Subscriber of the Gods Chapter 313 - The Second Class (1)

“This is a disaster. This is no ordinary matter!”

“We must report quickly…!”

The followers of the Rosicrucian Order, who had been monitoring the movements of the Dawn Council within the Holy Empire, began to urgently organize the information they had gathered.

“The 3rd Apostle has returned.”

“What about the locations of the 1st and 2nd Apostles?”

“Unclear.”

“Then why has only the 3rd Apostle revealed himself?”

“That too is uncertain. But it seems there’s some plan in motion.”

At that moment, someone came running in urgently.

“We must evacuate immediately. Our secret hideout’s location has been discovered!”

“What!?”

“Discovered? How? We surely maintained tight security…”

Boom-! Crash-!

Loud noises were heard from outside. There was no time to debate such reasons now.

“Here’s an additional report. We’ve determined why the 3rd Apostle has come here.”

The Rosicrucian executive quickly read the report he received.

-3rd Apostle, returned from the Demon Empire.

-Appears to be for the purpose of understanding recent events, including the apostle hunt.

And the last line.

-Ethan Whiskers, targeting our god.

“Are the 1st and 2nd Apostles remaining in the Demon Empire? Did only the 3rd Apostle come over to assess this incident?”

At that moment, another loud noise erupted.

Crash-!

“Aaaargh!”

“For our goddess.”

“For our god!”

Outside, the Rosicrucian followers were sacrificing themselves in explosions, trying to stop the Dawn Council’s followers.

Even though the Rosicrucian followers guarding this place were quite skilled, seeing them being overwhelmingly defeated suggested that the 3rd Apostle’s core personnel had arrived.

“We’re out of time. Escape! This must be delivered without fail!”

The 3rd Apostle is targeting Ethan.

They’ve made their plans, so they’ll be carried out immediately, and Ethan, unaware of this, won’t be able to respond properly and will be caught off guard.

Ethan is strong. However, the opponent is the 3rd Apostle, one of the highest-ranking apostles of the Dawn Council.

They didn’t come alone, but brought a large force with them.

It meant they wouldn’t allow for any variables.

The Rosicrucian Order followers hurriedly gathered their documents and began to flee.

Whoosh-!

But that didn’t last long. A giant spear flew from behind, piercing through the follower at the very back.

“Damn it!”

Soon after, another spear flew in.

The Rosicrucian executive carrying the documents was about to be impaled, but a subordinate next to him barely managed to deflect the spear’s trajectory.

Of course, the price for that was devastating.

“Es… escape… And make sure to deliver…”

“Damn… I won’t forget your sacrifice. I’ll definitely deliver it!”

For these people, Ethan was proof that what they had been doing wasn’t wrong.

So Ethan absolutely must not die.

The Rosicrucian executive who had frantically escaped only checked that quite some distance had been put between them before he started pounding his chest area, breathing heavily.

After catching his breath, wiping his sweat, and taking several deep breaths, just as he was about to flee again.

Swoosh-!

Suddenly, a spear flew in and pierced his abdomen.

“You ran quite well. However.”

A man wearing a black robe appeared before him.

The man simply took the parchment the Rosicrucian executive was holding and tore it to pieces.

“This information will never be delivered. Ethan Whiskers will die as planned. The Ivecar Academy, which he tried to use as a stepping stone, will also disappear.”

“Cu… curse… you.”

“This is a matter the 3rd Apostle is personally handling. Even if you try to stop it, you can’t. That Ethan Whiskers, whom you call a god, will be torn to pieces and die, and the Whiskers family to which he belongs will no longer be a family of the Holy Empire.”

The man then smashed the executive’s head.

“For our goddess.”

As soon as the man left, the Rosicrucian executive’s body twitched.

The magic he had set up centered on his heart just before death began to move. The pitch-black energy that came out of the executive’s body soon found its direction and started moving.

The destination was where Ethan was.

***

Oz received separate education from Ethan, followed by Claudie and Duty.

Duty had some preconceptions due to Oz’s notorious reputation, feeling somewhat uncertain.

In addition, Claudie had particularly strong preconceptions about Oz.

Why did Claudie, who had extended a hand to Mason, who was also from a troubled background, not even offer a hand to Oz?

The reason was that Claudie had strongly felt something from Oz.

A powerful will to reach the top through solitary training rather than receiving guidance from someone else.

It felt urgent and there was too much self-assurance.

That’s why Claudie thought it was a valid reason not to extend a hand to Oz.

Of course, being valid was only by Claudie’s standards.

“If he hadn’t changed, he would have refused education even if we said we’d use Oz as a secret weapon.”

Claudie, who had just finished the class, smiled slightly.

“He’s become useful, Teacher Ethan. He’s completely different from back then. His eyes, his aura. Only his appearance remains the same.”

“I didn’t change much. It seems he thought about many things during his leave of absence. He’s fundamentally a smart student.”

Following Claudie, Duty also came out with a surprised expression.

“He’s quite something. He had already been thinking about combining swordsmanship with magic or combining physical enhancement with magic, and he applies it well too. If I teach him just a few of my know-hows, he’ll have no match within Ivecar.”

Duty looked at Ethan with a curious expression.

“How were you so sure?”

“It’s not because I’m special. I just came to my class and asked for help. If Oz had gone to other teachers’ classes and done the same thing, the result would have been the same.”

Duty couldn’t help but smile at those words.

He could have boasted and praised himself for his insight, but Ethan was thoroughly humble.

Well, it was because of that attitude that he decided to work with Ethan.

“Anyway, you’re saying they all passed, right?”

Ethan nodded with a grin.

Now all that was left was to put them to use.

***

Ethan’s Introduction to Practical Studies class.

The second class time had arrived.

Everyone was very much looking forward to it after hearing the first class.

Moreover, there was another point of interest, which was Oz’s attitude that would be shown today. Many thought that since he had been so thoroughly beaten on the first day, this time he would be thoroughly prepared to resist Ethan.

“What’s this?”

“We came early too, but when did he arrive?”

“Nervously… Is he perhaps trying to completely ruin Teacher Ethan’s class?”

Oz was sitting alone in the great hall. He was the first to arrive out of 150 students.

Other students who arrived one after another were surprised to see Oz sitting with his back straight.

“He’s sitting like a model student…”

“Can someone change like that in just a week?”

Although it was unknown what had happened in the week, he appeared to be full of enthusiasm to attend the class, at least outwardly.

“Everyone came early.”

Before much small talk could be exchanged, Ethan arrived.

Ethan was wearing quite comfortable clothing and carrying a wooden sword.

“From today, we’ll start the class in earnest. As I said in the first class, I intend to conduct a living class focused on practical experience rather than theory-centered lectures. You are all children of noble families. Of course, some of you aren’t.”

When Ron flinched his huge body, everyone recognized him.

Of course, not only Ron, but quite a few others who weren’t from noble backgrounds were mixed in here. There were cases of special admission, and cases where all the money of a family was used for admission.

“You all have enough talent to enter key positions in the country after graduation. But in reality, many academy graduates die when deployed to the field. They don’t even last long after deployment. Why? Because the academy doesn’t allow you to experience real combat situations, citing danger as the reason.”

It’s truly ironic.

They don’t gain real combat experience because it’s dangerous, but when they’re actually deployed to the field, they can’t survive for long.

“Due to the risk of assassination, the dangers of real combat, and numerous other risks, you graduate without proper real combat experience. Everything learned at the academy essentially becomes nothing but an empty shell. To think that this prestigious Ivecar is teaching only shells. How inefficient this is.”

Someone raised their hand at Ethan’s words.

“Go ahead with your question.”

“We also want real combat experience. But we heard that the academy side opposed it. Because they can’t control all students simultaneously. We heard that proper classes couldn’t be conducted in situations exposed to danger.”

“I can control it. That’s why I accepted as many people as possible.”

The students marveled at Ethan’s confidence. They had a strong feeling that Ethan, standing far away on the platform, was growing in real-time.

“There’s a way to teach real combat while protecting you from getting hurt. Of course, you can’t avoid getting hurt entirely, but when I say not getting hurt, I mean not dying.”

Ethan said this and stomped his foot.

“Indera, Jameson, Charlotte, Ander…”

Ethan then called out twenty names.

The students who were called suddenly looked puzzled.

He called out twenty names without looking at the attendance book. They didn’t think Ethan would have memorized the students’ names.

Eventually, the called students came forward and were even more surprised.

It was because all those called were students from the magic department.

“Why are you all so surprised? I know all 150 names of those taking this class. I’ve grasped all the basic information too, so don’t be surprised at everything.”

Saying this, Ethan instructed the magic department students to create a magic circle.

“The most basic fireball. Lower its power so you can place it on your hand, and maintain it.”

“Yes!”

Although there was an instruction to modify it slightly, that much was easy.

Everyone cast the magic with full concentration as instructed.

The moment flames ignited in the students’ hands.

Ethan stomped his foot hard with a bang.

Then the flames burning in their hands disappeared without a trace. At the same time, the students received a very slight penalty for the broken magic.

Their concentration was broken by a single action from Ethan.

As their focus broke, the magic circle could no longer be maintained.

Ethan twisted his body greatly and swung his wooden sword in the air.

Woong-!

The sword was swung exactly at the height of their necks.

“If this were real combat, you would all be dead from this.”

It was an indifferent voice.

“The enemies you’ll face outside won’t wait for you to complete your magic. They’ll try to neutralize and kill you by maximizing efficiency. The easiest way to neutralize a magician is to break their concentration like this.”

Ethan gestured to them again.

“This time, try to prepare yourselves.”

Now they knew that Ethan’s purpose was to break their concentration. If so, preparing was easy.

Just now, it was really sudden, so their concentration broke.

The magic department students created magic again.

Whoosh-.

Flames ignited.

At the same time, Ethan emitted mana from his body.

Due to restrictions within the academy, the amount was small and seemed unable to do anything, but Ethan could do quite a lot with this much mana.

Ethan extended his wooden sword, imbued mana into its blade, and slashed the air.

“Huh!?”

“Th-this…”

The students maintaining the magic were flustered.

Once again, their concentration was broken.

Ethan’s expression remained calm.

“You just died again. You didn’t die from some extraordinary technique. You died because you couldn’t maintain the most basic concentration.”

It was a tremendous humiliation.

At the same time, Ethan’s words that they had died again felt palpable.

If this were real combat, if Ethan had come to kill them.

As Ethan said, they would die unable to maintain even basic concentration.

Ethan left them as they were and called one student.

“Roanna Prochet.”

“Yes!”

The called Roanna flew and lightly landed in front of the platform.

“We’ll do the same thing. Cast the magic as I instructed.”

“Yes, teacher.”

Roanna’s eyes sparkled as she quickly created flames. The process was twice as fast as the other students.

Ethan stomped his foot in the same way to break her concentration.

At the same time, he extended his sword and emitted mana.

However, Roanna’s flame didn’t waver at all.

Roanna’s concentration wasn’t broken.

“……”

“……”

Seeing this, some students’ expressions twisted.

Roanna is a freshman but a member of the golden generation. It’s possible because of her outstanding talent…

But before such thoughts could be voiced, Ethan’s words continued.

“You don’t think it’s only possible because of Roanna’s outstanding talent, do you? Roanna’s talent is outstanding, but maintaining this concentration is something you all can do.”

Ethan looked at each student one by one as he spoke.

“The method of concentrating in any situation. The method of concentrating in the midst of real combat. I’ll teach you that.”