On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 384

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed — Chapter 384
Preliminary Duel (2)
Telvir faced the same crisis.
“Suddenly the professors are going to clash?”
“Dean, you refused, of course?”
“I accepted.”
“Oh.”
The Telvir professors collapsed into their chairs with the faces of men who’d lost everything.
“How are we supposed to beat Master-level fighters…….”
There was one fact none of them dared speak aloud.
That it wouldn’t help even if the Dean stepped in himself!
Because of the sheer existence of that tremendous powerhouse — Ziel Steelheart!
“No, he won’t be participating.”
“Oh!”
“Really?”
“Yes. Their Department Head advised against his participation.”
A small mercy in the midst of misfortune.
“Then perhaps you, Dean, might also…….”
“I too will not compete.”
So it would be a clash between the remaining professors.
“Then training begins today — right up until the eve festival.”
“Well, the students’ training is… wait, hold on. You’re saying that we……, correct?”
“Why ask what’s obvious? The duel takes place during the eve festival. Of course we must win and seize the initiative.”
The weight of the world fell upon the professors’ shoulders.
Edelwein Academy Sword School.
Though Ziel Steelheart was said to be the most outstanding among the faculty, the remaining professors were no lightweights either.
Of course, Merhen and Idel were, as everyone knew, not particularly formidable practitioners.
‘Though when I saw Professor Elcanto before, he seemed to have lost some weight…….’
‘Didn’t they say an Imperial Knight joined their ranks?’
There were exactly three threats to watch.
Elcanto.
Alyx.
And—
“That Professor Isabella there once fought alongside me. Don’t underestimate her. If her pedigree had been any better, she’d have already secured a place in the Imperial Knight Order by now.”
Professor Isabella herself.
The only Sword School professor who’d never fallen into any scandal and quietly proved her skill each time!
“We must win. Do you understand?”
“……Yes.”
“We have to win. We absolutely must win…….”
They needed to preserve their dignity before the students and boost morale for the exchange tournament that would take place during the Festa.
“But isn’t it true there are no Master-level fighters among the Sword School except for Teacher Ziel and that senior Berhal?”
“There is someone who stood on the threshold of Master-level. Isabella Altiador.”
“That woman…….”
One professor trembled at the horrific memory.
She had been of the same knight order.
He’d underestimated her and challenged her to a match.
And he’d been thoroughly crushed.
But he’d risen to a higher position than her afterward.
His noble house had carried him there.
Now his own family had lost its power and found itself in similar straits.
‘I must never face her.’
Fear carved into one’s bones doesn’t fade easily!
Unless one trained until death to win even if forced to fight her!
“We have one week left. Can you do this, gentlemen?”
“Of course!”
“We’ll give it our all!”
It wasn’t only the students whose resolve had hardened.
The Telvir professors had made their decision.
They would win — and channel that glory to their students!
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
At much the same moment.
“From today, I will be overseeing the training of three individuals. Professor Elcanto Paredes, Professor Alyx Rockbolt. And Professor Isabella Altiador.”
Nearly every building in the Academy had gone dark.
The four of them had gathered in the 2nd Year Auditorium.
“Your goal is to win.”
In this auditorium containing only four people, Ziel’s low, sonorous voice bored into the ears of the three professors.
‘The pressure is considerable,’ Alyx thought.
‘I’ve trained hard, even lost weight, but……’ Elcanto reflected.
Both Alyx and Elcanto carried the weight of expectation.
Alyx was an executor knight of the Imperial Palace.
Not Master-level yet, but that was evidence enough that he possessed sufficient potential to reach it one day.
Elcanto likewise was not Master-level, but had recently shed the excess weight and trained relentlessly, clawing his way back to the peak of his former prowess.
But aside from that, there were the students, Academy staff, and certainly parents who would come to this Festa as well!
‘I must win, no matter what.’
‘If I lose…… I might return to the Imperial Palace carrying nothing but dishonor.’
Both had their reasons and motivations crystal clear.
Isabella, however, thought differently.
“This should be interesting, Teacher Ziel. So you’ll help me complete my secret technique?”
“I’ll see whether it affects victory or not.”
Shring.
Isabella drew her sword at once and concentrated her mana.
Isabella’s secret technique was one no one had completed since the ancestor of House Altiador.
Even after it passed to Isabella, it remained unfinished—but perhaps this was the opportunity she needed.
“Huh.”
A secret technique from Professor Isabella.
Alyx and Elcanto both started in surprise.
Alyx might be one thing, but Elcanto had watched Isabella for quite some time.
‘She has a secret technique?’
A secret technique was something drawn only in dire straits, only when victory was absolutely necessary.
There were plenty of people who had never once used their secret technique in actual combat.
Moreover, it was something that absolutely had to remain hidden.
“It’s been ten years since I’ve shown it to anyone.”
Isabella unleashed her unfinished secret technique.
Crack!
With a single sweep of her blade, a wave of mana rippled outward!
The shockwave swallowed the wooden pillar standing in the center of the auditorium whole—
Crunch!
—and shattered it to splinters.
“…….”
“…Wow.”
Elcanto’s mouth fell open, while Alyx expressed pure admiration.
If you were caught in that, you died.
To unleash a shockwave of such magnitude!
Yet at the same moment, both could see it.
“It’s incomplete.”
“Yes, quite unfinished.”
It was far too slow.
The time for the shockwave to form and reach the wooden pillar had taken several seconds.
An opponent who could move would never be caught by such a speed—not unless they were completely unable to act.
“It’s sufficient for destroying a door, but not enough to shatter a person.”
Isabella sheathed her sword.
From the sweat beading on her brow and her somewhat ragged breathing, Ziel deduced one more fact.
“The mana consumption is severe as well.”
Ziel could plainly see that Isabella’s mana reserves had dropped noticeably—there was no need to theorize.
“You really do see everything, Teacher Ziel. That’s right. I’m fortunate to use it twice in a day. I’ve already used it once just now.”
“There is a way.”
“So quickly?”
“Yes. It’s simple.”
He offered a solution that was anything but simple.
“Reach Expert Highest-tier.”
“…….”
Everyone swallowed in silence.
“Once you reach the highest tier, most of these problems become solvable. You’ll be able to control the waves you’ve been sending out, and their speed will increase. Moreover, efficient mana usage becomes possible, so all the disadvantages of the secret techniques disappear.”
“As expected, my prediction was correct.”
“What prediction are you referring to?”
“I knew you’d arrive at that conclusion easily, Teacher Ziel.”
Professor Isabella nodded.
“Then I need to reach the highest tier within a week?”
“Yes.”
Their conversation was utterly surreal.
“Professor Alyx, what exactly are the two of you saying?”
“It sounds like you’re talking about moving a mountain to fill the sea.”
Master-level was rare enough, but Expert Highest-tier was equally scarce.
Reaching Expert Highest-tier meant securing the potential to eventually achieve Master-level!
Put simply, reaching the highest tier meant one could become Master-level.
Of course, it was ironic that one’s family house remained the largest factor determining the possibility of reaching Master-level.
“Then do it. I’ve felt a wall for quite some time now.”
“Understood. It’s possible.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s, it’s possible, you say?”
The ones actually taken aback were Elcanto and Alyx!
Ziel looked at them both and posed a question instead.
“Do you think it’s impossible?”
“Well…… isn’t that the common assumption? There’s only a week left.”
“How long does it take to take a single step, Professor Elcanto Paredes?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s the same. Professor Isabella Altiador need only take one step.”
For some reason, Ziel looked quite pleased with himself.
“How was that metaphor, by the way?”
“Hmm?”
“I thought you used such metaphors well. I’ve seen it in a book.”
Professor Isabella concurred.
“It was an excellent metaphor, Teacher Ziel. Just as you said, I’ve been unable to take that one step for ten years now. So in the end, I was pushed aside and wound up here.”
Elcanto flinched.
Something he’d never seen before was burning brightly in Professor Isabella’s eyes.
It was will.
“That’s why I saw it as a good opportunity. If you help me…… the Altiador Family will stake everything and support and sponsor you, Teacher Ziel, from this point forward.”
Ziel’s answer was worth seeing.
“I don’t need it.”
“Pardon?”
There were quite a lot of questions today.
“Our family’s prestige isn’t what it was in my ancestor’s time, but it remains substantial—”
“What I’m doing now is a duty. It’s not something I do in expectation of compensation.”
“Ah…….”
One person’s goal was set.
Professor Isabella’s achievement of Expert Highest-tier.
And the goals of two others became equally clear.
“Professor Alyx Rockbolt, Professor Elcanto Paredes. From now on, you’ll be sparring against a Master-level fighter. Train for a week, and if you can land ten or more attacks, that will suffice.”
“……Against you, Teacher Ziel?”
It seemed like something impossibly unreasonable.
Ten successful strikes in a week?
Even ten weeks wouldn’t make landing a single strike possible!
“No. Not me. Someone will be arriving shortly.”
Just as the words finished, a figure stepped into the auditorium.
“Wait, Teaching Assistant Gilbert?”
“Hmm?”
Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise, though they quickly shifted to expressions of acceptance.
‘I thought he was just here to help with class.’
That’s what she’d assumed.
“But who is this Master-level fighter you’re talking about, Teacher Ziel?”
“Teaching Assistant Gilbert just arrived.”
“……Really?”
Ziel pointed to Gilbert.
“He’s reached Master-level. Just recently, in fact.”
“You’re…… serious?”
“I am.”
He’d heard the rumors.
That Teaching Assistant Gilbert was actually from the Red Raven clan.
According to the whispers, the Red Raven had sent assassins to kill Gilbert, and in his fury, Ziel had wiped them all out…….
“The Teaching Assistant…… Master-level…….”
“Unbelievable…….”
Had he been hiding his strength?
The Red Raven was certainly a formidable organization, but it wasn’t exactly teeming with Master-level practitioners.
The Black Sky would be a different story!
“Teaching Assistant, how on earth…….”
Gilbert hesitated at Alyx’s question.
Then, remembering those past days, his body trembled.
That hellish Hell Training!
That maddening sleepless training!
That endless rolling!
And…….
The blood battle that drew the line between life and death—though that wasn’t hellish, exactly.
“……You just have to endure.”
“What?”
“If you endure…… you can reach Master-level. Somehow or other, you just have to endure.”
Those words, pregnant with so much unspoken meaning, made both Elcanto and Alyx tense.
‘Endure what?’
‘What exactly are we enduring?’
It had been hellish training, that’s what.
Gilbert was smiling now.
He could pass on everything he’d suffered through!
“Professors, I expect there will be considerable disruption over the next week. I ask for your understanding. Your goal is…… to become comfortable at the Expert Upper-tier level.”
Both of them were currently at Expert Upper-tier.
Elcanto was just barely into that tier.
Alyx had reached the upper tier some time ago but had plateaued.
So even if they couldn’t reach Expert Highest-tier like Isabella, they needed to become truly accustomed to the upper tier itself.
The sound of steel rang out.
Gilbert drew his sword.
Both professors drew theirs as well.
An inexplicable pressure!
They felt something distinctly different, a rank they did not possess.
‘He really is Master-level……!’
‘We’re finished.’
And there was one person who had slipped into the auditorium unseen, watching the scene with envy.
“I’m…… really jealous.”
It was Kelvin, who had failed to reach Master-level.
Ziel noticed Kelvin’s presence but turned his attention back to Isabella.
“Professor Isabella Altiador. Let us begin.”
Two hells were about to unfold in a single place.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————