Academy Festival.

A grand celebration for the students of Elinia Academy, held twice a year, spanning one week each time.

During this period, no classes are conducted.

Only the festival takes place.

Various departments like the Hero, Knight, Magic, Alchemy, Exploration, and Management Departments participate.

All undergraduate students of Elinia Academy take this time to forget their rigorous academics and enjoy creating pleasant memories.

However, it's natural that there are those who, for various reasons, cannot enjoy the festival.

To prevent students from going home, all undergraduates must participate in at least one of the competitions held during the festival.

Though students from the Hero Department wouldn't go home even if they were told to.

This is because, true to Elinia Academys policy of favoring the Hero Department, the protagonists of the Academy Festival are the students from the Hero Department.

The Hero Department, being performance and competency-oriented, usually pays no attention to lower-ranking students.

However, this is only within the confines of the Hero Department.

Outside of it, even the lower-ranking students can't help but receive a lot of attention.

In a way, the students are celebrities.

Just being admitted to the Hero Department is, in itself, proof that they possess abilities far superior to that of ordinary people.

Elinia Academy organizes and hosts various competitions on the academy level.

These include competitions for martial arts, magic, artifacts, cooking, beauty, and debate.

Although there are numerous competitions, the top three would be the Martial Arts Competition, Magic Competition, and Artifact Competition.

Among these, the Martial Arts Competition is notably the most popular.

From the audiences perspective, it offers a most direct view of the students' strength, and the prizes are also quite substantial.

In the early days of the academy, any first-year student could participate.

However, after students from the Hero Department began dominating the top ranks, a limitation was imposed: only those Hero Department students ranked below 100* in their year could participate.

Even after this limitation, as the average level of students in the Hero Department rises, they continue to dominate the top ranks in the competition.

Theo stepped down from the carriage and arrived in front of the Hero Department training ground.

'It's as quiet as expected.'

Perhaps because of the Festival, the vicinity of the Hero Department was empty.

The Hero Department is quite far on the outskirts of the Academy, and most of the major events of the Festival take place near the Knight Department.

This works out well. Lets train quietly. No one will be here, right?

As Theo thought this and opened the gate to the Hero Departments training ground

Harder! Stronger! Faster! Is that all you can do?!

Tarkan, you've slowed down! Swing your arms faster!

When swinging with the left arm, think of a lizardman, and with the right, an execution! Engrave that mindset as you swing your axe!

There were already early arrivals in the Hero Departments training ground.

It was Noctar and the orcs.

At the familiar sight, Theo faintly smiled.

Hey, Noctar.

Theo, welcome.

While keeping his arms folded and bossing around his peers, Noctar waved to Theo.

But Noctars condition was not normal.

Theo walked over to Noctar.

Noctar, what happened to your face?

Oh, this?

Pointing at his face, which was black and blue, with a finger, Noctar grinned, his teeth chattering.

The lizardmen were no pushovers. It was a close call.

......

Looking at Noctar, who spoke nonchalantly with a ghastly face, Theo recalled the emotion known as fear after a long time.

As expected, orcs think too differently from humans.

Theo looked at the other orcs sweating in the training ground.

At a glance, the orcs appeared to be normal, but they appeared differently through [Observer's Eye].

Tarkan seems to have injured his ribs, and that one has a broken leg.

Inside Elinia Academy, outwardly at least, disputes among students were forbidden, if not, several might have died.

Noctar, with his black eyes, was the least injured among them.

Indeed. But other than you, Noctar, everyone is severely injured. Training like this isn't good.

No, Theo. We have to.

Why?

We havent settled things with those lizardmen bastards. So, we decided to settle it at the Martial Arts Competition three days from now, on Thursday.

...I see.

Contrary to his usually indifferent demeanor, Theo wore an exhausted expression.

But the Martial Arts Competition is only open to Hero Department students ranked 100th or below in their year. It may be possible for the others, but Noctar, you won't be able to participate, right?

Although there might be fluctuations once the midterm exams are graded, Noctar's current rank within his year is 71st, making him ineligible to participate.

Noctar responded nonchalantly.

"Oh, that? I can participate. I'm scheduled to be in a special match with the Lizardman chief. The organizer came by last night and asked if I was interested, and of course, I said yes."

"Noctar, don't special matches mean you wont receive any prizes? Its just unpaid labor, right? Isn't your reputation already quite good?"

Theo couldn't quite understand Noctars stance.

The purpose of participating in a tournament usually came down to two things: reputation and prizes.

Noctar's reputation is already through the roof within the orc community, and most orcs don't care about their reputation amongst other races.

Lifting his arms to the side, Noctar spoke casually.

"Reputation and prizes aren't important to us, Theo. What matters now is defeating our arch-enemy and offering him to the War God. This Thursday, we will step closer to the embrace of the great War God.

...Alright, give it your best. Ill be rooting for you, Noctar."

Theo, nodding slightly with a faint smile, began stretching his body.

Noctar gently ground his teeth, casting a glance at Theo.

"But Theo, you seem happier lately.

"What seems happier?"

As Theo rotated his wrists and ankles, he replied.

"Your expression has improved. It's more varied. You smile more often now."

"......Is that so?"

"Yeah. Theo, you were expressionless most of the time. When I first saw you, I thought you enrolled to avenge your parents. Though I know now thats not whats inside you."

"Hmm."

'Thats true. Lately, the activation condition for [Twisted Noble's Dignity] seems to have changed a bit.'

Theo looked at Noctar.

When he hasn't possessed this body for long, during his first conversation with Noctar, [Twisted Noble's Dignity] activated.

From some point on, it no longer activated.

'But its not like the trait has completely disappeared.'

Just yesterday, Theo had used [Twisted Noble's Dignity] effectively, amplifying it through the amplification orb.

'Well, thinking about it now wont yield any answers. Lets just do what we can do now.'

Ending his brief contemplation, Theo nodded to them, then headed further inside

Inside an individual training room.

Theo, soaked in sweat, exhaled heavily as he sheathed his practice longsword back on the rack.

'Whew, I've improved since the first time, but not significantly.'

After hours of following the sword dance that Maximin showed him, those were Theos thoughts.

Actually trying it out, he couldn't get the hang of it.

Absorbing the secret techniques of one of the top heroes of the continent was not easy, even with [Observer's Eye].

'If it had been Neike or Piel. No, if I had even Irenes level of talent... it might have been different'

Various emotions arose within Theo.

An inferiority complex towards the talent of Neike and Piel.

Anger at himself, who seemed so worthless compared to their abilities.

Of course, Theo also had advantages they didn't, but comparing oneself to others was human nature.

"Well, what can I do, I have to keep going."

Theo picked up the practice longsword again and began to enact the sword dance.

After about an hour passed, a quest window popped up in front of Theo.

[Sudden Quest: By this Thursday, participate in at least one competition per day at the Academy Festival, and win at least 3rd place in all.]

Reward: 4 Shop Gold Coins Progress: 0/4

"Oh?"

The corner of Theo's mouth lifted.

He hadn't earned any shop gold coins recently, but now, a sudden quest just popped up.

Such sudden quests were not in the game, but that was not what was important.

The crucial point was that it offered a whopping 4 shop gold coins.

But the difficulty is quite high.

Having to win at least 3rd place in at least one competition per day.

Many competitions are held during the Academy Festival, but winning 3rd place or higher is not easy.

Still, for Theo, 4 shop gold coins were an offer he couldnt refuse.

"I need to check the competition schedule first."

While Theo knew the game inside out, all the competitions in the Academy Festival were not featured in the game.

"Mon, Tues, Wed. I need competitions where I can easily place for three days."

He planned to participate in the Martial Arts Competition on Thursday.

Theo quickly showered, dressed neatly, and headed toward the Knight Department where the Festival was being held.

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*I've been really confused about this in the earlier chapters, but I believe the competition is for people who are NOT in the top 100.

Ehh the confusion comes from does below rank 100 mean people ranked 1-99? or people who are not in the top 100? Sorry me confused but I should've known that there was no way there would be a tournament like this where Theo can't participate.