Chapter 59 – The Next Incident Zone Is… That Place.

A month passed faster than one would think. Deus chuckled inwardly, reflecting on the fleeting nature of time. (Nefertiti and Luciel did not share his sentiment.)

First, our Miss Clumsy… no, Student Council President Nefertiti.

She now possessed a firm grasp of the concept of self-buffs. Furthermore, she’d learned of their necessity the hard way.

This, of course, was thanks to Deus’ merciless crucible.

Against strong enemies, one needed at least double, if not more, of their usual abilities.

If that fell short, then they had to find a way to enhance their powers, even if only temporarily.

That’s where self-buffs came in, and she was working diligently to achieve them.

‘Her heart and mind are willing, of course, but she’s barely managed to erect the framework, even now.’

Still, looking on the bright side, establishing that foundation in a single month was quite the feat.

Truthfully, he’d expected it to take several. But Nefertiti had shattered those expectations beautifully.

So, she truly was a main character in this story, after all. Deus smiled inwardly.

“If I can master this technique perfectly, I’ll name it ‘Gale Force Road’.”

“Gale Force Road? Err… I’ve heard of Gale Force Rage, but Gale Force Road…”

“Once more, like a gale to me—no, no. Anyway. I’d appreciate it if you would.”

A wind-based self-buff? Gale Force Road was the best choice, of course, naturally.

‘Next is Luciel, Senior.’

This one was proceeding more smoothly than Nefertiti. It wasn’t for nothing that she was known as the best student amongst the current students.

Recently, Deus had observed her extending and retracting her blade of light at a pace that was becoming ‘presentable’. Any foe facing that for the first time would surely be taken aback.

However, that speed was still only ‘presentable,’ and no more.

If the opponent adapted to that speed quickly, Luciel would find herself in a difficult predicament.

Furthermore, the maximum range she could reliably control it at was still only 3 meters. The prospect of a blade of light soaring skyward, even reaching 10 meters, remained impossible.

Against a normal swordsman, against a normal enemy, those 3 meters could be considered overwhelming.

But now, Luciel would have to face not monsters, but ‘demons’.

They would need unpredictable techniques and the unwavering advantage of distance, a distance that could never be yielded, for a battle to even be considered a fight.

‘I absolutely can’t lose them. Absolutely no one.’

The best solution would be for Deus himself to step in and kill them all.

But even himself, as fast and as powerful as he was, was only one person. There were clear limitations to his ability to handle multiple situations.

Conversely, as time went on, multiple incidents would undoubtedly occur in different locations simultaneously.

That’s why he had to push them harder, for their sakes, and for his own.

He wouldn’t lose them, and they wouldn’t have to abandon their respective ideals and duties.

Wasn’t this killing two birds with one stone? Therefore, he relentlessly drilled them, pushing them to their absolute limits.

“Spare me, Junior! I’ll give you an even better clubroom!”

“You weren’t acquainted with my mentor back in the day, were you…? Somehow, you’re even worse than he was?”

Neferti and Luciel’s screams, their questions, lingered in his ears for a moment, but he quickly shook them off.

This is all for your sake, everyone. Don’t worry so much. People don’t die so easily. I know. I’ve experienced it all, run the human trials myself, before I ask you to do this.

“Deus!”

He turned to see the pink-haired girl waving her hand, running towards him with enthusiasm.

Unlike before, she smiled more now, and above all, her timidity had diminished somewhat.

She still struggled, but she had made some friends who she spoke with to some extent.

“You’re here earlier than I thought. Yurisia.”

“Yeah. I was at the training grounds just a little while ago! I, I’m really working hard!”

“That’s good. Just keep doing that from now on.”

“I will! I promise I will! Anything Deus tells me to do!” Yurisia giggled.

Her demeanor was like that of a puppy, and he couldn’t help but smile along with her.

“So, why did you suddenly want to meet?”

“Actually, I’ll be gone again for a while in the next few days.”

“Ah… that’s, that’s right. One student from each year gets invited to the Imperial Palace!”

Yurisia’s eyes were filled with admiration and longing as she spoke.

So much so that Deus felt a slight twinge of embarrassment. “Uh…”

“Amazing! Deus! It’s, it’s really amazing!”

“Well, it’s not like I’m the only one going, right?”

“But! Still, you got invited to the Imperial Palace! It’s incredible!”

That was true. He was even the only commoner among them.

Something he couldn’t have even dreamed of before. It was absolutely impossible for a commoner, unless they had saved the Empire and the Imperial Family from the brink of ruin.

‘If this world had been some “Let’s destroy everything!” kind of setting, that darned class system would still be as rigid as steel, preventing any kind of harmony…’

Thankfully, this place wasn’t like that. Well, not yet.

Which was precisely why Deus was even more nervous.

‘It’s been running smoothly so far. But if the system is attacked as I feared, and the Imperial Palace falls, causing the Empire itself to falter… No one knows how the situation will change.’

Yes. Perhaps from that very moment, one of the surest paths to the world’s destruction would emerge: ‘taking sides’.

A divided world would, of course, be very desirable for demons, or any other subversive elements, for that matter.

Big events sometimes arise from very small things, but mostly, they are simply the result of equally significant incidents.

Thinking like that, an attack by demons on the Imperial Palace, or the system, was entirely possible.

“…Anyway. I need you to look after Jojo for a few days again. You took care of her so well last time.”

“Because Deus loves Jojo! And Jojo loves Deus!”

*Does* that fur ball actually love me? He thought, when she was grumpy every time.

Muttering this to himself, Deus cautioned, “Ah. But don’t give her too many treats. I think she’s getting bad habits from being fed so much.”

“And give this one a bath, too.”

“A bath? Don’t cats hate water?”

“That’s what I thought, but she was pretty well-behaved when I bathed her last time. I guess she’s of the water element, maybe.”

“If Deus says so, then that’s how it is. Got it. I’ll make her a squeaky-clean kitty!”

Watching Yurisia, who told him to just trust her, Deus rubbed his hands together, contemplating.

‘Actually, I need to train Yurisia too.’

Unlike the two women who had presented new concepts with their unwavering beliefs and, or, romanticism, Yurisia was, when you thought about it, devoid of any such thing. A blank canvas, so to speak.

Now, she could finally start painting. Whatever she sketched in that space would only be absorbed from now on. And she was even in the same martial arts vein as him.

Unlike Neferti and Luciel, who needed to grow technically, she needed to grow mentally. And, while not perfectly, she’d achieved it to some extent.

The shyness hadn’t completely vanished, but the fact that it was slowly disappearing was proof enough.

‘Rather than telling her *how* to paint…maybe if I just drew something and brought it to her, praised her, and offered some light advice, she’d figure it out on her own.’

On the way to the Imperial Palace, it seemed he should also ponder training methods for Yurisia.

First, he needed to consider that she’d never even encountered, let alone fought, a demon. He also had to account for the possibility of fear resurfacing at any moment.

No matter how skilled someone was, the tension stemming from the unknown would turn into fear, and that fear would severely limit the body’s reflexes and muscle movement.

Considering all that. Taking those points into account. The most effective approach for Yurisia would surely be to overwhelm her with instinctive savagery encompassing both speed and power before anything could well up inside her.

“Yurisia, are you perhaps interested in receiving some… assignments?”

“Assignments?”

“Yeah. I’ve been working on various things lately with the student council president and Luciel-senpai. I normally wouldn’t do this for just anyone, but I think Yurisia is more than capable….”

“I want to! I want to! Can I? Can I really?!”

Yurisia, overjoyed, even hopped up and down. If Neferti or Luciel had seen that scene, they would have cried out, ‘Uh-oh. Junior? This isn’t something to be happy about!’ But alas, they were nowhere to be found.

All that was present here was Deus, wearing a content smile!

“Of course, you can. As long as you’re willing to dedicate yourself―”

“I will. I’ll definitely do it. If it’s something Deus is telling me to do, I can do anything. I’ll accomplish anything. Absolutely! Without fail! So!”

Her passionate demeanor was certainly pleasing to the eye. Yes. That made him feel a lot more at ease.

“Then, while I’m away at the Imperial Palace, have you ask Tiamat-sensei for a sparring match.”

“Tiamat-sensei?”

For the record, Tiamat was one of the strongest in the Cradle among the martial arts-based ability users.

She could have stayed on active duty longer, but she’d strongly requested to come to this Cradle.

“Yeah. I’m not asking you to win, or even to last for a while against a teacher giving her all. Just ask for a spar and show everything you can do. I can get the rest from Tiamat-sensei when I return.”

Since there happened to be a martial arts expert around, getting her reaction wouldn’t be bad.

That was the thought behind Deus’s suggestion.

But, to state the conclusion upfront, he couldn’t have even imagined it at the time.

What posture Yurisia would adopt when facing Tiamat in the spar.

*

“Are you ready, junior?”

“Yes. But more than that, President, you seem strangely cheerful.”

“Of course, I am. It’s the Imperial Palace, isn’t it? I’ve been invited to the Imperial Palace!”

“Perhaps it’s because you haven’t been training for a few days?”

“Absolutely not.”

Whenever the word ‘absolutely’ was used, it usually wasn’t absolute. Adding a touch of suspicion as well.

They headed towards the place that had a very high probability of becoming the main stage for the upcoming incident. The Imperial Palace.