The Berta Fortress was built by the kingdom just beyond its western border to block the advance of the Demon King’s army.
Surprisingly, it had become a strategically critical location, and the kingdom’s forces had successfully repelled the Demon King’s troops there several times.
But this time was different.
In the past, only high-ranking officers of the Demon King’s army would attack the region, with forces ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand.
However, this time, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Pector of Despair, personally led the Demon King’s army in a direct assault on Berta.
Pector, a being with unparalleled physical strength, wielded a sword that destroyed everything in its path.
Due to his sheer strength, no attack seemed to work against him.
The hero Eugene was summoned by the kingdom’s army to face off against Pector.
Although Eugene managed to endure Pector’s assault, the victory was not decisive.
Many soldiers, as well as Berta Fortress itself, were sacrificed in the process.
In reality, Pector retreated on his own terms rather than being defeated.
Inside the devastated fortress, Eugene collapsed onto a pile of rubble, exhausted.
“Barely held on…” Eugene muttered, his body covered in blood from the many wounds he had sustained during Pector’s attack.
Even lying down was a struggle.
“Can we really say we held them off?” someone asked.
At a glance, it seemed like a successful defense, but the damage was too great.
Of the 3,000 kingdom soldiers stationed at the fortress, 1,000 had been killed, and most of the remaining 2,000 were injured.
One of the fortress walls had collapsed entirely.
“This… the losses are just too heavy,” Eugene muttered.
Even though they had prevented Pector from taking the fortress, it didn’t feel like a true victory.
The elf Ella, her limbs trembling, murmured quietly, “How did that man stop him?”
Ella still couldn’t believe what had happened.
Pector, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was absurdly powerful.
Their party had only been able to defend against his attacks—striking back was out of the question.
The party had always known that Noah was strong, but they never imagined Pector would be this much of a monster.
Noah was strong, but they had thought he only fought Pector at a somewhat manageable level.
Reality was different.
With a single punch, Pector had collapsed part of the fortress, and every swing of his sword wiped out swaths of the kingdom’s army.
If it weren’t for the power of the holy sword, Eugene would have been killed in a single strike.
As Eugene nursed his wounds, he recalled something Pector had said during their fight.
[Is that man not here?]
[Who are you talking about? I, the hero, am your opponent.]
[What a waste of effort.]
With those words, Pector withdrew, as if he had no interest in Eugene at all.
It wasn’t that Eugene hadn’t inflicted any damage on Pector.
Eugene didn’t consider himself a perfect hero, but for the sake of his pride, he fought hard to uphold the dignity of the title against Pector.
In truth, by the middle of the battle, he was fighting just to survive.
“The real issue now is how the kingdom will respond to all of this,” Siriana said, sighing deeply.
“What do you mean?” Eugene asked, his face still showing signs of exhaustion.
“We’ve never taken such heavy losses when repelling the Four Heavenly Kings before.”
Siriana was right.
Up until now, no region that the hero’s party had supported had suffered such devastation.
“That’s true. Noah always handled everything.”
The thought that Noah had fought against such monsters alone was terrifying.
The holy sword didn’t work on Pector, Siriana’s divine powers didn’t affect him, and Ella’s arrows couldn’t even scratch his armor.
“From what we saw today, it seems that the dark magician has always managed to fully repel Pector in the past,” Ella murmured cautiously.
“What are you talking about?” Eugene asked.
“If Noah barely won, the areas he defended would have suffered as much damage as we did. But the man who fought the Four Heavenly Kings never even had a scratch on him.”
They should have gotten more information from Noah before now.
They had underestimated the Four Heavenly Kings because there had been little damage when Noah fought them.
“What should we do now? This is just the beginning,” Siriana said.
If battles like this continued, the kingdom could eventually fall to the Four Heavenly Kings.
If just Pector caused this much damage, what would happen if all Four Heavenly Kings targeted the kingdom?
They had to consider the worst-case scenario.
“Damn it! If only he’d taken down all the Heavenly Kings while he was at it!” Ella grumbled, furrowing her brow.
‘Is this really something a hero should say?’ she thought.
It was true they wondered why Noah hadn’t finished off all the Heavenly Kings, but still, it didn’t seem like something a hero should wish for.
This was the hero’s responsibility to begin with.
“We need to return to the capital,” Siriana said firmly.
If Pector attacked again, they wouldn’t be able to fight.
The hero’s party needed time to regroup.
***
The Academy Atlerina was an elite training institution located in the Imperial Capital, open to commoners, nobles, and even royalty.
Inside the academy, every student enjoyed equal rights regardless of their status.
Students could choose the courses they wanted, and the academy had a history spanning hundreds of years.
The main campus was second only to the Imperial Palace in size, and the headmaster, Magrid, was a retired SS-rank adventurer.
Magrid was receiving a report from Galedo, a former pupil, about Olivia.
“Is this true?” Magrid asked, his tone serious.
“Yes, Headmaster,” Galedo confirmed.
It was hard to believe that Olivia, who had gained a reputation for being arrogant and clingy towards the Crown Prince, hiding behind the name of the Ashtar family, had been concealing her true power all along.
Up until now, the information about Olivia had been hard to believe.
After hearing rumors from the student council, Magrid had ordered a swift investigation.
He was shocked to learn the truth.
Even the professors from the Swordsmanship and Magic departments had been dealing with something strange when it came to Olivia.
“Did she possess this much strength? Or is she… a demon? Has the barrier been breached?”
Magrid wanted to think that was the case, but even the possibility of her being a demon seemed unlikely.
“No, not at all,” Galedo replied.
“If she were a demon, the imperial capital would already be in an uproar. Besides, Olivia wasn’t worth the risk of a demon entering. Although she belonged to the Ashtar family, she had been robbed of her fiancé by her half-brother and had little standing among her peers.”
“Not to mention, she was merely a student, not a person of any significant status. The idea that a demon would risk breaking through the empire’s barriers to come here was absurd.”
Galedo shook his head. “There’s no possibility of a demon. After all, a demon doesn’t have a purpose for coming to the empire, do they?”
If it were a kingdom that had produced a hero, it might be different.
While the Demon Lord’s army had been spotted near the border recently, there was nothing to gain by sending a demon here.
The only possibility would be to create a rift within the strongest human nation, but that would make Olivia even less likely to be involved.
At the very least, they would need to stir up trouble among the nobles who were at odds with the royal family or meddle with the military, but targeting Olivia?
“That’s true, but I just can’t believe that Olivia has been hiding her strength,” Galedo remarked, acknowledging the validity in his words.
Considering Olivia’s actions so far, it seemed impossible for her to have accumulated that level of power.
In fact, it seemed far more plausible that a demon had breached the barriers and corrupted her.
“Hmm. However, I believe Olivia’s strength is genuine,” Galedo said. He had closely observed every one of Olivia’s actions.
It was clear that Olivia was arrogant.
She knew her own strength and tended to look down on others with it.
What surprised Galedo was how sophisticated her combat skills were; she was exceptionally refined.
She manifested arrows out of mana without consuming actual arrows, creating magical arrows.
The ability to materialize mana into arrows demonstrated her exceptional skills as a mage, and only pure mana could be used for such manifestations.
In other words, it had nothing to do with the demon’s powers or contracts.
“But that wasn’t all. She hit the target dead center. Not just once, but multiple times. And she even hit the target ten times in a row against an opponent who had provoked her.”
‘Such insane skill can’t be achieved through a contract with a demon.’
“Those who contracted with demons gained immense power, but that was all they acquired. They didn’t gain the nuanced skills of combat, like swordsmanship or archery. Olivia utilized her arrows with such familiarity, as if it were part of her daily life.”
“That wasn’t the end of it. She also handled a gun. The mana gun had only been distributed to families that funded the weaponry division’s firearms production.”
“The Ashtar family had been financially supporting the empire during the great famine, so they were unable to provide funding to the weaponry division, which meant they hadn’t received one.”
“Even if the Ashtar family had received one, it would have gone to the eldest or second son. It would be challenging for Olivia to handle it.”
This was the first time Olivia had held the mana gun. After a few shots, she hit the center as if she were handling a bow.
‘New weapons couldn’t be handled by just archery skills.’
‘She had to master the delicate technique of channeling mana into the gun. If she put in too much, the gun would malfunction, requiring a very precise control. Yet, Olivia easily channeled mana from the very beginning.’
She had grasped the operation method right away.
It was as if she were an expert.
“Then, that means she has been hiding her strength all this time. Is that even possible?”
“Now that you mention it, the point when Olivia changed was after her engagement with the crown prince was broken, when she moved up to her second year.”
“If she revealed it after breaking off the engagement, hmm.”
“That meant she didn’t want to show her strength to the crown prince. Yet, it didn’t seem like she was trying to impress him by flaunting her power now that they were no longer engaged.”
“It’s suspicious.”
“She’s acting as if she has completely liberated herself.”
“Could it be that the engagement to the crown prince had been a shackle that constrained Olivia? If that were the case, then her previous behavior, which seemed to fawn over him, was all an act.”
“If that were true, then she was indeed a terrifying woman. She had cast aside the pride of a noble lady and had clung to the crown prince to be despised.”
“Hmm. So, does that mean she intentionally waited for the breakup? Then, after breaking off the engagement, she revealed her strength to strike back at the crown prince and eliminate the noble students who had opposed her?”
“I think that’s a plausible interpretation. In fact, I’ve heard that commoners are now signing up for swordsmanship classes. The same goes for magic classes.”
“With the nobles out of the way, it was only natural that other students would fill the void.”
“Then the ones benefiting from this situation are the commoners.”
As commoners began to fill the classes that had been dominated by nobles, the notion of equality rang hollow.
Even in the academy, commoners remained oppressed, as the nobles always had priority in signing up for courses such as swordsmanship and magic that would eventually produce officers, knights, and mages.
“Moreover, those with talent breeze through their classes, taking exams quickly and enjoying their free time, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. That’s quite impressive. Surprisingly beneficial.”
***
Dean Magrid smirked.
He never expected that Olivia, labeled as a villainess, could be so advantageous.
“Is it about the advancement of commoners?”
“That’s right. The nobles have lived with their privileges without feeling any sense of crisis.”
The empire, a vast nation with an overflowing population, had historically been led by a minority of nobles rather than the majority of commoners.
“Yes.”
“Olivia’s actions aren’t bad at all. By the way, what is her family name?”
“The Ashtars.”
“That’s right. The prestigious Ashtar family.”
“As the threat of the Demon King expands into the Empire, the policies of the royal family and the nobles were aimed at providing opportunities for commoners as well. While it had been mere words until now, if Olivia acts this way, the commoners will surely seize the next generation, won’t they?”
Even if the nobles were to fall from power, they would find a way to continue attending the academy.
If that happened, they would face repeating a year, and whether they liked it or not, the next graduating class would consist largely of commoners.
“Hmm, that seems likely.”
“After all, I’m the dean. The academy is essentially a small empire led by the future crown prince.”
It’s no wonder that the nobles could only feel emboldened.
While the crown prince seems to treat commoners well, the reality is quite challenging.
Even now, many of his closest aides come from noble families that have long supported the pillars of the empire.
“What has been the reaction of the students who were defeated by Olivia? They aren’t fools; their futures are at stake. They must have rushed to report to their families. There have already been protests from the families of those who were expelled from the swordsmanship and magic departments.”
“Based on their reactions, I expect protests to come from their families by tomorrow.”
That’s to be expected.
However, mere protests wouldn’t suffice.
Even if their opponent was from the Ashtar family, the nobles have their pride.
“Would they just sit back and watch as their children’s futures were ruined over a single game?”
“The day after tomorrow, someone will come in person. And Olivia’s reaction?”
“She says she won’t forgive them under any circumstances.”
That’s to be expected.
Knowing her temperament, she wouldn’t change her stance until at least the head of the Ashtar family arrives.
“In the end, it looks like that esteemed noble will suffer a blow to their reputation. After all, Olivia is a crucial talent the empire cannot afford to lose. Let’s not allow that child to stray down a different path due to her intoxication with power.”
“She indeed possesses enough strength to be arrogant.”
“However, there has never been a being with such power who hasn’t succumbed to corruption.”
“At least for now, her arrogance is beating down on the stagnant nobles and implementing justice, but later on, that very arrogance will become poison.”
Especially now, when the world is unstable due to unusual movements from the Demon King.
Isn’t there a need for character education before that?
“Is something wrong?”
***
“There’s been a report from the Fortress of Berta in the kingdom.
Apparently, the Hero has forced Pector to retreat.”
In the midst of the disappearance of the Sword Saint, the Prime Minister, and the Archery Master known as Noah, this was somewhat welcome news.
“So they won, then? What’s the situation?”
“The Fortress of Berta, which had been holding out, has suffered significant damage, losing half of its structure, and over a thousand lives have been lost. The Hero seems to be less capable than expected.”
It’s evident that the Hero’s party has relied solely on Noah’s strength up until now.
Otherwise, such devastation would not have occurred.
The empire was well aware of this.
While it wasn’t the main battlefield, each time the Hero’s party was dispatched to resolve issues arising from demons or monsters in the kingdom, it was clear that it was Noah, not the Hero, who had done most of the work.
In fact, the Hero was seen visiting the tavern or embracing his women while Noah was fighting.
It was ridiculous.
Galedo had also participated in battles against the Demon King’s forces and understood this situation all too well.
“Does the Hero not fight?”
“I don’t need to go out. Noah will take care of it.”
It was as if they regarded Noah as the weakest link in the party.
The upper echelons of the empire had their doubts about the Hero’s abilities, but this battle at Berta definitively proved it: the Hero is weak.
“What has the Hero been doing all this time?”
Magrid shared the same question.
The few times he had seen him in the empire, it was obvious to anyone that Noah was the one truly acting as the Hero.
“Perhaps they just left everything to the Sword Saint.
Tsk, I wonder why the Goddess bestowed the Holy Sword upon such a person.”
The Goddess must be indifferent.
“Why on earth did she choose someone like him as the Hero?”
“Hmm, well then, I’ll take my leave.”
“Very well.”
After Galedo left, Dean Magrid turned his gaze out the window.
A small letter was wedged in the crack.
He took the letter in his hand and examined it, his eyes widening in surprise.
“Hmm? Oh?”
The letter bore the emblem of a dragon, symbolizing the Ashtar family.
This could mean that Olivia might be in for some trouble.