Kelt Pasil Niplica was one of the top students within the academy who had earned great titles like being the Grade 2 leader of the Blue Moon party and also being a single ranker at the Fourth-Cirlce . He was also the younger brother of Professor Pugman . Every single person in Hebrion Academy knew who he was .
And Desir beat Kelt . In front of all of the Grade 1 and 2 single rankers . Desir knocked him off the stage clearly and fairly . This of course brought a significant change to Desir’s school life .
“Did you see how he walked away? It was bizarre . ”
Romantica said .
They were sitting in Desir’s party office . Romantica’s laughter was loudly amplified in the small room . Just like Romantica had said, after the big battle, they had confronted Donetta a few more times during lectures . He had completely lost his morale . He was too dispirited to spend energy blaming and finger pointing at Desir . Rather he was busy rushing out of his way to avoid Desir whenever he encountered him .
“You look happy, Romantica . ”
Desir voiced and Romantica nodded in response to .
“Of course! You knocked them down a few pegs so easily!”
This unfortunately hadn’t changed how people looked at Desir’s party . It had however slightly reduced the bawling of the nobles that had been blatantly expressing their unpleasant thoughts and emotions up until now . There were now far fewer people questioning Desir’s ability to fight .
Desir’s party members no longer needed to blush in anger and bottle up their anger at these people . It was a very peaceful and comfortable school life that they had not been able to experience previously .
Finally, there were more .
*Knock knock*
“Another one?”
Romantica got up from the couch and adjusted her sleeves . She dragged over a chair and set it up in front of Desir .
“I’ll bring the tea . ”
Pram chirped as he went into the kitchen .
“Come in . ”
After Desir’s greeting, the door opened . A girl with short brown hair and huge dark-framed glasses walked into the room .
“How can we help you?”
Romantica kindly but impatiently asked the girl .
“Professor Vanquik told me that your party helps people train with no requirements to join… I would like to join the party . ”
Professor Vanquik .
He taught Rune class and had supported Desir since the second semester started . He was a commoner like Desir .
“Well, please take a seat first . ”
When Desir sat down in front of the girl, Pram brought over some snacks . From the pile of papers, Desir pulled out an application form .
“So, what’s your name?”
“Freechel . Freechel Kay . ”
Freechel looked nervous and uncomfortable . She looked around the room and carefully asked Desir .
“Is it really true that this party also accepts Beta students?”
*Drop*
“What made you think that we won’t accept them?”
Freechel hesitated .
“Well, your party is so powerful, and I’m only a Beta student…”
“There are no limitations or restrictions for application . You don’t have to worry about it, but Freechel, have you heard about our party?”
“Yes, I have . The training is really hard, and all of the nobles hate this party . ”
“Then, why do you want to join our party?”
Of course, there were parties that existed among the Beta classes . However, their primary mission was a lot different from the clearing of the Shadow Worlds . For some of the lucky students, they could participate in Class Seven Shadow Worlds to receive some advantages from the Alpha Class party . Unfortunately, some Beta class parties were only established to serve the Alpha class . It was an ugly result of unfairness and injustice .
Desir used his communication pad to retrieve information about Freechel . Her old party was called Arach, one of the subcontracted parties that assisted Alpha class by looking up information related to the Shadow World battles .
“… I couldn’t stand it anymore . ”
Freechel pulled out her communication pad from her inner pocket and showed Desir some pictures from it . There were many pictures . The pictures of textbooks torn apart, desks with broken legs…
Desir frowned his face . Now he fully understood why Freechel had come to him .
“Did you get bullied?”
“…”
Freechel nodded and continued .
“But no one in my party could help me . Even the professor . He couldn’t oppose the Alpha class by helping me out . ”
In Hebrion Academy, all of the bullying and hazing by the nobles was ignored and overlooked without exception .
Even though all of the party members of Arach seemed like they had ignored the violence and cruelty, Freechel didn’t seem to be bothered . It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help, but it was more of a case that they couldn’t help .
Desir pressed on his left eye with his fingers . It was not easy to help other people as doing so increases one’s own exposure to dangerous situations . The people who needed to be blamed and punished were the people who bullied her .
“… if it’s only because of this, you don’t have to join our party . We can solve this problem for you . ”
Freechel shook her head .
“No, I don’t think it’s meaningful in that way . Sure, I want to pay them back . Doing so would make me feel better . That’s why I came here . You train your members with no requirements . ”
“Ok . We will train you to the best of our ability . ”
So Freechel was accepted as a member of the party .
Desir looked at the list of the party members . There were three new members, including Freechel, on the list . Ever since Desir won the sparring fight with Kelt, people had come to Desir’s party to join .
‘The Beta class students who were bullied by nobles, and couldn’t do anything about it, have started coming to our party . ’
It was a good sign . Everything that Desir had deliberately shown to people had now started to show its effect .
‘It’s really disappointing how Beta Class training is designed . ’
There were no big changes to the Beta classes .
‘And there will be some talented people who will fall into Beta classes next year as well . ’
These students couldn’t take decent classes, simply because they were commoners . Amongst them there would be talented students that had a decent amount of potential but without professional training, would never realise it . They needed to be trained, not tamed by the Alpha Class .
The cause of all of this was a deeply rooted prejudice against commoners by the nobles .
‘It all came from the revolution that the Revolutionaries caused . ’
This even happened twelve years ago, leaving an unavoidable scar on both the commoners and nobles, with lasting effects to this very day . The situation just wouldn’t change unless the hatred from both sides disappeared .
‘We need to change this . ’
Nobles and commoners needed to reconcile, so that commoners could be recognized .
‘Gather all of the talented students . Then, provide them with an environment where they can get decent training and flourish . ’
There were so many students from Beta Classes that would ace things with proper training .
‘Like capturing a Shadow Labyrinth . ’
* * *
Adjest was standing in the middle of the training facility . The dawn fog had not even disappeared yet .
She swung her sword nonstop as her shiny silver hair danced in the air . She brought out her mana to the fullest extent and didn’t stop practicing until reaching her limit . It was a practice to handle the sword more delicately and she had been repeating this since the second semester started .
Adjest bit her lip incredibly hard .
‘I couldn’t do a single thing . ’
Adjest recalled how helpless she was in the Prillecha Empire .
Until she had encountered the Crow Mask, she thought that she was on the same level as Desir . However, it was purely her own delusion of grandeur .
“Can you stop Pram and Romantica from leaving the ship?”
Desir asked Adjest while they were running away from Dadenewt .
Then, Desir sacrificed himself . Adjest couldn’t take it . She couldn’t take herself watching helplessly from the sidelines . She couldn’t do anything at all .
*Crack*
She momentarily lost her attention . The ice attached to her sword fell off . Adjest decided to stop practicing and sat down for a short rest .
“Phew…”
Adjest’s ability was unimaginably great in comparison to others, but the wall of the Fourth-Circle Bishop class was not so easy to break through as a magic-swordsman .
*Pitapat*
Adjest felt someone approaching her and immediately turned to look in that direction .
“You’re early today, Adjest . ”
Romantica was walking towards her . She was wearing light training clothes . She clapped, and the dawn fog disappeared .
“Do you have any business with me?”
Romantica stopped in front of Adjest .
“Well, I’m at the training facility . What do you think I’m here for? I’m here to train, too . ”
Then Romantica cast a spell at Adjest without warning . It was a Second-Circle spell .
Adjest lifted her sword and blocked it .
*Thud*
A grand sound echoed across the training facility .
“What the heck was that?”
“A practical training session!”
A practical training session .
“You want to be stronger, don’t you? I want to be stronger . And we can finally end the duel we started at the Yellow Ocean Competition . ”
The Yellow Ocean Competition .
Romantica and Adjest had a chance to compete with each other, but they were interrupted by the Outsider’s terrorist attack and lost that opportunity .
“I want to settle it . How about you?”
Adjest assumed that Romantica wasn’t simply saying it to figure out what the result of that competition would have been . Romantica had always kept Adjest in check . She had always been like that .
‘But this is not a bad opportunity . ’
Adjest decided that it wasn’t a bad time to practice her magic sword, like in a real battle . Romantica had been trained by Desir for more than a half year . She was a great magician .
Adjest had no reason to decline . She lifted her sword as her answer .
“But it’s no fun if we ONLY practice with nothing on the line . ”
Adjest responded with .
“What?”
“The person who loses will clean up the office until we have another competition, and the result is flipped . If you accept this condition, then I’ll practice with you . ”
She suggested .
Romantica was speechless .
‘Cleaning…? That’s nonsense!’
Romantica grew up as a noble girl . She wasn’t used to doing menial chores like cleaning . And it was a big problem that there was no specified duration to this ridiculous outcome . It was possible that she might end up cleaning the office forever .
‘I should win . If I win, I can watch Adjest clean up the office all the time . ’
Romantica hesitated for a bit, but soon she nodded her head .
“Sure, I’ll take that bet . Don’t complain later . ”
“I like that . ”
Adjest smiled .
She raised her magic power, and calmly planned her strategy . She had a feeling that for the first time in a long while, she would finally be able to fight at her peak strength .
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