Chapter 2: Chapter2

Chapter 2

1. I didn't know then (2)

#1 Their Story: A Certain Trainee

This is crazy. Absolutely crazy. Maddening, almost.

"Hohoho, they did mention that you were one of the best groups in history. I suppose they were right, seeing how well you kids are doing."

Magic was raining down from the skies. Only five days had passed since the start of the higher class training, and 30 people had survived.

On the midnight of the first day, the sudden magic bombing on our sleeping quarters knocked out half of the group. The length of time we've survived for during this five days was still quite long, I've heard, but even then, we were reaching the limit.

"Hmm, I have high expectations for this batch."

I could see instructor Naruan, who was talking to the communication wizard to direct the bombings every once in a while with an emotionless face.

I had heard that he was the one who shaped most of the powerhouses in the current organization by himself. I had heard that I might get the chance to become one of those people.

But whenever I heard those words, the other instructors all smirked and said this: [Even so, it's usually about one in twenty who make it to the top. Sometimes, it's one out of fifty.] Most of them come back next year to be trained again.

When I heard those words, I thought that I'd become one of those succeeding people.

I had cast away my war-torn village to step into the path of darkness.

My resolve was different from the kids who had come here because they had no choice.

In fact, this resolve of mine allowed me to rank twenty-seven out of a thousand other children.

But still... Isn't this really too much?

I went to sleep, excited about what I was to learn the very next day. And the moment I closed my eyes, a siren went off and our living quarters were destroyed within a minute. I come out confused and lost, and I'm told that if I don't make it to a specific location within a set time, I'm out.

The thing I've heard when I arrived at that location was perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

"Ooh. I've heard forty nine had survived the first attack, but to think forty nine would be here as well... As an instructor, I am exceedingly happy! I am so, so, soooo happy, in fact, it feels like I might as well be crying tears of joy right now!"

His delighted voice didn't fit his cold expression at all. His chilly eyes and trembling lips almost suggested that he was restraining his laughter.

"Ahh, it is said that the teachings of a teacher is akin to the heavens itself, but to think you'd make me cry... The gods above must be crying in joy with me as well."

Naruan looked up as if he was waiting for something, then looked down at us again.

"Right. It seems that the tears of the heavens would be falling upon us soon, so prepare your umbrellas."

The first thing I had in my mind was: was he crazy?

There were not a single clouds in the sky. There didn't seem to be any sign of rain. Plus, the "umbrella" that was provided for us was more like a wooden branch. It was incapable of blocking a single drop of water.

"...Hold on, this is?"

The one who rid me of my confusion was a high-pitched voice. When I turned around, I could see a girl ranked ten ranks higher than me, trainee number seventeen.

"Oho. So there's already someone who can recognize the umbrella. This'll be simple, then."

Snap.

The moment Naruan snapped his fingers, someone appeared next to him.

"Make it rain."

At the same time, silver rain began to fall upon us.

From

(TN: ↑ was mostly Ensj's translations back in the day, I just tweaked a few lines.)

***

Ahhh, it's as nervewracking as ever. When a new semester starts, did my old principal feel like this when he made the same speech he always did?

But to think he could still continue with such boring words despite that, as I thought, the job of principal isn't something just anyone can do.

You'd probably need at least a mithril-grade thick face to be a principal.

Although all I did was walk up to the pedestal, a hundred pairs of eyes all came to focus on me.

There are some excited ones, nervous ones, and some completely emotionless ones.

Well, not that it matters.

Grow like weeds and become my incentive! Is just about all I feel from that.

"Now, my fresh hatchlings with eggshell still stuck on your feathers, welcome. I am the one in charge of Squad 1, Instructor Naruan."

I could see some of them looking discontent at being called hatchlings.

Those're probably the ones who had their heads high from their pretty high prelim ranks.

But it's rare that top in primary school ends up being top in high school.

Of course, it's not like the skills from having your nose buried in your desk since primary school would have gone anywhere. That's not how talent works.

Starting suddenly and overturning the standards of normality.

That is the realm of genius. It doesn't seem like there are any geniuses among this lot, but there will definitely be someone who will rise to their talents and overturn the previous order.

"Other instructors start training from today, but Just. For. Today. I'll be giving you kids the day off. If I talk any more my mouth will hurt and you'll all only get pissed off. Go to your assigned dorms and for today, enjoy your day off."

After a moment of silence, the kids walked away happily as I watched over them and gently smirked.

As expected of an evil organization.

They didn't even give those kids a proper break. But I'm different! I let them rest the moment they came!

Where else are you going to find an instructor like me!

"...... Is this the infamous last supper?"

But even while looking at my kindly smile, the organization's personnel who had come to help with tomorrow's training, for some reason or another, all had their faces turning pale.

What was it? Was there something wrong with lunch?

"It's not their last. I haven't had anyone die on me in my training course yet."

"That's true. They won't die."

Although her words left a sour taste in my mouth I'm not going to ask any further.

Normally in an evil organization there's no real sense of camaraderie between colleagues.

Evil organizations that pointlessly insist on that tend to have all their members drawn in like sausages if so much as one of them get caught, so long-running evil organizations always live with the determination to abandon each other at any moment.

Because of that even when you need the cooperation with other branches, any of them could equally be enemies looking for an opportunity to stick their knives in your backs, and to prevent that you need to be pretty social even in an evil organization.

And in front of my eyes is one of the great peaks of the 'must be friends' list!

The famous magician brigade!

The moment you get on the bad side of either the mage corps that can blast away the enemy with accurate and heavy firepower, or any of the Treasury staff that guarantee your salary and operating overheads you might as well half kiss your organization life goodbye already.

When you desperately raised your budget but the Treasury worker that you were on bad terms with slashed your budget by half, or when the mage corps that promised to help out say they couldn't come because they were busy, of course it would have a massive impact on your job!

"Let's get ready, shall we."

"Understood."

Even so, according to the organization's official hierarchy I'm quite high up.

As the magician nodded in response to my words and vanished, I checked the time.

"Current time 1400 hours."

There's ten hours left till the day ends. I definitely said that you kids could rest Just. For. Today. you know?

#2. Their story: A certain mage's story.

"Boss, is this really training for kids?"

As a mage of Howling, a place far removed from justice and light, and far closer to darkness and evil, I've done plenty of things that shouldn't have been done.

If I was assigned a target then I would spare no means or effort to do the job, and if needed I'd even casually annihilated a village or two.

With scores of experience in killing yesterday's ally turned traitor, but this was weird, even for myself who had done all those things.

"If it's the Empire-style carpet bombing, then not even the organization's special forces can block that."

The very first day of the timetable and it's already absolutely insane.

The tactic that the Mad Witch of the Empire had devised during the last great war.

The theory behind it was simple.

A mage would head up to 5000m above sea level and create ice by freezing water vapour with ice magic, then drop it, simple as that, but the results were anything but.

A thirty thousand strong force of the Merdeia kingdom which was at odds with the Empire was annihilated with this simple tactic and five thousand of them died.

The magic barrier of the mages and archmages were torn to shreds by the simple concepts of mass and velocity, and even before Merdeia's soldiers could send out their mages to hunt ours, the troops led by the Mad Witch attacked the capital in chaos.

The battle where just ten thousand of that Mad Witch's forces more or less massacred thirty thousand of the military kingdom Merdeia's forces is already scheduled to be immortalised in the empire's history books.

But that, is going to be fired on these kids who've barely passed their preliminary training.

"You'll have to control it well."

"Boss! Even a pebble will break skulls if they're dropped from 5000m above sea level."

"Indeed. So the kids will need have the mindset that they need to dodge well."

"If they can't dodge they'll die!"

Even if the turnover rate is only slightly lower than the empire's during their slaughter-happy moments, I can't see this wastage of human resources like this.

My conscience hadn't run so dry to send these innocent kids to a dog's death.

But even in the face of my pleas the boss's answer was unchanging.

"They're not going to die."

No. To be precise, his eyes were dead and lilfeless.

"...Is it an order from the top?"

"It is, and one from Instructor Naruan's direct disciples."

Instructor Naruan's direct disciple.

The empire, no, the continent's evil organisations training facilities each had their own specific quirks, but what they all had in common was that each batch would have a hundred people in them.

Of course, not all of the hundred were trained perfectly.

Some places fifty, some places seventy, some places thirty.

Depending on the training there were a lot of trainees that died, and there were also some training schools where more died than graduated.

But even in amongst all those, Instructor Naruan's trainees were regarded as incomparable.

The reason being, very simply, that each time, no more than a single digit number of trainees ever completed the full course.

Organization or no, an instructor like that should be fired, but there was a reason why he could still hold his position as an instructor. That was because all the trainees who survived his training took the top positions of the organization with overwhelming strength and speed.

Especially the class just before the one regarded as the greatest ever, currently all the disciples from that squad broke record after record and all of them took vital roles in the organization's military, diplomacy, internal affairs, treasury and so on.

And even so, each and every of them were so talented that blew away all their subordinates' doubts.

"This is what the Intelligence Vice-Director says. They will feel like dying, but they won't die. They won't die, but they'll at least be able to tour heaven. While being a tourist in heaven is possible, where you will end up is hell."

"Is it just me that I'm even more worried after hearing that?"

"Even if we say anything the higher-ups won't listen. Since it went without a hitch last year, all we can do is just do as we're told."

Looking at my boss's sighing back, I sighed as well.

He was still one of the organization's greats as the boss of the battlemages, but even so, he was just a salaried villain.

"The start time is 0000 hours. The codeword is 'make it rain.' we just have to be ready to fire tomorrow at 0100 hours."

"We can only hope and pray they don't die."

It leaves a bitter taste in our mouths but what can we do.

If we were going to argue about those things then we should be working for the empire, not an evil organization.

"Please... We can only hope that no one dies."

"Is that really the case... There are times when death can be a more peaceful rest."

Looking at the boss's oddly bitter smile, all I could do was pray for the trainees who would fall into despair in a few short hours.