The Retired Hero is an Extra

"Don't disturb me," Jash muttered coldly before putting the bow down and smiling again as he enjoyed the cool breeze.

The audience sucked in a cold breath at his contrasting display while even Rui felt speechless for a second.

Jash seemed way too relaxed mostly, but this... this was crazy!!

Nonetheless, Rui didn't have much time to mull over it as the screen changed suddenly.

"It seems someone has already arrived at the boss monster!" Rui exclaimed while the screen displayed a dwarf with brown hair.

He was just a few steps away from the water body where the boss monster had just awakened from.

"And it seems more will arrive soon," Rui spoke as the screen displayed an eagle view, showing that neither of them was too far from the water body.

"The girls are a bit far from their final location, but isn't that better?" Rui asked the crowd, implying they would get to focus on both in real time.

"YEAAAHH!"

The crowd yelled in agreement, shaking the arena due to the huge number of people shouting.

"Right now, as you can see on the screen, the boys are not too far apart from each other," Rui added, trying to make the audience focus on the screen.

Meanwhile, at the boss monster's location,

An elf was the second participant to arrive, and just after him was a human and both were stunned by the sight of the boss monster.

The pressure it gave off was no joke!

Not to mention it easily towered over them, with double their height and the rest of its length submerged in the water, making it an extremely dangerous foe.

Alas, the three arrived from different directions and took a moment to notice each other. By then, one had already been eliminated.

"W-what?" the human said, noticing the instant barrier of the elf before the same happened to him, followed by the dwarf.

"Oof! Looks like it'll be some time since someone who can fight the boss monster arrives," Rui commented with a sigh.

The eager audience as well felt cheated at the performance of the examinees despite knowing the difference in strength.

Most of them would faint or freeze at the sight of such a monster, let alone fight it.

Yet they had the nerve to comment about the examinees, but it wasn't strange in any manner.

It was the nature of living beings to pass comments upon others as it was easier than having empathy and understanding the situation.

"Huh? That's it?"

"Yea, so boring. Back in my days, we used to fight with our all, not allowed to even stand still..."

"Uncle, you're not even a hunter, so what back in my days?"

"Hahahahaha"

"Emotional Damage!"

While all that was going on in the stands, the examinees were reducing in number by the second.

No one could last a second against a boss monster.

Several teams and solo examinees kept getting eliminated at its simple attack using the water element.

Right at that disappointing moment, Jash stood up with a long sigh as the screen shifted on him.

"Time to reap my rewards, I suppose," he murmured before jumping off the cave and landing steadily.

Unlike others still rushing to their eliminations, he walked at a brisk pace humming a tune to himself.

His disregarding attitude didn't sit well with any examinee who happened to see him and came to attack him.

"Let's see what you have to show, arrogant ba–"

—Slice!

Before the approaching opponent could finish his sentence, Jash swung his sword, targeting his neck.

In less than a fraction of a second, he eliminated the guy, leaving him with no dignity whatsoever.

Despite the survivors being at least F-Rank, none were his match besides Amael and the protagonist.

At least that was Jash's own belief and he was set on proving it to be correct.

—Boom!

'It seems they met,' he mused, noting the sound of a collision near the boss monster.

The ones he was referring to were Grunghin and Zaos as Grunghin didn't listen to anything and started fighting.

"Listen, we have to fight the boss monster," Zaos tried to reason but Grunghin couldn't care less.

"No! I only found you and this is the best time to go all out against you!" Grunghin exclaimed with a wide grin, ecstatic at the thought of exchanging bouts with his best friend.

The screen in the audience also shifted to them as Zaos swiftly dodged, shooting arrows while Grunghin slammed his sledgehammer.

Both made deft maneuvers as the dwarves and elves cheered for their princes respectively.

At random intervals, Zaos switched to using daggers and short swords, but Grunghin dodged all of the throws Zaos made.

"Come on, friend! Give it your all!" he declared, wanting more from Zaos.

Alas, their battle got interrupted as a stray spell came flying their way.

"Which idiot–" Grunghin cursed at getting interrupted but dodged nonetheless, not wanting to get hit by a stray spell.

It would be too humiliating to lose because of such a thing and he would even lose the chance to fight properly with his friend.

"Come out, coward!" Grunghin shouted after the explosive spell landed but no one showed up, making him grit his teeth.

Yet what infuriated him the most was how Zaos vanished from his sight.

"No matter, I will meet you and him at the boss monster!" Grunghin announced in anger before moving away.

"Ohh, seems like we won't get a spectacle before the boss monster," Rui said with a sad expression before changing it completely.

"Look, something interesting!" he shouted as the screen shifted to display Amael and Avon opposite each other.

Jash, like Rui, picked up on the events from the clashing and clanking sounds near the boss area.

'So it seems the inevitable will happen and I can only change small things?' he mused, wondering who encountered who.

'Unless I actively eliminated one of them; these encounters were bound to happen,' he thought, wondering what would change if he had intervened.

The ones he eliminated, he believed, had no major role in the Entrance Test or maybe the academy itself.

Nonetheless, it was just pure speculation as the protagonist was also supposed to have encountered someone, but he had yet to find anyone.

The ones that were actually in a heated exchange were Avon and Amael as Avon couldn't accept his earlier loss.

He wanted to redeem himself and held his spear in a firm grip, looking at Amael with a hint of animosity.

Of course, Amael had no other choice but to play along, knowing he couldn't offend the prince without good reason.

After all, his target ought to be the protagonist not Amael, and it would soon change either way.

"Greetings Prince Avon," Amael said with a polite smile, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"This is no time for greetings," Avon said coldly, raising his spear as they were already in the range where they could attack and defend from each other.

The audience saw it all, and the crowd cheered wildly, with both having significant support from their respective fans.

But Amael had a lot more supporters due to his actions in the Entrance Test unlike the soloist Avon.

"Sigh, it seems I can't get through you," Amael responded with a sigh before taking a stance and holding his sword with his right hand.

"This is going to be interesting," Rui shouted, wanting to hype the crowd even more as the tension crescendoed.

"Uhm, excuse me, passing through..." A voice made both of them stop in their tracks and raise their guards.