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Chapter 68

If not for the free time sometimes given in the evening, a few of the young heroes would have already collapsed.

“We somehow survived today as well...” Evan mumbled with a tired tone.

Karis flopped onto the table as he added, “Time isn’t flying at all...”

“How does it make sense that it hasn’t even been a week?”

“Yeah. I want to eat cookies...”

“I want to eat meat... Fatty meat with lots of unhealthy spices.”

“I won’t complain at all if I can just get a jug of beer.”

“...I feel like I’m going to die.”

I didn’t take my eyes off the book I was reading as I replied, “But you haven’t died yet.”

“Hmm?”

That seemed to draw the attention of the others around us.

“What’s he talking about?”

“He’s saying something weird again.”

“Evan, get a grip on your roommate.”

Look at these guys.

Just because we’d gotten a little closer in the last few days, they’d completely lost their filters.

In the end, I closed my book and kindly explained to the idiots, “What don’t you understand? That’s just how effective the instructors and the camp are.”

A few of the ones near me blinked their eyes in confusion, so I explained a bit more.

“We’re being pushed until we’re about to die, but none of us have died yet. They perfectly understand our level. I’m saying they know exactly how much they need to squeeze us and when to let us breathe.”

“...I guess?”

“Well, it’s just a theory.”

“So you’re not completely sure either.”

Although I was just guessing, I was pretty confident. Maybe because I’d experienced something similar on Spirit Mountain, I felt I had a decent read on what the instructors were thinking.

I tried to go back to reading my book, but Evan interrupted me.

“Is that book fun?”

“Somewhat. Do you want to read it as well?”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s a history book. It’s a story about the 21 Heroes who became the ancestors to the Great Houses.”

Evan gave a brittle smile.

“Uhm... I’m good.”

It was to be expected.

As a member of one of the Great Houses, he had probably read all of the books related to the 21 Heroes.

I wasn’t any different, but because of my time on Spirit Mountain, my memories had faded. Reading this book was helping me recover them.

“Ah. It’s Skull.”

Of course, his name wasn’t Skull.

The one who had just passed by us in the lounge was stick thin and had hollow cheeks that made his head look like a skull.

Someone had called him Skull once, and then everyone had started calling him Skull.

I had heard that he was from some decent noble house, but I couldn’t remember the name.

“Hey! Skull!”

As Karis waved his hand, Skull became surprised.

He looked around a little before running up the stairs.

“What’s with him?”

“Leave him be. He lost points today. He’s probably sad even though he doesn’t talk much.”

“Shouldn’t he be angry rather than sad?”

“Maybe if he only had one brain cell like you.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

I shifted my attention away from my book to watch Skull as he went up the stairs.

His movements looked awkward, like he was being chased.

No, this was beyond looking awkward.

“...”

Something smelled fishy here.

***

Crack!

I stumbled a little due to the shock to my shoulder.

Although I didn’t completely lose my balance from the momentary impact, I didn’t just stand still either.

I forced myself to lower my body to dodge the next attack.

Vwoong. The sharp tip of the foot just barely missed me.

My hair stood on end.

This guy was getting closer and closer.

That attack would’ve killed me if I’d gotten hit by it directly.

Of course, I didn’t show any fear toward him.

I acted as if I was stumbling a little more before focusing my senses and immediately transitioning to offense.

Today, the Instructor of the Hunt’s self-imposed penalty was the sealing of his right leg.

Naturally, I should move in and attack his right side...

...Is how normal people would think.

So I made a slight change.

I intentionally attacked his well-defended left side.

The Instructor didn’t seem surprised, though his response was slightly delayed at my unexpected attack.

Using that gap, I swung my arm like a sword and cut through my target’s neck.

Thud.

“...”

I cut through, right?

It felt like I had just hit a tree trunk with the blade of my hand.

Bang.

Wow. So I can fly as well—

I looked at the calm night sky of the Forest of the Butterfly as I momentarily felt weightless.

After falling back down to earth, I immediately got up and lowered my head.

“It’s my loss.”

The Instructor of the Hunt looked at me as I declared my loss.

He said slowly, “Your technique is as excellent as always. You also penetrated your opponent’s openings well.”

“Thank you.”

“But as always, your stamina is holding you back. Your movements slowed quite a lot in the last moments.”

I knew that as well.

“The importance of basic stamina and strength cannot be stressed enough. However, stamina isn’t something you can gain overnight. Do not become vain, and always train diligently.”

“Yes.”

Even if it wasn’t overnight, this body should reach a usable state in about a month.

The Strongest Fire Technique just had that much potential.

The Instructor of the Hunt nodded.

“As you lost today’s spar as well, you will be deducted two points...”

I could guess what he was going to say next.

“...But I saw your tenacity as you fought for 10 minutes even with your lacking strength. You have impressive willpower. And since you were excellent even to the last exchange, you will be granted two points.”

“Thank you.”

As expected, today’s points were a net zero as well.

Since this was the outcome every time we sparred, I wasn’t particularly surprised anymore.

As soon as the Instructor left, Karis came up to me.

“Looks like the Instructor likes you a lot.”

I brushed off the dirt on my body as I fixed his misunderstanding.

“Not really. He’s just acting like a Bednicker.”

“Like a Bednicker? What do you mean?”

“Dark, reserved, sly... It could mean a few things, but in this case, I’m saying he’s meritocratic.”

“Eh-heh.”

Karis couldn’t tell if I was joking or not and looked a little nervous, but I meant all of that.

“Hey, you remember what happened to Hans, right?”

“I do.”

It had happened yesterday.

Since I hadn’t suffered too much in my spar against the Instructor of the Hunt, Hans had suddenly called out to him.

—I’ll spar against you today, instructor!

...The result was obvious.

As soon as the spar started, Hans was thrown to the ground and his arm broke.

The ones watching the spar got to witness what instant defeat looked like.

The Instructor wasn’t a cruel person, and he hadn’t gone easy on me like Karis suggested either.

From what I could tell, the Instructor of the Hunt was a logical and stern person.

Since someone who didn’t deserve to fight him had challenged him, he had educated his opponent...

However, after seeing how Hans had been treated, a few people mistakenly thought the Instructor favored me.

Pathetic idiots...

If you think it’s unfair, then hold on properly.

There was one thing I was sure of, and it was that I was probably the only young hero who could continue to spar against the Instructor of the Hunt like this.

Hector, Sellen, and even Charon would be defeated without being able to put up much resistance.

There were two reasons for this.

First was that most of the guys here weren’t used to fighting without their blessings...

And the second reason was that I had a lot of experience fighting against opponents stronger than me.

Maybe I should say I had more experience fighting stronger foes than weaker ones?

Charon knows this as well. That’s why he isn’t trying to one-up me.

He would be doing it if he could since he was crazy about points.

It was then that I heard cheers coming from somewhere.

* * * * *

* * * * *

“That surprised me. What’s going on?”

“That direction... I think it’s where Evan was fighting.”

I exchanged glances with Karis before we moved over together.

Just as Karis had said, Evan was there.

And his opponent... was Charon Woodjack.

The state of the two contrasted quite a bit.

Compared to Charon, who didn’t seem to have any injuries and looked rather clean, Evan was in a total mess, as if he had rolled around on the ground a few times.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s as you can see: Evan’s losing pretty hard,” replied the talkative Pam.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect there to be this much of a difference between the two of them. I thought Evan was within the higher ranks among the young heroes in the camp.”

“...”

Evan was within the higher ranks.

Charon just wasn’t on the level of a young hero.

Suddenly, Charon spoke.

“Evan Helvin, why don’t you listen to your instructor?”

“...What?”

“That swordsmanship you obsess over is too crude. With it, not just me...” At this moment, Charon looked at me. “You won’t be able to defeat anyone.”

“...”

“I’ll give you some advice. At this rate, you won’t be able to enter the top three.”

Evan’s face darkened when he heard that.

I continued to watch the spar. Of course, it ended with Evan’s defeat.

During the spar, Evan’s sword never even touched Charon.

***

Finally, Saturday afternoon arrived.

Compared to other days, the young heroes were in a better mood.

Even I, who was pretty insensitive to the general atmosphere, could tell that, but it was honestly expected.

Today and tomorrow were the weekend.

Of course, that was how it usually was, and the training camp might not care about weekends at all...

But in the morning, the Instructor of Martial Arts Juan said, “On the weekends, you will only have morning lessons. In the afternoon, your ranks will be announced and you will be able to select your subjects, but it won’t take long.”

“Then after that...”

“Of course, it’s free time.”

“Woah...!”

Free time!

Those sweet words were enough to make all the young heroes cheer with joy.

But, not getting swept up in the excitement, Evan looked relatively calm as he asked, “What are the rank announcements and the subject selection?”

“Firstly, everyone will be ranked based on their current points, and everyone’s points—from first place to last place—will be made public.”

Murmur.

Everyone immediately became noisy.

This reaction was only possible in front of the Instructor of Martial Arts, who was relatively mellow compared to the others.

If Tanko, the Instructor of the Hunt, had given this announcement, no one would’ve made even a single sound.

It was obvious why they were making the points public: it was to incite a sense of competition within us.

“And from the second week on, you will have to select classes depending on your aptitude. To put it simply, you will have different lessons at the same time.”

Aha.

The 39 young heroes gathered here all had different aptitudes.

The environments they’d grown up in, the martial arts they’d learned, and even their races were different.

Basic lessons could be done together, but to deepen their education, it was necessary to split the heroes into different classes since everyone needed to focus on something different.

“The rankings are displayed in the first-floor lounge in your lodge. Check them yourselves. The individual subject selection will happen after lunch.”

After saying that, the Instructor of Martial Arts left.

The young heroes glanced at each other before all moving toward the lodge.

I waved off the dust cloud with my hand.

“They’re so impatient. What’s the point of running like that? Right?”

Evan was in a daze before he responded, “...Huh? Eh, yeah.”

This guy... He’d been spacing out a lot more since his spar with Charon.

I silently looked at him, but Evan didn’t seem to notice as he replied, “Aren’t you curious?”

“I am. But it’s not like getting there later will stop me from checking the ranks.”

“They just want to see it quickly. I can understand.”

“So why are you so calm about it?”

“Uh... I already know how many points all of the young heroes have.”

“What? How?”

Evan gave a small smile.

“The Instructor always says it aloud during lessons. Someone gets one point, someone loses one point... like that. I’ve just been keeping track.”

“Let’s say you did track all of those. What about the spars?”

The Instructor of the Hunt’s spars happened every day unless there was a special occasion. There had been three spars this week.

The victors obtained one point, and the losers lost two points...

Even if he was smart, he wouldn’t be able to track the outcome of each pair.

“Whenever we go to the lounge after the spars, everyone talks about who won and who lost. If I’m ever unsure about the points, I just ask them directly and they usually give me the answer.”

“...”

This moment was the first time I’d gotten chills because of Evan.

I could understand a little why his betrayal was called the Worst Betrayal to Humanity in History.

To put it simply, Evan was someone you didn’t want to have as your enemy.

“That’s amazing. No, should I say that’s creepy?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Also, you’re tied at rank 16th.”

“Aha.”

“That was a dryer reaction than I expected.”

“I expected it to be somewhere around there. No, I guess it’s a bit higher than I expected?”

It could be said that my grade in the training camp was impressive since I had always been held back by my stamina.

Even in lessons about using mana, I only focused on my physical strength, which helped me in my spars.

Even so, the reason I’d ended up in the upper half was because of the points I’d accumulated with the Instructor of the Hunt.

While we were talking, we arrived at the lodge.

The young heroes were swarming around the notice board in the lounge.

“What is this?”

“...I don’t believe it.”

“They must’ve made a mistake...”

I could hear the young heroes’ voices of despair.

Just looking around, it looked as if they were all in a state of shock.

“What’s with everyone?”

“Yeah... maybe their ranks were different than they expected?’

Their reactions were too severe for it to be some simple miscalculation.

“Hello. Excuse me. Coming through.”

I pushed past the young heroes and arrived at the front of the board...

When I saw the ranks...

“...Huh?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised as well.