Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Kalendron Expedition
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Roughly a week after the special announcement.
The mission dispatch from Venderford was carried out swiftly.
It seemed the subjugation operation was proceeding faster than expected.
The students' objective was to mop up the remnants hiding in the Kalendron territory, south of the Deser Mountains.
"Team 15, check your supplies and maps."
At the instructor's voice, the team members each opened their saddlebags.
After confirming everything was in order, we immediately passed through the east gate.
"Giddy-up!"
"Let's go!"
The students, leaving the academy during the semester, seemed somewhat excited.
Team 14, which had departed slightly ahead of us, broke into a frantic sprint from the very start.
It looked like they were trying to reach the destination faster than anyone to claim the greatest merits.
Of course, I had no intention of doing so.
Kalendron might be relatively close, but to ride like mad from the beginning?
They were bound to exhaust their horses and get stranded midway.
I looked back at my team members and tossed them rolled-up bundles of documents.
"Here, take one."
"What's this?"
"Mission intel."
What I provided was an intelligence report diligently compiled and summarized by the 3rd-class agents of the Central Branch.
Of course, I had completely removed any mention of the assassination guild, leaving only the information related to the Physis Branch.
Frixon, who quickly read the beginning, widened his eyes and nodded.
The contents of the report seemed to have surprised him quite a bit.
"This is incredibly detailed. Where on earth did you get this?"
"I spent a little money when I went out last weekend."
"So you bought the information."
"It was pretty pricey, but don't worry about it. It was pocket change to me anyway."
I shrugged as if it were no big deal, and everyone else just nodded calmly.
Frixon was a donation-based entrant like me, so he had a generous allowance, and the other two were direct descendants of the Four Great Families.
Since his father was the lord of Poven, a city that thrived on trade, Curtis could also be considered quite wealthy.
When you thought about it, not a single one of us was short on cash.
"This is much more organized than I expected."
Mac, who was reading the documents on the Physis Branch, nodded with a rather satisfied expression.
He paid little attention to my much more luxurious attire or the high price of the intelligence.
Instead, he was marveling at the detailed and solid quality of the information.
Of course he would be.
It was an internal document from the continent's greatest assassination guild.
"What a pain. Do we really have to do all this? Can't we just go and wreck them all?"
Meanwhile, Kamil Felton shuffled through the papers before carelessly stuffing them into his saddlebag.
He was put off by the sight of so many words.
A typical reaction from someone who found everything in the world a bother.
"A total of forty teams have been deployed. If we want to rank among the top, we need to understand our enemy's characteristics."
I ignored Kamil, who was slouched over his saddle resting, and addressed the other team members.
"It says they command monsters and summon spirits to possess things?"
As expected, the first to react was the shy top student, Mac Ties.
*By the way, how long are you going to use formal speech with me?*
*It's so awkward.*
Thinking he'd feel burdened if I told him to stop right away, I suppressed my annoyance and replied.
"It's a type of unrefined magic. They call it sorcery, but it's not that different from magic in that it manipulates mana."
"I see."
"The important part is this. Now, turn to page 14."
My teammates flipped through the report as I instructed and muttered with interest.
"So this is what the Seal of the Malevolent Spirit looks like…"
"It looks cruder than I expected."
The druids all wore necklaces with T-shaped pendants.
They weren't worn merely for symbolic purposes.
Not only were they items imbued with powerful sorcery, but they also served as mediums for communicating with monster souls.
The method for calculating merit in this mission was based on how many of these Seals of the Malevolent Spirit one could secure.
"1st-Rank is brown, 2nd-Rank is red, 3rd-Rank is black, 4th-Rank is silver, and the Spirit Master is gold. The head of the branch is called the Spirit Master."
The ones hiding in Kalendron territory were likely mostly 1st-Ranks.
At most, there might be some mid-level manager types, the 2nd-Ranks.
They were perfect opponents for students.
Even if they summoned monster souls, they would be insignificant ones like orcs or gnolls.
"But why are you only showing this to us after we've departed?"
Curtis, having read the report to the end, tilted his head and asked.
I glanced at Kamil, who was asleep, sprawled over his saddle.
"What good would come from the information getting out? The travel time is long enough, so we can just study it on the way."
Understanding the meaning behind my gaze, my teammates nodded knowingly.
Kamil Felton's carefree personality and eccentric behavior were quite famous within the academy.
If I had given him the report beforehand, there was a high chance it would be leaked.
He would probably just leave it lying around somewhere and lose it.
"Huh?"
*Thump!*
We were moving slowly along the road at a walk.
Suddenly, a strange sound came from behind, and my teammates stopped.
It seemed something had happened in the brief moment I was looking ahead.
I whipped my head around, but for a moment, I couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.
It felt like getting stuck while playing a spot-the-difference game.
As I watched with a puzzled expression, Mac Ties dismounted with an awkward look on his face.
Only then did I understand what was wrong.
*Wow, that guy's a real piece of work.*
The commotion had been caused by Kamil falling off his horse while sleeping sprawled on the saddle.
Even though we weren't riding fast, falling off a horse could lead to serious injury.
However, the guy only blinked his eyes open after Mac helped him up.
"What?"
"Are you not hurt? You took a pretty nasty fall to the ground."
"I'm fine, more or less."
*Scratch, scratch.*
Kamil Felton scratched his shaggy red hair, climbed back onto his saddle, and flopped over to sleep again.
To be able to sleep in such a position was a sight hard to believe even after witnessing it firsthand.
*I'll have to wait and see if he's just got nerves of steel or is plain crazy.*
Mac Ties looked back and forth between Kamil Felton and the rest of us, then shrugged.
I changed my horse's gait to a trot and began to gradually pick up speed.
"Just as I thought, they're exhausted."
"Yeah. After sprinting like that from the start."
I could see a few of the teams that had spurted ahead resting in the shade of some trees.
A typical sight of young noble masters who had never properly handled a horse.
As we rode past them, the lead formation that had started earlier came into view.
*It doesn't feel like they're competing much.*
Ahead, the teams of the second and third princes were riding side by side.
Seeing as their pace wasn't much different from ours, it didn't seem like they were competing fiercely.
Moreover, there was no palpable tension between the two teams.
Just then, Frantz casually spoke to Ellington.
"You must be eager for merit. Why don't you be a bit more proactive?"
"It is the pursued who grows anxious, not the pursuer. If you are so eager to claim victory, please, go on ahead."
"Heh heh! I've heard you're quite the strategist."
"I haven't plotted a thing."
"And I never accused you of scheming."
"How could a younger brother stand in his elder's way? Please, hurry on."
"Never mind."
The two princes were exchanging what seemed like a casual conversation.
Though there was a slight edge to their words, it felt like they were deferring to each other, a 'you first, no you first' situation.
Overhearing their conversation, I couldn't help but feel puzzled.
*The emperor definitely said that performance at Venderford would be part of the succession evaluation. Shouldn't they be desperately trying to one-up each other?*
The information came from the empire's Central Branch, so it should be accurate, even if it concerned the royal family's private affairs.
But Frantz and Ellington appeared as carefree as if they were on a holiday trip.
*Don't tell me these guys… are they treating the battle for the throne like some kind of game?*
The throne wasn't something you won by playing cards; that seemed unlikely.
But then, a single word flashed through my mind.
*Intrigue.*
Power cannot be shared even between father and son, so the intrigue within the imperial court must be truly terrifying.
They were simply accustomed to all sorts of schemes and were constantly testing each other.
The moment one of them showed a real weakness, the other would surely bare his fangs to go for the kill.
And so, the uncomfortable journey of the lead group continued until they were not far from the Kalendron territory.
But just as they passed through a completely deserted checkpoint and entered a fairly wide overland trade route…
*Rustle!*
An ominous movement arose from the bushes to the right.
Before long, something large burst out, parting the thicket.
*Whoosh! Craaash!*
"Kwoooaaar!"
The appearance of the monster, which emanated a brown aura from its entire body, was horrifying.
Jagged teeth, completely black eyes, a height of about three meters, and a massive build.
It resembled an ogre in some ways, but it was subtly different and looked far more ferocious.
"That's…"
Upon seeing it, the members of Team 15 immediately looked at each other.
It was no wonder, as the monster wore a crude, T-shaped pendant around its neck.
*Ssssk! Sssk!*
Soon after, dozens of other creatures emerged in a swarm from behind it.
They were undoubtedly monsters controlled by the druids of the Physis Branch.
"The enemy has appeared! Prepare for battle!"
Frantz looked around and shouted as if he were the commander.
At his call, the students, tensed by the monster's appearance, began to gather around the second prince.
Ellington, as if not to be outdone, was also gathering his team to launch an attack.
"What should we do?"
Mac Ties asked, subtly summoning a spirit.
But I had no intention of being a pawn in the princes' war games.
"We're breaking through."
"What? We're just leaving them?"
"Our targets are 2nd-Rank and above. Not these small fry."
You think we can get first place with just a brown Seal of the Malevolent Spirit?
We need at least the red ones.