Chapter 6
“It seems we’ve arrived.”
“Oh, yes.”
“You must be tired. Shall I have the meal prepared right away?”
“Yes. I’ll come down after I wash up.”
Elaine snapped out of her thoughts at Maria’s voice. Although it hadn’t been a particularly strenuous day compared to her usual training, Elaine felt unusually exhausted.
‘312 points…’
The thought that had been circling in her mind and draining her energy was the score of “312 points” that a commoner named Ryu had achieved during today’s test.
When she learned that the test would be Golem Hit, Elaine couldn’t hide her excitement. Although it was known as one of the most challenging entrance exams for the Academy, she was used to training with high-performance automatic golems at home, which were far superior to those at the Academy.
While she didn’t have any specific ambition for first place, Elaine had done her best in the test, and with a score of 177 points, she had naturally assumed she’d be the top scorer.
But 177 points had been far from enough.
The black-haired commoner named Ryu had scored an astounding 312 points.
‘How on earth…’
The fact that she hadn’t even been able to ask Ryu how he had fought the golem left Elaine feeling even more fatigued.
“Uh, w-what? Where are we? Excuse me, I think we stopped in the wrong place.”
Hearing Maria’s bewildered voice outside the carriage, Elaine followed her out. They had stopped at the edge of a forest. With her mind already clouded by the day’s events, Elaine frowned at the carriage’s unexpected stop in this unfamiliar place.
“What are you all doing? Hey!”
“Excuse me! What’s going on here? Ugh, I knew I’d regret it as soon as I heard about the replacement driver.”
Maria raised her voice at the driver, who ignored her and continued to call out into the dark, empty forest.
‘What’s… happening?’
Feeling an instinctual sense of unease at the driver’s frantic calls, Elaine slowly moved her hand to the hilt of her sword. She was about to draw it, maintaining her heightened alertness, when—
“Eek!”
Sshh—
“A-ah, my lady?”
‘What was that?’
Elaine caught a faint, strange scream. She hadn’t sensed any presence nearby, yet a man’s scream had come from not far away and then immediately ceased. Reflexively drawing her sword, she scanned her surroundings, but apart from Maria and the driver on the carriage, she still sensed nothing else.
“Urgh. Guess we’ve been found out.”
“Hm?”
“Take this!”
While Elaine focused on the hidden presence around her, the driver made an unexpected move. He drew a dagger from his cloak and lunged at Maria. Elaine had no time to react; the dagger was already aiming for Maria’s neck as Maria shut her eyes instinctively.
Bang!
“Gah—!”
Just as the suspicious driver was about to strike Maria with his dagger, something descended from above, slamming him into the ground with an awkward, comical sound.
“What… what just happened?”
“Phew, that was close!”
Sshh—
“Who are you?”
Elaine quickly aimed her sword at the figure sitting cross-legged on top of the driver. Though he seemed to have no hostility, having saved Maria from attack, the whole situation was far too suspicious.
“Oh, didn’t we meet earlier?”
“…What?”
“You remember my name, right? It’s Ryu.”
“W-what?”
Although she couldn’t see his face clearly, as soon as she heard his voice, Elaine immediately recognized the man now sitting atop another person. It was the commoner Ryu, who had made quite an impression with his bold top-ranking speech at the entrance exam and scored over 300 points in Golem Hit.
“Why are you here…?”
“Haah… Oh, miss, is this someone you know?”
“Here we go.”
Thud—
“Ack!”
As Elaine lowered her sword, Ryu stood up. The man under him let out another strange noise.
“Well… It’s just that I noticed someone was up to something bad. Normally, if they did it secretly, I wouldn’t care, but knowing other people are out there doing this kind of stuff—it kind of bruises my pride.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Oh, anyway, I left one of them conscious, so you can interrogate that guy.”
“Uh…”
Elaine looked at the unconscious man lying behind Ryu, then back to Ryu himself, who was standing right in front of her. Even though she didn’t fully understand what he was saying, she found herself nodding along.
“Well then… ahem.”
“W-wait a moment!”
“Yes?”
“There’s something I’m curious about.”
Just as Ryu seemed about to end the conversation, Elaine called out hastily. There were countless things she wanted to ask about him, starting with how he had overpowered the man currently passed out. But there was one question that weighed on her mind more than any other—one she had wanted to ask while sitting beside him throughout the entire entrance ceremony but missed her chance.
“Oh, sure. Ask me anything.” Ryu crossed his arms, smiling knowingly as if he had expected this.
Seeing this, Elaine sheathed her sword and asked.
“Could you… tell me how you scored over 300 points?”
“…Pardon?”
“In the entrance exam. Golem Hit. Judging by how you suddenly appeared, are you a mage? I heard from other students that you took the test barehanded, but even after thinking it over, I can’t fathom how it’s possible to score over 300 points without using magic, with just pure combat skills…”
Ryu stood still, frozen in place as he listened to Elaine’s question, his expression one of utter disbelief—as if to ask, This is what you’re curious about right now?
***
System Messages
<Side Quest (1-2): “The Start of a Bond” completed!>
<Quest clear rewards have been granted.>
“Yesss.”
A hum escaped Ryu as he read the system message that popped up. The feeling of completing a quest was surprisingly satisfying. No wonder people played RPGs and went through all the trouble of tackling quests with no information just to clear them.
After surviving his awkward speech in front of countless people, and as soon as the ceremony finally ended, a new quest welcomed him. When he sensed a suspicious presence targeting the Academy from outside, he instinctively accepted the quest, although he’d been surprised at its sudden appearance.
They were planning something as low as kidnapping while I was around?
If they had hired the Black Shadow Corps for the job, maybe I’d have been okay with it, but seeing another organization attempt something like this wasn’t a sight he cared to witness.
The kidnap target had been Elaine, the girl sitting beside me throughout the entrance ceremony, so I felt a bit of attachment as well.
Though I had been a bit too relaxed and things nearly went wrong, I managed to complete the quest to prevent Elaine Sinclair’s abduction right on time without any issues.
“Quite a peculiar kid.”
Elaine Sinclair was slightly—or rather, quite different—from the image I had in mind. She was in an incredibly tense situation, where any delay might have led to bloodshed, yet the first thing she asked upon being saved was how I had managed to score over 300 points in the entrance exam.
When I genuinely answered that I had “just done it somehow,” she seemed unsatisfied and insisted I reveal if I was a mage or not. When I clarified I wasn’t, her curiosity intensified. Was it possible to score 300 points with pure martial arts alone? Could swordsmanship yield the same score? Would I give her even the smallest hint?
Elaine had no intention of giving up easily, and I truly had nothing else to say, so I could only repeat, “I just did it somehow,” over and over again. After all, that’s exactly how it happened.
As our conversation circled around, her attendant called for people from the Sinclair family. Once they confirmed that the coachman bore the mark of the Black Crows, Elaine finally realized the danger she’d been in and expressed her gratitude to me.
Now, Elaine had just departed again, bound for her original destination, the Sinclair estate.
She’d offered to take me wherever I needed, but I politely declined. If I left alone, I’d be back home in an instant. Why waste time on a carriage ride?
Watching the carriage disappear from view, I closed my eyes. It was time for me to go home as well.
Whoosh—
“So, the girl sitting next to me was from the Sinclair family. Getting closer to the Sinclairs wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Feeling the now-familiar sensation of my body lifting slightly, I opened my eyes to the familiar scent of my office, and there was Addy, staring blankly at me.
“Ah!”
“…Shouldn’t I be the one surprised here?”
“What—what’s up? Why are you here?”
“There are some documents requiring your review. I didn’t expect you to look them over tonight, but…”
Addy waved a stack of papers at me and handed them over. I was the one who’d appeared suddenly in the office, yet Addy remained unperturbed and even handed me some work. As it was quite late, it had been a while since I’d seen Addy dressed casually instead of her usual suit-like uniform.
“How did the Academy exam go?”
“Haha, I took first place, of course.”
“Oh, so you were the top entrant?”
“I hadn’t planned on it, but somehow…”
“…I did advise you to keep a low profile.”
“Well, there was a reason. And top entrant only really shines for a short time after admission. After that, it’ll naturally fade into the background.”
“Well… I hope that will indeed be the case. Since you’re here, would you mind taking a look?”
“Haa, what is it now?”
Resigned, I turned my attention to the papers Addy had handed me. Given they were important enough to leave in my office this late, I had an idea of their significance, though I’d been trying to avoid more complicated thoughts tonight.
“It could be considered good news, in a way…”
“…Oh.”
Indeed, the contents on the paper weren’t complicated at all. As Addy had mentioned, it was certainly more like good news.
—
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