Chapter 17: Hope

In a hallway, two young men approached each other, identifying the looks of the other.

“Have you seen them?” one young man asked his companion.

“The students from Merlin Academy? Yes, I’ve seen them. They’re gorgeous!” Another young man exclaimed with a cheerful smile.

The first young man who had asked nodded without hesitation.

“Damn! The freshmen are lucky. They’ve invited students from a prestigious mage academy to summon creatures for them,” muttered the first young man.

They both looked at each other in silence, but the second young man commented. “That’s nothing. I’ve seen their program, and it looks exhausting. I’d rather have trained slowly and just fought then start acting so fast.”

The first young man nodded.

Fighting summoned creatures was no problem; they in the year they entered did it; the problem was the first year’s program had gotten ahead of themselves.

Fighting summoned creatures, clearing dungeons, and practice.

It was too heavy!

In contrast, those from other years went through a complicated program where the focus was on improving the base, but not heavy when it came to constant combat.

And the major problem was.

“Shut up, you idiots, and stop looking at the mages!” Oliver said, hitting his companions, who were practically drooling.

The two young men glared at him angrily, but as the mages started paying attention to him, they averted their gaze.

It wasn’t just the pretty students in their fancy robes that were earning the stares, but mainly it was the teacher leading them.

Cécile Leroux, an S-Rank Archmage and an important summoner, also known as the ‘one-woman army’ because of her strong summoning abilities.

A strong and powerful woman, but also beautiful.

With the beauty of an adult woman, the elegance of an aristocrat merged with the coldness of an S-Rank and became a distant beauty that male and female students could only dream of.

That was the reason why many cursed their luck for not being close to the teacher... Although even if they were close, they could only admire her.

Oliver, seeing his classmates disappointed, let out a silly laugh and asked. “Do you guys want to go watch the first-years train?”

The duo immediately looked at him, looking expectant, but also doubtful.

Oliver chuckled.

Director Vincent had asked for summoners from a prestigious mage academy, and that was all for the first year’s training.

It was known that in this kind of training it was only visible to the teachers, most of the reason was that at the end of the year students from different years could face each other to test their skills.

Many didn’t like to be seen, that was the reason for the privacy, but there were exceptions.

“I was cleaning some dungeons the other day and because of my performance, I earned some concessions... I chose it to watch the training. Do you guys want to come?” Oliver asked with a big smile.

The duo looked at each other for a moment and...

“Sure!”

******

Aurora looked at her small group that had been surrounding her.

“We’ve been training for a month. I think we’re all going to make it through this phase,” Aurora said to encourage the group.

Professor Miller had given them plenty of time to prepare for the first stage and gain practical experience.

It was true that until the middle of the year; they had to go through two group fights, but that wasn’t the biggest reason to be nervous.

“The summoned creatures will be strong against our weaknesses... That makes me nervous.” Nicole muttered with a shy smile.

For a student like her, whose most significant weakness was nervousness, encountering a creature that exploited that weakness would be a nightmare.

Taking the first step and overcoming it was the hardest thing for most.

“Just do what we did in training,” Alice stated, looking at her group.

The group nodded.

They had been training together for quite some time, and Leslie had offered to lend her training room, which made them improve faster.

Even though they had other classes, the group had improved quite a bit both individually and as a group.

Aurora and Alice did their best to help and advise them, following their own experiences and ability, which helped.

“Yes, we just have to give our best effort.” Clémentine declared with a smile.

Leslie, who was preparing her gun and checking the different types of bullets, nodded in agreement with Clémentine’s words.

Aurora could not help but smile in this atmosphere.

They were now in the training room, but some mages had already prepared a portal to travel to a small arena in another part of the academy.

In that arena where the fights would take place.

It would have been easier just to go directly to the arena, but this environment was heavier for some, and it was a way to test the mental endurance of the students.

—The cameras in the room are active. I guess the teachers must be in another room analyzing the situation.

Aurora nodded at her system’s comments.

This waiting situation was common in reality, whether waiting to enter a dungeon, to hunt a creature, or simply waiting for orders while a serious situation was in progress.

Tension in large quantities was a big problem... Of course, complete relaxation was also a problem.

The middle ground between the two was what students should prioritize.

Aurora looked at her friend, who was eating chips, while the other students were getting ready or trying to relax.

Her image certainly didn’t match the atmosphere.

“Do you think they’ll summon a Rank A creature to fight Alice?” Leslie asked curiously.

“I hope so!” Clémentine replied with sparkling eyes, and seeing that everyone was looking at them, she smiled shyly and commented. “I think Alice will be able to go against an A-Rank creature... And I want to see her fight, too.”

Nicole and Leslie nodded in unison at that comment.

“I heard that some sophomores and juniors have been working hard to be able to watch the fights,” Leslie reported, and seeing the look on Nicole’s face, she explained. “Usually the second-year students are already acting on their own under some heroes, guilds, or mercenary groups, and coming to watch the students from other years is the best way to recruit them.”

“Recruit them?” Nicole asked in a daze.

“Although we are heroes, we can join guilds, adventurer or mercenary groups and, of course, be recruited by international organizations, companies, or other entities. But since it’s hard for outsiders to come and look at newbies, other students help check out the best students and then see if they can invite them to join alongside them,” Clémentine explained with a soft smile.

It was known that adventurer guilds hired talent regardless of whether they were from other countries, or worked as heroes or mercenaries.

The Hero Academy did not ‘sell’ its students like other academies that created public tournaments for everyone, allowing guilds, adventurer groups, countries, or organizations to come and rank and choose them.

That was the reason the trainings were restricted to only those who earned permission to watch it.

Sure, much of the restriction was because of the students, who were very competitive and studied their opponents for combat at the end of the year.

But that was good, as they worked to get permission.

Among that group were heroes who responded to the interests of those they worked for who were not only guilds but other important heroes as well.

After all, being able to take talented heroes under their wings and help them was, for many, a great motivation.

“Alice, your mercenary group is checking on the students?” Leslie asked, looking nonchalant, but her gaze sparkled with curiosity.

Alice ate her chips and commented. “Sure, even though we are a small mercenary group, our goal is to help like heroes. That’s why we analyze the students’ skills and personalities.”

Hearing those words, the group’s eyes sparkled.

That was because the biggest reason to join a specific group was not money, but that their goals and ideas were aligned, after all, it was easy to make money, but it was hard to get a decent place to work.

Aurora’s lips trembled at Alice’s words.

It was true that their goal was aligned with those of the heroes who were basically looking to help, moving away from the idea of just working for money that the mercenaries had, but Alice made it sound as if her mercenary group was screening all the students with a competent net.

The truth was that only the two of them were screening students... And that was only because they were both on ‘vacation’.

Her mother might have been too much of a stretch to send her to the academy to get away from it all, but Aurora was quite happy.

She had gotten closer to more people at the academy than when she was working in Africa... Aurora knew that she had closed herself off quite a bit over the past few years and that her family and friends were worried since she had only been dedicated to work.

—This is still work for you, though.

Hearing her system’s comment, Aurora’s lips trembled, but she couldn’t deny it.

She considered that helping students was a type of work and more when those same students could help others in the future.

After all, her job was not to make money as a mercenary but simply to help... And anyone who had the same goal and was a decent person would receive Aurora’s support.

While she was thinking that, Professor Miller, together with a beautiful woman, entered the training room, followed by several students wearing mage robes as uniform.

Aurora recognized her instantly.

Cécile Leroux, an S-Rank Archmage.

Known as one of the great mages of the summoning branch, and who worked as a teacher at the prestigious Merlin Academy in London, recognized worldwide as one of the most prestigious academies in the world.

Aurora had met graduates of that academy and had to admit that the academy was one of the best wizarding academies.

“I hope you are prepared. An S-Rank Archmage has come today, especially to assist you in your training,” Professor Miller reported, and looking at Cécile, asked. “Professor Cecile, do you have anything to say?”

Cecile nodded and looked at the students, examining them all.

“Although I have come to help the Hero Academy, in reality, my students are the ones who will be in charge of summoning the creatures for you to face,” Cécile commented, and seeing how some sighed in relief, she added. “I only apologize if my students summon a stronger creature than normal. Usually, that mistake is quite common among summoners.”

At first, they had sighed, as everything was better than an S-Rank Archmage summoning personally, but after hearing those last words, their expressions trembled, and they waited for Cecile to say it was a joke... Unfortunately, she wasn’t joking.

Was this part of the training they were giving her?

Probing the students’ willpower and their ability to control their emotions?

No matter what the reason was, Aurora could feel the tension of this upcoming training that seemed to be turning into dangerous combat.

When she looked at her classmates, she noticed their serious expressions at the words of a powerful S-Rank Archmage.

The only one indifferent to this atmosphere was Alice.

“I hope we finish before breakfast...”

Which all she was thinking about was eating.