chapter 4
Chapter 4: The Worst. The Incompetent. The Untalented.
[Quest triggered!]
[Win the duel against hero candidate 'Vein Stretches'!]
[Reward: Random Skill]
[* A lesson! Is this a lesson being taught? This is clearly a cliché! Hmm. But which side is the one getting taught?]
"──What? You're saying you'll accept the duel?"
Just as I was about to be thrown off by the sudden quest,
Vein, who had challenged me to the duel, shot back in a voice more flustered than mine.
He probably hadn't actually expected me to accept.
The me that Vein knew would be an arrogant hero wannabe who relied solely on money and neglected training. He must have figured I didn't have the guts to accept a duel.
He couldn't contain his anger and had issued the challenge, but he probably had some calculation in mind—that if I refused, he could use that to chip away at my reputation.
But I had no intention of refusing the duel.
It's just my nature not to run from a fight that comes to me.
"Yeah. Sure. I said I'll do it, didn't I?"
"……Just like you did in class, I will not accept you putting up a proxy fighter with some bizarre sophistry. Hiring a mercenary, or substituting that commoner trembling like a dog beside you—that's out of the question. So, are you saying you'll fight personally, when you've learned neither Martial Arts nor Magic?"
"Yeah. You're the one who challenged me to a fight, so why are you running your mouth so much? Back out if you're scared."
"You have more pride than I thought. Fine. The date is tomorrow. During the practical test supervised by the instructors, I'll designate you as my sparring partner."
"Oh. There's something like that?"
"You didn't even check the schedule? Tsk. What a delinquent."
Vein clicked his tongue and returned to his seat.
Did the fun go out of it because I reacted too calmly? I could have provoked him a bit more, but there's no need to waste energy.
I'll just crush him with skill tomorrow, and that'll be that.
"D-Demian. Are you alright?"
"Hm?"
"That person who just challenged you to a duel—he's from the Stretches family, no less! The family that produced countless S-rank heroes and a Knight King!"
"Oh. You seem to know a lot."
"Yes. Hehe. It was my dream to become a hero. Looking up hero-related news on the internet is kind of a hobby of mine!"
So high-ranking heroes are like idols in this world.
I felt a renewed appreciation for the prestige of an academy that employed the S-rank heroes that nobleman was so proudly boasting about—as mere instructors.
Right. If it's the main setting of the game, it ought to be at least that much.
"Um, wouldn't it be better to apologize and cancel the duel, even now……?"
Si-a, who had been enthusiastically explaining things like an otaku excited that her favorite topic came up, seemed to have lost her nerve belatedly, and cautiously voiced her opinion in a shrinking voice.
It looked like she was worried about me getting hurt.
How thoughtful.
This makes me want to invest in raising her properly.
Alright. You're in as my companion.
"Si-a. He called you 'trembling like a dog'—aren't you upset?"
"Huh? Well, to be precise, he didn't exactly say that, he said you were trembling like a dog……? Of course, I could take it as being insulted, but… it might not be that either……. A-and actually, being called a dog isn't all that ba──"
"Yes or no. Answer with one of those two. Aren't you upset?"
"……If anything, wasn't there a nicer word like 'puppy' he could have used? Hehe."
"Right. So you didn't like it."
The girl has low self-esteem, but she's not without pride.
She's someone who gritted her teeth and worked hard as a commoner to get into the academy. She couldn't have gotten in in the first place if she were the type to be satisfied with her lot.
In the end, isn't the desire for upward mobility born from the pride of 'I'm worth more than this'?
"No matter how many S-rank heroes his family has, Vein himself isn't S-rank."
"Still……"
"It's fine. I'm more capable than you think. Even today in class, I answered a difficult question perfectly, didn't I?"
"Um, that was me who did that……?"
"Tsk. Stop talking back. So, what's this practical test that guy mentioned?"
"Oh! It's exactly what it sounds like—a test to check real combat ability. Usually it's a simple power test, or demonstrating a skill you're confident in front of the instructor, but cadets can also spar if they want. Cadets with a lot of combat experience tend to prefer sparring."
"Ah. So it's a tutorial."
"Tutorial?"
"There's such a thing."
In the original work, it was a simple tutorial where you practiced attacking a training dummy.
But it seems there was a hidden route involving sparring.
That's probably why a quest that didn't exist in the original has appeared.
Interesting.
"But… how are you planning to win……?"
"With money."
"Excuse me?"
I took out a pouch of gold coins from my inventory and handed it to Si-a.
For reference, when you 'discard' gold coins above a certain amount at once, they drop in the form of a coin pouch like this.
Was the pouch created?
Oh! Creation Magic!
I can create pouches from nothing!
"Si-a."
"Y-yes?"
"Can you run an errand for me?"
"An, an erra-err, errand?"
Si-a, who had taken the heavy coin pouch, trembled as she clutched it tightly to herself.
Like a squirrel with a bunch of nuts stuffed in its cheeks.
"You can keep what's left over as your errand fee."
"……Hik."
.
.
.
"Teacher. Did you hear? Apparently people are calling this year's intake the Golden Generation."
"Golden Generation?"
"Yes. The kids who enrolled in this intake—all of them have quite a name to them. The granddaughter of the Magic Tower Master, the disciple of the Heavenly Demon, the young heir of the Knight King's family, and so on. There are even quite a few promising talents who've already made their mark in actual combat."
After school. The academy's faculty room.
The instructors were buzzing with talk about the new students. Just as the students had expectations for their new lives, the instructors had expectations for the new talent.
Each of them was an S-rank hero or a scholar of comparable standing, people who had forsaken wealth and honor to become teachers for the sake of humanity's future.
"Tsk. A family's name being illustrious doesn't mean their ability is outstanding. Quite the talk for nothing."
"Come on. Even I could see there are a few who have what it takes to become S-rank. In the first place, if they were the type to coast on their family's name, they wouldn't have gotten into the academy."
"That doesn't seem entirely true either."
"Haha. There is one exceptional cadet."
Exceptional cadet.
At those words from one teacher's mouth, a few of the teachers exchanged glances and smirked.
There was no need to say whose name it was.
Demian Darmore.
The heir to the Golden Ear family, said to be the wealthiest of all.
Every instructor had been left with a deep impression of him.
Whether that impression was positive or negative.
"Just how much did he donate for the board chair to exercise special authority and create a special admissions track just for him?"
"From what I heard, the donation from 'that family' alone this time could keep the academy running for 100 years."
"Wow."
"I wonder if they'll raise our salaries……"
Some instructors grumbled, others were impressed.
No one showed jealousy or envy.
Everyone gathered here could have raked in as much money as they wanted, if that's what they'd desired.
That's what it meant to be an S-rank hero.
These were people who had given up that status as heroes to become instructors.
They had interest in great wealth, but not greed.
They were more interested in the new student named Demian himself.
"Is he trying to recruit promising students in advance to start a new guild? The new students this time are famous in various ways. If you form school ties now, things will go more smoothly when entering the hero industry later."
"I do worry about whether he'll be able to adapt properly."
"Looking at how he walks, it seems he hasn't even learned footwork or movement arts. I wonder if he can even properly swing a sword."
"He could be specializing in Magic or Psychic Ability, couldn't he?"
"His mana sensitivity was at its absolute worst, too. It was my first time seeing mana flee from someone in such disgust."
A few instructors nodded in agreement at one instructor's words.
They were all instructors who taught Magic.
Anyone who wielded mana couldn't help but be left with a deep impression upon witnessing that 'ominous' sight.
"'One whom mana despises'……would be the apt expression."
It's commonly said of students with talent for Magic that they are 'loved by mana.'
By contrast, Demian appeared to be someone 'despised by mana.'
If he attempted Magic with mana sensitivity like that, a runaway would certainly occur.
He might never be able to use Magic for the rest of his life.
Even the academy's prized 'mana stabilization' technique would be meaningless against mana sensitivity as dire as that.
"His psionic perception was at its absolute worst, too. At that level, the moment he awakens a Psychic Ability, he'll faint from mental energy exhaustion. No—fainting would be the lucky outcome. He'd probably lose control of his ESP and have his mind bleached white. I was actually relieved he didn't seem interested in the class."
"He has Blocked Energy Channels. I'm not sure exactly what kind, but it'll be hard for him to achieve anything beyond a certain point with Martial Arts. He'll probably hit a complete wall the moment he tries to rise above a certain level."
"Hehe. His luck seemed pretty bad, too. The stars are cursing that child. It'll be hard for him to learn divination arts or fortune-telling."
The instructors in each subject each added their opinion one by one.
The fields were different, but the assessments were similar.
The worst. Incompetent. Talentless.
If a person's luck had something like a 'total sum,' it seemed as if Demian had poured all of it into 'financial luck.'
As much as it's said that heroes aren't born but made, to be this incompetent was close to miraculous.
"Well, it seems like Demian himself knows his own talents, doesn't it? That's why he showed that kind of attitude in class."
"Mm! Understanding one's own strengths and weaknesses is more important than anything."
That was also the reason the instructors had let Demian's 'money-flaunting' slide.
After all, the academy wasn't only for hero candidates aiming for combat roles.
There were those aiming for production roles, like alchemists and blacksmiths, and students majoring in dungeon studies and strategy with the goal of becoming raid commanders or operators.
If building a guild was the goal, that wasn't a bad path either.
From that perspective, buying friends' favor was seen as its own kind of choice for a 'future' as a hero.
They weren't trying to train uniform soldiers,
but to raise heroes who would contribute to the world by their own will.
Even if it strayed from the righteous path, as long as it was for a better future, they were fully prepared to respect a student's way.
"Still, I am a little worried. First years have practical combat as the focus even for non-combat tracks, don't they?"
"Well, if he can't endure it, that's the end of it. No point talking about it in advance. We'll be able to see for ourselves tomorrow at the practical test, won't we? Whether that cadet has the minimum ability to graduate from the academy safely."
"I feel like I already know the answer without even looking……"
"Hehe. We're teachers right now, not heroes, aren't we? Every once in a while, believing in a student's potential without conditions—that's not so bad."
.
.
.
"I heard you're loaded?"
What's this now?
A delinquent?
"I want to propose a business deal."
"A business deal?"
"I heard you're dueling that young nobleman? I'll fight in your place. In secret. Without anyone knowing."
"Ah."
So you're a salesperson.
Interesting.
Being this wealthy seems to bring all sorts of unusual events my way.