“…Sigh.”

Slumping to the floor with a deep sigh, I stared blankly ahead.

The next Hero.

I had completely forgotten about that brainless guy. Actually, if asked whether Hero Siegfried was as stupid as Leonhardt, that wasn’t the case.

Siegfried knew how to discern things to some extent and could use his head in his own way. He knew how to use anything to achieve his goals.

An ironic existence who lost his entire village to monsters and thus was chosen by the Goddess due to his outstanding hatred compared to others.

The problem was…

Creak.

The door opens. Professor Selenda opens the door to the training ground and looks at us. We met her often because she was in charge of the common classes for all of us.

There was also the fact that the proportion of mock training had increased considerably before the midterm exam.

As Professor Selenda’s appearance drew everyone’s attention, she slowly opened her mouth after a brief silence, waiting for us to settle down.

“As mentioned before, a new student will be transferring in.”

Everyone had heard it once, so no one was surprised or shaken. They simply looked on with anticipation.

But I was just worried because I already knew who he was. I feared what would happen once that rascal enrolled in this academy.

“Siegfried, come in.”

Thud.

His footsteps heavily echo inside the training ground.
The boy with deep brown hair and equally deep brown eyes entered the training ground leisurely.

Slowly walking to Professor Selenda’s side, Siegfried slowly looked us over.

Since he was extremely handsome when he kept his mouth shut, small exclamations spilled out here and there. However, he paid no attention to that and looked around at us as if searching for someone, then stopped his gaze upon finding that someone.

“…Siegfried Feliang. The next Hero.”

His short and concise self-introduction carried a hint of arrogance, the confidence of being chosen by the Goddess.

“Siegfried is the next Hero chosen by the Sun God. Of course, such things don’t apply within the academy. He is simply a newly admitted student. That is all.”

Professor Selenda, who frowned at Siegfried’s self-introduction, continued speaking. At her explanation, Siegfried’s expression twisted instead.

But she didn’t pay any attention to that and guided him to the group he belonged to.

“…”

“As I said, student Siegfried is included in the group where Leonhardt was. We will also take into account that he joined late when grading, so don’t worry.”

After confirming with his eyes that Siegfried had headed to his assigned group, Professor Selenda cut off his attention from him with those words. She knew from experience that Heroes were all self-centered.

Of course, the old Hero would be an angel compared to Siegfried. But there was no way for her to know that.

“…Why does it feel like he keeps looking at me.”

Sylvia trails off and hides behind me.

Why are you hiding behind me? If you do that, the attention will be drawn to me.

“Is it my imagination…?”

In reality, Siegfried’s gaze was fixed on Sylvia without missing a single moment. It was rather remarkable that she thought it might be her imagination.

“I think he really is staring…”

It was simply amazing that Helena was more perceptive than Sylvia.

When she spoke with a frown, Sylvia hid even more behind my back and muttered.

“Right? It’s true…?”

“Could it be… another person charmed by Sylvia’s beauty has appeared?!”

It seemed that Helena and Sylvia still weren’t thinking too deeply about him. After all, how could one be certain someone was a bad guy at first sight?

“No way…”

“As expected, our Sylvia’s beauty is enough to captivate even someone seeing her for the first time.”

Helena hugged Sylvia while bragging unnecessarily, and her face turned bright red as she shook her head.

Since Helena, who was second to none in beauty, was doing that, it was simply adorable.

Anyway, while Siegfried’s intense stare at Sylvia felt somewhat ominous, I decided to stop paying attention to him. That guy would never stop his obsession with Sylvia, no matter what.

At the same time, he was difficult to provoke due to his title as the next Hero. Since he was someone who wouldn’t cause trouble when it came to ‘Sylvia,’ leaving him alone wouldn’t lead to major issues.

At most, he would only clash a bit with Cain. It may sound cold, but it wasn’t my place to get involved if they fought. Even if things deviated from the original story, there were still some things that wouldn’t change.

And I had no intention of controlling every single event.

Clap.

I clapped my hands to get the attention of Sylvia and Helena, who were chatting and laughing and began explaining the training. The important thing was for us to get higher scores in the training.

***

The mock training proceeded as usual. We smoothly carried out the mock training with our improved skills compared to before. It was only natural. Our skills were also gradually improving, and our coordination with each other improved as the training progressed.

After successfully repelling the monsters without major losses, we were calmly carrying out maintenance in a quiet place.

“…How long will it take?”

“Just a little more, and it should be done.”

A drop of sweat trickled down Sylvia’s forehead. At the beginning of the mock training, Sylvia, a healer, didn’t have much to do. It was common for the party to be wiped out before healing could even begin. Even with sacred power-based healing, targeting and healing allies in battle like in novels or games was unreasonable.

But as the training progressed, the busier one became Sylvia. We no longer got wiped out and were gradually getting used to fighting. Since she alone had to handle the healing of three people, it was inevitable for her to become busy and tired. I felt bad for saying this to her, as it might seem like I was rushing her, but the training did have a time limit.

We had to defeat as many demons as possible within the time limit, so I was a bit anxious. Still, I knew rushing wouldn’t change anything, so I nodded and looked around.

“Thanks, Sylvia.”

“It’s my job, so don’t mention it.”

Sylvia shook her head with a bright smile at Helena’s words of gratitude. Smiling briefly at that heartwarming sight, I frowned and got up, sensing a presence in the distance.

“…Conan, do you see anything?”

“Just a moment.”

Conan had also noticed it, frowning as he climbed a rock to look far ahead.

“I can’t see well because of the dust.”

“…Dust?”

Is there any reason for the dust to rise?

At Conan’s words, I tilted my head for a moment. Even though mock training was designed to cover all situations and was even affected by the weather…The current battlefield had almost no wind. In such a situation, there were only two reasons for dust to rise.

“I don’t sense any magic…”

Either it was magic. Hearing Conan’s mutter, I gripped my sword and spoke urgently.

“Everyone, get in formation.”

“…Helena’s healing isn’t finished yet.”

“Helena, can you move?”

“I can move.”

Helena nodded and took a stance at my urgent voice, perhaps sensing something was amiss.
Helena’s healing wasn’t completely finished yet, so I was worried, but we couldn’t afford to be leisurely.

“What’s wrong, Felix?”

Sylvia asked me in an uneasy voice. I bit my lower lip, holding up my sword, and focused my gaze on where the dust was rising.

“Some crazy bastard is herding the monster.”

The other reason was that some lunatic was doing a monster drive.

Monster drive. It was an action taken by skilled mercenary groups when they were certain there was no danger, where some would lure all the monsters to one place and concentrate their firepower. Of course, even those skilled mercenary groups would never execute it unless they grasped the entire situation and were convinced their firepower was clearly superior.

In other words, it wasn’t a tactic to be executed at the level of students. Biting my lip tightly, I climbed up the rock where Conan had gone to observe the situation.

Two more assumptions could be made here. One was that someone was deliberately gathering the monsters to screw over other students.

The other was…

“That crazy Hero is…”

The crazy Hero was going berserk. Cursing at the sight of the Hero leisurely positioned at the end of the dust cloud raised by the monsters, I frowned and raised my sword. It was to be on guard in case any monster escaping headed our way. But that thought…

Vanished the moment I saw the pure white light rising from Siegfried’s side.

The Hero had drawn his Holy Sword.