CLINK
CLANK
A few hours had already passed, the sun set and the cafe closed. Yet, I was still sitting at the same table — which was outside of the cafe — stabbing the last pancake that was riddled with holes, with the fork.
"Sigh..." I released a sigh for the umpteenth time as I once again stabbed the pancake.
Rustle came from my behind as Ia very faint, almost nonexistent presence came closer to ne.
"How can I help you, Vice Principal?" I asked without turning my head. I didn't need to as I already recognized the Vice Principal's familiar faint presence.
"Sir Caelum, what are you doing here at this hour? If I may ask?" The petite Vice Principal hesitantly got closer.
"I am eating dessert. Don't you see?"
"Oh, I see. I thought you were practicing your techniques on it..."
"What techniques?"
"Tortur– I mean eating techniques! Yeah like how nobles and commoners eat differently!"
"Bullshit."
"Wha–?"
"Why are you spouting bullshit instead of saying whatever you need to say?"
"..."
"Alright. I am sorry." The Vice Principal apologized before coming right to my side. Then she slid a paper —a message — to me. "This came from the Principal. You can choose to ignore it or go along with the mission. It should be virtually easy as it was originally designed to test first-year students... You can also let out some steam, sir Caelum. It will definitely help you."
After saying this, the Vice Principal left.
Rustle
"Testing the level and security of a natural dungeon for Apprentice rank and below students, huh?" I murmured after reading the paper written by the Principal.
It was both dangerous and amazing to have a natural dungeon right below the Academy.
There were three types of dungeons.
Natural Dungeons, Man Made Dungeons that are commonly known as Forgotten Ruins, and Magical Dungeons.
While Natural Dungeons are like a nest of monsters and man-made Dungeons are made by ancient intelligent species and buried by the passage of time, Magical Dungeons were quite literally magical. Those kinds of dungeons weren't present in this world but in other dimensions that overlapped with ours.
But anyway, this wasn't the time to talk about Magical Dungeons.
The thing was, according to the mission I got from the Principal, there was a Natural Dungeon — a literal monster nest — below the Academy, and this Dungeon was used for to give students real-life experience.
But, as I have said, this was a real dungeon. It needed to be constantly checked to ensure the safety of the students.
What if the monster population increased exponentially and the monster overflowed from the dungeon? That is usually called Dungeon Break and it was highly dangerous, at least for ordinary people. The overflowed monsters would rampage outside of the dungeon— in the world.
Well well, the chance of Dungeon Break happening wasn't high, maybe close to zero. After all the academy must be reducing the size of the monster population occasionally.
However, what if a high-rank monster were to be born? The chance of a high-rank monster getting born was several times higher than Dungeon Break occurring.
And what if this supposed high-ranking monster were to kill noble students? All kinds of rumors would go out — about how the academy is irresponsible and how they don't care about the students' lives.
Even if a few professors were to accompany the students, a few student casualties weren't impossible with the appearance of a high-ranking monster.
However, Natural Dungeosn wasn't just a bunch of problems.
A Natural Dungeon meant that there was a high concentration of mana in one area, and a high concentration of mana meant that there was a high chance of monsters getting born or normal animals getting mutated, and finding mana crystals, etc.
So, it was a double-edged sword for the academy. They probably didn't want to waste this source because of some measly danger.
The academy had contracted commoner graduates who would work for them for ten years. It would be a waste to not use them for this occasion.
'The Principal is testing me or he noticed my bad mood and wants me to use the monsters as punching bags.'
A small silver arc found its place on my lips. This kind of thing was what I exactly needed.
I wasn't good with feelings and how to talk out these emotions.
I was a soldier, a knight, and a dog of the empire, albeit an overworked one. It wasn't my thing to deal with feelings.
'I should just spray some blood.'
After that, I read about the Natural Dungeon below the Academy. According to the information I got, it was a monster spider nest with a little mix of other monsters.
'If it is to test Apprentice and lower rank students, I shouldn't carelessly kill Minor and Lesser rank monsters. I hope there are a few Normal rank monsters I can kill without any hesitation.'
The words of the Vice Principal brought my mind back but no so much. So, I was planning to let out some steam as the Vice Principal said, and calm down.
Regret and Self-loathing weren't going to help me. Only I could help myself.
'Though I would be happier if I could have shut-eye for a few hours.'
After finally eating the last pancake, I returned to my room and changed into more comfortable clothes without touching to my gloves.
Tak tak tak tak!
Step step!
'That vigilante running on the roofs again.' I internally shook my head at the vigilante and her useless efforts.
Killing a few people wasn't going to change how the world worked in an instant. The only way to change the way of the world was the power. An overwhelming power, be it physical strength, magical strength, or even political strength.
"Whatever. It is not good to meddle with." I murmured as I cracked my neck to right and left.
I felt that I wasn't going to get sleep again. Was it my third day today? So, killing a few monsters was better than trying to sleep for the whole night.
'It is alright.'
Three days without sleep wasn't bad for my physique.
'It seems, Mother made me addicted to sleep.'
Yet, I yearned for that comfortable sleep while I was on my way to the Natural Dungeon, Monster Spider nest.