On the morning of the first day of the third week of the Academic Year, leaving Marina in charge of the Magic Item Creation Class, Soma left their dorm room and headed to where the students are asked to assemble, today is the start of the joined classes between the Actual Combat Class and the Magic Class, and it was decided that the classes will be held outside the town, they are going to spend this whole week outside the protection of the five mountains in the wilderness.

Upon arriving at the meeting place, Soma headed towards his students, and as expected they all are already there and waiting for him even though there is 30 minutes before the specified meeting time. And looking towards the other side of the meeting place, Soma saw that Milin Along with a man who is smiling from ear to ear is coming towards him and behind them are the students of the Magic Class, looking back at his students he started talking to them.

“Good morning everyone! Today will be the start of a week-long camping trip, and the safety of all those going with us will be on us. It's a joined class but the true aim of it is to show each other our skills and since we specialize in different things we will each have our own jobs assigned to us and fighting is our job! This time we are not hunting for monsters, but we are going to be surviving out there for a whole week so be prepared to fight in all types of conditions and at any time of the day! And lastly, be sure to learn as much as you can from this trip, and if I saw that you are good enough, we will be going on yet another trip next week!”(Soma)

“ “ “Yes!!” ” ”

“Quite the motivated students you have with you there”(Milin)

“Well, they are eager to become stronger”(Soma)

“It’s a pleasure meeting for the first time! My name is Dalis, and I’m Milin’s husband! I hold the position of a Court Mage in the service of our Lord Leona-sama! I have always wanted to meet you!!”(Dalis)

“Sorry, he seems to be very excited to finally meet you! Fufufu”(Milin)

“Oh! So you are the idiot Leona talked about?”(Soma)

“If it was Leona-sama who said that then I believe there is no one other but me! Hahahaha!”(Dalis)

“So you’ll be going with us?”(Soma)

“Please! I want you to see me as one of your students! That’s the reason for me coming with you! I want to join your class as a provisional student!”(Dalis)

“I got it I got it, calm down!”(Soma)

In a slight distance from Soma, Milin, and Dalis, Rimi is being confronted by a red-haired girl that was being followed by a group of students and guards. That girl is Mira Hoggs, the only daughter of the Hoggs Household, the daughter of the man known as the strongest knight in the Third Knight Order(Standing Army), and her mother is known as the Queen of Noblewomen Society back at the royal capital Valen.

“Ara! Look who do we have here! If it isn’t her majesty the princess! Do you remember me? I’m Mira Hoggs, we met each other back at the capital multiple times”(Mira)

“…Mira, yeah I remember you! But I didn’t know that you were part of the Magic Class, and in here I’m but a normal student, so do talk to me as you would to one”(Rimi)

“Ara! Is that some kind of new game you came up with?”(Mira)

“What do you mean by that?”(Rimi)

“…You weren’t able to catch it? You the great and prideful princess who places no one above yourself is acting as a humble student? It must be a new game you came up with, right?”(Mira)

*Giggle Giggle Giggle*

“I have no idea what are you even talking about…”(Rimi)

“Ara! You think that the rumors hadn’t reached us here?”(Mira)

“Rumors?...”(Rimi)

“Salama, don’t tell me you don’t know that name! The daughter of Earl Doman Household! She was that poor and kind girl that joined the Second Knight Order(Honorary Knights) with a heart full of desire to protect the people of our country! The girl that you hated so much out of the jealousy that filled your heart! She was better than you at using Fire Magic after all! And you are that prideful princess who will never allow anyone to stand higher than her! That poor girl you killed!!”(Mira)

“*sigh* Is that all you had with me-!”(Rimi)

“What are you talking about?”(Soma)

“Ara, Teacher! Are you not aware of it? The rumors about this girl? Everyone in the royal capital is aware of what she did!”(Mira)

“What did she do?”(Soma)

“This girl, on her way from the town of Elk to the royal capital she killed one of her own knights! That poor girl falsely called a traitor and killed by our great princess out of jealousy!”(Mira)

“Pft *Trying to hold her laughter*”(Alice)

“You are talking about that girl named Salama? The daughter of some Earl in the capital?”(Soma)

“Yes, that’s right! So you do know about it! This girl here-!”(Mira)

“And so here you are smacking your lips like some kind of loud-mouthed duck based on some rumor, truly a refined lady indeed”(Soma)

Mira was surprised by the sudden insult, she has never been insulted before in her whole life and this was the first-ever time. After taking a moment to process what happened she did her best trying to suppress the burning anger that started to rampage inside her heart, and faced Soma with empty eyes devoid of any emotion.

“…Are perhaps trying to defend her?”(Mira)

“No, it’s just that the girl you were talking about wasn’t killed by Rimi, in fact, she was killed by me”(Soma)

“…What are you talking about?”(Mira)

“Some time ago, before the start of the “Flood”. I was on my way to the town of Elk when I felt the presence of seven people ahead of where I was, and it seemed that three of those seven people were struggling to move. I assumed that they were attacked by bandits or some kind of monster and went to check it out to find Rimi here along with Alice and one more knight on the ground unable to move for some reason and standing in front of them was the laughing girl named Salama and behind her stood three smiling bandits. And from Salama’s conversation with Rimi and the bandits, it turned out that Salama was working with the bandits and that she had added paralyzing poison to the food of her companions betraying them, and listening to them even further it turned out that Salama was acting based on her brother’s orders. They intended to kill the princess and have the bandits violate her body and after that, they planned to show that body to the king in order to shake him up, all that in order to create a chance for Salama’s brother the Earl to lead some kind of rebellion to take the throne for himself”(Soma)

“…W-What nonsense are spouting?!-!”(Mira)

“I stopped listening to them and confronted them head-on, and that Salama ordered the bandits to kill me, and they headed her orders and attacked me. I easily killed all three of them and when Salama decided to kill me herself, but I killed her right there and then”(Soma)

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In Vitos’s royal castle, King Ladorus was thinking about the bad feeling he was feeling about the matter in the Valc Kingdom while lazily listening to the reports of his ministers from atop his throne, but suddenly a servant came running through the throne room attracting the gazes of all the ministers and nobles in there.

“What’s the matter? To enter without permission like that! His majesty is in the middle of a meeting at the moment!”(Prime Minister)

“I-It’s an emergency!! Two envelopes I have never seen before came through the Magic Circle of the Holy Knights at the borders, and after looking through the protocol I learned that the red envelope is used when the Holy Knights are under attack by an enemy they couldn’t beat! And the black envelope is used to convey news about the worst possible outcomes!!”(Servant)

“…W-What did you say?!”(Ladorus)

“H-Here…”(Servant)

The servant handed the two letters to Ladorus, and he opened them violently while having a really bad feeling, he started with the red one as it was the lighter of the two and inside it was a letter that says…

「Request for reinforcement!!

A man with a huge body and a height of more than 2m is attacking the Holy Knights at the borders between the North Cardinal Kingdom and the Infected Lands that separates them from the Empire of Might to the north.

The man is using two huge axes to kill the Holy Knights stationed there, and he seems to have multiple weapons other than those two axes on his back.

A sketch of the man is included in the letter.」

Ladorus took out the sketch and started inspecting it only for him to jump to his feet from his throne because of the man he knew too well shown on the sketch. With sweaty and trembling hands he opened the black envelope and started reading through it.

「Emergency!!

The Phantom Forest in the Infected Lands at the borders of the Demons’ Kingdom which was enclosed by the barrier of Goddess-sama has disappeared entirely.

A man with brown skin and pointy ears was seen touching the barrier and when we tried to eliminate him, his body turned into ash and crumpled with the wind before appearing again as if nothing happened, that kept happening every time we attacked him and after some time he disappeared along with the whole barrier and the Phantom Forest that was inside of it leaving only a crater in the size of the whole forest.

A sketch of the man is included in the letter.」

After looking at the sketch of the yet another familiar man, Ladorus dropped down on his throne with a grave expression on his face and holding his head with both of his hands as he started muttering to himself.

“…The Arms King and the Ashen Assassin…. How?.... Those two should have died thousands of years ago….”(Ladorus)