Man is infinite, and his ambition is to slay the dragon

"I see......"

Zig thought for a moment, "What else?"

"Besides...um, our mutual hobbies? Or why don't we just learn from the samurai of the past and go to the training ground over there to spar?" Kirihara Shizuya pointed to a dome-shaped building not far away, "That's one of the academy's training grounds. If you apply, you should be able to use it."

"Since we are both going to fight in the Seven Stars Sword Festival, why don't we get to know each other's spiritual equipment and abilities beforehand? To be honest, I'm also curious about how powerful the A-rank knights are."

Want to exchange ideas?

Sieg looked Kirihara Shizuya up and down and said, "You... probably haven't experienced actual combat yet, right?"

"Well, you could say that, what's the matter? Aren't you the same?"

"... After all, let's forget about the sparring."

After thinking for a while, Sieg shook his head and said, "I don't want to have you in the hospital on your first day of school. For your safety, let's not spar. I'm a little hungry, so I'm going to have lunch first. See you someday, Kirihara-san."

Having said that, Sieg turned and left.

As he watched him leaving, the smile on Kirihara Shizuya's face froze for a moment, and then gradually turned into a gloomy expression.

"Is this considered looking down on people?"

"A-level is really amazing~~~~"

(However, when it comes to the actual combat courses later, it will not be up to you.)

------------------

After separating from Shizuya Kirihara, Sieg quickly found the student cafeteria of Pojun Academy according to the map in the student handbook.

Although food and accommodation are free, it does not mean that the food and accommodation conditions at Pojun Academy are poor. Even if they cannot be said to be all delicacies from land and sea, they are undoubtedly one or two levels higher than ordinary schools.

After following other students' instructions and getting himself a lunch, Sieg sat down at a window seat in the cafeteria and tried to take a bite.

"...The taste is nothing like Miss Brunhilde's cooking."

Zieg looked at the lunch in front of him with disgust.

He was not someone who particularly cared about taste. After all, when he was surviving alone in the wilderness, he had no time to care about taste. It was good enough to have something to eat. But he had been living in the Klinghild for several months, and during this period he had been eating three meals prepared by Brunhild every day. Even if he didn't want to admit it, Sieg's taste had indeed become a little picky.

[Thank you very much, Mr. Zig, for praising my cooking skills]

Brunhilde in my mind thanked me.

[If Master Sieg doesn't mind the trouble, I can give you a cooking textbook. You just need to go to the nearby supermarket to buy the ingredients and come back to make them. In addition, Master Em has said many times before that if you want to be a good man, cooking is one of the necessary skills that you must master.]

"I cook for myself... Well, I can try it later."

[You can't use flame magic directly to roast it]

"I know~~~ huh?"

As Sieg was about to take his second bite, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure in his field of vision. He immediately waved his hand and shouted, "Black Iron!"

At the entrance of the cafeteria, Kurogane Ikki, who just walked in, heard the call, looked over and immediately walked over: "You're here first, Sieg-san, it's really early."

"It's already late, and the chairman called me to talk about the Seven Stars Sword Festival. But why are you so late? Does your special entrance lecture take a lot of time?"

"Well...it does take some time."

Kurogane Ikki's expression dimmed for a moment, but he still kept smiling.

Not missing the change in his expression, Sieg put away the smile on his face: "...Did something happen?"

"It's just something I expected. To put it simply, my family called me in for a talk - assuming they still think I'm a family member." Kurogane Ikki smiled bitterly, "But you mentioned the Seven Stars Sword Festival just now, are you going to participate?"

"Yes, it seems that the chairman allowed me to enroll just to let me participate. He said that if I were an A-level knight, I would definitely win the championship." Sieg picked up a piece of meat, "Not only me, according to the chairman, half of the places have been confirmed, including me as the top freshman, another person as the second freshman, and a person named [Raikiri]."

Rachel.

Hearing this title, Kurogane Ikki's eyes suddenly brightened: "Raikiri... I remember that what she said was indeed in this school."

"you know?"

"It's just a one-sided acquaintance. After all, he's a student knight who's been famous since the elementary school league."

"Elementary School Alliance? What is that?"

Kurogane Ikki smiled awkwardly: "You really don't know anything... To put it simply, it is a pre-school for magic knights. Although the formal training starts after entering the seven knight academies, some people will show outstanding talents in elementary school and will be focused on by all parties."

"That's what the Elementary School League is all about. The swordsman named Raikiri was also very famous in the Elementary School League and was one of my targets."

"The target."

Sieg took a bite of his rice and said, "So, Kurogane, are you going to participate in the Seven Star Sword Festival?"

9. Can’t we just kill them all?

Participate in the Seven Stars Sword Festival.

Upon hearing this suggestion, Kurogane Ikki nodded vigorously and said, "Of course. This is the annual stage to decide the strongest student knight. There is no reason for me not to participate. However, since three places have been confirmed, the competition for the remaining three places will surely be very fierce."

"Competition... maybe not."

"Eh?"

"When I talked to the chairman before, he told me about the criteria of Pojun Academy for selecting contestants. To be honest, it is not very friendly to you, Kurotsuchi - the six best people in the whole school will be selected according to their ability scores."

"..."

Kurogane Ikki fell silent for a moment.

The six best people were selected based on their abilities. This selection method basically sentenced Ikki Kurogane to death. After all, with his F-level abilities, it was impossible for the entire Pojun Academy to find a student weaker than him.

"I see... Although I am a little reluctant, I can understand it."

After a while, Kurogane Ikki smiled and spoke again.

"You accept it really quickly."

"It can't be helped. For a magic knight, rank is everything. If an F-rank knight like me is chosen as the representative, it would be inappropriate in every way."

Although he said so, he couldn't hide the bitterness on his face.

Sieg paused for a moment while eating, then said, "I don't quite understand why rank is everything, but considering your strength, you can't be a student if you can defeat the teacher of this school, right? And as long as you show your strength, there is a possibility that you will be selected as a representative."

"Anyway, there are still more than four months until the Seven Stars Swordsmanship Festival. You have plenty of time and opportunity... By the way, you should also know about the new system regarding practical courses, right?

"A new system? No, I haven't heard of it."

"Eh?"

95

Sieg was slightly stunned, and took out his student handbook and flipped through the contents he had written down: "That's it, [You must meet the minimum ability score to participate in practical subjects], I was thinking when I heard it before, this should be quite troublesome for you, right?"

"this......"

Looking at the relevant content that Sieg had written down, Ikki Kurogane's expression was visibly filled with astonishment and a loss that was difficult to conceal.

"Are you willing to go this far?"

"Ok?"

Hearing his whisper, Sieg couldn't help but ask, "Kurotetsu, what you said... sounds like you think this system is deliberately designed to make things difficult for you?"

"..."

Kurogane Ikki looked around in silence.

And Sieg also took a look around.

(A lot of people are staring at me... No, are they staring at Kurogane? It seems like he is more than just a simple F-rank.)

"Heitie, do you want to talk somewhere else?"

"Eh?"

Sieg's sudden words made Kurogane Ikki look surprised: "Change place?"

"After all, it seems like there are quite a few people staring at us here, and the environment is a bit noisy. If you don't mind, how about I finish lunch and then we go back to the dormitory to talk? We are neighbors anyway."

"...Well, that's all - thank you, Sieg-san."

"It's nothing, we just help each other."

--------------------------

More than an hour later.

In Zig's dormitory.

"—So, what's going on?"

Sieg sat on the sofa facing Ikki Kurogane, drinking boiled water and asked, "They actually set up a new system just to embarrass you. Could it be that the chairman has a grudge against you?"

"I think it must be my family... To be more precise, my father put pressure on the chairman." Kurogane Ikki said bitterly, "Mr. Sieg, do you know the last name [Kurogatsu]?"

"What's your last name? What's wrong? Is it special?"

"Uh......"

Kurogane Ikki was speechless for a moment, then he smiled as if relieved: "It seems that you really don't know - the Kurogane family is a very famous family in Japan. The heirs from generation to generation are all excellent swordsmen. It can be said to be a famous family in the world of magic knights. It is my hometown."

"But, to the Kurotsuchi family, I am a stain on their lives."

stain?

Sieg thought for a moment and said, "...Because your ability value is too low?"

"Yeah. After all, my magic power is only one-tenth of the average, not even as good as the average person. To the Kurogane family, I am just a burden and a waste." Kurogane Ikki said it very bluntly, making people a little surprised that he could actually evaluate himself like this. "Therefore, I have always been treated as an invisible person in the family. During festivals, I will be locked in a separate room, and I will never be called for training."

"In fact, I am now a runaway."

"It's amazing that you can still be so optimistic now." Sieg sighed, "So, you mean that even if you have run away from home and enrolled in the Knight Academy, your hometown doesn't want you to have an easy life?"

Kurogane Ikki sighed helplessly, "That's true for the current situation. The special entrance lecture before... Actually, I was called in by my father's secretary for a talk. My father hoped that I would voluntarily drop out of school. He said that if someone like me [F-rank] gets the Magic Knight Certificate, it would be a disgrace to the Kurogane family."

"And if I don't voluntarily drop out, my life in the academy will definitely not be easy. I'm afraid my family has already put pressure on the academy. This new system is one of them. It should be to prevent me from getting enough credits."

"Credits? What's that for?"

"..."

As if he had not expected Sieg to ask this question, Kurogane Ikki was stunned for a long time before he laughed and said, "Credits are very important, Sieg-san. If you don't have enough credits, you will be held back and won't get the Magic Knight Certificate, nor will you be able to graduate from school. Your academic investigation report will also be worse because of this."

"Hmm~~~I don't quite understand." Sieg waved his hands decisively, "But to put it simply, your family doesn't want you to graduate and is determined to make you drop out of school, right?"

"Well...but I'm not going to give up on that."

Kurogane Ikki's tone became much firmer.

"Becoming a magic knight is my dream. If I give up so easily, I would be sorry to Mr. Ryoma who saved me all those years ago."

"...Isn't this good?"

Looking at Kurogane Ikki's determined expression, Sieg smiled and said, "Although I don't know who Ryoma is, you are a person who won't give up. Now I just need to know this - I feel that we are a bit similar in this respect."

"Eh? Do you have a dream you don't want to give up?"

"Of course, my dream is to live well, no matter what happens, and if there are people who want to hinder my survival, then kill them all." Sieg smiled, "I feel like we will get along well, Kurogane. At least compared to that damn dwarf Kamui, I think you are much easier to get along with."

Divine power?

"Is he your friend?"

"If you continue to think so, I will fight you." Sieg said with a wry smile, "Also - since you are being bullied in various ways, I will come to help you. Although I dare not say that I can help you with everything, I will try my best to help you."

"Eh? This is embarrassing. If this gets involved with me, my family will—"

"What does that have to do with me?"

Zigg tilted his head. "If someone from your family wants to get in our way, why not just kill them?"

Do it, get rid of it?

"That... doesn't mean you're going to take action right away, right?"

"No, it means just take action and kill them all without leaving a single one."