By Zephyria 
At Polargehen’s gesture, the children entered the Battle Room Gate one by one. Zeon followed closely beside me as I followed behind them. I glanced at him. The way he was looking at me with sparkling eyes, it looked like his tail would be spinning 360 degrees if he had one.
“Raymond.”
“What.”
“I just called you. Because I like you.”
Zeon smiled brightly as he said that.
I knew it.
He’s been doing that lately.
I couldn’t be bothered to reply, so I just turned my head, but Zeon didn’t seem to care much. Herman, who was nearby with him, glared at Zeon with a dissatisfied look, but I didn’t know why.
Did they fight or something without me knowing…?
On the contrary, Ardian, who didn’t get along well with those two, didn’t seem to be as hostile to them as before. Truly, the human heart is hard to understand.
A moment later, after passing through the Gate, a space that looked like a control room with lots of hologram screens appeared. It seemed that this place was a space for checking the operation and internal situation of the Battle Room.
There were a total of three hologram screens displayed.
One was a space that looked exactly like the capital of the Empire, one was a space that looked like an outer region with the sea and mountains nearby, and the remaining one was a space with flat land and only some houses left in ruins, with mountains nearby.
They had created virtual spaces by transferring areas that were similar to real areas, and it seemed that they were trying to allow people in the control room to see the inside of the virtual spaces through those screens.
Polargehen walked towards the screens and looked back at us.
“From the right screen to the left, they are Battle Room A, Battle Room B, and Battle Room C. From now on, you will form teams and enter the Battle Room that is randomly assigned to you, and you will unexpectedly encounter Lesser Demons. It could be one big one or several small ones.”
In other words, everything was an uncertain element. Someone might complain that it was unfair, but realistically, that was right.
“We haven’t implemented people in the space, but we’re looking at not only combat ability but also coping ability, so you should be especially careful in Battle Room A, which is based on the center of the capital. Keep in mind that everything goes into the score. Now, I’ll announce the team lists.”
Polargehen paused for a moment and took out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket. It seemed that he had written down the list in advance. He soon began to read the names while looking at the paper.
“First, Team A. Raymond, Hawkrun, Derek, Ibelia.”
Since the name of this body came out, I also listened carefully.
Then other names were called.
“Team B is Newit, Clona, Tom, Herman, and Melicsa. Zeon and Ardian will not be included in the teams and will be put into the Battle Room individually, so keep that in mind. It’s for the balance between the teams, so I won’t listen to any complaints. For the same reason, Team A, which includes Raymond, whose achievements have grown significantly, will have one less person, so please keep this in mind as well.”
Zeon and Ardian are individual.
Well, even if the two of them were divided into Team A and Team B, their achievements are so much different from the other children that there is a high possibility that proper training would not be possible.
Although I’m not as good as them, my achievements are currently more prominent than the other children, so it would have been difficult to divide them into teams without making the two of them exceptions.
Of course, Polargehen can’t use Mana Detection on students, so he wouldn’t know the exact achievements, but since he’s been with them for a while, he would have a rough idea of their skills.
“The rule is to deal with the Fiends within an hour from the time they appear. Of course, the faster you deal with them, the more bonus points you will get. Then in 10 minutes… Ardian and Zeon will start first, and then Team A and Team B will proceed in that order. You can freely talk to your teammates for 10 minutes.”
Polargehen finished speaking, and it became a little chaotic for a moment. As the children of Team B gathered in a corner, Ibelia of Team A also gestured for us to gather, so I turned my body towards them.
Hawkrun and Derek didn’t seem to have any intention of talking about this training, but Ibelia’s face was full of enthusiasm.
“I don’t know what kind of Fiends will appear, so we can’t completely prepare, but I think we should still come up with some countermeasures so that we don’t panic when we face unexpected situations. What do you think?”
At Ibelia’s question, Derek hesitated timidly, and Hawkrun listened as if he didn’t care. It seemed that Team B would have better cooperation with each other.
“…Battle Room A has many tall buildings, so it will be difficult to secure a view. It would be much more advantageous to go up to the top of the building and wait than to wait below the building. If we’re in a high place, we’ll be able to quickly spot the Fiends no matter where they appear.”
When I gave my opinion, Ibelia’s eyes sparkled. I was feeling a strange sense of pressure when Ibelia continued the story, accepting my words.
“I thought so too. So, if we go to Battle Room A, how about we scatter right away and wait on top of the building? When the Fiends appear, the person closest to them will send a signal separately, and then we’ll gather again.”
“Uh… scatter?”
Derek’s face turned pale. He seemed to be afraid of being left alone, but Ibelia continued to speak.
“That way, we can shorten the time. And Battle Room B, which has the sea and mountains in the front and back. Since there’s a high probability that the Fiends will appear in the mountains, it would be good to distribute ourselves widely and wait in a place close to the mountains.”
“It’s rare for Fiends to appear in the sea. But we also have to think about winged Fiends ‘crossing’ the sea. In fact, quite a few Fiends cross over like that in Niflheim.”
“Hmm. That’s true too. If it’s a high-ranking Ramble, it can freely change the shape of its body even if it’s amorphous… so it could appear with wings. And we didn’t say that Balkan isn’t there either.”
Ibelia nodded and rested her chin on her hand. As I was responding to Ibelia’s words one by one, Hawkrun, who had been looking listless as if he wasn’t interested, slipped in a word.
“Then if it’s Battle Room B, I’ll go to the sea alone. If it’s open, I can cover the entire area. I have good eyesight and I’m Evocation-type, so I can intercept from a distance. If they appear in the sea, I’ll fire a flare.”
It felt like we were finally starting to have a conversation.
Derek, who didn’t want to be isolated on his own, said that he would work hard too, and we talked while predicting the situation in Battle Room C. As we were doing that, 10 minutes passed quickly. We turned our heads at the sound of Polargehen clapping his hands.
“Okay, let’s start then. Gather around here.”
The children gather in front of Polargehen. Polargehen looked around at the children and gestured for Ardian to come out first.
“Ardian will go in first. Then Zeon, so wait.”
Zeon nodded.
Then Polargehen explained to Ardian, “If you open the door on the right, a randomly determined Battle Room will appear,” and Ardian opened the door without hesitation.
As Ardian’s figure disappeared beyond the door, Polargehen manipulated the screen. The three screens that had been showing each Battle Room were now showing various aspects of Battle Room A, which Ardian had entered.
“We will watch together here how the other students are coping. Make sure to learn what you can from seeing how the other students are doing.”
“Yes.”
The children answered as one, and not long after, Ardian’s figure was caught on the screen. The children, who were sitting comfortably, were all focused on the screen. Ardian, who had a calm face that didn’t reveal what he was thinking, looked around and immediately climbed to the top of the tallest building.
He was looking down from there and guarding the surroundings, and the moment the Fiends appeared, he caught their presence and moved.
His movements were so fast, delicate, and flawless that they weren’t properly captured on the screen, so even if they wanted to emulate him, they couldn’t. The children could only admire him.
As Polargehen, who had been holding his forehead after seeing Ardian’s performance, which wasn’t half-hearted, shook his head, Ardian returned to the control room through the door that had reopened in less than a few minutes.
Ardian, who had been walking in, came and sat next to me. As I glared at him, Ardian smiled, and at that moment, Zeon, who was next in line, was called by Polargehen and stood up.
“Just enter through the door like before.”
“Yes.”
Zeon answered in a calm tone, opening the door and entering. The Battle Room he entered was C, a location with terrain that allowed for a relatively wide field of vision and included a mountain.
Unlike Ardian’s turn, where a large Fiend appeared, Zeon faced several small and swift Fiends. It took a bit longer due to the number, but frankly, there wasn’t much for the other students to learn from this time either. He dealt with them cleanly and quickly with minimal movement, then returned as if nothing had happened.
The training of these two exceptional individuals was nothing more than a spectacle, hardly worthy of being called training. For them, it was no more than a warm-up. Polargehen, who had been watching with a resigned expression, finally called the next group.
“Team A will enter. Prepare yourselves.”
That was the team I was in.