then we both start to focus on it.

　In fact, this practice has all the basics. If the balance between the three elements necessary for alchemy, a clear mental image, the First Pledge《Primateria》and magic power, is not neatly established, a tall and thin pillar of ice cannot be created.

　If you make a mistake in the mental image, it will collapse, and if you mishandle the First Ingredient 《Prima Material》, it will also collapse, and the magic power must not be too much or too little. It's an object that can only exist when the perfect balance is cleared.

　If you want to live as an alchemist in the future, you had better cultivate this sense of balance while you are still alive. Thinking that, I decided to impose this practice on the three of us.

''Mmmm........''

　Rita has good muscle. Or rather, in this case, the talent would be outstanding. The rate of growth since I taught her is extraordinary. I'm sure she's already closing in on the platinum grade [platinum]. I'm still managing to work hard and refining the pillar of ice. Its speed is slow, but it's a good one.

''Hmmm.........''

　Alice is normal, for better or worse. That said, her resist skills are already at the same level as mine, but it seems to be pretty hard to do without a smelting formation. It's just a small pillar of ice. Alice is struggling with many things, but that ice won't be able to grow any further.

What do you think, Alice?
''It's difficult........the balance is a bit.... And if you think about it without a training camp, the balance is even more...
''Well I'm a big believer in no training camp, but that's not strictly true.
What?
''It means that the alchemy formation is activated at the unconscious level. After all, alchemists are inseparable from the alchemy team no matter how far they go. It's just invisible, but it's embedded in the process. By making it unconscious, I just make it look like I'm doing the alchemy without the alchemy team at first glance. Well, I say none because there's no end to the details.
''I see.......so you can do the entire alchemy team process unconsciously?
'Right. If you can do that, then it's just a matter of balancing the three. Anyone can do the smelting itself without a smelting team. But after that, it's difficult. It takes a lot of cultivation to get to the level of me and Fee.
Okay..... I'll do my best!
That's the spirit.


　We practiced for the next hour or so and then broke up. I used to think this didn't matter, that it would be nice if we could just focus on the crops, but it's not so bad. But it's not as bad as it sounds. After selling our crops to the world, I'll have to raise the rightful successors... As I was thinking about this, Fee's guy came running home, as usual.

　He's a busy guy, as usual.

''Fee, what's up?''
I've got top secret information!
For what?
I heard that Rafe Allan is in the Imperial City right now. It's a holiday tomorrow, so let's go to the Imperial City. We'll have a rare opportunity to hear from someone who has captured the labyrinth!
''Hmmm........yes. I was definitely at an impasse about the labyrinth too. Just in time.
So we'll leave early tomorrow morning. Oh, and I'll bring Monica with me.
Hmm?　Yeah ... and now we're all three of us attacking it. That would be good.
Well, nice to meet you!

　With that, Fee went back to the academy. Perhaps he still had some work to do.

　This is how we ended up heading to the Skrull Empire.