Chapter 57
Chapter 58
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: 1st Place, I Must Do It (1)
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BOOOOOOM──!
A deafening explosion that pierced the ears.
At the same time, acrid smoke once again blanketed the exam hall.
The exam hall erupted into chaos yet again.
"What now?!"
"Another explosion? Who this time─?!"
"Duck your heads! Cover your mouths!"
The students' screams mixed with the instructors' shouts, pushing the confusion to its peak.
Some hurriedly erected mana barriers,
while others flailed desperately through the smoke, trying to escape.
It was utter pandemonium.
Even with vision obscured by smoke, I kept my eyes fixed straight ahead.
Amid the noisy pandemonium, I had only one thought.
'No way..., did Ruena mess up again?!'
I wanted to think it couldn't be, but...
Unfortunately, as someone who had taken private lessons with her and witnessed countless explosions and failures from her hands firsthand,
I knew Ruena's scatterbrained nature all too well...
She could handle everything else perfectly, but
whenever it required precise measurements or advanced manual dexterity, she always caused some big or small accident.
Messing up numbers was cute by comparison.
Sometimes she'd confuse ingredient names,
or mix herbal ratios completely backward,
or stir reagents too vigorously and blow everything away.
And due to the countless other mistakes I'd seen right before my eyes─
I'd developed the habit of checking escape routes the moment she picked up a potion vial.
Please, just please, I desperately hoped.
I turned my head following the direction of the smoke, praying my guess was wrong.
'No? It can't be, right?'
But betraying my hopes,
the smoke billowed precisely toward the alchemy table in the midst of the practical exam.
'The person taking the exam right now must be...'
Sure enough, a familiar head of blue hair came into view at the alchemy table.
The moment my ominous premonition became reality─
I pulled a magic tool from my subspace pouch without hesitation.
A smoke amplification orb.
One of the magic tools as vital to a thief as their lifeline.
Even the tiniest wisp of smoke
would be amplified in an instant by this, completely blocking visibility around it.
In other words,
it was perfectly usable even in situations like this.
Since the orb absorbed surrounding smoke and spread it thicker and wider.
Activating the orb made the smoke even denser.
The surroundings grew noisier,
and the mana from instructors casting air purification spells felt even thicker.
At this rate, the smoke would clear in about a minute.
But─
To a thief, one minute was like an hour.
I pulled out another magic tool.
A tiny sensory augmentation tool that attached behind the ear.
This allowed me to grasp the surroundings even in pitch-black darkness or smoke-blocked vision.
Focusing all my senses, I quickly calculated the path.
People,
positions of objects,
and every other variable that could give me away.
Avoiding them all, I swiftly headed to the source..., the alchemy table.
I examined the explosive Ruena had created... no, the potion.
For starters...,
it was a familiar form.
'Looks like she was trying to make a mana elixir.'
I sniffed it cautiously and inspected it carefully.
Fortunately, no toxicity.
It seemed the excess mana from the reagents had simply caused an explosion.
But even that would dock her exam score critically.
After grabbing the mana elixir Ruena had made,
I dumped it, along with some highly volatile reagents, into the spot I'd planned ahead.
'Sorry.'
It probably wouldn't cause major side effects at the inspection device.
Just more acrid smoke along with the explosion.
BOOOOOOM──!
Just as I'd predicted.
Another thunderous explosion, and thick smoke enveloped the entire exam hall.
I activated the smoke amplification orb to amplify it further.
'That buys me another 30 seconds?'
Grabbing an empty reagent vial, I quickly compounded a mana elixir.
The recipe Ruena had been trying to make
was one I could whip up blindfolded, it was so familiar.
We'd taken lessons together and I'd practiced it hundreds of times at home on my own.
'This should do it.'
I made it exactly up to the stage Ruena had reached.
The rest─
I could only hope Ruena wouldn't mess up again.
Still plenty of time left.
After clearing out as many variables that could expose my interference as possible, I returned to my spot.
A moment later─
The instructors' suppression cleared the smoke quickly.
Vision gradually returned.
All eyes turned to the source of the smoke.
And right there in the center─
not the original alchemy table, but the inspection device.
A strangely familiar potion sat there conspicuously.
Dark and murky in color,
and looking incredibly sticky...
It was the 'Stamina Regeneration Potion' Marian Labelin had made.
A moment of silence.
Breaking it was, predictably, the potion's creator, Marian.
She flailed and tore at her hair.
"Aaaah, why did that explode─?!"
"Student Marian! What did you do this time?!"
"N-No! I swear! This time I just put it on the inspection device!"
The examiner let out a long sigh at Marian's desperate cry.
"Then why did it explode again?!"
"I-I don't know! Why did that thing explode?!"
Because I tampered with your potion.
But... that was a secret I'd take to my grave, so I firmly donned my iron mask.
House Noir's early iron mask training.
I never knew it would shine like this.
Naturally, not a single suspicious glance came my way.
'Really, really sorry.'
I apologized silently to the person involved, whom I'd never say it to aloud.
Though it was an excuse, I had no choice.
It was the best option for me.
One minute thirty seconds.
In that time─
I had to destroy evidence and frame the culprit simultaneously.
And Marian's potion was the perfect target for it.
Since I'd checked the ingredients on the inspection device.
Fortunately, the materials were similar, and so were the properties.
Any distinctive points,
I mixed in highly volatile reagents to naturally eliminate them.
Even if mixed with Ruena's mana elixir, it wouldn't be detected.
It'd probably show the same result if scanned now.
'Just... "Potion altered due to unknown reasons" or something?'
On top of that─
Marian's potion had already exploded once before.
Which naturally directed all suspicion solely at her.
'Above all, Marian's already treated like a walking time bomb from her string of accidents.'
The examiners and professors
were more inclined to think, "Marian did it again," rather than re-inspect her potion.
This is why image-making is so important, huh.
For some reason...,
I could understand why our house pretends to be sacred prophets.
The accident was roughly resolved,
and this explosion was also concluded to be Marian's doing.
Marian's alchemy score took a massive hit.
'Whoa..., practically rock bottom.'
That was about on par with my summoning ranking, or maybe a tad higher.
If she botched the group subjugation even a little, she'd drop straight to Class D.
'Give up.'
I cleanly gave up.
On being in the same class as Marian.
Class D was bad enough, but becoming something else that wasn't Class D was even more unwelcome.
'Then... aim for 1st in alchemy...'
The moment I started planning─
Another 'boom' sounded, and mana fluctuations surged wildly.
'This mana...'
No way.
No, please.
I desperately prayed while checking the source─
but my longtime childhood friend hadn't deviated from my expectations at all.
The alchemy table.
Ruena standing before it.
The completed mana elixir roiled irregularly inside the vial, mana tangling chaotically.
This is why I hate childhood friends.
You know each other too well, down to the tiniest details, so you can't even hold a sliver of hope in times like these.
"Student Ruena."
"...Yes."
"Please place the completed potion on the inspection device."
It was the moment Ruena picked up the vial at the examiner's words.
Another examiner
raised a hand to halt her and said,
"Miss Ruena?"
"Yes."
"Due to the recent explosion, the potion might have been altered or unable to showcase your true skill, so how about remaking it?"
An unexpected opportunity and stroke of luck.
A chance to fix the accident.
I doubted if Ruena could pull it off with her skills, but a chance was a chance.
But─
Ruena slowly shook her head.
"It's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. This is my skill, after all."
With that, Ruena
politely bowed to the examiner who had offered the chance, then headed to the inspection device.
A dignified attitude.
A choice prioritizing fairness over scores.
Admiration and cheers for Ruena rose from around us.
Meanwhile, I...
just thought it was good her image was packaged so well.
'Seriously, that girl needs special training before proper alchemy classes start.'
With Ruena's image packaged,
it was my job to ensure the wrapping didn't come undone.
Vowing to train her, I proceeded with the alchemy practical.
The result... 1st place.
It might seem arrogant, but it was a given.
Dexterity, precision.
And crafting tools to alter situations.
Alchemy required exactly what a thief excels at, making it one of my strongest fields.
Once all practical exams ended, another announcement rang out.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ We will now begin the final group subjugation exam. Freshmen, please check your assigned groups and wait. I checked the bulletin board next to the rankings.
My group was Group 11.
There were about four other members besides me.
'To aim for a high rank, I need to assess my group members' conditions first.'
As I quickly scanned the group members, my eyes stopped on one name.