The Thousand Year Sage Staff patted Emiya's shoulder, "Go all out. With our magic, even if you have just one breath left, we can bring you back."
Emiya: "…Then, I'll be counting on all of you, seniors!"
After a brief moment of surprise, Emiya immediately realized that this was a rare and precious opportunity.
A special training session targeting the Lv.6 [Black and White Knights]. This was something that countless people would beg for but never get.
Ryuu hesitated before speaking, "If that's the case, won't Shirou be under too much pressure…?"
"You over there, little girl, you shouldn't just stand idle either."
The [Thousand Year Sage Staff] looked at Ryuu, "Her Highness Riveria and I will accompany you for training."
Ryuu: "…So this involves me too, huh?"
For the young human boy and the elven girl, the journey to [The Great Tree Sea] didn't seem to be so simple.
———
During the daytime, Riveria and Emiya shared one flying dragon, while Friana and Ryuu rode another.
By now, Emiya finally understood the deeper meaning behind this travel arrangement.
That professor from the [School District], even during a short journey, never missed an opportunity to train young adventurers. Fully embodying the spirit of the 'old generation' educators who were serious and strict.
Letting Riveria and Emiya share a dragon wasn't, as initially stated, for the purpose of having Riveria protect the lower-leveled Emiya. Instead, it was to have Riveria, a member of the elven royal family with a vast knowledge base and rich adventuring experience, mentor the young adventurer.
In fact, thinking carefully, if safety was truly the main concern, then the two gods, whose divine powers were sealed in the lower realm, would be in greater need of protection from veteran adventurers.
Riveria was responsible for Emiya, while the other young member of the group, 18-year-old Miss Ryuu, was personally guided by Professor Friana, the [Thousand Year Sage Staff].
Even though Ryuu was already Lv.5, a top-tier adventurer who could stand on her own in the Dungeon City, in the eyes of these long-lived elven seniors, she was still just a fledgling child.
Friana simply called Ryuu a "good-for-nothing failure of an elf."
Her reasoning was, "You didn't study properly in the Elven Forest, you didn't go to the [School District] to learn, and at such a young age, you ran off to Orario to mess around with adventurers. Aside from being physically strong, you're just an ignorant fool."
It was an evaluation that was… hard to refute.
Compared to Riveria's gentle approach, Friana's teaching was far stricter.
She took out a small wooden mallet from her pocket, lectured Ryuu on various topics, and then conducted oral quizzes. If Ryuu couldn't answer correctly, she'd receive a knock on the head.
By the end of the day, Ryuu had several lumps on her head, standing out prominently.
Faced with this, the "failure of an elf" was on the verge of tears but dared not complain.
After all, this was one of the most senior professors in the [School District], Lv.6 [Thousand Year Sage Staff], providing an entire day of private one-on-one tutoring.
Back in the School District, students had to fight for a seat in Friana's magic classes. Now she was teaching for free. What was there to be dissatisfied with?
At night, before resting, Friana would also pull Riveria in for two-on-one combat training with Ryuu, while Emiya engaged in duels with the [Black and White Knight].
The results were obvious. Whether Emiya or Ryuu, both were effortlessly crushed by the Lv.6 elves, beaten black and blue, left covered in wounds.
At that point, Riveria would cast [Fil Eldis] to heal them, and then the battles would continue.
They trained late into the night, only stopping when exhaustion forced them into unconsciousness rather than rest.
However, while Ryuu struggled with the cultural lessons during the day, she was highly motivated for the nighttime training. Emiya, too, took this opportunity very seriously.
Even if he was completely overpowered, he still forced himself to stand up and endure for even a second longer.
Because this level of guidance and training was far too valuable, in fact, they owed a significant debt to the Loki Familia, the Freya Familia, and the [School District].
———
At a training ground carved out on a barren mountain, Friana hovered in midair, simultaneously quizzing Ryuu while bombarding her with magic attacks.
"Lion, what is the contemporary Elven Royal Family's stance on the divine blessings?"
Ryuu desperately rolled to avoid an attack and shouted: "It's… it's neutrality. The royal family does not favor any faction but allows elves to join different Familia as individuals!"
Friana continued, "Who originally created the [Philosopher's Stone]?"
Ryuu replied: "The [Sage] Fels!"
Friana temporarily halted her attacks, "Demonstrate the accelerated chanting technique I taught you today."
"Yes!"
Ryuu took a deep breath and began chanting the magic [Astraea Record].
Once Ryuu finished her incantation, Riveria, standing on the ground, also waved her staff.
[—Harbinger of the End, pristine snow. As twilight looms, summon the raging storm.]
[Sealed light, frozen earth.]
[Blizzard across the sky, the third winter—my name is Alf.]
Three blasts of winter frost surged toward Ryuu. She hurriedly raised the red sword in her left hand.
[Agaris Alvesynth]!
Her blade slashed through Riveria's blizzard magic, but in the face of the elven princess's overwhelming magical power, even Ryuu's full-strength flames were quickly extinguished, leaving only residual heat in the sword.
The [Alise's Sword] barely shielded her upper body from freezing. Riveria was slightly surprised by this.
'Despite the overwhelming difference in magical power between me and [Gale], she managed to resist to this extent… quite impressive.'
Ryuu had just recently leveled up to Lv.5, while Lv.6 Riveria had a magic stat of S960.
Riveria then followed up with a question: "Name at least three factions outside the Dungeon City and the School District that have First-Class Adventurers."
Ryuu immediately answered, "The Kali Familia of the Amazon Nation has no fewer than four Lv.5s. The Magic Kingdom has Lv.5 sorcerers. The Far East has warriors at Lv.5."
Friana asked again:,"What is the ancient monster sealed in the Far East?"
Ryuu hesitated, "It's… uh… Kaguya Itsujo?"
"Wrong."
Friana floated next to Ryuu, pulled out her wooden mallet, and—Bonk!—smacked her forehead.
"Ugh…", Ryuu clutched her head, tears welling up as she squatted down.
While Ryuu was enjoying this 'edutainment', on the other side of the training ground, a 'grand and dazzling' battle of swords was unfolding.
Emiya projected various swords, clashing against the Black Fairy's Demon Sword.
[Kanshou and Bakuya], [Fake • Red Hound], [Fake • Durandal]… or even swords Emiya forged himself.
Yet no matter what weapons he wielded, facing the [Black Fairy's Demon Sword] Hogni, the outcome was always the same.
Either shattered or disarmed, Emiya would simply project a new sword as his previous ones were destroyed. Before he knew it, the surroundings had turned into a graveyard of broken blades.
It wasn't that Emiya's projected weapons were weak, it was just that his stats were too inferior to Lv.6 Hogni, whose strength was S920, dexterity A899, and agility A840.
Still, Emiya did not grow discouraged by the disparity. Instead, he fought harder.
Meanwhile, Hogni remained expressionless, continuously unleashing slashes.
———
"Riveria-nee, can you introduce me to some things about the 'Zeus' Familia and the 'Hera' Familia?"
On the flying dragon, Shirou asked Riveria a question that had always been on his mind.
''Zeus' and 'Hera' Familia… How did Shirou learn about these two Familias?'
Riveria thought for a moment and first asked Shirou this question.
Shirou answered, "In the Adventurers' Guild and the Hephaestus Familia's warehouse, there are still some materials labeled as remnants of the Zeus and Hera Familias."
Among those materials, many originated from the 60th floor of the dungeon, or even deeper beyond the 70th floor. In the present-day Orario, these are rare and irreplaceable, almost extinct.
"I see. These two great Familias have left few traces in the city today, but in the past, they were even more prestigious than the current Freya Familia."
Riveria narrated: "Before the Freya Familia and our Loki Familia, the rulers of the labyrinth city were the Zeus and Hera Familias. Among them, the captain of the Zeus Familia was an adventurer with the title [Heroic Warrior], an Lv.8 adventurer; as for the Hera Familia, they had the highest-level adventurer in history since the descent of the gods, the Lv.9 [Empress]."
Lv.8, Lv.9—just listing these levels was enough to be shocking.
Currently, in the labyrinth city, only [King] stands at Lv.7, and even if the scope is expanded to the entire world, there is only one more, the [Knight of Scholars], just two in total.
"Not only that, but within the Zeus and Hera Familias, there were also adventurers at Lv.7 whose strength was not inferior to the [Heroic Warrior] and the [Empress]," Riveria spoke but did not mention the names and titles of these powerful individuals.
Shirou murmured softly, "And yet, these two powerful Familias have now completely fallen?"
Riveria nodded, "That's right. The Zeus and Hera Familias accepted the legendary three Great Missions—to subjugate Behemoth, Leviathan, and the One-Eyed Black Dragon."
She paused for a moment, "The Zeus Familia defeated Behemoth, the Hera Familia slew Leviathan, and then… the two Familias jointly challenged the One-Eyed Black Dragon, but in the end, they were nearly wiped out."
And the remnants of these near-destroyed Familias nearly led to the annihilation of the entire labyrinth city. That was another story.
"Behemoth, Leviathan, One-Eyed Black Dragon… Are they, like Antares, monsters from outside the dungeon?", Shirou asked.
"Yes, they are monsters that have existed in the world since ancient times," Riveria continued, "However, among these creatures, the Three Great Monsters are the strongest and most dangerous, which is why they were designated as the three Great Missions."
"Antares' potential strength should be between Lv.5 and Lv.6. It was just that, in the era it was born, there were no adventurers with divine blessings, nor any sufficiently powerful ancient heroes, so the Great Spirits chose to seal it instead…"
Riveria's voice trailed off. She noticed that the boy's body was unnaturally leaning forward, and his breathing was gradually becoming heavier.
The elven princess took hold of the reins, thought for a moment, then reached out and placed a hand on Shirou's shoulder, gently leaning his body back.
Riveria allowed Shirou to rest his upper body against her front, making his breathing steadier as he slept.
"As expected, the training these days has been too intense," Riveria sighed softly.
Since the journey began, Shirou and Ryuu had been undergoing extreme training. For Ryuu, with the physical endurance of a first-class adventurer, she could withstand the pressure, but for the boy, who was only Lv.2, it was too much.
And all of this, though unspoken, was something everyone understood. It was preparation for the final battle against Antares.
That battle required the boy to bear an immensely important and heavy responsibility.
Riveria glanced at the spear hanging behind Shirou's back, and a vague sense of unease churned in her heart.
By now, Riveria had already realized that something was very wrong with this subjugation mission.
There had never been a case where a monster required a specific weapon to be defeated. Let alone a weapon that could only be wielded by a specific person.
From Riveria's perspective, the simplest and most effective way to eliminate a monster like Antares would be to gather enough powerful magic users and obliterate the beast along with the entire ruins from the map.
In fact, the magic power of their current team was already sufficient to accomplish that.
Yet, the Guild had specifically assembled this subjugation team, composed of four Lv.6 adventurers, one Lv.5, all of whom possessed [Mage] abilities and immense magical power. Their most critical role was, in case Shirou couldn't wield that spear, they might be able to forcefully activate it using their combined magical strength.
But that was only a 'maybe'. Even the god overseeing the Adventurers' Guild was uncertain if this method would work. This was a last resort.
So, in the end, the heaviest burden still fell entirely on Shirou's shoulders.
'What a joke!', Every time she thought about it, Riveria would get so angry that she almost lost her usual composure and rationality.
'Do they even know how young this child is? How little time he has spent as an adventurer?'
She didn't know how many times she had wanted to grab Hermes and Artemis by their collars and question them. But every time, she would see Artemis' eyes filled with overwhelming sorrow and hold back.
Riveria was certain that the Guild and the gods had not been truthful about the true nature of this monster. They had deliberately withheld crucial information about it.
And the fact that they were still keeping secrets even now was part of what infuriated her.
Riveria gently stroked Shirou's hair. As they drew closer and closer to the [Great Tree Sea], the sense of unease in her heart grew stronger.
Aside from that, Riveria had also been dealing with a lot of aggravation from Friana these past few days. This petite elf senior had a rather unpleasant personality.
In her eyes, Riveria and the others, these so-called "youngsters", were all uncultured weaklings, and she never missed a chance to make sarcastic remarks.
Among the group, Shirou was tolerant, the Black and White Knights didn't care about anything unrelated to Goddess Freya, and Ryuu… well, Ryuu really was just an uneducated weakling.
[T/N: Hey everyone! If you're into mystery, magic, and a whole new twist on the wizarding world, check out my new fanfic "Harry Potter: Transmigrated Detective Link." A sharp-minded detective finds himself in the world of Hogwarts, and things are about to get interesting. Give it a read and let me know what you think!]
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y