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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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As the formal proceedings began, it was Wade Palmahon, who had made an appearance during the Gwillo incident, who started the speech.
It was only after seeing the combat-related professors, including Gidley, lined up behind him that I truly understood what the title “Head of Combat Studies” meant.
“I am Wade Palmahon, the Head Professor of Combat Studies, responsible for managing and overseeing the academy’s practical classes. It is a great honor to arrange this event for the envoys of our allied nations.”
Wade began with a rather formal and ceremonial opening.
Wade then went on to explain the group assignments and precautions.
Once inside the dungeon entrance, groups would be randomly teleported to different locations.
There would be no interference from illusion magic, so if danger was perceived, they should immediately use the provided return scrolls.
The return scrolls should always be worn at the waist.
This was to allow forced return by tearing an opponent’s scroll in case of fights between participants.
Any violations would result in penalties to be undertaken by the individual.
While the event was to showcase the hero’s achievements, they had no intention of making it just for show.
Those who outperformed the hero would be promised appropriate rewards.
Finally, he explained at length that the structure was such that the group that first captured the marker in the center of the horizontal dungeon would be the winner.
Only after the faculty members began moving according to Wade’s instructions and the group assignments started did this opening ceremony-like event finally end, allowing me a chance to look around.
“Hey! Royal Knight! Long time no see!”
I was able to spot Etenera, who had been unable to contain her friendliness since the first day.
“It’s only been five days, but it feels like it’s been a month, doesn’t it?”
“Indeed. It’s amazing how little our classes have overlapped.”
“Haha, that’s because you and the Margrave are observing all the classes in the academy. But even so, it’s been incredibly misaligned.”
We could have crossed paths at least once, but since coming to the Empire, I had been entangled in different issues almost every day, so we hadn’t.
It was a shame, as I quite liked her due to her overflowing friendliness.
“I see you’re participating in the exploration.”
“I’m quite skilled, you know. Be prepared if we meet in the dungeon.”
Her playful demeanor was full of good-natured mischief, so I returned it with a light laugh.
Considering that those who seemed to be in her group had all shown exceptional skills during Gidley’s classes, it wasn’t hard to guess that Etenera’s abilities were no less impressive, even though the aftermath of my duel with Sieg had overshadowed the later classes.
Unable to chat for long, we parted ways, and I looked around at the others.
The other academy party consisted of people I didn’t know at all, while the party composed of envoys seemed to be made up of individuals who were not exactly pleasant-looking.
One of them, despite being a woman, had eyes that looked more ferocious than most men, and the envoy party seemed to have already gathered around her for a strategy meeting.
In the end, unable to spot anyone exhibiting notably suspicious behavior, when it came time for our group to gather for brief introductions, I found myself frustrated for a different reason than in the morning.
“Greetings, Hero Siegfried! Your magnificence is known even in our Mountain Kingdom of Maldegen…”
“I can feel the goddess’s blessing shining like a halo around you! I am from the Kingdom of Pheneshmila…”
“Glory to the great Empire and to you, Hero! I am…”
The three party members, without any regard for who went first, began showering the hero with flattery, entering full sycophant mode.
It wasn’t hard to see that judging by appearances alone, these people seemed to have no connection to combat and didn’t even look like mages.
The reason they were here was clearly because they saw it as a golden opportunity to directly face the hero.
They would have continued talking over each other, pushing and shoving to the point of rudeness, if Sieg hadn’t burst out laughing, holding his stomach.
“Hehe. These bastards haven’t heard about me yet, it seems.”
Honestly, in any other situation, I would have tried to stop them, but faced with the prospect of carrying these three bombs, I was too dumbfounded to do anything but stay quiet.
The three, unaware of this fact, naturally wore bewildered expressions and failed to respond properly.
“Ex-excuse me? What did you just…”
“Before I break all your legs right here, shut up and just follow along. This event was set up for you to witness my achievements with your own eyes and report back to your kingdoms, not for you to wag your tails at the imperial family behind their backs.”
“Haha, Hero, what we meant to say wasn’t…”
One of the three, a skinny man with thick curly hair, tried to speak up with a practiced smile, pushing aside the dumbfounded one, but Sieg waved him off, cutting him short as well.
“Fuck. No words are needed for dungeon exploration. You, the one who just waved your hand, I don’t see any calluses on your palm. Are you a mage?”
“Pardon?”
“Judging by your stuttering response, I guess not? What about you two?”
The other two, indicated by Sieg’s chin gesture, also hesitated, seemingly having nothing to proudly claim, but the last one, who hesitated the least, suddenly turned serious and raised his voice.
“A-Aren’t you being too rude?! We are here as envoys from various countries…”
“If you’re envoys, why don’t you just observe instead of insisting on joining the practical and causing trouble for others?!”
Sieg’s shout, which could only be described as a sudden outburst, made the three back away.
Even I thought it was a justified and appropriate outburst.
It was quite a good choice, even considering that this was a gathering of influential figures from various countries.
There’s a difference between participating in practical training knowing how to fight, and expressing a desire to participate despite lacking such skills.
In fact, with so many eyes watching, it became an issue connected to national prestige.
Moreover, these people had likely joined while spouting empty words about being fully capable, so there was nothing more to be said.
They probably calculated that since this was an event to showcase the hero’s achievements, there was no need for them to step up as the hero would handle everything, and their own abilities weren’t important.
Usually, I would have joined in cursing them out, but absurdly, they now seemed like gentlemen in comparison.
At least they had faith that a hero would be capable of that much, right?
One of them even mentioned the goddess, so at the very least, they weren’t denying or doubting the hero’s existence, which made them the lesser evil rather than the worst.
It really seemed unbelievable, but that was the reality.
“Let me tell you in advance, don’t expect me to clean up all the mess you make as we go along. It’s not for nothing that the academy gave each of you an expensive escape scroll. If you become unable to fight or anticipate danger, tear it without hesitation. I won’t be responsible if you die.”
“B-But aren’t you the hero? How can you make such an irresponsible statement?”
The large-nosed man who had said he was from the Mountain Kingdom cried out with an aggrieved expression.
Sieg replied calmly, arms crossed, “Does being a hero mean I can cut down an entire kingdom’s worth of threats with one swing of my sword? Even if I do my best, there will always be people I can’t save somewhere in the world. I have no intention of getting caught up in that and causing hundreds more to die along with me.”
“I-Is this what the hero, who should be saving those suffering from demons, should be saying? Aren’t you ashamed?!”
“Whoa, watch your words. We have an attendant of the Margrave from Itisiel here, where people are truly suffering.” Sieg said, gesturing towards me with his chin.
As Sieg pointed me out, the expressions of the three men began to subtly contort.
Their looks seemed to suggest they hadn’t really expected someone like me to actually be present, which made the situation even more absurd.
“Before you start talking about suffering people, why don’t you tell my friend here what your countries have done for Itisiel? Or has another country joined the front lines against the demons without my knowledge?”
“…We will definitely make a formal complaint about this.”
“Bullshit. I’ill remember this too, you bastards. I’m the hero, not you.”
Sieg shook his head as if there was nothing more to say and turned to me.
“Eldmia. You said you did some adventurer work, right? What did you mainly handle?”
He wasn’t calling me ‘little brother’ as usual, probably because he was mindful of those around us.
His attitude was also more businesslike than usual.
“Scouting and combat. I suppose those are the skills that will be useful today.”
“That’s enough. Looking at those guys, it’s obvious they’ll be of no help. Let’s struggle through this together.”
I wanted to say, “You’re the one who’ll have to do all the work, Hero,” but I decided to play along and nodded.
It was an incredibly unpleasant start.
The envoy group didn’t seem to be pushovers, and we had to deal with them along with the students, while also carrying three dead weights.
It was a balance that could almost be called malicious…
I found myself increasingly curious about what the Empire and Esmée were aiming for.
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[Fuck Politicians.]
COMBAT TIME LET’S GOO