Conquering The Novel

At The Same Time In The Adventurer Association Building~

In the Hero Association building, Mina, Jessica\'s secretary, was seated with her friends in the cafeteria, watching the Interacademy tournament live on the small holographic screen placed at the center of the table.

"See I was right, wasn\'t I? I told you it was the Team Cherry Blossom who had completed the final round first!" Mina exclaimed with a grin.

"Yeah, but does that matter though? Because team Soreh academy is still in 10 points lead and the gap will only grow larger with every match," a black-haired woman said before taking a bite of a cookie.

"That\'s where you are wrong," Mina said before adding. "They just need one bad match. One bad match and the whole points table will shuffle noticeably."

"Yup, but other than these matches, I am more interested in the face-off between Ares and Hercules," a pink-haired woman chimed in.

"Same! Even our President might be eager about that match, right? Didn\'t she say she will apologize to Ares if he wins against Hercules?" the black-haired woman added.

Mina had an uneasy smile when she heard them. After doing some investigation, she knew that Ares was not what everyone thought he was. Also, the President had even admitted that it was a mistake on her part for not believing his words at the time.

\'And also, I have an unsettling theory that connects The Demon Lord Killer Marz and Ares. If they are connected, then things will get difficult for the President,\' Mina pondered, shaking her head.

"Hey, Mina! I am talking to you? What are you daydreaming about?" one of her friends brought her out of her daze.

"Ah, sorry. Did you say something?" Mina asked.

"Tsh, it\'s nothing! It seems the president is already here and calling you," the pick-haired woman said, pointing at Mina\'s phone that was placed on the table.

Riing—Riing

!!

[H-Hello?] Mina answered.

[Mina, come to my office, now!] Jessica\'s voice could be heard from the other side of the phone.

[...Yeah, I will be right there!] Mina replied before hanging up.

Tic!—

Fuuu~

Mina exhaled heavily.

"She is already here, huh?" the black-haired woman asked.

"Yes," Mina replied as she got up and picked up her belongings.

"More work?" the pink-haired woman questioned.

"Sigh, I think so," she sighed before beginning to leave.

From the day that letter from some unknown person arrived, her workload increased, and the recent death of a demon lord only added to her workload.

"...Should I quit my job?" she muttered under her breath and made her way toward Jessica\'s office.

"Oh, hello, Mina. Can you help me get a sign of the president on these Gate-related documents?" one of her colleagues said, rushing toward her with the documents.

"Yeah, sure, why not!" Mina said with a smile.

\'Why don\'t you get the sign yourself? If you are that afraid to enter her office, you should just quit!\' Mina thought inwardly.

"Mina, while you are at it, can you help us pass these files as well? Thanks!" Other colleagues began to pass her their files as well.

"Thanks."

"Thanks."

...

In no time, she was now carrying a pile of files in her hand.

"....."

\'...This is straight-up bullying—\' Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Ah, Mina, do you need any help?" A man\'s voice could be heard, and she immediately recognized whose voice it was.

"Oh, A-Arman. Don\'t worry, I can carry this much by myself, but if you want, you can—" she said, turning toward him with an appreciative smile, happy that there was at least someone who finally wanted to offer her some help.

"Great, then can you pass my file to the president as well? Thank you so much!" He said, placing the file on top of the pile of files she was carrying with a smile and began to walk past her.

"...."

"...What was I even expecting?" Mina muttered to herself with a bitter smile as she continued to make her way toward Jessica\'s office, buried under piles of files in her hand.

Knock—Knock

She knocked on Jessica\'s office door.

"Enter!" Jessica gave permission.

Click—

"What the...? Why are you always carrying so many files with you? Are you the only person working in the hero association now?" Jessica asked. Her face was pale, and tiredness was clearly visible on her face.

"...They are just too afraid to enter your office," Mina said as she placed the files on Jessica\'s table.

"Sigh, Am I really that scary?" Jessica muttered, getting back to check the file.

"Yes, you are scary!" Mina whispered to herself.

"...."

"...You know I could hear you right?" Jessica said, still busy checking the file.

"Oh, sorry about that," Mina said with a sheepish smile.

"Did you get what I asked you?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, as per your request, the Adventurer association sent us the footage of that Marz\'s ranking assessment. In return, they are asking for your help if he tries to come after them for sharing his confidential footage," Mina informed.

"Why would they send the footage so easily? What\'s the catch?" Jessica asked, suspicion lacing her voice.

"As I investigated, I found out that one of the adventurer association president\'s daughters has offended this Marz guy after his assessment," Mina revealed.

"Pfft, hahaha! How amusing," Jessica chuckled.

"...."

\'...I think you are being happy too soon, President! Because you have offended an equally dangerous guy,\' Mina thought to herself but didn\'t voice it out loud.

"Haaa, show me the footage," Jessica said, finally stopping her laughter.

"...Here," Mina said as she passed her a tablet screen from her storage ring.

Jessica began to watch the footage, skipping through the parts in between as she had no time to watch the whole video, which was more than 30 minutes long. Her expression was like a rollercoaster, changing continuously as she watched the few parts while skipping.

And her eyebrows furrowed at the end of the clip where the dragon was defeated.

"This...?" Jessica said, halting in her words as she began to replay the final attack again where Marz\'s sword was able to penetrate the dragon\'s scales with ease.

Swish—

"...Firstly, he is using Telekinesis as if he has an abundant amount of mana," Jessica said, pausing for a moment. "As everyone knows, Telekinesis is a low-rank skill, and due to its excessive use of mana people tend to ignore that skill, and those who possess it will avoid using it in battle so as not to burn out their mana quickly."

Watching Marz use Telekinesis throughout the assessment examination gave Jessica the impression that he had a huge mana pool, at least equal to that of SS-Rank adventurers if not higher.

"And if observed carefully," she added, "his fighting stance is similar to that of Mika!"

!?

\'So, I was not imagining things. That was indeed Mika\'s fighting style!\' Mina reflected.

"You noticed that too, right?" Jessica asked, seeing Mina\'s expression.

"...Yes, I noticed that as well. But please don\'t get me wrong, I just watched that footage to investigate more about his identity," Mina quickly clarified.

"Don\'t worry, I am not going to blame you for watching the footage sent to me unauthorized without my permission," Jessica said with a smile before turning her attention back to the screen.

"...."

\'That reassuring smile of yours is even scarier,\' Mina reflected.

"And the skill he used to end the dragon at last, isn\'t that \'Bianca\'s\' signature Atomic Slash skill?" Jessica wondered.

"...Yes, it is," Mina replied.

"Hmm, first using Telekinesis, then Mika\'s fighting style, and lastly Bianca\'s skill. What a weird combination," Jessica said, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"I don\'t mind if he uses Bianca\'s skill or someone else. What bothers me is that he is using Mika\'s unorthodox fighting style, which is widely known for its brutality and cannot be learned easily unless Mika taught it herself," Jessica pondered aloud.

"...Did she have another disciple other than Ares?" Jessica muttered.

"Uhm President," Mina called out, bringing Jessica back from her thoughts.

"What? Do you have something you want to say?" Jessica asked, glancing at Mina.

"O-Oh, did you watch the first match of the inter-academy tournament?" Mina asked abruptly.

"....."

"...Are you being serious right now, Mina?" Jessica asked with an annoyed expression. She thought Mina had something to say about Marz\'s identity, but it turned out she was just curious if Jessica had watched the tournament or not.

"N-No actually, It is related to Marz\'s identity!" Mina hurriedly explained after getting a judgmental look from Jessica.

"Hmm? Related to Marz\'s identity?" Jessica asked, confused.

"...Yes," Mina nodded.

"I...just saw the points table! And also heard that Ares played the other academies for fools and secured first place with a huge margin of 10 points. So what about it?" Jessica asked.

"I-I see that you didn\'t watch the match. At the end of the match, Ares used the same skills that Marz used during the assessment to defeat the students from the other academy," Mina explained.

!?

"You mean, Bianca\'s Atomic Slash skill?" Jessica asked, curious.

Mina nodded and turned on the highlights of the first match. She skipped to the final part where Ares took out the students from other academies using the skill Atomic Slash.

["Atomic...Slash!" Ares\'s voice boomed and in the next second, all the students approaching the monster were slashed into numerous pieces.

Swash—Swash—Swash

"Shadow Strike!" Claude\'s voice could be heard and he landed a final blow on the monster.

SCREECH—

...

...

SWAP—

...]

Match Highlights ended.

After watching the match highlights, Jessica was quiet for a moment as if thinking about something.

"...."