The next day, we woke up early and had breakfast.

Olicia, her eyes bloodshot from what appeared to be a sleepless night, was monitoring Knightley's every move.

She clearly didn't like Knightley for some reason.

"We'll be going now, so you should get some more sleep. Your eyes look like a rabbit's."

As I was putting on my cloak to leave, Olicia tugged at it.

"Master Dian. Just a moment."

After sending Knightley out first, I came back inside, and Olicia stood on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear.

"About that noblewoman. You need to keep your distance and be careful around her."

"Why? What don't you like about her?"

"It's not about liking or disliking. That private tutoring thing... her intentions seem quite impure."

Olicia then told me that last night, Knightley had tried to come up to my bedroom on the second floor.

"So you slept on the stairs to prevent her from coming up?"

"That noblewoman is probably just another student who admires you. She came under the pretext of a consultation but was planning to do something inappropriate at night. If you're not careful, she could end up becoming a burden."

"Hmm, I see."

"Don't react so casually, Master Dian!"

Olicia firmly raised her finger at my attitude.

"You're not just any professor, you're the Head Professor. You need to be careful about even the smallest actions. Especially relationships with women, and moreover, secret private tutoring with an underage female student..."

"Professor! What are you doing? Hurry up!"

When Knightley called out impatiently from outside, I removed Olicia's hand from my ear.

"I understand what you're saying. I'll be careful."

"Extra careful!"

"Yes, yes. Another professor accompanied me during the last private tutoring session, and it will be the same this time, so don't worry too much. I'll be back soon."

Olicia followed me to the entrance and glared at Knightley with her arms crossed and a dissatisfied expression. Knightley met her gaze without backing down.

"Professor. As I mentioned before, you need to manage your subordinates better."

Knightley spoke as we walked side by side toward the lecture hall.

"That little kid seems to be acting like she's the lady of the house."

"Lady of the house? What nonsense are you talking about now?"

"Because you treat her so comfortably, she doesn't know her place and is getting too familiar."

Knightley glanced back at Olicia, who was still watching us from a distance.

"If you leave her be, she'll eventually walk all over you, and by then, it will be very difficult to correct. I've seen such maids several times before. You probably don't understand since you're not a noble and she's your only maid, but..."

"Good grief, you're noisy."

I interrupted Knightley's words, pretending to clean my ear with my finger.

"She's my family. Like a little sister to me. Save your lectures about education for when you return to your main house, esteemed young lady."

"I'm not going back to the main house."

"Then you won't be a duke's daughter anymore. If you marry, you become an outsider to your family, and if you don't marry but cut ties with your home, you're still an outsider. You know that much, right?"

Knightley's face hardened, suggesting she was well aware of this fact.

"Let me tell you something as someone with more life experience. If possible, don't cut ties with your family. You'll only hurt yourself."

"Mind your own business."

"Oh, right. Come to think of it, didn't you mention something about your father and your family when you first asked me for private tutoring?"

After these consecutive blows, Knightley could only bite her lip without saying anything.

"Head Professor!"

As we arrived at the lecture hall in Knightley's unilateral silence, two professors standing in front greeted me.

"Good morning, Head Professor!"

"Hello..."

It was Magic Response Professor Orendi with her youthful appearance and freckled face, and Combat Riding Professor Anna with her gloomy black hair and hunched shoulders.

"Oh, Knightley came along too. Did you meet on the way?"

"No, I brought her along intentionally."

Orendi tilted her head at my words.

"You're bringing a student? This is a trip to secure teaching materials, not a class, right?"

"It's not teaching materials..."

"Ahaha, sorry."

When Anna timidly pointed this out, Orendi laughed cheerfully and corrected her mistake.

"Anyway, so you're bringing Knightley along?"

"Yes. It's a kind of advanced learning. As you know, Knightley is the top student. Regular classes don't suit her."

"That's true. Alright then. Knightley, have you ever crossed a dimensional gate before?"

Knightley, who had been desperately following our conversation without any information, shook her head at the mention of a "dimensional gate."

"Never. But... where are we going?"

Orendi looked at me in response to Knightley's question.

"You didn't tell Knightley, Head Professor?"

"We don't have time right now, so let's get going. We need to return before sunset."

"Understood. Let's move immediately. But first, let me verify the coordinates one last time."

Orendi and I spread out a map to cross-check our destination and calculated the coordinates several times.

Our destination has somewhat treacherous terrain, and if the dimensional gate's exit opens incorrectly, it could lead to disaster.

This seemed to be Knightley's first time seeing the coordinate calculation process for a dimensional gate, as she watched our conversation with her mouth half-open.

"I'll open the dimensional gate now."

Blue magical power gathered in Orendi's hands, creating a small vortex in the air before us.

The slowly spinning vortex of magic suddenly accelerated and expanded into an oval-shaped dimensional gate.

"Huh?!"

Knightley drew in a sharp breath, apparently seeing a dimensional gate for the first time.

"Relax... We're not going anywhere strange..."

Professor Anna told Knightley in her gloomy tone.

"I'll go first. Then Anna, Knightley, and Orendi in that order."

"Yes, Head Professor!"

We passed through the dimensional gate one after another.

Fortunately, the gate's exit opened onto flat ground rather than a cliff or swamp.

"This can't be..."

Knightley, who had stepped onto the ground after exiting the gate, stood with her mouth agape and a dumbfounded expression.

"Where is... this place..."

She couldn't continue speaking and just stared at the scenery before her.

"Wow, this really opens up the chest."

Orendi took a deep breath with a cheerful smile.

"Ugh, the wind is cold..."

Anna hunched her shoulders even more, looking dejected.

We were now standing on the Bron Plateau in the northeastern part of the continent.

The Bron Plateau, the most vast plateau on the continent, boasts a unique landscape where expansive, flat grasslands meet rugged rocky mountains.

The dark forest at the plateau's edge leads to blue mountain ranges, and the mountains lined up like a folding screen truly resemble a painting.

Especially on a spring day like today, the wildflowers in full bloom under the clear sky and the gently undulating grasslands create a magnificent sight.

"The Bron Plateau?"

Knightley was surprised by my explanation.

"That means we've practically crossed the continent... Why exactly did we come here?"

"To catch horses. We need them for combat riding classes."

In our Combat Department, there's a combat riding course taught by Anna.

As the title suggests, it's a course where students learn how to ride horses, which are the basic means of transportation in this world.

It's not just about riding horses, but also about how to steal horses from stables, how to ride without a saddle, how to fight while riding, and more.

Additionally, it covers how to drive carriages, how to file worn horseshoes, how to raise horses, and even how to butcher horses for food in extreme situations—basically everything related to horses.

In my previous life, it would be like teaching new National Intelligence Service recruits everything from driving cars to hot-wiring them when keys aren't available, and emergency maintenance.

The problem is that our academy doesn't have many proper horses right now.

When I checked Anna's stable, there were few war horses, and most were just small ponies.

War horses are large, have rough temperaments, pose a high risk of accidents, and cost an astronomical amount to maintain, which is why Principal Kirrin had reduced their numbers.

According to the Combat Department reform plan I created after my arrival, we need about thirty horses for combat riding, but the current number falls far short.

Kirrin suggested buying old horses that could no longer serve actively in the Imperial Army at a cheap price, but that doesn't seem right.

The Imperial Army's war horses receive so much training that being retired means they can no longer run at their proper speed. We can't conduct practical training with such horses.

This isn't a driving school; it's a spy school, and in the field, there's no luxury of choosing horses.

So it's better to train intensively from the beginning.

Fortunately, I confirmed that everyone has already learned basic horsemanship.

But purchasing thirty war horses outright would be like buying thirty mid-sized cars at once in my previous life—the budget would skyrocket.

So the solution I came up with was capturing wild horses.

The wild horses here on the Bron Plateau live in herds of dozens, centered around a leader. If we capture an entire herd, we solve the budget problem and provide students with good horses for practice—killing two birds with one stone.

Plus, wild horses have no owners. What a great idea. So I immediately formed a wild horse capture party.

Knightley came to me in the middle of the night complaining about why I wasn't giving her private lessons more often, so I brought her along as a tag-along.

"But I don't see any horses."

As Knightley said, there were no signs of wild horses anywhere on the plateau.

"They're all hiding because we appeared suddenly. They won't show themselves until they feel it's safe."

"Then should we hide somewhere and wait? How about over there?"

Orendi pointed to a corner of the plateau.

There were some structures half-buried in the ground, tilted at an angle.

Long logs connected in rectangular shapes were tilted and covered with weeds and vines, making them perfect for hiding while waiting for wild horses.

"What could this be?"

"Probably... the Demon King's army's wagons..."

When Orendi, who had entered the structure and sat down, asked, Anna answered gloomily.

"The wild horses here on the Bron Plateau... are larger and stronger than other war horses... so the Demon King's army coveted them greatly... These were probably wagons they brought here to capture the wild horses..."

"Oh, I see. But there are a lot more of these in the back too—eek! What's this?!"

Orendi, who had been sitting on the ground, jumped up in shock.

Looking closer, there was a skeleton protruding from the dirt where Orendi had been sitting!

"Ugh?!" "Ouch!!"

Knightley and Anna, seeing this, both hit their heads hard on the wagon's pillars as they tried to stand up.

"W-we need to get out of here right now...! We're standing on a grave...!"

I grabbed Anna's cloak as she tried to flee in terror, and laughed.

"Everyone calm down. These are demon race bones."

As I pulled up the protruding skull, two spiral horns like those of a mountain goat were revealed.

"So sit back down. If you make too much noise, the wild horses will run even further away."

"Ah, so they're not human. That gave me a fright."

Relieved to confirm they were demon bones, Orendi sighed and plopped back down on the ground. Anna also mumbled something and returned to the wagon's interior.

"But I'm curious about something."

Knightley looked at the demon skull I had thrown into a corner and asked.

"Here and in the back, there are dozens of abandoned wagons visible... Does this mean all these demons failed to capture wild horses and died here?"

"I guess so? Professor Anna, do you know anything about this?"

"I don't know exactly... but I've heard rumors..."

Anna opened her mouth in an eerie voice, almost whispering in response to Orendi's question.

"The Demon King's army, needing good war horses... sent troops here several times... but no one ever returned..."

"Why?"

"Look at the surrounding terrain... Rocky mountains perfect for something large to hide in... Flat plains ideal for taking flight... Doesn't it seem like a very good place for something to live...?"

At those words, Orendi burst into laughter.

"Are you suggesting a dragon? That's absurd. If that were the case, the wild horses couldn't survive either. They would have already become food."

"Then what else could have massacred so many of the Demon King's army here if not a dragon...?"

"Hmm, that's true... You have a point. Judging by the fact that there are only traces of demons, it certainly wasn't a battle with the human alliance."

"That's what I'm saying... To one-sidedly slaughter the Demon King's army, it can't be explained without a dragon..."

# # # # #

While Professors Orendi and Anna were having their serious discussion, Knightley was intently staring at something.

It was at the corner of the wagon wreckage where they were hiding, waiting for wild horses.

She had glimpsed something unusual between the vines wrapped around a thick log.

Reaching out to tear away the vines and weeds, she revealed some writing.

The letters had all been carved into the surface of the log with a sharp knife. The content was...

"The Elite Task Force was here!"

"Memorial for Horn-freak's Cemetery"

"Linus♡Celine Please Get Married"

"Our Friendship Forever!"

What on earth... is this...?