Angelica and I walked into the antechamber of the school's dungeon. The instructor was already giving out instructions, so our entrance went unnoticed. Thankfully I wouldn't have to deal with the school's gossip.

I already had to deal with the awkward pit in my stomach. It was because of what I had asked Angelica earlier. I can't believe that I asked her out on an outing. Fortunately, I think she understood my intent since she accepted without fuss. It would have been mortifying if she rejected me on the false notion that I was pursuing her romantically.

Glancing at her, I saw that she still didn't seem affected by my actions. I didn't even know if I should be insulted by the lack of response. I knew logically she was out of my league and infatuated with Julius. Somehow it stung knowing that such a beauty would never look my way.

I suppose that was the fate of a mob character like me. My world revolved around Olivia and her love interests. I can't wait to wash my hands of this game.

My musings were interrupted when the instructor said to break into groups of four to five people. It was sickeningly easy to reduce the class size for today. Just pay a few greedy students some pocket change, and suddenly we need to reduce group sizes to maintain a protective ring around the royal entourage.

Almost instantaneously and predictably, the five boys were pouncing on Olivia. With the loss of the sixth slot, the boys argued amongst each other. It was a pathetic spectacle.

It was time to break up the fight.

Walking up to the group with Angelica in tow, I called out, "Olivia, we still need one more for our group."

Seeing Angelica and me, Olivia quickly puttered over to us with a look of relief. She still hadn't developed enough confidence if she couldn't voice her frustration with the boys over their behavior. I may need to consult Luxion on how to build up her confidence. The boys' antics might push her away from them if she couldn't gain a handle on them.

Looking up from the girl, I saw the prince and his friends approach Angelica with fuming looks. What the hell? I was the one to take the lead. Did they think I wasn't competition for them (which I supposed I should consider a blessing)? Did they think that lowly of Angelica?

"What's the meaning of this, Angelica," Julius hissed.

Seeing the startled look on Angelica, I quickly intervened.

"We're Olivia's tutors. I thought today's lesson would be a good time for a session and assess her development."

"Her tutors? I thought that the school only assigned Angelica. We've never seen you around Olivia before now," Chris chimed in.

"The school saw fit to assign me as her practical tutor since I did work as an adventurer before coming here, and as a practical tutor I do have to set up areas for her."

"If they wanted an adventurer as her tutor, the school could have chosen me instead of a scrawny guy like you," Greg said rudely.

Perfect. Greg established the goal post for me with little input. It would suck that I was the one they were comparing themselves to, but I was confident that I was around endgame stats with Luxion's help. I'll be able to sleep a bit easier knowing that they will actively be trying to improve to an acceptable level.

Looking around, I saw almost everyone took to Greg's comment poorly. Julius, Chris, and Brad looked ready to argue for their right to tutor Olivia (all according to plan). Angelica scowled over Greg's rude and ignorant remarks. Olivia looked distraught.

Jilk was the only one to develop a contemplative look. He was the only one using his head to think about who I was. After a few moments, a lightbulb went off in his head.

"You're Leon Fou Bartfort, aren't you?"

"You've heard of him, Jilk," Julius asked. Why was the crown prince ignorant of who I was? You would figure that he would at least be aware of any rising individuals. It wasn't like my promotion occurred a long time ago. He should know the Bartfort name at the very least.

"Yes, he made a name for himself as an adventurer recently. He supposedly scavenged multiple dungeons, acquired multiple Lost Items of unknown value, and discovered a few floating islands in a three-month period. Rumor has it he also did it by himself."

"Thank you for kindly stating my qualifications. I believe that there shouldn't be any complaints about my appointment as Olivia's tutor?"

Looking at Greg in particular, I saw how disgruntled he was. He wanted to say that it must have been luck, but he was smart enough to know better. He was always self-conscious underneath all that bluster. It must burn him to know that his accomplishment as the only guy to have field experience was worthless.

Despite the emasculation, I could see a determination burn in his eyes. Greg was going to do whatever it took to one-up me. Outside the annoyance this would present, it suited my long-term goals just fine. A more capable Greg would ensure he would be able to fight harder and longer in the final fight.

"Since there seem to be no objections, will you kindly leave my group in peace? I would like to discuss how we shall be tackling the dungeon," I said as I laid the bait.

"Now hold on, Bartfort. If I recall correctly, your group only has three people. You still need more people," Jilk said quickly to prevent me from leaving them in the dust. It surprised me that Julius was slower since I'd figured that the main male lead would have taken more initiative. Though I guess it was par for the course since Jilk was noted to be more calculating than the others.

"That is true. I don't particularly care who we bring at all, so why don't you figure it out among yourselves."

The boys quickly began to squabble amongst themselves. Olivia had made a move to settle down the fight, but I held her back. She looked at me briefly before nodding in acceptance. It was a sign of how much she trusted me. How naive, but I suppose she wasn't wrong since everything I was doing was to ensure her success in the end game.

Angelica was less trusting and more insistent to stop the squabble that I had started. She still tugged my sleeve to ask for permission to sort out the issue. I shook my head at her and whispered, "Let them argue for a bit more. I'm trying to make a point."

The girl narrowed her eyes but eventually stepped back.

After five minutes of them arguing, I stepped up behind Chris and drew my sword. I held the flat against his neck which caused him to stiffen and the rest of the boys to immediately take a fighting stance.

"What's the meaning of this, Bartfort?" Julius angrily yelled.

"How disappointing. I had hoped your squabbling was a sign of your skill. Instead, you all had left your guards down. I'm particularly disappointed in Seberg and Arclight for letting go of their training so readily," I said with a scathing tone as I resheathed my sword.

"This was a test? How uncouth of an assessment," Brad said with a glare.

"Yes it was, and you all failed miserably. If you had walked in the dungeons with the antics that you displayed, you would be down a man. Arclight here would have been ambushed by a monster and either be seriously maimed or killed, and you best hoped he'd have died or you would be faced with the moral dilemma of abandoning a friend or carrying baggage."

"Abandoning a comrade?! How can you say something so inhumane?" Julius asked with a shocked look.

"Because when you enter the dungeons, you aren't dealing with polite company. You are dealing with traps and monsters. They will have no compunction about taking advantage of your weaknesses. If you show them your back, they will attack. Show hesitation, you will find yourself trapped. You need to understand that most people die adventuring for stupid shit like this. It's not the romantic tales and fun romps people talk about. I've seen my fair share of skeletons in the ruins I explored. The only way to survive is to make damn sure that you never lower your guard. You five are supposed to be the heirs to the original adventurers that founded the Kingdom. Be better."

The boys looked like they wanted to say something, but they looked at Olivia as if they wanted her to play peacemaker. Looking at her, I saw she nodded along with what I had said. Angelica stood by her with a contemplative look. It appears that my lesson for the royal entourage was acknowledged and accepted by a few of the other students, though I felt that the male students also took pleasure in seeing me take the royal entourage down a peg.

The preliminary lesson was over, it was time to pick the unlucky bastard that I would have to assess today.

"Julius, you're with us. Get your gear, we going to be acting as the vanguard so that we can do a proper combat assessment. The rest of you can go join whatever group you want."

"Wait, but you can have a group of five. There is still one slot left," Jilk said quickly.

"You're seriously asking me to allow more than one of you to come along after that pitiful display you showed? There is no chance I will bring more than one of you just so that the two I do bring lower their guards arguing with each other."

"Fine, but you can't bring His Highness. If something were to happen to him, the consequences would be severe. At least if it were one of us instead, the fallout wouldn't be as bad," Chris said quickly.

What a real show of camaraderie. If only they were concerned for Julius's well-being and not falling behind him with Olivia.

"You want to know why I chose him over you? You failed as an adventurer and a swordsman the moment you let me put a blade to your neck. The rest of you feel free to step up if you want to know why I'm not bringing you along."

After hearing my words, Chris immediately wilted. He had a complex about his sword skills that stemmed from his overly demanding father, and I just smashed it in his face with my demonstration. He wouldn't be able to bluster his way into the group. Hopefully, I didn't go too far. I was only planning on instigating him enough to improve himself, not break him. I'll suggest that Olivia check on him later to ensure he doesn't fall into a slump.

Greg predictably stepped up first to challenge me.

"You are too brash and confrontational. You would countermand my instructions out of pride. I'm not taking the additional risk you present."

Greg scowled but didn't say anything. He knew I had his number.

Brad stepped up next thinking that I had no real reason not to pick him since he hadn't antagonized me directly.

"Olivia's specialization is in magic. If I were to bring someone else, I want someone who is adept in close combat to ensure that Olivia doesn't get overwhelmed."

Brad was smirking at my assessment. He must be happy that he and Olivia shared something in common. I also didn't rip into him like the others so he was probably feeling cocky. I don't think he properly heard my critique.

Jilk abstained from stepping forward. He must have realized that he faced the same issue as Brad did since he was scowling at his sidearm.

"Not that we have sorted that all out, my group and I are going to get ready."

AN:

1) Early chapter release since the other chapter felt like filler to me. Also, the words just came more easily this time around. The next chapter is going to suck to write though since I'm not good with action scenes. Maybe I'll just be brief and have a shorter chapter than usual.

2) Not going to lie, I thought I would have gotten into the dungeon part already. I grossly underestimated how much setup I was going to write for this part.

3) The purpose of this chapter was to introduce Leon to the royal entourage as this goal that they need to strive for the time being. I've already introduced the concept that they want to take his place as Olivia's tutor and see what they need to surpass to do so. Leon acting antagonistically would motivate them more.

4) Given the psychological profiles Leon has on the boys, I felt it would be reasonable to have Leon take extreme actions to bash concepts into their heads. This seems to be the case in the light novel seeing how they didn't understand what Marie was concerned about when they kept spending all their money in the Alzer Republic. Even after Marie kicked them out, only Julius got the lesson and only because he suffered the most out of all of them.

5) I had Olivia not admonish Leon for his behavior because she trusts Leon from the month of tutoring and having his achievements listed by Jilk just cemented that Leon is the expert. Leon's emphasis that he was lecturing them to prevent them from dying would also align with Olivia's personality. Plus she wouldn't think she has the right to correct his behavior as an equal or as a friend which can be inferred by the fact that Leon doesn't call her Livia.

6) Angelica is noted to have wanted to be an adventurer as a child so she would take Leon's lesson seriously.

7) The rest of the boys in the school would totally enjoy watching the tongue lashing. Even when they hated Leon during the honor duel. they agreed with everything he had to say regarding how shitty the school was and how much the royal entourage either contributed to the situation or how oblivious they were to everything.