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Chapter 50.

The capital was covered in a crimson hue as the red sun descended into the horizon.

How futile! The bustling in the capital will soon fade away with the night.

Perched on the castle wall, the man in the brown mask thought as he looked down at the capital. As expected, it’s futile.

"Who are you!" Upon discovering an unidentified man, the guard patrolling the castle walls shouted.

Right at that moment, a strong gust of wind blew in forcing the guard to close his eyes. As soon as he felt the wind die, the guard opened his eyes again only to be suffused with doubt.

Just a moment ago, it seemed that a large man was sitting on the castle wall where civilians were forbidden, and yet now, the shadow of the man was nowhere to be found.

Did he jump down a 20-meter-tall wall?

The guard looked down the wall, but could not find any trace of the man.

It was just like a daydream.

-o-

"We’re about to begin the orientation ceremony of our training center. All new trainees are requested to be seated."

Inside the auditorium of the training center, a man, who looked like a professor, stood on the podium and spoke with a voice amplified by magic. The other new trainees took seats and waited for the ceremony to begin.

While I was waiting, I took a look at the thick guidebook that was distributed. This book concisely summarized the schedule. Firstly, if you looked at the schedule from August to November, for these four months, you could choose the classes you wanted to take along with mandatory ones and an exam at the end.

Then, in December, for one month, you would tour the Adventurers’ Guild, the Mercenary Alliance, departments in the imperial palace, magic tower, and district offices, and receive training before being given an appointment.

“From now on, we will start the Ninety-Eighth Civil Service Training. There will be a national anthem. All new trainees and officials at the training center are requested to stand."

The event had finally started. I stood up and sat down as instructed while focusing on what was written in the guidebook.

After the national anthem, I mulled over what classes to take in the future while the useless events were going on. The mandatory subjects were economic administration, imperial law, and etiquette?

What is etiquette for? These were the useless things that national institutes wasted their energy on. Next was swordsmanship and magic. A total of five subjects were compulsory.

I was going to opt for magic even if it wasn’t an obligatory course, but swordsmanship was a toughie. I had been practicing hard to control my strength, but I wondered if I could control it properly against the scrawny people who had only studied all their lives. I wondered if I would end up sending all of them to the hospital. Even if I were to secure low marks in swordsmanship, I should try to avoid it as much as possible.

Moving on, there was quite a large number of elective subjects. From the empire’s languages that would not be all that bad, to learning art and music; there were subjects that I wondered had anything to do with civil service. A minimum of two up to a maximum of four elective subjects could be selected.

Come to think of it, the real estate agent that pushed me into this boarding house had advised me to take the minimum number of courses possible.

When I was in my hometown, I had already mastered the empire’s language to a native level, so I should choose that as the first one. Now I had to pick one more, and looking at the subjects in the book, there was history, military science, geography, math, literature ... Study of adventuring??

I’d never heard of the study of adventuring. Why do you need this?

I read out the explanatory text, which hung in small notes under adventuring.

What is the study of adventuring?

The study of adventuring is aimed at surviving in various environments. It is a survival manual designed to give advice to beginner adventurers and support adventurers through studying ways to maximize effectiveness with minimal equipment.

Oh ho, so the study of adventuring was a subject for civil servants assigned to the Adventurers’ Guild.

At first glance, Adventurers’ Guild and Mercenary Alliance appeared to be private organizations. Most of the mercenaries and adventurers were civilians not formally employed by the empire, such as retired veterans and free knights. However, the two could be considered government-affiliated organizations as they were managed by the government.

As the adventurers and mercenaries combined would make nearly 200,000 troops, the empire would definitely control it if they were a decent nation. In addition, the romanticist adventurers may turn into bandits if the nation did not manage the Adventurer’s Guild.

As such, the two under the control of the empire were the foremost to be deployed as reserve forces in times of national disaster or war. In fact, out of the 1.2 million imperial soldiers, 200,000 were mercenaries and adventurers.

If the empire were to send civil servants to the Adventurers’ Guild, and the Mercenary Alliance to manage them, it would raise the question as to why they didn’t just directly employ them all as imperial soldiers instead of pretending to let them operate as private organizations.

As an answer to the question, it did have the advantage of not having to incur a cost on the empire’s end. The 200,000 troops, which were not needed immediately but may be needed one day, would remain in temporary employment and not have to be paid their salaries. It could remain as an organization that could actively be called on as needed.

This world was full of monsters and demons. As such, the imperial army’s main activities were inevitably monster subjugation. But this army that was the shield of the empire could at times also be the sword. In other words, closer to the borders of the other nations, depending on the military activities, the other countries could declare war in the name of feeling threatened. Therefore, the exploits of the imperial army on the southern border of the empire could only be passive.

This was especially true these days when there was not much hostility with foreign countries. That said, the adventurers and mercenaries were not associated with the imperial army, but could be used as aid from a private organization.

This advantage could only be considered an advantage given there was a degree of control. If it wasn’t possible to exercise control, and adventurers ran amok near the borders, it could be misunderstood that the empire was launching a preemptive strike.

The empire had to stop the adventurers from running rampant through constant management, so it sent civil servants to the Adventurer’s Guild and Mercenary Alliance.

Hmm, the study of adventuring. I might be able to get a good grade if I chose this subject. After all, I was born and raised in Olympus which was a part of the ten forbidden lands.

I know not of a desert without prey, but even in dangerous areas, I could confidently say, "An ogre that can kill a deer with one bite, is a fearsome monster. But now it’s my lunch." And most of all, adventure is a word that stimulates men’s romanticism even if I were pursuing a safe life.

While I was engrossed in the guidebook, the orientation ceremony was coming to an end.

"I will end the orientation ceremony now. I would like to thank the honored guests and their families for their presence. The new trainees will be given an additional explanation on top of the guidebooks that were distributed, so please wait a little longer."

It seemed quite a few people left the auditorium, leaving only and me and other new civil servants behind, Among the new civil servants, those who belonged to wealthy families seemed to have families or servants to attend.

"Oh, hello."

While I was absent-minded, a muscular man who seemed to be in his late thirties sat next to me and used the moment of transition to speak to me.

When I looked around, most of them seemed to be in their mid-to-late 20s, so the man who spoke to me seemed to have passed the exam at a rather late age. Still, he seemed like a polite person considering he spoke politely even when I was clearly younger than everyone else, not to mention that I looked even younger than my actual age.

"Yes, hello." I greeted with a smile. Isn’t it basic to treat a kind person with kindness?

The man next to me hesitated a little and asked, "I know it is rude to ask during a first meeting, but what is your age?"

"I am sixteen."

Because I looked younger than my age, he likely thought I looked like a child sitting down claiming to be a new civil servant. Of course, if he were to ignore me because I looked young, he better watch his back walking down the street at night.

The man who heard my age spoke with a bright expression and voice. "Oh! Is that so? It’s nice to meet someone of the same age."

"~Huh?"

What did I just hear? Same age?! There must be something wrong with my ear or my brain. Definitely one of the two.

"Ha-ha, in fact, I was a little troubled because all the people I saw around looked like they were 10 years older than me. Even if we are in the same class, a large age difference would make it hard to become close."

No, you seem to be 10 years older than your surroundings, did you accidentally say the opposite?

"Oh, of course, I’m one year older than you at seventeen, but I hear that you can get along just fine with only a year difference."

Seventeen? With that face? You look like a veteran who’s been a mercenary for about two decades but seventeen?

There’s a limit to presbyopia, but jeez, something is definitely wrong with my eyes, more than the ears or the brain.

"Where does it hurt?"

When I rubbed my eyes, the man ... no, the youth sitting next to me showed his concern.

"No, I got tired for a moment."

"Oh, is that so? Certainly, people get tired after sitting still for hours doing nothing. I was so happy to have met someone of a similar age that I got carried away. I’m sorry."

My eyesight was definitely over 4.0, both sides, but he did not look like a 17-year-old.

"It’s all right."

"Haha, I’m glad. Oh, and you don’t have to be so respectful. Aren’t we roughly the same age? Please speak comfortably.”

Looking at him speaking respectfully, I imagined myself speaking informally to the old youth sitting next to me. He was such an unlearned bastard.

"No, I’m comfortable speaking formally. You are doing it too."

It’s more uncomfortable to speak informally to that face. The old youth smiled embarrassedly at my words.

"Haha, it’s become a habit for me to speak formally. I tried to change it, but it wouldn’t change easily. But what’s comfortable is best, isn’t it?"

Then suddenly he extended his hand requesting a handshake and said, “Speaking of which, my introduction is late, I am Flam Dainter.”

"My name is Den Mark."

I didn’t bother to put the ‘von’ in the name. I reckon mentioning that I am a noble first would hinder making friends, but if I am ignored for not being a noble, all I have to do is show my ID card. Before we knew it, a person who seemed to be an instructor again began to climb onto the stage of the auditorium.