I Became the Youngest Disciple of the Martial God Chapter 76

I checked the interior of the shack.

It was quite small and there wasnt a single piece of furniture, just a fireplace and the chimney connected to it.

There wasnt any place to hide, but I kept fire eyes active as I checked my surroundings again.

I couldnt detect anything suspicious.

To check on the corpse, I called for my team members, and they approached the shack.

Ugh... Is that blood?

This...

...Pam?

They also checked Pams corpse.

...Is she dead?

Yeah.

I cant believe it... Its a lie, right? P-Pam cant...

Shut up, Evan Helvin.

As I warned Evan in a low voice, he flinched and stopped.

Did you not expect something like this to happen? I hope you didnt expect the Bednicker training camp to be a walk in the park. The Instructors definitely told us at the start. There is nothing odd about a young hero dying.

Thats...! Still...

I let out a sigh.

Despite saying that, it wasnt as if I didnt understand how Evan felt.

However, panicking in a situation like this would only bring us harm.

I could sense that Evans stress was reaching its limit in many ways, but I didnt have the time to console him.

Mir, check the surroundings one more time and watch out for anyone approaching us.

Hm. Okay.

It seemed Mirs mental state was the most normal. Whether because of the life shed lived or because she was a giant, she didnt seem to show any reaction to the blood.

While she stood guard, I began to properly investigate the corpse.

There were marks of dried tears on Pams face. I could tell that shed experienced extreme fear right before she died.

And I dont think she resisted at all...

Even if Pam looked like this, shed still been a young hero. Shed still been confident enough to enter the Bednicker training camp.

But someone like her hadnt even been able to properly resist and had died in fear...

Something was very wrong here.

As I continued my investigation of the corpse, that sense of wrongness began to reveal itself.

Hey. Are you actually going to find anything just by doing that?

Somewhat. First of all, this wasnt done by a monster.

Hearing that, the expressions of the two other people here changed.

That cant be. Didnt they say that teams arent allowed to attack each other? Were the instructors not able to intervene at all?

But that doesnt mean its impossible to kill anyone. Although this is an extreme case, someone couldve killed her while knowing they would get punished.

...

Sharyl stared at the corpse as she said, ...So whats the proof this was a murder?

Technically, I hadnt yet said that this was a murder.

Of course, it was more likely that shed been killed by a person rather than a monster... but there were quite a few factors that made it difficult for me to be sure.

The corpse is too clean to have been killed by a monster.

If this had been done by a monster, then her corpse would be in a much less recognizable state.

Rather than a corpse, she would be chunks of meat.

Naturally, the next question was... who had done this?

Among the young heroes, the one I thought of first was Charon.

He wouldnt hesitate to do anything to maintain first place.

It was possible that hed been the one to harm Pam.

...

It was too early to pin him as the culprit.

There wasnt enough information.

Evan, do you remember who was on Pams team?

...Yeah.

Tell me.

Denma Galgar, Bazil Jule, and... Evan glanced at me before continuing, Hector Bednicker.

***

Around ten hours into the Forest of the Butterfly, Hector Bednicker felt that something was off.

There are too few monsters.

Hector knew quite a bit about the Forest of the Butterfly.

In addition to the characteristics of the forest, he even knew about the types and numbers of the monsters that lived in it.

His family on his mothers side had ensured he had that information.

Thanks to that, Hector had even known that one of the special tests in this training camp would involve the Forest of the Butterfly.

The surveillance range of the instructors is about 15km from the base camp.

In truth, young heroes would find it difficult to move past this area. There was a barrier set up with the training camp in mind, so if one tried to leave this area, they would naturally return to the center.

The one who had set up this barrier was none other than the Archmage Asad.

No matter how excellent the young heroes blessings were, there was no possibility that anyone could leave.

The other side should be fine.

Bazil Jule.

He was about the same age as Hector, but the dwarven young hero already had a full beard.

Were only hunting a butterfly. Honestly, this is more collecting than hunting.

Hmm...

The target Hector had chosen for this test was a butterfly.

Naturally, it wasnt any ordinary butterfly. It was a rare butterfly called a scarletfly... and there were only a few of them in the forest.

One characteristic that differentiated it from other butterflies was that it glowed a blood-red color.Alll test novl on novelbn/(.)cm

Also, the feces of the scarletfly was a rare material used in the arcane arts and alchemy, and the butterfly itself looked beautiful when pinned to a board, so it was expensive among collectors as well.

The problem is how to find one.

It was difficult to find a scarletfly in this vast and dark forest.

Of course, Hector knew one piece of information about them.

Sunset.

Right before sunset, the glow of the Scarletfly was the strongest, enough so that it should be visible from a fair distance away.

Of course, that intense light wouldnt even last 10 minutes...

That was why, right after entering the forest, he had invested most of their time looking for the place with the most butterflies.

And at sunset, hed discovered a scarletfly.

But something unexpected had happened. There had been two glowing balls of light.

If their team had moved as one and lost them, they would have needed to wait until tomorrow.

This was why Hector had split his team into two groups to each chase a different light source.

I told them not to go too deep into the forest, so there shouldnt be any problems.

That would be nice...

Bazil Jule was a dwarf who broke a lot of Hectors preconceptions about dwarves.

Unlike other dwarves, he wasnt rude or loud. Bazil was generally calm and cold, and he spoke to everyone with a respectful tone.

One fault was that he was far too easily scared.

Hector turned his attention away from his fearful team member and smiled as he looked at the scarletfly currently in his possession.

There is nothing in this forest more precious than a scarletfly.

* * * * *

* * * * *

With this, not just that arrogant Charon Woodjack, he would even be able to beat the Goodspring and Luan.

...Luan Bednicker.

Remembering the face of his youngest brother, Hector calmed his competitive spirit.

At first, hed thought it was a coincidence or a misunderstanding, but not anymore.

Hector recognized Luan.

And in this training camp, he had the desire to confidently defeat Luan.

Had had one regret, though.

For some reason, he could tell that Luan wasnt taking the training camp as seriously as he was.

Having experienced Luans true worth, Hector was frustrated by Luans attitude.

Charon Woodjack?

Hector of course conceded that Charon was impressive.

He might have even felt inferior if he hadnt experienced that incident.

However, he had met a much greater monster than Charon, someone who the one considered the best among the young heroes refused to even look at.

I dont know why he isnt showing his full potential...

If Luan cared to show off his full strength, that arrogant son of Hyde would fall from first place...

Suddenly, Bazil spoke with a cold voice.

...Hector.

Hector slowly raised his eyes as he responded, I know.

He could feel a presence beyond the brush.

With his senses, he could tell that it wasnt his team members Pam or Denma.

Hector drew his sword.

Kieek!

As he did, a monster jumped out of the brush.

It looked just like a wolf, but it had three eyes and its teeth were unnaturally sharp.

Hectors expression hardened a little when he saw the monster, but he swung his sword.

The wolf collapsed while spraying black blood.

...Its tougher than I expected.

His sword mightve gotten stuck in the wolfs muscles or joints if he hadn't used his mana.

I-impressive as always! So this is the swordsmanship of the genius of Bednicker...

Bazil was quick to praise him, but Hector didnt respond.

Rather, his brow narrowed.

...A wolf?

He knew that wolves existed in the Forest of the Butterfly.

However, he had never heard of a wolf-type monster that looked as weird as this one.

Of course, no matter how strong the information-gathering power of his mothers family was, they wouldnt be able to sweep through the entire forest...

Was that swordsmanship perhaps the famous Shadow Sword

Bazil, draw your weapon as well.

Pardon?

There are more.

Rumble...!

Soon, he felt vibrations that seemed to shake the entire forest.

Even the dull Bazil seemed to recognize their situation as his face became pale.

J-just how many are there

At least a few dozen.

Of course, Hector knew that telling Bazil would only make him more scared, so he didnt say anything.

Bazil isnt a combatant.

Of course, it wasnt as if Bazil couldnt fight at all, but he could be considered a nonfactor in a fight.

That meant that, realistically, Hector would need to be the one to kill this pack of wolves...

This wont be easy.

Although it was sudden, Hector was thrown into a battle for his life.

Follow me!

Y-yes!

Hector ran through the forest as he continued to wonder.

The appearance of a wolf-type monster in the forest wasnt a problem, but so many of them appearing to chase just two young heroes was definitely odd.

Krrr!

A wolf appeared as if it had fallen from the sky.

Did it jump down from a tree?

Hector gritted his teeth as he swung his sword.

Schwing!

S-sir Hector!

Keep running!

He wouldnt be able to run forever.

Due to the forests terrain, he couldnt outpace a beast running on four legs.

Hector kept looking around until he noticed a decent place.

An area with difficult terrain created by knots of exposed tree roots.

In a place like that, he at least wouldnt be surrounded.

Though I wont have anywhere to run either.

Hector smirked.

It didnt matter. Here or there, if he couldnt kill these wolves, he would die.

Bazil, I dont think Ill be able to look out for you. Keep yourself alive.

...U-understood!

Hector could at least show one act of kindness, and it was to face the side the enemies were charging from.

Thankfully, Bazil didnt fall into panic and followed Hectors commands.

Growl!

There, the pack made contact.

***

How many had he cut down at this point?

Hector couldnt tell if the wetness he felt all over his body was from blood or sweat.

Bazil...

Looking to his side, although Bazil was in a terrible condition, he seemed to still be alive.

Fuu...

Hector let out a deep breath.

Although he just wanted to fall over, the battle wasnt over yet.

Growl...

The wolves were standing not too far away from him.

It was frightening to see these monsters just staring back at him without attacking.

Thankfully, we have some time to catch our breath...

...but what were they waiting for?

All of a sudden, he heard a voice from above.

Hector Bednicker, it seems youre in trouble.

As he raised his neck, he saw an annoying face sitting in the branches.

...Charon Woodjack.

Hm. So you still have enough strength to talk?

Hectors expression hardened.

Seeing Charons sudden appearance, an absurd theory crossed his mind.

...These wolves, are you commanding them?

Who knows? But I can change the tide for you.

What are you saying?

Charon put his hand on his chin.

Its a trade, Hector Bednicker. If you give me all your points, Ill save you.