Group Project Massacre (3)

Once the joint exam teams had been assigned, the students were given a three-day free period of sorts — every class effectively cancelled until the exam began.

It was meant to be a time for teammates to gather, sync up their coordination, discuss how to clear the dungeon, and build trust with one another.

However.

"I honestly never thought they wouldn't meet even once…"

Aside from the first day, the members of Team D-19 — Rosaria's team — had not gathered a single time before the exam began.

Their so-called team leader had done nothing but shout that everyone should just trust him, and the other members hadn't shown so much as a glimpse of their faces for the entire three days.

And so it was only on the day of the exam itself that the four of them finally assembled at the entrance to the Artificial Dungeon where the test would take place.

"Hey."

"Y-Yes?!"

"Go over there and grab the supplies."

"M…m-me?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Why are you dragging your feet?! I said go get them, so go get them!"

"Hic?! Y-Yes, sir…!"

The moment his teammates arrived, team leader Gren immediately started barking rough orders at the easy target — Rasel — treating him like a personal lackey.

Rosaria and Rachel were both lower-year students, yet Gren reserved his particularly harsh treatment for Rasel, a fellow commoner. At their first meeting he had snarled at Rachel for being a noble, but now that butting heads and wasting energy had simply become too tiresome, he had shifted his target to Rasel, who looked weak-willed and convenient to push around.

D-Damn it…! I-I'm a third-year…! Why leave my underclassmen alone and…!

Rasel, on the receiving end of that treatment, didn't dare make a peep. He scrambled off in a flustered rush, but inside he was swallowing bitter resentment — why did he have to suffer like this while the two underclassmen were left alone?

"H-Here… I brought them…"

"Hmm… You made sure to get the Life Crystals too, right?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Good. Everyone put them on, quick."

Having thrown himself into the tsunami of crowded people and flailed his way through, Rasel returned looking completely drained, barely managing to stagger back with a sack full of various items.

"So I just put ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it on like this…? Oh?"

Click—

"It shrinks to fit perfectly? That's cool."

Rosaria took the bracelet embedded with a small Life Crystal from the sack and slipped it onto her wrist. The slightly loose band immediately contracted until it fit her arm snugly, and her eyes sparkled with genuine fascination.

"So it's basically a kind of artifact."

"If you're done putting it on, we're moving."

"……"

Guess I was the only one getting excited like a country ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bumpkin…

The other team members, clearly used to this sort of thing, calmly fastened their bracelets and started walking ahead. Suddenly embarrassed by her own enthusiasm, Rosaria scratched her head awkwardly and followed after them.

"…Why do I have to… damn… I'm a third-year too… sigh…"

"Ah."

Then, out of nowhere, Rosaria spotted Rasel lagging a little behind the group, still carrying the supply sack and muttering under his breath as he walked.

"Here, I'll take that."

"Y-Yes?!"

"It's fine. I should at least do this much. I'm counting on you seniors!"

I should at least help with something like this. Just standing around with my hands behind my back would look bad.

Wanting to do at least this much to shift the atmosphere, Rosaria took the sack from Rasel and started walking with the load herself.

"……"

Rasel could only fidget, unable even to properly say thank you, as he watched Rosaria's retreating figure grow smaller in the distance.

"…D-Does she… like me?"

He murmured the words without thinking, staring at the way her hair fluttered as she walked away.

What Rosaria failed to realize was this: she had simply offered pure, uncomplicated help — but her appearance was that of an outstanding beauty.

Rosaria knew she was a pretty woman, but having lived more than twenty years as a man, she had absolutely no grasp of the proper distance between men and women. On top of that, she had never once dated anyone of the opposite sex, which only made it worse.

And the other factor: Rasel was a pure, socially isolated virgin who had barely ever managed a conversation with a girl in his life.

Rosaria's actions were, by any measure, nothing more and nothing less than those of a kind underclassman. The mood had been rotten, standing around had felt awkward, and she had simply drawn on the social instincts she'd learned in the military to smooth things over a little. To any ordinary person, there was nothing particularly special about it.

But Rasel, who had never received such kind help from a girl before, couldn't help interpreting that pure act of assistance as romantic interest.

"…Heh… heheh…"

And so, thanks to Rosaria's actions, the party for this exam became tangled in even greater chaos.

A short while later.

Once the students gathered here had more or less finished their preparations, mana began pooling into the magic formation of the mass-warp spell, ready to start the exam.

"But if we all warp at once, won't we all end up meeting each other in the labyrinth?"

Standing atop the magic circle that was slowly beginning to glow, Rosaria suddenly found herself wondering — this vast space wasn't filled with just her own team. Other teams were packed in tightly as well, all warping at the same time.

"The magic circles we're standing on serve as both the warp into the Artificial Dungeon and as a kind of passageway."

"…A passageway?"

"…Simply put, an identical magic circle to the one we're standing on has been drawn somewhere inside the Artificial Dungeon, and each team uses a different circle. Do you understand?"

"Ahh… I get it."

"…Are you truly Professor Felix's younger sister?"

"……"

Damn, she really knows how to dig the knife in.

Rachel, who had answered Rosaria's question, looked at her with an expression that clearly asked whether that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠level of intelligence was for real — and the gaze stung considerably.

"Time for the transfer."

As the warp countdown began to ring out, Gren casually rested his hands on Rosaria and Rachel's shoulders and muttered.

"Ah, physical contact. Here."

"Huh? Uh… uh…"

Startled by the sudden touch and wondering what was going on, Rosaria remembered that teammates needed to maintain physical contact during the transfer. She held out her hand to Rasel, who was standing blankly beside her.

"They said we have to hold on during the warp."

"Ah, r…right! Th…that…!"

"Here."

"………"

Gingerly—

Rasel stared at Rosaria's offered hand with trembling pupils, then with an extremely shaky hand, lightly rested just the tips of his fingers on hers.

What, does he hate this?

Rosaria had expected them to actually hold hands, but Rasel's behavior — as if he blatantly didn't want to grab on — made her brow furrow slightly without thinking.

Uwaaaaaah?! A-A girl's hand?! I-I held her hand?! Eheheh?! Her palm is warm?! Wooooooow!!!

Contrary to Rosaria's thoughts, Rasel — who had never once held a girl's hand — had reached his absolute limit at mere fingertips. He wasn't even properly holding her hand, yet he felt as though he already was.

Whoosh—

"Wooooooow!"

At the same moment the countdown ended, Rosaria's vision began flooding with white.

At last, the exam had begun.

"Urgh…?! Uweeeegh!! Ugh…?! Uweeeh?!"

As the pure white of her vision gradually began to regain color, Rosaria bent sharply at the waist and heaved dry retches one after another.

"M-My head is spinning…"

The enormous pain and nausea that hit the instant her vision went white left Rosaria's world whirling. She rolled around on the floor, moaning about the dizziness.

"You have quite severe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mana sickness."

"M-Mana… sickness?"

Looking up from the floor at Rachel, who was peering down at her, Rosaria managed to ask back.

"Warp magic is a type of spell that twists space to open a temporary passageway."

"While passing through that passageway, our entire bodies are essentially carried along by extremely high-density mana — so I've heard many people experience motion sickness in the process… but I've never seen anyone this bad."

"Urgh…! Hah… hahh… w-water…!"

"…Ah, right."

"……"

This girl is the spitting image of my little brother…!

Rachel had rattled off her knowledge in response to the question while looking down with open interest at Rosaria writhing on the floor like a caterpillar. Only when Rosaria barely managed to ask for a sip of water did Rachel seem to remember, producing a leather waterskin from the supply sack at her waist and handing it over.

In that process — prioritizing her own curiosity over helping a person first — Rachel's behavior made Rosaria think of Felix, her blood-related younger brother and personal nemesis.

"*Gulp… gulp…* …Hah! I'm alive!"

Rosaria managed to drink some water and settle her motion sickness.

"…..Whoa!"

And then the interior of the Artificial Dungeon, which she hadn't been able to see through the nausea, came into sharp focus.

Torches embedded at intervals along the damp, gloomy cave walls provided a soft glow. All around were nothing but stone and cave walls, with moisture-slick moss in every crevice — and beyond that, the dungeon interior stretching into darkness so deep the end couldn't be seen.

Standing at the entrance of a dungeon that looked exactly like something straight out of an RPG, Rosaria couldn't help but gasp in wonder. It felt as though she had stepped directly into a fantasy novel — no, the sensation of having actually entered one hit her all on its own.

While Rosaria was still marveling at the dungeon and looking around, a voice called out.

"Hey! You chicks! Get over here, now!"

A short distance away, still planted on the magic circle where she had first arrived in this dungeon, Gren was shouting.

Her head was clear now, and she wondered how she'd ended up this far away. Rosaria immediately headed over to where Gren and Rasel were waiting.

And then—

"This is a jackpot!"

"…A jackpot?"

Gren placed his hand on the magic circle they had been transferred onto and spoke.