Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Probably the Real Purpose Is Surveillance
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"Huff... huff..."
Tail breathed heavily with great difficulty.
Air rushed into the depths of his lungs and back out.
Sweat drenched his entire body.
Tail wiped away the streaming sweat with his arm.
"Hoo... hoo."
Right now, Tail was climbing the mountain under the guise of the "special class" overseen by Allen.
An incredibly rugged mountain, no less.
Behind him trailed dozens of students, their faces completely crumpled in exhaustion.
Since Class 1 and Class 7 had merged for the special class, there were more people than usual.
They staggered along, grumbling.
"Damn it. What's with the sudden climbing?"
"Haa... haa... I'm dying."
"Hey, hurry up!"
Sounds filled with agony echoed from all around.
There was one reason why even students who could have reached the summit quickly were struggling.
Mana use was forbidden.
If they could use mana, they would've arrived without any trouble long ago.
Allen personally followed each climbing student, checking whether they were using mana or not.
With the Allen they all admired glaring at them fiercely from the side, no one dared even think of using mana.
His reasoning went like this.
"In the end, the body is the vessel that holds mana. Mana and the body can be seen as complementary, but they can also be viewed in a synergistic relationship."
Allen asserted it strongly, as if he were a cult leader.
"If you try to live an easy life relying on mana, you'll hit a wall. Until you can freely wield mana, keep your wits sharp and fully feel this shortness of breath, the muscle pain, the raw screams of your body proclaiming it's alive."
And so the hellish mountain climb began.
"Ugh..."
"Huff... huff... Save me."
Many students who usually outperformed Tail wailed in torment.
Yet amid it all, Tail was pushing forward decently.
No—he was actually in the lead.
During the five years it took to awaken his swordsmanship, Tail had realized he was congenitally lacking in stamina.
So every morning, he climbed the mountain out back.
'Who knew it would pay off like this.'
Tail chuckled softly.
Right on his tail were two others: Alice and Edan.
Alice climbed with hardly any sign of strain.
Edan gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down, as he ascended.
'Alice the elf doing well is no surprise, but Edan... unexpected.'
Those with high mana sensitivity could wield mana innately from childhood.
In other words, they had a high dependency on mana.
Tail was genuinely impressed.
He himself lacked a mana hole, so he couldn't handle mana properly and had built up his stamina by frequently climbing under his own power.
'For someone with Edan's mana affinity to have this level of stamina.'
By the way.
'I wonder if Yujin and Ricky are still behind.'
Since they'd merged with Class 7, Yujin and Ricky were climbing too.
But Yujin, who was usually low on stamina, and Ricky, with his obviously frail build, seemed to be lagging at the rear.
By then, all the students had reached the summit.
"Haa haa!"
"Woo! We made it!"
The students immediately collapsed onto the ground.
A few splashed cool water over their overheated bodies.
Tail was one of them, dousing himself with mineral water.
Splash!
The cool sensation washing over his body seemed to settle the heat.
Just then, Yujin and Ricky arrived.
They looked all but collapsed, staggering along.
Tail asked them.
"Yujin, want me to splash you too?"
"Huff, huff... With what...?"
As Yujin sat on the ground catching his breath, Tail held up the water.
"Huff. I'll pass..."
Yujin was even wearing a thin vest.
"Hey, at least take off the vest."
"No way."
Yujin said it while half-lying down.
"White shirt underneath. It's soaked in sweat right now."
Tail was puzzled by Yujin bringing up the white shirt out of nowhere.
'Why does the shirt color matter for taking off a vest?'
Was he worried about getting it dirty?
Thinking that, Tail took off his top layer.
And splashed water over himself once more.
Water streamed down his solidly built muscles.
Yujin, who had been watching with clouded eyes, let out a sigh and headed toward Ricky.
Only after Yujin left did Tail notice the stares around him.
They were looks of awe toward Tail, who had trained the most rigorously—they hadn't expected his stamina to be this strong too.
It was the first time they'd revealed their pure physical abilities to each other, without mana.
Feeling those gazes, Tail turned to the one person who remained unscathed despite watching over every student on this brutal climb.
Allen File.
Tail thought to himself.
'As expected, that guy's good at pushing people.'
He'd seen it at the monastery too—training his subordinates under the rationale that they couldn't afford to slack off.
It was the same now.
He pushed people right up to the precarious edge of their limits.
Yet strangely, he never went beyond.
His subordinates had handled their duties without issue after those trainings.
Pushing to the maximum without breaking them.
Planning such training must be incredibly difficult.
'That's probably the role of a true master educator.'
With that thought, a long-buried memory surfaced.
'The university hospital hounded residents just like that.'
Now it was almost faded from memory.
What had he done there?
He couldn't even recall properly.
It felt like he'd worked incredibly hard for something.
But what it was, or what he'd strived for—he couldn't remember.
'Ah.'
The vast panorama from the summit unfolded before his eyes.
This vividly felt wind, sunlight.
And everything he saw and heard.
All at once, Tail had to admit it.
He could no longer claim he was possessed into a book.
In the pouring sunlight, the academy came into view.
Only then did he realize.
It was time to let go of the subtle lingering attachment to Hansol he'd felt all along.
That it was merely a memory from his past life now.
This world no longer felt like the inside of a book.
Once his breathing settled, Edan approached Tail.
"Good work. Your stamina's impressive."
"You weren't half bad yourself."
Exchanging compliments, they began descending the mountain.
"Everyone, good work."
Allen called out loudly to the huffing, staggering students.
"Dismissed."
At his words, the students headed off with joyful expressions.
Tail, Edan, and Alice were about to return to the classroom too.
"And Tail, Alice, Edan—you three stay behind."
Tail was puzzled at his words.
What could it be?
No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for him to call these three.
If it'd been just him, he might've assumed it was about Her Highness Chloe.
But all three?
'Come to think of it, I wonder if Her Highness Chloe is doing okay.'
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Tail let out a soft chuckle.
What was there to worry about after such a betrayal?
Thinking he was a real pushover, Tail waited for Allen to speak.
Once all the other students had left, Allen finally opened his mouth.
"Today's training was a sort of test."
A test?
The three exchanged dubious looks.
"You're the only ones with bodies worth anything, and that's saying something."
He continued with a steely gaze.
"How about some separate special training this semester?"
Special training?
Their eyes widened.
"Of course, you can refuse. It won't affect your grades at all."
Edan answered immediately.
"I'm in."
But Alice didn't reply right away. She pondered for a moment before asking.
"Is it mainly stamina training?"
"Pretty much. I'm a knight, after all, and I plan to include sword training later."
"Then I'll pass."
Allen nodded at Alice's matter-of-fact refusal, showing no surprise—as if he'd expected it.
Tail's eyes narrowed as he watched.
'This doesn't seem like it's really about training.'
Probably the real purpose is surveillance.
So he'd anticipated Alice—who wasn't focused on the sword anyway—would decline.
That left just him and Edan.
Coincidentally, all three had shown outstanding performance in the first class.
Under the pretext of nurturing talent, training one noble alongside him wouldn't draw complaints from the other students.
In other words, attach one noble and carry out surveillance disguised as training.
But Tail had no reason to dodge it.
He had nothing to hide even if watched, and there was nothing for them to uncover about him anyway.
Besides, given Allen's upright and diligent nature, he wouldn't assign anything disadvantageous under training.
He was just planning to keep an eye on him under the special training excuse.
'Well, since it's come to this, might as well make the most of it.'
His swordsmanship was renowned as exceptional.
If he played it right, he might even learn it.
'If they're using me, I'll use them too.'
Tail smiled as he replied.
"I'm in too."
He beamed brightly, thoughts well concealed.