-5- [ Director ] and [ Professor ]

Walking towards Rozen from within the Central Control Room was a girl a few years older, exuding a sense of restlessness. She had waist-length, snowy white hair that carried an air of nobility, dressed in lavish aristocratic attire. Her eyes sparkled like stars with an orange glow, but they also held tremendous anger, making her emit an aura of intimidating fury.

This person was Olga Marie Animusphere, the heiress of the prestigious Animusphere family, and the current director of Chaldea.

In the world of magic, bloodline was of utmost importance, and the Animusphere family was among the most prestigious and esteemed.

Despite her young age, Olga Marie had taken over her father's responsibilities and became the director of Chaldea three years ago. For an ordinary mage, she was an existence to be looked up to.

However, at this moment, Rozen displayed an extremely annoyed expression towards Olga Marie, not bothering to conceal it.

Under these circumstances, Olga Marie approached Rozen with her anger ablaze.

"We sent notifications to all Chaldea personnel yesterday; today, we need to conduct a simulated battle, and all suitability test subjects currently in the facility are required to participate. I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation!"

In such a manner, Olga Marie scolded Rozen relentlessly.

The intensity of her anger even made Mash, who was standing nearby, feel somewhat fearful. She quietly took a step back but still held on to Rozen's sleeve, continuously signaling him to apologize.

Unfortunately, Rozen had no intention of apologizing.

"So, I'm here, aren't I?"

Facing Olga Marie's reproach, Rozen responded impatiently with those words.

Olga Marie's anger escalated, "You were already two hours late! Two hours!" She pointed forcefully behind her, yelling at Rozen, "Look over there, everyone has been waiting for you for a full two hours!"

Hearing this, Rozen followed Olga Marie's pointing finger and looked into the Central Control Room.

There, a series of capsule-like devices stood, and beside each device stood a person dressed in tight combat suits.

There were a total of seven individuals, all around Rozen's age.

These people, like Rozen, were suitability test subjects with Spiritron Transfer adaptability.

Individuals with the adaptability for Spiritron Transfer were extremely rare even in the entire world. Despite Chaldea being a facility that gathered talent from all over the world, they had only confirmed less than 40 individuals with this adaptability, and currently, less than 10 of them had been gathered in the facility. The rest were still being recruited, aiming to gather all suitable individuals from around the world.

These seven people before Rozen constituted the first group of suitability test subjects currently gathered in Chaldea.

Of course, Rozen was also part of this group.

The difference was that Rozen had arrived at Chaldea three years ago and had been living there for the entire duration.

Mash, on the other hand, arrived two years ago, so she had known Rozen for two years.

In other words, among all the suitability test subjects, Rozen was undoubtedly number one, the first recorded suitability test subject in Chaldea.

Now, these seven suitability test subjects were casting critical gazes at Rozen.

Certainly, they must be displeased with Rozen for making them wait for a full two hours, right?

In addition to the suitability test subjects, in the command room of the Central Control Room, a group of technical personnel operated various instruments while looking at Rozen with reproachful emotions in their eyes.

This made Rozen realize just how much his tardiness had upset everyone.

However...

"If it's such an important matter, why not exclude the latecomer and proceed with the simulated battle directly?" Rozen said to Olga Marie with a lack of enthusiasm.

"You...!?"

Veins popped on Olga Marie's forehead in an instant.

"Senpai...."

Mash anxiously kept pulling on Rozen's sleeve, but it had no effect.

Just as Olga Marie was about to explode, a straightforward laughter broke in.

"Don't say that, Rozen. You're currently the most outstanding suitability test subject on record. The director has high expectations for you and doesn't want to waste such rare talent." As these words echoed, a person walked towards them.

The man was dressed in a gentlemanly green coat, wearing a high-crowned hat and holding a cane, giving him a very intellectual appearance.

"Professor Lev."

Mash immediately saluted the man.

"Lev."

Olga Marie's hostility seemed to lessen as the man appeared, and her imposing aura diminished.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mash. Thanks to you, Rozen was able to catch up in the end." The man, referred to as Lev, smiled at Mash before turning to Olga Marie and said, "Don't be too angry, Marie. Rozen surely didn't do it on purpose. Just forgive him."

"But..." Olga Marie seemed to want to argue but eventually gave up, huffed, and turned her head away.

Only the man called Lev could make the Chaldea director, even the notoriously bad-tempered Olga Marie, be so obedient. Even in Chaldea, he was the only one who could achieve this.

"Professor..."

Rozen looked at the man with the straightforward smile, his impatience fading away as well.

Lev Lainur Flauros, an incredibly skilled mage, served as a technician within Chaldea, providing substantial technical support and making significant contributions to the facility even before the current director took office. He was entrusted with critical tasks and was responsible for managing Chaldea.

He was the one who crafted the Near-Future Observation Lens - 〈Sheba〉.

Lev was also highly trusted by Olga Marie and could be considered the second most important figure in Chaldea, after the director.

His personality was frank, and he handled people and matters smoothly. Even Olga Marie often followed his advice and wouldn't dismiss his counsel.

As for Rozen...

(Still the same, giving people an eerie feeling...)

Looking at Lev, who carried a bright smile, Rozen concealed the deep sense of unease in his heart.