I WAS The Rank–1 Hero

Right before the three of us finished our talk, the doors of the classroom opened, and a silver-haired lady with a blue gaze, in her late thirties, entered the classroom.

"Everyone, please take your seats."

Our _History of Elementals_ and homeroom teacher made her way to the podium. She didn't waste any time, turning on the screen behind her and starting to gaze at each and every student present in her class.

"...Good," she said. "After that incident, it's a pleasure to see all of you healthy and well."

Instantly, as soon as her words fell, everyone understood what she was referring to.

Indeed, it had only been two days since we returned from the Demon Continent. Except for me, I could pretty much tell that everyone present here must have had a hell of a lot of trouble sleeping at night.

"I've heard what happened," she continued, "...and we at Nova will make sure that this does not happen again."

Tapping on her wristwatch, she forwarded various pictures onto the large screen behind her. The screen displayed a map of the entire Nova Academy. It was not just any map—it held every tiny detail of security tools and artifacts installed inside the academy.

"This is how serious we are regarding your safety. As you can see in the pictures, almost every portion of the academy is covered with guards and security artifacts..."

She took a brief pause.

"...We guarantee that until the day you become strong enough to protect yourselves, we will take responsibility for protecting you from any kind of danger."

Glancing at each of us, Miss Monica smiled as she asked,

"Anyone having any doubts?"

At her question, everyone looked at each other, but anyone could tell just by looking at them that despite all those security measures, they still had lingering doubts.

"Miss Monica."

A girl who was seated behind Julius raised her hand.

Miss Monica gestured for her to speak up.

"Yes, Jasmin?"

Jasmin asked, "Umm... what if, despite all the security... we end up in the same situation again? Who's going to save us? We are still inexperienced. How can we make it out alive?"

At her question, everyone went silent. Jasmin wasn't wrong—after all, no level of security in this world guaranteed one hundred percent safety.

To her question, Miss Monica lightly smiled, and adjusting her tone, she spoke.

"The chances of that happening are not entirely impossible..."

"Then, that means—" Jasmin tried to interrupt her, but Miss Monica cut her off.

"But."

She closed one of her eyes and formed a grin on her face as she declared,

"Don't forget who your Headmistress is."

Silence.

At that moment, in everyone's mind, only one name resonated, along with the clear image of her figure, surrounded by ember flames that matched the sparkle in her eyes.

Ruby Oliver.

The Headmistress of Nova Academy.

One of the single-rankers.

Ranked 7th in the Hero Chart.

A satisfied grin appeared on my face, as I couldn't help but feel proud of her.

Breaking the silence, Miss Monica continued.

"Be proud, and hold your head high with pride—"

"She is the one protecting you, so take pride in yourself, just like her Hero Name."

After her declaration, Jasmin's eyes brimmed with emotion. She didn't ask any further.

"Any more questions?" Miss Monica asked one last time.

This time, no one raised their hand.

A satisfied smile spread over her face. "Good. Now, let's begin the class, shall we?"

The class went on for a whole hour. It was the same _History of Elementals_ class, but her lectures were as interesting as ever. She was truly a genius at explaining even the most complex theories in such an easy manner.

...Even the students this time took their notes seriously, listening to every little detail she was throwing at us and writing everything down.

The fear of the unknown was truly scary—it even knocked sense into the most incurious ones.

The class ended, as Miss Monica gave a little side note to all of us.

"As you all know, to enhance the combat capability in all first year batch, Nova has decided to organized a two hour special training session from today onwards."

As she finished her sentence, various complaints reflected from my surrounds, but they were all a mere whispers among them.

"More classes?!"

"Ohh come on... I got a game to finish."

"I fell tired."

"Dude it's the 1st class, how can you feel tired."

"They are gonna kill us by train us to death."

But these whispers, were some how reached Miss Monica's ears.

"Silence! I'm still here for your kind information."

A single glare from her, silenced the entire classroom, for a few seconds her tone reminded me of Master Envy, my whole body shivered just by remembering it.

"We called a special guest which will be taking your special training class."

The class once again went to light murmur.

Miss Monica glared once again silencing everyone, and continued her speech.

"This training session will be held after all your five classes finished, you better behave yourself."

The class ended in time, as i stared at Miss Monica's figure leaving.

Anna beside me muttered, "I wonder who that special guest will be."

Nodding her head, Aria added.

"I wish to learn from Headmistress Ruby."

Following Aria's words, Anna too stated.

"Oh I know right! It would be so great if we get to learn from a single ranker."

"Heh." A chuckle escaped my mouth.

Anna glared at me.

"Did we say anything funny?"

Her eyes were literally screaming 'frustration.'

Frowning slightly, after a bit of thought I said.

"Yes, the fact that a single ranker teaching at academy, the whole thing is funny."

"...a single rankers has several protocols to follow, they can't just roam around freely teaching who ever they want."

Sera, who was keeping her mouth shut this entire time, finally spoke.

'Yeah, and the fact that a single ranker attending an academy is even more funny.'

"..."

Clicking my tongue, I conveyed my message to her.

'I swear, one day, I am going to exorcise you.'

But Sera seems to be in a mood right now, as if her and mine consciousness became one just for her to annoy me.

'Hmph, This 'exorcise you' dialogue of yours is becoming old, find something new.'

I choose the most optimal option available, that is—to just ignore the ghost.

Hearing my explanation Aria raised her brow.

"It is possible."

Both Anna and I turned to face her, as she continued.

"Nova is really taking this security way more seriously, the world is watching them, so... they have to show them just how serious they are."

Her answer was rather convincing even to me, the way she see things was rather impressive.

I nodded, "hm... may be you are correct."

"hehe," Anna grinned, raising both her hands and giving Aria high-five.

'Damn, they are getting closer every minute.'

What happened to that anti social friend of mine.

Hmm? Now that I think about it, both Aria and Anna are antisocial. Maybe that's exactly why they bonded so quickly. 'Nothing brings people together like a mutual dislike of people.'

Turning her head with a smug look, Anna declared, "I win."

My eye twitched at her ridiculous comment.

"What are you, a little girl?" I mocked.

Anna, however, didn't even flinch. Instead, she replied with a straight face, "That I am."

...This girl has finally lost it.

What happened to that bad mood of hers? Didn't she just say she was in a bad mood?

But I wasn't going to let this slide so easily. Looking at her, I smirked. "Oh, so you're a little girl now? How cute."

"...Um."

"..."

Both Anna and Aria went completely silent.

It took me a moment to notice—Anna's face had turned completely red.

I glanced at Aria, who was covering her face with her hand.

"How bold of you," she murmured.

"S-Shameless!" Anna slumped down, pouting her cheeks. "I give up."

At that moment, I learned something new. Anna—she's weak to embarrassing compliments.

I will definitely use this as my weapon against her.

...

As time went on and our classes progressed, the only one left was the special training that Nova had organized for us first years.

The training was set to take place at the open training ground, located at the far corner of the Nova campus.

It was about a forty-minute walk from the cafeteria, and according to the notification we had all received, we were required to walk there on foot—it was supposed to be part of our warm-up.

"How much longer..." Anna whined. "My legs hurt! Who in their right mind calls this a warm-up?"

And it wasn't just Anna—our entire class was walking alongside us, all equally exhausted.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Aria muttered, massaging her legs. The look in her eyes was pale with dread.

Bad feeling? How?

This wasn't even that rough. I had been through much harsher training than this—

My thoughts came to a sudden halt as realization struck me like a bolt of lightning.

"N-No way." I stopped in my tracks.

"It can't be. No. No. No..."

Maybe I was overthinking. I mean, what were the chances?

I knew my luck was rotten, but to **this** degree? Not possible.

Shoving that terrifying thought to the back of my mind, I continued walking, matching Anna and Aria's pace.

It took us forty-five minutes to reach the open training hall.

As we stood at the center of the ground, my eyes scanned the entire area.

There was no one.

"Hey, where's that special gues—"

Suddenly, an ear-piercing voice thundered across the training ground.

"YOU ALL ARE FIVE MINUTES LATE!"

The hairs on my body stood on end.

I turned toward the source of the voice, praying—begging—for just one thing.

Please, don't let it be her.

But my hope shattered into dust.

Atop one of the towering pillars of the grand training ground stood a figure, her black hair whipping wildly in the wind, her piercing dark eyes scanning each and every one of us.

"I-It's her," someone managed to whisper.

I, on the other hand, stood frozen.

"The world is unfair," Aria muttered beside me.

...It was a rather odd thing for a daughter to say after seeing her own mother.

Because the special guest was none other than—

The Rank-3 Hero.

Envy.

My master.