52. Field Training (1)
The purification ritual ended safely.
Though it was called a purification ritual, in truth it had really been a process meant to reseal Isaac Morf’s body. Still, Hong Biyeon had fulfilled her role flawlessly.
Contrary to expectations, the nobles could not help but be astonished that Princess Hong Biyeon had perfectly executed the Flame Spirit Circle despite being only at the level of a 4-Class mage. However, they did not forcibly let that surprise show outwardly.
For their own princess to become Queen, Hong Biyeon was someone who absolutely had to disappear. With her reputation lately continuing to rise higher and higher, and the internal atmosphere already unsettled because of that, there was no need to muddy the waters for no reason.
“You have worked hard, Princess.”
As Hong Biyeon slowly steadied her breathing after retrieving the Flame Spirit Circle, Taeribeon approached and wore that same disgusting smile of his.
“Oh my. You’ve broken into quite a cold sweat. Would you like a handkerchief?”
“I do not need one.”
Just by looking at him, she was able to realize it right away.
Why the royal family’s chief mage was spending his days here, acting as nothing more than a ritual priest.
‘I knew it wasn’t time for him to retire.’
When he had suddenly changed his mind, she had assumed there must have been some reason for it.
Thinking back on it, Taeribeon was a man full of ambition. And yet he had suddenly declared that he was retiring? There had never been any way that could be true.
‘So he was researching Perpetual Cold here…….’
And the fact that he still had not returned yet also meant that he had not been able to uncover the reason why cold air was leaking from Isaac Morf’s body.
‘Hong Si-hwa. So the reason that woman has managed to walk around fine all this time was thanks to this altar.’
After completely ending the ritual and dismissing the mages, Hong Biyeon boarded her private airship and organized her thoughts.
Normally, descendants of the Adolevit family struggled to survive past their twenties.
Unless, like her mother, one completely gave up magic or lacked talent for flame entirely—Hong Si-hwa was not like that, was she?
‘So she’s absorbing cold energy to extend her lifespan…….’
In other words, if that altar ceased to exist, then it would naturally become possible to cut off Hong Si-hwa’s pathetic life.
But the moment she thought that, she felt disgust toward herself.
Was that not exactly the same way of thinking as Hong Si-hwa?
‘I won’t stain my hands with blood.’
Besides, to get rid of that altar would in turn mean that Isaac Morf’s body would have to be disposed of……
……That doesn’t sit right with me either.
For Eizel’s sake? No, it wasn’t that.
It was simply because she had once respected the person called Isaac Morf, and wanted to honor him to the very end.
‘A man who protected his family, the world, and his own daughter by throwing himself away…….’
Who could possibly make such a decision so easily?
The Isaac Morf she had seen in those memories of the past was not someone who should ever be insulted in such a disgraceful manner.
Crk!
Blood seeped out from her tightly clenched fist.
She could not forgive Hong Si-hwa and Queen Hong Seryu for insulting Isaac, but for now there was nothing she could do.
She had to endure.
Endure, bear it, withstand it—
and on the day she graduated from Stella Academy,
she would become Queen and repay them.
‘Without fail…….’
If an instructor suddenly ordered everyone to assemble first thing on a Monday morning, complaints would naturally begin to erupt.
“What are we, dogs?”
“Who the hell does he think he is, ordering us around?”
“Ah, that old bastard pisses me off so much.”
Of course, there was not a single student who could say those complaints directly in front of the man himself.
That much should have gone without saying.
“Silence, all of you!”
The students of Class A and Class S, assembled inside the Stella Dome, looked up at Instructor Haeslon, who floated in the air with a fearsome expression and his hands clasped behind his back.
They had cursed him as an old fossil and all sorts of other things, but Instructor Haeslon was still a famous mage and a war hero. There was not a single student who could dare openly challenge him.
“I trust all of you have received enough practical training up through last week.”
At those words, Baek Yuseol yawned wide and thought,
‘Did I receive practical training……?’
He had certainly gone through something more intense than practice—actual combat, in fact—but when he thought back over the last few days, all he could remember was having skipped every single class.
“No matter how much more practical training we do, there is no point. You are all tired of tedious repetition, and we who teach you are not making progress either, so it is dull for us as well. Therefore, beginning with Class S, in order, I will assign real-world missions to each of you.”
At Instructor Haeslon’s words, the students began to murmur.
He called it “enough practical training,” but in truth they had barely even had any proper training since the semester began. Sure, they had studied theory intensely during the first semester, but how long had it even been since the second semester started? And already they were being sent into the field?
But this was Stella’s way.
By sending out the higher-ranked Class A and Class S students first, Stella intended to accelerate their growth through actual field experience. After that, once it seemed those of Class B and below had accumulated what felt like enough practice over one- to two-week periods, they too would be sent out on field missions.
“Ugh, my older brother said they didn’t have this kind of thing last year……”
“I’m confident. I hit those running wooden dolls eight times out of ten now.”
“You idiot. You think monsters are the same as wooden targets?”
Naturally, since the most outstanding students of Class A and Class S would be the ones going into the field, good results could probably be expected.
But to be honest, if one laid it all out plainly, Baek Yuseol felt they were all about the same.
‘How did it go in the game again……?’
He thought about it for a moment.
‘Can’t remember…….’
He had forgotten.
If he remembered correctly, it had not been a particularly impactful episode.
It was just a brief passing story before the League of Spirits began. A Black Mage did intervene in it, but it was not a particularly dangerous problem.
Of course, that was only how it went in the original story.
Now, reality had diverged so much from the original game that even if one knew the future, one still had to steel one’s heart regardless.
-Practical training?
While he half-listened to Haeslon’s words with one ear and let them spill out the other, a clear and refreshing girl’s voice rang through his mind.
It was Iphanel.
‘Oh. Practical training. You just woke up?’
-Mhm. But I’m sleepy again.
Iphanel and Baek Yuseol were connected through heart and soul. Because of that, telepathy should have been possible long ago, but up until now it had not been.
That was because Iphanel had been busy recovering her strength.
And when she had recovered enough strength that it should have become possible, the blessing of Crimson Spring March had grown too strong, causing their minds to be blocked off altogether.
But the current Baek Yuseol had loosened the blessing of Crimson Spring March somewhat, making it possible for him to connect mentally with Iphanel.
Of course, that did not mean they were always connected.
This process also consumed a considerable amount of mental strength, and above all, it depended first and foremost on Iphanel being awake.
‘How’s your recovery…… coming along?’
She was still in a corrupted blackened state, not yet properly restored.
Recovering her strength alone was already hard enough, and on top of that she had to purify black magic as well.
He could hardly imagine how painful and exhausting a process she must have been enduring right now, yet Iphanel’s voice was as bright and cheerful as ever.
-Mhm! I’m okay! Yuseol’s friend found the heart for me, so it’ll be quick!
……I see.
She was probably talking about Cheolribeon.
He had told her over and over that they were not friends, but to Iphanel, everyone who was close and helped one another was simply a friend. She had only ever had two beings she could truly speak with, and both of them had called her “friend,” so he supposed it made sense that she thought that way.
‘By the way, why did he return the heart in the first place?’
The absolutely invincible Cheolribeon was neither good nor evil, but neutral.
In some ways, one could say he occupied a position similar to Ma Yuseong’s. But whereas Ma Yuseong often ended up stained as part of the axis of evil whenever the occasion arose, Cheolribeon remained neutral no matter what happened.
He was not the type to involve himself in troublesome matters, yet for some reason he repeatedly hunted down specific Black Mages.
And in that process, he eliminated every unnecessary complication.
If he exposed himself to others for no reason, innocent slaughter could happen again.
‘I don’t know the reason, but if it’s good, it’s good, I guess.’
-Mhm. If it’s good, it’s good!
‘Then do you have two hearts right now? What are you, Park Ji-sung?’
-Huh? No. I have to absorb it, but it’s still too contaminated, so… um……
‘Doing the dishes?’
-Mhm! I’m washing the heart!
Maybe because she had spent so little time out in the world, Iphanel occasionally got confused about her word choices. Whenever that happened, Baek Yuseol would just throw out any random word, and she would beam brightly and happily accept it as correct. Sometimes it was funny enough that he would mess with her on purpose, but it also pricked his conscience a little.
-Yaaawn……. I’m sleepy.
‘Then go sleep.’
-Mhm. See you later…….
Perhaps sleepiness had come over her again, because Iphanel, who had been chattering away, abruptly cut off the mental waves and fell asleep.
All day long she had to purify tainted energy, wash the contamination from the heart, and refine the divine beast’s heart. She likely did not have a moment’s proper rest.
Still, one fortunate thing was that as soon as she fully finished purifying the tainted energy, she would be able to go outside whenever she wished.
Having regained the spirit’s heart, even if she could no longer display the overwhelming power she once possessed, she would at least be able to step outside the bounds of the tree and walk freely on two feet as a spirit once more.
No one knew exactly when that day would come, but Kkotseorin had cast a perfect barrier around the area near the garden, so she would no longer be disturbed by anyone.
That meant it would probably be soon.
“Now then, I will divide the mission types into categories.”
It seemed the explanation had finally come to an end, because Haeslon now moved into the main point in earnest.
“First, dungeon exploration. Second, destruction of a Persona Gate. Third, execution of a Black Mage. Fourth, monster hunting.”
All four choices were missions any magic warrior might experience.
“Execution of a Black Mage is a second-year field mission and is therefore excluded. You will be given the chance to choose among the remaining three options. You may form teams ranging from one person minimum to six people maximum, but remember well that a teaching assistant will always monitor your mission performance.”
From here on, this part remained very clearly in his birdbrain memory.
In the original game, Ma Yuseong normally went alone on a Persona Gate destruction mission, Hae Wonryang went on a dungeon exploration mission with Eizel, and Flame……
‘Pung Harang?’
He was recorded as hunting monsters together with a boy from Class S named Pung Harang.
Come to think of it, there had been a kid like that.
He was a supporting male character who did not start appearing in earnest until the latter half of the semester, so he had barely remained in Baek Yuseol’s memory. Even so, his impact had stuck.
On the day winter vacation began after the first semester ended, he confessed to Flame and got rejected. That had earned him the sympathy of many male players.
There had even once been a flood of tears in the community, with people saying they felt a deep sense of kinship with him.
‘Hmm. What should I do?’
If he were being honest, if dungeons and Persona Gates had been part of a game, he might have chosen them because they sounded fun.
But in reality, they were just annoying.
‘Let’s just do something simple like monster hunting—’
“Commoner.”
“……Huh?”
While he was blankly reading over the mission application form the instructor had handed out, Hong Biyeon came up from behind and spoke to him.
With her arms folded over her chest, she said to him with that same proud expression as always,
“Let’s go to the Persona Gate.”
“……All of a sudden?”
“Yes. Don’t want to?”
She was radiating an aura that seemed to say, If you say no, I’ll kill you, so there was no way he could dare shake his head.
“N-No…… I’d love to. I’ve been waiting this whole time because I wanted to go so badly.”
It was an obvious lie no matter who heard it, but perhaps even that improved Hong Biyeon’s mood, because she gave a small satisfied smile and nodded.
“Good. Then hurry and follow me.”
“……Yes.”
He had been planning to quickly finish off the simplest and fastest option—monster hunting—but of all things, he got roped into the most troublesome one: the Persona Gate.
— Read only on MugenCodex —
