Chapter 132

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 132

Chapter Title: Passed

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Passed.

Kamiosity was once a gambling city teeming with pleasure districts.

But after the Royroad Empire's Great Expansion Wars, it fell into ruin, left only with drug addicts and criminals.

In the back alleys of that decayed Kamiosity, a child was born and raised.

To be precise, his birthplace was uncertain.

His earliest memories began in Kamiosity, so he assumed he'd been born there—or perhaps abandoned by nameless parents.

For a child in those early years, such things as origins didn't matter anyway.

The boy simply survived, driven by beastly instinct.

To live, he stole. To live, he ate garbage.

He groveled before those stronger than him. He pickpocketed as ordered by the alley gangs.

They gave him moldy bread in return, so the boy scraped by on theft.

Then one day, he injured his leg and could no longer run. The thugs found other ways to use him.

"Kids' eyes are selling for a high price these days."

"Mages are a weird bunch. But if they're paying, we're good, heh heh heh."

That gang frequently sold off the useless boy's eyes or organs.

He didn't know which taboo mage was behind the demand then, but it was a time when children's eyes were in high demand.

After injuring his leg, the boy had his eyes mercilessly gouged out too.

Even after becoming a Rank 6 mage, the terror of that moment haunted him.

The sensation of his eyes being pulled out without anesthesia.

He'd screamed until blood flowed from his throat and his voice gave out.

His left eye was already gone, and just before they took the right one.

That's when light and explosions flooded into Kamiosity.

Mages stormed the city amid massive blasts.

"Protect all the children."

Black hair, snow-white skin.

To that boy, she looked like a pure white angel descended from the heavens.

Even though her skin aside, she was clad head to toe in black hair and black clothes.

Because he'd lived in an even darker blackness.

"The child's eyes... how awful..."

It was still vivid. The pain of that day, and the heartbroken expression of Archduchess Illimost.

During the crackdown, the thugs dropped the boy's left eye, and it burst.

If it had been intact, magic could have reattached it.

But revival of the already destroyed was taboo territory.

The boy would live the rest of his life with a fake eye.

But he didn't hate it.

The boy entered an orphanage, named himself Ilno, and began learning magic.

He had a dream.

To serve the one who had gifted him this new life, for all eternity.

Becoming a mage as an alley rat like Ilno was no easy feat.

His fake eye made him a target for bullying by the stronger kids at the orphanage,

and at the academy, nobles treated him worse than a dog.

But Ilno, survivor of the gutters, just smiled.

He always smiled, which narrowed his eyes into perpetual slits.

Some called it servile, but Ilno didn't care.

Servile or not, he chased his dream. And survived.

Resolved to endure even the lowliest tasks, so long as he lived.

Resolved to do anything, if it meant becoming a retainer of House Illimost.

The most menial task for a retainer was handling the archduchess's laundry and cleaning.

Among those, he managed the lowest-ranking retainer's socks and stockings.

That, in turn, showed just how stringent the retainers' standards were.

Managing the socks and stockings the archduchess wore every day.

Only by mastering that great task perfectly could one truly become a "retainer."

From the very bottom.

Resolved to even wipe the archduchess's feet.

And so Ilno cherished his one and only chance.

Until he was certain he could pass perfectly.

Once he felt confident he could pass any test, Ilno applied for the selection exam.

He met Ian and Tabor.

There were obstacles, but he passed the group trials.

Now, Ilno faced only the final hurdle.

"As fellow teammates, I think we've talked plenty yesterday, Sir Ian."

Ilno's eyes snapped wide open.

His usual squint vanished.

He could smile through any insult.

But not this moment.

Because he'd endured with that servile smile all this time.

For exactly this moment.

"..."

Ian looked flustered.

Clearly shocked by Ilno's prosthetic eye.

And uneasy at having to knock down a comrade he'd fought alongside until yesterday.

'Sir Ian can fly. If he decides to flee, he'll be hard to catch.'

But Ilno was strategizing.

No matter that they'd been teammates for two days—he couldn't abandon his one shot at his dream for that.

Ian's skills were exceptional.

And flight gave him an overwhelming edge in this exam.

In fact, Ilno had barely run when he encountered Ian.

Meaning Ian was several times faster.

'I need to pin him down so he can't move. If worst comes to worst...'

Even if Ilno subdued Ian and headed out, it was risky.

Ian could exit the cave quickly if he could still move, even after defeat.

Whereas Ilno had a long way to the entrance Ian had used.

In other words, he had to render Ian completely immobile to win.

The selection exam wasn't child's play like academy tests.

No protective spells, and if you died, it was on you.

Ilno didn't want to kill his teammate from the past two days.

But if he had to.

'Block flight first.'

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Above all, block flight.

'Inefficient Defense Magic.'

Ilno decided to erect a wall blocking the entire passage to stop Ian from passing.

Computation began.

***

I posted to the gallery almost immediately after facing Ilno.

I don't know why. It had probably become a habit by now.

At some point, whenever I faced a danger I couldn't handle alone, I instinctively turned to the gallery.

This situation wasn't "danger" per se.

But it felt like a problem I couldn't solve.

Thinking only of myself, I should just pass.

But considering Ilno's circumstances made me hesitate to fail him.

I was shocked when he first opened his eyes fully.

Then I recalled his story from last night—how his eyes had been gouged out as a child.

It made his tale all the more heartbreaking.

Comments flooded in rapidly.

Meanwhile, Ilno was computing some spell.

To match him, I began computing my own.

A spell to buy time while resolving this dilemma.

Sensation and thought sped up, making the world slow around me.

Comment scroll slowed too, but plenty had piled up.

I compared the gallery's judgments to my thoughts, pondering deeply.

No—more like stripping away emotions.

Logically, I knew.

Ilno was just someone I'd met two days ago.

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I might face a greater threat in the Archmage Duke herself.

As CantDoThisEither said, maybe ignore his sob story and do what I must.

But inescapable guilt followed.

Ilno had lived his entire life for this one exam.

Was it right for me—someone who'd stumbled in unprepared—to steal it?

Hadn't I failed the first two days without him?

As Environmentalist said, taking it might be unfair.

Or as Wandering Battle Mage said, just clash head-on.

As ExtremeEfficiencyFanatic said, other ways to get info might exist.

So this wasn't a "magic" issue.

Even those wise archmages clashed in opinion.

It meant an unavoidable "emotional" problem.

Logic offered answers, but...

Rumble...

Then Ilno's computation finished, and a wall rose from the cave floor.

A type of inefficient defense magic.

He aimed to block the passage entirely, preventing a flight breakthrough.

And immediately, Ilno computed his next spell.

His wide-open eyes—where had the squint gone?—clearly showed his resolve.

We had to fight.

His spell looked Rank 6 at a glance.

Inefficient defense wouldn't cut it.

I needed at least multiple Rank 5 defenses.

Draw a human body emphasizing joints.

Omit the right arm.

Overlay thick plates for solid steel plate armor.

Fill gaps between joints seamlessly with chainmail weave.

Draw a cross on the chest.

Bring the omitted arm across the chest.

This symbolized the will of a knight order that never doffed armor until their dynasty fell,

loyal to their lord to the end.

Thick plate armor enveloped my body without gaps.

Moving joints were sealed with chainmail.

I computed it twice more in succession, donning three layers total.

Ilno's Rank 6 spell scorched through, punching merciless holes in the first two layers.

But it failed to pierce the third.

"...!"

Ilno's face twisted momentarily at his spell being blocked.

Naturally, he hadn't expected three Rank 5s so quickly.

Even accounting for my thought acceleration, Ilno's computation was fast.

If he fought seriously, it'd be a tough battle.

And his next spell was already computing.

Ilno ground his teeth, pushing through the computation.

Trembling eyelids, twitching lips, furrowed brow, flinching cheek.

In my slowed perception, every desperate detail of his face was crystal clear.

Watching him, I still felt tormented.

I hadn't escaped the dilemma.

Could I really crush this desperate man's dream?

Before Ilno's spell completed, I computed one more.

To block his next attack while illuminating the cave with sparks.

And slowly, the world's speed returned to normal.

"Ilno."

"...?"

"Go."

A foolish decision.

In the end, I couldn't act logically.

I caved to guilt and emotion, making a stupid choice.

"What do you mean...?"

"I'll lose. Go pass."

"......"

Ilno stared blankly, brow furrowed for a long while.

His prosthetic left eye didn't move; only his real right eye trembled.

"No lie. I'll stay put and send you off."

"...Why?"

"No matter how I think, it shouldn't be me passing. Like I said yesterday, I didn't join desperately. Honestly, I don't even want to be a retainer. It'd be wrong for someone like me to steal a desperate man's chance."

Ilno pondered long again.

If I flew off after this, he'd be tricked.

Moments later, he spoke, decision made.

"...I'll trust you. You don't seem the lying type, Sir Ian."

"You can."

"Truth be told, even if we fought, I didn't think I'd win. Never seen computation this fast."

Ilno had his own calculations.

That made it easier for me.

"Go. Hurry."

I flopped onto the floor.

Ilno glanced at me, then ran the opposite way.

He could've finished off defenseless me, but didn't.

He really was a good guy.

No regrets in yielding.

Relief, even.

I lay there scrolling the gallery.

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Not getting Lee Soo-ah's promised info stung a bit, sure.

But I'd never regret this choice.

A few minutes passed.

"He should be through by now..."

I glanced toward where Ilno had run.

Nothing, as expected.

I could only leave once I knew he'd exited.

An hour should be safe.

Thud—thud—

Then footsteps echoed from the opposite side.

Growing closer.

Did Ilno come back?

But the figure that appeared wasn't Ilno.

An unexpected person.

"...Ian Isaac."

"Professor Multipl?"

It was Professor Multipl, the one who'd unhappily escorted me to the Archduchess's castle.

Come to think of it, he was an exam proctor too.

What Professor Multipl said next was completely unforeseen.

"Ian Isaac. You passed."