Chapter 6
Instructor Zach saw that all the freshmen had formed parties and spoke. His voice still had the growl of an angry lion.
“Listen up, you brats! This ‘digging game’ is even more exciting than last time—! For one night and two days, you’ll have a blast wandering around this beginner undead dungeon, searching for the exit!”
“….”
“….”
“….”
“The cowards who formed parties consisting only of Divine Studies students will fall behind in stamina, and the tin cans who gathered only Swordsmanship students will panic when they see their weapons stopped by undead monsters! Got that? Any idiots who just grouped up with their friends without thinking, reform your parties—!”
“!”
“!”
“!”
The point was,
they needed to divide the roles appropriately.
“….”
Only now did the freshmen realize why the Swordsmanship and Divine Studies Departments had arranged a joint class. This lesson was the first step toward learning how to divide roles effectively.
A fierce battle of wits unfolded among them.
‘Those who took in just anyone because they were friends are going to have a hard time….’
‘In a pinch, I’ll have to bow my head to those Divine Studies students.’
‘The Kingdom’s Aristocratic Faction… Please, let there be someone left over from the Gallian Kingdom’s Aristocratic Faction in the Divine Studies Department…!’
‘This means the Swordsmanship students from the Theocracy have the biggest advantage!’
The noble-born cadets who could think this way began frantically reworking their parties in their heads. Most of the commoner cadets had only been brought in to make up the numbers, so they quietly watched the others’ reactions.
‘…Damn it, I’m definitely going to be the one who gets kicked out now.’
Meanwhile, the cadets from the Theocracy, who could complete a party among themselves, wore triumphant expressions.
“Hehehe, brothers of the Holy Knights. This, too, is the guidance of the Sun God.”
“Yes, brother. We can proceed with the class as we are. May the Sun God bless us.”
Amid that quiet chaos,
Instructor Zach dropped another bombshell.
“I’ll give you more time, so choose your comrades carefully, brats. In classes held in this undead dungeon… there have even been deaths—!”
“W-what did you say…?!”
“Deaths…?”
The high-ranking nobles of the Kingdom and the children of Theocracy cardinals were startled. They placed great value on their own lives.
They could endure mere hardship.
But anything that might cost them their lives was different.
So they began to berate the instructor.
“A-are you joking?!”
“I’m going to be a lord of the Kingdom of Gallia someday—!”
“I will report this to Cardinal Albert, who is staying at the academy…!”
Instructor Zach scoffed at the cadets’ protests.
“That’s right, you worms. That’s all you are. Go on, then—try to figure out where you’ll die and where you’ll live. Though I don’t know if you lot, who don’t even consider your own deaths, will be able to tell the difference.”
“….”
“….”
“Anyone who refuses will be expelled! From this moment on, find comrades who can protect your lives. Move—!”
The cadets fell silent for a moment, then quickly grasped the reality of the situation. Those who had haphazardly grouped together disbanded or tried to persuade other cadets to join them.
-H-hey, you! Commoner over there! If you’ve got a sword, then protect me!
-You’re a Reformist noble, but I’ll make an exception and allow you into our party. Get over here!
The cadets who couldn’t find a proper party shouted desperately. Most of them were red-eyed, making all kinds of unreasonable demands in a frantic bid to save their own lives.
“….”
Watching them, Instructor Zach sighed inwardly.
‘I can’t believe so few of them have realized that all the academy’s training grounds have been made safe over these past few weeks. How can people so easily swayed by an enemy’s threats ever lead a battlefield…?’
No,
there were only a very few,
but a few remained calm.
“….”
Instructor Zach took note of several students who looked at ease.
Among them was a cadet from the Swordsmanship Department—the princess, Lydia.
Instructor Zach briefly met Lydia’s eyes.
“….”
“….”
But neither of them said a word.
*
Arti spoke quietly to Aria and Lydia. Setting aside the troublesome misunderstanding, they were companions who had approached him when he was feeling adrift.
“…Instructor Zach’s words are probably just a threat. All the places where we’ve had our physical training and sparring in the Swordsmanship Department have been made safe. Besides, it’s too soon to send freshmen into real combat. Even when it comes to farming, you’d only entrust the work to someone who’d helped out for at least a season.”
Aria smiled brightly at Arti’s thoughtfulness as she replied.
“Thank you, Hero. But luckily, I’d already heard a story about ‘deaths in the dungeon’ from an upperclassman in the Divine Studies Department, so I knew about it.”
“You had? A story about deaths?”
“Yes. Three noble cadets who had fallen in love fought a duel inside the undead dungeon to decide who would become whose lover, and then…”
“….”
Arti closed his eyes and shook his head.
‘…Nobles still go looking for romance even inside a dungeon.’
“….”
Even amid all the confusion, Lydia remained silent.
‘What a nostalgic event. In the original, this is where Arti and Mave first interact… but it was a frustrating part where the proud commoner trainee knight, Mave, looks down on him.’
It was an early-game event where Arti approached her in a friendly way because they were both commoners, only to be insulted by the ‘proud female knight’…
Lydia looked toward the knight heroine—Mave.
Mave stood proudly in place. Those who had noticed her skill, which had stood out from the very first day, and cadets who had been trainee knights of the Royal Knights had gathered around her.
-Mave, I don’t like it, but you’re the strongest swordswoman here….
-You’re stating the obvious.
-Hey, commoner! You’re sure you can protect me, right?
-That’s obvious, too.
“….”
Lydia remembered the humiliation ‘original Arti’ had suffered in that party swarming with nobles.
-You commoner deadweight!
-You’re slowing us down!
-Pathetic.
“….”
‘Mave and Arti’s real interactions will happen later. There’s no need to crush Arti’s self-esteem in a pointless status-conflict event. Skip.’
Unnecessary, emotionally draining events—skipped.
She focused only on the details of the early undead dungeon.
Beginner Undead Dungeon.
Unlike Instructor Zach’s terrifying threats, it was an extremely easy place. Besides, even if they were defeated by the monsters, there would be no 18+ NTR scenes involving the heroines or any game over.
‘…The heroines’ ‘Vows of Chastity’ haven’t been broken yet, after all.’
Up to this point, the game was designed to make you think, ‘Huh? Is this just a standard RPG dungeon?’—which was why it also had some pretty worthwhile farming opportunities.
That was what Lydia was after.
‘I’ll take everything I can get out of the early game.’
*
[The party that makes it through the undead dungeon first will be excused from next week’s hellish training—!]
In the end, the parties were reorganized on a large scale.
Some ended up having to team up with their enemies(?) against their will, but they were willing to compromise when faced with the desire to survive and simple practicality.
Meanwhile,
Arti’s party remained unchanged.
There had, of course, been attempts to persuade Aria to join a party of students from the Holy Theocracy, but they were thwarted by her firm refusal.
-But, Saintess…! We can’t entrust you to a commoner like that.
-Please mind your words, brother. We have come to an academy where everyone from the three nations of the Southern Continent is equal. This is the founding ideal of the academy, established by the ‘Hero Aruen,’ chosen by the Sun God.
-But…!
-As a cadet of this academy, I can take care of myself just fine.
Aria couldn’t yet unilaterally reveal that Arti was the ‘Hero of the Sacred Sword,’ so all she could do was prove her own ability.
‘…I hope everyone will understand someday.’
Before leaving, the students from the Theocracy
threatened Arti.
-If the Saintess so much as gets a single hair hurt, I’ll make sure you pay for it.
But they couldn’t bring themselves to do the same to Princess Lydia. Even if she was one of the ‘Forgotten Twin Royals’… the greatest act of defiance they could manage was simply to ‘pretend not to notice’ her.
Of course, Lydia paid no mind to such petty posturing. She simply looked at the entrance to the beginner undead dungeon in front of her.
It looked like a knotted tangle of thread,
splitting into dozens of paths.
The cadets formed into parties, gathered their supplies and weapons, then chose what looked like a ‘safe entrance’ from among the dozens of passages and went inside.
-This passage is unusually clean, and I can feel less ‘energy’ coming from it.
-Huh…?! Hey, what are you doing?!
-Step aside. Our brothers are entering this passage first.
“….”
Arti and Aria stood before the dungeon entrance, overwhelmed. Even if it was only a beginner dungeon, this was their first time seeing one in person.
Aria whispered softly.
“Hero, you must be careful. Even if no one dies, the slowly seeping aura of death can have a bad effect on the living.”
“Yes, Saintess.”
Arti left Aria behind and went straight over to Lydia.
“Lydia, the Saintess said there’s a harmful aura inside the dungeon, so we should be careful.”
“…Hmm, understood. I’ll be careful. Thank you.”
“Yes!”
Arti then turned back to Aria.
“Saintess, Lydia said thank you, too.”
“….”
Seeing that, Aria puffed out her cheeks a little.
“…I was telling you directly, Hero.”
“Huh? We’re in the same party, aren’t we? So of course we should share information.”
“….”
Aria felt a little hurt.
‘Even so, passing it on right away in front of me…’
Wasn’t it as if the Hero were the princess’s subordinate…? And she was also hurt by how Arti’s politeness seemed to treat her, subtly, like an ‘outsider.’
She had been the one to approach the Hero first,
offering to help him.
So why was he with such a cruel princess…?
‘Have you already become so bound to the princess?’
“….”
Aria looked at Lydia with wavering eyes.
Lydia was absorbed in something.
With one hand resting on her sword hilt, she scanned their surroundings with sharp eyes. Then she pointed somewhere and said,
“…That way. Follow me, Arti.”
“Yes!”
The place they headed toward
was an entrance unusually covered in sword marks.
The acrid stench of all kinds of magical potions, eerie cracks… No matter how you looked at it, the place was covered in the traces of fierce battles.
Lydia turned to Arti and Aria and said,
“This entrance should be safe. We’re going this way. Arti, put on your backpack and focus on ‘that.’”
“…Yes, Lydia.”
Arti answered as he picked up his backpack. The ‘that’ Lydia mentioned was a method of concentration that awakened Arti’s ‘Accelerated Healing.’
‘Thank goodness I don’t have to talk about my asshole in front of the Saintess.’
Arti was inwardly relieved. Then, without complaint, he activated the energy in his body and started to follow Lydia, who was leading the way.
But Aria didn’t follow them.
“W-wait a moment?!”
“?”
“?”
Aria stopped them, her voice slightly unsteady.
“This entrance looks dangerous, no matter how you look at it! And how can the princess be so sure it’s safe when this is her first time in the dungeon…?”
“….”
“….”
At the Saintess’s words, Arti couldn’t help but think, ‘Huh, is she right?’ But he quickly came to terms with it.
‘…Lydia wouldn’t do something without a reason.’
As expected,
Lydia looked at Aria and answered without hesitation.
“Look around you. It’s covered in all kinds of battle scars. The academy’s instructors and assistants must have left them when they dealt with monsters the cadets couldn’t handle. Unlike the other entrances.”
“So that means this place is dangerous…!”
“No, it means the opposite.”
“Pardon?”
“Isn’t this the only entrance around here that’s covered in sword marks and signs of battle? This place must have been home to especially ‘powerful monsters.’ But the instructors and assistants have already dealt with them.”
“….”
“Lesser monsters don’t go near places where powerful monsters live. So among all the entrances around here, this is the only one that’s practically an ‘entirely empty passage.’”
They left the weak monsters alone.
They cleared out the strong ones.
The weak monsters avoided the strong ones.
“We’ll use that to pass through an area completely empty of monsters as quickly as possible.”
“….”
Arti clapped his hands in admiration.
“Ah! Once you realize that the academy’s training grounds are safe, you can see that places that ‘look dangerous’ are just a bluff!”
“That’s right, Arti. From now on, trust your own instincts and judgment, not the enemy’s bluster.”
“That’s amazing, Lydia!”
Arti grinned from ear to ear and spoke to Aria.
“That’s a relief, Saintess! Now we can go together without you worrying.”
“….”
Aria gave a small nod. No matter how much she wanted to argue, she couldn’t.
“…Yes.”
But…
the words she’d spoken out of concern
had led to this strange exchange between Lydia and Arti.
It was…
somehow…
…disappointing.
“….”
And so,
the three of them entered the undead dungeon.