The five students who had ventured into the North Forest were scolded quite severely.
On top of that, they were banned from attending classes for a full year. However, given the Academy’s current system—where students are free to attend whichever lectures they like to collect their Certificates of Graduation—the punishment effectively just delayed their graduation by a year.
I wondered at first if the school was being lenient because they’d been in such a dangerous situation, but I was wrong.
The five of them had been carrying a total of seven magic items, and every single one was confiscated by the Academy. Apparently, the students had taken them from their family homes without permission. The school reported the incident to their parents, and now they were waiting to see what their families would do. Depending on the outcome, they might even be disowned. Considering that, I suppose the punishment was actually quite harsh.
I felt a little bad for them, but once I heard how much those magic items were worth, even I had to agree with the decision.
As for those seven magic items, they were currently lined up on the table in our living room.
"What’s the story with these?" I asked.
Uncle Gratz, who had slipped inside before I even noticed, was the one to answer.
"There’s a theory that one of these might be linked to that 'Hybrid' incident the other day."
"I’d really rather you didn’t line up such dangerous things in our house."
"Don’t be like that. Formally, the Academy is 'lending' them to you in your capacity as teachers so you can investigate them."
"Why go through all that trouble? If you want them investigated, couldn't you just borrow them yourself, Uncle Gratz?"
"I am the head of a noble house. Even if it's for official business, if word got out that I’d borrowed confiscated goods from other nobles, nasty rumors would start to fly."
"Is it really okay for us, then? Technically, we’re ranked as being equivalent to the heads of Baron houses."
"You have your positions as Academy teachers to fall back on. Sorry for dumping this headache on you."
Uncle Gratz offered his apology not to me, but to Bron. I guess Bron was the one who had actually agreed to this.
"So, who’s going to do the investigating? You, Uncle Gratz?"
"I’m interested, but it’s out of my league. You have an expert back in your village, don't you? We’ll leave it to her."
"An expert?"
"The Village Head's wife."
"He has a lot of those."
"Right. Lulushi-san, I mean. She’s quite a celebrity in the world of magic items."
"Is that so?"
"You say that like it's nothing, but she’s a very prominent figure. I reached out to her, but she said things are a bit chaotic right now because of the recent births, so we’ll have to wait."
"Births? They were born?"
"Both girls. Lulushi-san’s daughter is named Lupumirina, and Tia-san’s is Aurora."
"What about Ronana-san?"
"Hahaha. Don’t tease your elders, boy. If you’re good, I might just invite you to the ceremony."
"Is the talk already that far along?"
"Almost there. At least, that’s how I see it."
"Good luck."
"Indeed. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. It’s been decided that we’ll hand these over during the village martial arts tournament. Keep them safe until then."
"Instead of keeping them here, wouldn't it be easier to just return them to the Academy for now?"
"Denied. You should ask Bron exactly how much red tape he had to cut through just to borrow these."
I looked over at Bron. His face was a mask of "I am never doing that paperwork again." I see.
"I understand the situation, but these are dangerous, aren't they?"
If another Hybrid popped out of one, we’d be in serious trouble.
"It’ll be fine. If the items here were the cause, we would have seen far more Hybrids by now. This is mostly just to satisfy a certain group of people who insist that Hybrids are created by magic items. We’re just checking them to shut them up."
It seemed being an adult involved a lot of tedious work.
"Aside from the magic item theory, there are plenty of others. Some say Hybrids are the remnants of a Hero, or that all monsters originally descended from Hybrids. There's even a theory that they're immortal abominations created by ancient mages."
"For something with a gag order on it, there sure are a lot of theories."
"There's a gag order, sure, but one appeared in the Demon Kingdom four hundred years ago. There are people still working in the Royal Castle who saw it with their own eyes, and they've been researching countermeasures ever since."
"Doesn't that make the gag order a bit pointless? The adventurers seemed to know about it, too."
"The point of the order is to prevent a panic among those who don't have the power to defend themselves or run away. As long as you don't go around saying one specifically appeared in the North Forest, there’s no problem."
"Understood. Um... is it okay if we use them?"
"As long as you don't break them. You heard about the price tag, right?"
...Yeah, I’d be keeping these under lock and key.
Before we headed back for the village's martial arts tournament, we decided to hold a mock version of it at the Academy. After the North Forest incident, we were all painfully aware of our own shortcomings. We called for volunteers and set up a simple tournament bracket.
I wasn't sure why some professional soldiers had mixed themselves in with the volunteers, but since our numbers were low, I didn't mind. The five students involved in the North Forest incident participated as well. Since this wasn't an official class, there were no issues. They seemed strangely fired up... maybe they wanted to show off for someone?
First were the Academy students. Generally speaking, they were weak. Their weapons were magnificent, but their skills didn't come close to matching them. The five from the forest were giving it their all, but they were still far from where they needed to be. Irene and Robia, however, were a cut above the rest. That gap was clearly significant, as they easily swept aside any other student they faced.
Next were the soldiers. As expected, they actually knew what they were doing. They overwhelmed the vast majority of the students even while using inferior weapons. The difference in technique and experience was night and day. Only Irene and Robia managed to hold their ground against them. I suppose I should praise them for that, though the soldiers were the ones who ultimately won.
Yet, those same soldiers lost to us.
The reason was simple: they weren't reading our movements. Because they didn't anticipate what we were doing, they couldn't block our attacks. Were they holding back because it was just training? No, what would be the point of that? I couldn't wrap my head around it. It couldn't be that they simply couldn't read their opponents, right?
Uncle Galf and Uncle Daga always told us that reading your opponent's actions was the absolute foundation of combat. And it wasn't like they were going easy on everyone, considering how they’d crushed the other students.
I’m not a fool. I’ve been at this Academy for over half a year now. Between that and the North Forest incident, I’d finally started to notice something. I looked over at Gol and Bron. From their expressions, it seemed they’d reached the same conclusion.
The Demon Kingdom’s military is incredibly weak.
If they were just being considerate of us, that would have been one thing, but it didn't seem like that was the case.
"Hey! Next, we’re doing group combat!" Uncle Gratz shouted, taking charge of the proceedings since I’d won the individual tournament. "Your side will have ten people, including the top-ranked students. My side will start with thirty!"
"Wait, what? Hold on, the adults have way more people!"
"You’ve got Viscount Troy’s daughter and Viscount Reeves’s daughter on your side, don't you? This should be about right... actually, no. Considering the three of you are involved... better add another twenty from the barracks. Someone, go fetch them!"
Viscount Troy’s daughter was Irene, and Viscount Reeves’s daughter was Robia.
"Oh, that’s right, there’s a General here! Is he on vacation? Doesn't matter! If I tell him there’s a fight, he’ll come running! Call him! Bring him here! Bring us victory!"
...Is the Demon Kingdom really going to be okay?