The Class Placement Exam (3)

Crackle, crackle.

The campfire burned with a steady rhythm. Sparks leapt up, kindling small flames that collided and fed one another, swelling into something larger.

This was Luid's handiwork. He didn't stop there, either—he gathered mushrooms from the surrounding area, laid a thin plate of mana over the fire, and began to roast them. As if to prove that he hadn't spent his time at Delhin's Lake merely napping, he looked thoroughly practiced at it.

Hershey fidgeted, unsure how or where to offer her help. Then her eyes met Luid's as he flipped a mushroom with telekinesis.

"Mushrooms are best roasted."

"Ah, yes, of course…"

"I drew the poison out with purification magic, so they're safe."

"Th-thank you."

"Go ahead and eat."

Luid lifted a mushroom with telekinesis and stirred it briskly through the air. Judging it cooled, he pinched it up and took a bite. Fragrant mushroom juice flooded his mouth richly. This was a snack he ate often even in his normal life—usually roasted with Fireball, but since he'd built a campfire yesterday anyway, he'd decided to try it by hand.

Not bad.

Far better than Fireball. Was it the aroma of the wood? Nature really did beat the artificial stuff.

"Wow… this is delicious."

Hershey covered her mouth as she chewed, then swallowed.

"You only roasted it over a fire… how can it taste this good?"

Well, obviously it does. It's a pine mushroom.

The real secret was the purification magic.

Here, you couldn't know what poisons might lurk in a mushroom, so the custom was to cast purification magic before eating—and magic was inflexible. It destroyed anything the least bit harmful to the body. Cholesterol, sodium, excess sugar, things like that.

Nobles in particular were precious about their health, so they cast purification magic even on perfectly ordinary food. Luid still remembered his first meal after transmigrating into this world.

It had been a horrifying experience. He genuinely couldn't taste anything. It was like chewing a tire instead of a steak. He'd briefly suspected the author had set the worldbuilding in Britain on purpose.

And how long had it taken to talk them out of it once he learned purification magic was the culprit? You'd think they believed sugar could kill you on contact.

So Luid had flat-out lied about casting purification magic on the mushrooms.

"Because I'm a master. If your magic were as good as mine, you could make it taste like this too."

If it took six months to convince his own family, there was no way he was persuading a complete stranger.

"I—I have decent skills too, you know?"

Hershey bristled a little, but ate her mushroom obediently. Any mage who had seen what she just had could hardly help being deferential.

Just how many spells can that guy cast simultaneously?

During the campfire-making earlier, Hershey had nearly fainted. Dozens of pieces of wood, all controlled at once. She had never even heard it claimed that such a thing was possible.

And someone with that kind of power—a person with literally nothing to envy—was shielding her. It stunned her.

"…"

Hershey looked at Luid.

He was eating an apple. Perhaps his mouth was small, because no matter how long he chewed, it didn't seem to shrink.

Th-that's adorable.

For a while, Hershey just gazed blankly at him.

"…?"

Luid tilted his head, then held out the apple beside him. She kept staring at him so intently that he assumed she wanted it.

"Oh—th-thank you."

Hershey accepted it with impeccable manners. Luid bit into his own apple with a crisp crunch, gazing across the stream.

When will they get here, I wonder.

Originally, the sequence was this: Hershey, having wanted to claim a good spot, would arrive at this place too late—and discover that Justin's group had gotten there first.

And as she'd seen earlier, Sophia, Hershey's old friend, was among Justin's crowd.

Hershey, who had already lost her feather and couldn't assemble a proper wand, couldn't afford to give up such an excellent location. So out of respect for Sophia, she would form a "temporary alliance."

If I remember right, that was the next day.

This exam wasn't simply about enduring to the end. If it were, students who dug into a corner and never came out would all rank at the top.

There were events interspersed throughout. The first event was a monster raid—an ambush that struck suddenly in the dead of early morning. That was when Hershey learned Justin was carrying the feather, and the real conflict began.

"…Thank you for earlier."

Just then, Hershey stammered out her gratitude. Luid surfaced from his reverie and looked at her. Her face was red.

"You don't have to thank me."

"You're the first person who ever took my side."

Hershey rested her hands on her knees and said it shyly.

"Thank you for the meal as well. As for the Phoenix feather—consider it forgotten. I never dreamed you'd go this far for me."

She's polite, isn't she.

Luid yawned.

To think a girl like this turns into that later.

Environment really does shape a person.

Anyway, what am I going to do about the Phoenix feather?

Today's affair had really only postponed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the coming conflict. As long as Hershey kept company with Sophia, it would come ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out eventually—that Justin had picked up the Phoenix feather.

Maybe I shouldn't have lost my temper earlier.

Voices had been rising all over the place and he'd gotten stressed, so he'd just shoved the thing away…

Whatever. Luid was starting to get drowsy.

"And… this may be overstepping, but…"

Hershey cleared her throat and spoke carefully.

"Attitudes like that can make you far too many enemies. In the Phoenix incident, I'm the one who went to confront them directly, but I'm sure the other students are cursing you behind your back. And what happened earlier too…"

And you're one to talk??

Enemy-manufacturing Hershey lecturing him about enemies was absurd, but he couldn't really be bothered to care.

Luid started scouting around for a suitable place to sleep.

"Huh?"

But then—

"…What is that."

Near the waterfall.

He found a Phoenix feather, weirdly half-hidden away.

Luid panicked and checked his pillow. There was no gap it could have slipped out of. Which meant that thing was not his feather.

"Luid?"

When Luid showed visible alarm, Hershey gave him a puzzled look. Then she followed his gaze and shot to her feet.

"A—a Phoenix feather!"

Hershey bolted toward it, startled. Luid's expression turned sour.

What's going on?

He slowly pondered why that thing would be here. It definitely hadn't been there at first. Luid's genius mind forgot not even scenery glimpsed in passing.

Which meant it had appeared at some point. But that couldn't be—

Justin?

Suddenly a scene flashed through Luid's mind.

Hershey's furious attack.

Justin, knocked flat.

The feather spilling from his pocket with the impact—

"…!"

"It's definitely mine. I cast a magic imprint on it, just in case."

It didn't take Hershey long to reach the same conclusion Luid had.

Grit.

"That commoner bastard…!"

Having seen through everything, Hershey seethed.

Luid scratched his head and came over.

"Well, glad you found your feather."

"This is exactly why I can't help but be prejudiced against commoners. It's not that I cursed them for being commoners—it's that once I was cursed at, it turned out they were commoners!"

Luid thought for a moment, then spoke. He had to calm her down.

"Don't work yourself up. Stress is bad for your skin."

"…What?"

"No need to bother with revenge or anything like that."

"What are you saying…?"

Luid blinked.

"Weren't you planning to tear him limb from limb?"

That was definitely how she'd answered in the novel.

Hershey gaped and rushed to talk him down.

"I—I appreciate you being angry on my behalf, but there's really no need to go that far. I mean, still, that's… that seems a bit excessive."

"??"

What?

Luid couldn't understand a situation where he somehow came off as the bad guy.

"He stole your feather, didn't he? A commoner laying hands on a noble's property. Aren't you angry?"

"That was certainly insolent, but…"

Hershey sniffled.

There's absolutely no way I can say I'm a little grateful it brought me together with Luid!

At first, she hadn't known who had taken it, and her plan had been simple: catch the thief and make them pay—

But whatever the intent, it was thanks to that that she'd formed a connection with Luid. She had even eaten food made by that haughty fairy known as the Lazy Genius, who refused every hand that reached toward him.

For Hershey, this moment—simply talking with Luid—felt like a dream.

"I intend to simply report the theft and leave it at that."

And so Hershey could forgive it, cleanly and completely.

Luid took a considerable shock.

Of course, this was the outcome he'd wanted. But somehow, it felt hollow.

Was she always this kind of character?

In the original, contempt and ridicule were her passive traits.

Yet everything he'd seen so far showed someone excessively considerate and level-headed.

"If that's what you want, I won't say anything more. Let's just prepare well. It'll take time to get everything ready."

Being near the waterfall, the ground was muddy. He'd been planning to gather leaves or something to sleep on, since he couldn't just sleep as usual. But he couldn't quite let it go—curiosity got the better of him.

"You're not angry because you seem close to that commoner with Sophia, are you?"

"What?"

"Aren't the two of you friends? There was a dispute earlier, and she wouldn't take anyone's side. A commoner she'd known for all of one day."

Hershey's expression stiffened slightly.

"It did hurt my feelings. But that's simply how nobles are. We sort and trim the people around us according to what we need."

Hershey smiled softly.

"I don't know how the three of them formed a party, but they are her party members, aren't they? Sophia and I do have a history, but what she needs right now is them. It must have been an impossible position for her."

…She's basically a saint?

This girl was supposed to become a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠villainess? He couldn't believe it.

Just how much consideration had she been starved of?

Luid awkwardly looked away, feeling an odd urge to go take his embarrassment out on Justin.

"And."

Hershey apparently wasn't finished. Luid looked at her.

She swept her hair back and turned her head slightly to the side.

"…It's all right, because you understand, Luid."

Only then did Luid realize why Hershey's reaction to Justin differed so much from the original.

All Hershey had ever needed was someone who would empathize with her.

That person didn't exist in the original novel.

But he existed now.

That was the whole difference.

Nights in the forest are cold.

Magic could solve that, but unless one used a medium, no spell held while its caster slept.

Even so, Luid and Hershey's night could stay warm. Luid was a cheat character who could sustain magic on nothing more than the thought, it would be nice if this stayed warm until morning.

Hershey, wanting to be of use, had laid an alarm spell around their surroundings—then apologized five times over for her own magic being too weak.

The two of them slept a fair distance apart. But at some point, Luid opened his eyes.

The monsters should be coming soon.

With no clock, he couldn't know the exact time. But it was unmistakably the hour when the darkest part of night had passed and dawn was approaching.

Rubbing his eyes, Luid sat up on a large boulder. He slept so much during the day that he was essentially nocturnal.

"Luid…?"

Hershey's sleep-heavy voice drifted over.

"Morning's still a ways off. Sleep more."

"What about you, Luid?"

Despite his urging, Hershey sat up and started gathering herself.

"Can't sleep. I told you, sleep more."

"…I can't sleep either."

Hershey looked obviously exhausted to anyone watching.

And yet she stubbornly stood beside the boulder where Luid sat.

Then, a shrill hum rang through Hershey's mind.

"…Something's coming."

"Mm."

Luid answered without a trace of concern. Hershey was another matter. She was the one who had cast the alarm spell, and she grasped exactly how serious this was.

"A powerful monster's presence! At this intensity, it has to be at least an Ogre!"

"Don't get worked up. Whoever or whatever it is, I'll win."

From atop the boulder, Luid gave Hershey's cheek a light poke.

She blinked, then answered like a wooden puppet.

"Four."

Luid narrowed his eyes and stared into the forest across ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the way. Before long, the ground was trembling hard enough that even without the alarm spell, anyone would have felt it.

The monster revealed itself. A giant with massive green skin—a troll.

While Hershey froze solid upon confirming what it was, Luid did some light stretches and thought:

That's just a big goblin, isn't it…?

Seeing it in person really was different from reading about it on a page.

Luid curled his thumb and forefinger into a circle and took aim at the troll.

Good. I've been wanting to try this.

He pictured a memorable scene from an anime he'd loved back in his long days of unemployment.

Then, in his boyish voice, he said coolly:

"Pew."

And at the same instant, he clenched his hand shut.

CRUNCH—!

A blue dragon wrought from mana erupted forth and swallowed the troll whole.

"Gasp…!"

Hershey sucked in a ragged breath.

She rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she'd just seen was real.

And when she opened them again—

Half the forest was gone.