Dormitory Scramble (5)
The air exploded with a piercing clang!
“Come out already!”
The dagger slammed into the stone bricks, sending sparks flying in every direction.
…Huh?
Ethan Cass was stunned.
The upperclassman’s dagger had struck at a completely wrong angle.
Why the hell did he just hammer a solid wall?
Even as he wondered, Ethan’s eyes adjusted through the fog, tracing the upperclassman’s every twitch.
I see it. His movements are clear.
The mist had already climbed to his waist, but to Ethan it was as transparent as glass.
Every motion is on full display.
It looked exactly like a badly rendered 3D cloud in a game.
No matter how the upperclassman swung that blindfolded dagger, Ethan had read every feint and simply stepped aside.
Back on Earth, his reflexes had been gamer-prodigy level. Meeting a sophomore’s swinging blade was out of the question.
“Where the hell are you, newbie?!”
“S-stay calm, nameless! Smashing the wall violates the rules!”
“What kind of rules exist in a thief academy?!”
“I-I don’t know… you figure it out.”
Clang clang clang!
The upperclassman kept swinging his dagger up and down the corridor like a madman.
“Huff… huff…”
He finally lowered his Qi, wiped the sweat from his brow, and muttered, “It was right here.”
“There’s nothing here! I didn’t even sense any presence!”
“There’s no way an upperclassman is hiding somewhere… This is the strangest day ever. The footprints near the legs were clear.”
The girl upperclassman beside him slapped the guy’s shoulder hard.
“That was just a squirrel running by, I told you!”
“He’s gone.”
“If that wasn’t the case, then why didn’t he trigger any traps?!”
The two upperclassmen vanished around the next corner.
As they slipped past the fog, the trail appeared in slow-motion, as if the mist itself was tracking them.
From what I feel…
This fog might even enhance tracking.
Other students couldn’t use it, but I alone could.
When the voices finally faded, Ethan let out a long breath.
“Huu… my shoulders are trembling.”
He checked the internal dormitory map in his hand.
If I head this way, there’s a basement dormitory.
He didn’t know why they’d built one inside, but passing through the headmaster’s office while casually scouting had paid off.
“Come on out.”
Ethan opened the door and pulled the group outside.
Sera’s shoulders, soaked in sweat, drooped lower.
“Uuu, Senior, you smell awful!”
“What nonsense are you saying?! How fragrant could a ratkin possibly be?! Hey! It’s an angel’s scent!”
“Senior Iska doesn’t smell bad at all. Senior’s tail smells delicious…”
Still complaining, he slung Chris over his back and headed toward the central dormitory hall.
*
“Ethan, this isn’t the right side of the hall. Why did we come this way?”
“I have my reasons.”
Sera pouted at his short answer, but Ethan stayed silent.
If it’s me, I’ll figure it out somehow.
“Here it is.”
I haven’t memorized the entire layout, but… if I trigger this…
Creak.
The protruding brick shifted. A staircase leading downward appeared.
Iska grabbed Ethan’s shoulder as she descended.
“But… Ethan.”
“What is it, Iska Aelos?”
“We’re only four people without Chris-senior. They say if you fall short of the required number, you get disqualified from the score… Is there a plan you’re hiding?”
“There are four of us.”
“So if three people are there, that’s not four.”
Clang.
The metallic sound of chains echoed through the underground corridor.
Behind the iron bars stood a pink-skinned orc.
Ethan rattled the bars with a loud clang.
“That makes four, doesn’t it?”
Sera and Iska exchanged wide-eyed glances.
“There are five because of Chris-senior…”
“Just shut up and move on.”
Ethan clicked the prison lock open with casual ease.
“…You’re insane.”
The group could only stare, mouths agape, at Ethan’s lock-picking.
It was supposed to be Master Thief’s reincarnation, right?
Of course, no one here knew he had mastered the “Lock Sport” genre that let him open locks in seconds back on Earth.
“Come on out, orc.”
Inside the cell, the pink-skinned freshman with massive tusks looked up.
“…Ethan Cass, I see.”
“Correct.”
“Why did you save me?”
Ethan held out his hand.
“You need to have the guts to face the headmaster before you join a team like this.”
He clapped the orc’s rough hand and grinned.
*
Sera watched the newly joined orc with narrowed eyes.
She leaned in and whispered near Ethan’s ear.
“When did you decide to add that orc to the team?”
“From the beginning.”
Even though he claimed to exist only for the upperclassmen’s test, Ethan had been looking down on the whole event from the start.
There wouldn’t be many traps as realistic as real dungeons.
He expected physical ones that had to be broken.
And his prediction had been spot on.
Ethan’s group slipped through every trap they encountered and finally reached the entrance to the central dormitory hall.
“This is ridiculous.”
A tower of furniture so dense it blocked the horizon.
“You want us to break through that?”
Every corridor leading to the central hall was packed with chairs, desks, and benches.
Luckily, they were just loose objects that could be moved aside—no glue or stone filling.
If they had been cemented with concrete or stone, that would have been crossing the line.
The headmaster had probably warned himself not to go that far.
“I told you so.”
“Chris-senior was right!”
“Hmph. I can be useful too.”
The ratkin’s whiskers twitched with satisfaction.
Then, as if realizing something, he whispered loudly.
“Wait! I’m not on your side!”
“Senior, would you like some mushrooms?”
“I’m on your side.”
Ethan’s words immediately shut him up.
“So what do you do, orc friend?”
The orc opened his mouth.
“My name is Dormuut.”
“Got it, Dormuuut.”
Ethan banged a steel chair with his fist.
“It’s your turn.”
Dormuut rolled up his sleeves and flashed a toothy grin.
“I will repay the debt. Son of the Cass family.”
In an instant the chairs began sliding backward at incredible speed, yet almost no noise came from them.
“Amazing…”
The group entered the central hall without the slightest resistance.
“The flag!”
After confirming no traps around, Ethan snatched the flag planted in the hall’s center.
That was when—
Beep beep beep—!
Dormitory Intruder Alert
Current location: Ruby Dormitory Lobby Hall
Immediate apprehension requested.
Repeat alert: Dormitory intruder detected…
“It’s a newbie! Grab him!”
“Kill them!”
“How the hell did they get here?!”
Shouts and footsteps thundered all around in seconds.
“Damn it! Run!”
Ethan and the group smashed open the locked windows and leaped outside in a single motion.
Amid the artificial sunlight filtering through the enormous cave, a flock of artificial birds followed them.
*
Time passed. Morning had arrived.
On the stage of the lecture hall, professors stood.
In front of them loomed a massive iron prison that looked like a slave cage.
Students caught by upperclassmen were locked inside.
From inside the cell, Caion Valterr hurled stones outward.
“Hey, you! Keep your hands still!”
“Tch…”
He had grown rough killing monsters in the north, but he was still the third son of a duke.
Being treated like a slave as the duke’s own son left him helpless.
“But, Caion, those people clearly can’t see you. They must have been hit by the explosion.”
“He won’t die. He’s too weak to be a real threat.”
“Haha, he might not die. He’ll get expelled the second he’s crippled.”
“That’s probably true.”
Caion clenched the stone in his hand.
Instantly it turned to powder and rained down.
“If this continues, only we will be allowed to enter the academy, while the others from the blacksmith family stay outside.”
“The Sapphire Dormitory has the most descendants of the magic family. It suits you perfectly, Caion.”
“Of course.”
Caion loosened his fist.
“Ethan Cass… if that guy comes here, I’ll break his hand.”
From beside him came a quiet voice.
“Is that true?”
Caion looked up. A beautiful golden-eyed blonde girl was staring at him.
The fourth princess of the Solitaire Empire—Iria Astravel.
Caion bowed his head.
“Princess.”
“Just call me Iria. There’s no difference in status inside the academy.”
“..Iria.”
Iria lifted her chin and gave a light laugh.
“I heard Prince Caion’s promise.”
“What…?”
“You said you would break his hand, didn’t you?”
Caion smirked.
“Of course. Ethan can’t even carry the flag this far…”
“I’ll place a bet on Ethan too.”
“What?”
“One hundred gold.”
“…”
Iria’s warm eyes turned icy cold.
“However, if Ethan returns within the time limit, you must honor your promise, Prince.”
“…”
Caion smirked and bowed again.
“..Understood, Iria.”
He was certain.
There’s no way I would have struggled this hard to clear those traps.
Even Ethan couldn’t return here.
*
Meanwhile, Ethan’s group was in chaos.
“Waaaah! Ethan, you absolute jerk!!”
“What the hell is this?!”
“My shoe! My shoe fell off! Dammit! My shoe!”
“Don’t insult your seniors!”
“Aaaah!!”
They were betting their lives on Iska’s wings as they soared through the air toward the lecture hall.
“Just kill them!”
“He might not die…?”
“Use the flag! Use the traps!”
“Anyone got a bomb?!”
“Just throw it! If we lose them, we lose the dormitory flag aaaaaah!!”
Of course they were dodging the wooden spears and flags launched by the pursuing upperclassmen in the clouds behind them.