"Theodore... can I ask you something?"

"Sure?", I replied confusedly as I looked at Raun. He looked very depressed for some reasons.

"Well, it's just that Amelia... I think she has already dumped me"

'...I forgot about that', I heaved an inaudible sigh.

It was time to act my part.

"Tell me everything", I asked in a serious tone.

Raun nodded and started to tell me what happened that day as we walked down a hallway. Well, it was exactly what I thought: Raun was under the impression that Lyran Myrsky was Amelia's new boyfriend.

Nodding my head in understanding, I gave Raun my wisdom. "You should probably get over it"

"What?", Raun was shocked, clearly not expecting me to tell him to give up on her.

"She's with someone new, right? And she was clearly happy with him. You should just let her go"

'So that she can be with the Hero'

Oblivious to my thoughts, Raun pondered deeply before slowly nodding his head. "I guess you're right, I was being selfish. It's my fault that she left me after all"

[F - Emotionless] was truly a useful skill. It erases my emotions, but doesn't prevent me from expressing them. As such, it was also the perfect skill for acting

'Sorry Raun, I'll definitely save you later'

...

We continued walking around Avaron aimlessly, talking about things. Well, it was mostly me trying to cheer Raun up.

Things continued to go like that until—

"Raun!"

—it was Arthur. He called out to Raun as soon as he spotted him. Although, he stiffened for a moment as he noticed me standing next to Raun.

However, his eyes soon turned fiery as he finally realized who I was.

'He really took that rival bullshit seriously huh?', I grimaced. But I couldn't have done anything about it. After all, it was needed to get Arthur's mentality back on the right track.

As I had expected, Arthur also called out to me. "Hey you!"

"What?"

"I don't know what your name is but I will surely surpass you in the future", Arthur's eyes were filled with vigor and determination. His spirit of competitiveness could be felt by everyone present.

"Sure... I guess", I just shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't that troubled about it anymore, as I realized that all I needed to do was to purposefully lose to him the next time he challenged me.

As I finished talking with Arthur, however, I noticed 2 presences behind him.

One was a cat-beastkin with black hair and golden eyes like Arthur. She had a rather attractive face, but the faint yet distinct aura of madness exalted from her kept everyone away from recklessly approaching.

She looked at Arthur, me, and Raun in disgust, as if she was repulsed by even the mere act of staying under the same roof with humans.

The other was a girl with black hair and blood-red eyes, signifying her vampiric lineage. She has a well-proportioned face, but a not-so-well-proportioned figure, as she was what people of Marcos' world would call a 'loli'. The childish and innocent around her arouses the urge to protect her from within everyone that laid their eyes on her petite body.

Normally, I would have stared at them to admire their beauty. But luckily for me, I still had [F - Emotionless] active, so I barely escaped the fate of making myself look like an idiot.

Well, Raun was not so lucky though, as his ogling gaze made the catkin scrunch her face in disgust. While Lucy, the vampire, wasn't aware of his gaze. More precisely, she didn't know the meaning of Raun's gaze. She was every bit as childish and innocent as she looked.

I quickly elbowed Raun's side, waking him up from his stupor.

Raun quickly straightened his back and asked Arthur in a reserved tone. "Arthur, who are these ladies?"

Arthur, not noticing Raun's gaze earlier, replied nonchalantly. "Oh, this is Lucy Fertilus, I'm sure you know her since she's our classmate", he pointed towards Lucy.

He then turned his gaze to the cat-beastkin. "This is Evelyn. She's the girl I saved from a slave trading auction", Arthur said in a proud tone.

' 'Save' my ass!', I snickered.

What was the righteous Hero of Light doing in a slave auction you might ask? Well, even I had no idea. The novel just kind of dumped him there for no reason.

If Arthur had wrecked havoc in the auction and saved her, maybe you could call it 'saving'. However, in the novel, he just straight up bought her from the auction as soon as he saw her potential using [A - Appraisal].

Seeing the look of disgust Evelyn had on her face when she looked at Arthur, I was sure that things turned out exactly as they did in the novel.

Arthur, being the idiot that he was, forgot to annul the slave contract since he was too busy appeasing Marie, who was sulking at him for bringing yet another girl home. That meant even now, Evelyn must still have that slave crest on her body.

'Well, he'll remember it in time'. Although I could remind Arthur of it right now, I'd only raise more suspicions if I did so. Furthermore, I absolutely enjoyed seeing Arthur getting buried in misunderstandings.

I just watched Arthur and Raun chatting in silence. Since it seemed like they weren't going to finish their conversation any time soon, I decided to turn around and silently leave. But—

Sniff—!

—I flinched as I heard a sniffing sound. Looking behind me, I instantly identified the culprit. It was Lucy.

"What?", I was confused. Even though she was childish, she wasn't the type to go around sniffing random people.

"mmmm", Lucy ignored my question as she tapped her fingers on her cheeks while making a very exaggerated thinking noise.

"Guess I'm wrong". She shrugged her shoulders and retreated back to Arthur's side, ignoring my questioning gaze.

That was when all of our holographic phones vibrated simultaneously, distracting me from thinking about her earlier actions any further.

I pulled the phone out and checked what it was.

'So it's almost time'

===

ANNOUCEMENT TO STUDENTS OF CLASS 1-1 and 1-2

A JOINT PRACTICAL TRAINING CLASS WILL COMMENCE NEXT WEEK.

LOCATION: KERAS FOREST

LESSON'S CONTENT: SURVIVE IN THE FOREST FOR 3 DAYS

STUDENTS WILL BE DIVIDED INTO GROUPS OF 3 (RANDOMLY SELECTED)

TEAMS WILL BE AWARDED POINTS PER MONSTER KILLED

-MAY THE GLORY OF THE EMPIRE SHINE UPON YOU-

===

Arthur and Raun stared at their phone in shock. They clearly didn't expect Avaron to be this harsh with their lessons.

Their confusion was understandable. After all, during the last 2 months, they did nothing but learn in a controlled environment and occasionally spar with each other.

This was the reality of studying in Avaron. Harsh training regiments and dangerous lessons. They don't care if someone died during their practical classes, even if that someone was from a noble family.

Of course, nobles were allowed to bring their own escorts into lessons like this for their own safety. However, the escorts can't be ranked higher than .

I could only imagine how shocked Raun and Arthur would be when they found out that the 2nd years had to take on quests just like adventurers.

Leaving the two behind, I walked back to my dorm room to make preparations for the upcoming lesson, and—

'I'll make sure Raun doesn't die here'

—After all, this was the event were Raun would originally die in.

...

March 10th, year 788 of the Imperial calendar

I was sitting on a bench in the transfer gate station to duchess Evien's territory, where the Keras forest was located.

Avaron, being one of the Great academies, had branches in every corners of the Empire. The forest was close to one such branch.

Due to its vastness and population of relatively low-ranked monsters, a part of the forest was sectioned off for Avaron and its students.

The transfer gate station was the rally point for students of class 1-1 and 1-2. It was filled with not only students, but also knights and servants.

Although the forest was relatively safe for people of rank, nobles couldn't risk their heirs getting killed. Thus, knights were employed to protect their young masters.

Some might say that it was counterproductive, and that students wouldn't be able to learn anything if they constantly have knights protecting them. While that is absolutely true, it was the only way Avaron could appease the nobles while keeping their effective training regiment at the same time.

Sometimes, you just have to make a compromise.

mmmmmmm—!

My phone vibrated.

'It must be the group lists', I thought as I looked down on my phone.

Ignoring my own group for a bit, I looked for Arthur's and Raun's group to see if it was any different from the novel.

===

Group 1

Arthur Kilvillain Eleanor Salvant Lucy Fertilus

Group 2

...

Group 8

Amelia Helot Raun Serus Adam Jeqas

...

===

'Good', I thought. The most two important groups, Raun's and Arthur's, was the same as it was in the novel. Now all I need to know was my own group, and find an excuse to disappear in the middle of the lesson.

===

Group 17

Marie Holftman Theodore Gray Emily Ulvet

===

I frowned in dissatisfaction. Although the other girl's name was vaguely familiar, I was more concerned about Marie. I didn't know whether she still hated me for beating up Arthur or not. And more importantly, she was a ranged damage dealer.

I intend on using my guns as my primary weapon in this lesson. And having 2 ranged fighters in a party was definitely the exact opposite of a balanced party.

'I hope the other one is a tank or at least a close-ranged fighter'

...

"Tch, why do I have to be in the same group as you", Marie complained to me when I walked up to her.

'At least say that when I'm not here'

I was already getting annoyed by her, but I managed to hold it in. "Let's just go find the remaining member"

"Tch, alright, but I'm finding her just because I want to, not because you said so"

"...Okay?"

My plan was to lead Arthur near Raun's location a few hours before the incident. Knowing his personality, he would definitely jump in head-first as soon as he hear Amelia's scream.

Marie being in my team was not so bad, since it would make the chance of success of my plan go up exponentially. After all, she would surely cling to Arthur as soon as she sees him.

That's when I suddenly felt someone tapping on my shoulders.

"Um, you're Group 17, right?"

I turned around, only to see a familiar wolfkin with silver tails and ears.

After thinking for a while, I finally remembered her. She was the girl that asked me to pet Lyra before.

"Oh, you're our group member", Marie exclaimed

"Yes?"

"Thanks god! I don't think I can handle spending any more time alone with this guy", she deliberately said that out loud; But I pretended to not have heard it.

I could hear her click her tongue but I didn't pay any mind to it. She would just get worse if I showed any kind of reactions after all.

...

We arrived at a clearing just before the entrance of the forest. Suddenly, a loud voice rang out from a professor I have never seen before.

"Alright, as all of you might know, you will be staying in this forest for 3 days straight. Your goal is to hunt as many monster as possible in those 3 days. Let me remind you that the result of today's class along with the midterms will determine your student ranking. Don't worry about anyone cheating, as we have surveillance in the forest in the form of Capture crystal"

Not letting anyone question his sudden announcement any further, the professor continued. "You will be randomly teleported inside the forest in 3... 2... 1"

"Best of luck! And remember, you're responsible for your own lives"

Fwooosh—!

The scenery suddenly changed. The clearing crowded with students was nowhere to be seen, instead, sparsely distanced trees entered my view.

"God dammit! He didn't even give us time to discuss strategy!", Marie kicked the ground in frustration.

While Emily was calming Marie down, I was busy throwing up. Apparently Gate and Teleportation magic were 2 different things, so all of my previous trainings to get used to Gate did nothing to help preserve my dignity.

Ignoring Marie making fun of me for puking, I raised my vigilance to the extreme when I sensed multiple presences approaching us. "Get ready. We've got company"

Marie, who was confident in her senses, snorted. "Hah? What are you saying? I haven't sensed anyth—"

Rustle—!

But even she had to keep her mouth shut and bring out her bow when multiple rustling sounds could be heard in the distance.

Emily was cautious too, and she pulled out her Mana artillery. It was indeed the most effective weapon to deal with a group of enemies.

Seeing that they were both prepared, I pulled out my gun, and aimed towards the rustling bushes. However—

"Shit!"

—I exclaimed out loud as realization hit me.

"What?"

"Our team is full of sharpshooters"

"..."

"..."

"Aren't you a swordsman?", Marie asked in a confused tone.

"Yes, but...". I scratched my head in embarrassment. "I wanted to use my guns in this lesson"

Marie just stared at me like I was an insect. "Just use your sword. You're just dead-weight in ranged combat"

I couldn't retort to that, but it was already too late, as the presences were too close to us. I didn't have time to change weapons now.

I tightened my grip on my gun, carefully charging up [Railgun].

bzzzzzt—! BANG—!

A [Railgun] was shot as soon as a shadowy figure jumped out of the bushes.

However, its head was turned into mush as the [Railgun] made contact.

"..."

"..."

"Guess we don't need a vanguard for this one", I said as I realized our enemies were just Gray wolves, ranked monsters.

"Fine... but you have to swap for your sword as soon as this was over", Marie said as she slaughtered more wolves coming from the bushes with her rank power, all the while having a sad look on her face.

I could sense that Emily was only at rank, so her mana reserve was most likely not that big. "Emily, leave this to us. You have to conserve your mana"

Seeing that she obediently listened to me and put away her artillery, I nodded inwardly and released my rank power to deal with the remaining wolves.

Yes, during the last week, I've risen to peak rank. I could always have ascended to rank during the last month, but certain problematic events prevented me from doing so.

bzzzzzt—! BANG—!...

Wooosh—!...

My shots pierced the wolves' heads, while Marie's arrow exalted such immense air pressure that their bodies got crushed before her arrows even hit them. Coupled with the fact that the wolves were blindly charging at us, they couldn't close up on us at all.

After a while, the wolves started to realize that they couldn't win, and quickly ran away.

"39, huh?", I examined the wolves corpses. Although they were only ranked, defeating 39 of them in just 4 minutes was no easy feat, even for a rank.

"You're not half bad", Marie snorted.

"Okay?", I said as I put away my gun in [Alternate storage] and pulled out a sword.

"Just remember that I was more useful than you", she claimed.

I sighed in frustration, but I had to agree. She did kill more than me. Her attacks were absurdly strong, considering that the wind pressure from her arrows alone could crush a wolf. But that amount of power was within expectations for a heroine.

Although, Marie acknowledging me was completely unexpected. I thought she was more much hung up on me beating her childhood friend.

'I guess I misjudged her'

"Um... sorry that I wasn't of much help", Emily replied meekly as she heard Marie. She seemed to think that Marie's earlier statement was directed towards her.

Marie, seeing this, approaching Emily and patted her head. "Don't worry. You'll get your time to shine soon. Good girl!"

True to her wolf lineage, Emily wagged her tail as she was patted; But I was disturbed looking at them, especially Marie. Her personality was a complete 180 compared when she was talking with me.

'I guess she liked dogs?', I was not too sure. But it was better than her looking down on Emily and making things more difficult for us.

"By the way Emily, don't you feel disturbed when we killed the wolves?", Marie asked in a sad tone. It seemed that she really didn't want to kill those wolves.

"Huh? No?", Emily replied in confusion.

"Of course she don't", I interjected. "It's not like we humans feel anything when killing Blooded Monkeys either"

"How dare you compare monkeys to these cute wolves?", Marie snorted as she fiddled with Emily's ears, causing the latter to yelp in surprise.

We kept bickering as we moved through the forest. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, we didn't run into any monsters for the rest of the day.

Frowning in frustration, I decided to call it a day and set up a camp.

Surprisingly, Marie readily agreed with me without making too much of a fuss; I guessed that she was also tired after all.

...

We sat in a circle in our camp. Amidst the serene silence of the night forest, and in the orange hue of a bonfire that could be seen through the gaps between the trees, a voice, unbefitting of such delicate atmosphere, rang out.

"I need to take a piss", I announced.

Marie looked at me in displeasure. She dropped her skewer full of meat to the ground as if she had lost all of her appetite. "Then go! Who asked you to say it!"

I scratched my head in confusion and went to find some thick bushes. 'It's common knowledge to let your teammate know what you're doing, why is she making a fuss over it?'