“S-sir, I implore you, this is a special quest supposed to be undertaken by at least a battalion-sized force of silver-ranked adventurers,” the receptionist frantically explained. “I can’t in good conscience allow you to—”

  Marcus dropped his [Deception] skill momentarily, causing the receptionist’s eyes to widen. He must be seeing nothing but “???” and more “???” with his [Identify] skill.

  Then, Marcus turned [Deception] on again.

  “I think that should be enough explanation,” Marcus grumbled, visibly upset at how he and Stella were treated. “Just sign it, man. Look, I’m pretty sure this happens—”

  “Right! Right! Sir Knight, I bid the two of you good luck! Forgive this lowly peasant for delaying you. Here’s the stamped quest cards!”

  “I’m not a knight—”

  “Have a good day hunting, good sir and milady.”

  The whiplash of the sudden change in his treatment caused Marcus to blank out as they made their exit. Of course, all the other adventurers were still jeering at him for ‘dragging the pretty lady’ to a ‘suicide mission’, but, hey, his quests were all stamped with approval.

  Did that moron assume I’m a noble of some sort?

  The two were already walking toward the southern entrance of Almarche when Marcus finally spoke.

  “Man, this is ass,” Marcus complained. “Makes me want to slaughter a few extra cultists.”

  “Language, Sir Marcus—”

  “And please, stop calling me ‘sir’. It makes people think I’m someone important.”

  “But you are important.”

  “Not in any official capacity.”

  Stella stopped to turn to face him. She was smiling.

  “Look, if you’re so concerned about me, don’t worry about it,” she said, placing her hands behind her. “I’m used to it whenever I lower my hood. At some point, I’ve learned to simply accept it.”

  “I’ve got no comments about that,” he said, walking past her, disgruntled. “Wasn’t even talking about it.”

  “Quite frankly, I feel like you’re more affected than me. How surprising. Is that cold part of you perhaps just an act?”

  “I’m not ‘cold’. I’m very emotive. I’m sure about that. My mother said so.”

  “...”

  “You think I’m wrong?”

  “Nope, of course not! You’re definitely quite the emotional guy!”

  “Exactly.”

  Marcus’ face and eyes, however, didn’t show that. Instead, he was fully neutral, and his grey eyes, as usual, had that dead-fish-eyes look on them.

  Luckily, Stella made no further comments about it.

  When they reached the outskirts of Almarche, Marcus decided to pick up Stella and use [Blink Step] and [Mass Surveillance] as they travelled through a forest west of Almarche, searching for their first target—the cave hydras.

  It took half an hour of scouring and checking every cave that they spotted until Marcus found a cave marked by a fluttering red flag, the sign described by the quest’s mission card.

  Then, he double-checked with [Mass Surveillance] to scan the interior of the cave. Unfortunately, due to the thickness of the earth and rocks, his eyesight was largely blocked.

  It was quite easy to look at the interior of a thin-walled building. Not so much when you were looking at deep subterranean structures.

  But [Mass Surveillance] had always been more than omnipotent eyesight; it also gave his auditory and sensory abilities a ridiculous range.

  Just by holding the rocks on the entrance of the cave, he picked up the distant rumbles caused by the movement of the cave hydras.

  He smiled a bit as he looked at Stella.

  “We found your first target.”

  As Marcus and Stella walked deeper in the cave, he kept his [Mass Surveillance] skill on. That allowed him to keep tracking all the monsters attempting to attack them rather easily. As a result, he walked through the entrance and the upper layers with Stella without much incident.

  The saint didn’t seem like a slouch either. She followed him, alert and in control. While her perception stat must be lower, and she absolutely did not have [Mass Surveillance], she seemed capable of easily tracking and responding to threats coming from the darkness.

  One time, he briefly looked at her as she suddenly aimed her staff at a section of the cave where six spider monsters emerged. With a flash of golden light, the spiders were instantly smitten, and it didn’t seem to affect Stella.

  Still, she was clearly a newbie by Marcus’ standards. It was why he gave her the order to deal with everything they would run into at the moment.

  He was gauging her, watching every twitch and move she used while facing hostile threats, and his assessment was simple:

  She’s too reliant on her magic and abilities.

  That was one of the marks of a newbie—brute-forcing your enemy with raw power. Not that he could blame her; she was powerful, but…

  As her defeat with the Ministry of Fervent Service showed, if she’s outwitted and outnumbered, it’s over.

  He’d have to sharpen her tactical mind later.

  “Having fun?” Marcus lightly asked as he continued walking.

  “...”

  Stella seemed unsure about answering that question. The deeper they went, the stiffer and more alert she became. Unlike Marcus, she definitely was taking this test seriously.

  “I can sense them now,” Stella finally spoke up, her tone subdued. “What’s your plan?”

  “Hmm, let me see…”

  Marcus stopped as they reached a massive area of the cave with what looked like a small lake in it.

  There was movement underneath the clear water, and Marcus knew that the cave hydras were out there, eyeing him and his partner warily.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Marcus turned to Stella. His tone turned into that of a drill sergeant, and it had its intended effect. Stella, a normally soft princess, immediately snapped into the stiff posture of a cadet.

  “Are you ready for your first test?”

  “Sir Marcus, I said earlier that I am—”

  “Are you ready for your first test? Yes or no!”

  “Yes, sir, I’m ready!”

  He turned away from her, then he used [Identify] on the creatures appearing from the water. Unlike normal hydras, cave hydras largely inhabited flooded dungeons and caves. They also didn’t have a massive body that contained massive heads like normal hydras. Instead, they were more like massive serpents that could move efficiently underground.

  Such monsters were extremely lethal. It was why he picked this quest. They would be able to give Stella a good fight.

  [Cave Hydra: Gold Rank].

  [Cave Hydra: Gold Rank].

  [Cave Hydra: Gold Rank].

  “Those three, by my estimations, will probably take multiple platoons of heavily armed soldiers to dispatch,” Marcus said, his tone clinical. “In addition, they will suffer heavy casualties if they try battling that.”

  Stella eyed the hydras with equal parts amazement, probably at Marcus’ calm cadence when facing such monsters, but also with a measure of confidence in herself.

  She seemed like she believed she could take them out. Confidence. Belief in oneself—that was something he liked to see.

  He suddenly pulled out one of his rapiers, aiming it straight at the towering hydras, eliciting a hostile hiss as a response from the monsters.

  “As the ordained [Saint], you must be able to defeat them—on your own,” Marcus coolly declared. “Dispatch them and fetch me their heads. I want those monster cores intact. Now, you said that you wish to become stronger, no?”

  “Yes.”

  He remembered the words of his old captain and repeated them to her.

  “Consider this the first test and the first part of your training then. My best advice for you to get stronger is to fight for your life all the time. If you fight, you’ll live. If you don’t fight, you’ll die. So fight! Fight! Fight!”

  “I…I will! I swear I’ll bring you their heads!” Stella shouted. “I’ll do my best not to disappoint you, Sir Marcus!”

  “Then go there, and fight.”

  Spurred by Marcus’ words, she nodded before turning her staff into a longsword after casting a short spell. Right after, four floating beams of sharp light appeared around her too.

  A grin appeared on Marcus’ face as Stella faced the hydras.

  Time to observe.

  [Fly], [Aura of Light], [Purification Bolts].

  Stella recited spell after spell, skill after skill, as she rose upward. Changing her staff by summoning a longsword, she readied herself for a close-quarters battle.

  I can’t…no, I won’t disappoint him.

  Stella vowed that to herself again and again. This was it. Her chance to prove herself worthy of being a [Saint] to Marcus.

  But, looking at her back, she suddenly noticed that Marcus was opening a paper bag containing bread.

  For some reason, that alone annoyed her greatly. She was expecting him to focus all of his attention while she showed off her saintly talent after that serious speech of his, but instead, he was snacking as she prepared for battle!

  No, don’t let it affect you.

  She was sure that he was vigilantly watching. This was another test, surely. No way would someone as good as Sir Marcus just watch a lady fight while eating bread calmly.

  Then again, he had always been quite insensitive.

  The hydras ahead of her screeched, sending a powerful gale of wind that rocked the cave’s structure. Stella flew still, as she calculated her strategies.

  The words of her old trainer and the words of the pope filled her mind. The lessons and training they imparted to her had not been completed yet, but still, it did give her enough to know how she could take these hydras down.

  I’ll attack the one at the center with my blade, then I’ll distract the two on the flanks with my [Purification Bolts]. Then I’ll cut down the one on the left flank, then finish the hydra on the right flank.

  With a plan in mind, she charged in with her longsword, flying at the hydra in the center of their formation and stabbing her blade straight into its snout.

  The four [Purification Bolts] struck the two other hydras around them, while she focused on the hydra at the center. After pulling off her sword, she swung it at its face, again and again, as the hydra tried to counterattack with its fangs.

  Blood oozed out from the monsters, staining the clear water below. Stella, on the other hand, was forced to fly, jump, and evade as the monsters thrashed around her.

  They tried to hit her, but she just sliced their bodies again and again.

  Cave hydras, unlike real hydras, didn’t have fully formed bodies and multiple heads. Thus, it surprisingly felt easier to attack them. They were more like massive water eels to her, just underground.

  She slowly got the hang of their movements, even when one of them managed to hit her once and send her flying into a rock near Marcus.

  He raised an eyebrow, taking a pause in eating his bread while Stella coughed up blood.

  “...Hey, are you good over there?” Marcus asked, concerned. “We can call off the test anytime.”

  Stella stood up, feeling her bones cracking and stitching back together after she cast [Greater Heal] on herself.

  She wiped the blood near her lips and nodded to him.

  “No. I’m fine. I’ll finish this.”

  He stared blankly at the blood on her white glove.

  “I see. Very convincing.”

  “...”

  “What?”

  “Sir Marcus, you’re doubting me!”

  “I’m not, I swear.”

  “Don’t lie; I can see it on your face!”

  “Tch, less screaming, more fighting.”

  “Says the guy eating bread while a woman is fighting in front of him!”

  “I bought this hot. I’m not eating it cold.”

  “You’re supposed to monitor and grade me!”

  “Then keep fighting.”

  Marcus pointed in the direction of the hydras, with one of them opening its mouth. It was a warning. Stella jumped out right in time as a pulse of water blasted the area she was standing on.

  Marcus also dodged it with a light jump, but he nearly tripped on himself when he noticed that the tip of his greatcoat was wet.

  “...Shit.” He turned pale as he looked at his coat. “That water has saliva mixed in it.”

  The fact that it was that that worried him was beyond concerning.

  She tried to ignore him.

  She charged straight into the middle hydra again, summoning all of her best skills. Her longsword, now glowing white, swung one last time on the monster’s face.

  In an instant, its head oozed a torrent of blood as it collapsed on the water. Stella winced, noting that she should avoid doing that to the two other serpents if she wanted to meet Marcus’ test requirements.

  She needed intact heads.

  As they hissed, she summoned [Purification Bolts] around her, eight of them, before flying up high. The bolts of light skewered the monsters, causing them to roar in pain.

  Then, she barreled down on one of them, using her momentum to slice the neck of the second hydra cleanly. Due to the creature’s movement, her attack sent its head flying straight at where Marcus was standing.

  Blood splattered out of the dead creature’s neck, the liquid hitting Marcus’ grey pants a bit after he tried to dodge it. She saw his gloved hand trembling a bit as he gave a sigh of resignation.

  Swerving from her flight path, Stella eyed the last hydra as it flailed from the injuries caused by her [Purification Bolts]. Flying with a slight arc, she did the same maneuver to the last one, spinning herself with her blade to slice the monster’s neck cleanly again.

  With a final death roar, the creature’s body collapsed on the reddening waters, while its head plopped straight into a bunch of stalagmites.

  Stella landed near Marcus, breathing out deeply as he continued staring at his slightly dirty clothes.

  “...I just bought these clothes.” For the first time, he sounded like he was genuinely doomed. “Now they’re all filthy.”

  Stella rolled her eyes after a heavy exhale.

  Did he seriously forget about my test?

  “That’s why detergents exist, Sir Marcus.”

  Marcus stopped.

  The two stared at each other blankly for an uncomfortably long time.

  “...Detergents? I swear you said that earlier, but what the hell is that?”