Russell Mikael, the seventh principal of Alexandros Academy.
He silently watched the entrance to the Demon Forest, worried about the groups that had yet to return.
The sun was gradually sinking toward the west, and darkness would fall before long.
Most of the groups that had gone out hunting had already returned.
Some had come back covered in wounds without securing a single worthwhile catch.
Meanwhile, one party that included a student from the Department of Theology had returned with an enormous Mutant Werewolf.
Unless something unexpected occurred, they would win this Hunting Festival.
Otherwise, the winner would be someone from one of the two parties that had yet to return.
The party of Sian Rudflica, a third-year student from the Department of Archery.
The party of Conrad Ferdalos, a second-year student from the Department of Magic.
Once those two parties returned, this year’s Hunting Festival would immediately come to an end.
The only events remaining afterward were the awards ceremony and the Afterparty scheduled for the next day.
However, nearly three hours had passed since the Hunting Festival began, and neither group had returned from the Demon Forest.
It was only natural to suspect that something had happened to them.
Accidents and danger always accompanied Alexandros Academy’s final-term Hunting Festival.
It was impossible to deploy Death-Prevention Magic across the entire Demon Forest, and applying it only to humans while excluding monsters was nearly impossible.
In the end, every student had to participate while accepting the risk of injuries both great and small, or even threats to their lives.
How large a monster they could hunt was part of the test, but whether they properly understood their own limits was also a criterion for evaluation.
Every semester, there were incidents too serious to laugh off.
Returning with a miserable result because they had underestimated themselves would have been preferable.
Yet every year, there were also many students who trusted their own abilities too much and recklessly challenged dangers they could not overcome.
Two students had died during the Hunting Festival held the previous winter.
There had only been severe injuries in this year’s Hunting Festival, with no deaths so far, but that fact made Principal Russell even more uneasy.
Since the academy’s founding, the Hunting Festival had ended without a single death fewer than ten times.
Sian Rudflica.
Conrad Ferdalos.
A student from the Department of Archery who had won all four Hunting Festivals she had participated in since enrolling.
A student from the Department of Magic who had recently defeated a Department of Swordsmanship student in a one-on-one match and had brought back the achievement of hunting a Giant Boa not long ago.
Both were far too valuable to lose their lives now.
Of course, death came to everyone equally.
Principal Russell quietly steeled himself.
Perhaps this Hunting Festival had cost the academy two or more exceptional talents.
“So this Hunting Festival could not pass without incident either.”
Time continued to move forward, and he could delay no longer.
Rules had value because they were fair.
No matter how much attention those students had recently drawn, he could not grant them special treatment.
He also knew that unless he began his closing address, a great many people would have to spend the entire night in front of the Demon Forest.
“We will now begin the closing ceremony for the Hunting Festival, which forms part of the first-semester final evaluation....”
Principal Russell had returned to the podium and was just opening his mouth to declare the event closed.
“What in the world is that?”
“No, how is that even possible?!”
Only then did Principal Russell release a sigh of relief at the commotion beginning near the forest entrance.
At least one of the two parties had returned safely.
And with prey impressive enough to astonish everyone.
Principal Russell cast aside his meager dignity, hurried down from the podium, and headed toward the entrance of the Demon Forest.
His eyes sparkled like a child anticipating a birthday present.
SCRAAAAPE, SCRAAAAPE.
Russell’s ears perked up at the sound of something mercilessly scraping across the ground.
It was unmistakably the sound of enormous prey dragging over the earth.
CRACK, SNAP.
Apparently, even the dense branches were getting in its way. He could hear the huge object breaking and snapping them as it passed.
When the sight finally emerged before him, Principal Russell could not conceal his delight.
He was pleased that the creature dragged out of the forest was a Great Owlbear—and a mutant one at that.
But he felt even greater joy when he saw the leaders of both parties returning side by side with ropes over their shoulders.
The academy had not lost either of the two talents it could proudly claim as its own.
“Student Sian! Student Conrad!”
At first, the principal admired the achievement, thinking it was only fitting for Sian, who had never failed to win a Hunting Festival.
The arrow embedded in one of the prey’s eyes clearly belonged to her, a student of the Department of Archery.
She must have caught prey so enormous that she had needed another party’s help to transport it this far.
“Student Sian! How did you manage to hunt a monster of this caliber?!”
This was not a monster students should have been capable of killing.
The horn on its head, still crackling and releasing mana, proved as much.
Contrary to Principal Russell’s expectations, however, Sian quietly shook her head.
“We did not hunt it.”
If Sian’s party had not hunted it, then who had?
A bush clover arrow was still clearly lodged in the monster’s left eye.
Upon hearing her answer, Principal Russell immediately offered another interpretation.
“Then you must have hunted it in cooperation with Student Conrad’s party!”
That explanation made sense.
There was no way three or four academy students alone could have killed a monster this enormous and dangerous.
For prey of this scale, the achievement was impressive enough to award a joint victory even if two parties had cooperated.
But Sian merely shook her head at Principal Russell once again, indicating that he was still wrong.
“Neither I nor any member of my party contributed anything to hunting this creature. All we did was help bring it here.”
“Pardon?”
“On the contrary, Junior Conrad was the one who helped us. Just as all of us were about to be wiped out by this monster’s attacks, he appeared, saved us, and killed it.”
As she spoke, she slightly rolled up her sleeve and showed the principal the scar that had formed along the inside of her arm.
The wound left behind as the Great Owlbear’s attack traveled through her blood vessels made it clear that she had already narrowly escaped death once.
Principal Russell and the surrounding students were left speechless for a moment when they saw it.
“He merely borrowed one of my arrows as well. Junior Conrad enchanted it with magic and fired it himself.”
“Then this entire catch was....”
“Junior Conrad’s achievement. Every last part of it.”
Russell’s gaze shifted to Conrad beside her, and the young man, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.
“I am Conrad Ferdalos, the party leader. We have returned after hunting a Mutant Great Owlbear.”
A faint smile rested on the face of the black-haired mage in the navy cloak.
***
The day after the Hunting Festival, which had been filled with one incident after another.
I leisurely rested until the afternoon, changed into clean clothes, and then wasted time standing before my wardrobe over one final decision.
“Navy? Or should I wear black for the first time in a while?”
It was a trivial concern over which color cloak to wear as the final layer of my outfit.
Lately, whenever I went out, I felt as though I wore the navy cloak Lulu had given me nine times out of ten.
The black cloak I had originally used had long since become something I only wore when circumstances left me no choice, such as when the washed navy cloak had not yet dried.
Ordinarily, since I had spent so long running around and hunting in the navy cloak yesterday, it would have made sense to wear the black one in turn.
But today happened to be the day of the Hunting Festival’s awards ceremony, so I found myself deliberating longer than usual.
Our party had proudly claimed victory, so we would stand on the awards platform in a few hours, and the image I presented there would become part of my public image.
The cloak I usually wore would probably continue to be the navy one Lulu had given me, so I wanted to stand onstage wearing it if possible.
“Well, it should be fine.”
Black simply did not appeal to me.
Besides, I had worn more than enough of it in my previous life.
I put on the navy cloak that had become my new symbol and headed toward the plaza where the Afterparty would be held.
***
The Hunting Festival was said to take place over two days, but the only event on the second day was the Afterparty, which included the awards ceremony.
They would observe a moment of silence for the souls who had tragically lost their lives during the final evaluation, select the top three winners according to the academy’s standards, and then everyone would spend the night eating and drinking as they celebrated the end of the semester.
The greatest advantage of this event was that alcohol and meat were provided without limit.
“Hey, hey. There goes this semester’s winner.”
“Who? The one in the navy cloak? What did he catch that was so impressive?”
“You’ll see later. I’m telling you, he dragged back an Owlbear as big as a house. It was probably the largest catch in the history of the Hunting Festival, not just this year’s.”
“There you go exaggerating again. Now you’re dragging the entire history of the Hunting Festival into it?”
“That’s only because you didn’t see it yourself.”
Listening closely to the whispers around me, I found that the main topic was the identity of this year’s Hunting Festival winners.
I also spotted a few students who had watched until the final moment last night, when Senior Sian and I returned.
With people of similar ages living together in a confined space every day, a single night was more than enough for rumors about who had hunted what monster to spread.
The rumors surrounding this semester’s Hunting Festival were especially grand, so not only students but academy officials and servants had gathered, creating an even more crowded scene.
Rumors passed through more and more mouths were bound to grow exaggerated little by little.
But in this case, the original prey was already too enormous to exaggerate any further.
Ignoring the murmur that swelled slightly whenever I passed, I headed toward the stage.
I approached Lulu and Stella, who were sitting rigid with nerves in the winners’ waiting area.
I placed one hand on each of their shoulders and gently kneaded them to help ease their tension.
“Don’t be nervous. Stay calm.”
“Ah, uh, y-yeah.”
“Understood, Senior Conrad.”
Together with the two, who barely managed to nod, I quietly waited for our party’s name to be called.
“Greetings, everyone.”
The plaza, which had been noisy with countless conversations, fell silent at a single sentence from the silver-haired old man.
An Eighth-Circle Archmage—one of only three in the world today, and one of only five throughout all of history.
The charisma possessed by one such man was not something even white hair and old age could conceal.
After a brief speech, Russell Mikael, the principal of the academy, immediately announced the winners of this Hunting Festival.
Fortunately, there had been no casualties this time, so the customary moment of silence for the fallen was omitted.
That result had also been possible because I had subdued that monster before anyone else encountered it.
Third place went to a party that had hunted twelve mid-tier monsters.
It seemed they had been highly evaluated for accurately understanding the limits of their abilities and producing results through diligent action rather than reckless challenges.
Second place went to the group that had killed a Mutant Werewolf, a particularly troublesome opponent even among high-tier magical beasts.
When I saw the leader’s face as he climbed onto the stage, I recognized him as one of the people who had asked me to join his party before the Hunting Festival.
Only the announcement of the main protagonists of this Hunting Festival remained.
“Before presenting the awards to the protagonists of this year’s Hunting Festival, I believe we must first thank the person responsible for this catch.
“Had someone not slain this creature, our academy might have been forced to bid farewell to four precious students yesterday.”
The four students he said the academy might have lost were naturally the members of Senior Sian’s party.
“However, thanks to one stroke of fortune following another, this Hunting Festival ended without a single sacrifice.
“Furthermore, we were able to witness an astonishing achievement beyond even the imagination of someone like me, who has devoted many years to education.”
SNAP.
Principal Russell snapped the fingers of his right hand once, and the true form of the object hidden behind the stage beneath a covering of cloth was revealed.
The instant the enormous magical beast’s carcass concealed beneath the broad cloth appeared, the solemn atmosphere of the plaza was filled with cheers and applause.
The prey was enormous enough that people could not help but erupt with excitement.
In sheer size, it rivaled the twenty-person tents used by soldiers when establishing a camp.
More importantly, it was not merely large prey. It was a Mutant Great Owlbear.
Nearly a full day had passed since it received the finishing blow.
Yet the High-Grade Preservation Magic personally cast by Principal Russell made it seem as though the creature had been alive only moments ago.
“I offer my deepest gratitude and blessings to today’s protagonists. Everyone, welcome them with a tremendous round of applause!”
As Stella, Lulu, and I stepped onto the stage together, cheers and applause once again erupted from the crowd of hundreds.
Many eyes turned toward Stella, who was still a first-year, and Lulu, the first student from the Department of Technology ever to win the Hunting Festival.
But naturally, the greatest share of attention fell on me, the party leader.
I had won an incorrectly assigned Midterm Evaluation Match against a fourth-year student from the Department of Swordsmanship without allowing him to land a single attack.
I had hunted a Giant Boa in the Demon Forest.
And during yesterday’s Hunting Festival, I had returned after killing a dangerous, enormous monster no one had even imagined could appear.
I could say with confidence that no student had lived through a more eventful semester than I had.
“Conrad Ferdalos.”
“Yes.”
“Come forward as your party’s representative.”
I stepped forward and stood directly before Principal Russell.
With a benevolent smile, he handed me an award plaque and a small prize enclosed in an elegant glass case.
“May I open it?”
Principal Russell blinked once, and I carefully opened the case to inspect its contents.
The moment I recognized its value, I could not keep a smile from spreading across my face.
The case held something no different from a miraculous elixir, capable of raising its user’s mana sensitivity by several levels at once.
“It is a Dragon Heart. I believed it was the item you needed most as a mage.”
It had even been placed under Principal Russell’s preservation magic so that it would produce its finest effect no matter when I used it.
“Thank you sincerely, Principal Russell.”
The single object contained within this small case was worth at least several hundred gold coins.
It might even exceed a thousand.
“Furthermore, I grant you the right to decide how the Mutant Great Owlbear’s carcass will be disposed of.”
At Principal Russell’s continued words, the students quietly swallowed once more.
This was a monster formidable enough for its name alone to draw attention, so naturally, many people were interested in how its remains would be handled.
I had already discussed the matter beforehand with Stella and Lulu, as well as with Principal Russell.
I accepted the microphone from him and began a brief speech to the people whose gazes were now focused on me.
“I do not know when any of you will ever have another opportunity to witness a Great Owlbear in person after today.
“Seeing a living Great Owlbear would of course be remarkable, but even encountering one of these monsters after its death is likely to be a rare experience.
“In return for all of you sincerely celebrating my victory, I would like to offer you an even rarer experience.
“For today’s Afterparty, I will donate the meat of this Great Owlbear for the banquet! I hope everyone enjoys the meal!”
The roar that followed was loud enough to shake the plaza.
It was probably an answer no one had expected.
No one would have imagined that I would readily donate prey this extraordinary for the students.
Of course, calling it a donation was merely a play on words.
I had only offered the meat. I had already finished discussing how the remaining materials and hide would be disposed of with the relevant academy officials.
Those alone were valuable enough that I could gladly share the meat.
Despite the Great Owlbear’s reputation as a monster, its flavor was not particularly exceptional compared to ordinary livestock or monster meat.
Selling it for a high price would have taken a long time anyway, so using it this way was actually the most efficient choice.
“““Conrad! Conrad! Conrad!”””
I smiled in response to the unending cheers and descended from the stage with my companions.
All that remained now was to enjoy the Afterparty.