061

Two days before the evaluation.

Dozens of luggage carts entered the academy.

They were the carts that Avril had arranged for this evaluation.

“Hahahaha, thanks to Advisor Avril, so many people were able to arrive so comfortably! The Goldline Merchant Guild is truly different, as expected.”

“Not at all. This level of support is something we should naturally provide.”

Thanks to him, the students could travel comfortably without the trouble of walking to the canyon.

The number of people traveling together was almost 400.

As they had packed the students’ personal equipment as well, the carts were filled to the brim.

This meant that nearly 100 carts and horses had been mobilized.

“That’s crazy. Isn’t Advisor Avril the youngest of the Goldline family? He has older brothers, but he can spend this much money so freely?”

“You haven’t heard? The perfumes, jewels, and fabrics that are currently trending in the Empire were all picked by Advisor Avril. They say he has a ridiculous eye for things, you know?”

“My father said he’s the most watched guild master in Goldline right now. Even while staying here in Belmein, he leads the trends more proactively than anyone else?”

Listening to the students’ conversation, I could guess the source of Avril’s funds.

As a regressor, he knew information from the future, so he must have known exactly which products would become popular in the capital.

It seemed he had used that information to earn a huge profit.

‘Looking at this, it seems merchants are the most advantaged among regressors.’

I thought he was just handling paperwork every day, but it looked like he was constantly supplying the capital with products he remembered.

Aside from his personality, I had to acknowledge that he was truly diligent.

“Let’s confirm the order. First is Class E. Second is Class D. Third is Class B, fourth is Class A, fifth is Class C. And last is F. Correct?”

Gwen and Qantaii nodded at my question.

Among the newly appointed teachers, only the youngest one gave a small nod, while the other two didn’t even pretend to listen.

Among them, the middle-aged female teacher was the homeroom teacher for Class E, which was first, and the male teacher was the homeroom teacher for Class D.

Just like last year, Qantaii had A, and Gwen had B.

The order wasn’t bad.

‘That teacher snatched the first turn so she could stand out the most and have it easy.’

‘I heard she went to the Chairman and the Head of Department, bowed and scraped excessively, and even threw a tantrum!’

‘And then she went and passed off the fifth slot to the youngest teacher, you know? As if being old is some kind of rank! How pitiful.’

‘Of course, I believe that you, senior, have divine schemes and strategies that will allow you to break through even if you’re last!’

Thanks to Gwen and Qantaii, I had a good grasp of the situation.

It seemed the embarrassment they suffered back then had left a deep impression on them.

Even when we passed on the street, they wouldn’t even make eye contact, and word got back to me that they were badmouthing me behind my back.

Above all, they were grinding their teeth and openly showing their dislike right in front of me.

“I wish everyone good results.”

Again, there was no response.

“Everyone, disembark!”

We set up a campsite about two hours away from the canyon.

We had to stay here until tomorrow and take the test.

With clumsy hands, the students pitched tents, lit fires, and began to manage their condition.

At the center of those tents.

All the teachers gathered in a large tent, much bigger than the others.

“Haha, the students probably don’t know that these situations are also part of the evaluation criteria, do they?”

On one side of the tent, there were six blackboards.

And on each blackboard, scenes of the students from Classes A, B, C, D, E, and F were being displayed.

It was Berlis’s magic.

Birds, lured by her familiar magic, circled the sky, monitoring each class, and those scenes were being reproduced on the blackboards.

“Perhaps because they’re taught by someone from the military, the Class A students are very meticulous in setting up their barracks overall.”

“It seems there’s a student with camping experience among the Class F students. A few students are taking the lead and systematically explaining what needs to be done.”

“Other than that, they’re all more or less the same.”

The five teachers in charge of the advancement and graduation classes watched the scenes on the blackboards and assigned scores.

Not only the class scores, but also the individual students’ scores were being recorded in real-time.

After the evaluation period, these scores would be compiled to determine their grades, I presumed.

“Well then, Teacher Marius. Please begin with Class E.”

“Understood, Chairman.”

The teacher of Class E stepped forward confidently.

Soon, the screen showing Class E changed.

Perhaps because the bird flew higher, the students’ path and movements became clearly visible.

The students moved toward the canyon in a clumsy formation.

‘It’s too clumsy.’

In fact, the Class E students seemed to have made no preparations at all.

The students we taught last year were walking in the two-person, three-person, or four-person cell formations we had taught them, while the new students were just trailing behind them in a large, disorganized group.

‘It’s not like they don’t have a formation, but…’

The students on the outside held shields, and the students on the inside did hold bows.

However, they weren’t even marching in step, so even if it was just the process of moving from one place to another, they were far too defenseless.

And just as I expected.

— Kkieeeeeeeeeh—!

From far away, the cry of a harpy began to be heard.

It was the harpy vanguard.

‘Monsters that live in colonies operate a vanguard. That means we can’t control when the battle begins.’

A flock of twenty harpies, which had instantly grown in number, began to circle in the air.

They were a little over 1m tall, their entire bodies covered in red feathers.

Their lower bodies were that of a bird, but their upper bodies resembled a human’s, with long wings extending from under their long arms.

Their faces were similar to a human’s but somewhat vertically elongated, and their unruly hair and sharp teeth gave them a bizarre look.

With such harpies flying in the air and looking down at the students, I could see them cowering even from beyond the screen.

――――!

At least the students who had experience fighting orcs drew their swords and assumed a ready stance, but.

‘Orcs and harpies are different.’

The swordsmanship we had devised was specialized for fighting orcs.

It was a formation that made each person another’s sword, muscle, and nerve, turning a multitude of individuals into a single swordsman.

An attack from harpies flying in the air was outside of their expectations.

— Kkieeeeeeeek!

With a faint cry, the harpies began to dive.

The harpies flew in with their sharp claws out in front, baring their teeth to tear at the students.

But what was more threatening were the feathers they shot like arrows every time they flapped their wings.

The sharply honed feathers embedded themselves in the students’ shields just like arrows.

―――――!

As a few students shouted, the others huddled in the center, raised their shields, and hid like turtles.

Arrows were shot through the gaps between the shields, and as the harpies approached, the second-year students swung their swords to fight them.

An hour passed like that.

After a standoff that made the onlookers anxious, the students slowly began to retreat.

‘It felt less like we were making a strategic retreat and more like the harpies let us go first.’

The number of fallen harpies on the ground was about five.

Once about half of the initial twenty were dead, the harpy vanguard finished its attack and withdrew.

I glanced over and saw that Teacher Marius seemed satisfied with his results.

‘I wouldn’t give them a good evaluation.’

The new students’ tanking was clumsy, and they didn’t deal much damage.

Above all, the ones who were most active were not the new students, but mostly the returning students who had enrolled last year.

Was this all he had prepared to make such a fuss about?

Disappointment welled up inside me.

It was the same for Class D, which went about three hours later.

This time, a vanguard of about thirty harpies appeared. They took down about eight of them.

“The students are fighting bravely against so many monsters without fear!”

He praised his class several times while watching the screen.

But it didn’t seem to mean much.

That was because the third turn belonged to none other than Qantaii.

“Now then, Teacher Qantaii.”

“You may look forward to it!”

* * *

Winter days are short.

After 4 p.m., the sun sets and the dark of night arrives.

“Everyone, get ready.”

Qantaii’s Class A used the charcoal they brought to paint their shields and swords black.

Through Qantaii’s classes, they were equipped with customized strategies for fighting in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

The students, who had dulled any reflective light and camouflaged themselves in the darkness, got into formation.

“First, left foot.”

It was clear the harpies would be extremely sensitive after two fights.

It was important to be prepared for an attack at any moment in the darkness.

Since the enemy would be coming from the air anyway, they covered their front and their heads with shields.

With the left and right flanks open, students stood guard in all directions as they moved.

— Kkieeeeeeeeeeek!

Soon, a shriek that tickled the back of my neck was heard.

It was the harpies.

“Prepare for battle!”

At that moment, the students stopped advancing and held their ground, maintaining their formation.

Since the harpies had already spotted them, there was no need to move further; they might as well face the monsters here.

“Shields! Up!”

They held their shields at an angle, blocking all sides—up, down, left, and right—like a tent.

At the same time, the new students shot fire arrows into the air from between the shields.

Piiiiiik—!

With a sharp sound, the fire arrows tore through the air, drawing orange arcs.

Every time the light cut through the sky, the gleam in the harpies’ eyes, reflecting the flames, flashed.

There were fifty of them.

Their number had nearly doubled since before.

“There are so many….”

“Focus! Opening the center!”

“Open! Spears up!”

“Swords! Ready!”

Just before the new students were consumed by fear, the students moved busily, changing the shape of their formation.

The harpies, dodging the fire arrows, saw what looked like the formation collapsing and, getting agitated, descended to the ground.

At that moment, the waiting students raised their charcoal-painted spears and swung their swords.

— Kkieeeeeek!

The wounded harpies fell to the ground in droves.

To prevent those harpies from injuring other students, a few students made sure to finish them off.

While this was happening, the students moved in step, and the formation changed like flowing water.

The shields once again enveloped the students, blocking the harpies’ attacks, and every time the shields opened, four or five harpies would invariably lose their lives.

And an hour later.

“We are retreating!”

Class A began to retreat in an orderly fashion.

The flock of harpies had already withdrawn, and more than thirty harpy corpses lay on the ground.

That was more than the combined number of harpies defeated by the previous two classes.

* * *

Clap, clap, clap, clap.

Applause erupted from the teachers watching the video.

“Wow, he said he was from the military, was Teacher Qantaii that competent? In just a month, he’s raised the students to the level of the Empire’s royal soldiers?”

“That’s insane, how many drills did he teach the students?”

“This is a textbook example! He’s practically brainwashed them on how to fight flying monsters!”

The level was different.

The teachers of Class D and E, who were watching the video together, couldn’t say a word, their faces flushed red.

But the most pitiful one was the teacher of Class C.

From the looks of it, Class C’s preparations were probably not much different from Class D’s or E’s.

In that situation, they now had to face a flock of 50, or perhaps even more, harpies, just as Qantaii had.

I wondered if the young teacher, who was still only in his twenties, could handle it.

‘No, the problem isn’t the teacher, it’s the students.’

Yuria might be a little busy tomorrow.

“Hahahaha. This year’s new students seem like they’ll be the best in history. You must have many happy dilemmas in both evaluation and education.”

Only the thoughtless Chairman and Head of Department laughed loudly, satisfied.

“Well then, since there’s an evaluation tomorrow as well, let’s all get some sleep.”

The instructors dispersed in small groups and entered the tents prepared for the teachers.

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