Roxwell's hellish training hit all of Class F at once.
The unfortunate news was that this state of affairs was going to continue.
For the foreseeable future, everyone in Class F could look forward to aching muscles from head to toe.
Even in the middle of all that, Ex wasn't particularly concerned.
He was already used to it….
Roxwell really was a professor at the finest academy in the empire. His ability to drive someone's stamina to its absolute limit and build it up from there was enough to leave Ex speechless. Even the knight orders at the imperial palace would recoil from his methods.
Now that Ex had somehow managed to adapt, he could still let out a sigh so deep it practically choked him. But at least he no longer wanted to die the way he had at the beginning.
With that thought in mind, he finished lunch and headed for the classroom for Introduction to Protego Swordsmanship.
"I was just about to contact you. Good timing."
He ran into Darius outside the classroom.
They were taking the same course, so there was nothing unusual about meeting him there.
This time, though, Darius seemed to have something else to discuss.
"What is it, Your Highness?"
"As of today, you no longer need to attend this class. I've already settled the matter with Professor Hans. You won't be penalized for missing these lessons from now on."
"…Pardon?"
Ex's first response to Darius's announcement was bewilderment.
Hans could be annoyingly rigid once he made up his mind.
But he wasn't the sort to grant special treatment because someone pressured him from outside.
In fact, he had never gone easy on Darius just because Darius was a member of the imperial family.
That wasn't likely to change simply because Ex had become an Imperial Prince, either.
"Why the sudden change?"
"Hmm…. It's difficult to know how to explain this."
"Why don't you just give me the main point?"
"To put it briefly, starting today, you'll be receiving a different kind of… instruction."
"A different kind of instruction?"
Darius continued with a complicated expression. There was even a hint of pity in it.
"The original plan was to use your free periods, but you're taking every class, so that wasn't possible. I was trying to think of a course you could afford to miss. And you haven't been able to use Protego Swordsmanship at all, have you? So this was the one we dropped."
"Well, I understand that. I was already wondering whether there was any point in taking this class. But what kind of instruction am I going to get that would require this…?"
"Allow me to explain that."
A familiar voice spoke from behind Ex.
"Dame Milia?"
It was Milia, the Sword of the Empire and commander of the Imperial Bodyguard.
"I am the one who requested the change to your schedule, Prince Ex. Starting today, you will spend this period receiving instruction under my supervision."
"…I will?"
"You volunteered to become Princess Beatrice's sword, didn't you? That means becoming a knight of the Imperial Bodyguard. And that means you must complete the training course reserved for our knights."
Ex realized exactly how this situation had come about.
"Don't tell me this is because I said I'd learn from my master…?"
"I do not allow personal feelings to influence my official duties."
Oh, yes, she did. One look at those blazing eyes was enough to establish that.
Those were the eyes of someone nursing a grudge, and they were burning with anger.
Milia caught Ex by the wrist and began to pull him along.
The pressure around his wrist told him that this was no ordinary grip.
She was so determined to take him with her that escaping would have required cutting off his own wrist.
"Come along. I'll give you personal instruction in Imperial Bodyguard Swordsmanship. And for you, I'll be teaching at full strength!"
"Lord Darius, save me…! I don't want any more training…! Lord Darius—no, Brother…!!"
Ex desperately appealed to Darius for help.
Darius was the only person here who could stop Milia.
But Darius turned his gaze away and pretended not to see him.
After so many years with Milia, Darius knew that once she decided to do something, she would find a way to do it. Somehow.
He had learned time and again just how much chaos that process of finding a way could cause.
Which meant this had to be resolved as gently as possible, before the problem grew too large for anyone to contain.
"You sold me out, Darius…!!"
"Make this sacrifice for the empire, little brother."
Even if resolving the problem meant selling out his own brother Ex.
And so another round of hellish training was added to Ex's daily routine.
* * *
Out of nowhere, Ex had found himself subjected to hellish training at the hands of Milia, the Sword of the Empire.
Her reason for wanting to teach him was perfectly clear.
She still hadn't given up on getting that achievement for raising a 5-Star martial artist…!
When Roxwell and Milia had squared off over who would get the achievement, Ex had chosen his master, Roxwell. Milia was still holding that choice against him.
She had more than enough justification, too. Beatrice, an Imperial Princess, was forever going around telling people that Ex was her personal knight.
Common sense raised the question of whether an Imperial Prince could even become an Imperial Princess's personal knight, but….
Common sense didn't apply to Drakan's imperial family.
Ex had realized that, now that Drakan was awake, expecting common sense was a lost cause.
"That will be all for today."
"I-it's over…."
Their lesson in the indoor training hall had finally ended. Milia sheathed her practice sword and nodded in satisfaction.
"You're keeping up with the instruction better than I expected. I see there was a reason Sir Roxwell accepted you as his disciple."
"Th-thank you…."
Milia thought carefully over the training before offering her assessment.
"It really is remarkable. Being able to remember everything you're taught, even after hearing it only once, is an important ability. It didn't take you long to put it into practice, either. Teaching you was rewarding."
The process of teaching him had, in itself, gone so smoothly that it was almost strange.
Part of that was his +110% Learning Ability. Part of it was Milia's experience as Bodyguard Commander: she had trained new recruits many times before.
"As I explained, Imperial Bodyguard Swordsmanship follows a different path from ordinary swordsmanship. Its purpose is protection. That's why martial artists who train with victory as their goal find it difficult to adapt. It is, after all, harder to protect someone than to win a fight. Fortunately, you adapted quickly, Prince Ex."
There certainly were a great many unusual things about Imperial Bodyguard Swordsmanship.
One of them had made the strongest impression on him.
You had to keep it in mind at all times that someone was standing behind you.
Perhaps that was why retreat was scarcely an option at all.
You had to keep advancing.
You had to intercept attacks aimed behind you.
And you had to cut open a path to safety, whatever it took.
"It really is swordsmanship made for the Imperial Bodyguard."
"Understanding that so quickly is impressive in itself. Most recruits have to be worked half to death for a month before they understand it."
Ex felt as though he'd finally discovered why the knights of the Imperial Bodyguard all had such grim faces.
Anyone who did this every day would naturally turn into a fiend straight out of hell.
"We'll conclude today's lesson here."
"How long am I going to be doing this?"
"There is no end to the path of the sword."
The lesson ended with the promise of an endless, inescapable hell.
Fortunately, he had some time to rest before his next class. At least he could change out of his dirty clothes.
And his next class was a sacred arts course.
"Sir Ex! Listen to this! I'm trying to transfer to Class F, and they're telling me that's absolutely out of the question! It's so unfair!"
"That absolutely is out of the question…! My body can't take any more of this…! Please, have mercy on me, Lady Beatrice…!"
He met Beatrice in Understanding the Structure of Sacred Arts.
After returning to her original body, Beatrice had completely changed her electives to focus on sacred arts. Since she had been a Saintess Candidate to begin with, that wasn't particularly strange.
There had, however, been a slightly unusual development with her body.
"Lady Beatrice, you said you could feel six Mana Rings in your head, didn't you? Have you thought about learning magic?"
"I'll learn if you teach me, Sir Ex."
"So that's a no."
Beatrice had inherited all six Mana Rings that Andras had built up over the course of five years, giving her the rings of a Tier 6 mage.
That had happened because divine power was bound to the soul, while Mana Rings and internal energy were bound to the body.
Thanks to that, Beatrice could technically be called a Tier 6 mage. Unfortunately, she knew nothing about magic.
"What rank was your divine power, Lady Beatrice?"
"I'm a 'Virtus' now…. That is, I'm at the fifth rank."
"That's quite high."
"I did nothing but pray while I was inside Andras's ring."
In other words, Beatrice possessed the power of both a fifth-rank sacred arts practitioner and a Tier 6 mage. She simply couldn't cast any magic, because she didn't have the knowledge.
Ex had only just reached the third rank himself….
Reaching the third rank less than a month after his Divine Power Manifestation was actually very fast. But once a person began wanting more power, there was no end to that desire.
"Oh, there's Lady Frey."
While they were chatting and waiting for class to begin, Beatrice recognized Frey as she came through the door.
The same thing had happened when Beatrice arrived: most of the students turned toward Frey, welcoming her with prayers.
To members of the clergy, a Saintess Candidate was practically an idol.
Not only might she become the Saintess one day, she possessed a Saintess's degree of devotion even if she never attained that office.
It was only natural that her fellow clergy should express their respect.
"Ah…."
Accustomed to such a welcome, Frey smiled and greeted the others. Then her eyes met Beatrice's.
Frey soon approached Beatrice and offered a greeting, her eyes crinkling in a smile.
"Princess Beatrice, I trust you are in good health. And…."
Frey's gaze moved to Ex.
For a Saintess Candidate, those eyes were rather cold.
"…'Prince' Ex. I hadn't expected to encounter you here."
"Is that so?"
The look she gave Ex was distinctly devoid of warmth and showed remarkably little respect. He didn't let it bother him.
There was bad blood between him and Frey. He merely nodded and accepted the greeting.
Nothing good would come of talking to Frey anyway. And if she happened to uncover one of his secrets, that certainly wouldn't do him any favors.
Ex recalled one of Frey's abilities.
It was so irritating to deal with that avoiding her was the wisest course.
There was no reason for him to get into a battle of wills with Frey in the first place.
Even if she was being disrespectful, he could just let it pass.
"Oh, Lady Frey. Now that there are two Heroes, you must be having such a difficult time deciding which one to serve."
Beatrice, however, was not prepared to let it pass.
"…Pardon?"
"Lord Leon is a fine man, of course. Even if all he does is help himself to a meal someone else has already prepared, there are plenty of people who can't even manage that. If a person has no flexibility, he ought to at least be good at that much. Don't you agree? Leon is a Hero chosen by 'something,' after all."
The atmosphere in the classroom abruptly turned cold.
What Beatrice had just said echoed words spoken by the Goddess Deuslute herself.
When Deuslute chose Ex, she had said that she had never once chosen a Hero before. That statement had become a burning topic of debate among the clergy.
When it came to the choosing of a Hero, whether the Goddess Deuslute had personally made that choice or not was a distinction of enormous importance.
"What… did you just…?"
Hearing those words to her face made Frey's stomach twist. Beatrice had all but told her outright that Leon, who had become the Hero twice, wasn't a Hero at all.
"For a Saintess Candidate, nothing is more important than supporting the Hero. I will be attending to 'Hero' Ex, so it would be best for you to stay with Leon, Lady Frey."
Beatrice deliberately brought up the word Hero, the very title Frey had avoided mentioning.
Whatever Frey thought about it, Beatrice was making it perfectly clear that Ex was the Hero.
She was also telling Frey to get the hell away from him.
"…We still don't know for certain who the Hero is. Of course a Saintess Candidate should attend each of the two who were chosen. Everything will become clear when the Holy Sword makes its choice."
"Oh! So you put more trust in something else than in your own convictions, Lady Frey? I have no need for the Holy Sword's choice. It's only a sword, after all. Surely a single blade can't matter more than the goddess's will?"
"Ahahaha!"
Beatrice's laughter rang through the classroom.
The room became as cold as a plain buried beneath eternal snow, and as silent as the darkness of the abyss.
No one could see it, but the air around them seemed thick with gunpowder. One wrong touch would set it off.
Ex, too, was keeping very quiet and holding his breath. The moment when he might have stopped this had already passed a long time ago.
"Let's begin the lesson."
Fortunately, a savior had arrived to put an end to the situation.
The professor in charge of Understanding the Structure of Sacred Arts had just entered.
"…We must have another pleasant conversation sometime."
Frey somehow managed to keep a smile on her face as she went back to her seat.
As she cast a sidelong glance at Ex, a faint trace of anger passed through her eyes.
Beatrice was the one who had deliberately gotten under her skin. Why was she angry at him? It was unfair, but what was done was done.
"Did I do well?"
Beatrice gave him a dazzling smile.
"…Yes. Very… well…."
Ex could only choke back his tears and give her that answer.
* * *
Beatrice turning openly hostile toward Frey was an unexpected development that Ex hadn't anticipated at all.
Certainly, Frey's attitude had been a problem. Even so, he hadn't expected Beatrice to give her such a thorough verbal beating.
After class, he asked Beatrice to restrain herself. Getting tangled up with the Hero's party the wrong way would only create trouble.
Beatrice smiled and agreed, but there was every chance she would do it again.
For now…. For now, things were still all right….
After that, he headed for Introduction to Magical Engineering.
As he walked down the corridor, posters pasted on the walls and noticeboards caught his eye.
He checked what they said and realized which event from the original story was about to take place.
The Student Council President Election Scenario would be starting soon.
It wasn't a scenario that carried much weight in the story.
At most, it was only a Side Scenario.
If it had any real significance, it was that Beatrice—who, in the original story, would still be Andras at this point—came into contact with Leon's party during it.
Beatrice became student council president with the help of Leon's party, and Andras used that position as the basis for her schemes….
Ex looked quietly at the poster advertising the student council election, then turned and continued on his way.
That scenario no longer had any meaning.
It had been a Side Scenario included to fill out the story. Leon didn't awaken any new power or experience any growth during it.
If Beatrice had no intention of becoming student council president, there wasn't even a basis for the conflict to develop.
For now, he could simply note that it was happening and leave it at that.
* * *
His remaining classes ended without incident.
Only after he finished training with Roxwell did he finally gain his freedom.
Ex entered his private mansion, awkwardly accepted the servants' greetings and warm welcome, and finally made it to his room to rest.
The moment he laid himself on the bed, whose luxury was almost impossible to put into words, sleep began to overwhelm him. Only one thought remained in his head.
He was going to die.
Only a single day had passed, and already his body and mind felt as though they had been put through a threshing machine.
And he still had to keep an eye on Leon's situation, too….
Unfortunately, he couldn't use Observer Viewpoint on any of the five members of the Reincarnated Hero Party.
They weren't affiliated with the empire, and Elysia had already applied her own Observer Viewpoint to them.
That left him with only a limited number of ways to hear what they were doing.
Still, Darius had said he'd assigned people to watch them. Under most circumstances, they should be able to react before anything went wrong….
Ex was shifting around on the bed, trying to settle in to sleep, when his Mana Phone began to vibrate with an incoming call.
It was a direct call from Darius.
He immediately sensed that something was wrong.
"Yes, Lord Darius?"
"Ex, we have an emergency. One of our surveillance targets, Rosaria, is missing. I need you to look into it."
"I'll get ready and head out right…."
As he rolled over to get out of bed, the words stopped in his throat.
Until a moment ago, he had been lying face down and hadn't been able to see the ceiling.
There should have been nothing up there but a light fixture. Instead, something else was there.
"…"
"…"
The instant his eyes met those of that something, his mind stopped working.
No matter how Ex looked at it, the person up there could only be….
"What are you doing up there, Miss Rosaria…?"
"Ah, well… hahaha…."
It was Rosaria, the woman Darius had just told him was missing.
"What?! Rosaria?!"
"Yes. You can call off the emergency. I'll take care of this."
"Whew…. All right. I'll leave the rest to you."
As soon as Ex ended the call, Rosaria came down.
She fidgeted with her fingers and hesitated, at a loss for what to say.
"S-so, you know? I mean, um, Your Highness…?"
"I hope your business was important enough to justify sneaking into an Imperial Prince's mansion, of all places. Otherwise, even I may not be able to prevent you from receiving the severest punishment."
"The severest punishment?! Wait, that wasn't what I was trying to do…!"
"Bear in mind that you could be charged with attempting to assassinate a member of the imperial family. Right now, you're standing on the executioner's scaffold, Miss Rosaria. So pull yourself together and explain yourself properly. That is an imperial command."
Rosaria let out a frightened squeak.
Of course he would prevent her from being put to death. But right now, he needed to speak sternly.
Rosaria had to understand that she had caused a serious problem. Otherwise, she would do exactly the same thing again.
Perhaps the one saving grace was that she had managed to cause this particular problem all by herself.
That, however, raised a question of its own.
Rosaria usually got into trouble together with Diana.
He had never seen her cause trouble on her own.
"Th-this isn't the time for that!"
Ex's icy warning had scared Rosaria badly. Then she remembered why she'd come, and her alarm returned as she blurted it out.
"L-Leon is going to d-drop…! I mean, he's going to, Your Highness!"
"Take a deep breath and calm down. What is he going to do?"
What came out of her mouth next was truly shocking.
"Leon is going to drop out! …Your Highness!"
The protagonist, apparently, was about to quit the story.
–TL Notes–
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