Shh.........

　I noticed the beastly smell poking at my nose.
　I quickly activated the [Detection] magic.
　It's there.

　20...........No, there's 70 of them.

　The other members also seem to have noticed it.
　I hid my voice and looked around.
　A red light spot glows.
　At the same time, there were roars coming from everywhere.

'Well, well, well. Looks like we're quite welcome here.'

　It's the [Frozen Dog Witch] who smirked.
　As expected of the chairman.
　For you to smile at this, you have a lot of nerve.

　[Meiko]

　It shone a light into the dark cave.
　What was exposed were countless black fur, sharp fangs and claws.

''Blackhound!''

Hey......

　Sarasa and Cecil are flustered.

　Rowan's expression, which usually doesn't move much, is also hard.
　The only one who didn't change his expression was the chairman.

''Looks like we've wandered into the Blackhound's nest.

　Chairman Vael had calmed down a lot.
　No, he was too calm.
　I thought that was a little strange, and I immediately understood his intentions.

　I see.
　Did the Chairman know that there was a nest of blackhounds here?
　And it seems that he led them to this place.

　The purpose of this is to measure my strength, isn't it?

　As expected, with the current abilities of Sarasa and the others, this number is difficult.
　It's a good idea to have a few of them, but if that's the case, it's quicker to do it myself from the start.

　It's a good idea to have a good time with them.

　But it's easy to blow these guys away with magic.
　The Blackhounds will be a good learning experience.

"Sarasa, where can I borrow your bow?

'What?　Okay, but....

Hey!　Lacelle!　You're going to be fighting alone?

　Cecil raised his voice.

'No matter how much you ... no, I might be able to beat you.

'Lasell, cut back on the flashy magic. We've reinforced it for the students' practice, but it's just in case. I'm here to do a safety check and it's not going to be fashionable to be buried alive.

I'm aware of that, Mr. Chairman.

"Yes, sir. Mr. Lacelle.

　Sarasa handed me the bow.

'Don't be too reckless,'

Don't worry about it. I'll take care of you, Salatha. Watch me in action. See how a [professor] fights.

Uh-huh.

　Well......

　I don't want them to get hurt while we're fighting, so let's just aim for me first.
　First of all, let's have them aim at me alone.

　I activate my 【Scholars(Professor)】 magic.

　[Provocation]

　It is an intermediate magic that directs the opponent towards the sorcerer.
　It's only effective against demonic beasts.

　Then, all of the blackhound's gazes stabbed at me at once.
　The killing intent has increased.
　The roar becomes even louder.
　I could hear scratching on the ground here and there.

　The tension swells.
　It could crack at any moment.
　The slightest impact would cause it to burst.

　At the same time, it's a signal to start the war.

"Come on, you dog.

　I grinned.

　A moment later, the black hounds attacked us all at once.
　In all directions - that's not all.
　The demonic beasts pounced on me, dripping body fluids from the air as well.

''Look out!

　I heard someone scream.

　But--.

　Giddy up!

　The moment I landed, I was gone.
　The eyes of a black hound that had lost sight of its prey. I was puzzled.
　But then I realized by the smell.

　I was behind the blackhounds.

'What's up, pooch? I'm over here.

　The demonic beasts easily latched onto my non-magical provocation.
　They are attacking me again.
　However, I avoided the black hounds running in a straight line, one after another.
　I walk against the flow of them, put my feet in the best position, and move forward.

　I found myself taking up the rear of the blackhound again.

''It's just like Sarasa...''

　It was Cecil who muttered that.
　Sarasa, on the other hand, was puzzled.
　''Eh?'' He turned around and looked at his best friend.

'Sarasa might not realize it, but using [Future Vision], when you're fighting, Sarasa evades just like that. She can see her opponent's movements, so she doesn't put any effort into anything. Rather than dodging, she's just going in the direction she wants to go...

So you're using [future vision], Racel-kun.

　Sarasa nodded her head.
　But it was the chairman who denied it.

''That's not true. Lacelle doesn't use [Future Vision].

Well.....

It's not [future vision]. Perhaps--

　Vael, who wasn't afraid of the 70 black hounds in front of him, took a breath.

''That's [Appraisal].

"Ka, [appraisal]!

　Sarasa and Cecil raised their barefaced voices beside me as I fought.

　The chairman speaks of his speculations.

''Normally, [Appraisal] is a magic that discovers the nature and status of an object, person or even a magical beast. But it's only used in part(s).

Some of the uses?

Is there another use for it?

''This is just my guess. Perhaps Lacelle didn't use [Appraisal] to observe the entire demonic beast.

What?

What do you mean?

''Part of a monster beast........ In other words, they must be [appraising] their front and back legs, etc., and observing their subtle muscles to anticipate their opponent's movements.

Na!

Oh, no!

''Does that mean that the elementary magic [appraisal] is producing the same effect as [future vision]?''

　Rowan asked, and the Chairman nodded.

'Oh..... But it makes sense. 【Appraisal】 is much less magical power consumption than 【Future Vision】. Well, it's easy to say, but you have to fight while constantly processing a huge amount of information in the actual battle. To be honest, it's not realistic.

But Mr. Lacelle is proving himself useful in a real war right now.

　The light in Sarasa's eyes shone behind her glasses.
　There was a strong will in it.

''Sarasa........ No way.........''

Cecil. I think Lacelle told me to take a look at it, because it was something I could do. I'm sure he said it was something I could do, so he did. It's a good thing that I'm not going to be able to do that, or else Lacelle wouldn't have said such a thing in the first place.

　That's right, Sarasa.

　By nature, being a [scholar(professor)] is not a profession suitable for adventurers.
　The reason is obvious.
　It's because compared to other professions, it doesn't have offensive magic.
　However, I think the profession of a scholar is the strongest except for 【Mage(Wizard)】.

　This is because when it comes to knowing the opponent, there is no other profession like 【Scholars】.

　Knowing the enemy is simply a way to reduce the risk.
　And if you know what the enemy doesn't know, you can surpass them.

　The key to [scholars] is knowledge.
　Overwhelm others with the amount of information.

　That's how a [scholar] wins.

　I shot five arrows.

　From the edge, it might look like I shot them casually.
　All the blackhound behaviors played out by [Appraisal].
　Its principles and patterns.
　The location of the bones and flesh, and the weaknesses.......

　All of them lined up in five firing lines.

The End.

　A mere five arrows skewered seventy blackhounds.
　All deadly.
　The demonic beasts fell to the ground, spitting blood.

''Great........''

You're still the same guy...

..........

Haha...... This isn't going to be fashionable!

　The party members are uniformly surprised.
　The chairman shrugged his shoulders as if to say no more.