Chapter 69: In Search of the Demon Sword (1)

The faculty office I sat in was surprisingly neat, quite the contrast to its occupant, who looked like he belonged in a tent deep in the wilderness. It was a massive man with a wild mane, like a lion’s, who glared at me with a piercing gaze.

“You want to go on a ruin expedition?” he asked.

“Yes. I’d like to request a temporary Hero License and a two-night, three-day leave pass starting Friday afternoon,” I replied.

Professor Kane let out a low sigh and furrowed his brows, as if I had just handed him a headache. “Do you even have any experience exploring ruins?”

“No, none.”

In truth, I had raided hundreds of ruins in my past life, but I couldn’t exactly say that out loud.

“A guy with zero experience wants to explore ruins? Do you even know what a ruin is, kid?”

“Of course, I do.”

Ruins, also known as dungeons, were locations twisted by the powers of transcendental beings, demons, and others like them, created not during the Demon God War five hundred years ago, but even earlier. There were all kinds of ruins too: some where time flowed differently, some where gravity was reversed, and where rivers of molten lava swirled with glaciers.

They were places where the laws of physics were casually defied. Though, to be fair, only a few ruins were that warped. Most were just scattered with a few monsters and some traps, nothing too dramatic.

“So, which ruin are you planning to visit? You should know, of course, that unexplored ruins are off-limits to those with only a temporary Hero License,” Professor Kane said.

“I’m planning to visit the Cave of Crimson Tears, west of Valhalla City.”

Professor Kane nodded, clearly familiar with it. “Ah, that place.”

Despite its eerie name, the ruin had been graded a mere C in terms of danger, fairly ordinary.

“That ruin’s been known for decades. You won’t find much there besides a few stray monsters,” he added.

“That’s exactly what I’m going for. You said yourself that real combat experience is the most important, right?”

“Hmm.” He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing me with suspicion. “You’re not up to something shady, are you?”

Damn it. He’s only sharp when it’s inconvenient. Looks like he won’t approve this easily. Maybe I should go to Professor Baldwin instead.

Just as I was weighing my options, Professor Kane spoke again. “You know that cadets can only apply for ruin expeditions in parties of five or more, right?”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“Who do you plan to bring?”

“Well, probably Iris and—”

Professor Kane suddenly shot up from his seat, bursting into loud laughter. “I knew it, you little brat! I’ve noticed you hanging around with Iris a lot lately. You’re just using this expedition as an excuse to spend the night out with her, aren’t you?”

Okay, scratch that. This guy’s not sharp, just annoyingly nosy.

He continued, “Heh!

Typical. You’re a guy, after all. You think I don’t know how this goes? Back in my cadet days, I was called Valhalla’s Casanova—”

I wasn’t going to let him go on this time. “So, how are things going with the Mage Division’s professor these days?”

“W-why are you bringing up B-Bianca all of a sudden?” Professor Kane stammered, clearly caught off guard.

“Well, your date during the Sealing Festival got ruined by that monster outbreak, didn’t it?”

“Urgh!”

“Haha, don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll get another chance soon.”

Professor Kane shut his mouth tightly and turned his head, clearly avoiding my gaze. Judging by that sullen expression, I could tell things weren’t going great between him and Bianca lately.

Suppressing a chuckle, I got back to the point. “Will you grant me the permit?”

“Well, it’s not a high-risk ruin. I don’t have much reason to say no. But…”

Ruin expeditions were a required part of Practical Combat Training for third- and fourth-year cadets. Going in advance was just like preparing early; there was nothing wrong with that. Of course, cadet-led expeditions had ended in casualties on a few occasions.

He looked at me and said, “You know that the academy takes no responsibility for anything that happens outside academy grounds, right?”

This wasn’t just any school; it was a hero academy, training those who would fight on the frontlines of humanity’s survival. Anyone who bore the soul stigmata from the Seven Gods, even a cadet, was considered a transcendent. With that power came the responsibility of choice.

Meeting his sharp gaze head-on, I gave a quiet, firm answer. “I understand.”

Professor Kane nodded and pulled out some documents from his drawer. “Alright then. Submit the consent forms signed by your party members.”

“Yes, sir.” I took the forms and stepped out of his office.

***

A few days later, after submitting all the necessary consent forms, I stood in front of the academy gates on Friday afternoon, waiting for the rest of the party.

There were still about thirty minutes left until the agreed-upon meeting time when Yuren spotted me and waved cheerfully as he approached. “Dale, you’re already here!”

I smiled and waved back. “I just got here too.”

“Haha, were you so excited you came early?”

“Not really. Just thought it’d be a bad impression to be late to something I organized.”

“Still, it’s kind of surprising. I never expected you to be the one to suggest a ruin expedition.”

“Is this your first time exploring one?” I asked.

“Well… I went to one before with my family, before enrolling here. But this will be my first time as a cadet.”

I figured as much. It was rare for a cadet to voluntarily apply for a ruins expedition unless it was part of a class. They could never know what might happen in a dungeon.

“Don’t be too nervous,” I said.

In contrast to my warning, Yuren grinned like an excited child on the morning of a school field trip. “Haha, nervous? If anything, I’m excited to go on my first ruin expedition with you, Dale!”

I had forgotten that from Yuren’s perspective, the Cave of Crimson Tears probably did feel like a little field trip. He was stronger than most professors, after all. A dungeon rated only C in terms of danger wouldn’t be something he would be worried about.

However, even if you were strong, getting careless in a dungeon could get you killed. Still, there was no need to pressure him before we had even stepped inside.

“By the way, Iris is coming today too, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, of course. I asked her to join us.”

Yuren frowned, clearly displeased. But it didn’t last long. He sighed and nodded as if resigning himself. “I guess… we do need someone from a support class.”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind. “Who did you say you need?”

Speak of the devil, just when her name came up, Iris arrived. Her lips curled into a smirk as she turned to Yuren. “Still, I’m glad you understand that support-class members are essential in any party.”

Yuren didn’t seem surprised at all as he had probably sensed her approaching. “Well, that’s something they teach in first-year classes, at least.”

He turned toward Iris and continued smoothly, “But there’s a difference between essential and actually useful, you know? Especially in low-level dungeons like this, support-types tend to just be… dead weight.”

“Oh my, sounds like someone didn’t learn the part where treating support-types like baggage is the fastest route to a party wipe,” she replied.

“It’s just a figure of speech. Come on, would the oh-so-great Saintess really just sit back and do nothing?”

“Ohoho.”

“Hahaha.”

Seriously? Why are you two already bickering again? I wanted to ask them.

As I sighed, shaking my head at their sniping, another figure appeared, this one visibly drained. Camilla trudged toward us, deep shadows under her eyes and exhaustion written all over her face. “Haaah!”

“Did you not sleep last night?” I asked.

“Grrr! This is your fault, you know that?” she replied.

“Huh?”

What did I even do?

Camilla glared at me like she wanted to murder me on the spot. “You and your ‘let’s go for a ruins exploration’ nonsense. Do you know what a nightmare that turned into for me? The Saintess insisted she had to go, no matter what. Meanwhile, the Holy Empire raised a storm, saying it was completely out of the question. Haaah! I’m the one who got stuck in the middle of it all…”

“Ah, right,” I replied.

Yeah, that is kind of my bad…

“So, did you manage to get their approval?” I asked.

“I barely managed to convince them that it’s just a pre-class practice run, since this kind of expedition is part of the official curriculum anyway,” Camilla answered.

“Nice job!”

Camilla let out another deep sigh, her whole face still showing fatigue. “Haaah! What a pain in the ass!”

“Well, this’ll actually be useful for everyone, so don’t be too hard on me,” I said.

The reason I had invited Iris and Yuren to this expedition was to give them real combat experience. Besides searching for the Demon Sword, this dungeon run also served another goal: helping my comrades grow stronger. There was only so much you could improve through training alone.

I glanced at Yuren, Iris, and Camilla, then checked the time. “Now we just need one more person.”

Only one minute was left until the scheduled meetup time. The last party member had to be arriving any second now.

Yuren tilted his head curiously. “By the way, who’s the last one you invited?”

Before I could answer, Iris said, “Isn’t it Jules?”

“Jules?” Yuren asked.

“He’s a friend of Dale’s. I met him once before.”

“Oh, right! That cadet from a pretty high-ranking family in the Republic, yeah?”

“Yes, that’s him.”

Yuren frowned, recalling some rumors he had heard in passing. “Hmm! I’ve heard… not-so-great things about him. Something about him hitting on all the new female cadets.”

Iris gave an awkward smile and waved it off. “Oh, that? Don’t worry. That’s a total misunderstanding. Actually, he’s not… really into girls. Ahem! Anyway, he’s definitely not the type to mess with female cadets.”

“Is that so?” Yuren said.

Watching the two of them chat casually, as if they hadn’t just been sniping at each other, I finally spoke up. “You guys are getting the wrong idea. The last party member isn’t Jules.”

Yuren and Iris both stared at me, wide-eyed.

“Huh?”

“Then who is it?”

Before I could say anything, heavy footsteps pounded the ground as a towering figure, easily over two meters tall, came charging toward us at full speed.

With a mighty laugh, Berald dropped a backpack on the ground that looked ready to burst at the seams. “HEEEEEEY, DAAAAAALEEEEEEEEE! WAHAHAHA! Sorry, I’m late, my man! Had too much stuff to pack, took longer than expected!”

“What the hell did you pack?” I asked.

“Food, drinks, sleeping gear, basically everything I could think of!”

“You lunatic. That thing has to weigh over a hundred kilos. Are you seriously bringing it into a dungeon?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that! I enchanted it with Levitation magic, so the weight’s no problem!” Berald raised the massive backpack effortlessly with one pinky, flashing a grin. “See? Light as a feather!”

I turned to Yuren, Iris, and Camilla, who were all frozen in place, stunned. “Everyone saw that, right?”

This idiot is our fifth party member.

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