It had been two weeks since the expedition team returned.
Raviata had concluded her official schedule, and Shane and the others were able to return to their daily lives.
“In case you forgot, I’ll say it again: you must remain silent about anything related to the imperial family.”
“Uh, okay.”
“I understand, brother.”
“Mhmm.”
Just before arriving at the academy, Shane reminded the others and then got off the carriage.
As expected, they were greeted by numerous students and journalists.
The opening of the Great Mezaiya Forest had brought a great deal of activity to the Coalition’s Academy.
Dilaila who had seen such crowds a few times before still felt awkward and smiled awkwardly, while Klein maintained his usual friendly smile. Anais and Shane greeted the crowd without much change in their expressions.
Journalists rushed in to get an interview, but they were soon pushed back by guards and professors from the academy.
Finally, the Headmaster of the academy, Hausen G. Chronos, appeared.
“I have much to say, but first I want to tell you this. You’ve worked very hard and I am proud of you.”
Chronos welcomed Shane and the others with genuine sincerity.
He wanted to offer them more comfort and rest, but it was impossible right now.
With so much attention on them, he had a duty to hear about their exploration of the Great Forest as the Headmaster.
No, it was necessary even just to create that perception.
“It will be difficult, but I’ll have to take some of your time.”
“It’s fine.”
When Shane who was standing at the front spoke on behalf of the group, Chronos smiled kindly and led them to his private office.
“In fact, we’ve already received the documents related to the exploration from the Adventurers’ Guild and the Council. However, I called you here to give you some advice.”
“We will listen to whatever you have to say.”
“Haha, it’s nothing serious. Just a word of caution. The achievements you’ve made are so great that even I can’t take them lightly. But I worry that the fame you’ve gained at such a young age might turn into a poison for you.”
Shane quietly nodded his head at Chronos’s words.
Here, instead of just listening, it was right for Shane to speak first about what might be the problem.
“Yes. We expect that many will approach us aiming for our reputation.”
“Oh, you understand well without needing to be told. That’s right. Many will surely come looking for you.”
Shane had already anticipated as much.
Of course, it wasn’t the same for Dilaila and the other party members who were still bewildered by the current situation.
They were too busy being overwhelmed by the cheers of the people to worry about such things.
“I have seen many people over a long time. Among them were those who gained a lifetime’s worth of fame in an instant. Isn’t that the nature of this field? Right?”
“Yes, it is.”
Just like that, some found hidden secrets in dungeons unintentionally or solved unexplained phenomena.
People who gained sudden fame for various reasons weren’t hard to come by.
“I have seen how such people rise and fall. I called you here separately because I don’t want you to go through the same. Moreover, aren’t you the heroes who opened the cradle? It’s an achievement that happened after 100 years, so you can be proud. But I hope it doesn’t lead you to become arrogant.”
Headmaster Chronos spoke sincerely.
Shane also believed that Chronos was an essential figure for humanity.
It wasn’t just because he had the spirit of an educator.
In Shane’s previous life, Chronos had passed away around the time the organization was emerging in the world.
It was all because of an organized terrorist incident that occurred in the coalition.
At that time, Chronos fought at the front lines to protect the academy students, and because of that, he suffered fatal injuries and died soon after.
Therefore, Chronos was one of the few people Shane respected.
“Thank you for your concern. If any problems arise, may we come to you for advice?”
“Of course. Don’t hesitate. I also take pride in being the mentor of heroes who appeared after 100 years. Haha.”
Chronos said this as he saw them off, and the remaining members also seemed lost in thought.
Anais had a blank expression on her face, but inside she was quite conflicted.
As Chronos had just said, she had now become valuable and was likely to become a pawn of the imperial family.
Dilaila’s situation was no different.
She had once trusted someone easily and had suffered for it.
In the past, she thought that if her name value increased, others wouldn’t dare to mess with her, but when the situation actually arrived, she started to realize the reality of things.
Come to think of it, I’m just a highly famous individual of a different race with no backing or power…?
No matter how much she thought about it, this was not a time to be simply happy.
So Dilaila decided she needed to stick even closer to Shane and Klein.
What was the reputation of the Clayton family again…
Meanwhile, while the two were lost in such thoughts, Shane was having a separate conversation with Klein.
“Klein, it seems it would be best for us to move separately for a while.”
“Hmm… it’s unfortunate, but it seems we have to.”
This time, Klein quietly nodded his head in agreement.
Since Klein was not originally slow-witted, he had realized something from the earlier conversation with the headmaster.
“Right. You should focus on securing your position with the Adventurers Guild. This will help you with that.”
“What are these?”
Shane handed him a thick bundle of documents.
The content of the documents was a list of unclaimed dungeons that the Adventurers Guild had yet to clear.
Of course, it wasn’t just a list.
Since these were dungeons that Shane had cleared when he was involved with the organization in his past life, the documents also contained necessary information for progressing through the dungeons.
If Klein paid attention to the listed precautions, his skills would allow him to clear the dungeons without difficulty.
“Hmm, understood. So, what do you plan to do, big brother?”
“I plan to make my name known publicly. Anyway, I’m sure the head of the family is already eager.”
“Ah… it seems so.”
“There’s no need to worry about this semester’s grades anymore.”
The practical scores from the exploration of the Great Mezaiya Forest were already exceptional, and the only thing left was the written exam which he just needed to show up for on the test date.
As a fifth-year student, he was at a stage where he could start engaging in external activities without needing to attend the academy, so the academy didn’t interfere.
Except for the upcoming rank assessment, there was no longer any need to spend time at the academy.
From now on, I need to manage my reputation.
He still hadn’t obtained the dragon’s reverse scale from the elf queen Priscilla, and it would take some time for the elves of the Great Mezaiya Forest to find stability.
Until then, there was no need to explore other dungeons or cradles, so Shane planned to focus on managing his external reputation.
“Dilaila, you should follow Klein and focus on growing for now.”
“Oh? Mhmm, Okay.”
Having no reason to part ways with the Clayton family, Dilaila nodded her head naturally, and before they parted to their respective dorms, Shane called Anais aside to have some time alone with her.
In the meantime, Klein had once again left with a meaningful smile on his face… but Shane was getting used to it by now.
“What is it?”
“I wanted to tell you not to worry too much.”
“Worry?”
“Yes. As you know, the crown prince can’t move for now. Dominic’s Imperial Guard Knights were one of the important forces that the crown prince could use publicly. With one of them cut down, he’ll be busy dealing with that.”
“Oh…”
“Moreover, from the perspective of the imperial family, the annihilation of the Imperial Guards is not a trivial matter. Politically, the Knights of the Kingdom of Haiel managed to survive to some extent, and the Lampert Adventurer Party didn’t suffer huge losses. Only the Imperial Guards were completely annihilated, so the imperial family will see this as a disgrace.”
“Right.”
“Therefore, it will be the Emperor, who still holds imperial power, who will make a move. This means the crown prince won’t be able to act easily, so the things you’re worried about won’t happen for a while.”
“I see… that’s a relief.”
Anais who rarely showed much change in her expression breathed a genuine sigh of relief.
From the perspective of Anais, who had yet to fully understand the internal affairs of the Knights of Judgment entangled with the crown prince, being manipulated at their whim would never have been a pleasant situation.
Shane had reassured Anais beforehand to prevent her from going berserk under unnecessary pressure.
By inheriting Dominic’s memories this time, Shane was able to grasp most of the stories entangled with Anais and the imperial family.
Of course, more information would be needed to reach the detailed stages. But he had obtained all the information within his control.
After Anais left, Shane who was now alone began to reflect on his inner self as usual.
Despite Shane’s considerable achievements in the Great Mezaiya Forest, he still had many shortcomings in terms of sheer power.
Though he had succeeded in killing all the imperial guard knights and also eliminating the worst alchemist, Gordon, these feats were not accomplished by strength alone.
The imperial guard knights had fallen because they were unaware of his Origin’s power, and they had all been caught off guard.
Moreover, Gordon was not a complete being to begin with, and if Gordon had returned to his original body and used black magic along with the Necronomi masks, Shane would never have been able to defeat him.
It was possible only because the battle was meticulously planned under favorable conditions.
Therefore, Shane needed to find a way to cover his lack of magical power.
If he only used rune magic to make up for his shortcomings, there was a possibility that his weaknesses would be revealed like in the last battle with Gordon, so he had to think more deeply about his Origin.
This issue will be resolved once I obtain the dragon’s reverse scale.
Still, whenever Shane thought of the dragon’s reverse scale, his heart which had always been so cold grew strong.
He knew all too well what kind of events the organization had caused with the dragon’s reverse scale in his past life.
If Gordon had been the organization’s blacksmith, the dragon’s reverse scale had played the role of the organization’s army.
With this, the organization had lost two major weapons at once.
It was unclear what changes in behavior the organization might show in the future.
Probably, from now on, Shane wouldn’t be able to strike a great blow against the organization using future information, like he did during this Great Mezaiya Forest incident.
Even so, Shane did not feel regret.
It was information whose limits would be revealed anyway.
From the beginning, he had no intention of becoming a fool who didn’t try to change anything for fear that the precious knowledge of the future would be rendered useless by a changed future.
After checking his mental world, Shane cleared his thoughts and stood up.
If that’s the case, I’ll have to get busy from now on.
Klein also knew that fact, so he would soon embark on a dungeon exploration.
The reason was that the fame he had gained was merely exaggerated at that moment.
Therefore, before his current reputation vanished, he needed to turn this fame into a real reputation.
As the first step toward that, Shane decided to have a conversation with his father Lowell the head of the Clayton family for the first time in a long while.
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