I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 35: Didn’t Know! -

"Since I’m sure you’ve all been thoroughly briefed already, I’ll just cover the basics, okay?"

As Soekrel clapped her hands, a magical projection spread across the auditorium, showing a chaotic battle scene filled with clashing warriors.

“This mana zone is based on the suppression campaign against the House of Sacrarion, the family that led the rebellion eighty-two years ago.”

“...Ugh.”

Several cadets were already groaning with despair.

The Sacrarion Family—by today’s standards, they had once been as mighty as the Seriratus.

Then, out of nowhere, they turned their blades against the Empire. The shock of that betrayal had yet to fully fade, even after all this time.

What made it particularly disturbing was that to this day, no one had definitively identified the cause of their rebellion.

The accepted theory now was that the family head went insane, and every person who could’ve stopped him also lost their minds—but such an explanation was hard to believe. Naturally, conspiracy theories abounded.

That final battle on the last stronghold drew the greatest number of mages in imperial history, and despite the campaign’s massive scale, nearly sixty percent of it had been successfully reproduced for the Academy’s simulations.

Even so, the truth remained sealed away.

“Don’t worry too much—it’s not the Battle of Logon. The testing site’s just a minor skirmish that took place out on the fringe. Not that it’ll be easy or anything, hehe...”

“Same objective as always?”

“Yep. You’ll be treated as elite members of the Black Hound Mercenaries. I know you all know that already, but still—don’t break character or you’ll trigger errors. Complete the mission and you’ll earn points. After twelve hours, only the top ten teams with the most points pass. Everyone else? Eliminated. Oh, and—”

Soekrel paused, then grinned wickedly.

“If the team leader gets booted from the mana zone, your whole team fails. Got that?”

The most important rule.

There was once a lunatic who ignored the mission altogether and went around massacring other teams for fun.

Sure, he ended up blacklisted and became a complete pariah afterward—

But this rule meant that political infighting between rival houses, future enemies, was entirely permitted.

If you succeeded in knocking them out, they couldn’t take the Advanced Swordsmanship course. A massive advantage.

“Please, just tear each other apart. I’m not even asking for much. If I can whittle it down to seven—no, six teams, I’ll be satisfied...”

I left the raving Soekrel to her desperate hopes and walked toward my assigned teammates huddled in the corner.

More accurately, toward one particular member.

“Hey. Nice to see you.”

“...”

Arin looked up at me in surprise. Emily averted her gaze.

Arin started to run up to me like she was happy to see me—but then flinched and glanced around cautiously.

“...What are you looking for?”

“Where is it?”

“What’s ‘it’? What are you talking about?”

“I’m still not strong enough.”

What the hell is she talking about?

I stared at Arin, squinting, then frowned.

Her hands were a wreck.

“What happened to your hands?”

“...Hm?”

Arin looked at them as if she’d only just remembered they existed.

They were covered in shredded wounds—the kind that tear open again before the scabs can fully form. Ragged and raw.

I’d seen this before. I’d been through something similar while learning swordsmanship for Firnea’s sake.

Sighing, I pulled out the medical supplies I always carried and knelt down to treat her hands.

As I disinfected the wounds, I scolded her.

“Doesn’t it hurt? No—what the hell were you doing to end up like this?”

“Training. It’s noth—ah...”

She winced as the antiseptic stung.

Which was odd. This disinfectant felt like your flesh was getting eaten alive. For her to respond with just “ah...” was unsettling.

I had no choice, though. I carefully wrapped her hands, doing my best not to aggravate the injuries.

“So? What kind of training?”

“I copied what I saw in a book. Ten thousand swings a day.”

“...What?”

“This.”

Arin pulled out a training manual like it was some kind of sacred relic and handed it to me.

[The Basics of Swordsmanship: If you know nothing of swords, the first step is to train your fundamentals by swinging your blade ten thousand times a day...]

—RIP!

I tore the book apart on the spot, eyes wide, and asked her:

“Where did you get this garbage?”

“I-I have to return it... to the library...”

“No you don’t. Did the librarian give it to you?”

“No. Someone else.”

She’s already being targeted?

There’s no way in hell this kind of garbage is in the Academy’s library.

Telling beginners to swing a sword ten thousand times? Their muscles would shred apart. Repeating bad form like that would lock the mistake into their bodies permanently.

Still, Arin wasn’t off the hook either. Even if she didn’t know swordsmanship, the content alone should’ve raised some red flags.

“There’s no way this crap would actually help you.”

“It... does though...”

Arin protested meekly, then struck a sword pose with imaginary weight.

“Look.”

“What are you—hey, you can’t form effective stances without instruction. Just swinging blindly is—”

—Shhhk!

I cut myself off mid-sentence, breath catching for a second.

The way Arin’s strike sliced the air—it wasn’t normal.

Flawed, yes. Her grip was unsteady, her wrist twisted unnaturally, and her center of gravity was off. No way could you call it battle-ready.

But it was correct in one sense.

The direction she was trying to go, the result she was aiming for—it was clean, surgical, unmistakable.

A swing meant to cut. Nothing more, nothing less.

Arin looked up at me with a proud smile.

“How was it?”

“...You little freak. Not bad. Still, cut «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» it out with the ten thousand swings. That really will wreck your body.”

I reached up and ruffled Arin’s hair with a scowl.

“...Heh.”

She didn’t resist.

****

...Ruinedruinedruinedruinedruinedruinedruined...

Emily watched Virdem and Arin’s exchange with her head in her hands, practically vibrating with despair.

Being assigned to Firnea’s lackey was bad enough—

“How the hell am I supposed to pass now...”

Emily gnawed at her nails, scanning the room.

All the serious groups were full of brilliant, dazzling family names.

She had confidence, of course. The Laurencia sword was top-class.

Except for monsters like Paltis or Senfenesia, she could beat anyone one-on-one.

But—

“So why’d you pretend to be asleep back then?”

“I didn’t pretend.”

“Yeah, right. You don’t even sleep, remember?”

A twitchy cadet and Firnea’s errand-boy butler.

These were her teammates?

She might as well be taking the test alone.

Sure, even a degraded Magic Swordswoman like herself could scrape by, and Arin had shown some strange powers during the exam.

Something witch-like, maybe.

But even so, they were second-rate at best. Pitiful scraps of talent.

Could they even last ten seconds against nobles trained in proper secret sword arts...?

Emily’s leg shook with anxiety—then someone approached.

“Oh my, oh my~ Isn’t that Lady Emily~?”

“Truly~ We didn’t even notice you, so deep in thought about the exam! You applied for Advanced Swordsmanship too, didn’t you?”

“...”

Persistent little piranhas.

Emily glared at them with venom and growled:

“Elitab, Sisfia. Get lost.”

“Oooh~ What’s wrong? We only came to ask a question~”

“Just wanted to say hi, and she’s already so sharp~”

“Hmph...”

Emily snorted, eyes narrowed.

When House Roashia began to sink under Seriratus’s assault, worms she wouldn’t normally spare a glance for came crawling out to feast on the carcass.

These two were the most shameless of the bunch. Even as Emily snapped at them, Elitab leaned in, whispering just loud enough for her to hear.

“So, are you really not interested in teaming up with us~?”

“If you do, we could help you pass this test...”

“Fu—...!”

Emily swallowed a nearly explosive curse, then answered with force:

“House Roashia would rather die than grovel to anyone. So give it up—and fuck off.”

“Oooh, how scary~”

“Well then, we’ll have a nice long talk after the test. In the meantime, do your best with your little butler and the witch~”

“Kuuhuuhu...”

With sleazy giggles, the two noble ladies turned and walked away—trailing behind them was a massive cadet.

Takraphicion, wasn’t it? One of the lucky ones who got drafted.

Honestly... Emily was jealous.

“Why me...!”

A butler and a witch?

What rotten luck.

Truly, disgustingly rotten.

If she failed to pass this test and missed out on the Advanced Swordsmanship course—

It would mark the beginning of House Roashia’s public downfall.

“My brother Kyle said not to worry, that he was researching something strange beneath the mansion... but it’s hard to believe.”

To save the family—or at the very least, to keep it from collapsing completely—they had to make it into the top ten teams. No matter what.

‘If not for that bastard, I could’ve had at least one more decent teammate...’

Emily shot Virdem a look of pure venom—he had dropped his own talented cadet to secure his own spot, and now stood there completely unfazed.

Then, without meaning to, her eyes drifted toward Firnea.

And—

“Hiiek...!”

She instantly jerked her head away, staring down at the ground.

Ever since she arrived at the Academy, Firnea hadn’t made any overt moves against her. Emily had even started to wonder—maybe Firnea no longer saw her as an enemy? It had left her with a strange cocktail of relief and loneliness.

But clearly, that wasn’t the case.

“...Tch.”

‘W-Why is she so mad...?’

Firnea was glaring at her with the kind of fury that could crack stone.

It seemed to be aimed a little toward Virdem’s side, but there was no way she’d look at her own butler like that. That fury had to be for Emily.

...She hadn’t forgotten the storage room grudge.

‘Come on... Just let it go already...!’

Emily screamed internally.

But her eyes stayed locked on the ground.

****

“Alright, last call. Best of luck, everyone?”

“...Yes.”

Entering the mana zone was easy.

As soon as all three members placed their hands on the orb Soekrel handed them, something rushed up their arms and pierced into their minds.

They could’ve resisted—but it was pointless. They let it happen.

—Clunk, clunk! freeweɓnovel.cøm

“...Tch.”

In an instant, the building vanished, and a vast blue sky stretched out overhead.

As they brushed off the hay stuck to their backs and stood up, they found themselves on a carriage none of them recognized.

It was so crudely built that the rattling of its movement hammered directly into their skulls.

“Oww... My head...”

“...”

Arin and Emily both groaned and clutched their temples.

So who was driving the thing?

“Ah! You’re awake! Black Hound mercs, are you?”

The driver was a bearded, scruffy mercenary.

When he saw them stir, he cracked the reins, making the cart jolt even more violently.

“No time to waste—ask your questions quick! We’re in the middle of a war! You’ve got to regroup right away!”

“Uh, okay, so...”

Arin, clearly flustered by the man’s urgency, reached for her sword. I grabbed her shoulder and made her sit back down.

“No need to rush. Stay calm.”

“But he said we’re at war...”

“Look around you.”

“...Huh?”

Arin glanced at the surrounding plains—and tilted her head.

The cart tracks formed a perfect circle.

The mercenary wasn’t going anywhere. He was just driving in place.

“It’s the initial simulation setting. First, give us a map and conflict data.”

“There’s a box right there!”

We opened the box, spread the map on the floorboards—and then came the slightly annoyed voice.

“...You’ve done mana zones before, haven’t you?”

“Yes. A few times.”

Emily stood with arms folded, staring me down.

She looked confident, but her eyes betrayed the fear beneath.

If this continued, it could jeopardize the test. I sighed and flicked my finger.

“I’m well aware there’s tension between us. But we’ll shelve it until this exam is over.”

“I’m the team leader.”

“I’ll follow your orders. In this simulation only.”

“...”

Emily hesitated, then stepped closer and looked down at the map.

Of course. She didn’t have the luxury of playing favorites now.

If she failed this test, she’d have no choice but to bow to other houses—Roashia or not.

“You ever done the Sacrarion Suppression campaign?”

“Of course. It’s the largest, most accurate mana zone simulation. I’ve run it dozens of times. Even if you two are dead weight, as long as you follow my commands, we’ll pass.”

I stared at the overly talkative Emily and offered one piece of advice.

“Forget everything you’ve done before.”

“...?”

I looked up at the sky. Vast, cloudless, blue.

As if nothing had happened yet.

I clenched my teeth and murmured:

“...They’ve altered the scenario.”

Soekrel, that lunatic...

If I was right, that maniac wasn’t planning to leave even ten teams standing—

Not even five.