Chapter 105

Grit...

“And what? Did you say that it’s the golem that was strong, not Davey? Then is a golem controller supposed to abandon his golem and have a physical fight with you? Are you stupid? Even an idiot goblin would know better than that. Don’t kid yourself. You think you’re better than everyone else, right?”

Sio’s expression grew even more menacing as Illyna criticized him without stopping.

“Stop!! Trainee Illyna is partly right. Sio Howl! Rule 8 of Alpha Reinforcements!”

“...It is ‘The knight order must always try their best and must know how to accept and reflect on victories and losses’.”

“Now go if you’ve understood!” Teacher Fridos, the man who had two swords on his waist, bellowed at Sio.

Sio frowned coldly, then addressed Davey, “Consider yourself lucky. You would’ve almost been dead if your attack didn’t coincidentally succeed.”

“Sio Howl!!” Illyna was extremely angered by Sio’s taunting and shouted.

She was about to continue when Davey spoke uncaringly as he picked his nose. “You would’ve already been dead if it was a real battle.”

“What?” Sio responded.

“Your head isn’t hard enough to withstand a hit from a sword, right? Are you going to say that in front of Goddess Freyja after you die?”

‘And I would’ve already popped your head off from the start if it wasn’t for Illyna.’

Davey didn’t bother saying more, but what he said was already enough to irritate Sio.

“Don’t mock me, outsider.”

As Sio stomped off after staring at Davey with a deadly glare, the Teachers consoled the members who were watching the battle and led them back to their dormitories. Then, they also disappeared, saying that they had to discuss whether they had to accept Davey as part of the knight order. It was a sudden and unexpected visit from an outsider; it could’ve been a chaotic situation, but it seemed like this wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Then, Boris called upon Davey after quite a long time. “I’ll get straight to the point: it is foolish to expect mana or physical talent from a golem controller. I heard from Trainee Illyna that you made that golem yourself.”

“Well, yes,” Davey replied.

“Amazing, truly. I saw my fair share of battle alchemists, but I’ve never seen anyone craft and wield a golem that powerful.”

Boris was quite gallant and was very open-minded.

“It was seven to three, and I approved, of course. We congratulate you on your entrance to the knight order.” Boris laughed heartily and handed Davey a small glass.

“I assume it’s not just regular alcohol.”

‘Taboo.’

“Alchemists are so smart. They are quite quick, aren’t they? Or did you hear from Trainee Illyna?”

“Well, it was just a hunch. “

Davey could tell because there was a weak but clear after-scent of mana inside the glass.

“Hm... Trainee Illyna has brought us someone very useful. Well, it does say ‘student’, but it’s not a problem if they bring someone that is similar to or even more advanced than them. The important thing is...”

Boris stopped speaking and stared at Davey with a blank expression as he gulped down the alcohol in the glass even before Boris finished his sentence.

“Is there a problem?”

“You... Did you drink it without even hearing about what it is?”

“I am pretty quick.”

-There’s no way the Oath of Abstinence was going to work on a mage who has already been enlightened up to the level of Absorption...

Davey felt sorry for Boris but drinking this had no effect on him whatsoever.

Perserque sighed as she already knew the truth, but Boris couldn’t hear her.

“Then, I will check. Do you swear to keep your secret about Alpha Reinforcements and the Last Wisp in public?”

“Isn’t that why I drank it?”

“That is true.”

“Then, that should be enough. I did come here to help my friend out, but I have somewhat of an interest in the work of the Last Wisp.”

‘Interested in the various Zones of Evil and evil beasts, to be exact.’

“Go first without me.” Davey stopped in his step and quietly told Illyna to go.

“W—What?” Illyna asked.

“Go in. I’ll join you in a bit.”

Illyna looked confused by Davey, but soon silently nodded her head. She was a hot-tempered girl who always called him insane, but she was pretty quick.

Davey became enveloped in black smoke as he watched Illyna quietly walk away from him. Then, he slowly began to hear the faint sound of a conversation grow clearer as he moved while erasing any hint of his presence. It was Boris, the large man, and Elementalist Sylia, who had both watched him from the questioning to the combat test.

-Davey.

‘Shh.’ As Davey approached them while hiding his presence, Boris and Sylia looked full of thought as they spoke warily without noticing him.

‘Hm...’ Then, Davey scoffed as he got an idea of what was going on as he heard their conversation. Although Davey had completely damaged the pride of Sio Howl, that blue-haired mage trainee, with his sloppy movements intended to mess with the latter, it seemed like it didn’t give the Teachers assurance.

* * *

“Where did you go?” Illyna asked with an anxious expression. She was wearing light clothing suitable for movement while stretching in front of the entrance to the large forest.

“It’s nothing,” Davey replied.

“Then why does your face look like that?” Illyna flinched awkwardly as she frowned.

“What about my face?”

-I want to give you a mirror.

As Perserque spoke, Caldeiras’s thoughts flowed into Davey’s head as the broch on Illyna’s chest faintly glowed.

[You look like a villain smirking while plotting an evil scheme.]

Davey was disappointed that not one, but all three of them were thinking the same thing. He called out, “Illyna.”

“Y... Yeah?” Illyna had an anxious expression on her face.

Davey asked in a dead serious tone, “You want to take the test, right?”

“Why are you asking me such an obvious question?”

“Alright. It’s fine.”

The topic of discussion between Boris and Sylia was simple: they said that the future of the golem Davey had made was bright in many aspects, such as efficiency, but it was iffy. They were saying that he and the golem might get into serious trouble if they were just to be put into real battle since they had no proper training or knowledge about how to deal with evil beasts.

‘You can’t trust my capabilities because they’re iffy?’

Since it was clear that the Teachers didn’t know the kind of effect a golem controller trained in alchemy could have in a large-scale battle, Davey had no choice but to show them again. He had to put some thought into it so that no one would be able to question him again.

* * *

The size of the forest was objectively quite large. The large forest that was right under the Pandora Region, the Zone of Evil in the northern region of the central continent that people couldn’t reach, was a dangerous place that not even mercenaries came to because it wasn’t worth the risk. As a result, it was safe to say that the entire forest was a training ground that all the trainee members of the Alpha Reinforcements could use.

-This training exercise works similarly to hopscotch, something that should be familiar! However, I’ll explain it since there are people new to training!

“Hm...” Illyna moaned mildly like she had done this training before.

-The range is from the first forest to the fifth!

-We have marked the territory of each team by casting a turf magic in each region.

-As always, we permit attacks against each other! Remember that the team that gains the most territory in the time limit receives the highest performance points! Also, don’t forget that there are bonus points other than that!

It basically meant that they could do whatever they wanted to mess with them.

“They’re saying that it doesn’t matter if it hurts like crap and it’s agonizing?”

“Ah... What? Seriously, why is he like that?!”

[I’m already worried what kinds of things he will do...]

Davey heard complaints from a human and a divine sword as he had a history, but he just ignored them.

-It will start in ten minutes! I will randomly give the signal to start! Now, get ready!

Boris went silent after he made the announcements.