Boy And Older Woman

The academy had a different atmosphere than usual. The students in the basic curriculum had gathered on the training grounds in clothes suited for movement, each carrying a weapon. Some weapons were personally owned while others had been loaned out by the academy, leaving little sense of uniformity in their equipment.

“From here, all of you will march to the nearby forest…”

The teacher in charge explained the precautions and warned the students of the dangers involved. However, knowing that only weak monsters inhabited the area, the students had let their guard down.

And so, the march began. Since this was an annual tradition, perhaps even the teachers had grown complacent. …With so many students marching together, despite looking like children, the weapons they carried made them resemble an army. Yes, an army made of papier-mâché…

Aleist’s class had advanced with Aleist at the head, annihilating everything they encountered. To Aleist, this event had been nothing more and nothing less than an opportunity to farm experience points.

“A-Aleist, this is bad! Your magic is destroying the forest!”

He repeatedly unleashed wide-area intermediate magic, knocking down trees and gouging the earth… leaving the forest looking as though a storm had swept through it…

His classmates had watched Aleist as though they were looking at something terrifying. Aleist himself, however, had not noticed. To him, this had only been that kind of event…

“It’s fine. This much won’t matter… Besides, if we keep this up, we’ll finish first.”

Unlike Aleist’s group, who had simply forced their way forward, Rudel had struggled to make progress. Marching through the forest while leading his classmates required someone to take command. The monster-hunting specialists had followed the students from behind, their role being to issue instructions whenever danger arose.

Naturally, Rudel, whose grades were excellent, had been chosen to command. Of course, another reason had been that none of them could defy someone of his family’s status. It had also been an effective way of keeping the children of nobles in line.

Perhaps because of that… among the great nobles, the event had turned into a competition. Rudel himself did not seem to care about such things…

The specialists, who had no stake in that rivalry, had watched Rudel’s inexperienced command and fighting with amused grins. Whenever he tried to move, his companions got in the way, and while he was fighting, someone else wandered off… It was obvious just by watching how much he was struggling.

“Damn it! We’re barely making any progress!”

“Calm down, Rudel. Everyone’s already at their limit just from walking through the forest, never mind the monsters.”

Izumi explained the situation to Rudel. Looking around, he saw classmates exhausted merely from traversing the unfamiliar forest, with more of them injured by the trees and undergrowth than by monsters.

As they repeated the same struggles, the sun had begun to set and the forest had grown dark. Camping overnight was also part of the training, but a class composed almost entirely of nobles had been at far too great a disadvantage. Naturally, such a class had also been assigned highly capable specialists who remained behind them.

“Hey! Why the hell do I have to pitch a tent myself?!”

“Hurry up! I’m exhausted and I want to rest!”

“You’re the poor noble here, so you do it!”

Behind them, the specialists had laughed as they watched the same scene that played out every year. Frustrated that nothing was going well, Rudel had stared at the map and grown disappointed in himself for being unable even to reach the destination.

“To think the forest itself is more dangerous than the monsters… That’s not even funny.”

The objective of this exercise had been to reach the destination as quickly as possible. At this rate, finishing last was entirely possible. Classes with many commoners had already made considerable progress from the moment they set out. By now, they had probably pulled far ahead. Perhaps this was simply the reality of things… Rudel had thought, sinking into discouragement.

“Let’s rest for today. We can leave early tomorrow.”

Even Izumi’s attempt to console him had meant little to Rudel. If this event affected his grades, then it was important to him as well. Academic performance at the academy would also be considered when determining whether he could become a Dragoon. Thinking about that had made it impossible for Rudel not to feel impatient.

“Tomorrow, I’ll definitely make up for the distance we lost today!”

Rudel had resolved himself with those words. Reality, however, was not so forgiving.

There were many names for monster-hunting specialists, but in simple terms, they were strong fighters. The academy had gathered all sorts—from unaffiliated mercenaries and adventurers to exceptionally skilled professional bodyguards…

Among them were also people who sought encounters through this event. Not romantic ones, of course. These bodyguards had hoped to advertise themselves to the children of nobles… and they had obtained information about influential noble families in advance. It was illegal, but without going that far, they would never get ahead of the competition.

One such person was a woman named Basil, distinguished by her dark skin and pale blond hair. She carried an unusual weapon that could have been called either a spear or a staff, with a blade attached to one end, and wore revealing clothing reminiscent of a dancer. Considering the location, her outfit had been inappropriate, but that itself had served as proof of just how capable she was.

…Despite spending long hours in the forest, she had not suffered so much as a scratch.

“Well, I suppose they pass, considering they’re just little boys and girls.”

Basil had made that assessment while observing Rudel and the others’ campsite. Of course, her judgment had included the caveat that they were nobles experiencing this for the first time… Under normal standards, their performance would have been unacceptable.

One of the other bodyguards working alongside Basil said,

“The lookout’s dozing off, and the campfire’s about to go out… Looks like the ones sleeping around the edge of camp won’t be getting much rest tonight.”

He shrugged as he gave his assessment. Monsters became more active at night. That was when things were most dangerous.

“I’m glad we got assigned to guard this class. After all, starting with the Arses Family, there are so many wealthy nobles here… The more incompetent they are, the more chances I get to sell them my services.”

As far as Basil was concerned, if she could escape a life of scraping by as an adventurer or hired guard, she did not care if her prospective employer was merely a brat. She had even been willing to offer her body if necessary.

“Still… that Rudel kid is surprisingly competent. Those idiots selling information really screwed up our plans.”

The bodyguards had assumed Rudel would be useless as a commander. Contrary to their expectations, however, Rudel had stubbornly held things together, leaving them with no chance to intervene. They had wanted to make him indebted to them much earlier…

“We’ll make those information brokers pay us back for feeding us bad intel… but yeah, it is strange. Judging by what we’ve seen, he’s reasonably capable.”

His swordsmanship, magical skill, and fighting technique… From the bodyguards’ perspective, Rudel had been perfectly competent. His mistakes had stood out because commanding while fighting was a difficult role… but even so, they considered his performance acceptable. In fact, if he had asked to form a party with them, they would have judged him skilled enough that his ability posed no problem whatsoever.

“He’s impatient, but judging by everyone else’s reactions, they don’t hate him all that much. He’s quite the promising prospect.”

The bodyguards, Basil included, had rated Rudel surprisingly highly. …And they had one more purpose for being there. They also served as evaluators for this event.

Despite receiving such high marks, Rudel himself had remained focused on how badly things were going. By the third day, he had been forced to face the reality that they had not even covered half the planned distance, while the entire class had become completely exhausted. It had not been because of the monsters… They had simply been helpless against the unfamiliar environment of the forest.

“Why can’t we make any progress?!”

The others had recoiled in fear at Rudel’s irritation. Their parents had strictly warned them never to anger Rudel, the legitimate heir of one of the Three Dukes. Naturally, the atmosphere around them had grown increasingly tense…

“Rudel… Everyone’s doing their best even though they aren’t used to this environment. Besides, we’re getting closer to the destination. We only have half the distance left.”

“We still have half left. At this rate, we might finish dead last…”

Rudel had no concern for pride or appearances. All he cared about were his grades. Izumi had realized that, and because she knew how seriously Rudel was pursuing his goal of becoming a Dragoon, she could say nothing more.

The two had lowered their heads and considered what to do next. That was when it happened.

“W-What is that?!”

Rudel and Izumi had raised their heads. In the direction one of their classmates was pointing, they saw the shadow of a huge black monster. Its red eyes had stared at Rudel and the rest of the class as though they were prey…