A Grim Decision
Rion sat on a bench in the corner of the garden, staring blankly at the academy.
The position he held was training instructor at the Hero Academy.
Students who had not been chosen by the Sacred Relic but possessed exceptional skill came here.
They were verified once through the hiring exam and again by the Empire.
As a formally appointed instructor, he had a certain degree of autonomy in training.
Therefore, if he pushed the mana cultivation technique, he could teach it sufficiently.
The problem was the students who needed to receive that instruction. And everyone around them — they all looked at it with the question of "why is this necessary?" If they don't feel the need, no matter how much you teach, it's useless.
Would it have been better if the world had lacked mana?
No, even without that, a world with just a moderate amount of mana would have been enough.
In that case, he wouldn't have had to deal with such worries.
The people of this world might have created the mana cultivation technique long ago.
But this world is overflowing with mana. It's at the level of overflowing.
The only thing left is mana. People come into contact with mana very frequently.
That's why hero candidates keep coming out without end.
Some say it's a blessing bestowed by the gods, but Rion... well.
Rather, perhaps this very abundance is the shackle that binds them.
A harsh world gives birth to strong people, but an easy world only gives birth to weak ones.
I'm really going crazy.
Training is scheduled for this afternoon. I need to decide before that.
Just force it aggressively? ... No. If I do that, it'll be a mess of complaints.
The one who's really suffering right now is Rion. If he loses his instructor position, it's only him who suffers.
The plan to make heroes stronger and send them to the tower starts to fall apart from the beginning.
If I try to persuade them nicely, it doesn't seem like it would work.
The kind of persuasion that works with words is only possible when holding a gun in your hand, right?
That's why 'necessity' is needed, but the mana deluge is the problem.
Of course, the Empire people and the academy students are probably anxious too.
For 100 years, they haven't been able to bring down the tower.
But humans are animals with highly developed self-rationalization.
And they also hate extremely when a settled pattern changes.
100 years have passed and the world hasn't ended? Then the next 100 years will be fine!
Before that, surely some hero will bring down the tower and bring peace!
So we can just do as we've been doing! Since we've done it before, we'll do it this time too!
No. That's not it. You kids.
Back then, I wasn't there. But now it's different.
Rion knows. He knows that the tower of the past and the one he's in charge of now are different.
In this state, there's no hope even if I die and come back to life. Even if 100 years pass, no one will come.
One more thing, decisively, there's really not much time left.
The fact that some of the restrictions of the King of the Tower have been lifted means that the limited time is running out.
This fact can only be known by Rion. That's why he's in despair.
The future is clearly visible, but if I tell them this fact, they won't listen!
... In this case, the only remaining method is one. The easiest and fastest.
I'll give up on everything. After all, there's only one hero who will defeat the boss.
Since party play isn't possible, there's no need to raise an entire team.
Yeah. Thinking about it, there's only one hero who has come all the way to where I am.
The one who proved the possibility, and the one who saved me several times.
And the reason Rion came here was also only one.
"Teacher? What are you doing?"
Yeah. That one. It was none other than the hero Eleonore. Enril. En...
"...Haaah...!"
What the hell is this woman?! When did she come this close?!
Rion was genuinely surprised. He had thought he was alone and had let his guard down.
Could the original aura he was hiding have leaked out because of that?
Moreover, the opponent wasn't just anyone; it was Enril, who had clashed with him several times.
Even though the current heroes' levels are so pitiful that it's heartbreaking.
Among those heroes, Enril was the only one who had reached the top floor.
In the midst of the haze, she might have noticed something strange!
"What? Why are you so surprised? Like you've been caught doing something bad."
Of course you'd be surprised if you've done something bad. And the target was you, after all.
Rion quickly composed his expression and scrutinized Enril's face.
She probably hadn't noticed? That the guy from across the sea was actually from the tower?
"...Instructor? Why are you like that?"
At first glance, she seems completely clueless.
He couldn't rule out the possibility that it was a lie or acting.
But seeing through that much of a lie is no big deal.
She doesn't know.
Good. It was the most likely hero to come at the moment when he was letting his guard down.
Perhaps because it was outside the tower, she was also letting her guard down.
"It's nothing. More importantly, Enril, why are you here...?"
"I was already done with mental education, so I'm just training."
Although it's called the Hero Academy, if you look closely, it's one huge training ground.
All students are tirelessly honing themselves as hero candidates.
In there, the theoretical lectures they receive are few.
The methods to fight against demonic beasts, the weaknesses of the demonic beasts known so far.
And the lecture that takes up the most weight is mental education.
You are the only hope of the world, so you must eliminate the tower.
It can be seen as forcibly giving them all kinds of obligations and a sense of mission.
In games, it was just managing affinity by giving gifts.
In reality, it was far more ruthless than any game.
Huge mental education lasting from a short 1 year to several years.
No, perhaps it should be called 'brainwashing' rather than education.
You are strong, you have been chosen, so you must sacrifice your life to save the world.
That is fate. Destiny. You can't avoid it and you can't escape it!
If you've been hearing this content over and over, at this point, it might really be brainwashing.
Still, Enril who has challenged the tower several times seems to think the mental education is sufficient.
It was fortunate. From Rion's perspective, he had worried about this kind of thing.
Enril, who survived differently from other heroes despite challenging the tower several times.
She wouldn't have been treated harshly by insulting her as a traitor or coward, would she?
So that Enril wouldn't be completely broken mentally.
If that were the case, she would have made the mental education even harsher.
If she saw survival as a cowardly, shameful act, of course she would have.
But it seems such a thing didn't happen.
Yeah. It was really fortunate.
"I heard that training with the instructor is scheduled for the afternoon."
"Yeah?"
"You can look forward to it, right?"
Why look forward? What's the reason for saying that.
"The one who came from across the sea becoming an instructor is the first time. There were some from the north, but they didn't last long and left. Um, I heard they were called 'warriors' from there. Is that right?"
There was no such thing. In fact, he was the master of the tower and the final boss monster.
"So they called me that. Now, I'm just a drifter, a newly appointed instructor."
"I have more faith in you. You seem like a good instructor who doesn't boast or overconfident."
"..."
The appearance was so different from what Rion had seen at the top floor of the tower, the throne hall.
There, he was always angry, looking anxious, and a bit scared.
But Enril sitting next to him now was calm, gentle, and warm.
What Rion had seen until now was just Enril the hero.
And what he was seeing now was just Enril, a person.
There was no reason to discuss what was real and what was fake.
Both were Enril itself. The person itself.
"...Thank you, Enril."
"You said to speak casually."
Yeah. Up until now, she had been speaking casually, but why did this come out suddenly.
Finally, the first training time as an instructor.
Rion looked at the hero candidates standing in front of him. The academy students.
No, correction. He was waiting for something.
Thinking that 'that event' would probably happen with high probability.
Hmm.
Why isn't anything happening? It should be starting to show signs?
There's always that one guy who boasts about his origin or skill and picks a fight, right? I heard it's a national rule in the academy. Why isn't there any aura of ignoring them!
The event Rion had been expecting, the one he was waiting for, was exactly that.
Although it's the Hero Academy, not everyone possesses the qualities of a hero.
There could be students more hero-like than Enril, and those similar to her.
Or below that. There could be those who are hero candidates but not very hero-like.
The Sacred Relic only assesses the minimum qualifications, it's not a universal sieve.
If so, there must be those among them with particularly poor personalities.
Rion had planned to use that poor personality one as a sacrifice to show an overwhelming gap.
If they start boasting 'I'm so cool!' from the beginning, it wouldn't look good at all.
There is always a reason why the event of training the braggart comes out.
You can feed them apples and legally get rid of the guy who doesn't like to see them in front of you.
"Welcome, students. I'm Rion, the newly appointed training instructor this time."
He also greeted in a slightly arrogant way.
Even though he thought it was a very dirty trick, he had no choice!
Training! Is there anyone in this world who can resist hearing this and not being trained!
"Welcome, Instructor Rion. Please take care of us."
"Please take care!"
But it seemed like Rion's expectations were completely ignored.
When one of the students greeted as representative, everyone bowed their heads in unison.
No one was boasting, no one was picking a fight.
"..."
This wasn't it. What I was expecting wasn't this.
"...Welcome. Students."
Somewhere, a god is laughing while saying to the boss monster.
Dreams wake up.