Hell Mode: Volume 3, page 1
Chapter 1: The Academy Entrance Exam
Several months had passed since the House Granvelle Affair, and it was now March. At the moment, Allen was helping the gardener with his work. Although he had become a guest of House Granvelle as of last November and was no longer obligated to work, Allen still wanted to do so until he had to leave for the Academy.
Ah, it’s here.
Allen stood up, dusted his hands off, and walked to the main gate as a single carriage pulled through. When it stopped, a pink-haired girl leaped out.
“ALLEN!”
“Welcome.”
It was, of course, Krena. She had made the journey to Lord Granvelle’s mansion from Krena Village. The moment she laid eyes on Allen, her face lit up like a light bulb. Following right behind her was the boy with a face that looked even more like a bumpkin’s than before, Dogora.
“Been a while, Allen.”
“Sure has, Dogora.”
Dogora had always been bigger than Allen, but now he was a whole head taller.
Three days from now, these two would be taking the entrance exam at Academy City. Viscount Granvelle had invited them to stay in his mansion until their departure. To be exact, he had invited Sword Lord Krena; Dogora was sort of a tagalong. Both now stood in front of the three-story mansion, the size of nothing they had ever seen before, with clothes and weapons well-worn with use on their backs and their jaws on the ground.
Hm, so Pelomas really didn’t come with them. Just as he said.
Pelomas, the son of Krena Village’s chief Deboji, possessed the Merchant Talent, which was not in line with the raison d’être of the Academy established by the Five Continent Alliance. Instead of the Academy, he would be attending a commercial school run by the Merchant’s Guild located in the kingdom’s capital.
Two months earlier, Allen had asked for leave to go home. There was a lot he had to tell his family, such as the facts that he had quit his job as manservant, had become a guest of House Granvelle, and would be heading to Academy City in April, and that both Rodin’s and Gerda’s families would be exempt from the head tax going forward. It had been four years since he left home, and he wanted to pay his parents a visit before setting off for the Academy. After first passing the official letter from the viscount confirming the two families’ exemption from paying tax to the village chief, Allen had headed straight home.
Rodin had asked, “What did you do?” in surprise when Allen brought out his ornamented silver dagger. However, he withheld comment regarding Allen quitting the manservant job.
Theresia, though worried, only replied, “Just take care of yourself, okay?” Perhaps as a mother, she felt her son was rushing through life a little too quickly.
Allen then dropped off a hundred gold, explaining that he would be unable to send money home for a while. Both Rodin’s and Theresia’s faces turned white at what seemed, to them, like an astronomical amount.
After a brief pause, Rodin cried, “How on earth can we accept all this money?!” Allen told them that he still had more than six hundred gold in a bid to reassure them. Only then did Rodin fold and accept the bag of coins, but not before muttering, “Seriously, what did you do?!” with a face that looked worn-out from being surprised.
Mash badgered Allen for stories, so Allen recounted his adventurers fighting goblin villages, orc villages, and armored ant nests. Mash hung on every word, his eyes sparkling. Naturally, Allen made no mention of the murdergalsh. He was not interested in traumatizing his younger brother.
Allen shook himself and brought his attention back to the present moment as Krena announced herself in an energetic voice and stepped inside the mansion with Dogora. The first thing that they saw was the viscount and his family standing in wait in the entrance hall to greet the visiting Sword Lord.
“We welcome you to our home,” Viscount Granvelle said warmly.
Back when the viscount—a baron at the time—visited Krena Village to observe a great boar hunt in person, he did not have the opportunity to meet Krena before returning to Granvelle City. Consequently, this was the first time the two were meeting. The viscount offered a hand for a handshake; Krena accepted it, acting as if they were equals.
Well, as a Sword Lord, chances are that she might eventually become at least a marchioness.
Viscount Granvelle’s smile remained on his face, indicating that he did not take any offense at Krena’s attitude. Allen had already warned him of her personality beforehand.
A Sword Lord was considered a valuable asset to the kingdom at large. Sword Lord Dverg, who was said to still be active on the battlefield, had been born a serf but now held the title of marquess. That was two ranks higher than viscount. In a way, peerage was one of the go-to rewards that the royal family handed out, having been left destitute after decades of unending war. In this world, only nobility were duty bound to fight the Demon Lord Army. As Viscount Granvelle had explained, Krena would be made baron the moment she graduated from the Academy.
“So you’re Krena,” Cecil said, stepping forward. “Nice to meet you.”
Krena started as if something had come to mind. “Are you Lady Cecil?! I’m so happy to meet you!” She grabbed the other girl’s hands and shook them energetically. The silence that followed prompted Krena to tilt her head in confusion. “What’s the matter, Lady Cecil?”
Although Allen had told both Cecil and Krena to get along with each other beforehand, the way Krena approached with no hesitation whatsoever—despite this being their first meeting on top of their difference in social class—had left Cecil at a loss for how to react. Just as Allen mentally willed her back into action, she finally gathered herself enough to stammer that it was nothing. She then shot Allen an accusatory glance to gloss over her bewilderment.
“Okay!” Krena replied.
Huh? Did Cecil just glare at me? Nah, I must have imagined it.
Over the four years they had spent together, Cecil’s prickly attitude toward Allen had softened considerably. However, when he had resigned from his job as manservant, she had berated him up and down. “How dare you quit being my personal servant without telling me?!” were her exact words. It was only recently that her anger seemed to have subsided somewhat.
There was a specific reason why Krena had been invited to the mansion. Three years from now, Allen would be going to fight the Demon Lord Army with Cecil. However, as a Summoner and a Wizardess, they both had very low Endurance. Allen had the Stone-type cards, but overreliance on them would take up slots and limit the tactics he could employ in battle.
Consequently, Allen had come up with the idea to invite Krena, whose Sword Lord was the ultimate class for physical combat, to join them. Since she was going to have to head to the battlefield either way, they might as well all go together. To that end, today was partly meant to be the first get-together between the two girls.
However, there was no guarantee that they were all going to be stationed together after graduation. The viscount had therefore visited the royal capital out of concern for his daughter to inquire how assignments were decided. What he learned was that Giamut—the nation that represented the Central Continent—and the rest of the Five Continent Alliance had almost exclusive say in such matters. Not even the king of Ratash could answer Viscount Granvelle’s question.
Officially, soldiers such as Sword Lord Dverg may have been under the Ratash king’s direct employ, but there were many things that the king was not privy to. This meant that, when it came to their lives at the Academy and their eventual fight with the Demon Lord, Allen and his friends would have to do a lot of figuring out for themselves how things would turn out.
So, for now the plan was to have Krena hang around them at the Academy. She would be a very reliable addition to their party for when they would go crawling the numerous dungeons supposedly within Academy City.
I’ll be working to help Krena and Cecil level their way up through the dungeons. It’d be really helpful if I had a way to check their Statuses in my grimoire...
Recently, Allen had gone to sleep every night clutching his grimoire and fervently praying to the gods. A Sword Lord had been born as his neighbor, and he had ended up serving a noble family with a daughter his own age who was a Wizardess. There was no way these were mere coincidences. Therefore, if Allen was fated to vanquish the Demon Lord Army together with them, then being able to keep an eye on their Statuses was an absolute necessity.
Whether or not to include Dogora in their party was still up in the air. The fact that Mihai, also a one-star class, had lost his life caused Allen to worry that the battlefield might be too dangerous for Dogora. In the end, he wanted to leave Dogora the freedom to make his own choice.
Although the magic tutor had stressed that Demon Lord history was highly confidential, Allen planned on eventually sharing it with Krena and Dogora in secret. They might not know how their military service would play out, but they could at least spend their three years in the Academy working toward the same goal, mindful of what was to come afterward.
Dinner was served soon after Krena and Dogora’s arrival.
This scene here is making Dogora look respectable by comparison.
Beside Dogora, who was stiff with nerves and doing his best to eat as politely as possible, Krena was attacking her food with a vengeance, giving the impression that it had been a long while since she last had a full belly. She had a steak impaled on a fork in one hand and a large piece of bread in the other, and was taking bites from both in turn. Thomas simply stared at the sight, his hand st
“Aren’t you gonna eat, Allen?” Krena asked between bites.
“I’ll eat after this.”
With a practiced hand, Allen deftly cleared the empty plates from the table. Both Krena and Dogora watched him with incredulity in their eyes as, for some reason, Cecil seemed to emanate pride.
When the meal was winding down, Viscount Granvelle turned to Allen and said in a formal tone, “Allen, take good care of them all.”
“Of course. I will do my utmost,” Allen replied, bowing deeply as if expressing his regret at ending the life he had lived these past four years.
Now then, I have to make sure that I find “that” at Academy City—I bet it exists. For now, let’s go gather information at the Adventurer’s Guild. Maybe I’ll learn something that could prove crucial to my fight against the Demon Lord Army in three years.
Allen had a task to fulfill in Academy City even more important than attending school.
Three days later, Allen, Krena, Cecil, and Dogora set off for Academy City as planned.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Allen, it’s Academy City!” Krena exclaimed, dazzled as she leaped off the bottom step of the staircase descending from the magic ship. Cecil and Dogora followed right behind her.
The group of four children had just landed on an expansive landing pad in Academy City. The city was massive. Its official name was Academy City of the Kingdom of Ratash, and it boasted a population in the hundreds of thousands, making it multiple times the size of Granvelle City. If they all passed their entrance exam, this was where they would be spending the next three years of their lives.
Children their age—clearly exam takers as well—milled all around. More than twenty thousand examinees would gather here each year, so the city had special transportation set up and increased the number of direct flights from each realm.
A voice overhead repeatedly blared, “Examinees, please head to the station with a green roof to board the Academy-bound magic train.”
They have trains here too?!
When Allen and his friends arrived at the green-roofed station, they were greeted by station attendants informing them that the trip on the magic train cost one silver. They paid up and headed for the home platform.
“It really is a train!” Allen cried. The others mouthed the term “train” without really understanding until it finally came into view. Then they all exclaimed, “Whoa!” in unison.
A bona fide train! Was this made in Baukis as well?!
The Empire of Baukis, a nation run by dwarves located to the northwest of the Central Continent, provided both the required technology and partial funding for this educational institution. This city boasted such excellent infrastructure that it was said to be a more comfortable place to live than even the royal capital.
“We...walk into this thing?” Cecil asked apprehensively.
“So it seems,” Allen replied casually, stepping through the doors that had opened with a hiss.
His nonchalance prompted Cecil to blurt out, “Why do you seem so fine with it?!”
All around them, serfs and commoners hailing from every corner of the country stood frozen in place as they stared at the magic train in a daze.
I had no idea they had trains like this. Come to think of it, Mihai never really told us all that much about Academy City itself. It was the magic tutor, not Mihai, who told us that the headmaster was a high elf. There are surprises everywhere here. Maybe he was trying to keep it from sounding too exciting so Cecil wouldn’t get her expectations up?
Before long, the train started moving. A look through the windows at the passing scenery revealed that, as Allen had expected, this city was quite technologically developed. Five-story buildings lined major avenues like they were perfectly ordinary, painting a townscape practically alien compared to Granvelle City, the capital of a mere countryside fiefdom.
Krena was plastered against the window, her head twisting back and forth as she repeatedly exclaimed, “So cool!” She was enjoying herself so much that it was making Cecil draw back a little and wonder if this was how a Sword Lord really behaved.
For a split second, the sight made Allen worry about Krena’s performance on the exam, but by the next moment, he thought better of it. She’s leveled up and all—all those points in Intelligence means she ought to do fine.
He had heard that Krena and Dogora both started participating in the village’s great boar hunts when they turned ten years old. All the level ups boosted their Intelligence, and with two whole years of studying, Allen expected them to pass the Academy’s entrance exam without issue.
Apparently the exam is pure academics, with no practical elements involving swinging swords or anything. Meanwhile, I only had four months to study. What’s more, all my studying was just sitting with Cecil while she reviewed everything she’d already learned prior... C’mon, man!
Allen did nurse a slight amount of dissatisfaction with the viscount for waiting until the end of the previous year to bring up the matter of him attending the Academy. The viscount had probably done so out of a desire to respect Allen’s self-determination, but Allen wished he could have been told earlier. After all, he probably would have agreed even if the viscount had made the request when he was eight. Over the past four months, not a single reason to refuse had occurred to him. In all likelihood, the viscount had been wrestling with the question of what he could personally do for Cecil’s sake this whole time.
Eventually, the magic train came to a stop at a station near the center of Academy City. As passengers staggered out, still in a daze, Allen and his friends struck off for the Academy.
The kingdom of Ratash had a population of around twenty million. Serfs and commoners might not end up conscripted, but Academy graduates would have no trouble at all finding employment anywhere within the country. With this in mind, a massive number of children came to knock on the doors of this institution each year.
When Allen passed through the tall wall that surrounded the school grounds, he found the open courtyard already filled to bursting with other examinees. An announcement played repeatedly over a loudspeaker-like magic tool set up in various places around the venue: “All examinees must first undergo the Appraisal Ceremony. Those who pass are to bring their assigned numbered tag to the reception counters in front of the school building.”
“Appraisal Ceremony?” Krena parroted, tilting her head in bewilderment.
“That’s what they’re saying,” Allen shrugged. “Looks like everyone’s doing it.”
Sure enough, there were several lines in the square, each leading to a set of equipment that Allen recognized from when he was five.
I see, so they Appraise everyone to prevent any Talentless from getting in. This reminds me of the story Captain Zenof told me about the noble who claimed to be a Sword Lord despite only being a Swordsman. The man had failed to perform when his strength was needed most. Thinking about it now, that was probably on the battlefield and in the middle of a fight with the Demon Lord Army. I can only imagine the amount of trouble that ensued when the forces with him realized that they didn’t have the fighting strength they thought they did.
The line made significant progress over the next hour. When it was Allen’s group’s turn, the examiner asked, “Is anyone here from a noble family?”
Cecil spoke up. “I’m from House Granvelle.”
The staff member nodded and wrote something down.
Hm? They check for nobles here?
Then, the Appraising for the group began. “Please come forward one by one and place your hands on this crystal,” the man said. Dogora went first.
* * *
Name: Dogora
HP: B
MP: D
Attack: A
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Intelligence: D
Luck: C
Talent: Ax User
* * *
“Ah, so you are an Ax User. That is a wonderful Talent.”
Dogora was handed a numbered tag, indicating that he had passed the Appraisal.
Hmm, Dogora’s Status hasn’t changed. In other words, it isn’t affected by age. And his Talent is “wonderful,” huh?
Next was Cecil’s turn. When her results showed up, the examiner exclaimed in appreciation.
