Meanwhile.
At a training facility on the outermost edge of Lichten.
Emilia Raymond crossed the training room, receiving glances from the sweaty men.
In one corner of the training room was a large iron door.
— Creak
Pushing it open, a dark staircase leading underground was revealed with a rough metallic sound.
— Tap, tap
Emilia descended the stairs without hesitation.
Soot clung to her white blouse, but she didn’t mind since she was used to it.
After descending for a while, a sudden red light appeared in her sight.
A vast, ruin-like space where the building’s structure was exposed, as if two floors had been forcibly dug out.
— Tap
At the sound of Emilia’s footsteps, a giant shadow that had been crouching in a corner stood up.
“… What do you want, b*tch?”
Barbarian blood coursed through his veins, his yellow eyes characteristic of a beast.
The Giant, Jan Victor.
“Are you the giant freshman, Jan Victor?”
“Every time you open your mouth, the smell of a b*tch assaults my nose.”
“I have something to say.”
“I don’t listen to women. Even if it’s a b*tch.”
— Boom!
In an instant, he closed the distance and trapped Emilia against the wall.
But Emilia’s expression remained calm.
“Well, I doubt someone like you could turn me into a b*tch.”
“… Hah! You’re not the pampered lady I heard about.”
“An honor that you know of me. But I’m gathering people for the promotion battle. I heard there’s no better tank than you.”
“Don’t flaunt the Aether. Do you think I’ll easily fall under someone’s command?”
“I know. I know. You didn’t join Aether on purpose.”
“What do you mean?”
At Jan Victor’s words, Emilia’s eyes narrowed.
“I wonder how your drug business is doing.”
— Boom!
Emilia turned her head aside.
A gigantic, snake-like vein throbbed.
Following it to its end…
— Whoosh!
With rough smoke, his fist the size of a cauldron lid had dented the pillar of the building.
“Next, I’ll hit your stomach. If you don’t want your guts crushed, you’d better answer right away. Where did you hear such bullshit?”
Jan Victor growled.
But Emilia, familiar with such threats, just chuckled.
“How do you think those drugs got imported?”
“… No way, you?”
Jan Victor’s eyes filled with astonishment.
Emilia laughed at his reaction.
“Of course not. Do you think the Raymond Trading Company would blatantly import drugs? But we do get reports.”
— Crack
Jan Victor withdrew his fist from the pillar and shook his hand.
“I’ll let it slide. Go up. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything.”
“I can’t go.”
“What?”
Emilia took a step closer and caressed his pillar-like arm.
“I heard you hate Blackangers quite a lot.”
That was true.
Because that guy had taken his closest companion.
But Victor’s curiosity lay elsewhere.
“… Where did you hear that?”
“Because it’s the same for me.”
Despite Emilia’s gentle voice, Jan Victor flinched without realizing it.
She slowly opened her mouth.
“Promotion battle. How about we discuss what we should do?”
◆
With the announcement of the promotion battle, the atmosphere among the Academy freshmen heated up.
Whenever more than two gathered, the academy became even more bustling with discussions related to the promotion battle.
“… Is it really okay for me to join?”
Danya said, almost in tears, moved.
Her reaction made him smile.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I want to team up with you?”
“Is it really?”
“Did you think otherwise?”
Danya’s cheeks reddened slightly.
“N-no. It’s not that…”
After fidgeting with her fingers for a moment, Danya spoke up.
“My grades are always at the bottom, so I probably have low stamina…”
Stamina.
More precisely, the stamina of the shield, is one of the characteristics of this promotion battle.
Students dropped onto a deserted island are given a “shield”.
Its nature is similar to the “emergency escape device” used during the Shadow Forest exploration at the beginning of the semester.
A student equipped with the device will be immediately lifted into the sky and excluded from the promotion battle if they receive damage exceeding the preset amount of magical or physical damage.
In other words, the damage the emergency escape device can withstand is the shield’s stamina.
This “stamina” is distributed based on academy grades.
It’s a reward for high achievers, reflecting both academic performance and actual combat skills in line with Aether’s promotion standards.
“Danya, even if your shield’s stamina is depleted, it doesn’t mean the team is disqualified. You don’t need to worry too much. Teams are just called that for convenience. They’re simply people who’ve promised to stick together.”
During the promotion battle, students can earn “cores” by defeating monsters or dangerous species. The goal is to collect as many cores as possible.
Evaluation is based on the number of cores each individual acquires, so teams are essentially partnerships with a mutual distribution agreement.
“I know that. But I’m worried if a pre-formed team falls apart, we’ll be at a disadvantage when joining another team…”
“You worry too much. And you’re mistaken if you think my grades are high. With the synergy we’ve built, teaming up with you will actually make the most of my abilities.”
“So, Ian, you’re saying you’ll take me even if I’m weak?”
“That’s right.”
Danya lowered her head, tapping the ground lightly.
Her tail swayed gently.
Then she raised her head with a determined look and declared,
“Th-then, I, Danya, will graciously join your team!”
As she spoke, a slight smirk appeared on her lips.
‘… Surely she wasn’t just pretending to hesitate because she wanted praise, right?’
“W-what are you looking at? I never had any sneaky thoughts!”
Sure, if she says so.
“Who else should we bring? We should find them quickly before others take them.”
Danya’s words were spot on.
Now that the announcement was out, they needed to act fast to secure good teammates.
Ian fell into thought for a moment.
Ideally, he wanted to form the best possible team, but strong candidates might demand a larger share of the cores.
After all, there’s the “shield stamina” criterion.
Plus, betrayal was a concern since anyone could steal acquired cores at any time.
It was more stable to form a team with trustworthy people.
“I’m thinking of adding Lina and Sylvia. Sylvia’s already in Aether, so she might team up with other Aether members.”
This lineup would ensure trust but…
“Isn’t that too mage-heavy?”
Danya’s point was valid.
A classic team should ideally balance knights, priests, scouts, and mages.
The island would have many tricky dangerous species, making this balance even more crucial.
However…
“We don’t need to stick too rigidly to team composition.”
“Huh?”
“Danya, you can guide us. Your senses have become sharper.”
In the North, Danya had proven her ability to find corpses, so Ian trusted her.
Moreover, since the island they’d be on was a jungle terrain, Danya’s skills would be even more advantageous, likely surpassing most scouting students.
“I’ll be the tank.”
Ian was resigned to this role.
“It would be nice to have someone who can handle sub-tanking and healing…”
This was definitely a job for a priest.
Ian suddenly remembered the unpleasant experience with Yurran.
“Danya, can you contact the others and see if they’ll join us?”
Danya, who had been staring blankly at him, quickly responded.
“Ah, got it! Where are you going?”
“I’m going to visit the church.”
◆
The Deus Church is the most dominant religious force on the continent.
Centered around the Holy Kingdom of Constantine, which revolves around the Pope, this religion has two factions.
The Celeste faction, which traditionally recognizes the existence of saints and believes they are sacred beings who spread the will of God.
The anti-saint faction, which does not recognize the existence of these saints.
The conflict and rivalry between these two factions are significant enough that each faction has its own distinct name.
The Celeste faction is named after the first saint, Celeste.
The anti-saint faction is named after Numina, who established the doctrine and also signifies divinity.
Ian headed to the Numina faction’s church on the outskirts of the academy.
“Is this the place where I can hear the teachings of Numina?”
A large tent.
Inside, a priest who had been praying welcomed Ian.
“Welcome, brother! You are a precious guest to know the name of Numina. Please, come inside!”
The inside of the tent was tidy but also humble.
Beyond the flapping fabric in the wind, a girl knelt in prayer in the distance.
Other than that, the scene was rather barren.
The Numina faction was weak. Compared to the Celeste faction, which fronted saints as mascots, the Numina faction always held a minor position.
With no followers or money, they had nothing but this tent.
‘That doesn’t mean their skills are inferior.’
Ian, who had been disgraced by the Celeste faction, couldn’t risk recruiting a Celeste priest with the possibility of being discovered by Aria.
Of course, there was no guarantee of finding a priest here either. It was more likely to be impossible, given that Ian had no connection to the Numina faction.
Even promising other rewards would be difficult, as the Numina priests tended to be highly ascetic.
Yet he had come, grasping at straws…
“Hmm.”
The priest, who had been giving Ian a brief introduction, suddenly widened his eyes.
“Brother… are you Brother Ian?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Oh! It’s an honor, Brother.”
“…?”
The priest’s eyes were filled with respect.
Emilia
