-1495- The knight like warrior

"It's you guys?"

When this voice, filled with bewilderment and surprise, echoed, Rozen, Chloe Sevegny, Kanata Age, and Yuri Flostre all lifted their heads, looking toward the A177 squad's room.

Immediately, the group saw her—Mena Purpleton.

At that moment, Mena was standing at the podium, explaining something to the four members seated below her.

She stood on the podium with a calm demeanor and an air of authority. Her spiral golden curls were held in place by a blue headband, and her slender purple eyes stared in astonishment at them. She was wearing armor-inspired protective gear that was thickened at the chest, arms, and thighs, leaving the rest exposed—a design that balanced defense with agility.

As previously mentioned, this was a girl with a style reminiscent of a true knight.

Seeing her, everyone greeted her in turn.

"Long time no see, Mena. It looks like you've been doing well," Kanata said, grinning broadly.

"Sorry for interrupting," Chloe apologized gently.

"Please excuse our uninvited visit," Yuri said with grace, though a bit of nervousness showed in her actions.

As for Rozen, he looked at his former rival and smirked.

"This isn't training or battle time. There's no need to keep wearing your armor, is there?" Rozen teased.

At this, the people in the room finally realized they hadn't seen wrong.

"Is it really the S128 Special Squadron coming over?"

"What are they doing here?"

"Even the 'Mage King' came?"

"It feels like something big is about to happen..."

The four members of A177 squad, who had been listening attentively to Mena's explanation, started whispering among themselves.

Mena also collected herself from her shock and surprise, frowning.

"What brings you here?" Mena asked directly, showing her straightforward warrior's attitude, just as composed as ever.

However, her gaze swept over Kanata, Chloe, and Yuri before finally settling on Rozen.

"The famous 'Mage King' actually came to the squad building outside of teaching students. This is surprising," Mena said, her words carrying almost no kindness, even full of displeasure.

Seeing this, Kanata, Chloe, and Yuri inwardly sighed, thinking, "As expected."

Actually, this was the biggest obstacle the S128 Special Squadron faced in recruiting Mena.

Currently, Mena didn't have a favorable impression of Rozen.

The reason wasn't due to their previous rivalry.

As an excellent knight, Mena didn't have such a narrow mind that she couldn't accept a fair defeat. When she lost to Rozen in the past, she admired his strength greatly.

However, precisely because she was a noble knight, Mena's personal style leaned towards a warrior's, with a strong emphasis on the veneration of strength and conviction.

Because of this, when Rozen announced his withdrawal from the frontline to join the Alchemist Division, Mena, like Yuri, couldn't accept Rozen's decision.

In fact, even now, Mena still hadn't come to terms with it.

It's not that Mena didn't understand Rozen's contributions in the Alchemist Division, but as a pure warrior, she couldn't help but feel dissatisfied with Rozen's retreat from battle to focus on academics.

Thus, Mena was one of the few people in Mistgun who still harbored grievances over Rozen's transition to the Alchemist Division.

This was the biggest challenge in S128 Special Squadron's attempt to recruit Mena.

And judging by her attitude, she seemed to disapprove of Rozen becoming the instructor for E601 Squadron as well.

There was no helping it.

"Someone as powerful as you, retreating to become an instructor for a bunch of cadets instead of fighting on the battlefield? It's a disgrace to your strength," Mena said bluntly.

Clearly, during the Shinjuku [2] Variant invasion, when she saw Rozen on the battlefield, Mena was both joyful and excited.

After all, back then, one of the teams Rozen commanded included A177 Squadron, the ace of the A-rank squads.

At that time, Mena also followed Rozen's commands and achieved a brilliant victory.

Unfortunately, just as Mena was rejoicing over this, Rozen announced he was becoming the instructor for E601 Squadron, with no intention of returning to the front lines.

This made Mena's mood sour ever since, and her words had grown sharper.

But...

"You never fail to disappoint, still brooding over trivial matters," Rozen said, spreading his hands.

"Trivial matters?" Mena's brows furrowed even more, her expression growing increasingly displeased.

"Se...Senpai...!" Yuri quickly tugged on Rozen's sleeve, signaling him not to provoke Mena further.

Little did she know, in the past, when facing Rozen, she was just like Mena now, with her mood turning sour over a word or two from him.

Chloe and Kanata were chuckling quietly.

During this, Rozen walked into A177 Squadron's room.

"It seems you're still hung up on my retirement," Rozen said with a smile to Mena.

"Of course." Mena didn't hide her feelings at all and said, "Someone as strong as you should be on the battlefield, leading us Sky Wizards against the Armored Beetles. But you stepped down; it's a disgrace to your strength."

Mena was firm in this belief. You could call it stubbornness at best, or obstinance at worst. This is a common flaw among warriors, isn't it?

So...

"Maybe you don't know, but I've temporarily come out of retirement," Rozen said with a grin.

At this, the room fell into an uproar.

"Out of retirement?"

"Is it true?"

"This... this is huge news!"

"Oh my gosh..."

The members of A177 Squadron were abuzz.

"You've come out of retirement?" Mena was equally stunned, her expression turning to joy.

"Only temporarily," Rozen said, shrugging. "You should have noticed there are many suspicious aspects in this Sky Wizards Martial Arts Festival. Coupled with some intel we have, there's an important mission and event to resolve during this trip to Vebel. For this, I've temporarily requested to return, and the Sky Wizard Division head has granted S128 Special Squadron the qualification to be Mistgun's representative team."

As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell silent.

The four members of A177 Squadron were dumbfounded.

Mena also fell silent.

"You've already secured the representative team's qualification?" After a while, Mena asked with a serious expression.

"That's right," Rozen answered succinctly.

Mena fell silent again, making the atmosphere in the room tense.

After a while...

"So be it." Mena seemed to have come to terms with something and said calmly, "Since you've come out of retirement, S128 Special Squad indeed has the right to claim the representative team status. We won't contest it this time."

Mena's response was magnanimous.

This meant Mena acknowledged Rozen's strength and the current power of S128 Special Squadron.

The other members of A177 Squadron had no objections.

Everyone knew that with Rozen in S128 Special Squadron, it was different than without him.

If Rozen wasn't in the squad, A177 Squadron would indeed want to compete with S128 Special Squadron.

But now that Rozen had come out of retirement, they didn't mind giving up the representative team's status.

However, Rozen hadn't come just to inform them of this.

Rozen was here to recruit.

So...

"Join my squad, Mena," Rozen said directly.

"My squad is still one person short."

As soon as this was said, the room fell silent once again.

This time, not only did the atmosphere grow tense, but it also became perilous.

The members of A177 Squadron all changed their expressions and glared angrily.

Mena also lowered her face, staring at Rozen with a fiery emotion in her eyes.