Chapter 4: A Clear-Minded Disciple
This happened recently. We, the Hero Party, gave a speech. At that time, one girl raised her hand.
She said she wanted to surpass me. What a wonderful thing. There haven’t been many beings who have directly told me they want to surpass me until now.
[“Please make me your disciple! I want to defeat you. Please make me stronger than anyone else in the world!”]
Well, she didn’t say she wanted to become a hero, but if she really becomes strong, I could persuade her or arbitrarily elevate her to become a hero.
It’s simply interesting, and I’m also curious. Let me observe her a little.
“Candice-ojousama, we’ll be late for the entrance exam.”
“I understand, Kuroko.”
There’s a place called the Knight Training Academy. It’s a school in the Trelvarner Kingdom that trains knights. Knights are the elite who protect the kingdom. To call oneself a knight in this country, one needs qualifications.
To obtain qualifications, one must graduate from the Knight Training Academy. It might be similar to civil servants from my previous life.
I heard that she, along with her attendant, is taking the exam to become a knight. Knights are mostly from noble families, it seems.
However, I heard that commoners sometimes come to take the exam too, so this time I decided to participate in the entrance exam as well.
An entrance exam is literally a place to test. So it’s the perfect opportunity to see what level she’s at.
As usual, I’ll participate as Ban, a 20-year-old commoner, removing my iron mask. I’m average-looking, but since I haven’t been exposed to UV rays thanks to my iron mask, I look young enough to pass for 20.
The Knight Training Academy has people of various ages, after all.
Now then, shall we go to the entrance exam?
Where is Candice-Elemental? Ah, there she is. Hmm, she has well-arranged features. Her hair color is bright orange-brown. Her hair is long and in vertical curls. She’s also wearing round glasses.
And her outfit is a modest dress-like garment. In contrast, her female attendant has black hair, black eyes, and wears a black suit like a butler.
“First, we’ll begin the magic exam. Today’s exam supervisor is Rin Rin-Frontier-sama.”
“No way, seriously!?”
“The Sage herself!?”
“A child of God is grading us. My stomach’s starting to hurt.”
Sage, child of God, magical genius – these were like Rin’s titles. An undeniable great genius. However, this is troublesome. I intended to watch Candice, but I never expected Rin to come.
As expected of my first love, somehow we keep having connections, which impresses me. Rin was looking around, but when she saw my face, her eyes widened.
Ugh, I’ve been found out.
“Hey hey, Sword Saint Sakura is here too.”
Sakura is here too?
“Fighter Kaguya is here as well.”
Kaguya is here too. At this rate, could Elizabeth the Spirit from our same party also be here?
“Elizabeth and Hero Dan don’t seem to be here.”
“What, I wanted to see Hero Dan.”
The other exam takers seem to have the same feelings as me. Now then, the first test seems to be casting magic.
Magic requires incantation, magical power, and talent and effort, they say. It especially depends on talent, apparently.
Magic has tiers assigned based on magical potency, effect range, and intensity. There are twelve tiers from the First Tier to the Twelfth Tier, and the higher the tier, the higher the difficulty and stronger the effect.
If you can use Third Tier magic, your life is set, they say.
“Now, for the first test, please cast First Tier magic, Mini Mini Flare.”
Mini Mini Flare, huh. It’s said to be beginner magic, but if you don’t have talent, you seriously can’t use it.
I couldn’t use it at first either.
“Tamika-Trelvarner-san! Please step forward.”
“There she is, a descendant of the hero.”
“They say she has no talent though.”
“I liked the heroic tales of the first hero Albert. But that person has no talent.”
Tamika is being spoken of quite harshly. She’s probably struggling as much as I used to.
Now, let me watch Tamika cast magic.
“Returning faint torch fire – fallen tears of heaven’s fire – Mini Mini Flare.”
What a gap between the first half and second half. The incantation is cool, but the magic name is Mini Mini Flare.
However, contrary to the gap, the magic’s effect clearly manifested.
A bright red flame appeared from Tamika’s right hand. Small, but certainly there. It was released like an arrow and hit the target.
“Well, that’s normal.”
“She is a hero’s descendant after all.”
Hmm, it’s a beautiful way of using magic. Not flashy at all though.
“Next, Eugene-Barbaros-kun!!”
After that, many people cast magic. And then it became Candice-Elemental’s turn.
“I am not skilled at magic. I am the same as the former Hero Dan-sama.”
“Eh, um…”
“Exam supervisor-sama, for this magic practical exam, I am fine with receiving 0 points. I can aim for recovery in physical arts and written exams.”
Ooh. To boldly declare her inability to use magic to this extent – how interesting.
I don’t dislike people who are bold.
“Hey hey, not being able to use magic is lame.”
“Even though she’s a noble.”
“The Elemental family is prestigious too.”
Hey now, just like with Tamika, there’s a lot of trash talk. Kids these days. However, Candice doesn’t seem fazed at all. Whoa, amazing.
“She’s the type who says she wants to become Hero Dan’s disciple, right? Hero Dan isn’t that great anyway. My father said so. The historically weakest, only called a hero because the Demon King’s level was low.”
They’re trash-talking me too. I’m used to being told this so I don’t mind.
“Really, he’s not that grea– BUGHAAAH!?”
Whoa whoa whoa whoa!! Candice punched him!? She punched the male student who was trash-talking me!?
“There it is, Candice’s violence.”
“That guy seriously loves Hero Dan, so if you badmouth him, you get punched.”
“There was someone who got hit with a wooden plank too. Candice is really dangerous.”
Is she that dangerous? She certainly didn’t hesitate to punch. To punch someone for badmouthing me – I like it!!
No wait, not that. Hmm, she has good guts. It’s not good to punch anyone indiscriminately like in a lawless zone, but she seems to have some degree of common sense.
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“Ojousama, please calm down! Causing a disturbance here!”
“Shut up! Kuroko, this guy badmouthed my Hero Dan! I’ll kill him!”
It seems the attendant is forcibly restraining her, but she’s thrashing about as if she’s about to deliver a follow-up attack.
“Next, Ban-kun.”
Ah, it’s my turn for the magic practical. Everyone around is in an uproar over Candice’s commotion. They don’t seem interested in me.
“Then, at that target…”
“Yes, yes.”
Energy overflowing from my body. I recall images and experiences and release it. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I used this magic. I could defeat the Demon King just by punching.
How was it again? Have I forgotten the sensation? I’m worried.
“Returning faint torch fire – fallen tears of heaven’s fire – Mini Mini Flare.”
I extend my hand and slowly a flame forms. The commonly used magic is called Fairy Magic, said to have been devised by the second-generation hero.
The flame flew like a bullet. It opened a hole in the target.
“Oh, ohh, amazing.”
“Thank you.”
Heh, the exam supervisor seems surprised. Well, I am a hero after all. Everyone around must be surprised too, by my overwhelming magical power?
Thinking that, I looked around.
“Hey, this is bad! Stop Candice!!”
“That girl has a wooden plank in her hand!!”
“Why won’t the guy who badmouthed Hero Dan apologize!!”
“He seems to have fainted from one punch and is foaming at the mouth!!”
Nobody’s watching!! Even though they could see the Hero who saved the world cast magic up close. Well, it would be troublesome if my identity as the hero got revealed while I’m Ban, so this is fine.
I don’t intend to enroll anyway; I just want to see what level Candice is at.
Actually seeing her, I think she has talent. She apparently can’t use magic, but being able to rampage like that is a kind of talent. If polished, she might shine.
“That’s enough. I understand being angry when someone badmouths the hero, but this is an exam.”
Sakura stopped Candice.
“To stay silent when former comrades are made fun of – what heartless people the Hero Party has become. I get angry when someone I love is insulted.”
“I don’t find it amusing either. But the hero isn’t the type to care about such things. Besides, this is an exam venue. If it weren’t… I’d be filleting them into three pieces.”
Sakura, the highlight in your eyes has disappeared, but are you okay? That’s normally scary. Being loyal is one of her characteristics though.
Well, time to go home. I’ve learned enough about Candice.
“Heh, that’s why even after years together, you can’t capture the hero’s heart, isn’t it?”
“Hah? What, are you picking a fight with me? I’ll buy it.”
“Yes, yes. I don’t mind. You outdated old lady. I’m clearly younger and more to the hero’s taste.”
“Can I kill her? If I turn this into vacant land so it’s no longer an exam venue, it won’t be exam-related.”
Something seems to be brewing behind me, but I’ll ignore it. Walking on the way home, I sensed something from the sky.
It’s Rin. Rin is here.
“Is it okay to leave the exam? It’s not over yet.”
“I’m fine. I withdraw.”
“…That magic earlier, that was quite skillful. Moreover, that beautiful magic construction… You, could you be… no, that’s impossible.”
“……”
“I see, you’re withdrawing. I understand. So, what are you?”
“……”
“Hero Dan is the strongest. But you’re also inexplicable. I don’t think it’s possible, but if you become a threat to Dan, I’ll have no choice but to eliminate you.”
What should I do? Being told that I would be a threat to myself is… Here I have no choice but to deflect appropriately.
“I’m just somewhat good at magic. That’s all. Look, see, my face is average.”
“Is there a relationship between faces and magic?”
“There isn’t.”
“What’s that about?”
“More importantly, is it okay for an exam supervisor to be here?”
“…Right. That’s right.”
“Rather than talking to me, you should go back quickly.”
She’s giving me a suspicious look. Rin has always had a strangely sharp side. She saw through my hidden injuries and treated me.
She seemed like she wanted to say something, but left without doing anything in particular.
Candice, Tamika, and Will. If I were to take three people as disciples, there are seven days in a week, so I’d like to allocate about one day per person. That leaves four more people…
That’s right, I definitely want to reach out to the Giant race.
The Giant race – giants, as the name suggests. They live on a different continent from this one. They look much the same as us human race, but their size is on a different scale. Literally a giant species.
Other disciples I want are beastmen, and then someone similar to me. Will and others just have similar circumstances. After all, unlike previous disciples, giants are huge and overwhelmingly stronger than other races, so it might be worth taking one as a disciple.
For now, I’ll gradually research various races while keeping an eye out for talent.
I don’t know much about giants and such, so let me research various things at the library.
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