Chapter 87 – Field Training to Decide the Winner (5)

Field training has begun.
As more than a hundred students entered the forest at once, the sound of shaking grass was filled.
Some oblivious people got excited and used 〈Light 〉 magic to brighten the path ahead.
But that lasted for a while, and as I went deeper into the depths, I realized how afraid I was of exposing myself to the darkness.

— Turn off the lights, idiot! You never know what might pop out here!
— Wait a minute, don’t you need to look at the map! Let’s see… There must be a rock cave nearby… Uh?

Wow!!

A bat-shaped monster wombat rushed towards the three men and women who were huddled together.
The forest was immediately filled with commotion as the startled people unleashed their magic.
Pop! Quagwang! Once the peace was broken, the night revealed its anger. Then the monsters hunting in the dark began to move.

Whoa!!

— Do, run away!
– For a moment! Me too, I’m going with you!!

“What should we do, Chairman? “It looks like Dawson, Mayny, and Fallen are eliminated.”
“Huh~? Leave it alone a little longer. “What will the kids learn if we go rescue them already?”

The situation room set up in the western forest camp—— Professors were gathered in the small cabin where Darling and I stayed for a few days.
Numerous crystal spheres illuminated most of the forest and the dungeon where the second-year students were waiting.

“Please take care of me this year as well, my lord.”
“Hmm. “The clearing of the western forest is a ceremonial task, so there is nothing to worry about.”
“Yes. Anyway, we check the safety of the practice, so if you’re tired, you can just go in…”
“It’s because my butler showed interest. “I’ll leave in a while.”

Although she was a third-year student, Darling was the lord of Farencia, so the professors naturally respected her when her authority was needed.
Everyone didn’t really care about me. Only Lehel looked puzzled.

Sigh.

Perhaps because she was scared, she secretly inserted the crystal ball she was carrying into her robe.
Then, he pretended to be the organizer of a murder game with 10 billion won worth of cash on the line and monitored… No, I cleared my throat while looking at the crystal ball.
I’m glad I didn’t bet with the student’s life.

“Bloodhounds can deal with even first-year dogs as long as they don’t pack together. “Just in case, let’s have a support team on standby in the sky.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“What about the second years in the dungeon?”
“Everyone has enough food and water. We also have a safe room, so you don’t have to worry about being attacked in the dungeon.”
“I guess you can take care of it yourself.”

Even though a battle royale was in progress, the atmosphere in the situation room was quite bright.
As expected, the western forest is quite close to the outskirts of the Farencia territory.
Of course, security is good and dangerous monsters are rarely seen.
The professors gathered here are all excellent wizards.
He even led his soldiers around the forest once and eliminated most of the poisonous plants and dangerous monsters.

‘If you just pay attention to the dungeon, nothing major will happen.’

As Lehel expected, the students who had been attacked by causing a commotion a while ago gathered together in one place and intercepted the monsters one by one.
I looked to see if Adela was among them, but I couldn’t see her blue hair.
If they were smart, she would have hid right away.
First of all, it’s important to get through the night safely.

“Hmm~. It’s late, so let’s change shifts soon, shall we? “Who’s off duty today?”
“This is Professor Roylen and Professor Antonio.”
“Then let’s disperse the rest. If you have any problems, contact me using communication magic.”
“I understand, Chairman.”

With sleepy eyes, I opened the 〈 transfer door 〉 and when Lehel disappeared, the professors gathered their belongings one by one and got up from their seats.
Darling tapped me and asked if there would be more.

“Let’s come back tomorrow too.”

I spoke while observing three people next to the stream who looked like they were eating something, although I couldn’t see it clearly due to the blurry quality of the image.

It’s going to be hard to find the dungeon on the first day anyway.

***

“Pi—.”

I woke up to the sound of birds.
Erzsebet immediately looked around.

A simple tent pitched in the grass next to a stream. But there was a problem.

“Ah… ! “A backpack!”

Last night, I didn’t think to keep watch and my backpack got stolen.
It even came inside the tent.

I got goosebumps for a moment, but judging by the footprints, they were not monsters, but traces of an animal.
A mistake from the start.
The root of the problem was that my eyes closed without realizing it as I faced the howling of animals and the fear of not being able to see until dawn.

“Pii, why didn’t you wake me up!”

I turned my gaze of criticism towards Pii, but——

“Pi—.”

Whatever-. The only answer that came back was.

Erzhebet, who sighed and packed up the tent, came face to face with Karl, who had a similarly devastated expression on his face.
He too was carrying a backpack with a torn bottom and was speechless.

“Princess, what is this…”
“Pi—.”
“They say it’s a beast called a thief weasel. It is said that adventurers take out their backpacks and build their own houses with the items inside.”
“Pi—.”
“Especially because of their tendency to gather near the river, you must always be careful… No, pee! “Why didn’t you tell me sooner!”
“Pee—!”

It was the worst.
It was no longer possible to expect the effectiveness of the survival kit purchased at the store.
Even if you don’t have a canteen with a purification spell, you might get in trouble after drinking the water from that valley.
Just as a devastated Erzsebet was clenching her small fists, saying that she would slaughter chickens today, Adela came out of the tent.

“Hmm~. What happen?”
“Ah, Adela! We’re in big trouble! Our backpack… !”
“This one?”

What I took out with tired eyes was a frozen backpack.
Adela rubbed her eyes and spoke as the two people’s mouths opened, as if they were asking what the hell was going on.

“It was hot at night, so I froze it and went to sleep.”
“”… !””

Thanks to this, they were barely able to get through the forest with just the remaining backpack.

***

On the second day, the students began wandering around the forest diligently looking for a dungeon.
Friction often occurred in front of a narrow hole that was unknown whether it was a dungeon or a crypt.
I was bored so I observed it and found out that they were talking about the duel challenge they had received from Ansen before.
I guess that’s roughly how they decide the winner, and the winner gets to enter the dungeon.

“Hmm, it’s a bit soft as expected. “Right?”

Lehel was next to me and handed me a bunch of grapes with a gentle smile.
Wearing a mask shaped like a strange animal, I don’t know where he got it from.

“Shall we increase the difficulty level? “I’m going to set the forest on fire!”
“…”
“Well, just a little bit on the outside?”
“Have you gone through withdrawal symptoms again? Instead of talking nonsense, try zooming in on the inside of the dungeon over there.”

For a moment she felt like the host of a murder game, but then she came to her senses.
I also want to release some poisonous snakes and set up traps here and there.
However, there was no need for that and I could see students already feeling quite tired.

The scorching summer sun was not easy even in the middle of the forest.
Constant bugs and monsters that occasionally attack. And food, which was difficult to obtain, was holding them back.
Finding the dungeon is also quite difficult.
Sometimes the entrance is blocked and you have to compete with other groups.

“What is the sign?”

Thinking that the demon statue might be used like before, I asked Lehel.
She twirled her rosary with one hand and put a grape in her mouth and said:

“Hmm, as part of Parenzia Academy’s long history and tradition, the token is chosen by the second-year guard of the dungeon.”

Oh, that’s right. It was a place that put a lot of emphasis on long-standing traditions and all.

“What do you choose?”
“It doesn’t matter what! As long as it’s one of your belongings. Usually, something like a magic book or a fairly expensive magic stone is used as a token.”

And if he avoids or defeats the person in the role of guardian and obtains the token in the deepest part of the dungeon, he presents it to his junior.
It was a pretty desirable tradition if you just listen to it.

‘Let’s see… Liv…’

I looked at Liv checking his belongings down the rather wide cavity.
It couldn’t be seen clearly, but it looked like a doll made by hand.
I was familiar with the black hair and shabby T-shirt.
Would anyone be happy to receive something like that?

“No, wait.”
“Yes? Why?”
“Among the current second graders, let’s pick out the kids who used dolls as tokens.”

Yes, I said doll.
All you have to do is cut off any shoots that may cause problems.
As Lehel adjusted the crystal ball to my request, the familiar flying within the dungeon illuminated a sign.

“Three people…”

Not much.
I got up immediately.

“Where are you going, boss?”
“Call out the coordinates of the crystal ball that illuminates these three. Right Now.”
“Uh huh, we always emphasize equality in practice…”
“You wanna die?”
“Hi! Ah, I get it!”

It will take some time as they are quite far away from each other.
I even took the crystal ball that illuminated Liv just in case, and headed toward the forest, telling Lehel to contact me right away if anything happened.

***

“Why are you both so bad?”
“…”
“…”
“If this happens, forming a team is a loss.”

Erzsebet was experiencing the greatest humiliation.
The same goes for knives.

Although no one expected this, Adela’s survival skills in the wild were surprisingly excellent.
Using her skills to gather nectar from flowers, she instinctively senses which plants are okay to eat and which are not.
Thanks to the full-blown ice magic, you can move around without getting tired at all even in hot weather.
He even sets up a trap using tools from the survival kit, based on his own experience at Lewis’s canteen.

There was no fear of bugs or monsters from the beginning.

Maybe Adela wasn’t acting like a fool?
This is the moment when questions that have existed since the beginning rear their heads again.

“Yangyang~. Yangyangyang~. “Yangyangyangyangyang~.”

No matter how much it was, everything was useless in the face of that angry tone accompanied by that strange chuim tone.
The two people who had been following Adela as if silently following her were facing a two-way street and unfolded a map.
It goes without saying that the map was of little use without even knowing the current location.

“Where do you want to go, Adela?”

In response to Karl’s question, she thought for a moment and pulled out a small ice pick from her hand.
Adela placed it on the floor and gently closed her eyes.

And the moment she took her hand away, boom! The awl fell down with a sound.

“It’s on the left.”
“Really? “With that, you know where the dungeon is?”
“This is the right one.”
“Really, Adela? “On what basis?”

Adela’s eyes were clearly looking beyond the endless path.
She was trembling as if she was 〈 ice pick 〉 not yet able to pierce her target.

“Gam-ie-yang.”

Pii shivered involuntarily at the cold gaze that did not allow for a counterargument.
The evening of the second day after practice began.
For some reason, Erzsebet felt like running away to the royal castle right now.