“This girl was as wooden as they come no matter how I looked at her……! When did she find a man……!”
“What was that gift-giving ceremony at the Dragon Master Assembly? Was it a proposal after all?”
“To think you have already found the partner you will spend your life with! I envy you!”
Questions poured out. Except for a few timid ones, everyone surrounded Eugene and Bella with sparkling eyes.
“No, that is……!”
Bella’s eyes spun round and round. Just as Eugene, troubled by the baptism of questions, was wondering how he could settle this all at once.
A voice was heard.
“How very warm and friendly you all are.”
At the same time, something flew rapidly toward the Dragon Knights gathered in the parade ground.
Whizz!
The objects that flew in swiftly attached themselves to the Dragon Knights’ wrists. Since their approach carried no hostility, even the warriors with sharp senses were caught by them without being able to move.
“Hm?”
“What is this?”
They were bracelets.
With a clattering metallic sound, the bracelets fastened around the Dragon Knights resonated and emitted light.
“This is……!”
Startled, Monica looked down at her body.
It was because her outfit, which had been the Order uniform with an insignia draped over it, had changed in an instant into a suit that covered her whole body.
“It’s the Dragon Knight training outfit. They changed your clothes into training uniforms with conversion magic.”
Eugene, who had likewise taken on the appearance of the training uniform, explained.
“You know it well. Correct.”
A newly appeared person in the parade ground grinned and praised him.
Four men and women wearing the Order uniform had appeared.
All of them had inhumanly beautiful appearances and emitted powerful mana.
The rookies realized it. All of them were powerful dragons who had lived for more than a hundred years.
“They’re the Dragon Knight Order old-timers.”
Noan muttered.
“How do you know?”
Henri asked.
“Look at the armbands on their arms. The ones with golden edges are items given when one is discharged from the Order.”
Just as he said.
All of them were wearing armbands with golden borders.
‘This really has been a long time.’
Eugene looked at the old-timers of the Order with a newly moved expression.
They were the instructors gathered to train this batch of rookies.
For generations, the training of new Dragon Knights had been conducted by dragons over a hundred years old.
Because most who entered this place were lumps of talent who had rarely encountered beings superior to themselves.
That applied not only to young dragons who had only just come into the world, but also to the riders chosen by them.
The Order’s choice for making those brats, who acted without knowing how high the sky was, behave themselves was simple.
Crush them with overwhelming authority.
The dragons chosen as instructors were not only old, but all of them had achieved outstanding results in their respective fields.
To the brats who had only just entered society, they were great figures whom they dared not even look up to.
One of those great figures stepped forward.
“I am Ray of the Dragon Knight Order’s 926th cohort. I have been made responsible for training the 1044th cohort this time.”
As soon as Ray finished introducing himself, he drew a sword from his waist without saying anything else.
At a glance, it looked like an ordinary sword.
But when light flashed, in the next instant it was no longer a sword, but a massive spear a full five meters long.
Just as he had changed the rookies’ clothes, the sword’s form had been changed by conversion magic.
Ray said,
“This is the Dragon Divine Armament, the symbol of the Dragon Knight.”
He lifted the Dragon Divine Armament and swung it lightly. The five-meter spear cut through the air with a whoooosh!
“It is large, but since it has lightening magic cast on it, its actual weight is only three kilograms. Since it is made of Adamas alloy, it is an item that cannot be destroyed by ordinary physical force. It can store mana on its own, and because Arcane Cannon magic is engraved into it, long-range attacks are easily possible just by pouring mana into it, without any particular casting required. You can also mix the user’s formula into the Arcane Cannon and grant it special properties.”
Usually, even having just one of the functions Ray mentioned would make something treated as a fairly good magic item.
And yet the Dragon Divine Armament was a treasure with more than ten such functions installed within it.
“It is also the item that you, who have become Dragon Knights, will use. However, not everyone can receive it.”
“There are Dragon Knights who did not receive a Dragon Divine Armament?”
Escalena asked on behalf of the rookies. Ray nodded.
“Yes. Do you know how much time it takes to make one of these? A full fifty years. Although it has been more than a thousand years since the Order was founded, only eighty-two Dragon Divine Armaments have been made until now.”
“That cannot be…….”
“Even then, some of them were lost and cannot be found. In truth, they are items more precious than Dragon Knights. They are not given to just anyone.”
“…….”
No one spoke. Even the chariot duo, who had been full of spirit, swallowed.
Ray continued.
“This training is not merely training, but also a test. Whether you are material worthy of handling this weapon, and worthy of being entrusted with it. We will verify that.”
Monica asked,
“What happens to those who fail the test?”
“They become an excluded rider. Though they belong to the Order, they become half-baked ones who are Dragon Knights in name only. They will probably spend their entire service period acting as guards in the provinces.”
That was not something he had made up to scare them.
Within the Order, Excluded Cohorts truly existed. Aside from welfare related to a dragon’s education, the rest of their treatment was far worse and their pay was lower, so no one wanted to become an Excluded Cohort.
Ray struck the ground with the shaft of the Dragon Divine Armament.
“Do you want to get your hands on this?”
““Yes, sir!!””
Everyone who read the mood shouted in unison.
The only ones who did not answer were Noan and Henri.
Noan grumbled, “Why should I……,” and Henri yawned as if he had no interest.
The instructors’ gazes turned toward the two.
“There are some brave children here.”
One of the instructors, a woman, smiled with her eyes as if amused.
At a glance, it sounded like a playful remark.
But the eyes hidden within that smile were dyed with a cruel light.
“……!”
A chill ran up their spines.
The malice of a several-hundred-year-old old fox made their backs stand on end.
Noan recalled the sly old people of the Magic Towers, and Henri recalled the priests of the Dragon Temple and the Dragon Mother.
Both of their faces went pale. They sweated cold sweat like sick chickens thrown into a cage of predators.
Looking at that sight, Ray grinned.
“Then let us first begin by wiping the smiles off your faces. As a warm-up, one hundred laps around the parade ground each.”
“O-one hundred laps?”
This time, the faces of the socialite ladies turned pale.
Though both of them were powerful mages, they had never exercised before.
One hundred laps was easy to say, but in reality, it was no different from suddenly ordering a sheltered scholar who had only studied while shut inside a room to run a marathon.
“E-even so, if we enhance ourselves with mana, somehow…….”
“Ah, do not use mana to strengthen your bodies. If you are caught using it, you will immediately be treated as an Excluded Cohort.”
“Wh-what……!”
All the mages were shocked when they heard those words.
The same was true for Eugene.
This current situation was not something he could do anything about just because he had come from the future.
In his previous life, Eugene had tried to be clever, gotten marked by the instructors, and been chewed out until he nearly died.
‘I went through the trouble of coming back. I can’t repeat that mistake.’
On top of that, the instructors were not the only ones paying attention to his actions.
Bella was looking this way with blazing eyes.
Her gaze was like that of a mother looking at a useless son.
It was full of the will to give him a Bella Special massage if he showed any sign of slacking off.
Eugene sighed.
He might be able to deceive the instructors, but deceiving his partner would be difficult.
It was not as if there was any particular loss, so he had no choice but to work hard as instructed and use it to train his body as well.
It was far more comfortable to simply work hard and leave a good first impression than to act clever.
Knowing that, Eugene quickly ran out first while the others were hesitating and began circling the parade ground.
“Well, this is……!”
“It cannot be helped.”
The quick-witted socialite duo followed him. And Noan and Henri, frightened by the instructors’ eyes, began running with faces that looked as though they would rather be dead.
The mages began panting and making dying sounds after only a few steps.
On the other hand, the physical warriors were full of ease.
“A hundred laps is nothing!”
Bella, of course, as well as Monica and Suiseiki, all wore expressions showing that this much was not difficult.
But they could only be triumphant for a moment. Just as they were about to run after the mages, the instructors blocking their path dropped black lumps onto the ground.
BANG! BANG!
“……?”
They were dumbbells made for warriors to train with.
Judging by how heavy the lumps were, each one seemed to weigh about as much as an ordinary woman.
The instructor said,
“You will run while holding these.”
At those words, even the masses of muscle looked troubled.
“No…… one hundred laps while holding these is a bit…….”
The chariot duo hesitated.
Then Bella stepped forward. She smiled with a hmph and picked up the dumbbells.
Her arms, which had looked slender, revealed sculpted muscles the moment they gripped the dumbbells.
“It seems I will break a sweat for the first time in a while.”
Bella began running. When they saw that, the chariot duo looked at each other and shouted in unison,
“We can do that much too!”
Like Bella, they picked up two dumbbells and ran off with heavy thuds.
Watching them, Suiseiki’s eyes spun. She did not know what to do, and just as she finally reached out to pick up two dumbbells.
Monica slapped her hand.
“Do not overdo it. Even one will be difficult for us.”
“Ah, okay!”
Suiseiki nodded, picked up a dumbbell, and ran with Monica.
“Hah! Haah! H-have we gone fifty laps yet?”
“What do you mean, fifty? This is only the twentieth lap!”
“A-are you insane?! We still have that much left?”
Waaah, even my father never made me do something like this……!
“L-Lady Bella! Two dumbbells are clearly too much no matter how I look at it! Please stop now……!”
Screams and wails rang through the parade ground.
The training of the Dragon Knights had begun.
***
Dragon Knight training was training that tested the limits of stamina and mental strength.
It hammered the body and mind, then placed them in a hot furnace to temper them.
It was meant to make trainees learn the sensation of being driven into a corner and reaching their limits, so they could respond even in actual combat.
‘……My ass. It’s just training meant to torment rookies.’
That was Eugene’s personal opinion.
Once training began, the trainees had every aspect of their lives controlled.
Eating, sleeping, and even relieving themselves.
“Just go where you stand. The training uniform has a purification function built in.”
That was what the instructors said. It was not exactly a lie either.
But what kind of person would cheerfully say, Great, and piss or shit their pants?
The men were somewhat better off, but the women wore expressions of wanting to die from humiliation whenever they had to relieve themselves.
“You still have room to be embarrassed, don’t you? Hm?”
Of course, if they showed that too openly, they would be caught by the old maid instructor who, having failed to marry even after passing a hundred years of age, had become poison itself, and be harassed until they wanted to die.
Day and night, even until they slept, they were worked to death, and two weeks passed without them being able to properly converse with one another.
And then came the third week of training.
Survival training began, forcing them to survive in remote wilderness without any equipment or food.
The women were thrown into a jungle swarming with poisonous insects and beasts.
The men were thrown into a snowy field full of nothing but snow and ice.
From broad daylight, after shuddering in heat and cold, eating poison and getting stomachaches.
After spending the day with nothing to eat but ice they broke and chewed, they only determined their respective bases and settled down when evening came.
The women gathered beside a campfire.
The men gathered shoulder to shoulder inside a cave dug out of snow.
Whether jungle or snowy field, nights in remote wilderness were long everywhere.
Once the sun set, they ended up gathered in little clusters, blinking their eyes.
Only now had they gained the leisure to bring up idle talk.
Escalena, the Gold Dragon of the socialite duo, opened her mouth.
“Damn it, is this something to make people do? Those people—no, those dragons…… I will not leave them alone someday!”
The chariot duo was the same.
“It was more painful than any training we have done until now. I do not wish to experience it ever again.”
Everyone made dying sounds.
But that only lasted a moment. The young people who knew no retreat soon regained their energy and found the object of their curiosity.
Naturally, their gazes gathered on Eugene and Bella.
Since there was no particular corner to escape to, Eugene and Bella had no choice but to obediently answer the questions they had heard at their first meeting with their classmates.
Many questions came out, but most of what they asked was similar, so regardless of men or women, the questions could be organized as follows.
First question. Where exactly did you two meet?
“At the Dragon Master Assembly. That was the first time.”
“The Dragon Master Assembly. I’d never seen her anywhere else.”
Then how did you know you were Twinstella?
“That…… is, somehow I could tell the moment I saw him.”
“Just because. I could see it at a glance.”
Then are you dating?
“Surely not. He is an arrogant child who tries to play tricks whenever he looks away. He has no masculine charm whatsoever.”
“Are you kidding? That girl is just a gorilla wearing a woman’s skin. Or a lion. If I approached carelessly, she’d bite me to death.”
No way! Didn’t you say you were connected by your souls?
“That is true…… but as a romantic partner, he is a bit…….”
“That’s true…… but as a romantic partner, she is a bit…….”
Still, since you have lived together for a while, there must have been something special.
“Hmm…… I only remember beating him up…….”
“Hmm…… I only remember being beaten up…….”
Are you two really Twinstella?
“That much is certain. I can no longer imagine a partner other than him.”
“That much is certain. I don’t have the option of choosing anyone other than that girl as my partner.”
Still, it sounds like you think of the other as special.
“They are special…… in terms of ability.”
“She is special…… in terms of ability.”
What is that supposed to mean?!
Tell us more interesting stories!
Like kissing, or holding hands, or at least having a lovers’ quarrel!
“Where would something like that be?”
“Where would something like that be?”
At their boring responses, their classmates howled in protest.
Alex of the chariot duo raged as if he would throw Eugene out of the freezing cave, and Rosetta of the socialite duo poured out venom, saying Bella’s sexual preferences were questionable.
But Eugene and Bella did not show much reaction to those intense responses.
Because they were absorbed in other thoughts.
Over the past two weeks, even though their bodies and minds had been worked nonstop, the two had not felt that it was extremely difficult.
Because inside minds made numb after reaching their absolute limits, they had begun reflecting on the past that had passed by.
Their previous life.
Memories stained with defeat.
And memories of classmates and friends who had vanished in vain.
Eugene looked at Henri.
Henri had been brutally beaten to death while protecting Eugene from the Voidnir’s bombardment.
Bella looked at Monica.
Monica had died vainly, like the butt of a joke, after being struck by an enemy ambush that even Bella had not noticed.
Noan had died defending the Lightning Magic Tower until the end.
Suiseiki had died protecting the line of refugees until the end.
The chariot duo had died while performing Dragon Lance Charging to bring down a powerful enemy.
The socialite duo had taken responsibility for defeat and died a glorious last stand with the enemy at the Order headquarters.
Not a single person here was someone who deserved to die like that.
They were people with bright futures guaranteed.
They were good people who could give dreams and hope not only to themselves, but to those around them.
It was all because of those monsters.
Because those bastards existed, everything went wrong.
They had utterly ruined the one life Eugene and Bella had experienced.
They had carved scars of defeat into their souls that would never disappear for the rest of their lives.
But now, Eugene and Bella had been given one more chance.
Their classmates were not dead yet.
The Order was intact, and the bastards’ strength was weaker than it had been at their prime.
It did not matter where they were.
It did not matter what form they had taken.
Right now, there was only one thing Eugene was thinking.
Right now, there was only one thing Bella was thinking.
‘The Voidnir.’
‘Those monster bastards.’
Kill them all!