I left as soon as the ban was lifted to get Eleris progress report and tell her about my current situation; however there were even more important things I had to take care of.

This?

I thought youd be waiting, so I went there right away.

Since I frequented Class B occasionally, the others didnt really care whether I came in or didnt. So, as soon as I returned to Temple, I dropped by Class Bs dorm and gave Charlotte a letter when no one was watching.

Knowing what kind of letter this was, Charlotte quickly embraced it.

Charlottes pupils were shaking violently.

Thank you, Reinhardt. Thank you.

I knew she was waiting for this letter ever since the ban had been lifted, so she was deeply impressed that I would run out right away to get the letter. She continued to express her gratitude to me. Whenever the words Thank you left her mouth, I felt like my heart was getting stabbed with needles.

In the end, all of this was just a lie, so I had to keep lying.

The contents of the letter were basically as follows.

Im sorry for leaving without a word. Im fine. This person is protecting me well. I hope you are safe.

I only elongated it a bit, but that was all I wrote. I also mentioned some things that only Valier would know, so that Charlotte wouldnt question its authenticity.

Well, that was all. Im leaving.

Ah, yes.

I couldnt stand seeing Charlottes face while she was in this state any longer, so I just turned around to leave.

Congratulations on reaching 1st rank, Reinhardt.

Huh. Thanks.

Leaving behind Charlotte, who congratulated me, I exited their dormitory.

It would be best if my lies werent exposed.

I was getting more and more scared of how Charlotte would look at me if my lies were to be revealed.

* * *

The midterm exams were over. In the end, I wasnt able to accomplish that challenge. Well, people would just fail sometimes.

However, it sure was funny how I aimed to reach 10th place, but ended up being ranked 1st somewhere else. Although, it didnt really give me any benefits.

Anyway.

Everything went back to normal.

-Kang!

Sigh, really now.

I picked up the sword that got hit out of my hand again. Ellen, as always, was just standing there looking at me.

We did this almost every day. Shed always work me to the bone until I started losing grip of my sword like this. Unless she served as a demonstration target, I was never able to land a single attack on her.

I think I got a bit rusty after taking a break from training.

It was only about a week, but it seems like I got rusty over that period of time, because I was doing even worse than before I took that break.

No.

Im not?

What did she mean by No? I felt like I was more sloppy than before.

I raised the difficulty a bit.

Ah. Really?

I didnt get rusty. Ellen, who had only been using 1% of her actual skill and power, was now using 1,5% of her strength. That would probably mean that I had become that much stronger.

I feel a bit happy about that, but Im a little curious. Just how easy are you going on me?

Ellen looked a little troubled at first, but then she pointed her training sword towards the ceiling.

Me.

Then Ellen looked at the floor.

You.

Are you pointing at the ceiling? You didnt mean the sky, right?

Id even believe it if she meant the difference between us is like heaven and earth, not just the ceiling and the floor. Ellen shook her head, saying that she wasnt that good.

If you use your supernatural power, its around this much.

Ellen was now pointing at a place located at approximately the height of her knees. Without using my supernatural powers, the difference between us was as wide as the distance between the floor and the ceiling, so about 5 meters; and when I used my powers, I would reach the height of her knees.

That was a huge difference. If the gap in skill between me and Ellen had already closed to such an extent, I should have gotten quite a lot stronger.

Youve practiced so much with me, to the point that you couldnt tell how much you have improved.

I know that youre not actually that conceited and that youre only pretending to be. But dont you think thats a bit too much?

But its true.

She naturally was just that much stronger than me, so I had nothing left to respond to her. In fact, Ellen was constantly improving, at a much faster rate than me.

Ellen was a wall that I would never be able to overcome.

Well, I did feel it during the last swordsmanship evaluation.

I meant the swordsmanship tournament held between students.

Everyone else was moving so slow, I could see their every move.

If I strengthened my body using the swordsmanship-focused preset through Self-Suggestion, I felt like my physical abilities underwent a correction of about 2-3 points.

My current stats were as follows.

[Strength 5.9 (D-)]

[Agility 6.5 (D)]

[Dexterity 7.4 (D+)]

[Magic 11.1 (C)]

[Stamina 10 (C)]

If the correction values were applied, the rank of my physical abilities would be slightly different.

Compared to when I first came here, my stats had almost doubled except for my magical power.

Now I would slowly enter a period where my growth would slow down, but anyway, the fruits of my efforts were clearly visible. If the correction offered by my supernatural powers were added to that, I already had quite the considerable level of physical strength, surpassing some of my classmates.

Therefore, even though I didnt have the proper swordsmanship talent yet, I was able to defeat all of my classmates majoring in combat using just my reflexes and physical abilities. Even if they werent actually part of the Royal Class, they were still first year high school students who majored in combat.

As I was only ever training with Ellen, I felt a bit disheartened, but when I tried fighting my other classmates, it just felt too bland.

In fact, I didnt even use my supernatural power until I had to face Ellen. I didnt really try that much. I won nearly every duel anyway.

Did they ever realize that my swordsmanship was only on the level of Pseudo Swordsmanship? It didnt seem to be the case.

The displayed information wasnt everything after all.

Ive faced a certain high-level opponent so many times, that I knew how to deal with those guys whove only learned some swordsmanship. This wasnt even considering my swordsmanship level.

As I continued to train together with this overwhelming training partner of mine, my level increased tremendously without me realizing. This was a value that wouldnt show up on any measurement.

Of course, it seemed like some of the more skillful students actually didnt join the class. So the results might look very different the next time I took another lecture on swordsmanship.

Come.

Here I come.

After I fixed my stance, I stabbed my training sword towards Ellen.

-Kaklang!

Ellen tried to hit her own sword against my sword that was approaching her. She hit it from up top, pressing it down.

As she pushed down my sword, she grabbed me by the collar with her left hand and threw me down, then dug into my solar plexus with her right elbow, making me drop my sword, and then with a flowing motion she hit me with the hilt of her sword.

She then placed her sword against my neck.

She had subdued me so overwhelmingly with dozens of derivative movements linked into a single flowing move.

I then copied her moves. I guided Ellens sword, which stabbed forward with my own, and proceeded to push my elbow into her solar plexus.

I tried to make the methods she showed me my own bit by bit.

Then, as soon as she caught me trying to hit her solar plexus, she leaned to my left, turned sideways, making me fall forward slightly.

Damn it.

I shifted my center of gravity so far forward that she was able to take my back.

For that brief moment, while I wasnt able to react, Ellen had already pointed her training sword towards the back of my head.

Youre dead.

Knowing how to count to one didnt mean I could count to ten.

This kid who knew how to count to ten, would show me how to count to two when I could barely say one, and when I managed to somehow count to two, shed demand I count to three. Then, when I could count to 10 one day, shed probably demand me to count to 50.

Learning sureis hard.

* * *

Morning training.

Adriana stared blankly at me, with her mouth slightly open, when I told her that I ranked 1st on the first-year midterm evaluation ranking.

I already know that I dont have the best image, but aint it a bit sad that everyones reacting like that?

When I said that I felt a little sad about this, Adrianas expression immediately turned into a frown.

Ah. I-Im sorry, junior. I knew you were pretty hard-working.

Adriana patted her cheeks a little.

But you really dont have a smart image, right?

Cant deny that.

Smart troublemakers were quite the rare breed. Everyone, no matter where I went, just held that prejudice that I was a bastard.

Well, its not really prejudice, though.

The more I get to know you, the more I get surprised by you, junior.

At first, she must have thought of me as nothing but a mad dog whod openly swear at his senior, so no matter what I did, Id end up surprising her. On top of that, I even apologized to the 2nd years A-1 Redina.

I was now in good enough shape that I was able to talk with Adriana while we were running. My classmates average stamina scores were about 6-7, D rank, however my score was at 10, C rank. It was definitely above average, and it would be even higher if I applied my supernatural power. Of course, I wasnt talking about the average score of the guys with combat talents.

I didnt think I could sprint around Temple at full speed like Ludwig. He had a stamina score of 30. That would be A+ rank. In that regard, he was an even more monstrous kid than Ellen.

By the way, your first group mission will start soon, right junior?

Yes.

The first missions theme is survival, right?

Is the theme supposed to be fixed?

Well. Its usually something like that.

The first group mission usually had something to do with survival. I didnt actually know this.

What is your theme this year, senior?

Scramble.

Scramble.

In some cases, it was a capture-the-flag kind of battle; in other cases, it had to do with a team acquiring an object at a specific location, and who got it first won. Of course, since it was quite a large scale mission, it wasnt only a battle that lasted for a long time, but it was also something close to an actual battle between classes.

We wouldnt be allowed to do something like that right now, because we werent able to control our powers properly yet.

However, the survival mission also came with many risks.

If its survival, I think youll do well, junior.

You think Ill do well because Im from the streets, dont you?

I wont deny that.

I said Im from the streets. I didnt say I grew up in a jungle.

Hmm. Its not really about that, though.

Adriana smiled as she ran next to me at a constant tempo.

The survival mission is the one the kids from noble families give up on the most.

They suddenly told the precious children of noble families to live in some damp and humid environment filled with bugs.

Of course, there would be a lot of kids who wouldnt be able to accept that.

* * *

It was May at the moment.

In this world, May was a rather pleasant month. Honestly, with weather like that, it was best to just leave everything behind and lie down on the grassy riverside of the Han-River. There were actually people who did just that.

The festival was cancelled, but people seemed to have returned to their daily routine. The terrorist incident ended up concluding with its perpetrator still at large.

Anxiety about the Demon Realms revival still remained, but the people regained their original vitality. The Empire secured a lot of loot from the Demon Realm, and all the nations that participated in the war came to great wealth.

Eventually, the Golden Age would begin with the wealth obtained from the Demon Realm.

May was the beginning of said Golden Age.

The weather was perfect for camping.

Urg. Why is it so hot?

Rather than hot. It feels so sticky.

All the first years of Temples Royal Class went through a large gate and were teleported somewhere by some Temple officials, who seemed to be high-ranking wizards, and that somewhere was an uninhabited tropical island.

[Event Quest Group Mission]

[Description: The theme of the group mission is survival. Please survive until the end of the mission.]

[Goal: Dont get eliminated before the mission is over]

[Reward: 1000 Achievement Points]

And, of course, an Event Quest appeared.