The Teaching Assistant Exam (1)
Elaine von Davis appeared right before my eyes. In the original story, she served as the Hero’s professor and mentor. From what I remembered, her specialty was that of a magic swordsman. The Davis family was apparently quite renowned for producing them. As I stood there briefly recalling what I knew about Elaine—
“Hmm?”
Suddenly she was staring at me with wide, unblinking eyes. What the hell? Why is she looking at me like that? When I tilted my head in confusion at her piercing gaze, she asked,
“Is your shoulder all right?”
“Pardon…?”
“When you were running earlier, didn’t we bump shoulders?”
“Ah…!”
I never imagined the person I’d collided with had been Elaine. At the time I’d simply sprinted ahead without thinking because I was worried about being late. Given her personality, she probably wouldn’t hold it against me, but it still felt wrong to leave things awkward. In situations like this, a proper apology was necessary.
I bent at the waist in a perfect ninety-degree bow, like a folding phone, and shouted in a booming voice.
"I'm sorry!"
“Oh, um… No, I should be the one apologizing. Anyway.”
She produced a Gauge Suit from her subspace ring. The adventurers around us looked on in confusion. Elaine pointed at me.
“What is your name?”
“Kim Taegi.”
“I see. Kim Taegi, please step forward.”
At her words I climbed onto the platform and accepted the suit.
“Put this on.”
“Ah, yes.”
I quickly slipped the Gauge Suit on over my clothes. Maybe it was thanks to all the times I’d worn similar equipment in the Demon Lord’s army, but it didn’t take long. The moment I finished changing, the expression on her face shifted to one of mild surprise.
“You seem quite used to wearing those.”
“I’ve put one on a few times before.”
“I see. Then you must already understand how it performs.”
“Yes.”
“Good. In that case—”
Before she even finished speaking, she swung the wooden sword at her waist straight at me. The strike tore through the air. I instinctively started to dodge, but then stopped myself.
If I dodge now, she won’t get to see what I can do.
I deliberately stepped forward to meet the attack head-on. The next instant—
A dull impact rang out. The gauge on the suit I was wearing slowly dropped. The adventurers jumped in shock. From their reactions, they seemed impressed by Elaine’s skill.
Well, she is an academy professor. Most adventurers wouldn’t even be able to hold a candle to her.
As I was thinking that and shifting my gaze to the side—
…Huh?
She was staring at me with her eyes wide open. Why are you the one looking surprised? I returned her gaze with that exact question in my eyes. She cleared her throat, seemingly embarrassed.
“Ahem. You all saw that, correct? This suit mitigates damage. So you may assume that, under normal circumstances, it will prevent any fatal injuries.”
“I have a question!”
At that moment, the adventurer I had given a proper lesson to earlier raised his hand. Elaine gave a small nod, signaling him to speak. He continued.
“Does it also reduce damage from mental attacks?”
“Hmm? No, that won’t happen. Those are not physical attacks, after all.”
“Understood.”
The corner of his mouth curled into a smirk. He looked exactly like a third-rate extra villain from some cheap story. Elaine went on.
“If there are no further questions, I will now explain the details of the exam.”
After all the explanations were finished, a short break began. Elaine sat down on a sofa in the waiting room, closed her eyes, and fell into thought.
He was about to dodge just now, wasn’t he?
She recalled the earlier incident. She had attacked him by surprise while explaining the Gauge Suit. Even for an adventurer with considerable real combat experience, the speed should have been impossible to evade. In fact, most professors at her level wouldn’t have been able to dodge it either. And yet—
That man was completely relaxed.
He had been so relaxed that he actually stepped closer on purpose to take the hit. Just who was he? With that level of skill, he must have quite the career behind him. Or rather, his name should have been well-known long before now. The strange part was that she had never seen his face before.
His name was Kim Taegi, if I remember correctly.
Murmuring the name to herself, she called over a passing teaching assistant. The assistant came running in a fluster.
“Y-you called for me, Professor?”
“Yes. Could I ask you for a small favor?”
“Of course! I’ll do anything you ask!”
The assistant looked ready to offer up his liver and kidneys if she wanted them. Elaine smiled softly and asked,
“Would you happen to have the self-introduction form for an examinee named Kim Taegi this time?”
“Ah, one moment please.”
Looking slightly disappointed, he checked the documents one by one. Soon he pulled one out from the middle of the stack.
“Here it is, Professor.”
“Thank you. You may go now.”
After he left the waiting room, Elaine paid his reaction no mind and slowly scanned the document.
C-rank adventurer… and that’s it?
Wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her, she rubbed them with her sleeve. But the paper still only said C-rank. Nothing else.
Is this even possible?
There were such things as hidden experts, but the problem was that there was absolutely no information about his background or origins.
What is this? Why isn’t there anything about which village he’s from or anything like that?
She continued thinking about Taegi until the exam actually began.
A few minutes later, the exam finally started. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the first match.
I just want to get this over with already.
I looked down at the two adventurers currently fighting. As expected—
The two of them were evenly matched. Honestly, everyone here was more or less on the same level. The mana I could sense from them was at best equivalent to that of regular soldiers. A few seemed to have slightly more, but that was it. There wasn’t a single overwhelmingly strong individual among them.
People always say watching trash fights is fun, but this is just boring.
As I held back a yawn, a voice dripping with killing intent reached my ear.
“Found you at last.”
When I turned to see who it was, I found the thug I had dealt with before.
“What? Got something to say?”
“What? Something to say? Do you have any idea what you did to me?!”
“Huh? What did I do?”
Anyone listening would think I’d done something terrible. All I had done was release a bit of demonic energy and knock him out. I looked him over for a moment, then tilted my head.
“By the way, where are your little followers? Last time it looked like they were practically glued to you.”
“You think you have the right to ask me that?!”
“Huh? Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you used some weird mental attack and that’s why they ended up like that!”
What the hell is this guy talking about? Does he seriously think releasing demonic energy counts as a mental attack? Just how ignorant do you have to be to interpret it that way? Or maybe it’s just self-justification. Whatever.
“Fine, let’s say that’s true. What does that have to do with your subordinates?”
I was pretty sure I had knocked them out too.
“What? No connection? Because of that attack of yours I ended up shitting and pissing myself! Because of that I can’t even show my face properly in Roheln anymore!”
“Wait…”
Fuck, so he really did shit himself? I had thought it was only piss. Guess I had been mistaken.
“But you’re not a kid. How can something like that stop you from showing your face?”
It would be embarrassing, sure, but to the point he couldn’t show himself… Hmm. Actually, now that I thought about it, maybe it was understandable. As I was inwardly nodding to myself, he answered my question.
“Adventurers make their living through strength. If I got beaten by someone weaker than me and even shit and pissed myself in the process, how could I show my face? Especially when there were witnesses?”
“Ah, yeah… I guess that makes sense.”
“Right?”
“But?”
“What?”
“No, I mean… I heard all about your little bathroom accident, but what does that have to do with me? You tried to rob me and got wrecked instead.”
“Kgh!”
Apparently he had nothing to say to that fact. He bit his lower lip, his face turning red as he trembled. That was when—
The adventurers around us were whispering as they watched. From the way they were talking, it seemed the guy in front of me was fairly well-known among adventurers.
He doesn’t look any different from the rest of them, though.
I observed him for a moment. That smug smile on his face made me want to punch him. Then the murmurs continued.
The adventurers began subtly avoiding Waild. Seeing his face harden again was oddly satisfying.
“If you’re going to talk, say it to my face.”
Waild glared at the gossiping adventurers, clearly furious. They quickly averted their eyes from his murderous aura. He turned back to me.
“If we end up fighting this time, don’t think that weird attack will work on me again.”
With that, he walked away with an air of triumph. Watching him strut around like he owned the place while I knew he had shit himself made me want to laugh. His ego was completely running the show.
At that moment, the match I had been watching earlier finally concluded. I lowered my gaze.
Hmm. Just as I thought.
Sure enough, the winner’s gauge had only a tiny sliver left. It looked like they had won by the narrowest margin possible.
With this level, I should be able to win without even trying.
As I was calmly observing, Elaine’s voice rang out.
“Waild, please step forward.”
She called the guy I had just argued with. At the same time, more murmurs rose from the crowd.
The adventurers were busy overestimating Waild. From the way they talked, you’d think he was an S-rank. As I was shaking my head at their nonsense, my own name was called.
“And Kim Taegi, please step forward.”
Looks like the arena is going to get pretty dirty this time.