All first-year knight department students, all first-year magic department students. And the professors and instructors who manage and supervise them.
A large number of people, easily exceeding two hundred, gathered in one place.
"From today for a week, you will survive in this forest for..."
"The monsters..."
Aint carefully observed people while listening to the professors' final guidance.
More precisely, his gaze was moving according to Sir Gardner Alpenfassen's words.
Even though they attended the same academy, it was rare for such a large number of people to gather in one place, and Sir Gardner wanted to gauge the current level of the Empire.
"Aint."
No sooner had Sir Gardner finished speaking than Balrosi approached.
"Are you really okay by yourself?"
"Conflict between each other is forbidden anyway. I want to try it alone."
"Still, be careful. It's just that conflict is forbidden, not that there are no loopholes. There are plenty of crafty people."
"Thanks for the advice."
As Balrosi gave his advice and disappeared, this time it was the elf.
"Aint, have you changed your mind by any chance?"
"No."
"That's too bad. But if you change your mind during the practical, be sure to contact me."
Without even listening to Aint's response, Ariadne placed a small orb in his hand and disappeared.
"Hmm."
After hesitating briefly, Aint put the communication orb in his pocket.
"You never know. There's always a possibility."
Sir Gardner only clicked his tongue without saying anything more.
"Huh?"
At that moment, a familiar person caught Aint's eye while he was listening to the story.
"Senior Gerhard is over there?"
"As far as I know, upper-year students can serve as instructors in lower-year practical training. Could it be that?"
"There must be some reason. He's probably aiming for credits or extra points."
Originally, those were the purposes of all students who served as student instructors.
Although it seemed like a reasonable explanation, Gardner's suspicion only deepened.
"In 30 minutes, the practical will begin. Instructors to your positions first."
"To positions!"
At that moment, the instructors scattered in all directions.
It was just before the practical was about to start.
***
The way professors and instructors managed students was by defining zones.
Each would position themselves in their assigned zone and be responsible for the safety of students who entered.
"Gerhard."
"Yes, Professor."
Grad stopped Gerhard as he was about to go to his zone.
"Why didn't you come to me? If you had talked to me, you could have done the instructor job more easily."
Gerhard shrugged at the regret and greed evident in his eyes.
"I'll definitely ask you next time, Professor."
But even next time, if there was another route, he had no intention of using Grad.
Grad was an all-purpose professor who would do anything for money, but that also meant money was always required.
Gerhard's principle was to spend when necessary but save everywhere possible.
"I don't know what your purpose is, but don't cause any issues with the exam... No, you'll handle it well. You've never caused problems. I trust you."
"Thank you."
"You may go."
Arriving at his zone, Gerhard looked around. There was no lake, and the presence of monsters could be felt one by one from all directions.
From now on, students had to survive here for a week, being self-sufficient.
He unfolded the map. The map for professors and instructors showed the positions of students in real-time.
Students who hadn't started yet were gathered at the starting point, and after about 30 minutes, they finally began to move.
Gerhard carefully observed the number 38. For now, perhaps because of the gazes around, it seemed like the person was wandering around, meeting other students and parting repeatedly.
"Come on, Aint. Which lake is it? Show me."
But Aint didn't readily pick a direction toward a single lake and move. In the midst of this, someone called him from under a tree.
"Brother, I'm here."
It was the red-haired man, Janice Biance.
"You're here."
"How about it, shall we start right away?"
"Yes."
Janice opened a subspace and took out something. It was a dummy in the shape of a person.
"Give me some blood and mana, please."
Gerhard bit his finger and dropped blood onto the dummy. Right after injecting mana as well, a faint light began to leak from the dummy.
"Done."
Janice placed his hand on the heart of the dummy and cast a spell.
As various magic circles enveloped the entire dummy, after a while, the dummy, which was close to clay, slowly began to take shape.
It was Gerhard's face.
"Did you bring clothes?"
"Yes. Clothes identical to what I'm wearing today."
After dressing it, the dummy soon opened its eyes. Both its appearance and the energy it emitted were no different from Gerhard's at a glance.
"Won't it be detected?"
"Don't worry. There won't be any problems for at least five hours."
"What's the basis for that confidence?"
"Would you believe me if I said the reason I learned this magic was to sneak out and play away from the Pope's eyes?"
At his resolute gaze, Gerhard asked again.
"Are you saying you deceived the Pope?"
"No, he was never deceived."
Gerhard's brow furrowed.
"But detection usually happened after several hours had passed. Before that, even His Holiness was uncertain."
"That's sufficient."
The Pope of the Dragon Faith Order was officially the world's greatest magician. The fact that he couldn't give full certainty, even slightly, meant that the doppelganger magic was exceptionally effective.