Exactly twenty days had passed since then.
“Hmm... Strange. Very strange.”
Ragon muttered as he looked down at Ivan, who lay battered on the ground.
Despite confidently declaring that he would awaken Ivan’s aura, Ragon had failed to do so even after twenty days.
“W-what is so strange......?”
Ivan asked as blood streamed from his mouth.
“Why have you still not awakened your aura?”
“Do you think I’d be lying here if I knew?”
Ivan replied in a voice thick with resentment.
He had spent twenty days getting beaten like a dog on the hottest day of summer, and now Ragon was making that face.
It was impossible not to feel resentful.
“......”
Ragon fell silent for a moment and stroked his chin.
Ivan’s problem appeared far more serious than he had thought.
Those unable to properly wield aura each carried some trauma related to it.
Some had been gravely wounded by aura, while others had lost control of their innate aura and gone berserk.
Ragon had assumed Ivan was the same. Even if Ivan himself was unaware of it, Ragon had judged that some trauma must exist.
‘I thought he could overcome it if his body were pushed to the brink of death, like the others.’
It had not worked at all.
“Your psychological issue appears quite severe. Ivan! We will suspend the special training for now!”
After some thought, Ragon raised his head and shouted as though he had reached a decision.
‘That damned psychological issue......’
Ivan ground his teeth.
He had endured countless awful experiences during his life as a slave, but not one of them had involved aura.
Yet Ragon kept telling him to overcome some psychological issue. Ivan was beginning to suspect that Ragon was tormenting him on purpose.
“How can you say something so irresponsible...? Didn’t you say you’d help me achieve aura awakening? I trusted you and let you beat me for twenty whole days.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Ivan vented the resentment filling his heart.
“Do not worry! We still have another method.”
“...Really?”
“Indeed!”
Ivan no longer had any faith in Ragon’s words, but he asked again like a drowning man grasping at a straw.
“What exactly is that method?”
“You would not understand even if I told you! Besides, that method requires Director Ruben’s permission, so it cannot be used immediately!”
Ragon lifted Ivan, who was still sprawled on the ground and groaning.
“More importantly, don’t you have something to do first?!”
“Ah.”
He had been beaten so badly that his thoughts were hazy, but Ragon’s words finally reminded him.
He had to take the final test in two days.
After receiving Ragon’s untrustworthy answer, Ivan got treatment, returned to his room, and collapsed.
***
Morning dawned the next day.
After breakfast, Ivan passed through the warp gate and headed to the training ground. The elf assistants greeted the trainees.
“Today will be our final training session. It has been a pleasure helping all of you for a little over a month and a half.”
Roswell spoke as he warmly regarded the trainees, who had grown considerably through their training.
There was regret in Roswell’s words, but in contrast, the trainees cheered inwardly.
‘Finally......!’
They were being freed from this hellish training!
Tears of emotion welled in the trainees’ eyes. For over a month and a half, they had trained not only here but in many different locations.
They had swum through rivers lashed by wave-like currents and climbed cliffs battered by blade-sharp winds.
But if asked to choose the hardest training, every trainee would pick this elven forest without hesitation.
“I pray that every one of you achieves a good result in tomorrow’s test. Then let us begin our final training session.”
Roswell smiled brightly and commenced the last training session.
After receiving their bells, the trainees made their way into the forest with practiced ease.
“Could you please stop following me?”
Ivan called to Flora as he quickly climbed through the forest with her in pursuit.
“If you were me, would you abandon the most entertaining toy and choose another?”
“I’m not a toy.”
“You are to me.”
Flora grinned mischievously and closed in on Ivan’s back.
Even on the treacherous slope, Ivan moved with fluid footwork and evaded Flora’s hands.
His progress was incomparable to his performance on the first day.
‘What a shame.’
That was why she could not help feeling this way.
Ivan was more entertaining than any trainee Flora had ever seen.
For her, an instructor who lived a somewhat tedious life, training Ivan had been quite enjoyable.
“Trainees as entertaining as you are truly rare. It’s a shame this is the last day. What about you?”
“I don’t feel disappointed at all.”
“Since it’s the last day, I suppose I can use my fists.”
“I’m terribly disappointed.”
“You should have been honest from the start.”
Flora chuckled and darted toward Ivan’s side.
“Come visit once you graduate from the training camp. I’ll give you a nice present.”
Ivan took two steps back, evaded Flora’s fingertips, and answered.
“Graduate... Why would you strike a suffering man where it hurts? I might not even graduate from the Red class......”
“What? You still haven’t awakened your aura?”
“No.”
Flora’s eyes widened in incomprehension.
“Is it really that difficult......?”
Elves were known as the race most beloved by mana.
She had naturally sensed aura from birth, so it was difficult for her to empathize with Ivan’s pain.
“How obnoxious. If I don’t graduate, I’ll stop by just to spit on the ground before leaving.”
“You really have no idea how to speak to an assistant!”
Flora pretended to be angry as she pressed Ivan harder.
“Pass tomorrow’s test before you start complaining. If you fail the physical fitness test, aura and everything else will be meaningless. Am I wrong?”
“Do you think I’ll fail?”
“You never know what might happen.”
Although she said that, Flora did not think Ivan would fail.
Not unless he suffered extraordinarily bad luck.
“Then at least give me some advice.”
“Advice?”
“Yes. For example, you could quietly tell me how tomorrow’s test will be conducted.”
“Why take such a roundabout way of saying you want an easy pass?”
Flora scoffed.
“Unfortunately, I’m not involved in this test, so I don’t know anything.”
“Is that so?”
“What I can tell you is that the test changes every time, and the methods can be quite bizarre. Wasn’t the last test about surviving against a high-ranking monster for three days?”
A high-ranking monster. Put simply, it was a monster capable of effortlessly slaughtering thousands of humans.
“Could we die......?”
“No. The instructors control the test, so there won’t be any deaths. But it may be hard enough to make you wish you were dead.”
Ivan smacked his lips. She did not appear to be saying that just to torment him.
While they talked, the training session came to an end.
Flora, who had been pressing Ivan with all her strength, stopped moving.
“Still, don’t worry too much. Someone at your level is unlikely to fail.”
Flora chuckled with an expression that showed both regret and satisfaction.
It had been a little over a month and a half.
In that short span of time, Flora had become unable to take Ivan’s bells.
***
Meanwhile, the Red class trainees diligently prepared for the next day’s test.
A carriage came to a stop beneath the mountain range where Pandora stood.
The carriage door opened, and a figure emerged.
“Nngh......! We finally made it. I thought I was going to die of boredom.”
The first man to step from the carriage spoke as he stretched.
His reddish-brown hair, red as a rose, gave him a thoroughly passionate air.
The initials of Luverth embroidered on the chest of his formal uniform gleamed in the glow of the setting sun.
“It’s been a long time since we were here too. Don’t you agree?”
“Why not preserve some dignity while we are here, Kainik? What will the trainees think when they see you behaving like that?”
Another man emerged from the carriage after him and pushed up his glasses as he scolded Kainik.
“Aren’t you the one being too stiff? The trainees won’t like you if you act that way, Eric.”
“I did not come here to be liked.”
“Isn’t that why I came? I’ve done nothing but work lately, so I want to enjoy the adoring gazes of some youngsters for once.”
At Kainik’s mischievous reply, Eric abandoned his attempt to persuade him.
“Eric, do you really think he’s capable of preserving his dignity? Isn’t this the man who grinned like an idiot even in front of His Majesty?”
Another woman climbed out of the carriage with a scoff.
“That is certainly true. However, Lumia, are you really in a position to say such a thing?”
Eric spoke to Lumia as she tidied her disheveled pink hair, fully absorbed in beautifying herself.
“Anyone would think you were going to meet a prospective husband.”
“My, what are you talking about? This is all for the trainees. Won’t seeing my beautiful face motivate them to work harder? Right, Ivy?”
Lumia turned around with a deep smile.
A short-haired woman emerged last and answered Lumia.
“Haha, that’s right. But... c-could we please hurry......? My stomach hurts when I think about meeting the trainees......”
“You’re nervous even after coming all this way? Honestly, that timid personality of yours hasn’t changed at all in years. You catch criminals so well, too.”
“Th-that and this are different matters......”
Ivy timidly protested as she rubbed her stomach.
“Then shall we go? I’d like to bask in the emotion a little longer, but Ivy might have an accident if we do.”
Kainik curled his lips as he looked up at the mountain range with narrowed eyes.
It truly had been a long time. Looking at a place filled with old memories stirred fresh emotions in him.
“I can’t wait to see what kind of adorable trainees made the director ask us to come.”
Kainik set off with his heart pounding.
And so the rising stars of Luverth’s investigative agency quietly entered Pandora.
***
It had been one week earlier. After much deliberation, Ragon contacted Luverth headquarters to request assistance with the Red class test.
As it happened, several special investigators had just returned from a mission. They had deep ties to Ragon and readily accepted the request.
Ragon waited at the main gate well in advance for the special investigators who would soon arrive.
“It has been a long time! Have you all been well?”
Before long, the four passed through the training camp’s barrier, and Ragon welcomed his former students in a tiger-like voice.
“Oh, your voice is still as loud as ever, Director. I’ve been doing well enough.”
Kainik answered with a pleased smile at the reunion.
“Eric looks exactly the same as he did back then! Lumia, however, has completely changed! I almost failed to recognize you! You used to have such shaggy hair and freckles......”
“My, Director? I believe I asked you to forget what I was like back then?”
Lumia cut Ragon off and spoke with an icy smile.
Ragon quickly changed the subject with a hearty laugh.
“Haha, I forgot! But Ivy looks unwell. Have you still not fixed that temperament of yours?”
“Y-yes... Director, I truly am delighted to see you again, but... if you don’t mind, could I use the restroom first......?”
“Of course! We will continue our conversation inside!”
Ragon nodded vigorously at Ivy’s request and guided them to the director’s office.
“Your fame seems to be piercing the heavens these days! I heard you recently discovered a gathering held by Demont Dawn Society, one of the Five Evils, and captured eleven apostles!”
After Ivy attended to her needs, Ragon and the four caught up over tea.
“We were fortunate. Had we arrived any later, we would not have prevented civilian casualties.”
Eric answered modestly.
“Even so, capturing members of the Five Evils is an impressive feat! Word of your exploits has spread across the continent!”
Capturing eleven apostles who ranked among the highest members of Demont Dawn Society could never have been accomplished by luck alone.
Ragon and the four continued their conversation for some time.
“Then let us end our conversation here and have you rest! You will play the most important role in tomorrow’s test, so maintaining your condition is essential!”
As the sun began to disappear, Ragon brought the conversation to an end.
“Director, do you have any sheet masks? I forgot to bring mine.”
“Unfortunately, I do not!”
“Tch.”
“Then do you have a calming potion......?”
“That I do! I will have someone bring one to your room later!”
“Thank you!”
Ivy sighed in relief, and the four left the director’s office to rest.
They were just about to follow the employee waiting outside the door to their respective rooms.
“You three go rest! I’m going to look around the training camp for old times’ sake.”
Kainik casually turned away.
“Ah, excuse me......”
The employee hesitated, wondering whether to stop him from wandering off as he pleased.
“Stopping that man is no easy task. It would be best to let him go.”
Eric shook his head at the employee with a brief sigh.
He was right.
To stop Kainik, the youngest person ever named among the Continental Fifteen Swords, they would need the Director of the Guardian Bureau or perhaps the Emperor himself.