Sword, Magic and Academic Society

“Yo. You're already up?”

Dongo called out to Shagora. 

“...Hmph. I just can't bring myself to sleep soundly when he's going over and beyond.”

Shagora replied, his face appearing pale. 

The fatigue from the constant usage of mana to his limits was weighing him down, and while he had been taking naps intermittently, it barely helped out as his body still felt as heavy as lead. 

The two shifted their gaze to the blue-haired lad.

Out of everyone here, Al was the only one who worked non-stop for over half a day, dealing with eggs. When it came to rest, he merely took one for three hours before returning to work. He continued for another six hours, then took an hour break to meditate and refill his mana pool with mana compression and resumed the cycle.

Much like everyone else, he wasn't unfamiliar with the exhaustion accumulated from consuming too much mana. But in his case, having gone through the activities of the Hill Road Club, then Godorfun’s practical classes immediately after — a routine that was beyond common sense — he built up quite a resistance against the bitterness of exhaustion.

He just single-mindedly focused on the task at hand, seemingly considering that even just thinking of something else was a waste of energy.

The key point about mana compression, which he had been fostering through the club activities, was to turn it into a subconscious action during work. 

Allen called this process ‘molding it into a form.’ In his words, by turning an action into a subconscious form, the body could process information in a way that was different from conscious thinking, thus allowing oneself to pull off moves that would've been strenuous to do normally.

This was something often seen in sports as well. For example, in baseball, there was hardly any human who could hit a 140 km/h curveball by consciously sketching out a plan on how to hit it. Instead, players would use their reflexes to strike the ball, a result of pre-programmed muscle memory.

But developing this sort of habit required special, repetitive training that would be otherwise impossible in everyday tasks.

From Al’s perspective, he was just following his training, but to Dongo and Shagora, it appeared abnormal.

Even someone like Carinpe, an illustrious knight of the Knight Order, or Ruruce Simplex, the renowned Ice Fairy and vice-chairwoman of the Simplex Magic Institute, had to take frequent breaks after emptying their mana pools. In comparison, Al’s bottomless stamina made him a monster in their eyes.

In terms of strength, he might be incomparable to the two ladies. However, his abnormal concentration and his repetitive movements akin to that of a machine made him look like the most bizarre freak they'd ever seen.

—They had 24 more hours before the situation took a turn.

If they were lucky, they might earn one more day, but overall, there had been a severe lack of time to dispose of all the eggs.

“...I know, really. I thought those two were freaks, but he's also no less of a crazy person compared to them. He really got us with that harmless persona of his on the ship, huh? I wonder, is that Academy crawling with monsters like them? 

…Haa, anyway, an egg is worth 50 rea. This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rich overnight. I'm not going to lose either. I promised my family that we’d build a house in the downtown area of the Royal Capital.”

Dongo murmured more to himself to reignite his spirit. Shagora had a wry smile upon hearing him.

“Just don't get too greedy, and make a stupid mistake.”

********

The fishing competition between me and Dan was gradually heating up.

In the beginning, I was at the lead with my intuition, figuring out where the fish might take the bait — a skill I honed in my childhood when I skipped my studies — and my precise mana control, employing an active fishing style, or ‘dynamic’ fishing as it was called. 

Meanwhile, Dan was using the classic fishing technique to lure in fish — the ‘passive’ fishing style in short. This difference led me to earn a head start in the beginning.

“Hyahahaha! Come on! Be serious, sea-born Dan,” I teased, letting out a maniac-like laughter similar to that of dorm mother Sora… I guess this was, what they say, the adverse effects of bad company?

Dan simply muttered ‘It seems like the depth isn't enough,’ and started modifying his fishing rod. 

The depth, in his words, was the water level where the fish were crowding in. 

Eventually, he came up with a modified fishing rod which he named <Revised Three-hook Fishing Rod - Serene Sea Style>. The modified rod basically allowed him to hook multiple fish at a time.

With my fishing experience merely limited to a small-time stream inside a city, Dan’s action of tying three hooks at a 30 cm interval from the main line hanging from the rod was incomprehensible to me.

“H-Hey, that's not fair! Teach me how to modify my fishing rod as well!”

I protested immediately, but Dan smiled and said, “Watch and learn,” in an old-school craftsman style.

So I stared intently whenever he tied the fishing rod, but his movements were so fluid and deft that I couldn't make heads or tails of his technique. 

Dan's improvised technique promptly showed fruitful results. I had to turn to my secret technique — fishing with a rod in each hand — as well, but he eventually turned the tables on me at the last 15 minutes of the 2-hour time limit.

“Golly, you two youngsters are really skilled. Are you sure this is your first time fishing for gray herons? I'm sure not even the locals could dish out the same results in a mere two hours.”

The surprised old man remarked when he came back to check on us. His gaze was fixated on the four buckets we filled to the brim with gray herons, which were our spoils. 

“S-say Gramps, don't you have any advice to give?! I’m gonna lose at this rate!! Wait, what's this big hook?”

“Oh, this? This is to use the gray herons as bait to catch Lake Perch, a big, carnivorous fish that occasionally shows up in the lake. They're quite delicious, but only the monster-ified leader of blue flamingos could chomp on such a big fish. Plus, to use it, you need to have a certain level of streng—”

I skipped the rest of what Gramps had to say and swiftly took that hook that was meant for Lake Perch. Seeing that, Gramps momentarily stopped me.

“Wait, just stop, kid! The Lake Perch are very few and far between this season. Even locals can spend a whole day without any results. You're better off sticking to the standard to boost your fish cou—”

“Let me do it, Gramps! My tutor always taught me to keep moving forward. Because you'll lose the moment you stop improvising!”

I put up an excuse using a phrase from my previous life, throwing all accountability to Schord — which had recently become a habit now — hooked the jaw of a just caught gray heron to the hook, and cast it towards the lake. 

“Kukuku! Well, the bet was ‘who can catch a lot of fish.’ ‘A lot’ can not only refer to the number but also the *weight* as well, so this’ll work. You haven’t won yet, Dan!

However, Dan just burst into a triumphant laughter at my desperate logic.

“Pfft. You're jumping down on the same mistake rookies often make.”

“Darn, you! Laugh while you can, Dan, because you're gonna cry when this ends!”

“……Do you two even realize the situation we’re in?” Cass-san mumbled again. He had been staring at the lake with a distant gaze all the while. 

We ignored him as we moved to our final confrontation.

******

There had been a total of four explorers from the Royal Capital currently present at the site. Aside from Dongo, his lackey, and Al, the fourth explorer took a different route. 

He just happened to be in the Grauksh territory when the emergency request was posted.

His name was Drois, and he was quite a promising explorer even among the other talents, having reached C-rank explorer at the young age of 24. 

But opposite of what the crowd thought, Drois personally believed he was progressing slowly.

He began his career as an explorer in his hometown in Count Masculine's territory, a notable family in the Valconde region. He had already earned the D-rank at the young age of 18.

This was an exceptional performance from someone who was from the countryside. The praises naturally gave birth to other thoughts in his mind.

—Maybe, he was a genius.

—A mere countryside couldn't contain him.

So, in the spring of his 18th year, he decided to head to the Royal Capital alone.

Since then, he steadily built up achievements, reaching C-rank by the age of 24. He was leading an impressive career.

However, if people were to ask if he was an unparalleled genius, most would shake their heads. 

While there were only a few who could get to C-rank by the age of 24 in the Royal Capital, a place where many talents gathered from the whole kingdom, it wasn't anything rare. 

In fact, those who eventually rose to A-rank tended to be prodigies who had their talents blossom at an early age. Drois was aware that compared to the feats accomplished by these individuals at a young age, his achievements fell short. 

He, who wanted to be hailed as one such prodigy, further multiplied his efforts away from the eyes of the public ever since he arrived at the Royal Capital.

He took on requests at a pace that worried those around him, but despite his advantage as an Ice Attribute mage, he only made it to the C-rank by the age of 24.

The genius of the countryside finally faced reality.

Nevertheless… swirling still in one corner of his heart, he dreamt of a glorious future lavished with everyone's praises.

Drois was still too young, diligent, and talented to have a realistic outlook. 

Frustrated by his stagnation and feeling a sense of anxiety, an urgent request came his way in his travels: the Hellrowcast extermination mission.

This might be his chance to overturn his destiny.

After all, if he could distinguish himself in such an important assignment, it might pave the way for him to become a B-rank explorer.

Moreover, though he happened to be nearby, the site was in a remote area that was difficult to access. Many skilled ice-affinity mages wouldn’t be able to make it in time before the critical stage.

Obviously, his achievements would stand out even more.

If he could get a promotion to B-rank at 24, demonstrating abilities and achievements that set him apart, it would be considered a rather exceptional advancement even in the capital.

With visions of that future in his mind, he accepted the request… where he encountered him.

The true genius hailing from the exalted Class-A of that Academy— a place where only true geniuses who surpassed the minimum requirements in both academic skills and magic capacity were admitted. An academy he hadn’t even qualified to apply to.

Irrespective of his choice, he finally had to swallow that bitter reality. That he was an ordinary person.

Just being a graduate of the Academy earned them C-rank. A far cry from someone like him who made it this far by piling up a mountain of effort.

Upon graduating from the Academy, its students registered as explorers at C-rank right away. Compared to him, who, despite all his efforts, had barely reached that rank.

Drois, who once thought nothing of Royal Academy students, came to a stark realization when he saw Aldol Engraver, a 13-year-old who had arrived late to the scene.

He finally understood what it meant to be a member of Class A in the Royal Academy.

…And eventually, the tremor in his heart would soon lead to the nightmarish incident everyone had feared would happen.

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