The Reallocation Exam (2)
The instructor handed out electronic maps containing the approximate distribution of Ether before the test began. “These maps only show rough concentrations, so if your mathematical intuition isn’t great, you might as well just run around like a headless chicken. Anyone who needs it can download a copy here.”
That was the extent of the explanation. I had heard everything worth hearing. Students below the middle class were already scurrying to form parties. The weaker someone was, the more they clung together to cover their shortcomings. I couldn’t laugh at them. That was simply human nature—and its strength. Truth be told, I also wanted to team up with someone who had real combat ability right away.
That was when Seti made her offer.
Her tone was a bit curt, yet strangely expectant.
“Me?” I pointed at myself, genuinely baffled.
Seti nodded without hesitation. “During the practical exam, you beat the crap out of that monster.”
“That only worked because Rustilla was there, you know?”
“I know.”
Without warning, she grabbed my hand and started dragging me along.
“Where are we going?”
“The deep end.”
Seti pulled me steadily downhill until she suddenly stopped. We had arrived at the campsite of the remedial class—the students with the lowest entrance scores. She glanced around before explaining.
“I had a vague feeling the test would be like this. So I trained to raise my Ether detection ability.”
“Sounds like a gamble.”
“It’s not a gamble. It was almost a sure thing.”
That was exactly the difference between Seti and me. If I had to put it into words, it felt like playing the stock market. She had an instinct for it—the sense of victory that I had lacked back then.
“Sure, whatever.” Her speech patterns were oddly similar to Zernya’s. Blood really couldn’t lie; the Adelbein lineage ran deep.
“Cooperate with my plan.”
“Yes.” I answered indifferently.
“So here’s the deal. We combine my Ether detection, your decent combat ability, and whatever mathematical and scientific thinking you’ve got. Honestly, I think the two of us working together will be more helpful than going solo.”
“……Siblings, huh.”
“What? Biologically we are siblings.” Seti crossed her arms and pouted. “You never even let me call you ‘brother’ before.”
“Shut up and keep listening.”
Seti cleared her throat with a small cough and continued. “But the two of us alone won’t be enough for stable gains. We need one more person—the one you mentioned earlier.”
Who could that be? It was obvious. Right on cue, a girl with a golden ponytail walked past us. I saw her, but she seemed swallowed by the crowd and didn’t notice us. She looked like she was searching for a teammate. I had a feeling our needs would match perfectly.
“Rustilla!”
The moment I reached out to call her name—
Smack!
My hand was slapped downward. A sharp sting bloomed across the back of it.
“What the—?”
I turned with a frown and found a maid android in a crisp suit standing there with a completely blank expression.
“Please look with your eyes only.”
Another one like Sonia had appeared.
While some students at the academy came purely to study, others enrolled mainly to enjoy romance or a life of debauchery. More precisely, they were letting loose. I studied hard, so shouldn’t I be rewarded? Among those rewards, many males sought romance. At seventeen, it was the age when interest in the opposite sex peaked and the sly snakes came slithering out in force.
The number of snakes slithering toward Rustilla, however, far exceeded imagination.
It had only been ten seconds since she turned down another group and started walking again. Two more male students approached her.
“No, I’m…”
Rustilla sighed, about to refuse, when—
“That will not be permitted.”
An android slipped between the boys and Rustilla. She wore a spotless suit and had long, dark hair. Her name was Verdia—a fifth-generation security android assigned to guard Rustilla after Zermel.
“Our Lady Rustilla is a noble person. Do not approach her so casually.”
“Whoa, so your name really is Rustilla. It’s as pretty as your face.”
“You’re wasting your time with cheap flattery.”
Verdia personally swatted away the grinning boys. Her defense was ironclad. She was so ruthless that even Rustilla felt secondhand embarrassment. She believed Verdia’s overprotectiveness was actually causing trouble for others.
“Don’t you think you’re being too harsh?” Rustilla asked.
Verdia shook her head and murmured, “My lady is an unparalleled beauty. Do you really believe those pests will back off just because you politely decline?”
“Well…”
Unparalleled beauty? That was going a bit far. She wasn’t ugly, but Rustilla struck me as more plain and elegant than stunning.
“Still, Verdia… I’m not interested in romance yet. I think it’s better to think about those things seriously once I’m an adult.”
“My lady, you are far too pure.” Verdia sighed in exasperation. “There is an old saying: no tree can withstand ten strikes of the axe. Every man is a woodcutter with an axe in his hand. If those persistent ones start hacking away at you, do you understand what will happen?”
“……”
“I have no intention of letting those monkeys anywhere near you.” Verdia clasped her hands behind her back and continued. “However, going alone would be dangerous. We don’t know what threats lurk inside that forest. In the end, you will need comrades who can protect you.”
“So you’re giving permission?”
“Yes. To be honest, I also think Father’s order to avoid all contact with others is a little excessive.”
Rustilla’s eyes widened. Verdia really was different from Zermel. As expected of a fifth-generation android, she had flexibility.
‘If my lady doesn’t come home, I’ve been ordered to monitor her. In any case, it is an honor to meet you.’
The high-end android that the Kersil family had spent a fortune on to both guard and surveil Rustilla had, in effect, set her free. It was a miscalculation on her parents’ part, but for Rustilla it was a blessing.
“I already have someone in mind,” Rustilla said. A faint blush colored her cheeks.
“……”
Verdia sensed an unusual atmosphere. Rustilla continued searching for the person she had in mind. Before long, she heard a boy’s voice calling her name from afar. The very next instant, Verdia reflexively swatted away the hand of a lecher trying to reach for her lady.
“What is she even saying? ‘Look with your eyes only…’” I rubbed my reddened hand and glared at the android. She introduced herself as Verdia.
“Our Lady Rustilla is a branch of pure gold and a leaf of flawless jade. No matter who you are, you are unworthy of comparison.”
“I’m a direct descendant of the Rheinland family.”
“……”
The android’s face went blank.
“Pardon me, but who are you?”
“Idel von Rheinland.”
“……Ah. That infamous scoundrel?”
“Would it kill you to call me this year’s top student?”
“My apologies. I was merely testing you.”
Verdia began circling me slowly. After a long while of humming thoughtfully, she narrowed her eyes like a flounder.
“The data in my database and the person before me are completely different. Not a single news article matches the current reality.”
“And?”
“Please wait a moment.”
She circled not only me but Seti as well.
“This young lady passes.”
“What about me?”
“One moment.”
After watching her a while longer, I began to understand Verdia’s algorithm. She tended to be slightly more lenient toward individuals of the same gender as Rustilla. That was when Rustilla stepped in.
“Verdia, Idel is one of my only two friends.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Don’t suspect him.”
“……”
Tap. Tap.
She suddenly began lightly jabbing me. They were nothing more than gentle pokes to the shoulder or cheek, so they didn’t hurt. Yet for some reason it felt incredibly unpleasant. Still, I endured. I roughly understood her intentions.
“Verdia, what are you doing…!”
Rustilla looked mortified, while Seti watched me getting lightly smacked and giggled. I endured the unpleasant assault for nearly a full minute.
“You pass.”
The reward for my patience was sweeter than expected.
To think I had been called one of Rustilla’s only two friends. It felt strangely good. Did this mean I had successfully turned one of the main characters into a full ally? At this rate, I should aim to maintain friendly relations with the rest of my classmates and recruit them as well.
“Idel? Idel?”
“Hm?”
Rustilla was calling me.
She asked whether the two of us were truly friends. What on earth was she even asking?
“Of course we are.”
“Yeah… that’s right. Thank goodness.”
Rustilla let out a deep sigh of relief. The three of us—me, Seti, and Rustilla—entered the foothills of the Dodeca Forest and began our journey to gather Ether.
There were three main rules for the practical exam.
First: Fighting between students was forbidden.
Second: Golems would only appear after a certain amount of time had passed.
Third: Each Ether fragment was worth 6 points, and defeating one golem awarded 300 points.
Although they were called Ether fragments, they looked like glowing chunks of chromium, so they were easy to spot even in broad daylight. Scattered pieces lay here and there along the path. Every time we picked one up and stored it in our pockets, a cheerful ding! rang out and the scoreboard updated.
But this method was inefficient. We needed to fully utilize Ether detection to locate so-called “jackpot” zones.
“I’ll concentrate.”
Seti closed her eyes, meditated for a moment, then pointed. “Mmm… over there.”
Northwest. That was the general idea. But even that wasn’t enough. If it were just one person it might be fine, but since we had to distribute the fragments fairly among three people, interpreting the map was essential to securing enough for everyone.
“Solved it.”
Fortunately, the math wasn’t difficult. After a few rounds of mental calculation, I wrote down the known numerical solutions and grasped the Ether distribution. More technically, this method was called brute force. It meant considering every possible function solution and plugging them into the map’s equation until one worked. In simpler terms: grinding. But for someone with a supercomputer-level brain like mine, it was easy.
“What? Already?”
Seti looked shocked as she leaned in to stare at my tablet. Several sharp peaks rose like delta functions. I pointed at them.
“There should be clusters of Ether fragments here.”
Clearing these spots would net us a massive score. I selected several locations starting from the northwest area Seti had indicated.
“We should circle around this region and gather them. If we’re lucky, we might collect as many points as defeating an entire golem in one go.”
We headed there immediately. In the end, the first jackpot point turned out to be a modest gold mine. We only managed to collect about 60 points. Still, it was fine. There was still time before the golems became active, and we were the only team that had completely solved the map and even visualized it as a graph.
The second spot gave us 72 points, the third 108. We steadily accumulated points without a hitch.
Whoooosh.
A sudden chill wind blew through.
“……Doesn’t the air feel different?”
“Yeah.”
Seti, who had the best Ether detection, spoke first. Rustilla’s hand moved to the hilt of her sword. I couldn’t feel anything because of the Outer Deity’s influence, but I could guess what was happening.
Something was about to explode.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the Outer Deity’s quest window updated.
📍 Objective: Survive the sudden appearance of golems and secure Ether fragments.
🎁 Reward: Variable — Points converted to ranking.