As soon as we were right outside the forest, the students began getting off the platform in groups while Mauri managed to set up a small base camp using basic nature spells so that we have a temporary place to meetup. After all, Inez still needed to set up an aid tent to bring injured students to.

“Alright, gather up. I will pass your group’s tasks one by one,” I announced as I held a pile of papers up.

As the students received their instructions, they began discussing their plans but there were some confusion being voiced out among the groups.

“What’s wrong?” I asked Kendra who was scratching her head with a baffled expression.

“Your handwriting is just…I don’t know how to explain it,” Kendra muttered.

“It can’t be that bad!” I grabbed Kendra’s paper and looked over it. I really couldn’t tell what was good or bad about my handwriting.

“Boss! I have prepared my own copies of your instruction just in case the original copies suffer a terrible fate,” Inez approached me with a pile of papers.

“Well, it’s a good thing that my instructions are still here…”

Just as I said, Kendra grabbed my paper and burnt it. “Oh, whoops! I accidentally started up a fire spell just as I took the paper back!”

Another student caused his paper to fly far up into the sky and disappear, while another paper melted.

“NO! WHY WOULD YOU GUYS DO THIS?!” I cried as I dropped onto my knees.

“Don’t be silly, master! These are accidents! Accidents happen all the time!” Kendra smiled as she patted my shoulder.

The class, after murdering my hard work, went to take Inez’s copies instead. Looking over one of the papers, I might admit that her handwriting was very tidy and pleasing to look at.

To be fair, I have skeleton hands and that’s hard to write with!

“That reminds me, where’s Lard?” I asked.

The large muscled boy in the class approached me as he carried Lard around his shoulder. “I, Vakasa of the Darkness, demand to be put down! What am I?! A kidnapped princess?!”

“Even if you were a princess, who would kidnap you?!” I retorted.

I grabbed the fat boy by the neck as he was handed over to me, then announced to the class, “The ones that have hunting tasks, follow me. We’ll be going deeper into the forest. The rest of you will be staying with Inez. Don’t give her any troubles.”

I led half of the class into the forest and began dropping groups into their destinations. Just like many things in the Sorcerer City States, this forest had magical properties. Tiny specks of glowing dust fell onto the forest floor from the blue-and-green treetops, and falling leaves would randomly burst with a bright yellowish light. The trees weren’t the only one affected by the high concentration of mana in the area as animals mutated by magic roamed the forest which made for excellent hunting targets for the students.

Some groups were tasked with hunting extremely agile rabbits while others had to seek well-hidden magical animals in the forest. Making use of nature’s gifts was certainly easier for me than thinking of a complicated tasks to give to the students!

As I walked, I checked around to see if Lard escaped. I was getting tired dragging him around so I decided to let him walk around by himself, but I still had to make sure he wouldn’t get away from certain death-... I mean… his duty of helping the students.

“Oh ho ho ho. This particular flora appears to be succulent enough for my, Vakasa of the Darkness’, palate!” Lard said loudly as he found what appeared to be a blueberry bush.

“WAIT! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!” I shouted as I grabbed Lard’s arm just as he tried to grab some blueberries.

“Huh? D-Don’t tell me… This is one of those poisonous berries?! I, Vakasa of the Darkness, could have died if I, Vakasa of the Darkness, ate these berries?!” A sweat dropped from Lard’s forehead as he guessed. “I was sort of sure these were safe since I spent a lot of time looking up survival guides…”

“You are correct. You would die if you ate these berries,” I replied as I picked a few berries from the bushes. “But that’s simply because I would strangle you for eating these rare treats before I get a piece.”

“Rare?”

I picked a berry from my hand then rotated it like I was examining a piece of gem. The berry glowed slightly green, then red, before turning back to its original blue color.

“Bushes like these are hard to find especially since the mana essence of the bushes are well-camouflaged within the thick mana blanket covering the magic forests. Anyway, they slowly suck up the mana in the surrounding and turn it into purified mana, which lets it ward off the undead too,” I explained as I put a berry into my mouth.

A sweet sensation flooded my mouth, but as soon as the sweetness was too much, it settled down into a slightly sour taste, almost like something was adjusting the taste of the berry to suit me. It was too bad that food that goes into my mouth disappear almost immediately, though. “They also produce extremely tasty berries rich in mana. Mages would benefit greatly from these fruits.”

“What? Really?! I, Vakasa of the Darkness, am now more intrigued!” Lard shouted as he began picking up some berries.

The students around also began picking the bush dry until there were none left. Meanwhile, I pocketed my bounty while I examined the bush. Grabbing it by the root, I began studying the bush.

“But still, for you to find one just like that…” I muttered as I stood up.

“I found another one!” Lard shouted as he began picking berries in another bush.

“What?! What kind of luck god did you extort to be this lucky?!” I retorted.

“Hey, master, I thought you said these bushes were rare. How come fatty’s finding a bunch of them?” Kendra asked as she began munching on a few berries.

“That’s weird. It’s true that these bushes are rare, but I know these things could be planted and tended to by some extremely talented sorcerers for a long time. Then again, this is the middle of the forest, so it would be impossible for these bushes to be planted by someone. Unless…” I tapped my mask as I thought about this for a minute then gave up, “No. Never mind that.”

We began picking some berries and the bubbly girl was thoughtful enough to get a bag full of berries for the other students. Of course, I still made sure to drop the students at the locations they were supposed to be at.

“Alright, Kendra. Right ahead is a boar that has a flaming back. Just follow the charred path, and you’ll find it,” I instructed as I pointed ahead.

“Sir, what is the point of hunting the boar?” Boye asked me.

“The boar’s extremely resistant to magic, tough to kill, and fast on its feet. However, it’s still a wild animal so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to hunt down,” I explained.

“Wait. So it’s nearly impossible for us to beat it? Wouldn’t that just end with us being dead?” Kendra looked at me with a skeptical face.

“Don’t worry. I‘m supervising everyone at all times, so you should be fine. Besides, it wouldn’t be as bad as the last group.” I shrugged.

“If you’re that scared, Kendra, you can just hide behind me, you know?” Iova butted in and hugged Kendra from behind.

“I don’t need help! Get off me! I’m going to die before I even get to see that boar!” Kendra hissed as she tried to push Iova away.

“If we work together, we’ll beat the piggy and we could even have it for dinner!” The bubbly girl cheered.

“That’s also part of the reason why I want you to get it. Its meat is very tender and full of spiciness,” I commented.

“I can’t believe we’re being made to fetch this guy’s dinner!” Kendra complained as she began walking down a charred path.

As Kendra’s group left, I turned to the last group. The no-good delinquents that skipped my class in favor of finding a person that might not even existed gathered around me as they nervously eyed Kendra’s group.

“Sooooo…… their group has the most dangerous hunt, right? Not us. Right?” Aera asked.

“That’s too bad, Sword Princess. It just happens so that there’s a cave which may or may not house a particularly dangerous monster.” I shrugged.

Mauri leaned closely to me then asked, “Wait, I don’t suppose you want them to take on a cave troll, right?”

“Heh heh heh…”

.

.

.

“I must say…. HIYAAAAAAH!”

A massive greenish furry humanoid with three eyes smashed his club against the forest floor as Blackhair threw himself into the ground and managed to roll in time away from his death.

“Come on, you kids! Put your backs into it!” I shouted as I sat on my sunchair.

“This is sadism and abuse!” Aera protested as she dodged the troll’s fist.

“Then you shouldn’t have skipped my class!” I shouted back.

“Will they be alright?” Mauri worriedly asked as she stood next to me.

“If they’re in danger, I can simply cast a barrier on them in the last second. You worry about them too much,” I replied as I waved my hand dismissively.

When we reached the troll’s cave, a large monster came out trying to pick a fight with the kids. The troll looked like a green gorilla and had a patchwork of clothes, but for some reason, it had a sophisticated tone.

“I must warn you that you should be prepared to be crushed under the weight of a massive object falling at a great velocity!” the troll shouted as he swung his club at one of the students.

The muscled kid readied himself to parry the club. Just as he thought the club was close enough, he swung his mace upwards to throw the club off-course. However, the troll suddenly stopped mid swing, then threw his fist at the muscled kid.

“Too slow, ol’ chap!” the troll taunted as he jabbed. The muscled kid took the hit, then dodged backwards to minimize his damage, but he still took quite the damage.

“Are all trolls this smart?” I asked Mauri.

“As far as I know, yes. They tend to live alone in caves, but sometimes they would raid nearby villages just to annoy them. I heard that intellectual places tend to suffer a lot of troll attacks,” Mauri replied. “Recently, they managed to block entry to one of the lycan universities by protesting in front of the entrance. What’s worse is that since they regenerate so fast, you can’t really kick them out unless you burn the university down with them.”

“Clever trolls…” I nodded in admiration.

“HIIIYAAAAAH!” The troll thrusted his club forward, then swung the opposite end of the club at Blackhair. In response, he dodged downwards, then launched a kick below the groin.

“I must say… OOOOOF! This is inconceivably ungentlemanly!” The troll’s leg were locked together as he struggled to keep himself standing. Blackhair took this opportunity to launch a fireball at the troll, but it turned out that the troll was pretending to be hurt and he smacked the fireball back at Blackhair with his club.

Aera touched the tip of her mithril rapier then muttered a chant. Once done, she swung her rapier outwards at the troll, causing blades made out of wind to fly at him.

“Foolish!” the troll taunted as he raised his shield… Lard.

“SOMEBODY SAVE ME, VAKASA OF THE DARKN--AAHHHH!” Lard screamed at the top of his lungs.

When the troll first attacked, he realized that Lard was immune to magic so he grabbed him and turned him into a makeshift shield.

“Come on! What are you doing?! Fight!” I shouted as I angrily swung my fist at the students.

“This is impossible!” Aera cried as she dodged one of the troll’s attacks.

“Indubitably so! So why don’t you sorry lots excuse yourselves out, eh? You all can’t even be called sorcerers!” the troll shouted before laughing at the students.

“Neeevvveeeeerrrr!” an annoying kid shouted as he charged at the troll. It was Ibram the Former Target Practice, and it seemed that the troll had managed to hit a nerve.

“HIIYYYAAAH!” Unexpectedly, the troll launched his own spell at Ibram. A blob of mud flew right into Ibram’s face, causing him to somersault into the ground.

“BUWAHAHAHAAHA!” the troll laughed hard.

“You played yourself, you vile beast!” Ibram shouted as he grabbed onto the ground. Ice quickly crawled across the forest floor and latched onto the troll’s feet tightly.

“Oh no! It would have appeared that I’ve been fooled due to my carelessness and overconfide-OOOOOF!”

Before the troll even had a chance to finish his sentence, the muscled kid threw himself into a tackle directly at the troll. I could tell it was like getting a smashed by a boulder, as the troll flew off and crashed against a large rock.

“Vakasa!” Blackhair shouted.

“Don’t worry. Knowing his luck, he’s probably alive!” I grumpily called out.

Lard emerged from under the troll then ran towards me. He jumped above me, then landed neatly onto the grass before posing. “Fu fu! It seemed that Lady Matriarch Fate has not decided when I, Vakasa of the Darkness, will enter the Dark Vent Zone of Death!”

“How did you survive?” I questioned.

“Well, I, Vakasa of the Darkness, believed that the troll’s fat and hair absorbed most of the shock.”

“Damned lucky bastard.”

The students approached the seemingly dead troll carefully. “Is he dead?” Blackhair asked.

The troll lifted his head up then shouted, “Impossible! It is known that trolls could regenerate quickly, therefore it would be laughable to think that extreme blunt damage would render me lifeless!”

“Now!” Blackhair shouted.

The students took advantage of the fact that the troll wouldn’t stop blabbering and chanted their respective spells. Aera used air to push the troll down, while Ibram used ice to keep him locked into place, and Blackhair spewed a stream of fire at the monster. The muscled kid was making sure Blackhair’s fire was concentrated so that it wouldn’t start a massive magical forest fire.

“Oh nooooo! What pain! Woe upon me!” the troll cried as he died in a sophisticated manner. In the spot where the troll was at, only ashes remained.

I got off my sunchair then went to inspect the spot where the troll died.

“We did it!” Aera cheered as she jumped.

“It’s thanks to our teamwork,” Blackhair praised everyone as he nodded to himself satisfactorily.

“I did most of the work, but I guess I wouldn’t mind sharing the credit with you plebeians,” Ibram said as he flicked his own nose with his thumb.

“How was it, teacher? We did well, right?!” Aera looked at me with glowing eyes.

“Uhhhhhh…..” I grumbled.

I stealthily snuck a glance behind my shoulders to peek at something hidden at the forest. Once it noticed that I was looking, it ran off into the distance. I sighed as I used my index finger to massage my forehead.

“You guys did well. Truly you have demonstrated excellent fighting and magical prowess,” I assessed. “Still, you guys wouldn’t mind having a bit more training, right? I actually have some more tasks in mind.”

“Of course! More training isn’t that bad!” Blackhair agreed as he raised his fist in front of his chest.

“Alright. Here’s some leftover instructions. Now go and train while I inspect the… troll remains.” I gave Blackhair a set of papers then shooed them off. The group of students left while they cheered things like ‘Not even a troll can stop us!’ or ‘I would’ve thought our punishment would be harder!’

I couldn’t tell them that the troll simply teleported away…