“Huh? The students from Knight Academy will first subjugate a demon by themselves?”

“Yeah, this is the wish of the students of the Knight Academy. They can’t seem to understand the purpose of this joint training with just words.”

Gus explained to Sieg-niichan et al. what happened earlier.

Sieg-niichan and Chris-neechan both looked stunned.

“Haaa~ …So it’s the small pride of a student who has yet to set foot into a battlefield.”

“What in the world are you guys thinking?”

“W-we are the top students of the Knight Academy! Even without the support of Magicians, we will still be able to subjugate a demon!”

Even with Sieg-niichan and Chris-neechan’s criticism, the students of the Knight Academy didn’t adhere to their words and insisted on subjugating a demon by themselves.

“I’m telling you that this is not that kind of training practice!”

“Sieg, you don’t have to say another word. It is as the Prince said. Since they cannot comprehend it with words, they can only experience it.”

“But!”

“The training, this time, is just the first trial. And also, Knights and Swordsmen do not need, nor want the support of Magicians, and Magicians do not want or need the support of Knights a Swordsmen; I see these kinds of situations all the time with new recruits in the army.”

“It certainly does happen often, however…”

“It’s fine. If you think about it, they’re just acting a little hasty. Sometimes, these kinds of measures must be taken.”

“…So what you’re saying that if they experience it while they are still students, there won’t be any trouble when they enter the army.”

“That’s how it is. Besides, s.h.i.+n is also partic.i.p.ating in this training. The worse case scenario probably won’t happen.”

“That is also true.”

Ohhh, Sieg-niichan actually agreed with Chris-neechan.

Although it’s regarding me…

Regardless of how unsatisfied I was with the explanation, for the time being, it was decided that the students of the Knight Academy first will subjugate a demon by themselves.

“On the other hand, the students from the Magic Academy didn’t say boastful things.”

“But there seems to be one unconvinced person.”

Gus said while looking at Maria.

“Wh-what is it?”

“No, I was thinking that maybe Mes.h.i.+na doesn’t understand the purpose of this training.”

“I do understand it. After seeing that kind of situation twice… with just my power alone, without the support of either Knights or Swordsmen, I can’t do anything… Although it’s aggravating.”

“Ah, is that so. Umm, Maria-chan was it? You also saw when s.h.i.+n fought against a devil?”

“Y-yes! I was there to see it!”

“Then, although you’re not satisfied, you do understand. Because you saw s.h.i.+n’s battle.”

“Yes. That kind of thing, only s.h.i.+n is capable of using both magic and swordsmans.h.i.+p.”

“What? Walford can also use a sword?”

“He’s probably not that great at it anyway.”

“After all, he’s just a Magician.”

…Why did I suddenly become a target.

“Muhaha. Well, normally, that would be a proper evaluation.”

“That is something they’ll also understand soon enough. Now then, we can’t just stand here and do nothing forever. It’s time for us to get going.”

Under Chris-neechan’s command, we finally headed off to where the training would take place.

It took so much time just to get ready to set off… I feel really uneasy of what will happen in the near future…

And so, we finally arrived at the forest, and we headed deeper inside.

Since it is difficult to scout deep inside the forest, it is likely that powerful demons reside there. However, our targets for today will be either medium or large sized demons.

While walking, I was using Search Magic, and the deeper we go into the forest, the number of parties lessened.

“What’s the matter, for you to suddenly fall silent.”

“That’s only natural. This will be their first time to fight against a demon, so it would be weird if they’re not nervous.”

“Even s.h.i.+n, when he first fought against a demon, he was probably also nervous, right?”

“…How is it?”

“Ahh, I… have actually already heard about that story from Merlin-sama.”

“I also heard it.”

“Eh? What kind of story is it?”

“…I think it would be better if you guys don’t hear it?”

“Because you will definitely lose your confidence.”

“Since you’ve already said that much, it makes me rather interested!”

“We also want to hear about it. Christina-sama, would you please let us hear it?”

“What about me!?”

“Let me see.”

“Ignored?!”

“Haaa, you’re being annoying. In that case, why don’t you tell it.”

“I intended to anyway… Well, let’s just put that aside. Do you guys know that just recently, s.h.i.+n was living deep inside a forest?”

“Yes. I’ve been there once.”

“We also heard about it…”

“Apparently, in order to live deep inside the forest, one needs to be able to hunt to some extent. Since s.h.i.+n became really proficient at hunting, he was also taught how to subdue demons. And so, after being taught how to use Search Magic, it seems he immediately found a demon.”

“After that, what did s.h.i.+n do?”

“After s.h.i.+n found a demon… without any hesitation, he immediately dashed to where the demon was.”

“Without any hesitation?”

At that time, I only considered how to take it down as soon as possible.

“So s.h.i.+n-kun had that kind of story before we even met him.”

“What kind of story is it? We don’t know about it.”

“Then, I’ll continue telling the story. When s.h.i.+n came face to face with the demon… s.h.i.+n, what kind of demon was it?”

“It was a three meter tall bear with red fur.”

“That is—!”

“No way… A red grizzly…”

“Since I heard it from Merlin-sama, there’s no mistaking it. It was an emergency situation that left even Merlin-sama bewildered. For his first demon subjugation, the opponent was just too extreme… However, that guy…”

After Sieg-niichan said that, he turned and looked at me. And then Chris-neechan took over and began to speak.

“Without any hesitation, s.h.i.+n jumped towards the red grizzly and cut off both of its arms. Then, he beheaded the demon in a blink of an eye.”

“A red grizzly, you say, a demon that even the army would need a while to handle…”

“Wha—! It was cut and its head flew off!?”

“And also… it was subdued not by magic, but with a sword…”

“Although you’re the top student of the Magic Academy, you can also use a sword?”

“Furthermore…”

“Is there something else?”

“When that happened, s.h.i.+n was apparently just 10 years-old.”

“10 years-old!?”

Because Gus and the others have already heard of it before, they were not that surprised, but the students from the Knight Academy were stunned speechless.

As I thought, killing a bear at 10 years old was too excessive?

“That’s how it is, and because of that, I guess you could say he’s never been nervous when it comes to subjugating demons?”

“Well, certainly…!”

While the storytelling was happening, the Search Magic finally reacted to a demon. Moreover, it’s heading straight towards us.

“Sieg-niichan.”

“Yeah, I understand. Alright! Students from Knight Academy, your turn has arrived!”

After hearing Sieg-niichan’s voice, tension ran through everyone’s body.

For the time being, let’s have Kreis and the others deal with it. Of course, I also prepared myself in case it becomes hazardous.

“The demon will appear in just a few moment. Get ready for combat.”

At Seig-niichan’s command, Kreis and the others wielded their swords and adopted a battle stance. And then…

“b.u.muUOOOOooooOOOO!!!”

What appeared was a wild boar of around 2 meters.

The demon looked really appetizing, what a waste. Because when an animal turns into a demon, magic deteriorates it and it becomes impossible to eat.

“s.h.i.+n, you… You’re not thinking of something strange, are you?”

How did I get found out!? Recently, Gus’ intuition has been really sharp, it’s scary.

And then, Kreis and the rest of the Knight Academy students shook off their fear and became motivated.

“Don’t freak out! Let’s show them the abilities to the top students of the Knight Academy! Let’s go!!”

” ” “OOOOHH!!” ” ”

And then, Kreis and the others rushed towards the charging wild boar.

Although they tried to slip by to deal it a blow, the wild boar was quicker.

“b.u.muUOOOOooooOOOO!!!”

” ” ” “WHOOOAAAaaaAAA!!” ” ” ”

None of them were able to avoid it, and they were all blown away. They looked like they’ve been hit by a car, or rather, it was better described as having a head-on collision with one.

Then, the wild boar turned around to face Kreis and the others who had been blown away. When Kreis and the rest saw it, they once again picked up their swords to try and defeat it.

However, Kreis and the other had yet to recover from the impact of the collision.

Kreis and the others, who only had the wild boar in their sights, rushed towards it in despair.

With this, have they realized it even just a little?

I rushed in front of the wild boar and took out Vibration Sword. Then I charged towards the wild boar, aimed at its neck, and swung the Vibration Sword.

The wild boar who’d been decapitated, continued to slide across the ground before stopping right in front of Kreis and the others.

“AAAAAHH!”

“Wi—… with a single blow…!”

Ah, Kreis and the others were frightened by the wild boar which slid towards them, and couldn’t move.

“When did he…”

“As expected of him.”

“Be-before that, we have to heal the students of the Knight Academy!”

“Please wait a moment, Sicily-san. Right now, we have to convince them while they’re in pain.”

After saying that, Chris-neechan walked towards Kreis and the others.

“How unsightly. Do you know that that demon is weak for a medium-sized demon? Even so, you guys were bragging about defeating it by yourselves.”

While Kreis and the others were in pain, their confidence was shattered and they were making bitter expressions.

“Have you guys understood it yet? Although you guys are the top students of the Knight Academy, when it comes down to it, all you’ve done is spit out hollow words of a student who has never known the battlefield. When you enter the army, take a good look around. You guys will be the weakest. You guys won’t even match up to the recruits who entered the previous year.”

Kreis and the others were getting more and more depressed.

“However, if you guys have the support of Magicians, you can defeat demons of that caliber. You guys are weak. Please partic.i.p.ate in the remaining training while keeping that in mind.”

“…Yes.”

Kries and the others looked like they were about to cry. Wasn’t that a little too much?

Sicily walked up to Kreis and the others who were still depressed.

“U-umm, I’ll be using healing magic now, so please keep as still as much as possible.”

After saying that, she started to cast a healing spell.

“…Although we were all looking down at you guys…”

“I don’t mind it at all. Right now, we are all members of the same party, so this much is natural.”

“You…”

Sicily laughed while casting healing magic.

…I wonder what this is? The eyes Kreis and the others had while looking at Sicily felt a little strange. And it made me feel really nauseous.

After recovering thanks to the healing magic, Kreis, and the others stood up and the first thing they did was to look at me.

“…You saved me, Walford… You have my grat.i.tude.”

“…It’s fine, don’t worry about it. As Sicily have said, we’re all in the same party.”

“Haa, that’s right. Nevertheless, to be able to kill that with a single blow… I really envy Walford, and at the same time, am ashamed of myself.”

“…It was wonderful.”

“Next time, I will cooperate properly, and I will subjugate a demon.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

This was probably envy. As I thought it’s that after all; since it was a Magician who subjugated the demon, this time, the Knight sp.a.w.ns didn’t feel it was all that interesting.

And then, they turned to look towards Sicily.

“You… You feel exactly the same as Sacred Saint-sama.”

“I… This is the first time I’ve ever met a woman so gentle…”

“When I think about all the women around me…”

“What is it? What did you want to say!?”

“No… nothing really…”

“As for me, my eyes have finally opened up. I will fight to protect you from now on.”

“I will make sure that you will not receive a single wound!”

“Now that I think about it, your name…”

“My name is Sicily von Claude…”

“Sicily, I will protect you!”

“What are you saying! I will be the one to protect her!”

“No, I will!”

…Since these guys have no immunity towards gentle girls, it looks like they immediately took a liking to the kind Sicily…

I wonder what this is… At first, I intended to cooperate with these guys, but I couldn’t calm down and felt sick to the stomach.