After the demonstration, a week slowly passed by. During the week the Little Kings were put through Cecil's even stricter training regimen. They also gathered the 2 remaining ingredients and Lucius had begun concocting the potions.
Today was a normal school day, Cecil and friends were currently attending classes. However, everyone in class was constantly sending their group strange glances. Well, it was something to be expected... since everyone except for Cecil and Lucia were looking as pale as a ghost. Their complexions were horrible that everyone was concerned for their well-being.
Just what in the hell were they doing every day to warrant such an adverse affliction to their health? The only person among the 4 people who had it better was without a doubt Fina. She was currently cuddling Silver in her arms and her complexion wasn't as pale as her 3 other friends, but nonetheless her complexion was still a little out of sorts.
Velicia was sitting with her other friends in front of the class and they were concerned about her as well. Velicia only brushed it off as having done too much training.
"Hey... Cecil. No rest for today?" Ainz asked bitterly.
"Eh? No, today's a rest day. I can't have you 4 die on me."
"...die, huh..." Ainz responded with a rueful look on his face.
"Don't worry! I'm only training you guys to the limits of each of your bodies can take. It's not going to affect you guys in anyway since I always massage your bodies with mana which'll prevent anything bad from happening to your muscles and stuff! Actually, the process of training you until near collapse and recuperating will only serve to help improve your physiques and stamina!" Cecil responded in a low voice.
"..."
The 3 people ahead only responded with silence while Velicia who was in the front row had a chill run down her spine, she quickly turned her head back and saw Cecil who was smiling and immediately paled even further.
"N-No... that... that evil smile!" Velicia hugged her arms and immediately began shivering.
"V-Veli?? A-Are you okay? Are you sick?" Her friend asked her.
"The...the devil's coming... he's coming..."
"Huh? Devil?"
DING DONG DING DONG
"Alright class. Remember that today's materials will be on the end of the week's test! So you better remember this! Also, don't forget to do the assignment! I've already sent the party configurations to your MIDs so make sure you get the assignment done and hand in the report by next week!"
After the practical combat instructor Mr. Suo, a highland giant, reminded the class of their assignment, he turned to leave the classroom. Everyone immediately began checking their MIDs and found the party configurations that the instructor had sent.
"...it looks like we'll be separated this time," Ainz said while taking a look at his MID.
"Yeah... but it's alright. At least with this, we'll be able to interact with our other classmates," Elizabeth said.
"...I'm not with Cel..." Lucia replied dejectedly after seeing her party.
Cecil took a look at his MID and found that everyone in their party, Little Kings, was indeed separated from each other. In fact, the party leaders of the class's first 5 parties were them, except for Fina who was in Cecil's party somehow.
After memorizing the people in his group's names, Cecil stood up and stretched his body before he went to look for the other members of his party.
"Uhh... party number 1? Gather here please." Cecil called out while raising his hand in the air.
It was somewhat unexpected and everyone lagged in response. Fina checked her MID and saw that she was with Cecil, so the girl quickly stood up and went towards the side of the class where Cecil was standing. Cecil called out once again and immediately the other 3 members walked over.
"Alright everyone, since we're all in a party; please take care of me," Cecil said while taking a look at the rest of his party members. "I'll be acting as the captain so let's get this job done."
Seeing Cecil quickly gathering his party members, the rest of Little Kings began to do the same. Once everyone gathered, the party leaders brought them out of the class to have their own discussions. Inside S class's classroom, Cecil had everyone reintroduce themselves to one another since it was a common fundamental strategy when building solidarity in a party.
"Well, I'll start. I'm Cecil, and as you all know I'm a magic swordsman."
"Fina here! I'm a support-type mage and healer." The merfolk girl exclaimed while hugging the pet form Silver in her arms. Silver looked at everyone and gave a cute bark.
"...Light Moonclaw... mage. Former 4th rank, I guess I'm 7th ranked now?" A gloomy white haired tigerkin said. He took a long pause before continuing, "It's an honor to be... in the same party as our first rank..." He was smiling slightly, but his droopy eyes were blank with no emotion.
"Lu Garulle. I'm a shield warrior. 25th ranked in the class." A large ape-kin teenager said. He had dark skin and his face had white tribal markings on them. His large size almost made him look like an upper year student, but the boy was only 15.
"Nice to meet you guys!" Cecil said while stretching his hand out for a handshake.
The two boys each shook his hand and smiled at his friendly demeanor. All this time, they thought that he was a very intimidating and unfriendly fellow, but he was actually quite the opposite. Everyone was just afraid of approaching him first which ingrained the image that Cecil was stoic and unapproachable when in reality, he was someone who wanted to get along with everyone else. The two boys also shook hands with Fina and each another.
Now, there was just one last person who was still standing quiet and didn't participate in the exchange. She just stood there in place with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. This person was a female elf who was just slightly taller than Cecil.
"Uhm... how about you?" Cecil asked carefully. He saw that the girl had been frowning the entire time after they had gathered.
"...Ghina Windfall... magic archer. Former 7th ranked... I'm 9th ranked now..." The elf girl lightly introduced. Cecil stuck out his hand and Ghina was surprised, she hesitated for a moment before reaching out and shaking his hands lightly.
Cecil smiled at this and Fina also quickly moved up to shake her hands as well. The serious looking elf was helpless seeing the cute little merfolk girl. She had no choice but to quickly shake her hand as well. This was followed by the Lu Garulle and Light doing the same.
"Okay, since everyone's been reacquainted. Let's discuss how we'll do our assignment!"
"Okay!"
"First of all... what exactly was our assignment again?" Cecil asked dumbly.
Cecil was never paying attention in class since he was always busy doing his own things and completely relied on Lucia to help him with his homework and assignments.
"...what are you doing in class all the time?" Ghina asked with a confused and almost annoyed tone.
"Ah, sorry... I was always busy with... other stuff."
"Busy? With what?" Ghina snapped back in response.
"Eh? Well... rune engravings... rune enchantments, making training programs... stuff like that."
"Huh? Rune engravings? Enchantments?" the elf girl looked back in confusion.
Light who was silent opened his mouth and addressed Cecil's earlier question.
"It's about our dungeon exploration assignment... the combat instructor wanted us... to write a report about our experiences... inside a dungeon..."
"Oh... dungeon huh... how boring," Cecil replied with a dull look.
"Boring? How is it boring?" Ghina asked back.
"Well... Uhh..."
Fina was the one who answered instead of Cecil.
"Ah, you see. In the past, I heard that when Cecil and Lucia were still active as adventurers before they became students, the two had dived into a dungeon once."
"What? So you already have experience in dungeoneering?" Lu Garulle asked with surprise.
"Well... yeah... honestly it's nothing special... in fact, it was so boring that half the time spent in the dungeon was for traveling in between floors and observing the scenery..." Cecil dully replied.
"...just what in the world were you two doing before this?"
"Hm? Didn't Fina say we were adventurers? Anyway, the dungeon isn't anything special. The only conclusion I got from the dungeon was that it was just an oversized mystical mine. Let's just head over to Anglaria Kingdom's dungeon and get the assignment over with."
Cecil quickly began giving out arrangements and orders to his teammates to help them better prepare themselves for the assignment. Once everyone received their tasks, they couldn't help but admire their young friend. He was around the same age as them, but he had much more experience than all of them put together.
At least now they knew that this indeed wasn't his first time dungeon diving. In fact, his meticulous preparations and arrangements gave him the air of a veteran in the adventuring business.
Fina smiled seeing the admiring looks the rest of her teammates gave to their leader. She felt proud that she was a member of Little Kings. Everyone in the year knew that their little group of troublemakers had formed a party, but what they would never expect was that they had created an official adventurer party that was also ranked high amongst the various adventurer parties in the kingdom.
As of now their party, Little Kings, were officially ranked 20th among the 30 platinum ranked parties in the Kingdom. Of course they did start at rank 30, but after their constant feats of performing mid to high ranked platinum grade quests, they steadily climbed up the rankings. They were only low on the list because their party was relatively new. Cecil planned to make their party rise up to 1st place in the rankings and then take their advancement quest into Diamond Ranked right after.
"Alright everyone, here's a list of supplies that you should go buy later. We'll set off tomorrow morning. Meet up at the academy's district gates in the morning at 8," Cecil made sure that his teammates had registered his instructions before continuing. "We'll head out early so we can come back early as well. Even if tomorrow's the weekend, I'm pretty sure everyone here has their own preparations and plans for the tournament, right?"
After saying that, his party members began nodding one by one.
"Okay, everyone's dismissed! I'll see you guys tomorrow."
'Waah, his way of dismissing everyone is the same as usual' Fina smiled wryly.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Cecil was so used to leading that he just naturally took up the leader's role. The aura he exuded while acting as a proper leader left no room for objections that even his new teammates could only nod seriously in response to his orders.
When everyone dispersed, Cecil quickly went back to his desk and packed his books into his ring, he turned towards Fina who was waiting for him and said, "You can go back first, Fina. I'm gonna drop by Lucius's place and see if the potions are ready or not."
"Oh...okay Cecil–actually, wait. Let me go with you."
"Hm? Okay. Let's get going then."
The two quickly went towards the 2nd years' wing and arrived at Lucius's classroom. When they got there, some of the upperclassmen still in the class turned a curious eye towards the two. Fina had a stiff smile plastered on her face when all that attention was directed towards her. She was still holding onto Silver, so she quickly tightened her hold on him, trying to stave off the growing anxiety bubbling up inside her.
"Woof!"
"!" Fina looked down towards the cute pet formed Silver and relaxed considerably. She smiled and began petting him, oblivious to the many sparkling eyes staring at her. Cecil looked around the classroom to find Veli's fiancé, but unfortunately he couldn't find him.
'Eh? He's not in? Or did he already go back?'
A female half-elf came up to the two and asked while smiling gently, "Are you two looking for someone?"
Cecil eyed the half-elf and replied, "Yes, I'm looking for senior Lucius. Is he not here?"
"Lucius?"
"Yeah... y'know...fat, black-furred, tigerkin."
"Hahaha, well he just rushed out earlier. I'm not sure where he's headed, but it seemed that he was called in by his faction."
"Thank you very much, senior," Cecil bowed towards the half-elf and turned around.
"Thank you!" Fina thanked the upperclassman and followed after Cecil.
For some reason, Cecil thought he heard disappointed sighs coming from the classroom behind him as they left.
"Fina..."
"Yeah?"
"Where's the Alchemist Faction again?"
"...sorry Cecil. I don't know either." Fina responded with a helpless laugh.
"Figures... actually I don't even know where the heck any of the factions are, haha!"
"That's just like you... you really don't care about anything unrelated to us huh?"
"Yup, why would I care anyway?"
"True... you're just like Lucia... or maybe Lucia's just like you."
Cecil only smiled back after hearing this. He took out his MID and tried to find the information about the factions. Fortunately he was able to quickly find them and he acquired the location of the Alchemist Faction. He dragged Fina along with him towards the Alchemist Faction's HQ. It was located in a large building complex in the residential area.
When they got there, the two youngsters saw many people in dark green robes with the faction's insignia walking in and out of the main building.
"Uh oh... do we need to be a member to go in?" Cecil thought aloud.
"I, I dunno..." The two eyed the area and the people passing by. Everyone was wearing the same green robes with the red flower insignia on the back. There wasn't anyone in the vicinity not wearing this robe.
It made the two of them stand out... and in a bad way at that. Most of the people passing by turned a blind eye towards them, but there were some that turned a hostile glares their way.
Cecil only sighed and decided to contact Lucius later. He headed back towards the dorms. He dropped off Fina and left Silver with her. When he arrived back at his dorm, he found that Ainz still wasn't back. He changed into his casual clothes and sat down on the sofa lazily.
"Wow... this is the first time that I'm actually just sitting around doing nothing..." He said out loud.
He smiled ruefully at this before closing his eyes to rest. There really wasn't much for him to do lately. Other than supervising his friends' training, he had nothing else to do.
His cultivation had finally reached the Mana Sea Stage and he was able to stabilize it much sooner than he had thought. The only problem was that if he went into battle while activating Mana Burst or circulating his mana according to his, family's training manual that he finally created, his effective combat duration was severely cut down to only a couple of minutes.
Even last week's spar with Lucia tested the limits of his combat time and to Cecil's dismay, he was only able to battle for a maximum of 5 minutes before his body's mana levels depleted to dangerous levels.
It frustrated him, but the upside was that as he cultivated according to his new training manual, he could feel his body improve at a frightening rate. His speed, strength, reaction, just about everything basically, was constantly improving.
Cecil had a feeling that given enough time, his normal combat prowess would soon likely rival his prowess when he activated Mana Burst. Once he's at that level... what would happen if he activated Mana Burst then? He was very much excited at this thought and he very much anticipated the time when this would become reality.
Today, however, he would rest. He let everyone else rest, so he himself had to as well. If he overclocked their bodies and pushed his friends too far, it would only be detrimental to them. It would ruin their bodies as well as their determination.
He greatly admired his father and grandfather's training methods, although he didn't really like the two as his parent and elder. Tricking their young son and grandson into sacrificing his childhood for his family's tradition... it left a bad taste in his mouth whenever he thought about it, especially now that he's tasted a little of what a normal child would have experienced during their childhood.
'It was a good thing that I'm not an adult yet... I'd probably resent them more...' Cecil chuckled lightly.
Cecil did, however, resign himself to become the family head when the time came, but he didn't want to act this way towards his future children. Letting his future kids experience the crap that he had to go through...
"Yeah, not happening, I bet my future wife would scold me to no end just like how Mom and Granny do to father and grandpa..."
Cecil spread his body down onto the sofa and closed his eyes to rest. 'What the heck am I thinking? I'm still a kid... I've got lots of time before then... for now I should enjoy... this.'
The boy soon fell into a deep sleep on the sofa with a peaceful smile on his face.
------------------------------------
"Cel~ Cel~ wake up~ Cel~!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Cecil slowly opened up his eyes. He groggily stared back at the brightly smiling face of his childhood friend. He began rubbing his eyes and turned his head to look around the room. He found the rest of Little Kings, as well as some additional people, inside the room sitting and chatting.
Ainz was at the dining table eating with a red-skinned giant. If Cecil wasn't mistaken then this giant was the one that Ainz had knocked out in last month's magic combat assessment.
'I think his name was Sor'ak... or something'
The room was pretty lively, but Cecil still felt exhausted for some reason. He quickly started swaying before almost collapsing back onto the sofa. Lucia quickly caught him before he fell over. The girl smiled helplessly and quickly helped him into his room.
"Geez... you haven't even eaten yet. The other guys in class even decided to drop by but here you are, sleeping away."
After pulling the blanket over Cecil and tucking him to sleep, Lucia was about to walk out of the room before she saw the appalling state her 'boy' friend's room was in. Strewn all over the desk and the floor... as well as hung up on the walls, were parchments and scrolls that had rune enchantments and formulas on them.
For some reason, Cecil's sword and spear were also out of their sheaths and placed on top of the desk. It wasn't only his main weapons, all his daggers, needles and other small weapons he always kept on his body were strewn all over the desk. She helplessly sighed before she began tidying up his room. While she was doing this, Ainz appeared by the door and saw her cleaning the room. Along with him were also the rest of Little Kings and some of the friends they invited back to their dorm.
Lucia looked back at them and only gestured for them to be quiet. They nodded in reply and quickly peeked around the room. It was the first time anyone in Little Kings saw their leader's room. It was really messy, but everything was pretty eye-catching, especially the scrolls and parchments that seemed to be research notes along with the variety of weapons on top of the desk and the weapon rack that was redesigned to be an open cabinet full of rare metals and materials.
"Hey Eli... isn't that moonlight ore over there?" Fina whispered.
"Y-Yeah... do you see that blue one? Isn't that blurite?"
"There's also a piece of chimerite next to it..." Velicia added softly.
"...where in the world did he get these?"
While the 3 girls were eyeing the precious stones and ores on the cabinet, Ainz was staring at the weapons on the table. He never really took notice, but his friend really had a variety of weapons equipped all over his body and he'd use it all with skillful technique.
"Cecil... he's pretty outrageous, huh?"
"Well, we already know that." Fina replied.
Ainz laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder why he appears so exhausted though... he was pretty energetic during class..."
The 4 quickly went back towards the dorm's living room. The people that they had invited had just finished eating Lucia's home-cooked dinner and they were just as surprised as the 4 of them when they first found out that Lucia had great culinary skills.
When Lucia finished tidying up the room, everyone else was just about ready to head back. She turned to look back at her sleeping friend and took a quick glance at her wrist. She eyed the bracelet that kept track of Cecil's mana levels and was relieved to see that the bracelet's color was still green. It hadn't changed at all ever since they separated today at class. She was worried to leave Cecil alone because of what happened last time when he overused his mana.
Thankfully, during the whole day when she kept a constant eye on the bracelet, the gem embedded on it had never changed color and from the looks of things, Cecil was just resting all day.
"Good night, Cel," She closed the door and bade farewell to Ainz before leaving together with the girls back to their dorms.