It had been ten days since we had come to the academy.
Fran was feared as an instructor, but as a student, she was becoming familiar with the academy and her class.
She greeted students as we passed them, and if they had a mock battle scheduled for that day, they would often ask her to go easy on them. She ate together in the improved cafeteria and taught each other what she lacked in the class.
Fran also seemed to be enjoying life at the academy.
As for the classes, she didn’t doze off all the time. Several classes caught Fran’s interest, including the class on spirits and the class on magic. Well, if she was not interested, she would just doze off though.
I tried to wake Fran up at first. But she even devised a way to ignore my calls and stay asleep. I gave up trying to wake her up because of her persistence. After all, if I nag her too much, she might even start to hate the academy.
And besides the boring classes, she seemed to have other complaints as well.
『I mean, this is an academy, we can’t really go crazy like that, you know?』
「…Nn」
「…Woof」
Both Fran and Urushi seemed to be frustrated by the fact that they hadn’t been able to really exert themselves for the past week or so.
The first few days were still better. She was able to vent some when they were introduced to each class. But after that, there was hardly any fighting except for mock battles with the students.
If we were outside the town, I could have played with Fran and Urushi, but we couldn’t do that in the town. I wondered if we could borrow the academy’s training grounds, but that also seemed to be quite difficult.
The field outside, where they wouldn’t trouble anyone for being serious, was usually used by one of the classes. But when it was free, Fran had a class to attend.
I thought about going there after school, but that time was filled with club activities. The clubs’ names were quite fancy, like the Society for the Study of Military Arts, and there were also clubs with quite dangerous names.
『Besides, we’re going to have an off-campus survival training tomorrow. So, you’ll get a chance to kill some magic beasts and stuff there』
「Really?」
『…I’m not sure though. Besides, once we’re out of town, you can have a mock battle with Urushi』
「Oooh! I see」
「Woof woof」
『So, don’t make the mistake of using the wrong amount of force in the next mock battle, okay?』
「Nn!」
「Woof!」
As a matter of fact, several classes, including the Special Battle Class, had a tradition of going outside the academy for training every year at this time.
The location was planned to be on the shores of Lake Vivian. Apparently, it would also allow for swimming practice for the students.
As long as they lived in this country, they should visit it at least once, and visiting that huge lake would be a great experience for students from outside the country.
And Fran was going to participate on the instructor’s side.
(Looking forward to it!)
『You’re going to be their escort too, remember?』
Well, it seemed that adventurers from around Lake Vivian will be hired, so the students wouldn’t be in danger that often. And the students themselves were quite strong.
I heard that they would use carriages for transportation. Three days to get there, three days to stay, and three days to return.
『Once that’s done, your job as an instructor is over』
「Nn…」
『Hey?』
「Hmm?」
『If you want to stay, we can get yourself officially hired by the academy, you know? Well, it’s also okay for you to enroll as a student though』
This was Fran’s first time at the academy. In fact, it was the first time for her to be in contact with so many people of her age.
If Fran felt comfortable being in the academy, staying was an option.
However, Fran’ replied with a shake of her head
「…No」
『Are you sure?』
「Nn. It’s fun here, but being an adventurer is more fun. Besides, I won’t get stronger by staying here」
『But you’ll gain knowledge. It may go a long way, but it’ll help you get stronger』
「No need. I’ve thought of something when I heard about the evolution」
『Is it about the class?』
「Nn. Horial’s story. When I heard that, I thought that it would be great if everyone could evolve too」
By “everyone” she must mean all of the Black Cats except herself. In the past, Fran had fought for the Black Cat kin in her mind.
She wanted to break the curse that had been placed not only on her but on the entire Black Cat kin.
Apparently, after listening to Horial’s lesson, she reconfirmed her feelings and made them stronger once again.
『You’re ready for it, aren’t you?』
「Of course」
Breaking the Curse of the Black Cat kin. It would be an arduous path that would make the word “thorny” sound rather bland.
The power of the Black Cat tribe alone had to be enough to defeat the Evil People or the underlings of the Evil Gods with a threat level of S or higher. That was the condition for them to break the curse.
However, at present, there was no other Black Cat kinsman besides Fran that could participate in the battle.
The Black Cat people of the Beast Nation would have already started training and hunting the evil people. However, it was going to take quite some time before it would bore fruit.
In addition, if they want to fight an evil person with a threat level of S or higher, the strength they had gained through power leveling was not enough. They needed to have a core strength that was based on experience as blood, training as flesh, and everything that they had acquired on their own.
I wonder how long it would be before the Black Cat people would reach that level.
So, we have to go it alone or find a companion. The Black Cat kin was said to be the weakest, and their evolution had been blocked. However, there was an exception, Kiara. She was said to have gained that much strength thanks to the extra skill of the God of War’s favor. There was no guarantee that something similar would not happen to the other Black Cats.
But I don’t even know if there was someone as strong as her out there. So, there was no way we could rely on that alone.
「I need to get stronger and even stronger」
『Yeah, you’re right』
In the end, whether she was going to take on the challenge with a companion or alone, Fran needed to become even stronger than she was now to accomplish the ordeal.
