The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

22 students, me included, were standing on a white sandy beach from which the clear water of the sea could be seen.

Everyone was instructed to wear comfortable clothes, not the school uniforms. We were also told to wear long sleeved shirts and long pants if possible, so we were all dressed in similar things.

Of course, Class A and B were located far apart from each other.

Mr. Epinhauser stood before Class A.

The students seemed confused by their sudden arrival at a place like this. The only one who wasn’t flustered was Ellen, who was ready to do anything no matter what happened. Even Bertus seemed a little puzzled.

Mr. Epinhauser started briefing us.

“We are currently on an uninhabited island located within the Empire’s Kamsencha Archipelago. The island is about three times the size of Temple.”

Although it was an uninhabited island, it was rather big. The island was covered in a rainforest and the beach was filled with white sand.

“You have to survive on this island for about five days starting today, meaning from Monday to Friday evening. We will provide you with a box with supplies. Whether you hunt or gather common supplies found in this place, no matter what, you will have to survive until Friday.”

We have to survive here for 5 days. That might seem like a daunting task, but it wasn’t impossible.

As they heard these words, everyone just stared blankly with their mouths open. The nobles in particular were astonished, as if it didn’t make sense to them why they had to survive in such a harsh environment..

“I-Isn’t this dangerous? W-We don’t know what might happen…. If we get hurt or something, what should we do…?”

“Yes. Isn’t this too irresponsible to just throw us here, leaving us to fend for ourselves…?”

As Harriet was mumbling about how unreasonable this situation was, Heinrich von Schwarz started to complain as well.

“It’s not compulsory. If you want to give up, you can at any point. You would just fail.”

Of course, it was crazy to ask children to just survive on their own on some deserted island for five days, whether they were from noble families or not.

However, the people gathered here were the best talents the Empire had to offer, only in terms of talent though, not in skills. That was why they received special treatment. And those who receive special treatment would also be given special trials. 

Going by such logic, they’d give us more difficult tasks like this.

“You will be given a button shaped artifact.”

Mr. Epinhauser pulled out something that looked like a button.

“Use this if an emergency has occurred or if you want to give up. After activating it, you will be sent to a safe place immediately. However, keep in mind that if you use it, you’ll be eliminated.”

We could give up whenever we wanted, and in the event of an accident, actions could be taken immediately.

I could already see some people ready to press the button as soon as we were to get them. However, if one were to continue to fail in group missions, there was a possibility that one had to repeat a year if their results were especially bad. Of course, there was no one who had to repeat a year in the original novel. However, the development had changed, so I didn’t know what might happen.

Mr. Epinhauser only explained the facts in an indifferent and cool manner, as always.

-Don’t overdo it, guys. Good grades are one thing, but your safety comes first. This place is safer than you guys think, but if you really can’t take it anymore, you have to use this artifact. Understood?

And I could hear Mr. Mustrang, the opposite of Mr. Epinhauser, briefing his class. However, wasn’t it even more unsettling putting it like that?

“Let me know if you have any questions.”

At Mr. Epinhauser’s words, Bertus raised his hand.

“Are there any dangerous monsters on this island?”

Bertus’ question was to see if they sent us here without even checking that.

“It is one of the rules to not provide you with any information about the island. However, I can tell you one thing.”

Mr. Epinhauser was speaking calmly.

“This mission is designed to test your crisis management skills and how you’d act in real emergencies.”

Nothing could be guaranteed.

They already determined that we had abilities. Now they were trying to see how we would make use of these abilities. Would we act selfish, hateful, cold-hearted, or irrational?

“You guys are part of the Royal Class. Even within Temple, you are a privileged class, so you have to prove that you are better than the general class.”

There are people who possessed great power but flatter and become dispirited, faced with hurdles; and then there are those who’d struggle with all their might to overcome all difficulties on their way, even though their power wasn’t all that strong.

The group mission was to confirm exactly that.

Being a student of the Royal Class brought a lot of privileges with it. Therefore, it was only natural that we had to overcome even harder trials.

The teacher wasn’t even allowed to tell us if it was dangerous or not.

“I won’t give you a lengthy explanation. If you want to give up, press the button. If you don’t think that you are able to survive until Friday, giving up in advance is also fine.”

However, if we did that, we would lose.

Everyone could fully guess what Mr. Epinhauser was trying to say.

“And one more thing.”

It was now time for Mr. Epinhauser to tell us the most important thing.

“If you’re able to meet certain conditions, you might be able to complete the mission sooner than the expected time. Additionally, the class that satisfied said conditions would receive additional points.”

Special missions.

If certain conditions were fulfilled, the mission could end earlier, and the class that managed to do that would receive more points.

“Of course, this is only an optional mission. It won’t cause any problems if you aren’t able to fulfill it. With this, I have conveyed all the information I can give.”

Mr. Epinhauser took out one more button-shaped artifact similar to ours, from his bosom pocket and disappeared.

He probably was still watching us from somewhere, but he really wasn’t anywhere close to us.

“D-Did…he really leave?”

“I can’t believe it. How…”

“What should we do?”

The kids were really shocked that their teacher had left.

Actually, strictly speaking, wasn’t this abuse?

It was at that moment that I realized what kind of thing I actually made them do by writing up this development.

-Shaaa…

Clear water was constantly crashing against the shore from afar.

We were literally children who had been abandoned by the sea.

* * *

The far-off Class B was also soon left behind by Mr. Mustrang.

It seemed like both Class A and B had lost their spirits. Bertus was deep in thoughts with his arms folded. He probably knew beforehand, but only after seeing this with his own eyes, did he realize just how ridiculous this situation was.

It was rather useless to count on those, who were at the time out of their minds.

Except for me, Ellen, and Bertus, who were seriously thinking about what to do, everyone else seemed to be out of their minds or speechless.

“What’s with this? Why do we have to do something like this? How would that help us?”

Kono Lint was complaining. 

“So…… What now? What do they want us to do after leaving us here so suddenly……” 

That was Cayer Vioden speaking. 

Just because they were commoners didn’t mean that they were happy with this situation. It was humid and hot. No one would be accustomed to something like that. 

The guys from noble families already seemed to have their heads filled with thoughts of giving up. They thought this situation was so ridiculous that they couldn’t even put it into words.

Even the commoners couldn’t stand the situation. The only fortunate thing was that the noble kids, who only knew how to wear good clothes, eat good food, and sleep in soft beds, didn’t start crying.

In the original, Class A, which had a lot of nobles in it, somehow managed to survive the first day, but then most of them gave up voluntarily. Everyone gave up one by one until only Ellen remained.

Class B would be able to complete the mission led by Ludwig’s initiative.

As the development had greatly deviated from the original already, I didn’t know what would happen in Class B’s camp. So, I had no intention of letting the current Class A follow that development either.

First of all, I needed those achievement points, so I had to be patient; furthermore it would be impossible for me to survive alone, so I had to drag these guys along no matter what.

I opened the communal supply box left behind where Mr. Epinhauser stood before.

Everyone stared at me as I moved. In this situation, it was more normal to whine and complain. It was more unusual for a 17-year-old to be so calm.

I took out the contents of the box and organized them. Everyone was just staring at me blankly.

Two machetes.

Ten arrows and one shortbow.

A bundle of rope.

Three types of pots, one large, one medium, and one small.

Three throwing javelins with barbs.

One axe.

Three small knives.

One firestarter.

Eleven canteens of water.

And eleven button shaped artifacts.

I thought that was a decent amount of supplies. They were just the basics, but they provided enough tools to leave us alone here.

Everyone was just staring at what I was doing. I just ignored the other guys and looked at Ellen.

“Hey, you won’t give up, right?”

“Yes.”

Ellen nodded.

“Bertus, you’re not going to give up as well, right?”

Bertus nodded when I called out to him, albeit with a somewhat more serious expression. Unlike in the original, Class B had Charlotte in it, so Bertus wouldn’t give up.

There were two more people who wouldn’t give up no matter what, aside from me. I grabbed the machete and handed the short bow and arrows to Ellen.

“I’ll go in there. You take care of this side, okay?”

“Ah…. You’re going? In there?”

“I have to. I need to find something.”

“N-No. Are you going to be okay? We don’t know what’s in there, you know?”

“Will I die?”

When I said that I would go inside the jungle without much hesitation, Bertus looked really flustered. It would be a hundred times better to leave the overall leadership of the other kids to Bertus. He seemed a bit perplexed at first, but soon found his composure again.

“O-Okay, Reinhardt. I’ll take care of this.”

Anyway, this was Bertus we were talking about. He wouldn’t want to do a bad job, either. However, what I asked of him was a pretty simple job, which was taking control of the kids and taking up the leader position.

He must have felt some reluctance to this situation as well, as he grew up in an extremely good environment.

“Come with me.”

“Yes.”

I took the lead, and Ellen followed me without saying much.

Ellen and I were probably the most abnormal in this situation.

* * *

Ellen was good with bows as well. So, when any beast appeared, I told her to follow it, leaving the hunting to her.

-Chk! Chk!

Ellen and I slowly moved further in, while sweeping through thick bushes and lush greenery located in the jungle.

“It’s fricking hot.”

“It is.”

Both me and Ellen were drenched in sweat. Ellen found her long hair rather cumbersome, so she tied it up with a string. There were sweat drops all over her face, nape and neck.

Fortunately, there were no mosquitoes, the worst fiends usually found in a jungle.

This was an exam as well as a mission. Even though Epinhauser only gave us next to no information about this island, I knew a lot about it.

This island was a controlled environment. Therefore, mosquitoes, which could spread dangerous infectious diseases that could cost our lives, were completely eradicated. Of course, that didn’t mean that there weren’t any bugs.

There was an obvious possibility that unexpected accidents might occur, but we wouldn’t be faced with the uncontrolled dangers an uncontrolled environment would house.

-Flap, flap, flap!

We could hear birds flying away, because of the noise we caused by cutting down the bushes.

“Can you shoot down those flying birds?”

“……I’m not that good.”

Ellen was pretty good at archery, but she wasn’t a professional. She didn’t have such advanced skills yet.

I didn’t really intend to go much deeper. I’d soon be able to find what I was looking for.

“There it is.”

“What is that?”

I grinned and pointed to some densely packed trees.

“Is this your first time seeing a coconut?”

They were a staple for uninhabited island scenes.

There’d definitely be coconuts.