Chapter 10: First Class (2)

Once the teams were formed, Professor Kane gave the cadets thirty minutes to prepare. Though he didn’t disclose the exact details of the lesson, he gave them one crucial hint. “You’re going to be stuck in the mountains for a while.”

Taking that advice to heart, the cadets packed the essentials for outdoor survival: comfortable clothing, sturdy shoes, and water bottles. With their preparations complete, they made their way to the designated outdoor training grounds, located right next to the academy.

While it was officially called a training ground, in reality, it was a mountain that had been modified for practical lessons. From the outside, it looked no different from any ordinary mountain behind the academy.

“Today’s lesson is tracking demonic monsters.” Professor Kane gestured toward the mountain as he continued, “Right now, three demonic monsters are roaming within the training ground. Your task is to track the traces they leave behind and capture them.”

“D-demonic monsters?” Albert said in a trembling voice.

Demonic monsters were creatures mutated by the Demon God’s power. Alongside demons, they were considered one of humanity’s greatest threats. Their strength and abilities varied greatly from one monster to another, but most were powerful enough to tear apart several people with ease.

“What? Are you scared?” Professor Kane asked.

“N-no, sir! Not at all!” Albert denied it outright, but his stiff expression betrayed his fear.

He wasn’t the only one; many cadets looked tense. Up until now, they had only observed demonic monsters from a safe distance during their first- and second-year classes. This was the first time they were being asked to track and capture one in the wild.

Professor Kane clicked his tongue in disapproval and lightly smacked Albert on the head. “Like I said, today’s lesson is about tracking. Not hunting—tracking.”

Crossing his arms, he continued, “The demonic monsters you’ll be tracking have been restricted using magical devices. That means they won’t attack; they can only run.”

A collective sigh of relief spread through the cadets.

“Of course, that’s only because this is your first class. Starting from the midterm evaluation, you won’t get any such advantage. Better prepare yourselves now.” Professor Kane’s warning made the cadets groan and tense up again.

“Anyway, the team that successfully tracks and captures a demonic monster will receive bonus points. So, do your best,” he added.

The cadets responded with enthusiasm, “Yes, sir!”

They knew that their overall rankings as cadets would significantly affect their status after graduation; every point counted.

Professor Kane looked at them, then said, “Alright, then let’s start.”

“Professor! I have a question!” someone asked.

“Go ahead.”

“What’s the time limit?”

Professor Kane grinned. “Ah, right. I forgot to talk about that. The time limit… There isn’t one.”

A moment of silence followed, then the cadet asked, “Excuse me?”

The professor’s smirk widened. “This class will continue until all three demonic monsters are captured. It doesn’t matter if it takes hours… or days.”

Surprise, the cadets asked more questions.

“D-days?”

“B-but what about our other classes?”

Professor Kane let out a wicked grin, which made it clear—there was no escape. “The ‘Practical Combat Training’ class takes priority. Missing other classes for this is considered an excused absence. So, don’t even think about trying to get out of it.”

With a hearty laugh, he then signaled the start of the first outdoor lesson for the third-year cadets. “Alright! Each team will depart in five-minute intervals!”

***

Tracking demonic monsters, huh? At first, I couldn’t quite recall this lesson, but the memories of my past life soon came back to me.

If I remember correctly, it took us three whole days to capture all three demonic monsters.

Of course, my previous team hadn’t even managed to find a demonic monster, let alone capture one. Instead, we had spent three days aimlessly wandering the mountains, barely surviving on scraps. It had been a miserable experience.

Iris pulled me out of my thoughts, saying, “It’s almost our turn.”

“Ah, right,” I replied.

I got up, but before we could set off, Camilla turned to Iris with an irritated scowl. “Milady, do we have to team up with him?”

“It’s a team lesson, so of course we do,” Iris replied.

“I-I know that, but still…” Camilla glared at me, her displeasure clear. “I don’t understand why you even invited this bastard in the first place.”

To be honest, I had been wondering the same thing. Why did she ask me to join her team?

Just a short while ago, she had been slapping me and shouting insults in my face. We hadn’t spoken since, so it’s not like she had suddenly changed her opinion of me.

Iris glanced at me, smiling mysteriously. “Hmm, who knows?”

“What?” I asked.

“Well, it’s a secret,” she replied.

Frustrated, I wanted to pry further, but she didn’t give me any chance. She clapped and said, “Anyway, we’d better get moving before Professor Kane gets mad.”

“Fine, fine.” Camilla sighed, then turned to glare at me again. “I hear you’ve been hiding your strength this whole time.”

It wasn’t exactly true, but that was how the rumors had spread. There was no point in denying it now. Even if I told them I had regressed, they wouldn’t believe me anyway. So, I said, “Well, I had my reasons.”

Camilla tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword, her eyes burning with determination. “I don’t care what your reasons are. Just know this, I won’t let my guard down and fall for your tricks like last time. If you try anything, you’ll regret it.”

I smirked slightly and nodded. I wasn’t planning on pulling any reckless moves this time, but that didn’t stop a question from forming in my mind. If Camilla fought me seriously right now, could I beat her?

Last time, I had taken her down effortlessly, but that was because she had underestimated me. She hadn’t even activated her soul stigmata back then. I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be if she went all out.

I had gained a way to grow stronger much earlier in this life than I had in my past life, but only a week had passed since. I was still catching up to Camilla, who had been training with a breathing technique since childhood.

Of course, in terms of pure skill, I had already reached a level she could only dream of, but skill alone didn’t determine the outcome of a fight. The real problem was that I didn’t actually know how strong I was right now.

In my past life, I had experienced three major periods of rapid growth: first, during my time as a lowly mercenary; second, while training under Yuren, Berald, Senior Sophia, and the others; and finally, when I wandered the continent alone in search of the Primordial Flame.

During that final period, I had no one to compare myself to. I had grown stronger, but I never knew how much. Still, I was absolutely sure of one thing: I won’t lose that easily.

No matter how talented Camilla Vediche was, no matter how promising she was as a candidate for the Sword of the Holy Empire, at the end of the day, she was just a cadet who had never experienced a real battle.

“Why are you just standing there?” Camilla asked.

“Ah, sorry,” I replied.

“Hmph. Just because it’s a class, don’t think you can slack off. Since we’re in the same party, act as if this is the real thing.” With a scoff, Camilla confidently strode forward.

Iris looked around, her face full of uncertainty. “So, where do we even begin tracking?”

Tracking a demonic monster was easier said than done. In this vast forest, how were they supposed to find one?

Camilla puffed out her chest proudly. “Haha! No need to worry, Milady! I did really well in last year’s tracking technique class. Just leave it to me!”

“Oh yeah, I remember. You kept bragging about how you came in first place,” Iris replied.

“T-that was… ahem. Please forget about that.”

“Why? It was cute.” Iris continued teasing her.

Camilla’s face flushed red, and she hurried forward as if to escape the conversation. “L-let’s just get moving before another party gets ahead of us!”

***

Under Camilla’s lead, the tracking began. To her credit, she wasn’t bluffing. Her tracking skills were indeed excellent, just as her ranking in class had suggested.

She carefully examined her surroundings, following a demonic monster’s trail. “Judging by the broken branches and footprints, it moved this way.”

About an hour passed just like that, but then, the trail suddenly vanished. Camilla frowned in confusion. “Huh? Wait?”

She anxiously looked back at Iris, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Iris reassured her with a gentle smile. “There’s no need to panic. This is your first time tracking an actual demonic monster in the wild, isn’t it?”

“B-but!”

“It’s fine.” Iris comforted Camilla before turning to me. “Looks like we’ll have to start over.”

I shook my head and stepped forward. “No, that won’t be necessary.”

Still frustrated, Camilla asked, “What do you mean? The trail is gone.”

“No, we just haven’t found it yet,” I replied.

“What?” she said.

I pointed to a thin black strand of fur caught in the bark of a tree. It was lodged about ten meters up, so unless someone tilted their head all the way back, they wouldn’t be able to notice it.

Camilla gasped.

“We didn’t see any scratch marks on the trunk, but we found fur high up. That means this thing is good at climbing trees,” I explained.

It had been moving along the ground just fine until now, which made me wonder why it had suddenly decided to climb. Searching around some more, I brushed aside the fallen leaves at the base of the tree, and there it was: a pile of droppings, most likely from the demonic monster.

The monster had probably climbed the tree for safety before doing its business. Whether it was a human or a demonic monster, they relieved themselves only when they were at their most vulnerable.

I crouched down, took a piece of the droppings, and put it in my mouth. “This is fresh.”

The two ladies’ startled screams rang out behind me.

I spat out the piece I had tasted and continued, “It’s pretty dry, and the odor is strong, with a bitter taste. This suggests it’s a carnivorous feline-type monster.”

Considering its tree-climbing ability, I guessed this assumption was almost certainly correct.

“I can taste a hint of blood too, which means its health isn’t great,” I added. That was probably due to the magical devices Professor Kane had mentioned earlier. “Judging by its movement pattern and condition, it probably didn’t travel far after climbing down.”

Hearing nothing behind, I turned around, only to see Camilla taking slow steps backward, her face pale. So, I asked, “What?”

“Y-you just… put… its… droppings… in your mouth….” she said.

“There’s no better way to assess a demonic monster’s condition. It’s even in the tracking technique textbooks,” I replied.

At the end of the day, demonic monsters were just animals—they ate, slept, and relieved themselves like any other creature.

“I-I know that, but….” She struggled to finish her sentence. Most people, even active professional heroes, wouldn’t go that far. Perhaps only some desperate mercenary living off scraps would.

“It’s much more accurate than just looking,” I explained.

“S-still, did you really have to eat it?” she finally asked.

In a real situation, knowing the enemy’s condition in advance could be a matter of life or death, so I replied, “This is just training, so it’s not a big deal. But what if this were real? What if the demonic monster was hiding nearby, ready to attack you?”

“That’s…” Camilla hesitated, unable to argue.

“Weren’t you the one who said we should treat this like a real situation?” I added.

Her hands clenched into fists, trembling with frustration. She looked like she was about to cry.

Well, that’s understandable, I thought. She had just told her master, the Saintess herself, to trust her. Yet, she had lost the trail. Then, the cadet who had humiliated her a week ago just outperformed her again, both in skill and logic. Given her pride, this was probably a heavy blow to her mentality.

“Damn it!” She stomped the ground in frustration before grabbing me by the collar. “I-I can do it too!”

“Huh?” I wondered what she meant.

“I can eat shit too!” she said.

Wait. Hold on. I get what she means, but the way she said it…

Camilla shouted in frustration, “What’s the big deal about eating a little poop?! You act so high and mighty just because you did it first! I’m just wondering what kind of life someone has to live to brag about eating poop. If I really wanted to, I could do it too!”

“Sure, sure. I believe you. So please calm yourself down,” I replied.

She seemed crazy. “Hmph! What do you know?! Y-you’re telling me to do it right here, aren’t you? You’re telling me to eat that shit right? Right in front of you?! Isn’t it?!”

“Excuse me?” I was baffled at the insanity of that logic.

She only got angrier. “You. You bastard!”

“Wait,” I said. Please stop. This whole conversation is starting to sound very wrong.

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