Academy Entrance Exam (End)
Right after the scarecrow burst.
Admiration (Ex) is activating.
The Unique Trait had fired.
Did I even admire anything?
I was about to check what skill I'd just pulled when one of the examinees waiting their turn shot to their feet and bellowed.
"What the hell—why did that thing explode!?"
That was the spark. The same cry erupted from every corner of the stands.
"V-Vi-Lady Vivian made that thing!!"
"Who the hell is L-L-Lady Vivian?"
"Is that what matters right now!? Our exam!!"
They were more worried about their own test than the fact that I had destroyed the scarecrow. The examiners' bench was no different.
"H-how did he do that?!"
"By what possible means did he destroy it?!"
"Was it mana?! D-don't tell me that was aura?!"
Everyone except Charles was staring at me and edging closer.
The Head of the Magic Department, in particular, strode toward me without the slightest regard for who might be watching.
I think the novel described him as cold-blooded and cruel.
Whether that was true or not, a nearby examiner grabbed him and tried to hold him back.
"Bright! People are watching!"
"Just a moment.... J-just a moment is all I need...."
What is this?
Why me, of all people?
He barely even had a role in the original.
I swallowed. I was tensing up, with no idea what was about to happen, when Bright walked right past me. He reached the scarecrow's fragments and—
"...ian."
"?"
"...y's...ian."
"??"
"....Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! My Vivian!!!"
—gathered them into his arms and wailed.
"From now on.... I'll eat alone.... I'll watch plays alone.... I'll sing alone.... I'll cry like this, all alone...."
It was the wretched, grief-choked weeping of a man whose longtime lover had died.
"Lady Vivian, my love, Lady Vivian, my light, Lady Vivian, my darkness, Lady Vivian, my life, Lady Vivian, my joy, Lady Vivian, my..."
Watching him, I thought—
"Is he a lunatic?"
Ah.
I'd said it out loud.
And the Unique Trait registered it as Admiration.
By the Unique Trait of caster Eugene, one skill is randomly borrowed from the detected target.
Detected Target:Bright Alfred (A)
Borrowed Skill:White Flash (A)
Remaining Uses:0 (+1)
I'd borrowed a skill.
If it works like this, I might be fine even if Vivian doesn't take the bait.
I called out to him, thinking I ought to at least say thanks.
"Excuse me."
"Hhnghhhk...."
"Excuse me?"
"Hhh-hhhngk...."
Whether he heard me or not, Bright just kept pouring out tears.
"Lady Vivian.... What am I supposed to hold when I sleep now...."
"Ah."
That was when it clicked.
Bright, the Pure White Sage.
He was the president of the society of those who loved Vivian—better known as the Vivian Fan Club.
Come to think of it, Bright was also the one who brought the scarecrow to every entrance exam.
"Why not just keep it in storage?"
"You would treat the one true goddess Lady Vivian's masterpiece so carelessly!! That is blasphemy!!"
"You're the one doing that, aren't you..."
"Anyway, hand it over!! I'll hug it— I mean, I shall keep it in the utmost care!!"
Vivian was such an eccentric that meeting her was impossible, so of course he'd settled for keeping the scarecrow.
And I smashed it.
In Korean terms, it was like taking a gift your favorite idol had personally given you and grinding it into dust.
Now I feel kind of bad.
Figuring I could lift the sunken mood while I was at it, I walked up to Bright and spoke.
"While I'm at it, mind if I tell a joke? Might take the edge off having your day ruined."
"......"
Good. Silence is consent.
I dropped the humor immediately.
"What's an imaginary dad's name?"
"......?"
"Scarecrow."
Pff—!
Ah.
Is a person even allowed to be this funny?
I said it, and I almost burst.
I sat there after delivering that premium gag, waiting for Bright's reaction.
"...I'll kill you."
"Oing?"
⟨ Winter ⟩
"Wait a se—"
Flash!
"—cond..."
Before I could finish the word, flashes like thick snowflakes bloomed and packed the air around me.
I understood it on instinct.
The moment you reached out going wow, pretty~, your whole body would be riddled with holes.
I whipped my head around.
Five examiners in total.
The professor of theory. The professor of practical arts. The professor of history. Each of them outranked Charles or Bright in status, but none of them had the raw force to match.
Bright was currently trying to kill me.
Which meant there was only one examiner I could ask for help.
"Disciple!!!!!"
"Damn it!!!"
Only then did Charles snap to his senses. He tore the sword from his waist and charged this way.
KAAANG!!
Every time his blade swatted an orb aside, a sharp bursting crack rang through the exam hall.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Bright!!"
The next instant, Bright lifted his head and answered in a voice gone cold.
"What, pray tell, are you doing, Sir Charles?"
"I'm stopping you, aren't I!!"
"Yes. And I am asking why."
"You're asking because you don't know!!"
"Correct. I do not."
The calm voice. The upright posture. Bright had become a different person.
He left the orbs around me exactly where they were and cleared only the ones around Charles.
"I was merely conducting Examinee No. 144's entrance exam."
"That examinee already destroyed the scarecrow!! What more is there to test!!"
"Is that so. I disagree."
Bright picked up a fragment of the scarecrow.
"This was not destroyed by Examinee No. 144. It simply... destroyed itself."
"No! That examinee clearly did something, and then it broke!!"
"Then let me ask."
Bright's gaze landed on me.
"What did you do to the scarecrow?"
"Excuse me?"
"If you have a grievance, then answer. No one—not even its maker, Lady Vivian—had ever broken that thing. By what means did you destroy it?"
The look in his eyes was past cold and into killing intent. There was nothing to think about.
I loaded my voice with as much mockery as it would hold.
"You'll have to find that out yourself."
Don't come fishing for a free lunch.
I'd read Protect the Academy! and the lore books how many times just to get this information.
Or had I?
Had I just picked it up because I kept reading?
Anyway.
I bowed to Bright with exquisite courtesy.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, I've found my dream."
"What?"
"The Head of the Magic Department, trying to get it handed to him raw like that! Even fishermen don't eat things this raw, and look at you!! Daaaaamn~!! If I'd known the Magic Department Head's chair was a seat any dog or cow could park itself in, I'd have applied myself! Aaagh!! Looking at this, I suddenly have a stomachache! Oh, my belly!! Oh, my beeeelly!!"
I was winding it down when—
"...I will now begin the retest."
The number of orbs hanging around me multiplied exponentially.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you."
"Uh, no? I'm pretty sure I'm going to die? Like, I'm definitely dying here?"
I shot back and looked around.
A moment ago I had been standing at the heart of a gentle snowfall. Now I was inside a howling blizzard. The orbs packed every inch of space, unmoving, as if someone had hit pause on a recording.
"Hah! Putting on a show, are you. I've already taken the measure of your ability. From that aura emission earlier, you're A-rank at the very least."
That wasn't even mine, though.
This bastard. Head of the Magic Department, and what exactly does he know?
I couldn't say that out loud. He wouldn't believe me, and advertising that I borrowed other people's skills wouldn't do me any favors.
In the end, all I could do was look at Charles and shake my head.
Disciple. Save your master.
Maybe the desperation actually reached him.
"Haa...."
Charles nodded and sheathed his sword?
"The examinee has agreed, so I'll step back. After the exam is over, however, I will be referring today's incident to the disciplinary committee."
"Huh?"
What kind of nonsense was that?
"What the hell is this bull—"
"I would be most grateful if you did."
While I was still hunting for a rebuttal, Bright accepted Charles's terms.
Which meant—
"Let us begin."
—every last safeguard that could have protected me had just fallen away.
The faintly stirring pure-white orbs. Bright had me pegged as somewhere around A-rank.
If I stirred up the dazed examinees?
Unfortunately, there's no opening for that.
Ask Charles for help again?
He won't move until I'm one step from death—or, worst case, until after I'm already dead.
Every option sealed off.
There was only one choice left.
Facing death, in time that had slowed to a crawl, I muttered in a small voice.
"Borrowed skill list."
The instant I spoke, a blue window rose into the air.
◆ Ah, Whatever(S)
◆ K-Charles de Lumière(A+)
◆ Bright Alfred(A)
◆ Evan(A-)
◆ Rania Vulcanus(B-)
◆ Kaiden(C+)
Maybe because the number of borrowed skills had grown, only the names came up instead of the detailed descriptions.
I was still turning over which skill might keep me alive when—
Ah, Whatever?
A name I'd never seen before caught my eye. It was even graded S-rank—a full step above Charles or Bright.
"What is this..."
The moment I muttered it, wondering what on earth it was—
This is that...
What was it called?
I'd forgotten the name attached to the scarecrow, but information from the back of my memory surfaced.
The name Vivian had given her first masterpiece.
It was Ah, Whatever.
If the targets of Admiration aren't limited to humans.
If that was how I'd managed to borrow the scarecrow's only skill.
I can survive without revealing the Unique Trait.
I quietly selected Ah, Whatever.
And the next moment—
Ah, Whatever (S) has been selected.
Ah, Whatever (S) is activating.