Intermission: End of the Beast Training Battle

“Huu.... Is it over....”

Only the Yeti's corpse remained in the ice palace. I leaned against the ice wall. As I finally exhaled the breath I'd been holding, my heart pounded wildly.

If I hadn't taken it down in one shot, it would've been a total disaster....

I'd nearly gotten game over right there. My stamina isn't all that high, after all.

Against the Yeti, I'd pushed myself to make swift judgments and decisions, but now that the situation was over, I was completely drained. No matter how much Unyielding Spirit I had, a beta male like me still fears death. Even if the trait forcibly steels my personality.

As I stowed the sniper rifle in the wooden box and tidied up, I thought, “For now, one worry down.”

Act 2 of Chapter 1, the Beast Training Battle, had ended just like that. All that was left was the cleanup.

If things went as planned, I'd stash my mask and camouflage gear, play the part of Extra 3 who was shocked by the demon's appearance, and that would be it. And with Concealment, the smoke wouldn't be an issue.

A demon appearing during the Beast Training Battle—a catastrophe. Dealing with it was entirely the academy staff's job. They'd take a serious hit from this. A demon showing up at an internal academy event was no small matter.

Student morale was already low after the incident at the entrance ceremony. Still, it wasn't a dead end. Even now, the Demon King disguised in human skin was lurking in the empire's shadows. Demons appearing and magical beasts rampaging wasn't a problem limited to the academy.

Someone might ask, Then why not just hunt down the weakened Demon King starting now?

Can't do that.

Artina Academy randomizes the Demon King's identity every playthrough. Main and supporting characters are excluded from that logic, but with so many people...! Pinpointing the Demon King among them was next to impossible.

But the finale episodes always unfold in specific regions with clear precursors, so all I could do was wait for those.

“Time to change.”

I left the tidied wooden box behind and started removing my camouflage gear.

Clack—

Then, footsteps echoed right nearby.

The girl of ice stood at the edge of the ice palace. Siel Dunhart.

Her slender legs, spattered in blood and trembling, had reached their limit. She was barely supporting herself against the wall as she walked toward me.

“You......”

Siel asked in a quivering voice.

“Was that you again......?”

Her gaze was fixed on the Yeti, its upper body severed from the lower.

This would've been a crisis where my identity got exposed, but I was still in my camouflage gear and mask. Right now, it was time to become her Master.

I simply nodded.

“It was me—.”

A deep, resonant voice without inflection. An alien timbre echoed from my vocal cords.

At those words, Siel's eyes narrowed slightly. Then, a faint smile tugged at her lips.

“Yeah... it's you....”

Siel's legs came to a halt. She looked like she couldn't move another step. Probably a sprained ankle. She'd walked all the way here in that state.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I needed to get her to leave soon without overdoing it. The staff would arrive any moment.

“I'm going—.”

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kicked the cumbersome wooden box aside and walked out. Siel's gaze burned into me. She was drinking in my every detail, determined not to miss a single one.

Thus, I reached the cave's exit. The blizzard still raged fiercely. I should just head out like this, but my feet wouldn't move.

It wasn't the cold.

It was Siel.

“Hey....”

I turned only my head to look at her.

“I was wrong about you being pretty good...... I misjudged you....”

I read her psyche.

Siel seemed mentally cornered on a cliff's edge. She'd encountered overwhelming foes three times now. Feelings of powerlessness had become frequent.

She aspired to become a Master, yet that wall loomed as high as a clock tower. A height unreachable in a single leap.

And she was berating herself for failing to become a giant. Of course, that was the wrong approach.

“Haa—.”

I sighed. Her pupils trembled at my breath.

I overlooked this.

In the original story, Siel never faced an overwhelming opponent early on. In Act 4 of Chapter 1, she cedes initiative once to the demon, but after the underground cavern episode ends, she claims her place among the stars.

Her talent-blocking curse lifts. She manifests high-tier magic learned purely from theory, and eventually deploys the pinnacle grand magic solo.

By the finale against the Demon King in the late game, she's a Master transcending the archmage realm.

Of course, fulfilling her family vow and overcoming the Dunhart clan's dark underbelly is her second trial... but that's a truth revealed only late, and it's purely mental anguish. No one blocks her in raw power.

So she never hits a wall like this. She's destined to become a Master anyway.

I'd never worried about Siel's growth, but now I realized problems could arise.

“I-I'm not strong enough for that......”

“No.”

I cut off Siel's stammering words.

Time to correct my mistake.

Siel looked up at me, her watery eyes gauging my intent. Self-doubt filled those pupils, so I hammered the words home.

“You have talent.”

“Talent to become a Master,”

just like I'd designed in the original story,

“you possess it—.”

“Ah......”

Siel's body shuddered.

I stepped out into the blizzard. It might seem like boasting about known facts, but Siel had apparently gained EXP from being acknowledged for helping take down Herpen. Level 45. She was capped too.

Still, she leveled up. Cheers to that.

“If you've grown by our next meeting, I'll give you a gift.”

With that, I trudged through the knee-deep snow.

But as soon as I emerged, the blizzard stopped. To avoid trouble, I immediately activated Concealment, bundled up my camouflage gear, and pretended to be passed out next to Lucas and Roden.

Suddenly, staring at the blizzard brought back past memories.

While reading books, the northern outdoors visible through the lattice windows was always lashed by blizzards. The fierce snow that obscured vision, the winter piling burdens on the trees—it was an unchanging landscape for life.

That was Siel's life.

Learning etiquette, mastering spellbooks, endlessly manifesting magic.

A family with no one acknowledging her. Even retainers hounding her that she fell short of becoming a Master.

She never left the mansion. She only felt suffocated by the harsh sleet beyond her window.

She just wanted to see the scenery, but...

Siel gazed outside the cave.

How was it now? At the spot he'd left, the fierce ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blizzard had stopped, so thud, thud, thud.

“Haa......”

Siel could only clutch her trembling heart.

“A gift......”

As expected, when the exam didn't end past closing time, the staff sensed the anomaly and intruded into the space. Upon confirming Siel's injuries, we were all evacuated, and I retrieved my wooden box at the infirmary.

In one of the infirmary rooms. Staff from the investigation committee came and went, conducting inquiries.

“Did you see anyone else?”

“No.... I passed out right away....”

“What did the demon look like?”

“I-I don't remember much besides it being a Yeti-type monster.... Ugh, my head—!”

The interrogation dragged on for hours at least. Extras like Lucas, Roden, and me had nothing much to say. The staff realized we had no info and turned to Siel.

Siel calmly detailed the demon, but

“Was there any intervention from another person?”

“I don't know......”

she glossed over the key question.

Even then, Siel wasn't acting normal. Right after the demon attack, her mind muddled, it seemed she'd spilled her true feelings.

With the priests and medics confirming no issues on my body, I returned to the forest. They tried to hold me back, but I couldn't yield. Leaving my home base empty for even a day risks my stockpiled meat spoiling.

There was work to do for the next batch of jerky.

“Whew, let's head in.”

I opened the door to my forest home, which felt like ages since I'd last seen it. No more dust and cobwebs. Over the past week, Lumina had dropped by occasionally for a thorough cleaning.

I'd stubbornly refused, but shocked by the house's ruin-like state, she'd rolled up her sleeves and declared, “Cleaning...! Let's do it!” Her image flashed in my mind.

She'd visited the shelter once before and now came often. At first, I kept my distance, but knowing I was uncomfortable, she didn't show it at the academy, so it was fine.

Sedric and Roden's suspicious glances had faded, and things were going smoothly lately.

I settled in and opened my status window. There'd be a lot piled up.

I scrolled through the status window. Shooting proficiency, a hefty karma haul, achievement points—all good, but my focus was on one thing.

I immediately invested the stats.

I picked up the manual I'd borrowed over the past week. A hardcover to supplement a sniper's close combat.

Valencia Standard: Roland Noble Swordsmanship

Knowledge and stats were sufficient. Now, I could learn it.