Little Tyrant Doesn’t Want to Meet with a Bad End

In some sense, it wasn’t wrong to say that the Ringbearers were almost untouchable in the academy.
It was a prestigious position that the students earned through their own strength and was thus inviolable.
It was more likely that the principal to be switched out than a Ringbearer to lose his position. 

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Of course, while there was a clause in the academy’s constitution that could be invoked to dismiss the incumbent principal, the likelihood of it happening was practically null.
Even if Antonio were to go senile from this day onward, dressing up as a woman to parade in Leinster’s city square, it would still take at least a year or so for the entire set of procedures to be completed.

As someone who had set a new record in ‘Night of the Demons’, Roel was also accorded special privileges too.
In fact, out of respect for the new record holder, the staff members even provided him with a list of buildings and training facilities so that he could pick any one of his liking.
The privilege of choice was truly gratifying.

Amongst the many options, three of them swiftly caught Roel’s eyes.
One was a tower located near the central district, the second was a cluster of villas by the lakeside, and the third was a manor located further away near the mountainside.

Looking at it in terms of area, the tall tower granted him the least control over his surroundings due to its proximity to the central district.
The mountainside manor had much more space being located in a more remote space, and the one that boasted the largest size of all was the lakeside villas.
In fact, the lakeside villas came as a package together with the lake. 

However, it was usually the quality that mattered more than the quantity when it came to land.
In terms of land value, the tower was located in the central district of the academy.
The gourmet street and commercial area were a short walk away, and most activities on the campus would be held there too.
It would be like living at the heart of a city. 

If he chose that location as the base of operations for the Bluerose Faction, he would be able to fully enjoy his student life. 

Delicacies would be available just a few steps away from his tower, and he would be in a good position to acquire firsthand news about all sorts of discounts and promotions.
It would be convenient for him to join campus activities as well.
Even if he was feeling lazy, he could opt to open the window and soak in the lively atmosphere below.
Most important of all, he would be able to sleep till just ten minutes before lessons started! 

This was practically the ideal student life to him!

If he had been granted this privilege in his previous life, he would have taken it without any hesitation.
It was just that there was another factor he had to take into account here—the suitability of the location for the construction of a training ground.
Unfortunately, the tower didn’t score well on that aspect since it would be impossible to construct a decent-sized training ground in the central district. 

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For the lakeside villas, its land value would be worth much less than the tower, but it provided the best accommodations.
These villas provided a scenic view of the lake, and the many activities one could do on a lake made it a great dating spot, be it rowing a boat, having a picnic, or just idly resting around.
In fact, most of the academy’s water activities were held at this lake.

There was plenty of land to work with here, and the lake could be incorporated into the training ground to create an optimal environment for the practice of water-related spells.

The location was half an hour’s walk away from the central district, shortened to around ten minutes if the academy’s unique magic mobility device was used.
It was neither near nor far from the central district, similar to how school dormitories in his previous life were usually positioned. 

Last but not least, the mountainside manor.
It was located near the borders of the academy, such that it would take several hours to reach the central district on foot and at least an hour on the magic mobility device.
It was greatly inconvenient in terms of accessibility.

That being said, the buildings were built grand and the renovations elegant.
On top of that, it came with an already built large training field too.
It was said to be constructed by one of Austine’s high nobles during the peak of their prosperity.

However, the greatest advantage—and, at the same time, disadvantage—to choosing the mountainside manor was not the facilities it came with but the mountain it was located in.
In other words, the mountain had a dungeon.

Sentinel Valley.

Similar to ‘Night of the Demons’, it was a unique dungeon where only those in the vicinity would be able to enter.
However, beneath its mild name, there were great dangers lurking within it, just that the chances of stumbling upon them weren’t too high.

Every time the Sentinel Valley opened, any expedition team seeking to explore the area would be required to have Destiny Bond cast on them.
Unless the entire party was wiped out, this spell would forcefully petrify any individual who had suffered a fatal attack, turning him into a statue awaiting his comrades’ rescue.
This way, the individual would at least stand a chance to survive if his party successfully defeated all of the demonic beasts and dragged him out of the dungeon to have the petrification dispelled.

However, if the entire party were to be eliminated or remained in the dungeon for more than three days, the petrification would be automatically undone.
Once that happened, anyone who sustained fatal injuries would be pretty much doomed.

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All in all, the dungeon wasn’t too dangerous. 

All they had to do was to station an individual at the entrance who could escape and seek help whenever required.
Still, this solution wasn’t foolproof as there would occasionally be students wandering off to remote corners of the dungeon, and sometimes, the petrified bodies would be buried underground due to their battles collapsing nearby terrain.
In such cases, it would be hard to reach the casualties on time.

In view of the risks, the academy refrained from incorporating the Sentinel Valley into their curriculum.
Searching for a few missing members in a couple of small expedition teams was still manageable with the help of magic tools, but anything beyond that would be a logistical nightmare, especially considering the three days’ time limit. 

Using the dungeon on a large-scale was a huge no-no, but it was still decent for the training of a small elite team. 

The only ways to really accumulate real-life combat experience in Saint Freya Academy was to either go on missions or challenge the dungeons, both of which carried significant risks.
At least measures could be taken in the Sentinel Valley in order to greatly increase the chances of survival, and help was readily accessible if things went awry.
When it came to missions outside the academy, there were hardly any reliable safety nets to fall back on.

Roel fell into hesitation as he weighed the pros and cons of the three options.
He knew that there was no way for him to get the best of both worlds here, so he decided to go with the mountainside manor that had a dungeon after careful contemplation.

There were three reasons behind his decision.

First, the demographics of the members that would be joining his faction.
Under normal circumstances, Roel should have been the second-in-charge of the Saint Mesit Theocracy’s nobles, Nora’s right hand man.
However, now that he had become a Ringbearer and was going to establish his own faction, he wouldn’t be able to work under Nora anymore.

That being said, he had no intention of poaching people from Nora and Charlotte’s factions, and that unfortunately meant that the scope of his recruitment would be greatly narrowed.
After careful consideration, he decided to target Brolne’s locals and the offspring of merchant houses and lower-ranking nobles.

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Those people tended to be the most hardworking ones in the Saint Freya Academy since there was nothing at home for them to inherit after their graduation, so they had no choice but to become independent.
Their main goal in the academy was to better themselves and expand their future opportunities, and Roel was more than willing to provide them with that.

Of course, he wasn’t just doing that out of kindness.
This was where the second reason came in—he wanted to recruit talents for the Ascart Fiefdom.
These students without any inheritance at home needed to find a job after graduation, and he, as the proxy fief lord, had the power of appointment.

Last but not least, Roel had the means to further reduce the risks posed by the dungeon.

The key problem with the safety procedure devised by the academy was the difficulty in searching for the petrified students, but this wasn’t an issue for Roel at all, for he had Peytra on his side.

It was practically blasphemy to claim that there was anything the Primordial Earth Goddess couldn’t find in the ground!

So, the greatest loophole in the security measure surrounding the Sentinel Valley wasn’t a problem for Roel at all, which meant that he could exploit its benefits to the greatest degree.
On top of that, he was also quite curious about the existence of dungeons too.

So, after making his choice known, the academy began dispatching workers over to the mountainside manor to fix up the area.
It would take around half a month before the place was ready, but it was good that the entire procedure wouldn’t require his attention since he was currently preoccupied with other matters.

Yesterday, at the Brokesword Tavern, Roel drank quite a bit of alcohol with Chris as he reassessed the latter’s personality.
His eventual conclusion was that his new academic advisor was indeed a candid person.

She was the type to wear her heart on her sleeves, not bothering to conceal her fondness or disdain for others.
She had picked up some bad habits in the years after she had fallen out of love, such as smoking whenever she felt anxious, but overall, her strengths far outweighed her flaws.
One thing that particularly stood out was her meticulousness.

In order to ensure that Roel could catch up with her classes as soon as possible, she even assigned a senior to mentor him.

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In the Saint Freya Academy, a student was required to attend the classes of his selected academic advisor, and these classes were usually combined with students of different grades.
The subject would vary depending on who the academic advisor was, but ‘Chris’ Classroom’ was particularly known for its difficulty.

Roel figured that it would take him at least half a year before he could catch up with Chris’ teachings despite the strong foundation he had built up, so having a senior student mentor him was much appreciated here. 

After reading up on it, he came to learn that the mentorship system was an exclusive privilege of the weaker students.
It was officially known as the Academic Support Pairing Program, and an example was the previous relationship between Carter and Chris.
There were benefits offered to the mentor like bonus Academic Credits and subsidies on tuition fees, but private mentors, such as in the case of Roel’s, weren’t entitled to them. 

To put it simply, Chris was specially tapping into her connections for Roel’s sake, and Roel was deeply thankful to her for that.
Of course, he was even more thankful to the senior for accepting the hassle. 

She must be a very caring and compassionate person.

… 

“Building 1’s Classroom 14, right?” murmured Roel under his breath as he scanned the boards hanging by the entrances of the classroom.

Meanwhile, at his destination, a black-haired young woman was currently receiving some instructions from her academic advisor.

“You want me to tutor a new First Grade student? Alright, leave it to me,” replied Lilian calmly.