Episode 74
“I will explain about the upcoming End of First Semester exam.”
Just like when discussing the Class Battle, Louisa cast a huge image in the classroom and focused everyone’s attention under her charisma.
Her voice echoed throughout the classroom.
“As you predicted, this semester’s final exam will also involve destroying the ‘Core’ of the ‘Nest’. It’s a very straightforward practical test.”
The place where Alicia had her first encounter with an Altife in the Academia and screamed. The incident where her reputation was covered in thick mud.
First Year, First Semester final exam.
Removing the ‘Core’ of the practical Altife Nest.
This location originally served as the Nest for an actual Bishop-level Altife but has been repurposed as a training ground for nurturing Heroes after eliminating the owner and not destroying the Nest.
Every year, new prospective Heroes experience what an Altife is like, who their enemies are, and what a Nest is through this exam at the end of the first semester.
“The Nest is filled with various traps and Priest-level Altifes. The walls and ceilings are unusual, attacking intruders like the organs of a living creature. Your task is to get through all of that and destroy the core located at the prepared mock ‘Altar.’”
The room of the original Altar has been enchanted with mesmerizing magic to conceal the entrance, and the staff members are stationed inside to manage it.
This is to prevent any possible situations where students might accidentally enter and destroy the actual core or face the risk of a different Bishop-level Altife claiming the Nest.
“There has never been a single case of a Bishop-level or higher occupying someone else’s Nest. These monster brats have such a strong sense of self that they often refuse to even enter someone else’s Nest.”
Especially if it was built by someone of a lower rank. Louisa continued as she changed the imagery floating in the air.
The image showed all first-year students divided by teams, along with the order in which the exam would start.
“This exam is a team battle. Like it or not, you’ll have to overcome this test with your team members you’ve been together with for a semester. Unlike the Class Battle, there won’t be individual scores this time. You need to synchronize your actions with the balance of your team.”
In the classroom where only the floating image gleamed.
Liam’s gaze was fixed on Vargan and Alicia.
“This exam will reveal Alicia’s trauma in front of everyone, leading to her humiliation.”
According to the storyline he knew, Alicia would be subjected to insults and deeply hurt by this incident. Though she might not show it on the outside, inside she must have been rotting away.
Given that Alicia struggled with the nightmarish memories from her childhood, could a sensitive person like her really brush off the hurtful gossip from others with a smile?
It’s tough, isn’t it? Can a soft-hearted girl like her just laugh it off while others are gossiping about her because of this?
‘…And one more.’
A female student from the same team that Liam has been getting close to recently.
Spirit Summoner Nikela.
She got severely injured in this exam and developed an extreme fear of Altife, leading her to apply for withdrawal from the Academia as a supporting character.
However, just because she’s a supporting character doesn’t mean she’s a bland personality compared to others. She was shy, considerate, and a sweet girl.
For Liam, who is directly communicating and building friendships with her, he didn’t want things to flow like this.
Thinking about Alicia and Nikela getting hurt in this exam, it couldn’t stay the same.
Thus, recently he approached Vargan once more and subtly mentioned the incident.
Vargan kept repeating that he wanted to end the conversation quickly, but he seemed a bit interested when the topic of the first-semester final exam came up.
Liam spoke with a bit of hope.
Even if Nikela believed he could persuade her, Alicia was under Vargan’s control, so his permission was essential.
? Help Alicia not to take the exam.
Liam laid his honest feelings on the table.
Alicia was in a deeply traumatized state. Maybe after this emotional chasm is filled, but right now, it’s too early.
No matter how rogue and villainous Vargan is, if he is also a reincarnated soul like Liam, knowing the story, he wouldn’t want to leave Alicia like this.
Though he’s just a servant, she belongs to Schugenharz. For the sake of his own honor, Vargan couldn’t just stand by and let her crumble in front of everyone.
But.
? There’s no benefit.
Vargan casually rejected it.
He retorted as to why he should do something that only brings him losses, not even a sliver of profit.
Liam was flustered but calmly explained it. He figured Vargan didn’t want to reveal he was a reincarnated soul.
Thinking to play along with his tune, he said.
? Alicia has an extreme phobia of Altife. I can’t tell you how I know this, but… please understand it’s not with bad intentions. This is for her, but it’s also for you. You don’t want to tarnish the name of Schugenharz, right…?
It wasn’t very persuasive, but there was no lie in his words. He believed someone who could read and analyze people well, like Emily said, would surely get it.
…It still vividly lingers in his memory.
The way Vargan scoffed at him as if he were pathetic. The tone he used as he mocked the fool.
? You still haven’t come to your senses.
“……”
Liam averted his gaze from Vargan and Alicia.
He hardened those soft eyes and turned back to the densely written letters on the screen to find his team.
????
Order of Departure
[First. Class 1 Team 3]
Liam
Haliana
Lucaiel
Laban Carol Ophelia
Nikela
[Second. Class 1 Team 2]
Hiode Troa Felix
…….
????
What luck.
Liam was the first from Class 1 to take the exam among all classes. He even got to leave first from the randomly selected order within that group.
The reason Liam felt relieved upon seeing it was simple.
Team 1, where Alicia was, was departing from the back of Class 1. There was enough time before Alicia encountered Altife. Knowing the shortest route to the ‘Altar’ made it possible.
“It’s possible.
Liam changed the plan.
Vargan wouldn’t listen to him at all.
Rather, judging by the reaction shown last time, it seemed he intended to push Alicia in without a second thought.
He didn’t know the reason. Vargan’s thinking was beyond his understanding. Thus, Liam came up with another solution.
It might be an extremely drastic and terrible method.
He would be insulted and pointed at.
But, he couldn’t think of any other way to keep Alicia and Nikela from getting hurt.
He thought.
Vargan… If you plan to push Alicia into the Nest until the end, then I….
I will collapse that Nest and uproot the very reason for their sorrow.
Liam vowed to go to the actual ‘Altar’ where the real core of the Nest was, not the mock altar prepared at the Academia. He planned to disguise it as an accident and destroy the Nest to put an end to the trial itself.
He was someone who couldn’t ignore the suffering of others, even if it meant being scorned himself; that was Liam.
*
“Long time no see! Young Master! Didn’t you miss me?”
Naias ran towards me, and I reached out my hand.
That was an action to stop her movements.
“Don’t come closer, just stop right there, Naias. You smell like fish.”
“No way?! Is that a lie…?! Sniff sniff. Fish? What… No smell… Ah! Right. Spirits can’t smell! You tricked me. You’re so mischievous.”
Naias, startled, quickly sniffed her own scent and then smiled like a child, trying to snuggle up to me again.
Alicia, who was gauging my reaction, grasped her from behind, lifting her up and preventing her from moving.
Naias, looking like a little child, was hanging there like grapes on a vine.
Naias struggled and attempted to escape, but couldn’t break free from Alicia’s restraint.
“Alicia, why are you stopping our affectionate moments? Are you jealous?”
“J-jealous?! Not at all! It was because I noticed you seemed annoyed, so I prevented it in advance.”
“Tch. How boring. So, Alicia is more jealous than I thought? I don’t even have a gender.”
“…”
Naias was drooping like seaweed soaked in water, her mouth outstretched.
In my dormitory room, currently, Alicia, Naias, and I—a pretending-to-be-young ancient spirit—were together.
I told Alicia as usual to bring Naias along for today’s swordsmanship lesson.
“Enough of the nonsense. Naias, what’s your current power recovery status?”
“Um… if I were to put it in a way you like, it’s about 60%?”
“The recovery speed has been slow lately. Why is that?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but maybe it’s because my power has been drained for too long. It was fast at first, but I feel like my strength is dwindling. It’s like pouring water onto a cloth that’s already soaked; it doesn’t absorb anymore.”
“So you’re saying your maximum power capacity has decreased. That’s serious… Should we dispose of it?”
“Maybe so… Wait, what do you mean by dispose of it?! Young Master, that’s really not okay! You’ll regret it later! I can’t be strong forever like this. I can regain at least the strength I had before quickly!”
‘So please don’t throw me away!’ Naias cried out, insisting she didn’t want to spend lonely times alone anymore.
Thinking that this squawking little brat used to be the Duke of Spirits made my head spin. Not all spirits were like this, were they?
“When I say dispose of it, I don’t mean to throw it away but to destroy it. If I break it down to the point you can’t inhabit it, won’t you return to the spirit world?”
“That’s the same as saying we should smash it into bits. If you break it down small enough, it should go back to the spirit world, right?”
“The spirit world is full of boring folks. If someone seems even slightly amusing, they usually act like they’ve just been hit on the head hard, making it impossible to have a conversation. That’s just a waste of time!”
Seeing the loud and whiny Naias, I promised myself never to bring up such topics again.
Once was bad enough; I can’t handle hearing this noise twice.
With a light gesture, Alicia clamped Naias’s mouth shut. With one filter in place, it was at least a little better.
By the way… Is that so?
Naias is only able to show about 60% of her power.
I’ll have to work around that.
“Naias.”
“Ugh?”
Naias, having her mouth sealed by Alicia, stopped her blubbering and replied. The lock was released.
“For now, you need to be on my side, not Alicia’s.”
“Wait, really? Awesome! I’ll be able to see something fun again! But why all of a sudden? Is there a special reason?”
“There is.”
I snapped my fingers to form a summoning circle. From it emerged a pristine, white handkerchief, so clean it would purify the heart just by looking at it.
It was the pure white familiar ‘Hayan.’
“Why this familiar all of a sudden… No way….”
Naias awkwardly chuckled, shaking her head and deciding to just stay close to Alicia.
As much as I’d like that, I can’t allow it.
“Naias, return to the sword.”
“N-No! I hate spirit forms…!!”
Due to the power of the contract, Naias lost her physical form and transformed into the blue sword that Alicia held.
The quickest way for Naias to recover in this situation is to stay inside the sword.
However, leaving it like this means she’d undoubtedly come out after a while, so I called for Hayan.
Understanding my intentions, Hayan swelled up and enveloped the relic, Naias, that Alicia held. The sight was as graceful as a butterfly landing.
*Gulp.*
Maybe it was due to the high grade of the relic, but a unique sound emanated from Hayan as she swallowed Naias.
Usually, Hayan would quietly store objects in her own space without making any noise, but dealing with a top-grade relic containing a spirit required processing a lot of information.
Naias’s form vanished, and Hayan fluttered back, soaring through the sky again. Then she transformed into a little bird shape like folded paper and perched on my shoulder.
“Alicia.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“You might soon have to capture Naias in front of others.”
“What do you mean…?”
“About a 20% chance. Based on the information we have, there’s about a 20% chance that you will need to capture Naias.”
Alicia pondered quietly with a thoughtful look in her eyes before finally asking, “In the final exam, we can only use the practice weapons provided by the Academia, right?”
“Then it means we’re deviating from the standard situation.”
I still can’t finalize anything.
This could just be unwarranted anxiety.
However, one must prepare thoroughly to respond to any situation that arises.
Even if that risk destroys the structure of this final exam, or claims a few lives, we should be able to withstand it firmly.
“…….”
I gazed out the window.
The wind was fierce.
Though the winter winds had long left, the raging wind pounded against the window violently. The window braced itself against their intrusion.
Clatter, clatter.
The night wind couldn’t pass through the window.
Only the thin hinges rattled.
