A certain Chairman of Academy City in Danmachi

Teacher

"Why did it turn out like this?"

"I don't know. Guess, meow."

"This is all your fault."

.

A little while ago.

"Clash!" Accelerator was sliding across the ground. Quickly getting up after his fall, he charged at his opponent again, using his right hand as a feint before throwing an uppercut kick.

"Thud!" His attack was completely blocked, and before he could regain his stance, he was swiftly kicked, sliding across the field once more.

"Wow, how could the mighty Accelerator be this weak? It's disappointing, meow."

"Tch. Look who's talking. This is supposed to be combat technique training, but instead, you're just trying to hit me as hard as possible. Are you holding a grudge or something?"

"This is all part of the training. Besides, it's not my fault you're so weak without using magic, meow." Chloe squinted, eyeing his body. "Besides, you haven't actually taken any real damage, you cheater, meow."

"Tch." Accelerator launched himself back into the training session with Chloe.

While the city was asleep, he had come to the Hostess of Fertility to ask Chloe for combat training, and she gladly agreed. He reduced his vector manipulation abilities to the minimum, adjusting it to feel the pushback as if he were taking real hits. Four times, he had charged at Chloe, refining his tactics and tricks each time, yet she easily sent him flying back. The gap in skill between them was immense.

"Mom, you can do it! Accelerator, keep going!"

"Go, Chloe! Beat up that Mad Wizard!"

Ayla cheered on from inside the tavern with Chloe's colleagues.

The "Mad Wizard" nickname had spread among adventurers due to Accelerator's dungeon-clearing feats with magic. He kept his identity well-hidden, but the title "Mad Wizard" was coined by Lyd, and Accelerator suspected Fels might be spreading the word deliberately to draw attention to him. And with those ever-present surveillance owls, it seemed Fels was determined to figure out who he was. Annoying.

Though it was still dark outside, the training field quickly filled with chatter as Chloe's usually lazy colleagues eagerly rose early to witness the spectacle. Even Syr had arrived at the tavern with Ryuu, watching Chloe and Accelerator's training session.

"Hey, Ryuu, what do you think of Accelerator's close-combat skills? I heard he even lost an arm-wrestling match to May before."

It was a little wager between Accelerator and Chloe. If he could beat any tavern staff in an arm-wrestling match without using his magic, she would train him in combat techniques. He'd intended to use vector manipulation to end it quickly, but somehow, she immediately sensed his trick. When asked how, she simply replied that she knew by intuition.

So, he had to arm-wrestle normally with May, an ordinary employee, and the result was a humiliating loss. How could he possibly lose an arm-wrestling match to a regular person after eight years of intense training? In the end, Chloe agreed to train him after teasing him in front of her friends all morning. No, she just wanted to embarrass him more.

Ryuu observed the sparring session between Accelerator and Chloe intently as the fight grew more intense over time. Accelerator was learning quickly, though his movements were still forced and unpolished, like he was trying to make his body follow a pre-calculated path. After watching for a while, she responded to Syr.

"Accelerator has a frail physique. His close-combat skills are poor, even for a mage. His fighting style is strange, like it combines brute force, charging straight in to crush the opponent, and the careful setting of traps, more like an assassin than something stemming from his own physical technique." The first approach symbolized his tendency to overpower opponents with brute force, unusual for a mage, while the second was more meticulous, like a careful assassin.