TN: Changed Demonic Beast War class to Anti-Demonic Beast class.
Also, Selenda is female. I really don’t know why I forced her as a mal thinking of an actual thug character. Completely forgot this is a romfan.

The classmate with the name Conan had green permed hair. Judging by the lack of a last name, he seemed to be a commoner.

But that wasn’t the problem.

“Hello, Felix.”

“…Yes, hello Sylvia.”

Having someone like Helena would already earn me the jealousy of the boys in the class. Seeing Sylvia in the same group seemed like a prank by God.

If it wasn’t a prank, he must’ve wanted something interesting to happen.

As I greeted Sylvia, piercing glares rained down from both sides. One was from Helena, and one was from Leonhardt.

‘I wasn’t the one who organized the groups. What do you want me to do?’

However, I doubted they would listen to anything I said, so I tried to ignore them.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Conan.”

“Right, I’m Felix.”

“I’m Helena.”

The male student named Conan seemed to be a very ordinary boy. His appearance was also very ordinary. He greeted us with a trembling voice as he blushed while looking at Sylvia and Helena.

Fortunately, unlike his name, which sounded like he would search for problems, he seemed to have a very timid personality.

“If you’ve gathered with your group members, head to the training hall.”

After watching the students briefly greet each other in their assigned groups, Selenda began organizing them before the atmosphere became too chaotic.

We also started moving to the training hall amid the students gathering in their groups.

“Thank goodness, I was worried about being in the same group as strangers.”

“You could’ve taken this opportunity to talk to others.”

“Still… it seemed like it would be a bit difficult.”

I calmly responded to Sylvia, who smiled as if relieved while looking at me.

Since most of the boys had either confessed to Sylvia or had feelings for her, it might have been awkward for her.

There were quite a few girls who openly didn’t like Sylvia either.

“It certainly could be.”

As I moved my steps while agreeing with Sylvia’s words, Helena, who hadn’t said a word since she appeared, glared at me with a displeased expression.

When I felt Helena’s gaze, I gently stroked her head, and she just let out a small sigh.

I’ll say it again: Since I wasn’t involved in organizing the groups, I wish she wouldn’t act like that toward me.

Thud.

“Ah……”

While casually chatting, we arrived at the training hall and found our spots. As I was briefly observing the chaotic training hall near the entrance, I felt someone hit my shoulder.

Having been shoulder-checked, I stumbled briefly, frowned slightly, and looked up.

“Ha, it’s nothing.”

“…Huh?”

An unfamiliar student was smiling smugly at me.

After pondering for a moment who he was not to hide his hostility, I realized he was one of Leonhardt’s followers and let out a long breath.

…Endure it.

Since it wasn’t done openly and it didn’t seem like the nearby students saw the situation, I just shook my head and calmed myself down.

He was probably doing such a petty provocation because I had too easily fallen for Leonhardt’s provocations until now, but it wasn’t even funny.

It was a typical provocation from a male student blinded by jealousy, and I already knew who was behind it.

“Felix, why are you standing like that?”

Helena, who had been looking elsewhere for a moment, asked with a puzzled expression as I stood awkwardly.

I smiled wryly and brushed off my clothes, standing up straight as if it were nothing.

“I just slipped for a bit. The floor is slippery.”

“…It doesn’t seem slippery?”

“Well, I’d appreciate it if you just took my word for it.”

“Is it because you’re embarrassed for some reason?”

Since Helena didn’t know the situation, she seemed to think I had just slipped. I also didn’t bother to correct her.

“…Are you okay?”

“Huh? It’s nothing, I didn’t even fall.”

Sylvia belatedly asked me a question while biting her lower lip and looking towards the students for some reason.

Since the one who had pushed me wasn’t at the end of her gaze, I just nodded and feigned an unbothered expression.

“Focus…!”

At Selenda’s voice, the student’s attention was focused. Among them, I felt a pair of eyes watching me, but I tried my best to ignore that gaze.

Wasn’t this just a cliche setup begging for something to happen?

I just kept reminding myself of that resolution.

***

The Anti-Demonic Beast class.

There could be endless reasons for the existence of such a class, but to put it simply, the continent was currently in trouble because of the remnants of the Demon King’s army–the demon beasts.

It was said, with some exaggeration, that once you left the Empire’s and other countries’ walls, the land was swarming with monsters.

The students coming to the academy were all trained to gain the power to deal with them, so the Anti-Demonic Beast class was made just for it.

Of course, the original work didn’t describe it in detail. After all, it was a romance fantasy.

It skipped over most combat elements, with just two or three simple descriptions about the demon beasts before moving on.

“All groups consist of two vanguards, one rearguard, and one healer.”

Naturally, the rearguard—that is, the magic and healing classes—valued talent more than other jobs.

In addition, there weren’t many applicants for the archer class, so when considering the ratios, the vanguard classes had about twice as many students as the other job groups.

As a result, in each group of four, two were vanguards.

“The test will take place here in this training hall. All students will train inside this hall during the joint training class hours.”

Although collectively called training halls, there were various kinds within the academy.

Starting from the basic training hall where I did basic training, there was also a training hall with dummies like in old-school traditional game fantasy novels, a mana training hall to train mana, and finally, the Anti-Demon Beast Training Hall where we would be conducting joint training.

There were even more types of training halls than that.

“It’s not just one group entering at a time. To simulate real situations, we’ll divide all the groups into three and take turns training.”

Selenda continued speaking calmly while looking around at everyone.

“The test won’t just be graded on how many demon beasts you defeated. It will include how efficiently your group hunts the demon beasts, how little damage you sustain while hunting them, and even the coordination between group members.”

Just listening made it sound like a rather difficult test.

“Any discord between group members will result in a deduction, as will any discord with other teams. Do you have any questions?”

No one raised their hand at her words.

It wasn’t that they had no questions, but no one raised their hand since they hadn’t experienced it yet.

Selenda also seemed to understand this, nodding and opening her mouth.

“It’s probably better to experience it firsthand. Groups A to C, retrieve the equipment displayed at the front and gather before the training hall entrance.”

We were group C, so we stepped forward at Selenda’s words.

Holding the practice iron swords I had grown accustomed to from not skipping a single day of practice, my group and I took our positions in front of the training hall entrance.

“Huff…”

“Nervous?”

No matter how talented the students were, they were still students without combat experience. Of course, some had already experienced real battles, but most hadn’t.

When Helena let out a small breath, I asked her, and she awkwardly smiled and nodded.

“What about you, Felix?”

“Oh, me too, a little?”

To be honest, I didn’t feel too tense. I had been training every day without fail. Still, I didn’t have a chance to gauge my abilities accurately since I hadn’t experienced real combat.

This was an opportunity to accurately test my skills, so I felt more anticipation than anything else.

“Everyone knows the basic formations, right?”

Conan, who also seemed tense, spoke to us in a way unlike before without trembling.

“Yes.”

I answered, while Helena and Sylvia just nodded.

Sylvia didn’t respond much to minor questions because she knew firsthand how that would lead some to act. Helena’s looks didn’t pale in comparison to Sylvia’s, so she didn’t seem to want to give any openings either.

“Groups A to C, enter the training hall.”

Having discussed taking the basic formation taught at the academy as our initial position, we headed towards the training hall entrance at Selenda’s voice.

But chance would have it that Leonhardt was in Group A.

He seemed separated from his followers, but how he looked at us was unsettling.

‘No matter how unruly he is, he should be able to separate professional and personal matters…’

I tried to hide my uneasy feelings as I headed into the training hall.

Leonhardt just kept staring at us until we all entered the training hall.

Translator’s Corner

…osu really didn’t give me any time… another chapter later.

-Ruminas