Grit…

“And what? Did you say that it’s the golem that was strong, not Davey? Then is a golem controller supposed to abandon his golem and have a physical fight with you? Are you stupid? Even an idiot goblin would know better than that. Don’t kid yourself. You think you’re better than everyone else, right?”

Sio’s expression grew even more menacing as Illyna criticized him without stopping.

“Stop!! Trainee Illyna is partly right. Sio Howl! Rule 8 of Alpha Reinforcements!”

“…It is ‘The knight order must always try their best and must know how to accept and reflect on victories and losses’.”

“Now go if you’ve understood!” Teacher Fridos, the man who had two swords on his waist, bellowed at Sio.

Sio frowned coldly, then addressed Davey, “Consider yourself lucky. You would’ve almost been dead if your attack didn’t coincidentally succeed.”

“Sio Howl!!” Illyna was extremely angered by Sio’s taunting and shouted.

She was about to continue when Davey spoke uncaringly as he picked his nose. “You would’ve already been dead if it was a real battle.”

“What?” Sio responded.

“Your head isn’t hard enough to withstand a hit from a sword, right? Are you going to say that in front of Goddess Freyja after you die?”

‘And I would’ve already popped your head off from the start if it wasn’t for Illyna.’

Davey didn’t bother saying more, but what he said was already enough to irritate Sio.

“Don’t mock me, outsider.”

As Sio stomped off after staring at Davey with a deadly glare, the Teachers consoled the members who were watching the battle and led them back to their dormitories. Then, they also disappeared, saying that they had to discuss whether they had to accept Davey as part of the knight order. It was a sudden and unexpected visit from an outsider; it could’ve been a chaotic situation, but it seemed like this wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Then, Boris called upon Davey after quite a long time. “I’ll get straight to the point: it is foolish to expect mana or physical talent from a golem controller. I heard from Trainee Illyna that you made that golem yourself.”

“Well, yes,” Davey replied.

“Amazing, truly. I saw my fair share of battle alchemists, but I’ve never seen anyone craft and wield a golem that powerful.”

Boris was quite gallant and was very open-minded.

“It was seven to three, and I approved, of course. We congratulate you on your entrance to the knight order.” Boris laughed heartily and handed Davey a small glass.

“I assume it’s not just regular alcohol.”

‘Taboo.’

“Alchemists are so smart. They are quite quick, aren’t they? Or did you hear from Trainee Illyna?”

“Well, it was just a hunch. “

Davey could tell because there was a weak but clear after-scent of mana inside the glass.

“Hm… Trainee Illyna has brought us someone very useful. Well, it does say ‘student’, but it’s not a problem if they bring someone that is similar to or even more advanced than them. The important thing is…”

Boris stopped speaking and stared at Davey with a blank expression as he gulped down the alcohol in the glass even before Boris finished his sentence.

“Is there a problem?”

“You… Did you drink it without even hearing about what it is?”

“I am pretty quick.”

-There’s no way the Oath of Abstinence was going to work on a mage who has already been enlightened up to the level of Absorption…

Davey felt sorry for Boris but drinking this had no effect on him whatsoever.

Perserque sighed as she already knew the truth, but Boris couldn’t hear her.

“Then, I will check. Do you swear to keep your secret about Alpha Reinforcements and the Last Wisp in public?”

“Isn’t that why I drank it?”

“That is true.”

“Then, that should be enough. I did come here to help my friend out, but I have somewhat of an interest in the work of the Last Wisp.”

‘Interested in the various Zones of Evil and evil beasts, to be exact.’

“Hm, it feels like you already knew about Alpha Reinforcements pretty well.”

‘That’s probably not just a hunch.’

However, Davey didn’t bother telling him.

“Alright, there’s no lies.”

Boris stood up with satisfaction after he pulled out a small jewel from inside his chest pocket.

“It’s an artifact that detects lies. I won’t worry about your identity anymore since you were honest and truthful.” Boris spoke.

“Aren’t you believing me a little easily?” Davey asked.

“I did speak to you a little harsher than necessary when we first met, but the enemies of Alpha Reinforcements aren’t humans in the first place.”

There was a lot of meaning behind Boris’ words. The purpose of the founding and existence of the Last Wisp was to protect the continent from unknown enemies, like evil beasts in danger zones to extremely dangerous beings that threatened the continent; this meant that humans were not their enemy.

“The fight between humans in the public sphere isn’t any of our concerns. Well, go and rest for today since it’s already late.”

As Boris spoke calmly and walked away, his footsteps seemed quite light.

* * *

“Here, take this. Please don’t break it or crack it open since it has to be returned.”

Davey could feel a strange flow of mana as he stared at the wooden ring Illyna handed him.

“Is it the same ring you have?”

“Yes, but it’s an inferior model. We need the headquarters’ approval for you to become a member, but well… There shouldn’t really be a problem if what Teacher Boris said was true.”

“The effect?” Davey asked.

“Immunity to the barrier on this forest, and the freedom of movement. Originally, we should’ve arrived right at the High Palace and not in the middle of the forest when we used the artifact, but you didn’t have the ring.” Illyna spoke.

The maintenance of secrecy would be in danger if there were an artifact that could allow anyone in.

“There shouldn’t be any big issues when you move between here and the Heins Territory if you have that ring.”

Illyna smiled cheerfully.

“Now I have gotten myself an OP partner.”

“What are you going to do if I don’t do it?” Davey asked.

“After all this?”

Illyna’s bright smile disappeared for a moment.

“You’re not really going to do that, right?”

“There are some aspects that pique my interest more than I thought.”

“Phew…” Illyna showed her relief as Davey spoke.

“Let’s go. The Teachers said that the faster you train, the better, even though you’re still a trainee member.” Illyna spoke to Davey.

“Training?”

“Yeah. Trainees start integrated training according to the curriculum organized by the Teachers after a certain period. And that’s also one of the reasons I returned.”

‘Illyna had undergone training here while fulfilling her work in public… She’s quite a hardworking princess.’

“The content of the training is taught directly by the Teachers. The Teachers step up to increase one’s individual skills, but you could say that integrated training is more like a realistic battle and improves overall cooperation and thinking on the spot.”

Illyna seemed quite delighted as she explained.

“You seem to enjoy life as a member,” Davey remarked.

“There isn’t anything that is bothersome, and it’s something I must do in order to achieve my goal. And since everyone is so kind, I can put down my role as royalty here and be comfortable here. Ah… Kind except for a few of them.”

It seemed like there were people who she couldn’t didn’t really want to become friends with as she suddenly frowned.

As Davey and Illyna were about to join the other trainees to participate in the training…

“Go first without me.” Davey stopped in his step and quietly told Illyna to go.

“W—What?” Illyna asked.

“Go in. I’ll join you in a bit.”

Illyna looked confused by Davey, but soon silently nodded her head. She was a hot-tempered girl who always called him insane, but she was pretty quick.

Davey became enveloped in black smoke as he watched Illyna quietly walk away from him. Then, he slowly began to hear the faint sound of a conversation grow clearer as he moved while erasing any hint of his presence. It was Boris, the large man, and Elementalist Sylia, who had both watched him from the questioning to the combat test.

-Davey.

‘Shh.’ As Davey approached them while hiding his presence, Boris and Sylia looked full of thought as they spoke warily without noticing him.

‘Hm…’ Then, Davey scoffed as he got an idea of what was going on as he heard their conversation. Although Davey had completely damaged the pride of Sio Howl, that blue-haired mage trainee, with his sloppy movements intended to mess with the latter, it seemed like it didn’t give the Teachers assurance.

* * *

“Where did you go?” Illyna asked with an anxious expression. She was wearing light clothing suitable for movement while stretching in front of the entrance to the large forest.

“It’s nothing,” Davey replied.

“Then why does your face look like that?” Illyna flinched awkwardly as she frowned.

“What about my face?”

-I want to give you a mirror.

As Perserque spoke, Caldeiras’s thoughts flowed into Davey’s head as the broch on Illyna’s chest faintly glowed.

[You look like a villain smirking while plotting an evil scheme.]

Davey was disappointed that not one, but all three of them were thinking the same thing. He called out, “Illyna.”

“Y… Yeah?” Illyna had an anxious expression on her face.

Davey asked in a dead serious tone, “You want to take the test, right?”

“Why are you asking me such an obvious question?”

“Alright. It’s fine.”

The topic of discussion between Boris and Sylia was simple: they said that the future of the golem Davey had made was bright in many aspects, such as efficiency, but it was iffy. They were saying that he and the golem might get into serious trouble if they were just to be put into real battle since they had no proper training or knowledge about how to deal with evil beasts.

‘You can’t trust my capabilities because they’re iffy?’

Since it was clear that the Teachers didn’t know the kind of effect a golem controller trained in alchemy could have in a large-scale battle, Davey had no choice but to show them again. He had to put some thought into it so that no one would be able to question him again.

* * *

The size of the forest was objectively quite large. The large forest that was right under the Pandora Region, the Zone of Evil in the northern region of the central continent that people couldn’t reach, was a dangerous place that not even mercenaries came to because it wasn’t worth the risk. As a result, it was safe to say that the entire forest was a training ground that all the trainee members of the Alpha Reinforcements could use.

-This training exercise works similarly to hopscotch, something that should be familiar! However, I’ll explain it since there are people new to training!

“Hm…” Illyna moaned mildly like she had done this training before.

-The range is from the first forest to the fifth!

-We have marked the territory of each team by casting a turf magic in each region.

-As always, we permit attacks against each other! Remember that the team that gains the most territory in the time limit receives the highest performance points! Also, don’t forget that there are bonus points other than that!

It basically meant that they could do whatever they wanted to mess with them.

“They’re saying that it doesn’t matter if it hurts like crap and it’s agonizing?”

“Ah… What? Seriously, why is he like that?!”

[I’m already worried what kinds of things he will do…]

Davey heard complaints from a human and a divine sword as he had a history, but he just ignored them.

-It will start in ten minutes! I will randomly give the signal to start! Now, get ready!

Boris went silent after he made the announcements.