Chapter 38
Dungeon Conquest Tournament
The day after purchasing the elixirs, we decided to take them in the Trihi Pavilion.
With the bottles of elixir placed in front of us, Reina and Lidifin wrinkled their faces. At a glance, it was obvious they didn’t want to drink them.
After staring at the elixir for a while, Reina muttered,
“Now that I think about it… can I really say becoming stronger from drinking an elixir counts as my effort?”
She had been full of confidence just a moment ago, but now that she faced it head-on, unpleasant memories must have resurfaced.
“Hey, we obtained it ourselves, and we’re the ones absorbing it. Of course it’s our effort.”
“B-but it’s so disgusting!”
Lidifin nodded her head furiously in agreement.
In the game, the taste of elixirs differed depending on their effect, but one thing was common: they were all revolting.
Some said it tasted like biting into frozen tundra during winter training. Others said it was like swallowing fresh desert sand. In short—it was basically dirt-flavored.
“How bad could it be? It can’t be that bad.”
“Then you drink it first!”
Without hesitation, I popped the cork and brought the bottle to my lips.
If you’ve ever starved for days, even dirt tastes…
“Guhhhk…!”
Holy hell! Was this even a flavor that should exist?!
The indescribable taste butchered my taste buds, and my brain blared red alarms, urging me to spit it out.
But I tilted my head back, straightened my throat, and forced the liquid down. When the bottle was finally empty, the two of them looked horrified.
“I-I’m not feeling well today. I’ll take mine later!”
“M-me too, I don’t feel good enough to drink it now…”
As they tried to sneak away, I grabbed their shoulders.
“Where do you think you’re going? You need to drink now if you want it absorbed before the tournament…!”
“B-Ban! Your eyes are scary!”
“B-besides, intermediate elixirs absorb in just a week! I’m not mentally ready yet!”
Despite their fierce resistance, I eventually succeeded in getting them to drink.
“Ugh… I thought intermediate ones would taste better than advanced, but it’s just as terrible…”
Her assessment was spot on. I had secretly swapped in advanced elixirs.
No matter how long the absorption and cooldown times were, you always had to take the advanced ones—the quality of stat growth from them was on another level. Of course, if I told them, Reina would’ve refused, so I had deliberately switched them out.
“Well, looks like we’ll have to give up aura training for the next week.”
While the elixir was being absorbed, aura use was strictly forbidden. The game never explained why, but it probably had to do with differences between aura, mana, and holy power.
“Not a week—ten days.”
“Why?”
“The ‘one week’ people talk about is just the minimum. It’s better to rest longer so your body can adapt properly.”
Of course, that was a lie. That info didn’t exist anywhere. In truth, it was just because advanced elixirs required ten days.
Honestly, I expected them to be suspicious and prepared a distraction, but they accepted it without a word.
After sulking for a bit, Reina asked,
“But did we really need to come all the way to the Trihi Pavilion just to drink elixirs?”
“Of course not. We have other things to do here.”
“Like what?”
“Dungeon conquest tournament practice.”
“Here?”
As if it were impossible, she looked at me questioningly. I manipulated the training room’s constructs to reshape the space.
The blue-sky environment instantly shifted into a dark dungeon with torches on the walls.
Reina’s eyes lit up.
“Whoa! Don’t tell me you memorized the dungeon structure?!”
As I predicted, Reina forgot her earlier frown and broke into a huge smile.
This was the distraction I had prepared.
As a veteran of Spell Breaker, dungeon maps were like the back of my hand. Thanks to the constructs’ image adjustments, I could recreate dungeons exactly as I imagined.
I didn’t make it identical to the upcoming tournament dungeon—that would raise suspicion. Instead, I mixed features from other dungeons and the artificial ones from first to third year.
“But will practicing here really help in the real thing?”
“I secretly gathered data on past dungeon layouts, so don’t worry.”
Neither of them had ever figured out even last year’s layout, so they couldn’t possibly see through my lie.
Reina looked ready to dash straight in, but then hesitated.
“Shouldn’t we train with Senior Lesta too?”
Even if she disliked him, she must have been a little concerned.
“It’s fine. The actual dungeon raid is just us. That senior will only block the entrance. And even if you asked, he wouldn’t join anyway.”
“Yeah, that does sound like him.”
Relieved, Reina grinned brightly again.
“Alright then—let’s get conquering!”
She ran forward, and Lidifin followed with a laugh.
“L-let’s hurry too!”
“Yeah.”
There wouldn’t be much time when we could train without worrying about ambushes. So, just this once, I decided to enjoy it with them.
Late at night, in a dimly lit study, a woman tapped her fingers on her desk.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound matched the ticking of the monstrous clock outside.
Then, a knock came from the door. Her fingers stilled.
“Captain.”
“Enter.”
A man in a dark cloak and hood stepped inside and immediately knelt on one knee. When he tried to remove his hood, the Knight Commander, Odelia Lightzers, stopped him.
“Don’t. I don’t want to see your face right now.”
“…Understood.”
“You know why I’m like this, don’t you?”
“…”
She tossed a letter onto the floor before him.
Even without opening it, the man could guess its contents:
“The demon weapon was created as planned.”
“Reina Serenia survived.”
“The operation failed.”
But Odelia wasn’t angry at him.
“Why did it fail?”
“…An unknown person protected Reina Serenia.”
“And you lost to him and fled?”
“…Shamefully, yes.”
She had expected Reina’s resistance, but not that someone else would defend her. So she didn’t press further.
“How strong was he?”
“He was an aura user who shrugged off my lethal strike without a scratch, and a mage capable of at least sixth-circle earth magic.”
“A magic swordsman, of all things.”
“I apologize.”
“Don’t bother. You were ordered to conceal your true strength, so it couldn’t be helped.”
Odelia rested her chin on her hand, thinking.
Her position as Commander wasn’t one earned naturally. It was built on borrowed power—like a fragile stone tower that could topple at any time.
She had to prove her worth. At this unstable stage, the word failure could not be attached to her.
The question was: how to salvage the situation?
Finally, she said,
“Does it make sense for such a man to suddenly appear at the Academy? Isn’t it more plausible he was deliberately summoned at the right time?”
“…I don’t follow.”
“You’re to come up with a cover story. Since your failure will fall back on me, I need an excuse.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“I told you not to apologize. The results can’t be undone. Instead of regrets, think of countermeasures. I didn’t summon you here for apologies.”
“…Understood.”
Odelia frowned. The story wasn’t connecting smoothly. She rose and looked out the window.
“To make this lie believable, we need someone who could plausibly have defended Serenia’s survivor…”
Who could it be? Who would risk themselves to protect Reina?
Then the man cautiously spoke.
“There is one suitable candidate.”
“Who?”
“The direct heir of House Serenia. His body was never found. We can claim he survived. If we say it was him, no one can refute it.”
Odelia recalled: her son Lesta had personally declared the man’s death, and the case had been closed.
“Perfect.”
A scenario unfolded in her mind:
Lesta had deliberately allowed Serenia’s heir, Cariel, to escape. Cariel then hired a skilled mercenary to protect Reina, thwarting the assassination. Later, in pursuit of information about this mercenary, they discovered Cariel was still alive.
Yes… plausible enough.
Truth didn’t matter to her. Only maintaining her position did. Lies were a small price.
She turned back to the kneeling man.
“Since our plan’s been exposed, we’ll have to revise it. Pass the word.”
“Yes.”
“When would be a good time…? Ah. Isn’t the Iris Academy’s Dungeon Conquest Tournament around now? That will do.”
Six weeks later, Saturday—the day of the Dungeon Conquest Tournament.
The venue was the artificial mountainous terrain west of Iris Academy.
Steep slopes, bare rock at higher altitudes, treacherous footing everywhere.
The stage before the platform was crowded with students. Some looked nervous, but most smirked with confidence.
A priestess with gentle eyes stepped onto the platform.
“Greetings, students. Today, on behalf of Headmaster Castro, I will preside over the 98th Dungeon Conquest Tournament. My name is Maria Daut.”
The freshmen buzzed with excitement.
“It’s really Lady Maria!”
“She hardly ever appears in public—I can’t believe we’re seeing her!”
The Saint of the Battlefield, Maria Daut.
A legendary figure with holy power rivaling even the Archbishop, who had protected and healed countless lives in many wars, including the East-West War twenty years ago.
She had once been a bishop, but after the war, she abruptly took a post at Iris Academy. No one knew why, but everyone assumed it was for profound reasons.
She was a woman trusted by the Empire for her upright character.
Yet even Maria had someone she wanted to strangle on sight—Headmaster Castro.
He was supposed to preside over today’s tournament. But that morning, when she went to fetch him, she found only a note:
To Miss Maria,
I’m running away. Please handle the tournament.
Sincerely, the Slacker.
P.S. I left a good friend to fill in. Good luck.
That “friend” was Hazen.
Since the freshman initiation, Hazen had been wracked with guilt and let Castro use him freely. Now, he stood below the stage with a sour expression.
Still, when Maria thought about all the last-minute preparations she’d been forced into this morning, her resentment toward Castro burned anew.
This time, I really will kill him…
Hiding her dark thoughts behind a warm smile, she continued.
“Somewhere in this western mountain region lies the dungeon you must conquer. But where there is a dungeon, there are monsters. The creatures here are all real.”
“Your task: avoid the monsters, locate the dungeon, conquer it, reach the lowest floor, retrieve the token, and return here. That is the entirety of the tournament.”
As in the initiation, students’ uniforms had protective enchantments—serious damage would eject them and count as elimination.
But this time, there were no restrictions on second-years. This was their stage, to prove how much they had grown in a year and how strong their factions had become.
“With that, the explanation is over. Let the tournament begin!”
She gestured, fireworks burst into the sky, and the event began.
【Sub-Event – Dungeon Conquest Tournament has begun.】
Students didn’t move right away. They started detecting the dungeon’s location first—fighting monsters while searching blindly was inefficient. That was the standard approach.
But one boy had no need to follow the standard.
Ban already knew the terrain like the back of his hand. Pretending to cast a detection spell, he conjured a useless magic circle, dismissed it, and said,
“I’ve pinpointed the location.”
“Then let’s go!”
Ban took the lead, with Reina and Lidifin following close behind.
“…?”
Lesta hesitated—was this really okay? But he quickly shut off his thoughts and followed them.
The other students fell into confusion.
Should they chase after them?
Everyone’s gaze turned to the two most influential figures present: Anis, the Second Princess, and Beryl, the future Archbishop. With third-year Seren absent, those two held the most sway.
The three great factions had agreed to crush Ban’s group, but each also wanted to win themselves. No one wanted to be the first to act.
At last, Beryl, his sly face framed by tied-back crimson hair, spoke.
“If no one else will give chase, then we shall move.”
Anis narrowed her golden imperial eyes.
“What are you plotting?”
“Plotting? Nothing at all. I merely feel it’s best if we work together.”
Anis studied his thin eyes, certain he had ulterior motives. But she had no reason to stop him.
“…Very well. I leave it to you.”
Beryl gave her a short bow, then turned to his followers.
“Then, let’s go, brothers.”
