Ch.165164. Journey? (6)

# 164. Journey? (6)

The true nature of the third trial.

Unlike the first and second trials, it wasn’t a monster.

However, it was such a formidable opponent that one might prefer facing monsters instead.

A being of which only two existed in the entire Kainis Empire. A Hero.

He, one of those Heroes.

He summoned his weapon and spoke to the woman before him, who was slightly different from her usual self.

“You seem quite composed, which wasn’t like you before.”

“I suppose I’m gradually becoming more like him.”

After those words, she immediately activated [Bitter Cold].

Marco, observing her, carefully opened his mouth.

“Still, she’s not the type to let her guard down, is she?”

“Of course not.”

“Little Sun of the Empire, I sincerely congratulate you on passing the graduation exam.”

His formal congratulations served as the starting signal for the real trial.

As soon as he finished speaking, Marco charged at her with his sword pointed menacingly.

Yet her expression remained composed.

“That’s something you should say after I win.”

Still maintaining her composure, she deflected Marco’s sword using only her agility enhanced by [Swift].

Her skills were certainly too impressive to dismiss as those of a mere student.

But that didn’t mean she was skilled enough to defeat Marco yet.

“I hate to say this, but… aren’t you overestimating yourself? In the history of the Imperial Academy, only one person has ever passed the third trial.”

In fact, even that one person’s success was considered impossible.

Traditionally, the third trial of the Imperial Academy’s graduation exam involves bringing in external examiners.

And not just any examiners—they’re powerful individuals against whom ordinary students would have no chance of winning.

Like Marco right now.

The third trial was designed to be unbeatable from the start.

‘But someone did overcome it.’

As Marco said, there was exactly one person in history.

And it happened quite recently.

The first person to pass the third trial.

That person’s name was Reinhart Michael, her father and the Sun of the Empire.

“My father did it, so why can’t I?”

Though she spoke confidently, she felt differently inside.

She knew very well that she probably couldn’t win.

But that didn’t mean she could approach this test half-heartedly.

The thought of that person who was currently away wouldn’t leave her mind.

‘He would win, wouldn’t he?’

Over the past year, every single day.

He had grown remarkably day by day.

Someone like him would surely pass the third trial with flying colors.

Thinking about that, she couldn’t possibly give anything less than her best.

Steeling her resolve, she pointed her staff at the towering mountain she needed to overcome and said:

“I will win, no matter what.”

***

“Ah… I wonder how she’s doing…”

She would pass anyway, but knowing her, she would go beyond just passing and challenge the third trial as well.

I muttered quietly while looking at the massive mountain visible behind the hotel.

“I hope it goes well…”

“Are you still thinking about your girlfriend even after coming all the way here?”

Chris seemed tired of listening to me repeating the same thing for about 30 minutes.

“I can’t help it… She’ll definitely try to take on the third trial too…”

“Even if she’s the Imperial Princess, she can’t beat that one, right?”

“That’s exactly why I’m worried.”

Of course, it wasn’t that nobody had ever beaten it, but she wasn’t growing at that rate.

And this generation’s examiner was Marco.

While he might be slightly inferior compared to other powerful figures in the Empire, he was still undoubtedly among the top ten.

“If she breaks it, it’ll make the news.”

“It’ll make the news even if she doesn’t.”

“But couldn’t you break it?”

“Well… I’m not sure.”

To be honest, it wasn’t a completely far-fetched idea.

After all, there were still two years left.

But it was undoubtedly an excessive expectation at this point.

“Maybe if I try hard enough.”

“But… do you think it’s fair that even priests like me have to take the same test as you guys?”

“If that bothers you, you shouldn’t have become a priest.”

“It’s not like we chose it because we wanted to…”

“Those who are meant to pass will pass anyway, like you.”

And in truth, priests who only heal aren’t very useful in parties.

“If you’re just going to heal, you should work at a hospital, don’t you think?”

“That sounds like it could be a problematic statement…”

“Wow… this place is nice, but I’m getting dizzy…”

After being in the bath for almost an hour, my face felt hot and I was feeling lightheaded.

I looked around, wondering if everyone felt this way, but unfortunately, it seemed like I was the only one.

“Ah… I can’t stay any longer…”

Finally, I slowly crawled out of the bath.

Chris, who seemed to want to stay longer, asked me:

“Hey, are you leaving already?”

“I’m dizzy… you guys stay a bit longer…”

With those words, I returned to the changing room alone.

As I was drying myself with a towel and changing clothes, someone else who had also left the bath early came into view.

“Why did you come out?”

“An hour is long enough.”

“That’s true, I couldn’t stay any longer either.”

Just as Reicle and I were preparing to return to our room, I suddenly sensed suspicious presences.

Those presences were coming from the direction of the mountain I had been looking at earlier.

‘There are quite a lot of them…?’

More presences than I had expected.

It seemed like a dungeon had appeared in the mountain and hadn’t been cleared yet.

I started running toward the location of those presences, wearing only my pants.

Reicle, who couldn’t understand why I was acting this way, urgently asked me:

“Hey! Where are you going!? You’re not even wearing a shirt!”

“Just stay with Luna for now!”

“Huh…?”

***

‘This seems quite large in scale…’

Fortunately, the monsters came into my view before I went down the mountain.

The monsters’ gazes focused on the prey that had suddenly appeared.

Hundreds of monsters—receiving all their gazes at once made me feel a bit strange.

‘But there are a lot of people there, so it should be fine…’

It might be a mere coincidence, but the timing was too perfect for that.

“At least there’s no one around.”

After confirming that no one was nearby, I immediately activated two unique skills.

-Woong!-

As expected, the monsters instinctively backed away when I activated my skills.

At times like this, I always felt a bit sorry for the monsters.

“I wonder how surprised they’d be if they knew they were actually the prey…”

I raised high the pitch-black sword filled with an unfathomable abyss.

Then I swung the sword at the terrified monsters.

-Kieeek!-

At that moment, a black wave sliced through the air and flew toward them.

Always hungry, it devoured hundreds of monsters in an instant.

And then it returned to me as if nothing had happened.

I stared blankly at it for a moment.

“…”

In that moment of absolute silence, the tranquility was shattered by a young girl’s voice.

“Oh… my…”

Instinctively, I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Luna, her face flushed as she stared at my body.

For some reason, I asked Luna, who had come here alone:

“Why did you come alone?”

“Well… I heard you went this way… I was worried it might be dangerous, so I hurried over…”

Luna was wearing nothing but a thin nightgown.

I was looking at her scantily clad appearance.

Of course, I’m not one to talk right now.

Luna, noticing my gaze, said:

“If… if you look at me like that…”

“Hey.”

“Huh…?”

“Come out separately later.”

“Huh? You don’t mean…”

“I just have something to give you, that’s all.”

“Okay!”

Seeing her like this, I felt somewhat relieved.

It meant that the sudden appearance of these monsters was just a coincidence, not someone’s scheme.

“Let’s go back for now.”

“Yes!”

Why did she look so happy?

She seemed to have completely forgotten about the danger to herself.

Of course, it could just be me being overprotective, but it never hurts to be careful.

On our way back to the hotel with Luna, we chatted about various things.

“You… have a really nice body…”

“Could you not stare so much?”

“Ah… sorry…”

Luna looked like she had something to say, but she wasn’t asking me any particular questions.

‘It feels like she’s always been like this…’

It seemed like this hadn’t happened during this semester, but somehow it also felt familiar.

Being alone with Luna in this ambiguous atmosphere.

But every time, Luna would make that expression without saying anything.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You look like you have something to say, but you’re not saying it.”

“How did you know…”

“Never mind that, what were you going to say?”

Luna finally spoke, but her expression seemed complicated.

The princess of the kingdom, looking even more elegant than usual in the moonlight visible behind her.

I listened attentively to what the princess had to say.

“Um… why do you always care so much about me?”