207: Effort kind of spreads, huh.

At Kyle Academy, physical education taught kids how to survive even in the frontier—how to handle swords, that sort of thing.

Experienced adventurers were brought in as teachers for practical training.

Both Maina and Faydral had shown some spirit, but she was ordered to run laps around the field.

They both muttered about how they could at least manage magic, not happy about it.

Then the adventurer playing teacher twitched a blue vein on his forehead.

"Your base stamina's pathetic! You won't even get to real training until you can run a full lap without gasping for air!"

A perfectly reasonable point. They grudgingly started running. Maina panted after just a few steps, then ran a few more, then gasped again. Probably would’ve been faster just walking normally.

Faydral wasn’t quite that bad, but running a full lap around Kyle Academy’s wide grounds left them both gasping, nearly collapsing from exhaustion.

Sure, they’d both drunk stamina potions, but the potions’ nature meant pushing beyond a certain limit still caused fatigue. For the two of them, sprinting at full speed was the same as pushing their absolute limit—so they burned out in no time.

Which is why Maina could walk without tiring, covering long distances easily.

In stark contrast, Kanetsugu and Hanbee were locked in a fierce mock battle right in the center of the field.

The adventurers muttered, cursing under their breath.

“Damn it! Now I get why only high-rank adventurers were ever called to the academy before!”

The adventurer leader swung Ed’s sword upward, aiming to strike the rear line—but was instantly pinned down by Sika’s arrow, unable to break the Kendal siblings’ formation.

This group of adventurers had only recently arrived in Goldendown.

Most long-time adventurers had signed up as militia, leaving the academy with a sharp drop in available adventurers. So the newbies—like this team, barely a few days in town—had been handed the job. They were fuming inside, but kept their mouths shut.

Since arriving in the town, they’d seen countless things that defied common sense. But right now, these kids were at the top of that list.

No heraldry. No titles. Just slashing swords and spewing magic nonstop. It was insane.

I’d heard rumors about promising kids in the Adventurer’s Guild. But their strength? Way beyond anything I’d imagined.

"Hey, no holding back, brothers! We’ve got plenty of Healing Potions here!"

Wamika chimes in after Ed.

"My healing magic’s here too～"

"Ah! Count on me!"

No fear of injury at all—everyone’s dead serious, charging in hard. The adventurers had figured they’d just lightly tap the kids with wooden swords. But right after the start, they’re forced to switch to their real weapons and fight back.

And even if they go all out, those clothes the kids wear are a real pain.

Looks normal, but whatever they’re made of, blades just won’t cut through.

"Brace yourself for the bruises!"

The adventurer yells in frustration.

"Perfect. That’s exactly what I want!"

Ed, with his beastman speed and power, and above all, that ridiculous toughness, lunges in. There’s no room for mercy now—no time to hold back because they’re kids.

(No way—this is that reinforced thread outfit, only sold in this town! What the hell is this place, anyway!?)

In the end, they kept repeating battles that surpassed training.

Well.

Of course, the kids never actually went to war. But the conflict had a massive impact on the adventurers who hadn’t personally bonded with Goldendown and hadn’t joined as volunteers.

When war preparations kicked in, herbs and magic stones were never enough. Requests to gather them flooded the Adventurer’s Guild.

The burden fell hard on the adventurers who hadn’t become volunteers—most of them were newcomers who’d just arrived in Goldendown.

It’s easy to forget, with the town so peaceful, but this whole region is a death trap. Even just finding herbs demands real skill.

Meanwhile, training with the children became popular—especially since potions were handed out, making it feel like a special drill. Every party that joined saw their strength rise noticeably.

Thanks to that, the adventurer guild managed to keep up with demands from the production guilds and the territory: gathering materials, clearing monsters from the roads, all of it.

The actions of the Kendall siblings might’ve seemed pointless at first glance—but in reality, they’d contributed greatly to the region.

Of course.

The siblings themselves had no idea. They’d just been wasting time at the orphanage, preaching to the faithful.

◆

The war took a major turn when Masamune Saintclair—one of the three great families of the Mizoho Shrine Nation—betrayed them.

With several warriors, Masamune succeeded in landing a large force of imperial soldiers atop the bridge. Standing beside him was a mysterious humanoid with the form of a bee.

"Seriously, can't fly? That's a real pain in the ass, huh."

The bee-man glanced back at the imperial soldiers lined up behind him.

"Hey, human. If we keep going across this bridge, we reach Goldendoon, right?"

"Yeah."

"Still, I don't like this bridge."

"More importantly, what about my family—"

"Relax. I'll make sure you're properly recognized as an imperial noble, no worries."

"Got it."

"Then standing here doing nothing's pointless. Let's move out."

And so, the massive imperial army advanced in full force across the Dōn Bridge.

It was probably the sheer size of the bridge that made it such a hassle.

No ordinary stone bridge could've held more than a few thousand soldiers at once.

Two days passed before the imperial army finally reached Goldendoon, and the soldiers were utterly stunned by its sheer scale.

"Wh-what kind of damn huge town is this?"

"The fortress before the bridge looks like a doghouse! What kind of joke is that!?"

"What the hell is that castle wall?! Too damn high!"

"Look! There's a massive waterwheel way upstream! Smash that and their whole town dries up!"

"You idiot. They've got supplies stored inside the castle, and there's a gate on the other side of the bridge. Even if we’re surrounding them, they can still get food. Not to mention, how long do you think we’ll last with the rations we brought? We’ll run dry first."

The soldiers couldn’t stop murmuring, staring up at Goldendoon’s city walls and castle ramparts—rising like mountains.

Even though they were positioned beyond the range of arrows and spells, they couldn’t even see the full shape of the enemy’s fortress. The sheer terror of it was beyond imagining.

The far end of the bridge opened into a vast square. Big enough to fit the entire imperial army in one sweep.

Three sides of the square were blocked by walls. The front was a massive gate—naturally sealed shut, of course.

What scared the imperial soldiers most was the silence. Here was an army so large, it had marched right up to the gates of Goldendoon Castle, and still… no reaction. Not a single sound.

A voice cut through the tension. Naturally, it was the bee man.

“Alright then. Time to wipe out all these humans.”

A sharp chill shot through the imperial ranks. They’d come this far, after all. No way they’d go back empty-handed. That thought kept their spirits up, barely. And if they won? They’d get to loot freely. Judging by the enemy’s size, even the lowest grunt would get a decent share.

Of course. If we win.

Of course. There wasn’t a single reason we should’ve been able to win.