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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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‘Gwen…’
Unlike Elsie, who had clearly grown, Gwen looked exactly the same as she had two years ago.
With Elsie not beside her, I inadvertently acknowledged Gwen.
I was worried that Gwen might stop me, but fortunately, she seemed to understand.
After entering the academy, the entrance ceremony followed.
As expected, the entrance ceremony was boring.
Still, it wasn’t bad that I could see the principal, Heinz Armanus. He was a former high-ranking hero and the person who created numerous replica swords.
The Gravitus Replica, which Gwen had given me and which I had used until now, was also a replica he made from the original Gravitus.
Of course, I didn’t have it with me now.
‘Come to think of it…’
I looked around at the school’s scenery.
Considering the size of Heilren, the school occupied a fairly large area. Still, it probably wasn’t as big as the Order’s headquarters.
‘So this is a school.’
The grass, now a deep green with the arrival of spring.
And the unique buildings built for the purpose of education.
The students who roamed between them seemed to have quickly become friends, chatting amiably. It felt strange somehow.
Of course, being at the Hero Academy as a high-ranking hero was part of it, but there was another reason too. It was probably because Seo Yoon-rang’s memories still remained as if they were my own.
‘I never had a proper school life.’
When I was in the track and field club, I was so focused on sports that I didn’t pay attention to school life.
After I injured my leg, I was afraid of people’s gazes and refused to go to school. Naturally, I didn’t go to college either.
This place, in a way, had a similar atmosphere to a college.
I, who had always wandered alone, was now in a place where people my age were gathered.
Of course, I wasn’t sure if my mental age was the same as theirs, since I had received Seo Yoon-rang’s memories and spent a long time in the second trial.
‘Come to think of it, I wonder if Seo Yoo-rang went to college?’
The God of Chains had said that Seo Yoo-rang had changed because of me.
The change was probably for the better. I wanted to believe that. And if Seo Yoo-rang had changed, perhaps he had gone on to college.
‘I hope he’s doing well.’
I think that a part of me is still made up of Seo Yoo-rang.
It was inevitable from the moment I received Seo Yoo-rang’s memories through the skill of the Mark of Succession.
So, even though the ‘me’ here and the Seo Yoo-rang’ of Earth were separate individuals, I couldn’t help but want to cheer him on.
‘That aside.’
Now I had to focus on myself rather than on Seo Yoo-rang, whose recent whereabouts were unknown.
On Seo Yoo-rang, the hero candidate of the Hero Academy. As the principal had said in his boring speech, I had no intention of wasting a year of school life.
‘First, I have archery class.’
Since I didn’t know the school’s layout well yet, it seemed necessary to find the classroom in advance.
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With that in mind, I headed to the archery classroom. Perhaps because it needed a range for archery practice, the classroom was quite long.
‘One, two, three… nine?’
That was the exact number, including the professor and the students in the archery class.
Combining that with the fact that the door wasn’t locked, it seemed that students could come and practice whenever they wanted.
‘For now, I don’t know where my lane is, so it’s best not to touch anything.’
It was then that I heard the sound of something cutting through the air. And an arrow struck the center of the target.
‘Was someone here?’
I hadn’t noticed because my eyes were drawn to the target as soon as I entered the classroom.
Or rather, the person’s presence was that quiet. They were quite skilled.
It wasn’t just a guess; I already knew who it was.
‘Wilhelm.’
A playable character. That meant he might have a constellation.
Of course, unlike Elsie, who couldn’t reach Basilium without a constellation, it was practically guaranteed that he would come to the Hero Academy, so there was no evidence yet to deduce that he had a constellation.
‘Based on my experience so far, it’s best to assume he does.’
I had encountered two playable characters, and both had constellations.
So, it was safe to assume that this guy did too.
But I couldn’t be sure since I didn’t know if this was truly a divergent encounter or what the mechanism of constellations was.
‘For now…’
It seemed best to be cautious until I had a general understanding of him.
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I started shooting arrows at the lane farthest from him.
Fortunately, Wilhelm was also engrossed in archery and didn’t talk to me.
As I was shooting arrows for a while, other students started to gather one by one. Around that time, Wilhelm and I also stopped shooting.
And soon after, the professor came in. Kyle, the instructor in charge of the archery class. And a woman following him.
‘…Why is she here?’
It was Lyudmila. The Hero Academy was a place where outsiders, even high-ranking heroes, couldn’t enter.
But if she was here…
‘Is she planning to raise her successor herself?’
Such a system existed.
Normally, the selection of a successor was done at the graduation competition, but after undergoing the school’s evaluation, one could become a temporary professor and directly teach and select students.
In this case, there were advantages such as the preemption effect and the ability to train the successor according to one’s taste.
Of course, this system had restrictions, such as only being available to high-ranking heroes, and various penalties.
Anyway, that wasn’t important.
What was important was that she was someone who had recently seen me as Allan Blake.
And her ability to sense presence, as a top-tier archer, was exceptional.
‘But I just have to avoid doing anything suspicious.’
Fortunately, most of my powers, including my Wind Power, were not noticeable unless I used them.
If that was the case, it would be fine if I didn’t create any reasons for suspicion.
Besides, the first class luckily seemed to be just a check of basic archery skills.
They started shooting from the first lane, where Wilhelm was, and finally, my turn came. I released the drawn bowstring amidst my tension.
The time given to a cadet of the Hero Academy was one year.
In fact, it was a little over nine months, from spring to late autumn.
It was a possible training period because the Hero Academy focused solely on practical training.
In the case of the magic department, most of them learned magic at the Magic Tower before coming.
In the case of the martial arts department, they evaluated basic skills to some extent in the exam. Thanks to this, they could focus on practical training for a year.
However, occasionally there were cadets who had managed to get in despite lacking basic skills, and there were cases where basic skills, even if present, were out of sync with actual combat.
To rectify this to some extent, the initial curriculum included lectures on basic martial arts.
And the professors in charge of each class were responsible for those lectures.
In the case of the archery class, Kyle, along with the temporary professor Lyudmila, would be teaching the archery class.
“It’s true that the overall level of the kids is higher because of you.”
The first class.
It was Kyle’s remark to Lyudmila after checking the skills of the eight archery class cadets.
Of course, they had already checked to some extent during the entrance exam, but after conducting the test in person, it became more apparent.
However, it still felt a little lacking compared to last year. It was because all the talented archers had flocked to the academy last year. Compared to last year, this year’s cadets felt like the second string.
‘Although it’s a little early to judge.’
While last year they mainly selected those who were almost complete, this year they focused on those who showed potential even if they lacked basic skills.
It was still too early to tell, but he hoped that at least one of them would satisfy Lyudmila.
He wanted Lyudmila to quickly create a successor and retire so that he could also retire from his professorship at the Hero Academy.
He couldn’t even remember how long he had been in charge of the archery class. It had been so long that even Lyudmila had been his student.
Countless mediocre and talented individuals had passed him by, and most of them had become heroes and disappeared beyond the barrier.
‘I still remember when I first saw Lyudmila.’
At that time, Lyudmila didn’t have a holy relic, and her archery skills were far behind other cadets.
But Lyudmila had a shining talent. And she also worked harder than anyone else. As a result, she was able to obtain a four-star-class bow without an owner upon graduation.
But she…
‘The frog forgets it was once a tadpole…’
As soon as he mentioned that this year’s cadets were of a high level, Lyudmila started criticizing them.
From simple basic skills to just having an unpleasant attitude if there was nothing else to criticize. There wasn’t a single student among the eight who hadn’t been criticized.
‘At this rate, she’ll criticize me too in other places.’
Perhaps she was already doing so. He needed to ask other professors about it sometime.
‘But come to think of it, there’s still one person left?’
He hadn’t heard that name from Lyudmila’s mouth yet.
“Lyudmila, what do you think of him? Candidate Seo Yoo-rang.”
Candidate Seo Yoo-rang.
A candidate with acceleration and enchantment-type holy marks, who still seemed to lack basic skills but was someone Lyudmila seemed to have at least some interest in.
Even during the entrance exam, Lyudmila had given an unexpected evaluation.
“Do you see some potential in him? You practically passed him.”
Even if she hadn’t, he would have been accepted, but it was also true that Lyudmila had strongly advocated for his acceptance.
He had also been bothered by what Lyudmila had said. That’s why Kyle was looking forward to Lyudmila’s evaluation.
She, who had been active in the field until recently, would be able to see things that he, who lacked practical experience, couldn’t.
“Seo Yoo-rang?”
Finally, Lyudmila opened her mouth.
“He’s just glossing over it with his acceleration ability. His basic skills in archery, no, even his proficiency is terrible. I’d believe it if you told me he’s only been learning archery for a few months.”
He knew that too. But that wasn’t what he was expecting from Lyudmila.
“What about his potential?”
“Huh?”
At his question, Lyudmila looked puzzled and said,
“There’s none? He’s a corpse without his acceleration and enchantment abilities. He doesn’t show any talent for archery, and his physical specs aren’t that great either.”
Kyle was starting to get flustered.
Still, this was within the expected range.
He asked Lyudmila more specifically, “Last time, you said he had composure. Did you notice anything related to that?”
“I said there’s nothing? What you saw is all there is. He seems to have rolled around somewhere, so he has some kind of proficiency or confidence, but…”
If she said so, then it was likely true.
She was one of the few high-ranking archer heroes, and her ability to assess others was also outstanding.
‘So there were no variables after all.’
It didn’t matter. He seemed sufficient to graduate from the academy, even if he didn’t satisfy Lyudmila. He was just a little disappointed that a strong candidate to satisfy Lyudmila had disappeared.
“But come to think of it, something is strange?”
Suddenly, Lyudmila muttered.
“What is it?”
“That guy. There’s some kind of déjà vu… He feels similar to those Reim royal family guys… No, that’s not it. It’s definitely somewhere…”
After thinking for a moment, Lyudmila shook her head.
“Damn, I don’t know. It’s probably just my imagination.”
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