From time to time, Rohan could hear members of the surrounding schools talking about him.
"Is he the person with the 'F' grade?"
"Since someone from the Iron Castle is accompanying him, it can only be him."
"But what does someone from the Iron Castle have to do with a person with an 'F' grade?
"Didn't you hear? He's taking him to the Palace of Death."
"What?! Why would he take him there?! It's not as if he chose to get that grade. He can train to improve it."
"From what I heard, the 'F' grade was the one who asked to go there."
"He did?!"
"Yes."
"Poor guy ... I don't know who put that into his head, but he'll certainly hold a grudge against that person forever."
Rohan then thought, 'What kind of place is this Palace of Death? Everyone is so afraid of it. Am I really going somewhere I shouldn't be?'
Some time passed, and Rohan joined the man from the Iron Castle at the end of the road. As they walked along the road, he noticed that the school buildings were increasing in size and quality, which should indicate that the best schools were at the end of the road.
After a while, they had reached the end of it and he couldn't have been more right in his thinking.
At the end of the road, there were five schools: two on each side and one right in the middle, where the road would continue if it were longer. These five schools had huge buildings, taking up the space of what would have been the equivalent of at least ten school buildings at the beginning of the road.
The man from the Iron Castle then said, "The Palace of Death is the center building."
Rohan said, "Oh, okay. Thanks for bringing me here."
"Don't worry. Our school building is next to the Palace of Death, so I'd already have to come this way anyway. I just brought you with me."
"Thanks all the same."
"Hahaha, you're welcome but don't forget what I told you. Nothing good awaits you when you pass through those doors. There's still time for you to come back."
"I know, and I thank you for your concern, but I'm going anyway."
"All right. Good luck."
The man from the Iron Castle then headed towards his school building, and Rohan headed towards the Iron Palace building.
He arrived in front of the door and was about to knock on it when suddenly it opened, and the man with short brown hair who had taken the test with him stepped out.
Immediately afterward, the man with short brown hair said, "You're crazy if you think I'm going to eat this weird stuff. I'll find another school. You'll never get any students with that kind of test."
A man then came out of the building and said, "Don't say that. There are a lot of crazy people out there. I bet I'll get a student one day or another."
Rohan looked in the man's direction and began to observe him.
He seemed to be a little taller than him and had short red hair. He was well-groomed, and you could tell that he had an excellent physique just by the shape his clothes made on his body. On his face, you could see a pair of glasses, and in his hand, he held a long pipe from which he sometimes puffed.
When he saw that Rohan was looking at him, he said, "What's wrong, kid? Did you lose something?"
Rohan then said, "N-No. I came here to enter the Palace of Death."
"Look at that. It looks like a crazy one turned up. Hahaha." said the red-haired man as he looked in the direction of the man with the short brown hair.
The man with the short brown hair then said, "Not for long."
He then turned to Rohan and said, "Hey you! Your name's Lohan, right? Don't waste your time trying to get into that school. He will make you eat something disgusting. I've seen it firsthand. You'd better find another school. I know you shouldn't have much choice since you got an 'F' on the test, but I'm sure you're better off wasting your time than getting involved with this place."
At this point, the noise that the man with the short brown hair had made as he left the school had already attracted the attention of the other schools around, and a few people came out of them.
Among them were the other participants who had already chosen to enter one of the five schools with huge buildings at the end of the road.
Mai emerged from one of the buildings accompanied by two beautiful women. One had blonde hair, and the other, who looked a little bit older, had black hair.
The older woman then asked, "What's going on?"
The blonde woman said, "It looks like someone refused the death palace test."
"Hm, I see. It's a pity it's a man who's just left, otherwise we could try to recruit him."
Meanwhile, the tall man who took the test with Rohan came out of another school with the man who had taken Rohan to the Palace of Death.
The tall man then said, "Looks like you were right, Rein. Something interesting really is happening. A fight is about to begin."
The man from the Iron Castle, or rather Rein, said, "That's not what I was talking about, and things aren't going to get to the point where a fight is going to happen."
"Really? Let's go back inside then. There's no point in watching two people exchanging insults instead of punches."
"Calm down. A fight isn't really going to happen, but something even more interesting might."
Meanwhile, from another school building, the bespectacled blonde woman who had taken the test with Rohan was watching the situation from a second-floor window.
A bespectacled man with a huge beard then approached her and said, "Come with me, Miss Karin. I still have a lot to show you about our school. Don't worry about these pointless fights."
Karin then said, "Shh! Are you crazy? I'm not leaving. It was already interesting while the brown-haired guy was arguing with the red-haired man, but now someone else has come into the mix! I can't wait to see what happens, fufufu."
The man then approached the window and said, "... Okay, in that case, let's wait for the outcome of this situation before we continue with the tour of the school."
...
Back at the center of all the confusion, Rohan still hadn't answered the brown-haired man.
He was thinking, 'What do I do now? He isn't the first person who's told me not to go to this school. Am I making the wrong choice?'
The red-haired man then looked in at Rohan and said, "So? What are you going to do, kid?"
Rohan thought about what to say, but before he could, the man with short brown hair said, "Of course, he won't get into your school. He may have gotten an F, but that doesn't mean he's an idiot. Come with me, Lohan. Let's get out of here."
The brown-haired man then reached out to pull Rohan, but before he could, Rohan pushed his hand away.
This made the brown-haired man ask, "What are you doing?!"
Rohan then said, "I can ask you the same!"
"What are you talking about, Lohan?! Can't you see that I'm trying to help you?!"
"That's for me to decide! We hardly know each other! Stop meddling in my affairs!"
"Oh, that's right. I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Dominic. Now let's get out of here, Lohan."
"My name is Rohan, not Lohan."
"Ah ... whatever, the two names are almost the same. Let's get out of here, and then we'll talk some more."
"No. I'll stay here. You can leave on your own."
"So that's how you treat someone who's trying to help you? With ingratitude?"
"Don't lie. You don't give a damn about me or what I do. The only reason you're trying to 'help' me now is because you seem to be angry with the man with the red hair."
"I won't deny that's true, but I didn't lie about his test either. It's not worth going through that."
"Again, that's for me to decide. Now, if you'll excuse me."
Dominic remained silent, then moved away.
The red-haired man then said, "Hahaha, well said, kid. I like you. Now tell me about what you intend to do. Are you going to take the test or not?"
Rohan then thought, 'Well, now that I've said all that, there's no turning back.' and said, "Yes, I'm going to take the test."
"Excellent."
"My grade on the test was 'F' as you've already heard. Is that okay?"
"Yes. I don't care about that grade. The only thing you need to do to get into my school is to pass my test."
"Okay, in that case, I'll do everything I can to pass."
"Hahaha, I like you more with every passing second. Here."
The red-haired man then threw something in Rohan's direction.
He caught what the red-haired man had thrown, and when he looked at it, he saw that it was a black sphere a little bigger than a pill. He began to analyze it, but before he could look at it for long, he smelled a horrible odor that almost made him vomit.
Rohan asked, "What is this?"
The red-haired man said, "The test."
"The test? What do I have to do with it? Kill someone?"
"Eat."
"What?!"
"You have to eat it."
"You're kidding, right? You want me to eat this?!"
"I don't want to. You do. At least if you want to get into my school."
"... Does it at least taste good?"
"It tastes awful, and to be clear, if you throw up, you'll have failed the test."
"..."
"It's up to you, kid. You can always leave and train to get into some school down the road."
Rohan then fell silent and thought, 'That's true. If I have to eat this to enter this school, maybe it's better-' But before he could finish, the red-haired man interrupted his thoughts by saying, "Or you can eat that disgusting sphere in your hand and change your life forever."
The red-haired man put his long pipe in his mouth, then took it out, blowing some black smoke out of his nose.
He then said, "So, kid? What's your decision?"
Rohan was silent for a few seconds when he heard this, but then he opened his mouth and quickly swallowed the black sphere in his hand.
Seeing this, all the onlookers were shocked.
The red-haired man then said, "Hahaha, excellent boy. Welcome to the Palace of Death! If all goes well, you'll die, but if something goes wrong, you'll go through a mountain of suffering. I hope you're ready because you no longer have a choice."
Rohan was about to ask what he meant by that, but before he could, something began to rise in his throat, making him vomit. Rohan then thought he had vomited the black sphere, but when he looked at the ground in front of him, he realized that he had only vomited blood.
He was shocked to see this, but then something even worse happened. His vision blurred, and he stopped hearing the things around him. He then put his hand to his eyes and ears and realized that he was bleeding from both of them.
Soon afterward, he lost the strength in his legs and fell face-first to the ground, spraying blood everywhere.
The people who had taken the test with Rohan were in shock after seeing this, and the rest of the onlookers only shook their heads negatively, as if disapproving of Rohan's decision.
The red-haired man then came towards Rohan, lifted him off the ground onto one of his shoulders, and said as he carried him into the Palace of Death building, "You better hope you don't survive this, boy. Otherwise, what you've just felt will soon become a happy memory. Well, anyway, it's not like you can hear me now. Everything will depend on your luck."
Immediately afterward, he entered the building while carrying Rohan, leaving everyone outside in silence.