Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Midterm Exam (1)
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"N-No, it wasn't me!!"
A reflexive excuse burst out of her.
Professor Cigarette stared blankly at Roel for a moment before first checking on Sera and Laila.
They were badly injured, but alive.
Cigarette let out a sigh of relief, then fixed her gaze back on Roel.
"So, you're saying it wasn't you, Cadet Roel?"
"...Yes."
"I see. We'll go with that, then."
"No, really. I mean it!"
Roel was utterly fed up with the misunderstanding by now.
She earnestly explained the sequence of events to Professor Cigarette.
"So, some guy I'd never seen before showed up, took care of everything, and left. That's what happened, right?"
"Yes!"
"... ."
Professor Cigarette looked like she didn't believe a word of it.
It was only natural, perhaps. Even Roel thought it sounded like complete nonsense.
'But what can I do? It's the truth...!'
Cigarette silently watched Roel for a moment before approaching without a word.
"Understood."
"...You believe me?"
"Yes. You're not the type to lie, Cadet Roel."
Even though the weather was still chilly, Cigarette took off her outer coat and draped it over Roel.
"You've got a lot of wounds. Your body temperature could drop, which would be dangerous, so stay like this for now. And... ."
Cigarette lowered her head.
"This is all my responsibility. I'm sorry."
Roel knew better.
This wasn't Professor Cigarette's fault at all.
She had wanted to resolve the situation quickly, and the enemy had simply exploited that.
Even so, Cigarette willingly bowed her head.
Roel gave a wry smile in response.
"It's fine. More importantly, don't you have work to do?"
She harbored no resentment, knowing it had been an unavoidable situation.
If anything, she was grateful that Cigarette had rushed over, setting everything else aside.
"...Thank you. Then."
Professor Cigarette took the unconscious demons and headed somewhere.
Roel had no idea what would become of them.
She could only hope the Academy handled it properly.
Thud.
Roel collapsed to the ground.
It was getting harder and harder to hold on.
She felt like she could lose consciousness any second.
"Cadet Roel!"
Fortunately, the other professors arrived just in time.
"There's one here too!" "Oh my god, Cadet Sera as well...!"
The tension drained away in an instant.
With a sense of certainty that everyone—including herself—was now safe, Roel fainted without regret.
"Cadet Roel!!"
.
.
.
"Ah."
An unfamiliar ceiling.
Roel blinked in a daze after waking, then slowly sat up.
"Ow, ouch."
Her entire body creaked and popped.
"They told you not to move."
A familiar young voice.
Turning her head, she saw Sera lying in the bed next to hers, wrapped head to toe in bandages.
"Sera? Are you okay?!"
"You're the one hurt the worst. They said it's impressive you stayed conscious as long as you did."
Roel obediently lay back down at those words.
Right. This must be the infirmary.
It was the first time she'd woken up somewhere other than the dorms since enrolling at the Academy.
"Still, we're alive. That's a relief."
"...Yeah."
"What about Laila?"
"Right next to you."
"Oh."
She turned her head the other way.
There was Laila, fast asleep.
Her unchanging demeanor brought a smile to Roel's face.
Everything that happened after Roel fainted was explained by Sera.
Having woken up first, she'd already grasped the situation.
Most of the info had come from Professor Cigarette.
"No one died. Everyone else was in the main building. Professor Patrick protected the students there."
"So... ."
"I think we saved everyone."
Sera said it in a matter-of-fact yet brazen tone.
"If we hadn't stalled for time, those demons probably would've gone straight to the main building."
"Probably."
"No one dying is thanks to us."
"Sounds right, I guess."
"It is right."
Roel imagined the 'what if'.
What if all three of them had died right there, and the wolf demon had headed to the main building.
Professor Patrick might have handled it brilliantly, perhaps.
Or maybe an unimaginable tragedy would have unfolded.
"Sera."
"What."
"I... I want to become a Hero."
"You didn't before?"
"No, I was trying to anyway, but... ."
It was a feeling hard to put into words.
A hollow sense of responsibility?
Or maybe just a temporary surge of confidence from this incident.
It didn't matter which.
"I want to save people."
Roel had trembled in terror before the wolf demon.
She had overcome it in the end, but she knew most people wouldn't.
They'd die without overcoming it.
She didn't want to see more people sacrificed like that.
"Guess you're a real rival now."
Sera said.
"No more going easy on you."
"Haha, I'll brace myself."
Silence flowed after the exchange.
A time for each to sink into their thoughts.
It wasn't uncomfortable.
"... ."
Roel was the first to break the quiet.
"But hey."
"Yeah."
"What about the exam?"
Sera fell silent for a moment.
"Ah."
She sighed.
The exam was postponed a bit.
With injured students and extensive facility damage, it was the obvious choice.
Thanks to that, Roel and the others had plenty of time to recover.
Laila approached Roel, who was alone in the training grounds.
"Training?"
"Yeah, I don't hurt anymore."
The Academy's top medical team had pulled all-nighters caring for them.
As a result, they recovered faster than expected, with ample time to prepare for the exam.
"It was supposed to start tomorrow, right?"
"Yep. My written prep is a little lacking, but... it'll be fine somehow."
"You'll be okay. Practical scores more anyway."
It was a conversation between cadets who had nearly died just a few weeks ago.
Any normal person would've dropped out by now.
Oh, and come to think of it, she hadn't heard of anyone wanting to quit.
Were all Blessed Ones just a bit off in the head?
"Hey, Roel."
"Ah, yeah."
Snapping to, Roel realized Laila's gaze was fixed on her.
What was she about to say? Roel tensed a little.
"Thanks."
"Huh?"
"Back then, when I tried to run. You stood by my side."
"Oh... ."
"I'm alive because of you. So I wanted to thank you."
Another strange feeling welled up.
She hadn't noticed it talking with Sera, but it was something warm and fuzzy.
"Same here. If you hadn't stepped up first, I couldn't have found the courage. Sera probably too."
Roel flashed a bright smile.
"We survived together, the three of us. Not thanks to anyone specific—we did it as a team. I believe we'll keep doing that."
Laila smiled back in kind.
"See you at the exam, then."
"Yeah!"
Laila left the training grounds.
Roel picked up her wooden sword again in the now-empty space.
...Ah.
Strictly speaking, she wasn't alone.
A few days ago, the Demon—who had been silent—had returned.
"Because we're friends."
"You're my friend too, Demon."
"You must be lonely. No friends but me."
She felt pretty close to this demon now.
Was it even a demon to begin with? She'd made up the title herself... .
Its actions didn't seem demonic at all.
"I'm always grateful. You only ever help me."
"Still, I survived thanks to what you've done for me."
The Demon fell silent.
She knew now—that was its embarrassed reaction.
Roel giggled, enjoying it.
"Oh, that?"
When the Demon first returned, Roel had grilled it about the mysterious man she'd met that day.
How suspicious was that?
The Demon had gone silent, and then this enigmatic man appeared.
He wielded Griffith swordsmanship and treated Roel like he'd been 'watching her for a long time'.
She'd thought no one but the Demon fit that description.
"I thought about it a bit. Seems like it's someone else, not you."
But a little thinking made it clear.
They couldn't be the same.
An existence in her head, speaking from within her mind.
It even forcibly moved her body sometimes.
If it existed in the real world, why go through all this hassle?
So they weren't the same person; the timing was just a coincidence.
Roel laid out her hypothesis in full.
"Right?"
"Well, even if I'm wrong... I trust you, Demon. You wouldn't lie to me."
The Demon fell silent again.
This time, it lingered longer.
There was a hint of bitterness in its voice.
The faint unease faded quickly, and time flew to the next day.
A crowd of spectators. Focused gazes.
In the massive arena the Academy had prepared, Roel let out repeated gasps of admiration at the sight.
"It's huge."
"High royal officials are watching too, right?"
"I heard people from other countries are coming."
She had to fight in front of all these people?
Tension started creeping in.
"How's the order going?"
The first exam excluding written was 'duels between same-grade students'.
Draws determined the bracket, tournament-style advancement.
Honestly, it felt more like a tournament than an exam.
And Roel's turn was.
"...First match."
The most crucial one: the 'opening bout'.