By Zephyria 
‘…Cloud, was it? In the end, I couldn’t figure out what he was.’
All I could say for sure now was that he was a much stronger person than I was.
I didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble with such a guy, so I decided not to go against the part he had advised me on.
No matter how presumptuous I was in acting as I pleased, I still distinguished between the opponent and the situation. I was the Demon King, not a barbarian who acted recklessly without any backing.
Of course, some might say that I was just succumbing to the strong and running away, but so what? Even if that were the case, it didn’t matter.
I was allowed to be like that.
Because it was me.
I was generous to myself today as well.
‘Hmm. Should I take a look around slowly for now?’
After all, the original purpose was a light inspection of the school. And even if I didn’t use Mana Detection, I might be able to find a noticeable person if I walked around.
I moved my steps and headed inside. There were people who looked like students in the library besides me, and they were all quietly reading or looking for books.
While scanning the bookshelves on the 2nd floor of the library, I found a book that I was curious about and took it out.
The title of the book was
The cover was quite old, so I thought it would contain very old information. But as a result, I couldn’t confirm what was inside.
[Checking ‘Red’ Class certification…]
[You are not qualified to view this book.]
The Magic on the book displayed letters like a hologram and rejected my attempt to view it.
I tried to force the book open, but it was impossible.
“Huh.”
It seemed that this book could only be viewed if one possessed a class certification of a grade that met the viewing requirements. Since there were books that opened normally, it was at least conscientious that not all books were like that.
‘I didn’t know that class certifications were such widely used items.’
I sighed, feeling like a child who had their candy taken away.
Of course, if you think about it differently, it also meant that there was a lot of content that couldn’t be made public to the general public to the extent that such security features had to be installed, so it would be worth looking forward to if I could read it. And I couldn’t pass by such a place after coming to spy.
‘I have more reason to get a class certification.’
Come to think of it, there was a subject related to classes on the timetable. I had briefly thought about it when I was talking to Polargehen last time, but I had forgotten about it right away, but I remembered it again.
‘Let’s see. Was it White Class Entrance Practice?’
I opened the timetable and checked. As I remembered, a subject called
So I could take this subject next Monday.
Since it was a biweekly class, I hadn’t taken it directly yet, so I didn’t know much about it, but I had a feeling that it was related to getting a class certification.
‘I wonder what kind of class it will be.’
I shook my student ID card and turned off the timetable that was displayed in hologram form, and raised one corner of my mouth.
As time passed, the following Monday came. Since classes were proceeding normally, I listened to
“Ugh. Finally, there’s only one class left.”
“But it’s good that the practical class is biweekly. There’s no class next week. Hmm, of course… I’ve heard that it’s a very, very difficult class…”
“I heard it lasted for five hours sometimes. The practical.”
A male student propped his chin behind Tom, who was muttering with a pale face. Hokrun Zebil. He was the guy who got hit on the back of the head for dozing off in class. He was also one of the students I had been keeping an eye on since the first day of school.
“F-Five hours?!”
As Tom widened his eyes, Hokrun, who had a sleepy face, relaxed his mouth and smiled. As his sleepy eyes narrowed, his sly personality seemed to be revealed on the surface.
Then, Melicsa Cecil, who was crushing the smiling Hokrun, chimed in.
“Don’t you know? The story of rolling for five hours is quite famous among the seniors who graduated from Class A! It was a complete hell, they said? Well, that’s because the professor in charge of the subject is Polargehen, so whatever you imagine, it’s more than that, right? Hahahaha!”
Her face, laughing coolly, represented her cheerful personality. Tom, who was already intimidated by what kind of ‘hell’ he had imagined, was shrinking his shoulders with a pale face.
After watching Tom tremble like a frightened small animal, I turned to Melicsa and Hokrun. Hokrun, who was crushed by Melicsa, was making all sorts of faces with a bothered expression.
“Do you know what you do in the practical?”
“No. It seems to change a little each time.”
Melicsa shrugged and answered my question.
It was then.
The students’ eyes turned to the door at the dull sound of knocking.
It was Polargehen standing at the front door of the classroom.
Having succeeded in gathering the children’s attention, he glanced around the room and pointed outside with his finger.
“The practical will be held in the training ground. Everyone follow me.”
At that, all the Class A students got up from their seats and followed Polargehen. Since the training ground was public, the outer field of the training ground was full of students from the Swordsmanship Department who were in the middle of swordsmanship training.
We headed inside the training ground. That was as expected. I was looking around the empty training ground, but Polargehen, who gestured for us to follow him further, grabbed the doorknob of the iron door on the opposite side.
Was he going out again?
While I was watching with that thought in mind.
Polargehen grabbed the doorknob and fiddled with it for a moment with a seemingly meaningless action, then opened the door.
Then, instead of the opposite side of the training ground… a forest area appeared.
“……!”
“Huh? What is it?”
The children, surprised by the scenery that was clearly not the school, buzzed. I was also surprised for a moment, but I quickly realized it. That the door was enchanted to pass through space.
Polargehen’s seemingly meaningless action was a kind of trigger to activate the Magic on the door.
“Beyond this is the ‘Forest Zone Type Training Ground’. It’s a large-scale training ground created using the school’s land. Today’s practical class will be held here.”
As Polargehen gestured for us to enter, the hesitant children began to move one by one. I also strode over the door.
Certainly, I could feel that the air was different from the school here. Judging from the fact that there were no buildings around, it seemed that it was actually quite far from the school.
“It’s a fairly large site. Thanks to that, the best part of this training ground is that you can move as if it were a real battle.”
Polargehen continued as he slowly closed the door.
The door that closed behind us disappeared, and we were in a situation no different from being stranded on a deserted island.
An unknown tension flowed among the children.
“Don’t worry too much because it’s outside the school. It’s safe from Fiends because there’s an extensive Barrier up and down. Of course, you’re not allowed to go outside the Barrier either. Well, it’s all for your safety, so there won’t be any problems with this.”
Polargehen muttered and soon snapped his fingers. Immediately after, colorful marks that were created in an instant appeared on each person’s chest. It was a mark that Polargehen had created with Creation Magic.
“Now, I’ll explain the rules of the ‘Survival Mission’. The practical will be like this in the future, so listen carefully this time.”
I checked the mark on my chest and raised my head.
Polargehen’s explanation continued.
“What’s on your chest right now is a kind of ‘life’. It’s made to count when it’s destroyed or taken by others or yourself. Each life is worth 1 point.”
The children glanced at each other. Some were checking the marks on their chests again.
“Those who lose their lives here will all have points deducted, and those who take the most lives will have points added as many as they took. Those who didn’t lose their lives but didn’t gain any will maintain their points. The time limit is five hours. Any ability can be used in any form. So far, have you understood properly?”
In other words… he was telling us to play a point-stealing game.
Heavy silence.
In it, a male student with a freckled face raised his hand slightly. He was so ordinary that I still couldn’t remember his name.
“Um… Professor. Can I ask a question?”
“Yes.”
“If my mark is taken but I succeed in taking other people’s marks, how is the score calculated?”
“That’s a very proactive and good question, Derek.”
Polargehen nodded in satisfaction.
“If you have your own taken and take one from someone else, the score is maintained. From there, if you take one more, you get 1 point added. In other words, if you want to live even if you’ve been taken, you can take someone else’s.”
Constant competition. The ultimate goal of this Survival Mission seemed to be growth through competition. It wasn’t a bad method.
“The more points you deduct, the more your grade will go towards failing. If you can’t complete the practical class, you won’t be qualified to take the White Class promotion exam. If you don’t want to be left behind, you’d better try your best.”
Polargehen smiled, curving his eyes.
“Yes. Do your best to kill the other person. It’s okay to have one arm fly off. Even though I look like this, I’m quite talented in Healing Magic. I’m checking your condition in real time, so if I detect a problem, call me anytime and I’ll heal you.”
That was completely… the face of a devil.