The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

Selection Day.

The front gate of the academy was bustling with people arriving from all over the Empire, either on foot, horseback, or by carriage.

At the reception desk setup with tents and tables, assistants were busy comparing application documents with the actual applicants.

Those who passed this verification process moved through the gate to the main auditorium, where they deposited their belongings and waited.

Once the final attendance was confirmed, a general plan and guidelines were provided, and the evaluation began immediately.

Those who failed on the first day would pack their things and leave immediately, while those who passed would move to the dormitories to prepare for the final evaluation on the second day.

“There are so many applicants.”

Kirrin commented as she looked at the crowded front gate.

“I never expected so many to come.”

“It’s a huge advantage to transfer directly into the senior year of the Imperial Academy, even though it’s not private.”

“Even so, there are so many.”

As Kirrin said, people from all walks of life had come.

Men and women of various skin colors, hair colors, eye colors, and incomprehensible dialects filled the space, making it a chaotic sight.

Their attire was also incredibly diverse.

“No personal weapons are allowed. Please hand them over and receive a storage receipt.”

Assistants stopped people carrying swords, spears, and shields.

Those guys belong to the famous Revlon Mercenary Corps. Why would those wealthy folks apply here?

“Hey! Don’t smoke at the entrance!”

An assistant shouted at a group of men in fur cloaks who were smoking and blowing thick smoke.

Those guys are from the North. They’re too ignorant to understand common social norms and are not suitable as academy students.

“Please dress properly! This is the Imperial Special Mission Academy!”

The administrative director on the platform shouted into a megaphone.

His eyes were on a muscular man with tattoos all over his body who was shirtless.

Judging by his tattoos and ornaments, he seemed to be from the faraway Pretornos Islands Federation.

What a variety of people have applied.

Not just humans, but Dwarves, Orcs, Lizardmen, Gnomes, and Beastmen—people of various races, all of whom seemed to have understood the selection announcement and come here.

But the more I looked, the more suspicious some of them seemed.

Given the academy’s nature, there was an age limit, but there were a lot of people who didn’t seem to fit that.

I should tell the reception desk to carefully compare the application forms and actual ID cards.

As I headed to the reception desk, sure enough.

“What do you mean I’m over the age limit, nya!”

A cat beastman bristled with anger.

“According to the cat beastman age calculation, you’re over forty by imperial standards.”

The assistant showed the standard age calculation chart for different races, and the cat beastman bared her fangs.

“It wasn’t mentioned in the announcement, nya!”

“It clearly states here, ‘Those who are not over twenty by imperial standard age.\'”

“Who reads announcements that carefully, nya!”

“Anyway, you can’t enter. Please leave.”

“Then why are you letting that bearded old man in!”

The cat beastman pointed at a bearded dwarf who had just passed through the reception desk into the academy.

“He’s eighteen this year. He’s a dwarf.”

“This is racial discrimination, nya!!”

The cat beastman screeched and suddenly vomited up a hairball, which landed with a splat on the ground, causing the people around to recoil.

What a nuisance.

“Hey, just give her this and send her away.”

I instructed the assistant, who sighed and pulled something out from under the desk. The cat beastman’s eyes sparkled with greed as she saw it.

The assistant held a small bag containing a few catnip leaves. I had instructed them to prepare it just in case, seeing that there were a few cat beastmen among the applicants.

Cat beastmen are usually selfish and arrogant, often making unreasonable demands like this. It’s a hassle to kick them out.

If they get upset, they can go wild and start scratching, so we had to have countermeasures ready.

“Here. Take this and leave. What’s not allowed is not allowed.”

“Hurry… give it to me, nya!!!”

Drooling, the cat beastman snatched the bag and urgently opened it, burying her nose in it and inhaling deeply.

“Hyaaaang…”

Her eyes rolled back in ecstasy, and she staggered away as if drunk.

“Head Professor!”

I was laughing at the dazed cat beastman when an administrative staff member urgently called me.

“Please come quickly! There’s a fight!”

“Aren’t the assistants handling it?”

“The assistants can’t handle it. We need you, Head Professor!”

Curious, I followed to find, what is this?

Two young orcs were glaring at each other, one holding a sharp double-headed axe and the other a menacing metal club.

The academy guards who had come to help didn’t dare intervene in the orcs’ fight and hesitated.

Judging by the tattoos on their arms, it seemed like they belonged to hostile tribes.

“I’ll chop you to pieces and kill you!”

“I’ll strip your bones and make soup to feed to a wyvern!”

One orc brandished his axe, baring his fangs, while the other slammed his club on the ground and responded.

“Hey, this isn’t a fighting ring. Either pretend you didn’t see each other and hand over your weapons or give up on the selection and fight elsewhere.”

“Stay out of this!”

“This is an orc fight!”

With that, the orcs roared, their battle cries chilling the air.

“Eek?!”

Kirrin, who had followed me, clutched her ears and trembled, while everyone else recoiled in fear.

This is a total mess. These guys won’t listen to words.

“Ahhhh! My bracelet!!”

Just as I was about to step between the orcs, a woman’s piercing scream erupted from the other side.

A slender woman dressed in gray was clutching herself in terror, shouting.

“My bracelet was stolen! Everyone run! If you don’t want to die, run away!!!”

What now?

“I’m a werewolf! If I don’t have my bracelet, I’ll transform! Run as far away as you can!!”

A werewolf?

I immediately checked the woman’s wrist, but there was no silver bracelet to suppress transformation, which a werewolf should always wear…

“Don’t just stand there, hurry and—grrrr!”

Suddenly, the woman’s body began to bulge and her mouth extended forward. She was transforming!

Her clothes tore as she grew, turning into a bipedal wolf over three meters tall in an instant.

A transformed werewolf in the middle of a crowded area was far more dangerous than the two orcs brandishing weapons and shouting battle cries.

This is why being a werewolf was listed as a disqualification… But if they claimed the silver bracelet was just a normal accessory, there was no way to identify them in human form.

What a nuisance.

“Let me borrow that.”

“Grrr!”

As soon as I snatched the metal club from the orc, the werewolf charged at me.

I threw my cloak around my left arm, and Kirrin shouted from behind.

“Dian, it’s dangerous!! Get out of the way!”

A dagger thrown by Kirrin brushed past my shoulder and flew forward, but the werewolf deflected it with a swipe of its arm.

Kirrin then skillfully tossed a noose around the werewolf’s neck. Impressive.

But that wouldn’t stop a transformed werewolf.

The werewolf grabbed the noose and swung it like a whip, sending Kirrin flying through the air with a cry.

“Ahh! Oof!”

Assistants rushed to catch the falling Kirrin.

“Everyone stay back! I’ll handle this!”

I waited until the werewolf was close enough, then extended my cloaked arm, which it bit into.

I slipped my fingers through the cloak to grab its tongue and swung the metal club at its head.

“Kuekk!”

The werewolf let out a cry and collapsed to the ground.

As it struggled to get up, I mercilessly pounded it with the club while holding onto its tongue.

“Someone get a spare silver bracelet.”

“Kuekk! Kughh!”

“Here it is, Head Professor!”

Catching the bracelet tossed by an assistant, I struck the werewolf a few more times to stop its resistance and then clasped the bracelet on its wrist.

In an instant, the werewolf reverted to a naked human woman.

I had told them to prepare a few silver bracelets just in case, like with the catnip, but I never expected to actually use one.

Who would have thought a werewolf would hide their identity and apply?

“Thank you….”

The woman, now in human form, faintly thanked me before losing consciousness. Assistants quickly attended to her.

“Take her to the infirmary. Make sure to tell Priestess Maya that she’s a werewolf.”

As the assistants carried the woman away, I turned back to the orcs.

“If you want to keep fighting, take it outside. Otherwise…”

“We are friends!”

The orcs, who had been staring at me in shock, suddenly started putting their arms around each other, pretending to be friendly.

Ugh, those idiots.

“He subdued a werewolf without any proper equipment…”

“Is he a polymorphed dragon…?”

Ignoring the murmurs of the crowd, Kirrin ran over.

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine. But this is a complete mess.”

Since this is the first time, there are bound to be many mistakes. Next year, we need to use the lessons learned from this to strengthen the application requirements.

Kirrin, already looking worried, grabbed my arm.

“With things already like this… can we properly evaluate all these people?”

“Don’t worry. By lunchtime, we’ll have eliminated half of them.”

The first test for the applicants is a physical fitness assessment.

Whether they go into fieldwork or desk jobs after graduation, the “Special Mission” academy requires basic physical fitness.

If they’re not physically fit, no matter how smart they are, they won’t be suitable for our academy. We plan to quickly filter out the unfit candidates through this test.

If they’re smart but not physically fit, they’d be better off at another prestigious traditional academy.

“Headmaster, it looks like things are under control here, so let’s move to the auditorium…”

I trailed off as I noticed something over Kirrin’s shoulder.

Among the bustling crowd, there was a girl with distinct pink hair.

She had long, waist-length, pigtails of rare pink hair and was staring straight at me.

Judging by her gear, she seemed to be with the Revlon Mercenary Corps at the reception desk, but I don’t recall seeing a girl like her there.

I had worked with the Revlon Mercenary Corps during the war and remembered that they didn’t recruit female mercenaries.

However, she seemed too young and delicate to be a mercenary… perhaps she was a mage or another class.

Well, I’ll find out more if she makes it through the final selection.

“Let’s go, headmaster.”

When there was no response, I looked back to see Kirrin being pushed away by the crowd.

I quickly ran over, grabbed her hand, and led her behind the reception desk tent.

“Whew, that was close. Thanks, Dian.”

“For a Dark Elf, why didn’t you just leap? Why let yourself get pushed around?”

“It’s hard to do that when the space is so cramped.”

Kirrin gave an embarrassed smile.

She really is someone who needs a lot of looking after in many ways.