v-rustl

#652 The Twelve Penances (Abridged Edition)

Added 2023-03-22 15:13:12 +0000 UTC

Now then.

The graduation exam for the farm students has finally begun.

A series of trials have been prepared for them. If they pass, it will be acknowledged that they have reached a certain standard of what they have learned here and will be allowed to graduate.

That little brat who was so cocky and that helpless half-baked student...

It’s time to confirm whether they have become dependable full-fledged individuals!

* * *

Together with Sensei, the Lifeless King, I teleported to a well-organized location.

“This here is the finish line.”

Suddenly, we’re here at the finish line.

However, as the owner of this place where they had learned, my role is to witness the students’ growth and congratulate those who will successfully reach this point.

“I wonder how many students will make it here...” I say insinuatingly.

It’s like those mysterious characters who lurk among the audience and say suggestive things and later become formidable enemies who stand in the protagonist’s way.

...At least, that’s what I’d like to appear as.

“I trust every single student will reach this point. I believe in them,” replies Sensei without a hint of hesitation in his voice.

His resolute words show an unwavering trust in the students he had raised himself.

“Regardless of their difficulties, the most important thing in this exam is to never give up and keep moving forward. I want them to demonstrate that strength and rely on it even after they go out into the world.”

“R-Right...!”

I was a bit overwhelmed by Sensei’s earnest reply.

It tells me that this exam isn’t important just to the students being tested but also to Sensei testing them.

“...So, what exactly does the exam entail?”

I get that the students have to make their way through the pyramid.

However, it won’t be as if they’re taking a leisure walk at the park.

There are many obstacles along the way, obstructing their path.

No doubt that is the exam’s true substance.

“As you might’ve surmised, Lord Saint, this pyramid is teeming with obstacles ready to intercept them. All for the sake of testing the limits of their abilities. I have hardened my resolve and prepared an exam as unsparing as possible.”

“I-I see...!”

I subconsciously quail at Sensei’s seriousness.

“As for the exam’s details, I have referred to the goddess’ remarks as reference.”

Goddess?

I wonder who?

Aside from Anubis, Lord Enma, and Great God Odin that Sensei summonsed to ask for help preparing the exam...

“Ah, Themis! It’s the goddess Themis, right?!”

Themis is the goddess of law and justice.

“It was not me, dear.”

“Ack!”

Themis?!

I thought she wasn’t around!

“Alack, Sensei speaketh not of me but of another goddess. There hath been another goddess present at that time.”

Another goddess besides Themis...?

It can’t be...!

“Goddess Hera?”

“Indeed, dear.”

Hera, the Mother Heaven Goddess everyone unquestionably treats like a tumor, is the one they’re talking about?!

Were there any points to reference in her words and actions?!

Wasn’t she the person, I mean, deity, who said all women should perish so that her husband doesn’t commit adultery?!

“That accursed goddess said something about giving trials unto a certain hero. She did boast with great pride.”

“Ah...!”

Is she referring to the twelve labors Hera once gave the hero Hercules?

If I recall, there are twelve of them...!

“Correct,” replies Sensei. “Regardless of the goddess’s personality, I thought that Hercules’ twelve labors, as Hera described them, would be quite useful for our students. The endeavor that pushed talented individuals to become heroes in name and reality—I figured it would be a fruitful experience for our students to challenge themselves.”

“Sensei?!”

“The trials that we have prepared for the students inside the pyramid are modeled after the labors that Hercules accomplished. There are twelve in total, just like the original trials.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!”

Please wait a minute!

Are you really going to have the students complete the twelve trials that the hero Hercules faced?!

“In other words, these trials are...”

1. Hunt a ferocious lion.

2. Slay the evil dragon Hydra.

3. Capture the sacred deer.

4. Capture a man-eating boar alive.

5. Clean the stables.

6. Shoot down a bronze monstrous bird.

7. Capture the sea god’s bull.

8. Catch the tyrant’s horse.

9. Obtain the girdle of the queen of the elves.

10. Capture cattle (for the second time).

11. Retrieve golden apples.

12. Capture Cerberus, the underworld’s watchdog.

“...That is all!”

Or so Sensei lists, but...doesn’t this far exceed the Hard Mode of any game?!

To think they adapted the feats achieved by a true hero over a lifetime to the graduation exam of students as they are, without any modifications!

“Indeed, it is said that the hero spent over ten years accomplishing those daunting tasks. To impose the exact same trials upon our students and to force them to spend over a decade as well would be cruel.”

Right?

“That’s why we have prepared within the pyramid replicas of those twelve trials, with lower difficulty and scale than the originals. We have also established rules, ensuring safety and simultaneously allowing our students to experience the hero’s accomplishments.”

“O-Oh...!”

Upon hearing this, I was relieved.

I would pity the students if they were really pitted against trials of the same difficulty and danger as those of the legendary hero, Hercules.

I’m glad to know that Sensei considered tweaking the difficulty.

“Oh, it appears that the students have reached the first trial.”

A large screen is in front of us, showing the students’ progress as they walk through the pyramid’s corridors.

This is made possible by a spell that lets us see from a distance.

Through this setup, we could spectate...I mean, watch over the proceedings of the exam in real time.

“As per the legend, Hercules’ first trial was to defeat the lion that lived in the valley of evil. Our pupils will also attempt a replica of that trial.”

“A lion...lion hunting?!”

It’s already quite a formidable challenge right from the start...!

“In legend, that lion was not but a beast of monstrous breed, born perchance of a union betwixt fiends of opposing genders. Mayhap it were a type of monster.”

Thank you for the additional explanation, Themis.

“T-That sounds tough...! Are you sure it’s safe? What if the students get bitten or something?!”

“Please don’t worry, Lord Saint. The trial is merely a simulation. Besides, there’s no way we could provide the same kind of lion monster as in the legend. After all, the hero confronted the real one thousands of years ago.”

“I-I suppose you’re right...!”

So, the specifics of this Simulated Lion Monster Subjugation...

“Of course, it will be a proxy.”

“A proxy...?”

So, someone else will play the role of the lion monster and face the students?

“That is correct. And since the role is that of a legendary monster, the proxy must be of the appropriate ‘caliber.’ That’s where they come in.”

“The gods of other worlds, dear.”

“Thanks to their intervention, various creatures, such as mythical and divine beasts targeted in Hercules’ twelve labors, are being reenacted by proxies.”

They’re all beasts, huh...!

“In the first trial, the lion monster proxy is provided by the Great God Odin...”

On the screen showing the exam site, a gigantic wolf appears.

“...That’s Fenrir, the monstrous wolf.”

It’s insanely huge.

The opposing students look like mere mice in comparison.

Hey, um... Isn’t this...

“Isn’t this more dangerous than the real lion monster?”

“Thou speakest true. As a great beast of yore fated to devour the chief god in Ragnarök, it is incomparable to a lion slain by a hero.”

...

Was this substitute supposed to be more like the final boss than its real counterpart?!

“Sensei! Is this really okay? Won’t the students be in danger?!”