The Hidden Area

How do you clear Chapter 1 with an SSS-rank?

Hunting field monsters and farming medals isn't enough. The highest rank you can reach that way is SS. Clear Chapter 1 at SS-rank and you enter the Academy in second place — and second place still comes with decent rewards, so it isn't a bad start. But the gap between first and second is considerable. It's only a single rank of difference, yet that gap grows more pronounced the further the game goes. That's why clearing Chapter 1 at SSS-rank is a critical factor for everything that follows.

Legend Route is packed with puzzle elements, and those puzzles fall into two kinds: the ones you have to solve to progress the story, and the ones that barely affect the story at all — but that you need to solve if you want to raise your clear rank.

To SSS-rank clear Chapter 1, you have to solve a hidden puzzle. And the clue to that puzzle lies in the medals that drop when you hunt monsters.

"Here. Take a good look at this medal. This is…"

I held out the medal I'd just obtained to Sara. It was a small, round thing, easy to close in one hand. One face was completely plain, without a single ornament. The other had several small grooves carved into it.

"It's clearly part of a map."

"A map?"

Sara tilted her head, puzzled. But in less than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a second something clicked, and she pulled her own medals from her pocket and started turning them over in her hands.

That's Sara Leoris for you. The game calls her a genius more times than anyone could count, and it shows — with a single keyword, she grasped exactly what I was getting at.

"Each medal has different grooves carved into it."

The grooves were fragments of a rough map. Look at them one at a time and you'd never notice. Lay several together, though, and what they were trying to show us became perfectly clear.

Sara and I spread the farmed medals out on the ground. We had six in total — not many, but completing the map wasn't a problem. The sketch was so simple that the scattered gaps could be filled in by inference.

No duplicate fragments. We finished this a lot faster than I expected.

The completed dungeon sketch pointed to a single location, marked by a dot.

"The left side of where the canyon pinches in, like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the neck of an hourglass. That's where the medal map is pointing. This has to be the dungeon's Hidden Area."

Hidden Area. The name meant exactly what it said: a secret location inside the dungeon.

Sometimes called a dungeon within a dungeon, a Hidden Area was an exceptionally special zone even by dungeon standards. You couldn't reach these places without meeting particular conditions or finding a concealed passage, and they were every bit as fascinating as they were well-hidden. They might feature unusual gimmicks, or the monsters that spawned there might be on an entirely different level — and given those qualities, the items you farmed from a Hidden Area were outstanding.

To take first place overall in the Academy entrance exam, you had to use the medal map to reach the Hidden Area and hunt the monsters there.

"How… how did you know this?"

Sara asked, looking back and forth between the medals and me. Her eyes had gone round, and they held a tangle of feelings — surprise, frustration, and a hint of jealousy. It was a How did you notice something even I missed!? kind of face. My younger cousin used to wear a similar expression whenever she lost in the game.

If I answered honestly, I'd have to say, Because I'm a veteran gamer!

But living comfortably in this world required a certain amount of flexibility.

"I got lucky."

"You noticed this because you got lucky?"

"There was a hint. The exam proctor said it, didn't he? That this dungeon tests our strength and our wisdom. Strength we prove by hunting monsters — but wisdom felt a little out of left field, didn't it?"

"Ah… so you figured there had to be some element that required using your head."

Sara let out a hearty laugh as she said it.

"That's right."

"Then it wasn't luck at all."

"Haha. Is that how it works?"

Anyway, we'd found the path to the Hidden Area. All that was left was to go. Sara gathered the medals scattered on the ground as she spoke.

"Ahem! Discovering the map was your achievement, but I did contribute five of my medals, you know."

"That's true."

"S-so… I was thinking… I might perhaps be qualified to go to that Hidden Area as well…"

Watching her rest a hand on her hip and push the words out in a shy, courageous little voice, I felt a sudden urge to hug her. It was a glimpse of how earnest she was.

An ordinary person wouldn't bother talking about qualifications — they'd just go find the Hidden Area as a matter of course. And a shameless type might even argue, I used more of my medals, so only I get to go!

But she diligently acknowledged my contribution and asked for my permission. That one small action explained Sara Leoris's character better than anything else.

"Of course. Without your help, discovering the Hidden Area would have been impossible."

A small carrot, tossed her way. Praise delivered after a stretch of deliberate neglect hits far harder than ordinary compliments. The core technique for capturing Sara is mixing coldness and praise in just the right proportions.

"Hnnngh~! Th-that's right! Without my help, it would've been reeeally hard. I shouldn't say this myself, but finding a mage of my caliber isn't exactly easy."

Coming from the person currently saying it, no less.

With a single compliment, the great fortress that was Sara seemed to collapse with a thud. The cool, chic persona she'd been maintaining reasonably well until now warped in an instant. Sara herself, of course, didn't seem to notice.

"Then let's go! To the Hidden Area!"

Sara thrust out her hand and shouted with energy. I felt like my affection rating with her had gone up by about twenty.

Sara had no choice but to admit it.

Johann Baker was a man with remarkably sharp instincts. And those instincts of his might even surpass her own.

The attack skills he'd shown were ordinary. His fundamentals seemed solid enough, but that was all. You could say his future growth looked promising — they just weren't the kind of skills that displayed overwhelming power right now.

His true worth, however, wasn't in those skills. With only a brief observation, he'd grasped the mini wyvern's characteristics and employed tactics that matched them perfectly. He'd taken limited resources and wrung 120 percent out of them to produce the best possible result.

And it wasn't limited to hunting wyverns. He'd grasped the true nature of the entrance exam and identified the hidden element in the medals — something even Sara herself hadn't noticed. From traces so faint you could barely call them clues, Johann had drawn a bold conclusion.

A genius.

As the young lady of the Leoris family, Sara had seen more than her share of them. Johann was a completely different breed — a type of genius that simply did not exist in her database. He didn't radiate overwhelming presence in some specialized field. He didn't possess the kind of combat power that would leave everyone in awe. What he had, instead, was a talent so strange and so extraordinary it bordered on the uncanny: the ability to see the essence of things, of phenomena themselves.

It felt as if he were carrying the world's answer key in his pocket. If a genius like that ever properly awakened… just how powerful would he become?

Sara suddenly recalled something her father had said.

Those words she'd dismissed as her father's foolish nonsense now drove themselves deep into her mind.

The wall blocking her advancement was vast and thick. She had no idea where to even start, no idea how to smash through it. But Sara's instincts were telling her something. To overcome this obstacle, she needed not magical knowledge, but a flash of inspiration.

Johann Baker. Perhaps that boy might bring her a new kind of inspiration. It was a thought without basis — and yet one that carried a strange, stubborn certainty.

"This is it."

The two of them found the passage leading to the canyon's Hidden Area. It was a path so thoroughly concealed by rubble and vegetation that you'd never find it even if you were looking closely. The passage wasn't long. After they passed through a cave-like tunnel, a towering cliff rose up to greet them.

A blade of wind riding the cliff face brushed across their faces. The environment was similar, but the atmosphere itself had changed from the canyon before.

A large nest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was visible atop the cliff. It looked like a bird's nest, but what lay inside was no bird. Sara enhanced her vision with magic and examined it closely.

"It's a chimera."

The monster sleeping soundly in the nest was a chimera — a classic specimen, with a lion's face, an eagle's wings, a horse's body, and a snake's tail. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Like the mini wyverns, it was clearly an artificial monster created by the Academy for the exam.

The aura it gave off was incomparable to the mini wyverns. It was nearly twice their size, too. Its physical defense and magic resistance were bound to be higher as well.

"Johann. You found this place, so you choose. Who hunts first?"

There was only one chimera. There were two of them. Cooperating to take it down was technically an option — but they were two people competing for first place. Cooperation wasn't on the table.

"May I hunt it first?"

"Of course."

Despite the risk of losing first place, Sara nodded readily. There were two reasons. One was that Johann was the one who'd discovered this place. The other was that she'd already estimated the chimera to be far stronger than he was.

Unlike with the mini wyverns earlier, he didn't even have a chance to observe his opponent.

So the picture of him hunting the chimera as easily as before wasn't going to happen. And if Johann failed, and she succeeded spectacularly…

He'd definitely be amazed by me, right!?

She could already picture Johann's eyes going round as he clapped. The plan was perfect.

"Then I'll begin."

Johann walked slowly toward the chimera's nest. The creature, which had been sleeping at a leisurely pace, suddenly opened its eyes. It seemed to have sensed an intruder.

Johann's shoulders trembled slightly.

As I thought. His stats don't seem that high.

Sara focused her mind. She intended to intervene if Johann got into danger. If he were ejected from the dungeon, he wouldn't be around to watch her performance.

Johann looked at the chimera scattering a terrifying light from its eyes, and smiled at a leisurely pace.

A chimera. Strong — but not a difficult opponent at all. Not if you knew the strategy.

Kiriit—!

The chimera spread its eagle's wings and took to the air.