"Giddy-up—"
The cavalryman in black light armor led the way, galloping onto the road across the plain. Several carriages followed behind, heading toward Water Ditch Town.
Inside the carriages, the young students either rested with their eyes closed or checked their weapons and equipment. This was an extremely important assessment, and everyone felt tense and cautious.
At five in the afternoon, the convoy reached Water Ditch Town. They would rest there for the night, then head to a place about fifteen miles outside town the next morning for the assessment.
The inn's first-floor dining hall.
Sylutia, Mick, Comia, Karen, and Ray sat together at one table. The other tables were occupied by students as well. As they ate a lavish dinner, they discussed what might happen the next day.
Even the students who didn't know the assessment's contents had now learned roughly how it would proceed.
"The first objective tomorrow will definitely be to find something," Comia explained as she drank sweet honey water.
"The second objective will probably be to kill some First Order monster."
"As for the third objective, I heard it's really difficult. Very few people manage to complete it."
"Doesn't sound that hard," Mick said in a muffled voice around a mouthful of bread.
"First Order monsters aren't hard to deal with?" Comia tilted her head at the boy.
"Have you forgotten how that huge wild boar chased us all over the forest that day? We nearly got into trouble."
"We hadn't reached the First Order back then, so of course we couldn't beat it." Mick swallowed his bread, his words becoming clearer. He gripped the steel sword on the table, testing his strength.
"It's different now." His voice held a note of calm confidence.
"Forget it. I'm not going to argue with you about this."