Kirito arrived in the throne room still trailing dojo dust, silver hair unrepentant, one wooden practice sword still tucked into his belt like he’d forgotten to leave it behind.
A few of the advisors watched him cross the marble floor with the particular tension of people who’d learned the hard way not to relax around him just because he was smiling.
“Your Majesty!” He threw both arms wide, nearly clipping a vase on a nearby pedestal.
“You called for the legendary Kirito, right? I’m pumped. Genuinely. Where do you want me?”
The King regarded him with the calm of a man who’d had this exact conversation with this exact person more than once before.
“Indeed. I need you to make the first-years stronger. The next practical exam should push them somewhere their current ranks can’t protect them.”
Kirito planted one boot on the seat of a nearby chair and pointed a finger toward the ceiling like he’d just solved something.
“Got it.
But before you throw them into some normal exam—” he grinned wider, “—I’ve got something better.”
The advisors exchanged uneasy looks.
The King leaned forward slightly.
“Let’s hear it.”
He pulled the wooden sword free and spun it once in a loose, showy arc.
“Send them to an island,” he said.
“A real one. Dangerous. No academy walls, no servants bringing tea, no easy meals waiting in the mess hall. They find their own water. Build their own shelter. Fight off whatever’s out there and flow their magic when it actually matters — not for points, for survival.”
He let the sword spin faster, grinning like the idea itself was the funniest thing he’d thought of all week.
“That’s the only way any of them get stronger for real. SS-rank style.” He tapped his own chest with his thumb.
“I’ll go with them, obviously — supervise, keep them alive, mostly. Might sneak in a surprise thousand-slash session or two while I’m at it.”
The King was quiet for a moment, turning the idea over with the care of someone who’d learned to separate Kirito’s chaos from his instincts, which — inconveniently for anyone hoping to dismiss him — rarely disagreed with each other.
“An excellent proposal,” he said finally.
“Survival will force them past whatever rank they’re currently coasting on. D, C — even the B and A potentials among them.” His gaze sharpened.
“Gods and demon lords have little patience for those who can’t endure. Better they learn that now, on an island, than later, somewhere it costs them more.”
An advisor bowed.
“We’ll have transport arranged by evening. The first-years can be informed after lunch.”
— Find the original chapter at g.com.
Kirito pumped one fist, delighted with himself in a way that bordered on unbearable.
“This is gonna be *great*. I can already picture it — that chill speed kid dodging some fifteen-foot crab like it’s nothing, the thunder noble screaming at a troop of monkeys who couldn’t care less about his bloodline.” He laughed, loud and unguarded.
“Wahaha! This is exactly what they need.”
The King allowed himself something close to a smile — small, rare, gone almost as soon as it appeared.
“Don’t go easy on them, Kirito.” His voice dropped, just slightly, into something with more weight behind it.
“Make them stronger. Or break them trying. Either outcome teaches them something they can’t learn behind these walls.”
Kirito’s grin didn’t waver, but something in his eyes acknowledged the weight of that instruction all the same — a flicker of the same seriousness he’d shown briefly back at the dojo, there and gone in an instant.
“Understood, Your Majesty,” he said, and for once, he actually sounded like it.
By the time he made it outside the palace gates, he was already running full tilt toward the academy, swords rattling against his back with every stride, hollering into the wind loud enough that half the outer district probably heard him.
“Island survival time, everyone! Get ready to flow or get eaten!”
Far off, past the palace walls and the rows of academy rooftops catching the late afternoon light, the courtyard sat exactly as it had for the last hour — Nagi finishing his rice in easy silence, Gota still recovering from Mikey’s visit, Kakame amusing himself with shadow tricks, Yuji quietly watching a princess laugh with a crowd that had never once made him feel unwelcome or included either way.
None of them had any idea yet that the ground under all of it was about to change completely.
*End of Chapter 10*