Preliminary Round (1)
The interior of the Dark Truth Church temple was spacious, but there was nothing to salvage.
As there were quite a few people, most of them were used as living space, and the largest one was smashed because there was a statue of the Dark Lord as if it were being used as a prayer room.
Among them, the place where I am located is the data storage room.
Well, I was just naming it arbitrarily, but the documents about the church and the materials that were being researched here were organized.
Because it was an unknowing raid, they were not able to destroy it, so it was completely preserved.
Or maybe they thought it was a fire and left it to burn.
Anyway, it was clear that the only income here was this document.
So I’ve been looking around a bit… … In fact, there was no very important information written down.
If that was the case, I would have remembered everything when I saw it in my previous life.
“Mister, I’ve been looking everywhere, but there are no secret passages or secret rooms. The kids are splitting up and searching for accommodations.”
“Yeah, it was hard. When you’re done, ask him to rest. I’ll be looking through this.”
“… … Can I watch it too?”
At Rowen’s words, who had come to report, I stopped for a moment and turned my head.
Rowen was staring at me with a serious face, and I thought for a while before saying something.
“It’s not something you’ll see, is that okay?”
“I am determined.”
You might want to make a resolution to look at one document, but it was really worth it.
These documents were particularly disgusting to the five children.
Rowen must have already seen it through, so he is making such a determined expression.
But also… … To me, it just seemed overworked.
No matter how much vengeance against the Dark Truth Church is said to be the driving force, that doesn’t mean that all emotions as a person should be killed.
“Don’t take too much responsibility. In my eyes, you are still just a child.”
“That day, from the moment the old man saved us, I made up my mind. I have to support the kids from behind. So, this is my role.”
“I understand your feelings, but me and Grandpa Hazel are there too. It’s too early to try to shoulder everything by yourself.”
“But someday… … There will come a time when we have to do it ourselves. I want to be prepared from now on.”
I never thought I would see such a distant future.
No, it might not be that far. The speed of growth of the children was faster than expected, and the operational skills they showed today were also of a high standard.
If they refined their fighting skills a little more, even five people could have destroyed a temple of this size, unless someone like Jennon was present.
Besides, don’t children also have special abilities?
Perhaps the children were more determined than I thought.
“Yes, I understand your will well. but… … .”
After a brief pause, I stretched out my index finger and touched Rowen’s forehead, smiling.
“I still want you to rely on me a little more. If you care about other people’s feelings already, all your hair will fall out. You better be careful.”
“No, that much… … .”
“You are doing well enough without being impatient. Today, even though I made an unreasonable request, you followed me without saying anything.”
“… … .”
At first, I tried to exclude children from the battle altogether.
However, when I saw the eyes of the children looking at the temple, I almost inadvertently said to fight together.
It must mean that the vengeance of the Dark Truth Church is so great.
So I turned to Rowen for remote assistance.
I thought it would be less burdensome to shoot an arrow from a distance than to kill someone in front of my eyes, and even if it was checked, it would give me the feeling that I had contributed to the prelude to revenge.
However, Rowen did not hesitate to shoot arrows at his followers and supported me at the cost of several lives.
On top of that, he wasn’t afraid and didn’t fire a shot at Jennon either.
It was nice to show that kind of determination already, but I wanted you to be a little more like a child.
“So, don’t be so hard on yourself. The Dark Truth Church will make sure to end it with your hands.”
“… … thank you.”
Rowen replied with a more relaxed face, and I, too, finally felt relieved and handed Rowen one of the stacks of papers on the desk.
Rowen’s expression, which had been reading calmly, could not be helped.
What was written there was the contents of each branch offering civilians as sacrifices or conducting experiments with them.
It must have been difficult for Rowen, who was one of the victims, to read.
But Rowen didn’t stop reading, flipping through the pages to see other items.
“I want to show it to my kids. No, would you like to show it whenever you feel weak?”
“Maybe it just stimulates the trauma. For now, I won’t keep those things. It might come in handy later. More important than that is this.”
I said that and this time handed over what I was reading.
Rowen accepted it and quickly skimmed through the contents, and then he couldn’t help but tilt his head.
“Isn’t this an investigation into the chimera that you killed earlier? I guess I didn’t investigate that in detail.”
I woke up while investigating, and even that was destroyed by me and Rize, so no matter what they tried, they wouldn’t be able to do it.
But that wasn’t the point of the report.
“Look at the last thing on the back page.”
Rowen, who still had a puzzled expression on his face, followed my words and opened the back page, and I spoke some of the sentences written on it.
“Based on the above investigations, it means that it was created by mixing the characteristics of various monsters, and I think this will be of great help in training judges in the future.”
“The judge… … .”
I nodded to Rowen who was repeating a single word, and I put the words I wanted to say into my mouth.
“Your ability… … It means that it originated from a monster.”
* * *
earth! Fighting! earth! earth!
A regular sound could be heard, revealing that the place was still under construction.
I was looking down at the scene from the top of the bell tower.
It was the site of a school being built in Findel.
The main building, which was shaped like a digit, was built high on the third floor, and there were several annexes for practice on the side, and an auditorium where all students could gather.
Among them, the largest was the gymnasium located in front of the buildings.
It looks boring as it is still unfinished, but there will be a course you can run around, a training ground with various magics inside, various training aids, and seats will be placed on one side.
Next to it was a dueling arena surrounded by seats on all sides.
I had to use it sooner or later, so people were intensively working on the finishing touches.
As I took in all the sights at once, I naturally remembered the memories I had here.
“Is it next year soon?”
An imperial school in Findel.
The purpose of bringing together talented people as well as commoners and nobles.
A firm goal of nurturing the next generation of talent to lead the empire.
A high-quality education taught by outstanding professors from all over the world.
This place, the Shureid Imperial School, was literally the best educational institution in the empire.
I couldn’t help it, but it was to the point that I wanted to have Rize enrolled here.
Education is also education, but I wanted to build a network and experience as much as a really diverse group of people gathered.
Of course, it’s better if you choose a job other than a mercenary in the meantime.
Even so, you can enter school at the age of 15, so there is still a long way to go. It was unknown whether Rize would consider entering the school in a positive way.
Come to think of it, recently when I was passing by this place, I was interested in the school. Shall I talk about it?
As I thought about those things, it was time for my appointment and I came down from the bell tower.
“Hello, mister.”
“hello.”
Rowen and Delan, who seemed to have just arrived, greeted me as soon as they saw me.
I also waved goodbye to the two of them and immediately took the lead and talked to them.
“I thought Claire or Frederick would come, but then Delan came?”
“I lost the lottery.”
I laughed at Delan’s voice as if he was talking melancholy.
It was because Claire and Frederick, who had opposite personalities to Delren, must have been frustrated saying that they had lost.
“You’ll do it anyway, think of it as being beaten in advance. And it will be more fun than you think.”
“Still, it’s still not easy to deal with people.”
If Nora was timid, Delan was clumsy.
It’s probably because of his personality that he doesn’t want to get involved with others.
In that sense, what I prepared was more suited to Delon than anyone else.
He would hate it, but in the end, he was the one who nodded at my persuasion.
“Can we do better? No, Rowen hyung will do well, but I’m the most worried… … .”
“Everything is an experience, and the more you do it, the better. As I said yesterday, the world won’t collapse if you make one mistake, so don’t worry too much.”
Seeing how scared he was, he didn’t feel a little uneasy, but Rowen would be by his side, so he would take good care of him.
After walking like that, the three of us arrived at the Findel Branch of the Upper Lantern.
Scary to go inside, a familiar man approached with arms wide open.
“Welcome, Mr. Irvin! I was waiting for you!”
“Oh my, I didn’t know that the upper house owner would come out to meet me. If I had known it would be like this, I would have come sooner.”
“hahahaha, I haven’t waited that long. Come on, come inside.”
“You must be busy. Excuse me.”
After greeting and shaking hands with Ethan, I went into the drawing room according to the instructions. As if I had been waiting in advance, the car was ready in an instant according to the number of people.
I took a sip of tea and thanked them first.
“I was just going to take some permission, but thank you for coming this far.”
“What are you talking about between us? If Irvin has something to do, you can come anytime. And since I couldn’t even say hello properly at San Taylor, I came here with both sides.”
The stories that followed were mainly about business. In general, the information I gave you was very helpful.
After a brief chat like that, Ethan soon turned his head toward Rowen and Delan, who were sitting awkwardly.
“These are the children you were talking about at the time.”
The first time I met Ethan and talked about investing.
One of the conditions was to arrange jobs for the children.
I planned to work here for the kids experience. It was because the Dark Truth Church couldn’t do it just by attacking the temple.
For him, infiltration or camouflage was essential, and for that purpose, he intended to learn how to deal with many people here.
“As I said in the letter, there are a total of five people, but only two will work a day, so just give them two salaries. The five of us live together, so don’t worry about that.”
“I will pay for three people. And we will give you additional money according to the performance of the work. Wouldn’t that motivate you a bit?”
“If you don’t like it, don’t look at me and cut it off. You shouldn’t turn a blind eye to mistakes just because the lord recommended it.”
“Don’t worry, Director Findel is trustworthy in that way. Where, then, shall we start working today?”
“yes!”
When Ethan said that and looked at them, Rowen and Delren straightened their backs and gave a loud reply.
Soon after, Ethan called someone and I stopped them and gave them a few words of advice before they left.
“I would like to ask you to adjust the personnel organization through consultation with each other as long as it does not overwhelm the training.”
“all right.”
“If you ever make a mistake and have something to pay for, don’t be afraid and call me unconditionally. Understand?”
“Yes, mister.”
After patting the shoulders of the two children, I saw them leave the living room with my eyes, and when I sat down on the sofa again, Ethan said in a pleasant voice.
“Looks like good kids. And I think you’ll be good at hard work, how is it?”
“Each child is different. Among them, there are children who are good at serving customers, so please meet them later when you have a chance. Still, everyone is sincere and will do their job well.”
“Oh, you said that, so I’m looking forward to it more. If it’s really good, I might even take it?”
“That would be fine too. But I’ll have to ask the child’s doctor to be sure.”
After talking about the children for a while, we soon got up from our seats and exchanged greetings.
From noble mtl dot com
Because Ethan was much busier than me.
It was clear that I was a little overreacting just by giving him time like this, so I felt a little sorry.
Since there was no schedule after that, I decided to go home first.
Shall we have a sparring with Rize after a long time? It seemed like it would be a fun sparring if they mixed it with magic.
“dad! I’m going to a swordsmanship competition!”
“… … what?”