Chapter 141: Competition grounds, one end

Amelia huh.

Hmph~ she was the one who killed Ilumgand.

Shiki should have told her not to overdo it, and the students were clearly hesitant.

I thought their hesitation came from their attacks that were like measuring his power and there was a vague line in their way of coping with things, but…

Amelia Hopelace.

Hopelace.

Did she really have some sort of antagonism towards the Hopelace household in Limia?

She had the same family name so I asked her in an indirect way before, but she didn’t answer, and I didn’t want to force her into saying something she doesn’t want to.

I am like a cram school teacher.

I don’t have any intentions of interfering with the circumstances of this place.

Well, no matter what it is, they have defeated Ilumgand thanks to Amelia, so that’s fine.

No, as a result, it has also turned into something troublesome for me, so maybe I should have asked for her circumstances even if it was hard for her?

But if I did that, I would be making our connection pointlessly deeper.

The dry relationship that a temporary teacher and a student should have is pretty comfortable for me.

Knowing the distance between my students is difficult.

I was getting used to being a temporary teacher, but in times, I feel the difficulties of it in this kind of way.

If I had to evaluate the fight of Jin and the others as a battle teacher, sadly, I would not give them a passing grade.

If they didn’t waste their time hesitating and went for the kill from the very beginning, they wouldn’t exhaust themselves and would have been able to finish the fight for sure.

Mio and Shiki were there for support, so it is obvious that they would be able to.

That they were unable to is because they had the thoughts of saving Ilumgand, and it was probably because they were driven by Jin into that mindset and ended up having a tough fight.

I did tell an excuse to the Limia king, that they were fighting to call out Ilumgand, but honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.

If it were an opponent that magic can show its effect with, there would be a number of methods to make it unable to act, but if it’s only the fire element that works properly, the current group of Jin has practically no choice but to fight upfront.

With those conditions, as long as a miracle doesn’t occur, there would be no way of winning aside from killing.

That’s why, with this in mind, I was thinking about letting Shiki handle it if it seemed impossible for them.

Of course, that talk about passing grade I was thinking about a while ago, I will just keep that thought inside my head.

The fight just now wasn’t a simple battle for them, and if they survived in actual combat, that’s something to be happy about.

There’s no need to point that out and pour cold water on them.

Looking at the gray lump of meat that was once Ilumgand and the students respectively, I thought that way.

“Waka-sama, the treatment to one of the knights somehow made it in time. The other one was already dead and in no state for treatment” (Shiki)

[Got it. Please return to the students’ side]

“As you will” (Shiki)

Finishing his report to me, Shiki greets the Limia King and heads to where the students are.

[We were unable to save one of the knights. I’m truly sorry. Also, no words are enough to apology for the result of Ilumgand-sama]

He was able to save one huh.

I have to thank Shiki for that.

“Raidou, there’s no need for you to mind it. Just remembering those wounds, I am happy that at least one has been saved. Let me thank you once again for saving the life of the knight and the prince. You defeating that monster was also splendid” (King)

Prince.

Ah…

I suddenly recall that sensation in my hands.

I feel like that will definitely turn into something troublesome later.

For now, I should be grateful that the topic is not touched yet.

In the first place, the breasts of the prince were nowhere to be found.

But for my hand to accidentally end up in that kind of place after her sarashi or something similar to hide her chest was torn, what kind of accident is that?

[Those words are wasted on me]

“Your students were also great. Even if it was with a group of seven, they were able to defeat an opponent that our imperial knights couldn’t. It is to the point that I want to bring all of them back to my country. Of course, also you who the defeated the same type of monster” (King)

His gaze is going back and forth between me and the short katana.

How to call it, it was like the eyes of an influential person.

Also ‘the same type’ huh.

I wonder about that. Ilumgand felt a few steps stronger and troublesome.

As I thought, maybe he was special?

I don’t know what activities Rona did in this town, so I don’t know the background either.

[Sorry to say this, but the variant I fought was a lot weaker than the one my students were fighting. So please acknowledge them instead of me. I think it was a harsh experience for them, but they fought well. Also, each one of them may have some thoughts about their future, but receiving the praise of the Limia King will definitely encourage them]

“Umu. But, weaker huh. I was unable to tell but, is that true? In that case, there’s the chance that the work towards Ilumgand was more through”

The Limia King looks like he is thinking.

This is Rotsgard, but that assaulter – and victim at the same time – is Ilumgand, the son of a noble in Limia.

Also, the school festival that is occurring in this town gathers people from around the world.

If they want to narrow the suspects, there would be way too many candidates and would have a hard time with it.

The demon race would be the biggest suspect, but there’s quite a lot going on between hyumans as well.

Anyways, Jin and the others have received a godsend.

To receive words that are practically an unofficial offer from the literal top of one of the four major powers.

There’s the fact about national power, but there’s also the climate and geography that’s comparable to the Empire, and can expect much from Limia in the future. If someone asked me in which of the four major powers I would like to live, Limia would be the one I would most likely choose.

If I choose an area where the nobles are better, I think that it would be easier to live.

Those kids would be happy if they heard this.

From an academy scholarship student into a knight corps or a magician corps in Limia Kingdom is a straight path to success.

Maybe everyone except the Rembrandt sisters will go.

“…”

The Hopelace Head was on his knees, looking at the lump of meat.

Even if it was his second son, it is still the remains of his son.

He most likely lost his strength.

“Raidou-dono, I have something to talk with you about later. I don’t mind if it’s after this turmoil has calmed down, so please make some time” (Joshua)

[Understood, Prince Joshua]

I don’t plan on telling anyone about that previous shock.

But the problem would be, how am I going to make her understand that?

Well then…

We have already secured this place, so let’s contact Tomoe and bring this people to the safe place where the other guests are.

And then, have the remaining spectators evacuate.

For now there have been no emergency calls from anyone, so I want to confirm the situation once.

I was prepared to receive several problematic reports from the Mist Lizards, but there wasn’t a single one.

As expected of Rembrandt-san.

He must have explained it well.

Well it would have been easier to explain if I called something more hyuman-like for example: Gorgons, Arkes, or the safest choice Forest Onis.

As long as I show it to Rembrandt-san, it would be a matter of time before his daughters also learn about their existence.

It would be troublesome to explain every single thing, so leaving it as if I can only summon the Blue Lizard race is easier for me.

[Even if we stay here, there might be an attack again. Please take refuge in the same safe place as the guests. The matter related to your country has already been resolved]

“But to stay in a safe place like that, do you think I would be able to face the residents of this town?” (King)

[The chief of this town, the Academy Principal, is also there. Of course, he is most likely moving in order to protect this town. Staying in a safe place to make more precise orders should help in calming down this turmoil faster. We will endeavor in evacuating the residents. I am not used to this kind of situations, but I will do my best]

“Evacuate? With power like yours, shouldn’t you be going for suppressing?” (King)

[Of course, if there’s the need to, I will. Just that, since the academy force is concentrating on suppressing like what happened a while ago, I thought that we should take on the job of guiding the evacuation and aiding which is lacking in personnel]

“… Similar… to the just descended…” (King)

In a low voice, the king mutters something.

Damn it, I missed what he said.

I think he said something about resembling.

Was that a monologue? Well, might as well confirm.

[Sorry, can you please repeat?]

“Ah no, there’s no need to mind it. I see. Then if we stay here fretting, it would only cause trouble huh. Umu… Joshua” (King)

He didn’t tell me.

But he didn’t reject my idea of prioritizing evacuation.

“Yes?” (Joshua)

“I don’t know if it will make it in time, but have an available unit head to Rotsgard. Reinforcements are definitely needed. I don’t mind if it’s after taking shelter, so please contact them. I will talk with the Academy Principal regarding the permission of it. You pass a thought transmission to a relay point and have them hurry the report to the Kingdom” (King)

“Understood. Well, the closest unit is the unit of the Hopelace household that has a territory in the Kingdom’s southern tip. When we secure a safe place where I can do thought transmission, I will transmit it immediately” (Joshua)

Joshua glances, but the Hopelace household head doesn’t react.

Is he alright?

He lost his son, so I wonder if he can do any normal decisions currently.

“Well then, Raidou. It might be troublesome, but please teleport us. After that, can you please lend a shoulder to that absentminded one over there?” (King)

[I would be happy to]

I confirm the location with Tomoe, and make mist that connects to the place she is in.

Thick mist that one can’t see through appeared in front of the king.

I glance at Shiki and Mio.

Looks like they are doing the follow-up of the students.

I thought they could be taken as a fighting force in a matter of this degree, but it is probably no good.

They probably still have in mind that those monsters were former hyumans. The weakening in their strength is heavy.

I don’t know how the evacuation of the other students is going, but I feel like it would be better to send these kids to an evacuation point and have them quietly wait there.

There’s no assurance that there will only be one opponent, and there’s also my promise with Rembrandt-san.

It wouldn’t be good to push them.

While feeling disappointed, I look at the unit that has purple clothing and blood mixed.

Is this the level of the corps that are working as a mainline defense against the variants?

I don’t know their real strength and their numbers, but depending on the number of people that can actually fight decently, this matter will probably take several days.

While thinking in my own way about how this situation would develop, I see off the back of the staggering knight.

While at it, I confirm that the Limia King and Prince Joshua disappear into the mist.

Well then.

I take the arm of the Head-dono that is grabbing the rails, motionlessly looking at the lump of meat.

[Hopelace-sama, excuse me. I will see you off, so please depart]

“Don’t touch me!!”

“!!”

The moment I take his arm and try to make him stand, he brushes off my hand and yells.

It was quite the high volume, and the eyes of the students and my followers turn to where we are.

Waving my hand to convey that it’s nothing, I wait for the Head-dono to stand by himself.

This may be something that can’t be helped. He glares at me hatefully and without the need of lending him a shoulder, he staggers to where the mist is and disappears inside it.

Well, not like I was planning on having everyone feel indebted to me though.

Hah…

He didn’t even look at Amelia once, and yet, why am I the one getting so much hate?

I don’t understand.

Did he inherit the hate his son had?

I don’t even know the reason of his son’s hate either, so I am still here with a question mark.

I really don’t understand the nobles.

I suddenly remember the words of Prince Joshua.

A rampaging beast that one can’t feel any trace of personality in it, huh.

The last shout of Ilumgand that was mixed with the thunderous sound of the explosion.

 

‘I just wanted to apologize’

 

Is what he said.

… This is probably something that will never be realized now.

In the many times that I heard the voice of that variant, I didn’t expect to actually understand something he said, but well, since I ended up hearing it, it can’t be helped.

If there was someone you wanted to apologize to so much that you shouted it at your last moments….

Don’t waste your time pestering me and just do thought transmission or write a letter to tell that person how you felt.

I sympathized with him for a moment, but after seeing off the Head-dono, I see Mio leaving the stage and running towards me, so I change the gears in my emotions.

No matter what he wanted to say or who it was to, I won’t know.

There’s no point in worrying about it now.

“Waka-sama, did anything serious happen to you?!” (Mio)

I nod once and answer Mio.

Right now Tomoe should be guiding the Limia group.

There’s Root there as well, and the distinguished people have their own point of view, so being there is better for their job.

[I’m fine. In your side, it seems like… it has turned into something complicated]

In a sense, it is to be expected.

The atmosphere around the students isn’t only of the victory in that battle, a complicated atmosphere.

Especially Amelia, her exhaustion is terrible.

Looks like she also got injured.

Her shoulder huh.

Even if Shiki treated her, he can’t regenerate the clothes and armor, so the place she was injured is easy to tell.

Anyways, even if she has her own circumstances, as long as she doesn’t tell me about it, it means that I am not qualified to hear it.

Her loving Shiki is with her, so I will just leave it to him.

If Shiki hears about her circumstances and he finds it necessary to tell me, he will.

There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do regarding her.

“That was close. At the end, when he howled and the vanguard was unable to move, I thought that there was no choice but to lend them a hand, but Amelia somehow did it. To endow a completed spell to an arrow, counting Sif, those two really did something reckless-desu wa. It was probably an imitation of Shiki though” (Mio)

[Endowing a spell huh. And that’s what caused the explosion. It was pretty amazing]

An imitation of Shiki huh.

Endowing a completed spell to a weapon, it increases the attack power explosively.

Just that, the effective time is really short.

Shiki said that he can only maintain it for several minutes.

Bluntly speaking, the consumption rate is bad.

As long as you are not that concerned about the attack power of your weapon, there isn’t much point in using it.

Even with Shiki, he said that he mostly used this only when he wanted his opponent to mistake it for endowing magic and create an opening out of it.

It seems the two of them were able to do it, but if it’s them, they would only be able to maintain it for a few seconds.

I see, that’s reckless.

With an opponent like the variant that has high defensive power against magic itself and has a limited amount of elements that are effective against it, this technique barely enters the degree of being useful.

With arrows, there’s the merit that the power won’t decrease even if it distances from you, but if the effective time ends before it reaches the target, it would be completely useless, so the demerits are big.

I approach the vanguard group that is sitting.

“… Sensei”

[Jin, you did well]

“I… I was supposed to not care about what happened to him. Actually, I should have been pissed off. But when I thought that I would be killing him… I just…” (Jin)

It looks like he is confused.

The point is, he thought he would be able to but he couldn’t.

And he is unable to accept it.

‘Even though I defeat mamonos without mercy’, is probably something they all hold in their minds.

[He was a hyuman in the beginning. It’s not something strange. Don’t push yourself and rest for now]

“?!! Are you saying we will only be in the way?!”

[That’s not it. You guys are students. There’s no need for students to fight in the frontlines. Fighting is the job of others]

Honestly, there’s a part of me that actually thought they would get in the way. But there’s no need to say that and hurt them, so I told them my main reason.

Leaving aside if they are dependable or not, the Academy Town has their fighting force as well.

People like the purple clothed guys.

Information will be steadily gathered, so beginning with the Academy Principal, the influential people of the Academy will most likely plan out counter measures for the variants.

At the least, the situation is definitely not to the point that there’s the need for the enrolled students to step into the frontlines.

“But we can also fight plenty enough!!” (Jin)

[For someone that fought only once and is already this tired, quite the big words there. Also, even if she was healed, Amelia received quite the injury you know?]

If the second variant intruded in that fight, there’s the possibility that deaths would appear.

Well, the fact that they haven’t touched the topic of that second variant even once might be because they didn’t even notice it.

If that’s the case, I can say for sure that what they need right now is not battle experience but rest.

They don’t have the freedom to fight several variants at once.

Even if I said it was weaker than Ilumgand, depending on the power of the opponent, there’s the chance they might die.

It doesn’t change the fact that they were former hyumans, so there’s the chance they will waver again.

My uneasiness in counting them as fighting force is big.

“Ugh… that is…” (Jin)

[I wanted to restore him]

“?!!”

[That was your true intention, right?]

“It wasn’t for Sensei? Am I… naïve?” (Jin)

The frail words that Jin said were an affirmation that, till the very end, he didn’t choose to kill him.

[I felt that instead of having you guys die, it would be better to bring down Ilumgand. For me, you guys are more important than him, and Amelia probably felt the same way when she took action. If you lament your naivety, it is okay to just improve yourself in your remaining time at the academy. I think that this trait of yours is a strong point and also an important part of you]

It didn’t work in his favor in this occasion though.

It’s true that it is one of his biggest appeals.

The composed disposition and the coldhearted trait don’t fit him at all.

“It was a naivety that brought everyone into danger. To call it a strong point is just…” (Jin)

Oh? An unusual display of heavy weakness from him.

Even though it is fine to just leave the complicated thinking and concentrate on resting.

[It is fine to just think about that later. Right now you should rest. This is an order as a teacher. I have received information that variants have appeared in this town and in the towns around. This matter will probably take time]

“No way… what in the world is going on?” (Jin)

[Anyways, today you guys should take refuge in the place where the other students are and rest. Even if you want to fight, if your body doesn’t follow, there’s no point. Also…]

[Sif and Yuno]

I call the Rembrandt sisters that are together.

“Raidou-sensei”

“Sensei”

[Your parents are okay. I have placed dependable bodyguards with them, so there’s no need to worry. You will obediently evacuate right?]

“… Understood” (Sif)

“… I will evacuate, for today” (Yuno)

Yuno is also a troublesome lady.

Is she saying that she intends to fight?

Sif also responded as if she was harboring something as well.

I told this to Jin too but, you guys are students so there’s no need to get so eager.

Even though other parts of their body are clearly showing exhaustion, their eyes were strangely vivid.

Is the battle excitement state still continuing?

No matter which, the best choice seems to be rest.

Let’s leave the thankful words of the Limia King for a later time.

There’s also the issue with the Prince as well.

It would be troublesome if she gets rash and does something reckless.

Especially when the person she wants to protect is being targeted.

I was able to experience this just a few moments ago.

[Shiki, Mio. Please guide the students to the evacuation point. If there’s the need to, it is okay to put that place as the guarding priority]

“Eeh?! Uhm, and Waka-sama?” (Mio)

[I will go hear the situation from Tomoe. I leave these kids in your care]

I make mist that connects to the same place as before.

Tomoe, just how long does she intend to watch and wait?

It would be troublesome if the guests were to catch me, so I will just quietly go there, quickly hear what she has to say, and then head to my store to see how it is going.

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