I tapped a cup of cold lemonade on Ier's head.

The boy had buried his face in his palms as he sat on the bench.

"It's fine, Student Ier. You fought well."

“Gah… don’t…”

Ier only groaned at my words. The entire Black Rose Classroom was here.

After the fight had ended, the kids stayed around to talk and chat with the others. Many of the spectators were interested in both parties, but many were also interested in the kids from Black Rose.

Ier's speech in the beginning was great, and it helped them all connect better.

Of course, it barely had as much power as the end.

The kid used a giant high-order spell to bring down Wilbur, but Wilbur was pretty smart. He ended up launching mana in a way similar to Ier and pushed him off his ground.

That shouldn't have affected someone, but Ier had already exhausted all his mana. He ended up blocking Wilbur's last attack, and his spell broke down before it could immobilize his enemy.

Tired beyond help, Ier could only watch as Wilbur ran and stopped short of punching him.

The end.

Ier had fought really well thanks to his control over mana. He said he would have never imagined fighting that long and using another higher-order spell.

The loss was… just a part of it.

"Student Ier, drink this."

"I don't want to…"

"Haah. You just fought. You have to drink and eat if you want to keep going."

Ier did not reply. He simply took the glass and sipped it with his head still hanging low.

I couldn't help him more. He needed someone else.

I beckoned over the four kids who had played truant with him and pointed at Ier.

"Go be there for him," I said.

Ken, Zacka, and Atlas did not hesitate and walked right to him, but Argent Stryde placed his hands behind his back.

"Won't he be annoyed? We should give him space."

Give space to this overthinker? That'll only make things worse.

"He'll get plenty of space later on. For now, try to cheer him up."

"Fine~" Argent, too, walked over to the bench and started talking with Ier.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

It was a good battle.

A great one that these kids usually wouldn't get to see. But the most shocking part of it all was what Professor Jim told me as the fight began.

That Wilbur Smith had only been learning magic for a month. He was from a small village raised by a single mother, to think that guy would be able to handle Prince Ier in a single month of learning.

We could have used someone like him on the front lines. I had seen plenty of talents in my own corps, and quite a few of them were like him, but Wilbur seemed to stand out.

He was interesting.

I decided to keep him in mind for later and looked at the other students. Elara was busy talking with the many kids who had bombarded the Black Rose students. Of course, it was another chance for her to increase her influence, and she would take it.

Rosentea was facing off against another student from the Dahlia classroom—a girl. It seemed many of our students knew this group of Dahlia kids; they must have been the ones who had asked for a fight the first time.

Richard and Professor Laura had gone away with Wilbur to get him checked by a priest. Yuliana offered to help, but they couldn't accept that from the saintess candidate, and she had to settle for healing only Ier.

Hm…

Things had turned out well. It was as peaceful a conclusion as I could have asked for.

I was a little worried about later, but I doubted there'd be a problem.

My eyes flitted around, and I found Lumine as well. She was talking with the three stooges about the camera and the images she had taken during the battle.

Huh. Did Professor Denadis leave? I wanted to ask her what was up, but I had missed my chance.

Maybe her Chimera research wasn't going very well.

Since the last thing on my mind was crossed out, I did what I could only do in my free time.

“I-a-so!”

"What what? What do you want?"

That's right. I was going to bother Iaso.

***

The day passed by quite merrily. The students were all getting along and were generally in a good mood.

There were two things that had happened. One, people had become more open to the Black Rose students.

Two, the kids from Black Rose realized Ier would have definitely won the battle. The student with some of the worst stats had shown an outstanding performance in a flashy fight, helping them realize there was more to things than stats.

They had all done well. It was a good moment as an educator.

Ier, especially, had worked pretty hard.

That night, I decided to treat him to something to eat and also make sure his defeat didn't negatively affect him, so I went to the student dorms.

And a knight approached me, flustered.

"Professor! I was about to come to you."

"What happened?"

"Prince Ier stepped out in the evening and has not returned…"

Haah…

I thought something might be up.

I shook my head.

"Wait here. I'll bring him back."

***

Night had fallen. The people of the academy were almost all back to their dens, and a quiet filled the skies.

A single student with blonde hair swung his sword in the middle of a thicket at the northern end of the academy.

"Gah!" He screamed as he launched mana out, but it never did anything to the straw doll.

Again.

Once again, he had failed.

Ier let out his frustration as he swung his sword over and over. The thoughts of his family had returned to his mind. Of course, like always, Ier the useless could only manage an average performance.

It was vexing.

Today, though, Ier felt worse than usual.

Someone had placed their faith in him. Someone had spent every day of the last week training him with all his heart.

Prince Ier had let him down, too. Another person was added to the long list of people he had disappointed.

Prince Ier found that the most vexing of it all. He didn't dislike losing; it was a process.

But he despised failing someone.

"Damn it… I still can't hit it…"

Prince Ier rested the wooden blade down and sighed. It was all useless.

He felt a strange pang in his chest.

His eyes turned away from the doll and to the thicket. There he noticed, a pair of green eyes staring at him from the trees.

"Huh…?"

As Ier mumbled in confusion, the eyes watching him inched closer.

A slimy amalgamation of green flesh and blood was standing in the thicket.

“What the… this…”

It looked like an ogre, a swine, an orc, a goblin, or maybe a troll or a golem.

No, it looked like all of them.

"This…"

The being stepped out of the trees and cast its shadow over the clearing.

"A chimera…"

The monster swung its arm.