The Sage of the Tower of Truth
Time flew by as we gathered to practice for the tournament and grow accustomed to our newly acquired equipment.
Today was the day each class would select the teams that would compete in the tournament.
On the morning of that important day, I had taken up a position in one corner of the academy floor, quietly surveying my surroundings.
The Hero Academy was currently in a state of considerable bustle. Not only the servants — butlers and maids alike — but also heavily armed guards and even professors could easily be seen rushing about in a hurry.
Of course they would be busy preparing for the tournament, but today there was another reason. It was the day a Sage of the Tower of Truth would visit to observe the tournament hosted by the academy.
I was really shocked when I received the attendee list from the information guild.
Since their visit hadn't happened in the original story, I was standing watch to confirm it with my own eyes.
The Tower of Truth, huh…
As their name suggested, they were an organization whose purpose was to stack knowledge through mana and reach the truth.
In reality, they're just as troublesome as those Light of Dawn bastards.
Unlike heroes, who are heavily influenced by talent, every living being possesses mana. Perhaps thanks to that, there were far more ordinary citizens who blindly believed in the Tower of Truth than one might imagine.
I had not the slightest interest in how large or great an organization they were. The problem was that under the noble cause of reaching the truth, they freely crossed the line between good and evil. And at the end of that path lay the Light of Dawn.
The Tower of Truth considered both a hero's talent and the Demon God's mana as nothing more than tools for reaching the truth. Just thinking about them was enough to give me a headache.
I let out a small sigh and looked toward the floor entrance. There stood Erse Bathory, Headmaster of the Hero Academy, with professors arrayed behind her, quietly setting the atmosphere.
The Headmaster was radiating a threatening mana of a completely different caliber from when she had spoken with me privately. Her mana was clearly laced with hostility toward the one who was about to arrive. And it wasn't just her. I could feel that the professors, and even some of the guards, were making no effort to hide their discomfort.
In an instant, the entire area fell silent, and only a dull thud… thud… thud… echoed through the floor. Along with the sound of a staff striking the ground, a deep male voice rang out.
"I never imagined the Blood Count herself would welcome me. I am truly honored."
What entered the floor was a middle-aged man in a suit — and not just any suit, but an extremely luxurious one of the sort one might wear to a party. A monocle rested on his stern-looking face, further emphasizing the man's intellectual air.
The Headmaster glared at him with clear displeasure and opened her mouth.
"…Sage. You have come a long way. On behalf of our entire academy, I welcome the visit of the Tower of Truth. I shall personally serve as your guide as well."
Despite the Headmaster's uncomfortable gaze, the man brushed it off lightly as if it were nothing.
"I gratefully accept the academy's hospitality."
Before following behind the Headmaster, the man called Sage swept his gaze across the interior of the floor, and for a brief moment his eyes met mine as I watched the scene. It was a span of time too short to even call a few seconds, yet his eyes were like an abyss that threatened to suck me in.
A strange feeling washed over me, and a chill ran through my entire body — but the man quietly followed behind the Headmaster as if nothing had happened, leaving the floor and disappearing beyond the corridor.
"That bastard. He definitely scanned your mana."
What?!
I had only stopped by briefly to get a look at the face of someone who might become an enemy, but the situation had taken a strange turn.
"He didn't have the skill to figure out everything, but he would have noticed that there's something strange about your mana."
I suppose I should count myself lucky that at least the dragon's mana hadn't been discovered. I had no desire to hand over the bait of dragon mana to those Tower of Truth types who loved anything unusual while going on about "truth" this and that.
"He didn't seem hostile for now, but be careful. That one is still too much for you to handle at present."
I don't think he'd cause trouble right in the middle of the academy, but…
The Tower of Truth, just like the Light of Dawn, was full of nothing but lunatics, so all I could do was be careful.
"Ha, damn it…"
I'd gone looking to remove a problem and only ended up with a bigger one stuck on me.
An emergency was an emergency, and the selection match was the selection match.
Despite the unsettling encounter with the Sage from the Tower of Truth, I had to participate in the selection match no matter what if I wanted to clear Episode 1. So I forced myself to clear my head and headed with my teammates to the venue where the selection match would be held.
As we walked down the academy's long corridor, Enri looked at the people around us and suddenly asked as if something had occurred to her.
"Come to think of it, doesn't the academy's atmosphere seem somehow restless today?"
"I felt it too, starting this morning. The academy staff seem oddly tense…"
Angela agreed with Enri's question, having felt the same thing. I gave them the answer.
"From what I've heard, a high-ranking figure has visited the academy."
"Ah."
"I see."
Only after hearing my words did they nod as if they finally understood. Just looking at the reactions of the Headmaster and the professors who had been on the floor at the time, one could confirm how poor the relationship between mages and heroes was. There was no need to tell the girls everything right before the selection match.
As expected of the Spencer family, huh.
Judging by Elizabeth's uncomfortable expression, she already seemed to know about the current situation.
After walking further down the corridor and coming outside the building, we arrived at an open lot where familiar faces had gathered. Among the students assembled there, tension hung in the air, and I felt someone walking straight toward us.
"Ha…"
"Ugh!"
"Tsk."
At my teammates' rotten expressions, I turned my head to check who it was — and I couldn't help but make the same face as them.
"…Has his suspension already been lifted?"
A man with blue hair and blue eyes. Jack Richmond was approaching us.
"Jack Richmond. What do you want with me?"
"Damn Winchester. You've been having fun while I was gone, haven't you?!"
Just looking at that stupid face was enough to give me a headache.
"Picking a fight again? The tournament is about to start, you know."
At my words, he spoke with an unpleasant smile.
"Yeah, and at that tournament, I'm going to make sure I keep the promise I made last time — so wash your neck and wait!"
The promise from last time?
He'd said so many ridiculous things that nothing stuck in my memory. Apparently he'd only come to say that one thing, because after delivering his piece he disappeared among the people.
"I'm sorry. I never thought he'd still act like this even after we formally protested through our family…"
"Hmph, there really are some strange people out there!"
"No matter when you look at him, he's truly an unpleasant person."
While our moods had been ruined by Jack Richmond's appearance, a well-built professor climbed onto a temporary platform set up in the open lot and began explaining the selection match.
"As everyone knows, our Hero Academy, under the command of His Majesty the great Emperor, has planned training as close to real combat as possible."
Servants walked among the students, handing each team a small piece of parchment and a coin with a number written on it. When I carefully unrolled the parchment, a small map was drawn on it — a map all too familiar to me.
So the mock battle is finally starting.
"Our academy has decided to introduce the Subspace Battlefield that the Tower of Truth has newly succeeded in developing."
Subspace Battlefield. It was the latest technology that created a combat environment where, no matter how much you smashed and destroyed things inside, as long as there was mana, it would rapidly restore itself.
I had known they would use a Subspace Battlefield, but I never imagined that thing had been made by the Tower of Truth.
…So that's why someone from the Tower of Truth visited the academy.
I'd wondered why those types who wouldn't even move unless something interested them had come all the way to the academy — turns out there was this backstory…
"You will all enter the subspace prepared for combat together. The rules are no different from those used in the arena. However—"
The simple rule was to collect three or more coins. Additionally, he spent about ten minutes elaborately explaining that if you left the designated area or received more than a certain amount of impact, you would be eliminated.
…This professor really talks a lot.
Not just me — the expressions of the surrounding students all looked thoroughly fed up.
"Alright, it's almost time to begin. Everyone, please move toward the magic circle."
Once the professor's explanation was finished, we began preparing to start. The waiting students stepped onto the magic circles prepared for each team.
"I will warn you once more. Once you transfer to the other side, you cannot come back out until it ends."
In other words, until victory and defeat were roughly decided, we would be stuck inside the subspace with no way out.
"Well then, everyone, do your best."
No sooner had the professor finished speaking than the patterns drawn on the magic circle began to emit a brilliant light.
"Hmm? There's a disgusting energy mixed in with the mana."
What?!
"—?!"
Caught in the torrent of mana pouring from the magic circle, unable even to respond to Beatrix's words, I was enveloped in blue light as the transfer began.