Level Up

A few days later, in the morning at Constel.

Students on their way to school witnessed a scene that made their eyes go wide.

"Ah, hello...?"

"Hello..."

"Eek, ah, hello."

Each passing student widened their eyes and nodded in greeting as they passed by.

The person being greeted showed no reaction, but the students greeted him without fail.

"Chancellor, it's time."

"Mm."

Malia, who was by his side, informed him of the time.

The figure was none other than Chancellor Osprey.

Osprey, who rarely showed his face, was standing in front of the school gate.

He was waiting for someone. Someone worthy of being received by someone of his stature.

And from afar.

The sound of a sedan's engine hummed. The sedan stopped precisely in front of the gate. A middle-aged man got out of the driver's seat.

"......!"

All the students passing by the gate stopped.

It wasn't just the students. The faculty members working at Constel, even the general public passing by the gate, all stopped in their tracks to watch.

Screams akin to those of female students echoed from afar, and the male students let out sincere exclamations of amazement.

They knew why Osprey was standing at the gate. The reason he had come out to meet someone.

Thud, his walking steps had a weight that seemed to press down on the air.

Only Osprey and Malia calmly received that momentum.

"It's been a while."

A cool and heavy voice.

While most people would be intimidated by that voice alone, Osprey calmly welcomed him.

"Good to see you. Enfer."

Enfer de Roach.

He had come to Constel.

Afterward, the three sat face to face in the principal's office.

Osprey, after sending his secretary out, instructed that no one should enter the principal's office unless it was something special.

“Don't be ridiculous. He wouldn't hurt a fly.”

“That's not for you to decide.”

Malia answered in his stead and crossed her arms. It wasn't often that she served tea.

Malia asked him in a roundabout way while watching Enfer drink his tea.

“Enfer, are you not going to join the Zodiac?”

Enfer's brow twitched.

“You want me to become a dog of the Empire?”

Enfer’s retort could be seen as an insult to Osprey.

It was the same as saying Osprey, who already belonged to the ‘Zodiac,’ was a dog of the Empire. However, Osprey took it in stride.

“Weren't we all watchdogs of the continent at one point?”

“……That was in the past.”

Those who currently belonged to the Zodiac and Enfer had all lived in the same era. And at that time, they had faced a great calamity.

A fight against 'monsters from outside' that resembled, but was more heinous than, the recent attack in Constel.

Whenever monsters invaded humanity, mankind’s borders wavered. There were times when they advanced a little, but in the end, the borders of humanity only continued to shrink.

Those who had firmly established those borders were the Zodiac members and Enfer.

They built walls and obstacles at the boundaries of humanity and appointed major nobles to guard those walls.

As a result, Enfer was assigned to the northwest, while the northeast was assigned to Ludwig von Urfa of the Urfa family.

Only the northern region had people in charge who were unusually not Zodiac members, while the remaining east, west, and south were all under the Zodiac's jurisdiction.

“In the end, we are just wild dogs. That's our nature. We need fights. We need something to be loyal to. Isn't that right?”

“I used to, but not anymore.”

“The more lies you tell, the worse your health gets. You'll understand once you're my age.”

As he spoke, Osprey rarely laughed in a manner befitting his age.

Enfer shook his head.

"I now have Azier."

"Azier, right."

Osprey nodded. His attempt to recommend Enfer to Zodiac was always, ironically, blocked by Azier, called the best output of Constel.

"Azier will soon surpass me. He will become the new flag of humanity. By then, reclaiming the land humanity lost won't be a dream."

"Are you really sure? That Azier will surpass you?"

"His prominence is already showing."

Osprey scratched his temple with his wrinkled fingers. He was well aware of Azier's skills, having seen them himself.

...Certainly, Enfer is just being overly fond. Or maybe he's forgotten his prime.

"So, you came today because of Azier?"

"Partly. I came to check how the temporary teaching position is going."

Partly? What's the other reason?

Osprey had such questions, but he set them aside for now.

"Azier is a good teacher. The students rate him well. I was worried that he might find teaching difficult, only being accustomed to practical work, but he's doing surprisingly well."

"Hmm, as expected."

Indeed, overly fond.

"By the way, why did you send Azier? So Suddenly? Because the combat instructor's position was empty? That can't be the only reason."

"I thought Azier would be needed in Constel. For the students' growth as well."

"Does that mean danger is approaching? Something too much for the current students?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Just a hunch."

A hunch.

If it's Enfer's hunch, it can't be taken lightly. Especially since it's probably not just a 'hunch'.

"What's the other half of the reason then?"

The other half of the reason Enfer came here, besides Azier.

Without hesitation, Enfer suddenly fell silent.

He frowned as if something was displeasing and took a sip of his tea.

Osprey had a growing suspicion about the other half of the reason but decided to keep it to himself for now.

"...The other half is about my other son."

As expected.

"Frondier?"

Malia asked. Enfer nodded.

Malia's lips pursed. 'other son', as if it was an awkward name to mention.

"I heard my son ranked 16th in the last midterm."

"Is that so? Malia?"

Osprey wouldn't know every detail about the freshman's midterm records. At his question, Malia nodded.

"Yes. He scored perfect in the written exam, and during the practicals, most of the scores went to Aster Evans."

"Hmm. Still, that's a good rank. Why is that?"

Enfer replied.

"Wasn't it because the difficulty of the midterm was too simplistic?"

Osprey narrowed his eyes. He wasn't dissatisfied with the challenge of Constel's exam itself.

It was Enfer's underlying intention that seemed dubious.

"─Does that mean you're not pleased with Frondier achieving a high rank?"

At that, Malia also looked at Enfer.