Training Announcement

How long had I been walking since leaving the training ground and dormitory?

The previously deserted road gradually began to fill with cadets, and soon I encountered crowds bustling at every corner, regardless of gender.

“Hm?”

And not long after, I could see a girl with blue hair not far away.

“Erika?”

“Eek!”

I grabbed her shoulders from behind and whispered in her ear.

“Oh, Y-Yena. Good evening!”

As expected, it was Erika. She flinched, turned around, and then answered brightly with sparkling eyes.

“By the way, Yena, how’s your hair?”

“It’s more comfortable than before. Thanks for the gift.”

“Then can I touch your cheek just once……”

“That’s not allowed.”

“Aw, aww……”

I naturally stood beside her, and we moved together towards the plaza while chatting.

“Did you come from training?”

“Yes! How did you know?”

When I suddenly noticed her nape area and asked,

“You seem to have sweated more than usual.”

“Seeing you work hard made me feel like I should do something too!”

I couldn’t help but find it admirable.

I thought she would be napping in the dormitory like other kids, but she was training, motivated by my actions. My lips curled into a smile at how lovely it was.

I should help Erika after quickly finishing my own growth.

“Well done, Erika.”

“Hehe.”

I patted her smiling head while continuing to walk.

Thud, thud.

After walking for about ten minutes, we finally saw the spacious plaza.

“There are so many people.”

“Indeed.”

As Erika said, the open space was packed with cadets.

About 500 people, perhaps?

I counted the heads while wiping away sweat cutting across my cheeks in the warm air.

Usually, there are a thousand per year, so at least several hundred had gathered. This was statistically, but it felt like even more since most were gathered around the central bulletin board.

“W-Wow, are they really doing this?”

“I should have trained harder if I knew this would happen.”

I took Erika’s hand and led her into the midst of the bustling students.

Bump, bump─

Perhaps because we were both short, we had to push through the cadets’ shoulders as we couldn’t see well ahead, but somehow we managed to reach the front of the bulletin board.

“Th-There are so many people. Are you okay, Yena?”

She was breathing roughly while combing her front hair with her hand, perhaps tangled from bumping here and there.

“Yeah.”

I nodded in response to her question while massaging around my neck.

Although I said I was fine, it was quite uncomfortable. My neck hurt a bit from having to keep my head up.

Being short is such a pain.

“Tsk.”

How much worse must it be when the top of my head only reaches the shoulders of the male cadets?

Straining on tiptoes, my tightly tied ponytail swaying, I focused my eyes on the paper attached to the wall.

“I-Is this for real?”

I shifted my gaze to Erika’s cry, filled with bewilderment.

She pointed at the notice with trembling fingers. Her eyes darted left and right, showing how shocked she was.

“Probably.”

However, I answered calmly without any change in expression. No, with a slight twitch of my cheeks, I read the imperial text prominently written on the white paper.

【 Large-scale Training Announcement 】

Because it was filled with content that I thoroughly enjoyed.

---

Around the time when the broadcast rang throughout the school and students filled the plaza, a man who had arrived early and finished checking sighed, closing his eyes while inhaling the cool evening breeze.

“Don’t you think I could rank high enough?”

“Looking at the level of the other kids, it seems possible.”

And he smirked, listening to the whispered conversations of friends beside him.

“Wolf, what do you think?”

The one called Wolf maintained his silence despite the question from those around him.

“Comprehensive cadet training……”

The cold air brushing his earlobes, the sporadic sound of cadets’ military boots. He meditated, using all of this as background music, and only opened his mouth after a few seconds had passed.

“Hu, huhu.”

And through his opened mouth, he let out an unpleasant laugh while shrugging his shoulders.

“W-Wolf?”

“Did something happen?”

The men on either side looked at him with strange eyes, but he didn’t care. Wolf just kept laughing meaninglessly.

‘I can finally get my revenge.’

Crunch, crack!

He crushed a randomly picked-up pebble with force. For him, an awakened one with 4th grade mana, this was nothing. That’s why he could never accept it.

The result of the previous duel. He still couldn’t forget Yena’s provocation, delivered with a pathetic tone during the fight.

“That bitch.”

He wanted to see tears in those eyes brimming with self-esteem, and desperation begging for mercy in that arrogant posture.

In that sense, this large-scale training was like rain in a drought.

“Khuhu, it’s nothing.”

Rustle─!

Wolf let the stone powder in his hand flow onto the grass, responding with a smile that had been rare to see lately.

This training, as the name ‘large-scale’ suggests, would involve various educations on a massive scale. It’s an opportunity to make Yena keenly feel her place.

‘I’ll definitely return the favor.’

Keep laughing a lot now, Wolf thought, licking his lips as he imagined Yena wandering among the many cadets.

---

“Uh, umm.”

“What’s wrong, Yena?”

“…Just. Somehow I got goosebumps.”

I unnecessarily buttoned up my coat all the way, warming my body.

【 Large-scale Training Announcement 】

Then I looked again at the document I had just finished reading.

The content was quite simple.

A week after the department application period ends, starting with monster counter-training in joint education, they would conduct group mock battles as well as individual duels between cadets.

“I haven’t trained much yet……”

Here, Erika was worried about not getting good results if they entered training so soon.

However, for me, it was an extremely satisfying schedule. It was the perfect timing to make a strong impression on all the instructors.

Moreover, here,

《The cadet who receives the highest evaluation will be awarded 10,000 Dena. In addition, bonus points calculated from this joint training will be given in future qualification assessments.》

Look at this phrase.

There was no reason to dislike it when there was such a substantial reward. Rather, imagining the fierce and bloody battles to come made my heart pound for no reason.

Anyway, I should get out of this space soon.

“Erika, you’ve checked everything, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then let’s go.”

I took Erika and left the vicinity of the bulletin board, wanting to breathe comfortably as soon as possible before more people came in.

Click, click.

And we stopped in front of a grassy area not far away.

“Let’s rest here for a bit.”

“Okay, let’s do that. I’m so tired……”

She sat down on the ground as soon as we stopped walking. Then she lay down spread-eagle, looking up at the sky full of twinkling stars.

Thud─

I also sat down cross-legged and leisurely rested.

“Yena, look too, the sky is so beautiful!”

After catching her breath for a while, Erika touched my thigh with one hand and pointed at the sky. Following her hand, I raised my head, and countless stars showed off their presence.

It was beautiful.

A sight that couldn’t be seen in the past world.

“Yeah, it’s pretty.”

Whether due to the cool night air, or from appreciating to my heart’s content sights that could only be seen in the countryside, my mind gradually became calmer as time passed.

Perhaps because of this, I looked ahead to the future with rational judgment.

Imperial currency and additional points, I must get the highest grade. Beyond simply enjoying it, it was a necessary reward for the future.

The former would help me live more comfortably in the military academy in a reality without family support. Each Dena was worth nearly a thousand won.

The latter would obviously be useful in the qualification assessment.

Anyway, I’ll spend exciting days.

The fact that the entire first year would train together was on a different level from what had been limited to the class so far.

As the military academy had prepared ambitiously, I expected to encounter various training equipment that hadn’t been seen before. Thanks to this, I was wondering how to wait for the remaining week.

It will be February when it ends.

Now at the end of January, I raised my fingers to guess the day we would leave for training and return to the military academy.

Reflecting on my memories, it would take about 2 to 3 weeks to digest such a huge schedule, so it would end around late February, and considering the return procedures, it would be the end of that month…

“Ah?”

“Eek! What’s wrong?”

For a moment, completely forgetting even that Erika was beside me, I straightened my back and swallowed hard.

Why on earth had I forgotten that? It’s not another country, it’s the Empire. If it’s February, especially late February, it’s the time when a bomb that will cause a huge political storm explodes.

Damn it.

“The Imperial National Assembly Building Fire Incident”

I clenched my fidgeting hands, remembering the event that would be called that in later generations.