Chapter 34: Field Training

The Eleheme territory in the southern part of Rainana Kingdom.

This is a magical land where the largest number of monsters inhabit in Rainana Kingdom.

After leaving the school, it took about half a day of continuous rocking to reach the Eleheme territory.

We finally arrived at our destination in front of the forest, and the carriages carrying the students stopped one after another.

“We’re here…that was quicker than I thought it would be.”

The time seems to fly by as the duke’s carriage is so comfortable. But his expression was more grim than usual, and the students around him had also become deflated.

“Master, you look scary.”

“It’s my nature, leave it alone.”

Maria, who was riding in the same carriage, pointed that out to me and I realized I was nervous and relaxed my shoulders a little.

(So we’re finally here. I never get used to it, no matter how many times I’ve been in situations where my life is on the line.)

“Everyone, gather in the center!”

The students gathered at the command of the teacher leading them.

“As I explained to you beforehand, you will now hunt monsters in this monster-infested forest. The deadline is three days. If you find it impossible to continue the exercise due to injury or any other reason, you must release a magic signal in the sky. We, the teachers, will be standing by at the headquarters here, so we will come running anytime. I also promise to give a special grade to the group that defeats the big one. But don’t be too hasty and reckless. The purpose of this exercise is to fight actual battles in the forest and defeat monsters. If there are no questions, we will begin the exercise. The route into the forest was decided by the teachers in advance to avoid any trouble. Please follow the route assigned to each group. That’s all. Let the exercise begin!”

The teacher gave the order, and the students dispersed to head for their own groups.

“Thank you for your patience, Absolute-sama.”

After the teacher’s explanation was over, Absolute, like the other groups, was waiting for the group members to gather, when Chris from the Ark faction of Class B comes over to us.

“No, sorry for the last minute, Chris. Which route are you guys taking into the forest?”

Absolute wanted to know the location of his people so that he could move immediately in case the monsters attacked. He had to increase the speed of progress depending on the route, and that was important.

“We are on route F.”

“F…we’re on D, so we’re not that far away.”

I was relieved that I was only a few kilometers away, but on the other hand, there was a possibility that we could be attacked together. I can’t let my guard down.

“Chris, just to be clear, if you sense something is wrong, get your magic up in the air immediately. I’ll be there in an instant.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll go tell the others.”

As Chris moves away, Absolute attaches the spirit Toa so that he will not be noticed. If Chris and the others are in position of danger, he can use the power of Toa to withstand until Absolute comes.

“Absolute-sama, we are ready too.”

“Oh, I understand. Cruel-san, if anything goes wrong, you send up your magic to the sky and tell me what’s wrong. No one is good at magic other than you and me. Maria, stay close to Princess Leone. Mist and Oriana will lead the way. Let’s go.”

Absolute and the others stepped into the forest.

There are two main types of monsters in the world of the Tale of Rainana Land: humanoid and deformed.

The more humanoid monsters resemble humans in appearance and size, the more dangerous they become. This is because the more humanoid a monster is, the more intelligent it becomes, such as an ogre or a dragonewt. As intelligence increases, humanoid monsters will attack not only humans but also monsters in search of power. This is because monsters understand that fighting and eating is the most efficient way to become stronger.

On the other hand, the larger the size of other deformed monsters, the more dangerous they become. Although their intelligence is inferior to that of humanoid monsters, the larger the size, the more powerful and therefore more dangerous they are. In addition, they are also troublesome because they move by instinct, form groups, and are numerous.

In the forest where Absolute and his team entered, highly dangerous monsters have already been defeated. However, even weak monsters can be harmful to humans.

One of the purposes of this field exercise was to experience this firsthand.

Absolute’s team, which had been led by the teachers along the D route, repeatedly encountered monsters and engaged them in battle, and now they were fighting a group of about 20 goblins.

“Lady Cruel, the monster went that way!”

Mist, who kills the monster with a single thrust of his knife, is proud of his knife-handling skills.

“Mist, roger that! Ice lance!”

Lady Cruel aims at the monster with a long-range attack.

“I’m done here too…”

Oriana, who uses her fighting techniques to finish off monsters and also escorts Lady Cruel, who is not good at close range, is also done.

“I’m done too. I’ve only been here a short time, but there are still a lot of monsters.”

Princess Leone, with her overwhelming swordsmanship, recorded the highest number of kills.

Absolute’s group was bewildered by the large number of monsters after entering the forest, but they were steadily defeating the monsters.

Except for Absolute.

(…It seems like a piece of cake at this level, no matter how many monsters there are. But still, the church haven’t released any monsters yet…. If I were them, I would release them at night and aim at the ones who are off guard. Will we be okay until then? But to be honest, I was worried about Princess Leone, but she is pretty strong. I get the feeling that she is not at a high level, but rather highly skilled. Perhaps she’s been training seriously since she was a little girl. I haven’t fought yet… I’ve been watching them for a while now, but I’m honestly starting to feel sorry for them since I haven’t done anything so far. I’m not as conscience-broken about killing monsters as I am about killing people, but I do feel a sense of avoidance like I do when I kill a cockroach, so at first I was honestly grateful for the offer, but now it’s just so empty…Princess Leone also looks like she wants to say something…)

Absolute, who had been waiting behind Mist and the others, felt alienated and uncomfortable seeing his friends who had shared the battlefield and built a good relationship with each other.

“How about you join in on the fight too next time, Ark-san. Isn’t it just boring to watch?”

(It’s not my imagination that I feel like I’m being asked to fight too, right? On the outside, it looks like I’m a heartless person who only lets his subordinates do the fighting.)

“That’s right. Next time I’ll…..”

“No, no, we’re enough for this level of monsters, Absolute-sama. Let us have our flowery way for a while.”

“Yes, that’s right. If Absolute-sama does it, it will be over soon, so it won’t be an exercise, leave it to us.”

(Are these guys bloodthirsty? When did my guys become so belligerent?)

“…I see. But aren’t you guys tired? The next time a monster appears, things will be different.”

“Don’t worry. Absolute-sama, please stand firm. I’m sure we can take care of the small fry. Do you want some water?”

I thought I was paying attention to him, but on the contrary, I was being taken care of.

“…then do what you want, but don’t get too excited and burn yourself out, okay?”

Absolute’s group continued on and fought a few more battles. However, there were too many monsters, so they planned to go a little deeper into the forest, but the first day ended without much progress.

Several hours had passed since they entered the forest, and the sky was getting darker, so they decided that it would be dangerous to search any further, so they began preparing to camp at a planned campsite they had found while it was still light.

Lady Cruel and Oriana were replenishing firewood and water.

Maria kept an eye on the area.

Leone and the maids set up the tent.

Absolute’s magic cleaves trees around the area to make space.

Mist uses the Bowser family’s unique magic “barrier” to have the results of avoiding monsters stretched.

“…! …! …!”

After the tent was put up, an urgent signal was sent from Toa, the spirit. This signal meant that a large number of monsters were coming toward Chris and her friends.

After a short delay, a magic appeared in the sky from the direction where Chris and her friends were.

(They finally moved. They haven’t come towards us yet, and with Mist’s barrier, we should be able to buy ourselves 15 minutes. We’re not that far away from them, so if we go as fast as we can, we’ll make it in time.)

“Mist, I’m going to be gone for 15 minutes. If anything goes wrong, have Cruel-san send magic up into the sky as planned!”

“Eh? Absolute-sama!”

After saying this, Absolute ran away at an alarming speed.

Mist was left behind, along with the maids and Princess Leone, who had pitched their tent.

“I wonder if he’s gone…it can’t be helped.”

(Absolute went toward the direction where the magic went up. If he left the group at this time, he probably went to the rescue. If he had to go, it is understandable that the situation is quite dangerous, and since he moved without hesitation, he probably had some information about something unusual.)

Mist and the others had not been informed of anything by Absolute. They didn’t know whether it was to avoid causing unnecessary confusion or because they were not trusted.

They feel a touch of sadness that he didn’t consult with them, who have known him for a long time.

“Excuse me, Bowser-san. May I have a word?”

Princess Leone, who has finished her work, calls out to Mist.

“What is it? Princess.”

“What do you think about Ark-san?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“I don’t have good feelings about him, to be honest. He is capable of defeating a hero, I admit that. But until a few minutes ago, he didn’t fight by himself, but let you guys fight, didn’t he? To be honest, I was disappointed. He has that kind of power, and yet he’s still using you as shields!”

“……”

Mist listened to the end of Princess Leone’s words without saying a word.

“If you are tormented by him, I can help you. I have fought with you today and I know that you are not bad people. I am a princess, albeit from another country. I may be able to help save you.”

Mist finally opens his mouth after listening to the conversation.

“Umm, Princess. Are you going to tell lady and Oriana about this?”

“Yes, I am going to ask them after I hear your opinion.”

“I don’t think you should do that. All the girls in the Ark faction are blind to Absolute-sama, and they might go ballistic if you say anything bad about him.”

Mist’s prediction was correct. If Princess Leone had told the lady about what she just said instead of Mist, it would have been a scene.

“I don’t understand. Why would that happened after you guys are being treated like that. So, Bowser-san, why don’t you answer the question?”

“Hmmm…”

What do you think of Absolute? It seems like a simple but difficult question.

Princess Leone has only a bad impression of Absolute’s “absolute evil” skill combined. Mist doesn’t think it will be easy to clear up her misunderstanding of Absolute now.

Mist is not a very glib person, so he tries to speak his mind honestly.

“A hero…”

“Hero?”

“No, it’s nothing. Everyone in the Ark faction loves Absolute-sama. Of course, including me. Even the battle was something we willingly undertook.”

Of course, this was sincere.

“Why are you covering up for him? I might be able to help you.”

“You may think I’m lying, but I’m telling the truth. Princess Leone, Absolute-sama doesn’t like fighting.”

“Huh?”

The princess Leone was surprised to hear this story. She couldn’t quite understand it because she was told something that seemed like a joke.

“Eh? No, what are you going to say, it’s a lie? How can he be powerful enough to defeat a hero and hate fighting?”

Mist answered Princess Leone’s question with a wry smile.

“There are people who dislike fighting even if they are powerful. Absolute-sama is exactly that type of person. He uses his power for the sake of his family and home. Well, he won’t admit it, so I’m just speculating. Let me tell you a little about myself. All of us in the Ark faction are nobles doing dark work in this country. This country has a harsh attitude toward that kind of work, and we are not well-liked among the nobility. The first time we went to a party in the capital, the sons of high ranking nobles said we were dirty and surrounded us and lynched us. It was terrible, even though we are nobles in the same country.”

Princess Leone sympathizes and her face is filled with frustration.

(She seems to be a good and earnest person.)

“That’s just the way it is in this country. And it was Absolute who helped us. We were scared of him at first, and to be honest, we were not very good to him. Even though we were the same age, he was intimidating and scary, and no one would go near him. But, he protected us from the children of many noble families. We were the ones who isolated him. He even told us not to leave his side in the future, and even now he is protecting us by using himself as a shield.”

“I understand that you adore Ark-san.  Even if, as you say, he doesn’t like fighting, it was wrong of him to let you guys fight.”

Mist scratched his cheek and continued talking.

“I’ve been around Absolute more and more due to family reasons, so I’ve been watching him closely. I always saw Absolute-sama fighting for the people around him with a wrinkled brow and a disgusted look on his face. It is only when he is fighting that he shows his emotions like that. That’s why we all talked it over and decided that at least we would fight the battles that we could take over. We did it so that Absolute wouldn’t feel as bad as possible.”

Mist has seen more of Absolute than anyone else.

He is scary, unsociable, and often uses Mist as a substitute for him in troublesome matters, but he is more sensitive and gentle than anyone else.

Mist likes such about Absolute.

“…Why did you tell me all that?”

“I know Absolute-sama might be angry with me for saying this, but I feel frustrated that such a kind person is still been hated. I want Absolute-sama to be happy. That’s all.”

“……You really adore him, don’t you? To be honest, I was surprised. I’m sure you’re a surprisingly loyal retainer, Bowser-san.”

Princess Leone approached Mist first, largely because he looked and acted far from loyal.

She was surprised to find that Mist had a surprising level of loyalty, despite this and this changed her evaluation of him.

“People often say I look like I’m going to betray them. But Absolute-sama is a person who judges people by what’s inside, so he treats me without judging me by my looks.”

“Certainly, you shouldn’t judge people based on preconceived notions, as I did earlier. I will talk more with Ark-san when he comes back. I’m sorry, for speaking ill of your leader.”

“It’s alright…”

zoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A mysterious sound echoes near Mist and the others.

“What is this sound?”

As Princess Leone is dismayed, a figure comes toward her from behind a tree.

“Hah…hah…Mist! The barriers have been broken! Oh no, there’s a monster heading this way!”

The two people who rushed back were Oriana, who had changed from her usual fast-paced tone and looked impatient, and Lady Cruel, who had fainted and was being carried by Oriana.

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