Chapter 23

“I never thought we’d actually be bringing the Saint along!”

Seron’s dumbfounded expression just wouldn’t go away.

She ignored it, and I decided to introduce the others instead.

“Aisha, Poara, this here is Saint SirMiel, and she’s agreed to team up with us this time.”

“S, Saint?”

Just like Seron, Poara stared at the Saint with a bewildered look.

“Senpai, how did you manage to bring the Saint into our team?”

It was Aisha, usually poker-faced, who asked that question.

I shrugged.

“Well, nobody else was offering, so I did.”

Besides, I rationalized with the Saint about why she should join us.

“…This clueless potato obviously didn’t ask her!”

Seron yelled from behind me at that moment.

She grabbed my collar with a fierce glare.

When I shot her a questioning look, her forehead turned so red it could probably smoke.

It was like she might explode from frustration right then and there.

“Are you out of your mind?! Don’t you realize what could happen if we bring the Saint along?!”

Saint SirMiel of Eden.

As the Saint of the most prominent religion in the Empire, her status lies just below that of royalty.

If anything were to happen to her… well, the students figured they couldn’t possibly handle the aftermath.

That’s why until SirMiel reached her second year, no one had ever taken her into a team before.

It was like an unspoken rule.

But I simply shrugged it off.

Why waste the best card we have and leave it untouched?

“The Third Princess is going in too.”

I pointed to the 3rd Princess, Iris Haishirion, who was already preparing to enter.

Even someone of higher rank like the princess was stepping into the academy.

“But the Princess’s situation is completely different!”

Iris is not just a top martial artist.

She excels in both swordsmanship and the arts, making her a prime example of a warrior.

She’s considered the best talent among the royal family.

Not having her in the academy would be a significant loss for the nation.

But the situation was different for the Saint.

Of course, she was a top student in Holy Studies, but she specialized in healing arts.

She didn’t have the skills to protect herself.

So, the other students worried about what could go wrong.

“If we keep the Saint safe, it’ll all work out.”

“That’s easier said than done!”

I raised my hand and smacked Seron on the forehead.

“Yow!?”

She squealed and cradled her forehead.

Seron fired me a glare, wondering what I was doing.

“So do something! Do you think the academy is some fun trip? Like there’s a priest sturdy enough to watch over the Saint?”

And above all else…

“You’re sitting right next to the Saint, and that’s the best you can come up with?”

Seron flinched at that.

This blockhead finally started to recognize the situation and began to size up SirMiel.

SirMiel just shook her head with a benevolent smile.

“I’m fine. I’ve known about this all along.”

She explained to the professor that she was hesitant to team up in the first place because she felt burdened.

“But even knowing that, you called for me, brother Hanon.”

SirMiel rolled up her white sleeves, displaying determination.

“Since you called me, under the name of the Lord, I shall give my utmost effort.”

Seron puffed her lips in a pout.

Now, it seemed she was feeling a little guilty about what she had said earlier.

I turned to the other two.

“Aisha, Poara, you’re both okay with this too, right?”

“Yeah, I kind of expected something like this when I joined your team, Senpai.”

“I, I’m fine too!”

Aisha seemed to have anticipated this? Where did that come from?

“Senpai always seems to lead us into strange situations.”

Aisha knew me too well.

“Team, Hanon Irey.”

Just then, we heard the call for our team.

I gestured, and everyone followed me.

Only Seron huffed and puffed, wearing a face filled with worry.

As we reached the entrance of the academy, Professor Veganon was standing there.

Today, she was in her uniform, and upon seeing me, she raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Hanon, you’ve assembled quite the absurd team once again.”

She seemed ready to lecture me, but other than that, she didn’t say much.

Instead, she reiterated the dangers of the academy.

“Remember, your lives are the most important thing here. If things get too dangerous, run. You don’t need to sacrifice yourselves.”

As she spoke, she pointed to the elite knights stationed at the academy’s final line of defense.

“Even if a Holy Saint appears, the adults will handle it. You just need to do what you can.”

In a situation where young soldiers had to be sent to the academy to reduce casualties on the surface, Professor Veganon didn’t seem too thrilled about this world’s reality.

Her only wish was for us to come back alive.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

This was a promise I had to definitely uphold.

Feeling my resolve, Veganon didn’t say anything further.

“Good luck.”

And so, we stepped into the academy.

The entrance gaped open like a demon ready to swallow us whole.

As we stepped inside, a chilling wind brushed against our faces.

Soon after, I looked up to find the sun shining down on fields and greenery.

“This is…”

Aisha, who stepped in first, halted in her tracks.

And rightly so; the view before us was entirely different from the one just moments ago.

The greenery spread out here was undeniably a peaceful scene.

“This is strange. We’re definitely in a forest, but I can’t feel any spirits.”

Poara, standing next to Aisha, looked around bewildered.

Although it appeared to be a forest, it felt distinctly out of place.

“Tch, we’ve entered the Gray Forest.”

Seron, the only one with past experience in the academy, clicked her tongue.

The first floor of the academy is divided into four zones.

One of them is the Gray Forest.

That’s where we had just entered.

“If it’s the Gray Forest…”

“Yeah, the trees get grayer by the minute.”

I responded to Saint SirMiel and took a step forward.

And just like that, the bushes I had stepped on turned gray.

Every path that passes through the Gray Forest turns gray.

And the moment you step on such a gray area…

‘Your stamina gets drained.’

It’s a place you absolutely cannot tread lightly.

“What an interesting forest.”

Aisha remarked, finding it fascinating that the ground she stepped on was turning gray.

“There’s nothing to be keen about. It’s the most annoying forest out there.”

Oddly enough, Seron’s expression was one of disgust.

As she mentioned, the Gray Forest was not a favorite of mine either.

More than anything, the trigger of the Gray Forest is arguably the worst place on the first floor of the academy.

“What will we do? If we take too long, we won’t even be able to move.”

Seron urged us onward.

If we spent too much time here, the paths ahead would be turned gray thanks to those who went ahead of us.

“No, we’re not moving at all.”

“What?”

Seron looked at me incredulously.

She plainly didn’t understand what I was talking about.

I couldn’t blame her.

But this was how it had to be.

“We aren’t going down to the second or third floors.”

For the event in Act 3, Chapter 3 of the academy, the Guardian of the Gray Forest.

Originally, it would be Lucas who dealt with this event, but now there was no Lucas.

That meant I had to step in and deal with this event.

My head lifted.

“From now on, everyone…”

And my next words startled everyone.

“We rest.”

We need to conserve our stamina before the event.

* * *

Inside the Gray Forest of the academy.

It was definitely inside the academy, but the sunlight filtering in and the gentle breeze made it a perfect place for a nap.

With trees everywhere, there were plenty of shaded spots, and unlike regular forests, there wasn’t a single bug in sight.

So, it turned out to be a pretty decent spot to rest.

“Is this real? We came to the academy, and you want to rest?! Are you out of your mind!”

But it wasn’t the sound of bugs that broke the silence.

It was Seron going off about something next to me.

As I leaned against a tree and was enjoying a moment of relaxation, Seron was laying it on thick, her voice getting louder and louder.

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at her.

“What? Is there some law against resting in the academy?”

“Dude, do you not realize the mission we came here for?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

Young soldiers sent to stop the Evil Zone from summoning Apostles to trigger the world’s downfall.

That’s the academy’s purpose—why it was built.

All students attend with this noble fact in mind.

Even if it means risking their lives doing so.

“You’re saying you’d know this? What kind of crazy idea do you have? If we’ve formed such a solid team, we should be going down to take on the Apostles!”

“Hey now, Apostles don’t just hang out downstairs.”

Apostles do indeed exist on the first floor.

In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they’re most densely packed there.

The birthplace of newly born Apostles is the incubator at the heart of the first floor.

“Who doesn’t know that? But in the end, those Apostles all head down below!”

Newborn Apostles tend to end up diving deeper into the academy to gain power.

That’s how the number of Apostles vanishes from the first floor at an exponential rate.

“Going lower to take out more Apostles is common sense!”

As Seron argued this, I just rolled my eyes.

“Okay, but that’s why we can go down later.”

“I really can’t comprehend what you’re saying.”

Seron looked at me as if utterly baffled.

Though I couldn’t blame her.

This side had its own reasons too.

Thus, I held her shoulder and pressed her back down into a sitting position.

“Relax, chill out. I never said we weren’t going down.”

Despite my gentle persuasion, Seron was ultimately exhausted.

She slumped down and muttered curses under her breath.

I should probably hit her in the forehead later.

“Hanon Senpai, another party’s passing by.”

In the meantime, Poara, who was assigned to scouting, reported back.

Her spirits were dispersed throughout the Gray Forest.

Thus, the scout was keeping tabs on things consistently.

“Looks like it’s the last party.”

Students were moving toward a focal point again.

To reach the second floor, they all had to converge there.

‘Is it about time?’

There we were, all alone at the top, not having descended to the second floor yet.

“Seron, how many times have we hit the Gray Forest?”

I stood up and asked, and Seron cast a sideways gaze at me.

Her face was a mask of discontent.

“Since I enrolled, it’s the second time.”

“Right, for you, it’s the second time, but since the academy opened, it’s the ninety-ninth.”

Seron’s eyes widened slightly.

She looked surprised that I was counting this stuff.

But this detail mattered greatly.

“The academy’s environment has been changing steadily for a long time.”

That’s why the academy is hazardous time after time.

No matter how many investigations are done, by a certain point, the environment shifts.

Thus, there are times when risks arise, and investigation parties need to be sent out.

And right now…

This time that Lucas had enrolled corresponded to a turning point for the academy.

It was a period of stabilizing the academy’s raids.

The transformation of the academy leads to numerous casualties, and this presented an opportunity for the Apostles to gain full power and fully emerge.

It was a time of upheaval.

“The changes in the academy often provoke unusual phenomena when the count reaches a hundred occurrences of Apostles being born.”

Seron’s pupils began to dilate.

She stood up with a look of shock.

“You can’t be serious.”

“The Gray Forest has hit one hundred today.”

My eyes widened ominously.

“Today might just be the most dangerous day for raiding the academy.”

Once we go down to the lower floors of the academy, there’s no returning to the surface right away.

Technically speaking, there is a way, but only I know how to do it.

So for the students, the way back would also be a struggle.

In reality, many suffer injuries during their return after managing to complete the academy’s raid.

The sense of accomplishment can make them careless.

Thus, Act 3, Chapter 3 of the academy event…

Is the event that causes the worst casualty numbers ever.

This turning point for the academy marks the start of its upheaval.

How we navigate this juncture will drastically affect the game’s difficulty level.

Ku-gugugugun!

In that instant, the entire Gray Forest began to tremble.

Seron’s face turned as pale as a ghost at the tremors.

Meanwhile, I lifted my head slowly to gaze at the heavens.

The sky that had been bright just moments ago was now slowly darkening.

And from between the dark clouds, long root-like tendrils began descending.

“They’ve come.”

Saint SirMiel was already standing up, prepared for what was to come.

The reason I could bring SirMiel onto this academy team was due to having discussed this situation beforehand.

Leading to potential large casualties.

Considering this possibility, SirMiel chose to accompany me willingly.

“Hanon Team.”

I withdrew a heavy shield from my back and called to everyone.

“From now on, we’ll carve a path for the safe return of the students.”

We would defeat the true Apostles of the Gray Forest.