“I wonder if this is okay.”

Looking at them, I let out a soft, deep sigh. I seriously contemplated how to fix the broken Helena and Conan.

While I was lost in thought after talking with Ashillya, I was startled by a voice behind me.

“…Felix?”

“Sylvia?”

There she was.

During my conversation with Ashillya, she hadn’t made a sound, so I had momentarily forgotten about her.

Turning my head at her oddly dark voice, I saw her gazing at me with gloomy eyes.

… What’s up with her now?

As I looked at Sylvia with that thought, she hesitantly opened her mouth to speak.

“You seem quite close with Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

“…Are we close?”

I’m not sure about that.

If I were to put it in terms of Ashillya’s small circle of relationships, we would be close, but in the general sense of the word, we wouldn’t be particularly close.

You could say it was a bit of a complex and difficult relationship.

Tilting my head, I answered Sylvia’s question, and she continued with a slightly better expression.

“Then what kind of relationship do you have?”

“Just the relationship between a lord and vassal, I suppose. If not that, then a normal senior-junior relationship at the academy?”

It was hard to define our relationship precisely, so I gave a vague answer with an awkward smile.

Sylvia tilted her head, mirroring my action.

“By the way, what was that conversation about earlier?”

“…A bet of honor between a lord and vassal?”

“What are you talking about…?”

I don’t know either.

Even I couldn’t understand why Ashillya proposed such a bet, so there’s no way I could clearly define it.

Unable to say that honestly, I shrugged with an awkward laugh.

“There are things like that.”

The fortunate thing was Sylvia, who had been a bit dazed until now, seemed to regain her senses thanks to this conversation.

The problem was…

“Ugh… Huh…?”

How to bring Helena and Conan back to normal.

***

Fortunately, just before our turn to enter the training ground, Helena and Conan managed to come to their senses.

“…But why were you out of it?”

“What if I make a mistake before the royal and lose my head?”

That’s an extreme way of thinking.

I nodded in agreement with Conan’s reasonable explanation, but he looked at me as if I were a weirdo.

“…Why?”

“It’s weird that you, who never cares about such things, sympathize with what I said…?”

“I care about it too, you know?”

What is he talking about?

Meeting Conan’s gaze, I blinked. He also blinked as our eyes met.

It seemed like there was a big misunderstanding…

“The royals are just as scary to me. Not only could I lose my head with one wrong word, but my entire family could be ruined too.”

“…And you’re the one saying that?”

“What…?”

When I had an audience with the Emperor, I was extremely cautious. Of course, it wouldn’t come to that unless I made a huge mistake or was already out of favor.

I thought that everything could turn to dust because of my mistake.

Apart from that, the Emperor’s presence itself was no joke.

Though our thoughts weren’t aligned at all, Professor Selenda’s booming voice ended the conversation.

“Next group, into the training ground…!”

As we stepped towards the entrance of the swaying, verdant training ground, a small voice came from behind.

“Good luck, the bet begins now.”

It was Ashillya. Just before entering the training ground, I glanced back and nodded slightly, then stepped inside.

Whoosh…!

As the heat of the battlefield, which I had experienced once, rushed in, I closed my mouth for a moment and looked around.

“It’s an open plain. The position isn’t good, let’s move.”

“To the left, there’s a small hill.”

“Alright, that way then.”

Drawing my weapon and raising my guard, I surveyed the surroundings. I spoke, and Conan, who was also looking around, replied.

Perhaps because he was a long-range type, Conan’s field of vision was wider than the others, and following his words, we began moving to the left side of the battlefield.

“Helena, please watch the rear.”

“Got it.”

Having regained her senses, she drew her weapon and positioned herself at the rear of the formation.

I took the lead, with Sylvia behind me, followed by Conan, and lastly, Helena.

Conan’s expression was tense. His arrow nocked on the bowstring as he lowered his posture and stayed alert.

‘…Good.’

Much better than before.

It was proof that they had each reflected on their shortcomings and were trying to improve. With a faint smile at the sight, I shook my head to clear my thoughts and began to stay vigilant.

“Hey, Felix.”

As we quietly walked in silence, I listened to Sylvia’s low voice from behind.

“…What?”

“So in the end, you made a bet with Her Highness the Princess, right?”

“That’s right. We made a bet on the results of this training.”

I didn’t know why Ashillya proposed the bet, but the bet was established when I accepted her proposal.

Without looking back, I answered Sylvia while surveying the surroundings, and she nodded slightly.

“Let’s make sure to win.”

“…Huh? Yeah. That would be good.”

I don’t know why you’re so fired up, but it would be good for me if we won the bet.

A beat late, I nodded, and Sylvia let out a small, startled yelp. However, she seemed to realize we were in the middle of training, so it was a very quiet yelp.

“… What’s wrong?”

Conan, who had been extremely tense, asked with a furrowed brow, but Sylvia just shook her head vigorously without a word.

Realizing it was nothing serious, Conan let out a soft sigh of relief and focused on surveying the surroundings again.

“Well… anyway, it’s good… if we win the bet, right? That’s why I said it.”

“…I know that too. Thanks.”

Sylvia’s words sounded like an excuse, and I thought that wasn’t a misconception. As I was thinking that, I realized we had arrived at the shallow hill we were aiming for.

“I hear something.”

“Enemies?”

The moment we reached the hill, Conan muttered in a low voice. Without turning my head, I focused my senses and asked.

“Kobolds… I think. About a dozen of them.”

I didn’t know what kind of family Conan was from, but his tracking ability was quite high-level. Thanks to that, we could identify the number of monsters in advance, and we lowered our posture and carefully climbed the hill.

As I looked at the kobolds positioned beyond the shallow hill, just as Conan had said, I quietly raised my hand.

It was the start of the battle.

***

Kwaaang…!

“Hmm.”

Professor Selenda exhaled softly as she gazed at the interior of the training ground displayed through the hologram.

Certainly, the first-year students of this class couldn’t be said to be particularly outstanding compared to other years. However, that didn’t mean the entire first-year class was lacking.

The higher up in the rankings, the more good raw talents could be found among this year’s first-years.

If she were still the leader of a mercenary corps instead of an academy professor, there were quite a few individuals who would catch his eye.

“Cain von Geyrus…”

Swordsmanship ability at the highest level, and an all-rounder capable of handling even the affairs of the Geyrus ducal family.

He had been absent from the last class due to family matters, so it was difficult to see his abilities then, but this time, he was clearly demonstrating his skills.

It was already a well-known fact that the people of the Geyrus ducal family were exceptional. Still, seeing it with his own eyes, Selenda could once again realize that it would be appropriate to say Cain was qualified to be active in the field.

“Felix von Astria.”

Selenda’s gaze shifted to another screen.

It showed the red-haired Felix traversing the battlefield, reliably cutting down monsters.

His entrance exam results were neither particularly good nor bad, but he has shown explosive growth since then.

Even now, his individual combat prowess was quite high, but he also demonstrated excellent battle sense, appropriately coordinating the situation and moving only up to the point of not disrupting their group’s formation.

It was the typical appearance of a leader.

“Impressive.”

Apart from those two, there were a few other notable individuals, like Conan, who wielded a huge longbow, and a female student who controlled multiple elemental magics.

Normally, Professor Selenda would have given a satisfied smile and analyzed their shortcomings to provide feedback.

But even though she verbally praised them, her expression was stiff.

Professor Selenda sighed deeply, turning her gaze to the final hologram screen.

The current first-years were indeed at an excellent level. Even compared to the second-years, the difference was not so great that they would lose.

But the girl before his eyes…

She was moving as if to personally demonstrate how much of a difference a single year could make.

No, in fact, she wasn’t directly moving herself. She simply assessed the situation and deployed the right students at the right time and place.

The problem was that it was happening in real time on the battlefield, and the number of students she could handle was limited to just a few.

The student with the best judgment.

The student with the most computational ability.

When it came to using her “head,” she never lost the top spot at the academy.

Ashillya’s majesty was on full display.