Chapter 60: Practical Training (3)

The Erendal Subjugation was an official imperial event.

As such, a grand departure ceremony was held in front of a massive gathering of spectators.

The Empire’s foremost knight orders were the first to ride in, followed by the imperial army and newly enlisted soldiers.

Members of the academies, including those from Bayern, were assigned to comparatively less dangerous areas.

Of course, “less dangerous” was only relative—letting one’s guard down could still be fatal.

“The groups have been assigned randomly. When moving, stick with your group.”

In Group 1, the party leader Darius served as captain, with Maximilian and Pozers under him.

Group 2 had the third-year senior Luna, along with Carl, Yuria, and Laysis.

Group 3 consisted of second-year senior Ivan, Gail, Amy, and Rien.

“Hm, same group.”

Yuria hesitated slightly before approaching Carl.

A mage was fundamentally an important position.

That meant the roles of Carl and Laysis, who would take the vanguard, became even more crucial.

“I’ll be in your care.”

“I’ll be counting on you as well.”

Laysis, as always, joined in with a cheerful attitude.

“Since you all seem familiar with each other, no need for introductions. I’m Luna. Call me whatever’s comfortable—Captain, Senior, or even ‘big sis.’”

“Yes, Senior.”

“Yes, Senior.”

“Yes. Captain.”

“……You’re all so stiff.”

Luna pouted.

Carl and Yuria’s formality was expected, but she thought the warm-hearted Laysis would respond more casually.

“Hmmm……”

Meanwhile, Yuria narrowed her eyes slightly, studying Luna.

She remembered seeing Carl and Luna chatting in a friendly manner in the library not too long ago.

‘Could she have… assigned Carl to her own group on purpose?’

……Surely she wouldn’t let her personal feelings influence an official academy event.

Moreover, the party leader was Carl’s second eldest brother, Senior Darius.

The assisting senior was supposedly chosen directly by Darius himself, so it was unlikely he would pick someone unsuitable.

Soon, the cadets reached the road leading to the subjugation zone.

At the forest’s entrance, the imperial army was setting up a defensive perimeter.

This was standard procedure every year, in case of unexpected monster rampages during the subjugation.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Ah, Bayern. May fortune be with you.”

At the front, Darius exchanged greetings with a knight.

Behind him, Carl glanced over the imperial camp, searching for a familiar face.

Unfortunately, he did not see Carius’s older brother—likely the Raging Flame Knight Order had been assigned elsewhere.

“My brother will be deployed starting tomorrow. You won’t see him much during the training.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate.”

“Even if he comes, he’ll be moving deeper into the heart of the zone than here. If we’re lucky, we might pass by him.”

Darius patted Carl’s shoulder and addressed the cadets.

“Moving in.”

With entry permission secured, they stepped past the imperial lines and into the subjugation area.

The path leading into the forest was shrouded in thick mist.

With Darius at the lead, the cadets entered without hesitation.

Saaaah─

The mist surrounded them.

Once they passed through the dense veil, the scenery before them had changed entirely.

A violet sky, a sharp and biting air, and an unexplainable strangeness emanating from the entire forest.

Rustle.

Carl felt something odd beneath his feet and looked down.

The grass, which had been lush and green just moments ago, was yellowed and withering from this point onward.

‘My senses…’

Suddenly, his vision wavered.

It felt as though all five senses were twisting.

Thanks to the prior briefing, Carl quickly steadied his mind and looked up.

“Hm.”

He noticed Darius and the two senior cadets nodding in his direction.

“Your brother’s the fastest to recover.”

“His mental fortitude must be exceptional compared to other cadets.”

“Of course. He’s my brother.”

Seeing Carl recover first, Darius nodded with a deep smile.

“Ugh.”

“Mmh.”

Before long, the others began regaining their composure one by one.

Those with trained bodies quickly regained their sensory balance and recovered consciousness.

However, for mages, the situation was different.

In this party, only Yuria and Pozers were mages.

Mages, being sensitive to energy flow, could be greatly unsettled by such abrupt changes—especially those with exceptional skill or heightened mana sensitivity.

“……Ugh.”

Fortunately, Pozers recovered quickly, but the more sensitive Yuria staggered, unable to stand properly.

Since they were in the same group, Carl reached out to support her.

Yuria leaned on him briefly, breathing heavily, and only after some time managed to regain her focus.

“……Thanks.”

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Yeah. Feels like I just got off a boat.”

Yuria swept herself with magic, exhaled a calming sigh, and released Carl’s arm.

Once she seemed fine, Darius nodded and pointed deeper into the forest.

“Let’s keep moving. Stay in your groups to be ready for any emergencies.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood.”

“Our first task is to set up a base camp. We’ll move until we find a suitable clearing.”

Led by Darius’s group, the cadets advanced deeper into the forest.

Even as he walked, Carl checked his bracelet.

Aside from what Darius had explained earlier, it had a variety of features.

The most useful for real combat was the mapping function.

It detected the surrounding terrain and marked the positions of other cadets on a map.

It seemed the effective range wasn’t very large, as people disappeared from the map once they got too far, but the function itself was still groundbreaking.

“Ah, ah, Carl, can you hear me?”

At that moment, Laysis’s voice came through to his ears.

She must have been using the bracelet’s message function to speak to him.

When he glanced back, she was silently mouthing words while pointing at her bracelet.

“It’s my first time using this, so I think I need to get used to it. Why don’t you try it too, Carl?”

“Ah, ah. Can you hear me?”

“Yes, I hear you clearly. This is amazing. It’s my first time using a magic tool like this.”

“Bayern’s technology is impressive. Communication artifacts must be complicated to design, yet to operate it in bracelet form…”

“It’s a brand-new technology, barely six months old. I thought it would take much longer before it was used in real combat, but it seems they’re testing it in cooperation with Bayern.”

Yuria cut into the conversation midway.

Seeing Carl and Laysis talking, she had activated her own bracelet’s function and joined the channel.

“If it develops further, people far apart could easily stay in contact. Maybe in ten or twenty years, it’ll be commonplace even in the Empire.”

“I see. Remarkable.”

Carl spoke with genuine admiration.

He already knew the technological gap between the Central Plains and Artenia was vast.

The Central Plains still handled many things in outdated ways, whereas Artenia had already moved past mechanization into magical automation.

Even for someone like him, now used to this civilization, the technology they kept producing was astounding enough to inspire constant amazement.

“This looks like a good spot.”

Darius surveyed the terrain ahead before coming to a halt.

It was a suitable clearing at the forest’s edge, right before the main path began.

“We’ll set up base camp here.”

“Isn’t this too close to the entrance? Going back and forth will take quite a bit of time.”

Maximilian asked with a doubtful look.

He knew the forest ahead covered a wide area and wondered if it was wise to set camp so close to the start.

“A camp should be built in a safe spot. Better here than being attacked while you sleep after going in too deep. Or, Maximilian, do you want to take night watch yourself?”

“……No, sir! Understood!”

At Darius’s question, Maximilian straightened and answered loudly.

“Good. No more questions? Then I’ll assign tasks—let’s get the camp built quickly. In this forest, days are short and nights are long. If you don’t want to sleep outdoors, get moving.”

Under Darius’s command, the groups split tasks.

Carl’s group was to cut down trees for makeshift barricades.

Slash─!

After moving a distance from base camp, they swung their swords and felled trees.

A few swings of a mana-imbued blade brought down thick trunks with ease.

Swoosh! Slice!

Yuria, as a mage, simply flicked her fingers and conjured a razor-sharp wind blade to cut through trees.

Transporting them wasn’t difficult either.

With two mages in their group, they could just levitate the logs with telekinesis.

“Having two mages is nice.”

Luna smiled as she watched the trees floating through the air.

Carl could easily perform magic at that level, so there was no issue.

“……Mmm. I don’t think I can do this.”

Laysis, trying levitation magic just in case, gave a regretful smile and raised a white flag.

As someone who had only recently begun learning magic, delicate spells like telekinesis or levitation were still difficult for her.

“Magic is all about feel. If you keep trying, you’ll succeed at least once—and once you grasp that feeling, it’s not hard.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Besides, you’re a swordswoman. Those trained in martial arts usually have sharper senses, so once you catch the feel, it’s easier. That’s why magic swordsmen are so common these days. Even if it’s hard to reach the top, there’s a lot of synergy in the middle stages.”

“That’s true. I started out that way as well.”

When Carl first learned magic, he had struggled a lot.

To him, already versed in martial arts, magic was nothing more than trickery at first.

But he gradually became fascinated by this entirely different system from the Central Plains, and now he had established new theories to blend magic with martial arts without conflict.

Fortunately, he had been born in the right era and into the right family, so getting materials or help from others hadn’t been difficult.

After all, there were quite a few mages affiliated with his household.

“We’ve brought the wood.”

“Good work. We were just about finishing here too.”

Using his sheathed sword like a hammer, Darius drove nails into place and looked at the three tents set up in the center.

From outside, they looked like ordinary tents, but inside, the atmosphere changed completely.

“……This is…”

The entrance led to a corridor.

Each of the three tents had enough rooms prepared for everyone, and the size was comparable to Bayern’s dormitories.

It was a spatial-expansion lodging artifact prepared by Bayern for this training.

“Isn’t this too luxurious for a field exercise?”

“This is still not enough.”

Tap.

Ignoring Carl’s remark, Darius took something from his backpack and quickly set it up.

Unlike the other tents, this one now had stairs leading underground—and when they went down together, they found a spacious hot spring.

“……A hot spring?”

“Brought it from home. I make good use of it every time I’m in the field.”

“Wow!”

“A hot spring too!”

Other cadets who peeked in behind them cheered loudly, especially the female cadets.

They had assumed they wouldn’t be able to wash properly for a week, so having a hot spring was a pleasant surprise.

Tap.

Darius slung an arm around Carl’s shoulder.

“Nothing beats a hot spring for relieving fatigue. When you rest, rest fully—that’s my philosophy. No objections.”

“……”

At his overbearing older brother’s attitude, Carl could only give a wry smile.

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