The Prince in Question Is Not Stable-Chapter 52: Elite Batch

"Being a professor sure is easy," Marcus mumbled, sitting in the corner of the training grounds.

His lecture for the day was over. He expected the children to be livelier, but the second-year cadets under him are all from the nobility and royalty; there are only three commoners, Darin, Vesper, and Elyra.

Vesper, Clara Hawk, Leon Longinus, Elyra, Sera Steinun, Yumi Tsurugi, and Kael Draven... all of the main characters are in his class. Which seemed evident because he’s the head professor who handles the elite batches.

As for why he was in the training grounds, Marcus was observing the cadets.

"Everything’s easy when it’s Professor Marcus who’s leading the way," Professor Jose approached Marcus’s bench and gestured towards the space next to him, "May I?"

"Sure, you don’t really need to even ask ’bout it," Marcus replied.

"It’s rare to see you here in my ’Lecture halls’, Professor Rile. Is there anything I can assist you with?" Jose asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Not really, I’m just killing time,"

"Impressive how you tend to make a lot of time without having an assistant professor to help you with, I envy you," Jose said.

’Just my butlers on extra payroll...’ Marcus thought.

"It’s all about time management, really," he replied. "By the way, I see a lot of interesting cadets this time in my batch."

"Any thoughts?"

Jose observed the children training in the grounds—especially Darin, who was light-sparring with cadets below his rank. None of the main characters was paired for sparring.

The elites spar among themselves extensively on weekends, and during weekdays, they help the rest of the cadets, too.

"I have my hopes for Leon, the heir of Longinus. Yumi Tsurugi, dual sword, promising cadet, Yumi might surpass Leon if she trains under a little more pressure. Clara is already a fine shooter for her age, Vesper’s abilities are dull, but she still manages to be a decent assassin class."

"Steinuns heil close from the D’Atteris, I believe she can be a good blood magician, though not as good as the dutchess."

"Darin...he’s promising, but he’s arrogant. And instead of mastering what he already has, I’ve observed that he’s seeking other classes as if he wants to master everything, which is quite dangerous and foolish. But his sword art, it’s a one-off, I’ve never witnessed something like it,"

Jose recited his observation, and Marcus listened to him carefully.

Marcus knew about all of the main characters, how they obtained their powers, who had trained them, whose legacy they had, their weaknesses, everything. But what he does not know is when and how the first act will begin.

According to the game, the rift was supposed to appear in the middle of the academy, and days have passed, but nothing has happened yet.

Because by now, a kingdom that was supposed to be crumbled under its own rebellion, with civilians begging for mercy and nobles begging for power, has been standing tall as if nothing had happened.

So even he himself is unsure and unaware of where the first gate will appear, what it will have, or whether it will really have a fragment of Luna’s flute.

"Fascinating observation," Marcus spoke, looking ahead. Cadets would glance in their direction quite often. Because that’s how influential Marcus was, except for the headmaster, no other professor had authority over him.

"I believe you already knew all that, you flatter me, Professor Rile," Jose said.

"A life without hearing applause isn’t really worth living,"

"Haha, that’s true,"

*Donng~*

A deep resonant sound of the bell rolled across the training grounds.

It wasn’t a sharp sound, but a heavy bong that settled into the air.

Movements of the cadets slowed as they lowered their weapons. The dummies in the arrow fields stopped, and the elites exited the arena.

The rhythm of sparring dissolved into scattered breaths.

Cadets stepped away from their matches, some stretching their shoulders, wiping sweat from their brows, and small clusters began to form across the field as they regrouped in their friend groups.

Marcus remained seated, and Jose bid him farewell to take care of the equipment and assist the workers who keep the arena lively from behind the scenes.

Marcus’s eyes moved, tracking how the characters under his observation regrouped.

Darin drifted towards the side, rolling his wrist slightly as if testing the tension in his muscles. Clara was already speaking to Vesper. Leon stood a little apart first, before stepping toward a group that naturally formed around Yumi Tsurugi.

Elyra didn’t join anyone immediately; she lingered around Darin, and Sera was just sitting with her eyes closed and neck cranked up.

Across the field, the smaller conversations began to converge as Clara, Leon, and Yumi got around Sera, who was still sitting with her eyes closed.

Darin noticed that, but he didn’t approach yet.

And then the group glanced towards Marcus for a moment before continuing their conversation.

"..." Marcus squinted. ’Looks like I’m about to have company,’

They started approaching together and stopped a few steps away from the bench. Close enough to speak and maintain formality.

Leon inclined his head slightly, and Darin followed their lead and joined in at the last.

"Professor Rile," Leon said.

Marcus didn’t respond; he just looked at them.

"Cadet Longinus," he replied. "Something you require?"

His gaze moved across them, not waiting for anyone’s face to be obvious.

Clara met his eyes without hesitation. Yumi remained still, but attentive, and Sera’s expression was calm.

Marcus leaned back slightly against the bench.

"With the new term underway, expedition permissions have been updated," Leon said.

"I’m well aware of that," Marcus replied.

"We wanted clarification regarding access for our batch," Leon asked.

Since the previous year, expeditions have become more regulated since the Limbo Winery incident. And cadets now need to meet certain expectations of their professors instead of just being a second year.

Marcus let the silence stretch; in his head, he needed to have a rather strict profile in front of the main characters. Be friendly, and he’ll be a part of their problems too.

"And what leads you to believe your batch should be granted any particular priority, while others are training hard to prove their worth?" he asked.

Clara’s arms folded more firmly across her chest, her gaze sharpened. Leon remained steady.

"We’re capable of handling higher-risk assignments," he said. "Delaying that would only limit our progress."

"Capability is rarely the determining factor," Marcus replied.

"Strength is easy to gather, reliability isn’t."

"The comfort, familiarity and expectations you’ve faced up until now never held murderous intent. A strong intent can surpass the strength."

Marcus’s fingers tapped lightly against the edge of the bench.

"The moment intent outweighs instinct is the moment your training will become irrelevant."

"I agree that a lot of you think that the academy delays exposure to danger under the assumption that time creates readiness, when it doesn’t, it only creates comfort."

"And you’re not wrong. But it isn’t just you who’ll step through the gate and defeat monsters like it’s a game, with you, you have your colleagues, you have knights, you have support, and those lives, every single one of them has been forged through countless experiences, emotions and connections."

"That’s why if a group of cadets draws my interest, I will allow them access to assignments that would otherwise remain restricted."

"And how exactly does one gain your interest, Professor?" Leon asked.

"You don’t," Marcus smiled faintly. "You either have it, or you don’t."

Clara exhaled sharply, unimpressed with the ambiguity.

Leon seemed to process it instead of reacting, just like Darin.

Yumi and Sara remained silent. Vesper was hearing the conversation from the bench nearby.

"As for your request," Marcus continued, "form your teams, submit your names, I’ll decide whether to approve it or not."

"That’s it?" Clara asked.

"I believe so," Marcus replied.

Leon nodded. "Understood."

They turned; the conversation was seemingly concluded. But...

"Darin."

Marcus called out, and all of them turned to glance at the cadet behind their group.

Darin stopped mid-step.

"Step forward," Marcus said.

Darin hesitated for the briefest moment and glanced at Clara before closing the distance.

"You seem to be a curious one, don’t you? You want to try everything," Marcus said.

It didn’t seem like a question, but a taunt.

"I-"

"You ranked one because of your sword art. If you master the sword of the moon, even that wouldn’t be enough to battle a transcendent on equal terms. However, instead of working on one single specialisation, you’re aiming to gain knowledge in all segments... that would fail you miserably."

Marcus spoke and stood up.

"You’ll fail not because you lack talent, but because you don’t understand limitation." He said.

"Breadth never creates strength and mastery; it only creates delay."

"I’m not stopping you from learning everything or anything you desire. All I’m saying is that you should never stray from your true path. Don’t just master the sword style you have; make it your own, and evolve it. That is how you can surpass a transcendent."

"That’ll be all," he said, and turned around, leaving the cadets alone. Darin stayed there a moment longer with Elyra.