Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Or so was my line of thought, but Ciel seems to be curious about why Professor Liens was acting a bit unsure.
He then honestly responded to Ciel’s inquiry.

「There aren’t many chances to witness their full power, you see. Monsters A-rank and above barely appear, after all.
It’s that the guy had previously defeated an A-rank monster, confirming them to be at least A-rank in strength, but we can’t even test if they’re actually around S-rank level or not.」
「There’s a sickening number of A-rank monsters, though.」
「There’s no way that’s―oh, the den, huh.」

Recalling its existence, Professor Liens cut his sentence short and showed understanding. In the den, not only are there many A-rank monster, there are innumerable S-rank monsters as well.
I don’t know how many have reached them, though.
Still, he’s sharing this information with us so easily; is it because he’s a teacher or because something happened during his time as a court sorcerer? He was apparently seen as an underachiever, so there’s probably something.

「Why not bring them there?」
「That’s impossible. It could risk a cross-national issue, the amount of paperwork is going to be a problem, and it’s a problem from a national defense perspective.
After all, while A-rank monsters don’t often appear here, it’s best not to test your luck.」
「That sounds troublesome.」

This is probably only an issue because of how individuals can grow extremely strong in this world, but having the absence of one person affect the integrity of one’s national defense is a big problem.
Can that person even get a proper break? At the very least, a long vacation trip is probably impossible.

But now that I think about it, isn’t it difficult for Mother Fii to leave Central as well?
While pondering this, I continue listening to their conversation.

◇

You can never tell when an opportunity will come to you, and in Ciel’s case, it seems like meeting Professor Liens has been a good opportunity. To be specific, Ciel has started using her natural speech pattern with people who know her.
Today, we were called by the headmistress, so we are at her office. We weren’t told the reason, but it’s probably about Professor Liens.

「That reminds me, what’s your plan for the athletic meet?」
「Not interested.」
「Come to think of it, you did say that. While I feel conflicted about you not planning to join any event―it’s a great help.」

The headmistress didn’t show any major response to the change in Ciel’s manner of speech, but she did seem slightly surprised. Still, she doesn’t treat Ciel differently, as expected of the headmistress, I suppose.
Now then, the month-long academic break is about to start soon, so the athletic meet thing is also fast approaching. That’s probably why she’s prefacing with this before heading to the main topic. And Ciel seems absolutely disinterested about it.
That said, we don’t really know what events are going to be held in the athletic meet.
Since we have the academy head right before us, let me have Ciel ask about it.

「What happens during the athletic meet?」
「One major event is the tournament for the combat-trained students. The tournament is split between the no-sorcery category, the sorcery-only category, and the mixed category. Additionally, individuals and parties have separate categories, resulting in a total of 6 categories.」
「Hmnn.」
「Sorceric tool presentations are also held simultaneously, as well as sorcery research publications. You could say that it’s an overall presentation for everything the students have learned in the academy.」
「Do people gather with so many things happening?」

The headmistress was a bit dumbfounded by Ciel’s casual question at first, but then she shook her head and answered.

「The athletic meet is one major goalpost for many students. If you show great results, then there’s a chance that nobles would recruit you, and even if you become a hunter instead, you will have an easier time ranking up as a promising newcomer. To be precise, you can be fast-tracked to the rank that matches the competence you displayed during this meet.
Because of that, you might even become a high-rank hunter before reaching the age of 20.」
「And that also applies to the other events, right?」

Regardless of your specialization, if you can leave positive results during the meet, you have the opportunity to gain influential connections.
Since it’s a joint event with the first academy, it’s a chance to advertise your capabilities to future family heads, and if you’re lucky, you might even be able to rise from commoner to upper class overnight.

With that being the case, there might be people there needlessly flaunting their affluence, but the academy is probably prepared to deal with them.

「In that case, how do you participate in the athletic meet?」
「You’re quite assertive for someone uninterested.」
「There’s no harm in knowing, after all.」

Since it’s such an important event, not knowing about it could make us stand out in a negative way.
Seemingly convinced by Ciel’s response, the headmistress answered without any particular question.

「For the tournament, a qualifying tournament will be held at the end of your vacation. There are no minimum year requirements, so even freshmen can enter.
Last year, the entrants were randomly divided into 4 blocks. The top two of each block will participate in the tournament proper. Simultaneously, participants for the other events will go through an assessment, and those that pass it can present their projects during the meet.」
「So prospective participants need to apply first, right?」
「That would be the case.」

『That’s apparently how it works; want to participate?』
『I don’t really want to participate, but I do think that it could be a good experience for our two party members.』
『That does sound good.』

Both Palra and Belltina have grown a lot more agile and dexterous lately, so I think it should be about time to test their mettle. Though from their personality, it’ll probably be difficult. Besides―

『Still, wouldn’t it be dangerous?』
『That’s why we’ll save it for next year. From what I understand, the only freshmen joining are those particularly confident with the combat abilities.』

They’ve certainly grown stronger compared to before, and Belltina has a lot more stamina now. Palra has even grown to be one of the better fighters in our class.
Though that’s only within the lower strength bracket. She finally has a good grasp of the fundamentals, at least.

If they apply for the qualifiers and are matched with the upperclassmen or classmates from the higher strength bracket, they’d be knocked out before having their abilities tested.
I can’t say for certain since I haven’t really seen how the high strength bracket people train, but if we exclude Ailneige and Lady Leshy and her cohorts, they probably can only have one or two good matches with our classmates.

On the other hand, our Mr. Hero Juerd would probably be able to go far into the tournament in my estimation. He’ll either win or have a good fight with the champion. Either way, he’ll surely stand out if he joins.

「Let me ask again, will you not participate in any event?」
「I won’t. Even if I do, Ailneige is a hunter that’s only slightly good at barrier sorcery.」
「Only slightly, huh… I can’t quite agree with that, but more importantly, there’s something else I want to ask.」
「Is it about Liens?」

To Ciel’s casual response, the headmistress answered with a heavy nod.