Challenge is the mother of growth. (1)

“Your Highness. What happened with you and your older sister yesterday?”

“Oh? It wasn’t there.”

“… I don’t think so.”

“It seems right~”

Seeing the princess smiling brightly and answering my question in a hoarse voice, I thought that something had definitely happened.

I don’t know what the two of you talked about for about 10 minutes yesterday without me, but when my sister came back to the dorm with me, she looked like a dog that got drenched in rain… no, like a fox.

I asked my older sister if she had fought with the princess, but she just shook her head and wiggled her ears and tail.

“… Princess. I know what you’re like, but please don’t fight with your older sister too much. You’re my benefactor.”

“Wow… The girl, Watermelon Fox, really likes it, right? She used to play with me a lot in the swordsmanship department too!”

For that matter, I’m sure I had a huge fight with my older sister yesterday.

Anyway, since neither the princess nor her older sister would tell me what they talked about, I decided to let it go for now.

The place we are now is the same as yesterday: an outdoor training ground.

All those who passed the first practical test and those who did not are waiting for my teacher, Piana Stone, and my assistant, Chunsik.

And then, not long after, the Master and the assistant in ranger attire showed up after two days… But.

‘Huh? Did you grow a little, Master?’

“It’s only been two days, you Yoo Jeong-ran guys.”

“”””… … “”””

“Greetings.”

“””◦”Hello.””◦””

The students also seemed surprised at the sight of their teacher, who looked like he was in the upper grades of elementary school, and were slow to greet him, so it seemed like it wasn’t my mistake.

Even the princess next to me was making her crimson eyes round and saying, ‘Oh, she’s only grown a little, but she’s become prettier…?’

“I heard from the teaching assistant. 91 people passed. It seems like people can do it. Right?”

“”””Yes.”””

“Those who failed, don’t feel bad about failing here and getting a lower grade on the practical exam. If you get a good grade on the next practical exam, I’ll compensate for that. “

When the teacher talked about the successful candidates, the students who had been grimacing or sighing as if they were dissatisfied or annoyed opened their eyes wide in surprise at the following story.

Most of the people who failed yesterday failed by shooting down more than 5 targets, so they will definitely succeed today, and even if they participate in the next practical test a little late, they can still improve their scores if they practice hard.

The teacher, who had satisfied the students’ desire for advancement and challenge, began talking about the next practical content.

“The next practical test is literally a practical test. Assistant.”

“Yep!”

It’s a real battle. Are we going to do some outdoor training? I have a rough idea of what the teacher means, but he said he would select people to go to the ranking match, so I tilted my head wondering if he was suddenly going to have us train to catch monsters outdoors. Then, Chunshik took out a magic tool that I was familiar with from his pocket and started to operate it.

‘Taming magic tool…?’

It doesn’t work on unintelligent idiots like goblins, orcs, or trolls, but it does work on monsters of a higher level.

A monster with the same level of intelligence as a smart puppy can be captured and tamed using magic tools, but it seems that the Master caught such a monster himself.

Now the problem is the level of the monsters that can be caught with that taming magic tool. Judging from the fact that they seem to have considerable magical power, I judged that at least knight-level monsters would appear.

“… Among the students here, there must be many who would die if they met a troll without being able to run away.”

“Commoner, what are you talking about?”

“Ah, I’m talking to myself.”

While I was worried about what kind of monster they would bring out, the princess seemed to only half understand what I was saying and asked, ‘Could there really be a massacre here?’… For some reason, her eyes sparkled and she tilted her head.

Why are the eyes looking at you expectantly there?

-thud…!

“”””Huh… ?””””

As Chunshik puts all his magical power into the magic tool, loud footsteps are heard approaching from the outskirts of the training grounds.

And as if my worries were right, all the students began to look shocked at the sight of the monster that appeared through the outer forest.

“Hmm! Judging from everyone’s expressions, it looks like they know what kind of monster it is.”

“Wait a minute! Teacher, you’re not telling me to fight that monster, are you?”

“Why is that possible? It’s not that threatening since I’m taming it.”

“No…! That’s a knight-level monster?! Even in the Adventurer’s Association, it’s known to be a monster that only veteran parties can fight…!”

“On my black magic tower, I hunt more than 200 of those guys every week. Did you think that black magic catalyst you use was something you could find by digging the ground?”

“Ha, but! That’s…!!”

When a black knight with a gigantic body that was twice that of an adult male, and a huge shield that looked like a castle wall, and black iron armor, suddenly stopped in the middle of the training grounds, several students began to utter the name of that monster.

“You want me to fight a Death Knight, the strongest of the crazy knights?”

“I’ve never seen a living Death Knight before. When it appears, doesn’t it call out the Knights?”

“I heard before that a Death Knight came out of a dungeon and attacked a nearby city, destroying all the walls.”

“Oh, I know that article! Isn’t that the story about the incident where three knights guarding the entrance died?”

“What the heck… I’m going to be carried to the grave while I’m practicing?”

Without the need for the teacher or I to explain anything, the danger and strength of the Death Knight were completely spread among the students by sharing the knowledge and information they had.

The trolls and orcs that my sister and I fought before are monsters that we can’t win against even if a bunch of them attack us, and the monsters like the Bicon Purung of the water monster class are monsters that we can probably put up a good fight against and knock them down by piercing them with our horns.

That’s the Death Knight in front of you.

“This body was captured by me in the dungeon for your training. Don’t complain and just train happily.”

“Teacher! I don’t want to die!”

“That’s right! That’s too dangerous!!”

“What the hell, is he holding a sword or something? And I’m not asking you to take it down. It’s just a simple training where you just need to break the target I put on him using the first stage training you learned, an attack using magic, and you’ll pass, so there’s no danger. “

The teacher continued his explanation firmly amid cheers from all sides.

The Death Knight will not make direct attacks and will only be holding a shield as his weapon.

And the targets are the head, the human heart, and the abdomen where the nucleus is, so if we destroy just one of those three, it will be considered a success.

“Magic isn’t something you can learn by just locking yourself in a room and studying it. Once you can use it, you move on to the next step by using it and applying it in real life situations. Right now, you’re nothing more or less than just monkeys who know how to use magic. So, from now on, the 91 people who passed should form groups of two and challenge the Death Knight. And the students who haven’t passed the first stage of practice, from now on, go straight to Chunsik… Assistant Instructor, those who will take the test, and if there’s anything you don’t know, ask them and train! “

“”””… … “”””

“Big pressure!!”

“”””… Yes. “”◦””

The teacher nodded with satisfaction at the students’ voices that had returned to the low tension they had when they first met.

*

-Kuuung!!

“Whoa?!!”

“Well, you said you wouldn’t attack directly…?!”

“You were just swinging your shield to knock them off since they were attached to you. If you were going to attack them directly with your shield, your skulls would have been split, not the ground. Alright, next!”

The fifteenth group has already fallen to the Death Knight’s stronghold and is returning to yesterday’s training.

From the beginning until now, 30 students have been aiming at the target attached to the Death Knight’s body using the magic techniques they learned yesterday, but the Death Knight, known as the strongest knight, has shown a strong defense by lightly wiping away their magic with his shield as if it were a wet matchstick.

And just now, Joe tried to use a rather bold method of getting close and using magic to try to break through the Death Knight’s nimble movements and defenses, but he must have judged that they were too close, so he swung his shield threateningly and lightly pushed the two of them away.

“Phew… The girl doesn’t know how to win against that.”

The princess, who was crouching next to me, created a small dark sword on her palm, floating it, spinning it around, and practicing using it, had said that she would naturally be in the same group as me and had not challenged me until now.

-commons!

-yes.

-Can a commoner win that?

-Well, you can do it alone.

-Then let’s challenge together with the girl! Instead, the girl wants to win it too, so let’s wait until the girl is ready!

-? Yes, okay. Okay, I understand.

Not only was she telling me to wait, but she was also telling me to wait so she could build up enough skill to beat a Death Knight.

Well, honestly, I’m not in a hurry, so it doesn’t matter.

-Kaang!!

“Wow… It’s a scam, a scam.”

“No, how the hell am I supposed to break through that? What the hell is that shield? It’ll erase anything that touches it!”

The next group sinks into the Death Knight’s stronghold and the group after that starts to leave.

Hmm, it seems like the students’ minds are completely frozen due to the fact that their opponent is the Death Knight, the strongest knight-level monster, and the training they had up until yesterday.

“Your Highness, shall I tell you how to take that down?”

“… I see. The girl will figure it out on her own. Are the commoners feeling frustrated by those students right now? “

“Yes.”

“That hint is enough.”

“?”

Was there a hint in what I said?

The princess, who was beginning to feel intelligent despite her usual foolish tone, continued to gaze at the students and Death Knights who were rushing at her with her crimson eyes shining earnestly.

And eventually, all the groups that passed first were eliminated, and the students who passed today formed groups and started to challenge Death Knight.

Hmm… I guess today is going to end like this. Our challenge will be postponed until tomorrow.

“Hooong…!!”

“Huh? Your Highness?”

“Girl, I got it! I figured out how to take it down! “

“Oh?”

It wasn’t exactly a way to knock them down, but rather a way to break the target. The princess seemed to have noticed something and raised her excited voice. She jumped up and pulled me up from where I was crouching, and started shouting at me to challenge her right away.

“The girl will knock it down! The commoners just pull the aggro from the front!”

“Hmm? Yes. Okay. “

Well, let’s watch the confident princess take on the challenge.