The Hidden Training Circle
Knock, knock, knock.
When I returned from the study, the knocking continued. Careful and slow, with deliberate pauses between each rap, the sound wasn't rude, but it was clearly impatient.
I dismissed the spirit and slowly opened the door.
"Yes. What is it?"
Standing there was a tall man with a somewhat overbearing and stiff demeanor.
"My apologies, but it seems you've been using the basement alone for quite some time."
Explaining everything to Rofena had taken a while, but honestly, I didn't think I'd been down there that long. Still, I bowed my head toward him.
"I see. That was thoughtless of me."
I stepped out into the hallway, and the man immediately entered the room, closing the door without so much as a greeting.
He's quite diligent.
I couldn't fully grasp what becoming a Dark Priest meant to them. Whether they sought a sense of belonging, the thrill of feeling special, or a means to some other end, I couldn't say for certain. But at least some of them must have had desperate reasons.
The living room was empty. The sun had already set, leaving the windows dark. I could sense people moving about, but everyone seemed to have retreated to their rooms. I headed toward the room they'd taken me to earlier. There was a bunk bed, so there would be space to sleep, but sharing such a cramped area with several others was something I hadn't done even back at the academy.
"No, there was that one time."
After winning the dormitory competition, we'd thrown a grand celebration party, and over ten male students had ended up sleeping in a single room. The snoring and restless sleeping habits... Well, this would be better than that, but I still wasn't keen on it.
Still, there was no helping it. If I wanted to meet Granbipra later, it would have to be deep in the night, or at least in a situation where slipping out for a walk while half-asleep would seem natural.
"Ah, are you done already?"
"No. We heard that long-legged guy leave earlier. You got kicked out."
When I entered, they greeted me lightly. They were passing the time reading books or playing chess. Aside from their varying ages, it felt exactly like a boys' dormitory.
Well, there wasn't a girls' room on the second floor, at least.
Back in my school days, there had been the occasional idiot who tried sneaking into the girls' dormitory. Of course, their attempts always failed, and only the truly foolish ever tried. The smarter ones had their girlfriends come to the boys' dormitory instead. The boys' side wasn't as strictly monitored, so a few of them had managed to enjoy some pleasant time with their partners.
Of course, no matter how clever those guys were, they couldn't compare to Julian and Rowell. Those two never made any attempts or held any intentions, yet somehow, once a month or so, female students would climb over the dormitory walls and slip into their rooms anyway.
Thinking back, it was remarkable how bold and proactive those girls had been. Maybe it was because they were young that they could act that way.
Rowell and the senior must have had it rough, too.
Both Rowell and Julian had sweated through rejecting those girls. Not all of them had been pretty, of course, but a few had been genuinely difficult to turn down, yet they'd held firm.
Later it turned into a matter of pride.
Eventually, the girls started attempting it with the expectation of rejection, treating it as a contest of pride among themselves. They'd even ranked how many seconds it would take for each to be refused. Unlike Rowell, whose times barely varied, Julian's rejections showed clear differences depending on the girl's appearance. As a result, the official academy ranking of female students' beauty was practically determined by Julian's records.
Still, Mei Torres was number one.
She had always been one of the three names that came up whenever people asked who the prettiest girl was, but after Rowell asked her for time to think instead of rejecting her outright, she became the undisputed top.
Well, he did end up rejecting her in the end, but after that, her status within the academy was completely different from before. Naturally, the number of girls confessing to Rowell surged for a while, and some even tried confessing again in hopes of breaking the record.
I wonder how everyone is doing now.
Men and women alike had no guarantee of survival after the great war. Many must have lost their lives, and even those who survived likely saw their families' fortunes decline.
"Here, this is your share."
An older man handed me bread and tomato soup. Come to think of it, mealtime had long since passed.
"Skipping meals to focus on prayer... That's only possible because you're still young. Take it easy, though."
It sounded like concern, but the faint jealousy in his eyes and voice was unavoidable. Even if there wasn't any formal competition or evaluation, an organization like this naturally bred some rivalry.
Being overtaken by someone much younger couldn't feel good, no matter how much he tried to hide it.
"Yes. Thank you for your concern."
I accepted the bread and soup and took a bite of the bread. It had already gone stale and was hard to chew. The soup, which was supposedly tomato, tasted like nothing more than boiled tomatoes in water—absolutely terrible.
It didn't seem like anyone had made the soup here. It looked like someone had brought instant rations and simply poured them into bowls. Cold tomato soup was a common travel food, and I'd eaten it so often during my journeys that I knew it well.
Tomato soup that had been made several days ago tasted exactly like this. At least it didn't seem spoiled. Spoiled food was the worst. No matter how hungry I was, I'd rather drink plain water than eat something that had gone bad.
I poured the meager amount of soup straight into my mouth and tore off small pieces of bread to eat. Normally, I'd have soaked the hard bread in the soup, but somehow it tasted better this way.
"Which bed is mine?"
In response to my question, they pointed to one of the lower bunks that was sagging in the middle. It was clearly the worst spot, but as the newcomer and the last to arrive, there was no helping it.
"By the way, didn't you bring anything with you? Clothes or food?"
"Ah, I forgot."
I hadn't planned on staying this long, and my bag with clothes and other items was back in the study.
"You must have been too excited about coming here."
Though he said it casually, his eyes grew suspicious, so I quickly added more.
"You're right. Honestly, I thought I'd have a chance to buy supplies before arriving."
"Guess they didn't explain things properly."
"Well, they didn't tell us much beforehand either. They just told us to step into the teleportation circle, so of course we'd come empty-handed like this."
They continued lightly teasing me for a while longer, but after some time, they lost interest and returned to their own activities. At least none of them seemed to have plans to visit the prayer room. I tucked the half-eaten bread into my pocket and lay down on the bed. I needed to try to sleep. After all, I had to meet Granbipra tonight, and if possible, Rofena as well.
"...Maybe I should've just come out earlier."
Going for a nighttime walk turned out to be easier than I'd expected. When I woke up and stepped into the living room, several others were already awake. One of them was stir-frying meat and vegetables for a late-night snack. When I said I was going for a walk, they accepted it as completely natural and even warned me not to go too deep into the forest behind us because of the nocturnal Filmedoa hives. Apparently, a few people had been stung by bees during night walks just days ago.
As it turned out, nighttime walks were a standard routine for new recruits. The cramped environment and their circumstances made it hard to fall asleep easily.
If I'd known that earlier, I would've come out right away to talk with Granbipra or meet Rofena.
"Hmm......"
I stepped outside the totem and waited for Granbipra to approach. But time passed without any sign of him. I looked up at the stars and moon, waiting a little longer. Just as worry began to creep in, Granbipra finally appeared.
- My apologies. I found something rather interesting nearby and was delayed.
"Something interesting?"
Since voices carried farther at night, I kept my own low as I spoke.
- Please follow me.
Granbipra revealed himself and led me somewhere. It was an ordinary patch of grass. The path was rough enough that the equipped barrier activated due to sharp branches, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. I felt nothing special.
"What is this......?"
In response to my question, he waved his hand silently. In one corner of the grass, a very small wooden pillar came into view. At the top of the pillar were a pair of small wings and three eyes. It was much smaller than the one in front of the house, but it was definitely a totem.
And the moment Granbipra's eyes glowed, the totem reacted as well. The grass parted, revealing a dirt floor beneath.
"This is!"
On the exposed dirt floor, patterns had been drawn with multicolored powders. The shapes were completely different from ordinary magic circles, and so were the materials used. I couldn't even begin to guess their purpose, but one thing was certain—they belonged to the druidic magic system.
During my travels, I'd once seen a druid draw similar patterns on the ground with powder to create a barrier. Though those fragile-looking shapes had seemed unreliable, the barrier had successfully repelled an attack from over a dozen goblins.
"Do you know what this means?"
I asked Granbipra. I didn't understand it, but somehow I felt he would.
"It's a training barrier and incantations. They enhance strength, improve abilities, or summon beings greater than oneself."
"For training?"
"Yes. Even though they're for training, they're high-level and dangerous. Most druids or shamans who attempt them risk losing their lives. And they've been constructed to last semi-permanently. That's why they're still here."
"Semi-permanently? Why go to that trouble?"
"It seems the one who created this barrier trained inside it repeatedly over a long period of time."