The day ended with self-introductions and meeting classmates.

When Lili left the classroom, the students began packing up to go home. They stuffed their newly issued textbooks for lectures into their bags. While such materials might not have been necessary in the elementary or middle divisions, the advanced division curriculum seemed rigorous enough to challenge even the suspicious fragments of knowledge I retained from my previous life. I couldn’t afford to fall behind, I thought as I focused on packing, until—

"Hel-looo~!"
"......"
"Hey, hey, hey. Look over here, will ya?"
"......"
"Heeey, nice to meetcha~! Neuuu~?"

As I stood to leave after finishing with my bag, I heard someone calling my alias, and only then did I realize they had been addressing me.

"Hm? Ah, my apologies. You were speaking to me?"
"That's right~."

Looking up, I saw a girl who had been seated behind me now standing by my desk. She was looking down at me—not because she was particularly tall, but because I was small.

Her slightly upturned, cat-like eyes gleamed mischievously. Her hair was a vivid, flame-like red, lustrous and cut to shoulder length. It wasn’t straight but soft and wavy, almost like the fur of a cat.

"Do you need something?"

Leaning down close to my face, she whispered in my ear.

"Hey, Eremia-kun. How about we team up?"

She seemed wary of the other students overhearing, given the way she whispered.

"Team up?"

What was she talking about?

Before I could ask, she pressed her palm against my mouth to silence me, glancing around nervously before whispering again.

"Shh."
"...Ah?"
"Come over here~."

She pulled me by the hand to a corner of the classroom, where she grinned broadly and began to explain.

"This is still a secret, but you know, at the advanced division level of Lehan Knight School, unlike in middle school, real combat is part of the curriculum."

Her drawn-out tone didn’t make her seem relaxed—rather, her speech was deliberate and calculated. It could have been an effort to match my perceived childishness or to disarm me, or it might have been the distinct pattern of a swindler skilled at doling out information at a controlled pace.

Either way, her mannerisms seemed intentional.

"Real combat? Are you talking about swordsmanship training? That’s been included since the elementary division, hasn’t it? It’s even in the enrollment guidelines that students are trained to use live blades."

Not wooden practice swords—real swords.

The red-haired girl shook her head side to side, causing her fluffy hair to sway gently.

"Nope~. Not practice, real combat."
"Hah, ridiculous. Are you saying they’re sending us to the battlefield?"

There was no way. Kilpus would never authorize such a thing. If that were the academy's policy, they wouldn’t have accepted someone like me in the first place.

Besides, at the moment, the kingdom’s greatest threat—the Egil Republic—was under a ceasefire agreement. That had been established a couple of years ago, coinciding with Lili’s departure from the military.

Of course, behind the scenes, fierce intelligence battles still raged. However, such skirmishes between spies and knights were far removed from the realm of involving mere students.

As if confirming my skepticism, the red-haired girl waved her hands dismissively.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. It’s for dungeon expeditions—monster subjugation, specifically."

Dungeons. So she meant the Dungeon Curriculum.

"Interesting. I hadn’t heard about this."
"Shh, it’s still a secret~! Don’t go blabbing to anyone, okay~?"

With a proud expression, she raised a finger as if guarding some great secret.

I was intrigued.

"Alright."
"It’s a trial curriculum, not implemented in other schools yet. The official purpose is to eliminate monsters in discovered dungeons and ensure the surrounding area’s safety."

I echoed her words, emphasizing a particular phrase.

"Official purpose."
"Hehe, exactly! Sharp as ever, Mr. Skipped-Grades~."

Dungeon subjugation, by its very nature, was the purview of knights.

The dangers lurking in dungeons couldn’t always be predicted. There were cases where ancient, deadly monsters guarded priceless treasures. If an unprepared group entered, they risked annihilation.

And that would be the best-case scenario.

There’s even a well-known tale of a country that, after disturbing a slumbering dragon guarding its treasure, was utterly incinerated along with its citizens. That nation no longer exists, its lands now barren wastelands.

Naturally, humanity had learned from such tragedies.

After such incidents, the standard approach became leaving the treasure untouched and sealing the dungeon entrance to prevent rogue adventurers from causing trouble. This responsibility eventually fell to the knights.

For the academy to delegate such duties to students seemed implausible. Yet, if the curriculum had been kept out of the official guidelines, there might be some truth to the girl’s claims.

Perhaps this reflected just how much trust was being placed in the newly established Lehan Knight School.

...Or, maybe, it was a sign that the knight corps no longer had the manpower to handle these tasks themselves.

The reason nations delved into dungeons was the immense contributions these places had historically made to national prosperity, especially in military advancements.

Mysterious metals impervious to magic, steel that never rusted even after a century, magical tomes containing lost spells, maps to uncharted continents, and vast hoards of gold and jewels had all been discovered in dungeons. Even the metallic thread woven into our uniforms was derived from forgotten dungeon technology.

Dungeons were dangerous, but they were undoubtedly treasures of great national value.

Still, monster subjugation? Interesting. This would be the perfect chance to test this weakened body of mine.

But I didn’t need dead weight. I had no intention of teaming up with anyone. I wanted freedom to act.

I looked up at the red-haired girl, my gaze innocent, like that of a child.

"So why do you want to team up with me? As you can see, I’m just a brainy little kid. I’d be more of a burden than an asset. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you or the other brats here. I was planning to—"

She cut me off with a mischievous grin, poking at my cheek with her finger.

"Oh, come on~. I know, you know?"
"Stop that. What do you mean by that?"

I swatted her hand away.

Her cat-like eyes narrowed slightly.

"You took down Instructor Givry during the practical exam, didn’t you? In a single strike, no less."
"I—I didn’t kill him! Don’t say things that could ruin my reputation!"

I heard he was hospitalized, but he’s alive, right? Wait, is he... dead?!