Competition
Satou here. I think passing an exam is really more of a checkpoint than a goal. Once you pass, you shouldn’t let your energy burn out. That’s when the real battle begins.
“If you take our party, Falcon Beak, with you, the floormaster won’t know what hit it!”
“Sir Gusto of the garnet-badge explorer party Sovereign is offering to lend you his aid! You’d be a fool not to take it!”
“Please include me in your expedition, too, Sir Pendragon!”
A throng of voices clamored outside the mansion.
Ever since a few days after we saw off Miss Helmina and company, word that we’d defeated an areamaster had spread, and people flocked to our home to promote themselves.
Many of them were garnet-badge explorers, but since they weren’t in Jelil’s group, which was currently fighting a floormaster, or his rival Zarigon’s team, most of them weren’t all that powerful.
There were a few real contenders mixed in, but most of those tended to have problematic personalities, and I was hoping the whole lot of them would leave.
As I thought about this, I heard the sounds of a quarrel, and then the outside of our home went silent.
Most likely, the guards that the viceroy’s wife had kindly sent to patrol our area had removed the offending crowd.
“Master?”
Knocking on the door, Arisa entered my study.
“The carpenter’s finished hanging up curtains at the site for the explorers’ school.”
“Great, thanks.”
I was planning to make the school buildings and dormitories for the explorers’ school with Stone Object in the dead of night.
As for the house that was already there, I figured I’d dig it out of the ground with Earth Magic, detach it with Dimension Cutter, and put the whole thing in Storage.
I could easily level a schoolyard for training using the Wall spell, so I would do that while I was making the other structures.
“What are you drawing?”
“A map of the area I want to use for field training.”
I was coming up with a plan to renovate section 11, which was close to the labyrinth entrance yet not very popular, so that our students could get some field experience there.
Incidentally, it was also the area where Princess Meetia, the viceroy’s son Gerits, and the other noble children had been attacked by the Plunderer King Ludaman.
It was a dangerous place: There were monsters like horn hoppers and rock-head bees that were known as “knight killers,” and even worse threats like soldier mantises and war mantises roamed the area as well. Thus, very few explorers made this their stomping grounds.
“Wow, talk about detailed. You’ve got the nests and distribution maps for horn hoppers and rock-head bees, plus the patrol routes of the mantises? This mark must mean watering holes—yikes, and you’ve even marked off an area to make into a safe zone for resting and camping?!”
Skimming the map, Arisa exclaimed in surprise.
“Well, yeah. It’d be possible to make a day trip, but the travel time would be longer than the actual hunting.”
“Hmm. So it’s more on the scale of an inn than a mini labyrinth town, is it?”
“Why make it any bigger than necessary?”
It’d be dangerous to leave people there to manage a place like that, so I wasn’t planning anything fancier than a handful of huts.
“But why are you making such a detailed map?”
“Partly to give it to the instructors in charge of the training but also because I’d like you and the others to go there and reduce the monster population a bit.”
“All right, I suppose. What will you be doing, though?”
“I thought I’d explore the Lower Stratum of the labyrinth while everyone’s getting ready to renovate the area.”
Arisa looked worried. “You’re not going to do anything dangerous on your own again, are you?”
“Of course not. I just want to make sure there aren’t any demons or other dangerous creatures down there.”
“If you say so…”
Patting her on the head as she nodded reluctantly, I promised again not to do anything reckless.
A promise like that might seem like foreshadowing, but I didn’t want to go through anything painful, so I was planning to keep it if at all possible.
“All right, I’ll be back.”
“Be careful.”
At the crossroads in the first area of the labyrinth, I parted ways with my group.
The day after I showed Arisa the map, I took my group—the Saga Empire samurai duo Mr. Kajiro and Miss Ayaume and the Lovely Wings pair who were to be teachers at the explorers’ school—into the labyrinth.
Apart from me, everyone was there to work on developing the practice area for the school.
It was meant to help with Kajiro’s physical rehabilitation and the Lovely Wings’s training, too.
The previous day, I’d given the map of the area to Arisa and had her use her Space Magic spells like Clairvoyance and Clairaudience to check out the lay of the land and the current state of the monsters, so they should be fine without me.
“…What?”
“You’re not coming along, mister?”
“Sir Knight, it’s dangerous to go alone. Take me with you.”
“If Lord Kajiro is going, I will come along as well.”
The four who didn’t know about my plans all gathered around me with concern.
“It’s all right. I may not look it, but I can handle normal monsters well enough on my own.”
“Sir Knight, there is no greater enemy than carelessness, no matter how strong you might be. I beg you, at least take one person along with you.”
I thought about Mr. Kajiro’s suggestion.
My business shouldn’t take long, and once I was done, I wanted to stop by the guild and do some paperwork.
Ideally, I’d like to take Arisa or Liza along, but Arisa was in charge of the map, and I’d prefer Liza to be with the other girls in case they ran into any danger.
“I’ll ask Lulu to be my guard, then.”
“Y-yes, sir, I’ll do my best!”
Kajiro and the others stared at Lulu and her outfit, clearly wondering why I would bring along a maid of all people, but they relented when Liza remarked, “If Lulu’s with you there, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
Saying my good-byes to the other kids, I walked along the passage with Lulu.
“Lulu, wear this, please.”
“What’s this? Oh, a cloak that makes you invisible?”
I nodded and put on another of the transparency cloaks that we’d found in the City Core treasure room.
Now rendered invisible, Lulu and I headed toward the entryway to the largest room of section 1. I was still able to see Lulu, since illusions didn’t work on me, but Lulu couldn’t see me, so I held her hand as we walked.
When we passed the labyrinth army barracks, I picked Lulu up in my arms and used “Warp” to slip through the door at just the right time.
Then, using “Skyrunning,” I carried her down into the pit that led to the Middle Stratum.
“Are you scared?”
“I-I’m fine as long as you’re with me, master.”
Lulu was doing her best to act brave. I lowered the hood of my transparency cloak and smiled at her, continuing our slow descent.
Along the way, we saw some explorers frantically operating the elevator. The pit went all the way down to the Lower Stratum, but the elevator went only to the middle.
Passing the Middle Stratum floor, we kept going down until the display on my radar changed.
“Looks like the Middle Stratum ends here.”
“So this is the labyrinth’s Lower Stratum…” Lulu’s voice trembled.
I patted her head reassuringly, then selected “Search Entire Map” from my magic menu. I tried entering various search queries, looked at the results, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. No demons or demon lords here.
I’d gotten far stronger since the last time I fought a demon lord, so I could likely hold my own even if a demon lord did actually appear, but I’d rather not put my life in danger too often if I could help it, unless it was to rescue someone I knew.
Maybe I’ll investigate a little more while I’m at it?
I searched the map for stronger enemies.
There weren’t any areamasters like in the upper and middle floors, but there were definitely strong monsters to be found.
Some of them were far more powerful than anything you’d see in the other stratums, like a group of Evil Dragons with levels as high as 80 and a giant level-99 plant monster called an “elder root.” The Lower Stratum seemed to be pretty intense.
These were in areas where they couldn’t get out, though, and too large to fit through a spawnhole passage, so as long as the dungeonmaster who controlled the labyrinth didn’t get any funny ideas, there was probably nothing to worry about.
The deepest part of the Lower Stratum, where the elder root lurked, seemed to be the end of the labyrinth.
This final room was called a Room of Trials. If someone defeated the last boss-like elder root, I had a feeling the dungeonmaster might appear.
I didn’t see the dungeonmaster in my map search, so maybe there was still another area down there.
While I was looking, I searched for reincarnations, demon lord worshippers, and so on, but of course I didn’t find any.
“All right, I’m done investigating. Let’s go back up, Lulu.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Lulu nodded, confused, as I headed back up the pit.
I’d cleared away my worries that there might be demons or a demon lord lurking in the Lower Stratum, and there was no point staying any longer. We returned to Labyrinth City.
“A competition?”
“Yes, I thought it’d be a good way to select scholarship students for the explorers’ school.”
In addition to tuition for three months of training, scholarship students would be given free lodging, food, and grants for other living expenses.
“Satou, aren’t you busy enough getting ready to challenge a floormaster?”
“True. But since my party isn’t strong enough just yet, I’d like to have them train a bit more first.”
I couldn’t let the girls fight a floormaster until they were all at least level 50.
“I see. Glad to hear you’re being cautious. I’ve seen far too many fools get big heads after defeating an areamaster, only to have their whole group completely wiped out by a floormaster…”
Anguish was an unnatural expression on the guildmaster’s face.
“So is it all right if we hold a tournament?”
“You don’t need my permission, kid. Knowing you, you’ve already got it from the viceroy and his wife, right? I’ll even let you put up announcements outside the guild and the training grounds to gather applicants.”
Oh, she agreed before I could even ask.
“Thank you very much, Guildmaster.”
“No problem. You can thank me with food.”
“Well, I hunted a maze rabbit not long ago, so how does rabbit meat sound to you?”
“That would be delightful. I’ll stock up on some ale and cheap red wine.”
The guildmaster volunteered to buy the booze for our next feast.
“I’d love to try deep-fried rabbit,” came a cheerful request from Miss Ushana, who was quietly doing paperwork.
She was usually very serious, but the guildmaster seemed to be rubbing off on her.
I readily agreed to her request and headed down to reception to submit a posting about the competition for the bulletin board.
“…Understood. Would you like to use the largest size for the flyer?”
I nodded.
She explained that the price was determined by the size of the flyer and the length of time it would be displayed.
I’d had them take the fee of announcements like the lectures and the scroll collection request out of the reward money I gave, so this was my first time hearing about it.
“Oh-ho, you’re making an explorers’ school, Master Pendragon?”
A handsome young man with dark-brown skin peered over the receptionist’s shoulder.
“E-excuse me! Please don’t lean on the desk.”
“Oh, pardon me.”
Lightly apologizing as he withdrew, the man turned toward me and bowed.
“Sarishusas the minstrel at your service. How would you like to hire me to read your announcement aloud and spread the word?”
Evidently, he was here to offer his services.
I glanced at the receptionist, but once she gave me a nod, I assumed he wasn’t any trouble.
“Very well.”
“Thank you so much. Shall we say until tomorrow night?”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
The competition was to be held in the morning three days from now, so that should be plenty of time.
“Judging by the contents, I’d imagine I should patrol around the guild, the training grounds, and perhaps the shopping district and labyrinth gates to make the announcement. Madam, might I ask for a copy of that flyer? And I’d like to borrow a board until tomorrow, too.”
The man briskly made arrangements for the announcement, said, “That’ll be two silver coins, please,” and looked at me expectantly.
“Great, thanks.”
“Ooh, not even an attempt at haggling? You understand the value of a minstrel, young master.”
I handed him the coins, and he smiled roguishly at me.
If I were a woman, I could see myself falling for him easily.
“Leave the rest to us. No doubt we shall fill your competition roster to the brim with scores of people.”
No, thirty or so would be more than enough.
The receptionist woman and I looked on as the minstrel headed exultantly toward the door with board in hand.
“Oh, that’s right,” she said suddenly. “I found out the name of the child you asked about.”
“The dogfolk child with the purple fur?”
“Yes, I’m told his name is Crow, but…”
She hesitated, looking unsure whether to tell me the rest.
While I waited, I searched the map for the name Crow, but I didn’t get any results.
For some reason, he was nowhere to be found not only in Labyrinth City or the Celivera Labyrinth but even anywhere in the desert or the surrounding territories.
As I puzzled over this, the woman went on.
“…I’m afraid he’s disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes, I saw him by the west gate and asked his name, but…”
The child had murmured “Crow” without even looking at the woman, then vanished into thin air like a mirage.
“Perhaps he was some kind of ghost.”
That would explain why he didn’t show up on my map.
I thanked the receptionist and left the west guild hall.
After that, I brought Lulu along to do a few errands related to hosting the tournament, then went back to meet up with our hardworking friends in the labyrinth just as the sun was starting to set.
“Satou.”
A bored-looking Mia spotted us as soon as we came to rejoin the group and clung to me immediately.
“Welcome back! Everything’s going great.”
Arisa didn’t look too busy, either.
Behind them, Pochi and Liza had weakened a rock-head bee for Iruna and Jena of the Lovely Wings to finish off.
Mr. Kajiro and Miss Ayaume were with Nana, hunting mantises farther down the passage.
“Neeext?”
Tama came back with three horn hoppers in tow.
“S-seriously?”
“Wait, we haven’t beaten this one yet!”
“Hurry uuup?”
Tama seemed unmoved by the duo’s plight.
I’d loaned both of them mithril-alloy longswords handmade by yours truly, so they could cut through even the toughest of monsters regardless of their abilities.
“Pochi, you and Tama go wear down the next monsters.”
“Yes, sir.”
Pochi pulled out her sword, which was pinning down the rock-head bee’s wing, and went with Tama to cut off the horn hoppers’ horns and stingers.
“Here comes the next helping!”
Just as Iruna and Jena finally brought down the rock-head bee, two near-death horn hoppers tumbled in front of them.
Liza restrained the monsters for the two to defeat them.
The plan was to continue with this method until the Lovely Wings reached level 20 or so, then carry on improving their prowess by fighting monsters normally.
“How many times have you gotten level-up sickness so far?”
“Only twice. The third one will probably be coming on soon, so maybe we’ll call it quits after that.”
The two had been level 9 this morning, but now they were already level 17.
I wanted them to get to level 25 or so before they led hands-on field training for the explorers’ school.
The amount of EXP for each level up to 30 wasn’t too high—it should be easy enough.
“Well, now I’m painfully aware of how average I am.”
“Same here.”
Iruna and Jena both looked exhausted.
They’d finished their leveling up for the day, and now we were eating dinner at the campsite Lulu and I had prepared.
From the looks of them, the intensive training with my party had been a bit of culture shock.
I thought we’d kept things relatively tame today, but even that must’ve been too fast-paced.
“Fear not, for I feel the same way.”
“Me too.”
Kajiro and Ayaume nodded in tired agreement.
“I’ll heat up some water later so you can go to bed feeling refreshed.”
It would probably be unwise to produce a bath from Storage or make one with my or Arisa’s magic.
“A bath in the labyrinth?”
Mr. Kajiro looked surprised, so Miss Ayaume spoke for them.
“We appreciate it, but if we’re going to be staying for three days, we should preserve our water and kindling.”
“R-right. Hot food is more than enough.”
“Yeah, this is delicious.”
Iruna and Jena seemed to feel the same way.
I guess normally people can’t bring a huge amount of water and kindling deep into the labyrinth.
“But baths feel really good, sir.”
“It soothes the soooul?”
Not quite understanding, Pochi and Tama extolled the virtues of bathing.
“Pochi, Tama. You never know what might happen in the labyrinth. Carelessly taking off your equipment could mean death. Baths are a luxury to look forward to when one returns to the surface.”
Tama and Pochi looked even more confused by Kajiro’s words.
After all, we normally bathed every night in our labyrinth vacation home during our expeditions.
“Don’t worry—we have Mia’s magic to alert us of any danger. And the hot water is prepared with a magic tool, so there’s no need to be afraid of wasting it.”
With that, I produced a large cask of water from my Garage Bag and heated it up.
I’d have to heat it back up later, but that demonstration was enough to satisfy the hesitant bathers.
Incidentally, some monsters did actually approach while the women were bathing, but Kajiro and I fended them off.
“Sir Knight, I have been thinking that I should like to help with your floormaster expedition.”
Kajiro broached the subject as he was retrieving the core from one of the monsters.
I wasn’t sure about Miss Ayaume, but at level 40, Mr. Kajiro should be safe to join in our battle.
Knowing his deep sense of fealty, I wasn’t worried about him telling anyone if he saw how strong my group really was.
“Sir Kajiro—”
“I understand. After watching the Lovely Wings train today and accompanying Lady Nana to fight mantises, my inadequacy is painfully clear.”
I was about to invite him along, but he interrupted me.
“I know that I cannot keep up with your party and you. Perhaps it would be different were I still in my prime, but in my current state, I would surely only slow you down.”
Kajiro looked despondent.
Feeling like a parasite to our party probably went against his code of honor.
“There’s no need to rush. I’m sure you’ll be a swordsman on par with the Shiga Eight before long.”
“…Then I shall aim to become strong enough that you will someday ask me to fight by your side.”
With that declaration, the dauntless Kajiro went off to practice his form in a corner of the cavern.
I watched him continue until my group came back from their bath.
“Do you want to be explorerrrrrs?”
“““Yeahhh!!”””
Arisa spoke into a voice-amplifying magic tool, the sound bouncing off Labyrinth City walls near the temporary tent we’d set up right outside the north gate.
Gathered in front of Arisa was a crowd of more than three hundred kids who wanted to be scholarship students at the explorers’ school. Apparently, the minstrel I’d hired was particularly gifted.
As far as I could tell, the gender ratio was about 70 percent boys to 30 percent girls; to my surprise, it also was about 60 percent demi-humans to 40 percent humans, despite the latter making up more of the general population.
As far as ages, the overwhelming majority were about middle school–aged, but there were some who ranged from elementary school kids to middle-aged adults.
We’d been targeting kids who were bag carriers or unemployed, but we got a few kids with wooden or bronze explorer badges, too.
And there were some familiar faces in the crowd.
“Hey, mister! We’re gonna be scholarship students, just you watch!”
The rabbitfolk boy Usasa and his friends came running up to me.
We had first met them when Zarigon’s garnet-badge party, the Hellfire Fangs, had gone to fight an areamaster; they had been tricked by a nasty explorer named Besso and might’ve died if we hadn’t rescued them.
“…Listen up!”
Iruna, who was standing next to Arisa, began shouting an explanation to the kids without even using a magic tool.
Usasa and friends turned to look at her, along with all the other kids.
“Sir Pendragon’s explorers’ school scholarship student competition is about to begin!”
Iruna seemed pretty fired up, since we were going to be choosing her first students from this group.
She was even wearing armor, although she wouldn’t be going into battle.
The Lovely Wings were currently wearing equipment made out of mantis materials. When I’d given it to them to celebrate their reaching level 20, they jumped up and down for joy.
As I later learned, mantis armor was the mark of a true veteran in Labyrinth City.
“Let me make one thing clear, since some of you seem to have the wrong idea! Those who pass will not be invited to join Sir Pendragon’s expedition to defeat a floormaster. If that’s why you’re here, just leave now!”
At that, a few explorers slouched away, looking disappointed.
They must’ve thought that I would scout them for my party if they showed their skills here.
“We’ll be choosing eighteen people,” Arisa explained. “First, we’ll choose the six fastest competitors. If you’re fast enough, you can serve the valuable role of a scout, luring monsters for your party to battle. When I give the signal on this flute, start running! The first six to make it all the way around the outer walls of Celivera win.”
Then Arisa blew a shrill whistle from the flute, and the kids took off running.
Some of them tripped one another, while plenty of others fell of their own accord. But not a one of them sat in the dirt to cry—they picked themselves right back up and kept running. I was impressed.
For some reason, Pochi and Tama were running, too, probably tempted along by the crowd of kids.
“Master, we’ll head out as well.”
“Rider mode engaged, I declare.”
Liza rode after the kids on horseback, while Nana steered a wagon. I’d asked them to pick up any children who collapsed along the way.
If anyone tried to take a shortcut from the south gate, Skopi and his gang, the Mud Scorpions, would catch them.
While we waited, I used the Clairvoyance spell to watch the marathon.
Two kids fainted from anemia, and a few boys fell to exhaustion, but they were scooped into Nana’s wagon right away.
“Looks like they’re coming back.”
Lulu waved from where she was observing through the scope of her rifle.
“I win, sir!”
Pochi came in first by a wide margin. Tama had been hot on her heels, but evidently Pochi was better at distance running.
“Mrrr, I’ll get you next tiiime?”
“Pochi accepts all challengers, sir!”
Getting worked up for a change, Tama demanded an eventual rematch.
A little while after they’d finished, the first few of the competitors returned.
“Dammit, we lost to dog- and catfolk! How will we face other rabbitfolk now?”
“I can’t believe I lost to someone besides you, Usasa.”
The first two racers stared at Pochi and Tama, looking frustrated.
It was Usasa, the boy who’d approached me before the race, and his friend, the rabbitfolk girl Rabibi.
“You wiiin! These two aren’t in the running, so you get first and second place.”
Arisa handed the first- and second-place medals to Usasa and Rabibi.
It was a considerable amount of time before anyone else finished.
After a while, third place went to a dogfolk child, and fourth through sixth went to human boys.
“Once you cross the finish line, take a break.”
“Make sure you drink lots of water, since you just sweat a lot of it out.”
Jena and Iruna called to the kids as they reached the goal.
We took a short break period before the second test, during which we provided the kids with water and baked sweets to stock up on calories.
I didn’t want any of them to get dizzy from hunger while running around.
Ten kids dropped out during the first test. I had them set up next to our temporary headquarters, where Lulu was teaching them how to do strength training and calisthenics.
“Next is a test of endurance. The first six to complete five laps around the Celivera walls will be accepted. Anyone who completes at least two laps will be rewarded with lunch. Good luck!”
“““Wooo!”””
The kids cheered even more enthusiastically for Arisa’s second announcement.
I had planned on giving all the participants lunch regardless, but this would probably be a good motivator, so I kept my mouth shut.
However, aside from the leading group of runners, many of the kids who seemed unlikely to win stopped after two laps.
“The one leading the pack is a girl.”
“Huh. She’s a very evenly paced runner.”
A girl with a relatively dark complexion took first place by a narrow margin, followed by two more young girls who seemed to be from the same area. The remaining three were beastfolk who seemed to excel at distance running.
The kids who lost looked disappointed, but not so much that it deterred their excitement for lunch.
In addition to Miss Miteruna and the rest of our maid staff, I’d hired fifteen or so carrier kids who had experience with cooking. Plain and honest-looking, they ranged from ages fourteen to eighteen.
I was planning to have Miss Miteruna train them so I could employ them long-term for the orphanage kitchen or our soup kitchen staff.
“Meat!”
“More skewers than I’ve ever seen!”
“I’m gonna win the next round for sure.”
“Me too!”
The slightly sweet sauce on the meat skewers seemed to be very popular with the children, who laid waste to them in no time flat.
A lot of kids really seemed to love meat.
“Yummy!”
“This meat’s giving me a wunnup, sir.”
Was Pochi trying to say 1UP?
Unfortunately, meat skewers didn’t give you any extra lives, as far as I knew.
After the lunch break, we chose the final six contestants.
“Now, this is the last test. Please hold the branches we handed out like you would a sword. Yes, elbows straight, just like that. Now, whoever can hold that pose the longest without lowering their arms will win.”
A chorus of groans arose from the kids.
Some complained that it wasn’t a martial-arts competition, but I had no intention of changing the tests, so I ignored them.
“Now, let’s begin. If you’ve got a problem with it, feel free to leave.”
At Iruna’s sharp words, even the kids who had complained reluctantly began the test.
The goal for the final six was to choose kids with guts and perseverance. There was no point in taking students if they couldn’t handle the necessary training before entering the labyrinth.
Most of the group dropped out within an hour, but the remaining eight lasted much longer, until it finally ended when the last person gave in three hours later.
“Thank you for coming today, everyone! We’ll hold this competition again next month, so even if you didn’t get in this time, don’t give up!”
Once Arisa brought things to a close, the kids who hadn’t qualified shuffled back toward the west gate.
We’d handed out three baked treats to each child as a participation prize. Hopefully, this would tempt kids who didn’t enter this time to join the next round.
“All competition winners, over here, please.”
Iruna gathered the winning kids: twelve boys and six girls.
“All right, let me explain some things. If you miss anything, you can ask us or the other kids later. Just make sure you fully understand everything, all right?”
With that warning, Iruna and Jena explained the plan to the prospective students.
The pair was going to train the students in the basics aboveground for ten days, then take them into the labyrinth six at a time for three rounds of five days, a total of fifteen days each, until they reached level 7 or so.
“The school will lend you equipment, armor, and so on for your training. Remember, they’re on loan, so be careful with them.”
The children listened obediently.
I was planning to make ant armor for the students, but Arisa strongly objected.
She said that since they were going to be ordinary explorers after the training, not staying under my wing as vassals, it would be better not to give them overpowered equipment.
Iruna and Jena were against it, too: Their reason was that if they got armor strong enough to withstand a hit from monsters, then they might become careless about dodging attacks. Besides, if they didn’t get hurt, they might not learn how to treat wounds, the importance of various tools, and other such things.
I consulted with the Lovely Wings about what I should give the kids instead, and they recommended the bone armor that they themselves used to wear.
This consisted of grass woven together into clothes like a jacket and pants, with goblin bones affixed to various places.
The standard progression for Labyrinth City explorers, they said, was to start with bone or grass armor, then proceed to ant armor, then beetle armor.
For weapons, they wanted to start the kids with clubs made from goblin femurs, then move on to ant-claw short swords from the second round onward. Those who were going to train as tanks would be given a leather shield.
Iruna and Jena had bought a large amount of this equipment made by apprentices in the artisan district at a cheap price. I’d made a few modifications to the weaker parts, so it should be enough to protect them from major injury against low-level enemies.
“Because you’ll be staying at the school dormitories during training, there won’t be any charge for lodging. We’ve prepared bedding for you, but please bring your own pajamas.”
Some of the kids looked confused: Apparently, they didn’t know what pajamas were.
“You’ll be fed three meals a day, with second helpings if you want them. There’ll be meat at least once a day.”
“““Whooooa!”””
The key words second helpings and meat elicited cheers from the children.
I figured good food would give them comfort after the intense training, and more importantly, they needed lots of calories and protein to grow up strong, so Lulu and I had devised a healthy yet cost-effective menu.
After the explanation, the staff started packing up the tent, and we took the enthusiastic kids to the explorers’ school.
Once we finished training these scholarship kids and gained some teaching know-how, I figured we could open up the explorers’ school for tuition students, too.
In order to train the teachers, though, we would probably continue with scholarship kids only until the end of the year.
Once the school was properly underway, I planned to head out to level up my own kids.
I’d already helped prepare the curriculum for the explorers’ school up until the hands-on field training, and Mr. Kajiro, Miss Miteruna, and several others had agreed to help, so I could probably leave things in the hands of Iruna and Jena.
Just to be safe, when I had time during battle and such, I could always check in with Clairvoyance to make sure things were running smoothly.
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