Gaharad chuckled lightheartedly, the seemingly sinister smile replaced by a kinder one. “Relax, you were never in any danger anyway.”

“Huh?” Noboru let out a confused reply. “He just ambushed me with a weapon, if this had been any of the other heroes, they would have died!”

Gaharad pointed towards the dropped weapon on the ground. “You mean that stick, it’d be quite difficult to kill someone with a blunted wooden sword, don't you think?” Noboru turned towards the wooden sword that he thought was a real weapon. It was indeed, just a blunted piece of wood shaped to look and handle like a sword. “So, that was all a test? But why?”

“I’d be happy to explain, but first how about you let my subordinate go, he was just following my orders but he seems to be in a bit of pain right now.” Gaharad said, while looking at the man underneath Noboru.

“R-right. Sorry.” Noboru quickly got off of the man and stood up, before extending his hand downwards to help him up. “Here, let me help you up.” The man took his hand and mumbled a word of thanks as he was hoisted back onto his feet.

“Now, you owe me an explanation, Gaharad.” Noboru turned towards the knight commander, a serious look in his eyes.

“Right, right. As you said, this was a test. I wanted to see how good you were when it came to actual combat, not fighting against manipulation like with the Prince. However, it seems that someone of only this strength is no match for you, so perhaps I should test your strength myself…” Gaharad put his hand on the hilt of the sword on his waist. It was still sheathed, but the pressure he was exuding was immense. Noboru immediately backstepped and dropped into a fighting stance.

Damn, the pressure made me backstep away when I should have closed the distance to prevent him from using his weapon’s reach. Plus I gave him time to get into a stance as well, that was stupid of me. While Noboru internally berated himself, Gaharad had taken his hand off the hilt of his sword. “But we don’t have the time for that right now. Today’s lesson is going to begin soon, and it’s a lesson that you will need too.” Noboru tilted his head in confusion, but before he could speak Gaharad pointed to something behind Noboru. “Look, that will be your lesson today.” Noboru turned around and saw… Monsters.

Well, not just monsters. He saw wolf-like monsters contained within cages carried by knights. They were approaching Noboru’s location. “I don’t understand what you mean, how are these beasts a lesson?” Gaharad smiled at Noboru’s confusion. “It’s quite simple, but let us wait for the other’s to arrive before I explain that. After all, the lesson is not solely for you.”

Noboru nodded his head. Is he going to introduce us to the monsters of this world? Perhaps he’ll show us their weak points? While Noboru internally speculated, the other students began to arrive. Two of the students quickly pulled ahead of the rest, rushing to Noboru’s side.

“Noboru! Where were you yesterday?! I waited in your room for you to come back but you never did.” Akane sulked. Yuriko moved alongside Noboru, taking her default place by his side. But while her positioning was normal the look in her eyes was not, she seemed to be questioning Noboru just like Akane was.

“I was stuck with Aiden, he seems to have taken a liking to me or something.” Gaharad’s eyes widened slightly at Noboru’s words but he quickly smoothed his expression over. The rest of the students arrived by Noboru while he was talking with Akane and Yuriko. They all gathered into a circle around Noboru, but just as they were going to start questioning him Gaharad spoke up.

“It’s time to train, not socialize. Listen up!” The students all turned to Gaharad, quietly waiting for him to continue. “Today’s lesson is one of the hardest, but most important lessons you can learn. If you cannot complete this lesson, you cannot be a hero. Look over there.” Gaharad pointed to the caged monsters. “What do you see?”

“Monsters?” Minori spoke up first.

“Correct, however that's not all they are. Who else?” Gaharad’s answer was slightly confusing, but the students were not discouraged.

“Um, are they wolves?” The usually quiet Mika spoke.

“They are similar, but that’s still not the answer I’m looking for.”

Noboru scratched his head in thought. What answer does he want? They’re wolf-like monsters, what else is there about them? While Noboru was lost in thought, Orochi spoke up.

“Living beings.” His voice was quiet, but it still carried across the field. Everyone heard him.

“Correct, that was the answer I wanted. Those beasts over there are monsters, and they are similar to wolves but first and foremost they are living beings. My next question is, why is this important?” Gaharad looked around after speaking, making eye contact with as many of the students as he could.

Orochi spoke up in an even quieter voice than before. So quiet that if anyone else was making noise, no one would have heard him. However the field was eerily quiet so the word he spoke traveled across plain as day.

“Kill…”

“Indeed, the fact that they are alive is important because we must teach you to kill. From what I know of your world, it is a peaceful place with little conflict. Most likely, no one among you knows what it is like to kill. This is what you must learn in this lesson. You must learn how to kill.”

The student’s faces paled, even Noboru blanched at the thought of actually having to kill. However his rational side berated him. Of course you have to kill, you were summoned to fight in a war, did you think you could fight without killing? Idiot. While Noboru berated himself, Orochi had a much different internal dialogue. This is it! The first part people have trouble with in any isekai novel! If I show everyone that I can do it easily I can become the protagonist! And then it’ll be me with the harem, not him, me! The reason why Orochi had spoken quietly was not because he was afraid of the thought of killing, but because he was deep in thought about how he could use this to stand out.

“Now, let’s get started. Everyone grab a sword and make your way to the cages. There’s ten cages so one per person. I expect that by the end of today you all will have killed your beast.” Gaharad looked over at each student, his eyes showed no hint of compassion or caring, instead the hard eyes of an instructor who had done this lesson many times over watched over the students. A few of them shivered unconsciously when his gaze slid over them. The first to move was Orochi, who didn’t even hide his excitement and bounced to the swords.

He picked one up and gazed at it. “So you will be the one to propel me to the top, eh?” He whispered to his sword. Seeing Orochi move spurred the rest of the students to go as well, and pretty soon they were all wielding swords in front of each of their respective cages. “Now, for a quick death, if you pierce the brain or neck of the creature they will die with little pain and quickly, the heart works as well. If you wish for a longer death, piercing their lungs will cause a long drawn out demise. No matter what way you choose, you must kill the beast by the end of today. When you do kill the beast, meet me in the arena for combat training.” With those words, Gaharad departed, leaving the students alone with the beasts. Well, there were still guard knights around just in case any got out but to the students it was the same as being alone with the monsters.

Orochi spoke up first. “This doesn’t seem that hard, I mean all we have to do is put down a monster, right?” He walked towards his cage and readied the sword in his hand. The wolf-like beast didn’t even move when Orochi got close, it simply stayed huddled in a circle. It had accepted its fate. Orochi aimed the sword in his hand, he was trying to pierce the wolf’s brain in one quick move. He took a deep breath in, and slowly released it to ready himself, then plunged the sword downwards. Gravity combined with the force of his stab caused the sword to easily pierce through the beast’s skull, traveling through one side and out of the other. The wolf didn’t even have time to make a sound as it died, quick and painless, yet sad at the same time.

“I-I did it.” Orochi whispered, a smile began to break out on his face as he turned to the other students. “It was easy, and look, the wolf didn’t even suffer.” He gestured towards the dead beast with his hand. His smile was wider than ever, it was clear that this was a great accomplishment in his mind. But while the other students knew it was necessary, they still paled at the sight of the dead wolf. Only Noboru nodded his head, “Yeah, you’re right Orochi. Good job.” Noboru was still hesitant to kill, but he resolved himself quickly. I said I was going to fight so that the rest of the students don’t have to, but how can I fight without killing. Man, I was so naive. He turned towards his own cage and bowed slightly. “I’m sorry about this.” He said as he stabbed his sword forward. Noboru had aimed for the heart instead of the head, easily thrusting through the wolf’s upper torso and through its heart. The feeling of his sword tearing through flesh and sliding past bone traveled up his arm. It was a disgusting feeling, one that made him want to drop the sword in his hand, but he knew he couldn't. He didn’t want to develop a bad habit of dropping his sword when he was fighting for real. Instead, he slowly pulled the sword out of the now dead beast, before stabbing the sword into the ground at his feet and bowing his head.

The other students looked at him in awe. He wasn’t like Orochi who killed and seemed to enjoy it, but instead he had killed simply because he had to, and showed remorse for the beast in front of him. As Noboru raised his head, the other students began to gather their resolve as well. Gorou and Mika were the next to strike, both of them aiming for the head of the wolf. Yuriko and Minori were next, with Yuriko copying Noboru and Minori piercing the beast’s neck. Emiko and Kei were next, Emiko quickly pierced the heart of the wolf, but Kei missed. She stabbed too far to the right, instead piercing the lung of the beast in her cage. The wolf cried out, writhing in pain. Kei tried to pull the sword out but quickly lost hold of the handle as the wolf moved towards the back of the cage. Minori ran forward, his sword in hand, about to swing when Noboru stopped him.

“You can’t Minori. You heard what Gaharad said, we must all kill one. Give the sword to Kei.” Minori opened his mouth to argue, but Kei’s words stopped him. “He’s right, Minori.” She spoke through the tears, “I have to do it myself.” Minori bowed his head and held out his sword handle first for Kei. She grabbed it gratefully and moved closer to the cage. “I’m sorry, I know it hurts, but please let me put you out of your suffering.” She swung her sword, and this time she did not miss. The cries of the wolf stopped, but the cries of Kei did not. Minori rushed forward and held her in his chest. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” He repeated, “I’m here.”

Akane and Naoko, the last two who needed to kill their wolf, looked scared. They seemed to be afraid of repeating what Kei did. Noboru walked up to them both. “I will guide you, don’t worry, you won’t miss, all you have to do is listen to me.” He went to the side of Akane first, helping her adopt a stance suitable for stabbing. Then he positioned her sword right in front of the heart of the wolf. “Now all you have to do is thrust forward.” He calmly, gently urged Akane to strike. Akane slowed her breathing and took one last deep breath before thrusting forward with all her might. Just as Noboru said, it went straight through the beast’s heart. Akane quickly dropped the sword and stepped back, Noboru was there to catch her. He pulled her into a hug, before stepping back himself and looking her in the eyes. “Good job.” He said, with a small smile. Akane simply nodded as Noboru let go and walked towards Naoko. “Okay, your turn.”

He repeated the same steps as with Akane, except he didn’t hug her. But now that all the students had killed their wolves, and in only an hour, they began to walk towards the arena where Gaharad was waiting. While most of the students' emotions bordered on sadness, only one amongst them was filled with burning anger.