102. Finals Are... Out of Service (4)
102. Finals Are... Out of Service (4)
"Sif. Take this."
I handed Sif the mask I'd brought from the workshop. She took it, immediately put it on with an understanding look, and asked me,
"You know how to make stuff like this?"
"I can even work mithril. Making a mask like this is nothing."
"True enough."
It made me look like some teenage edgelord, but this much preparation was necessary if I wanted to interfere with the main story. Lewis knew my face, and revealing it would put me in a difficult position.
Naturally, I couldn't use my shovel either.
I also had to hide my identity, so I needed to lock down a concept.
I stuffed my shovel, fitted with a cover to hide the mithril, deep into my backpack. Then I took out a block of wood and made a small wand like the ones from a fantasy film series that had dominated an era. That'd been my dream as a kid.
"You're going to pretend to be a Wizard?"
"That should be the safest bet."
Just in case, I'd asked Sif to obtain materials for several other disguises, but I had no intention of using them unless necessary. Each would create an image so distinct no one would suspect the same person, but they could also invite pointless misunderstandings.
The concepts were way too intense.
"What about me?"
"You just don't show your face. Toss around a dagger or something you brought along and pretend to be an explorer."
"Okaaay~"
It was time to begin tailing them.
We stuck close to the door Lewis had passed through and peered beyond. We had to track Lewis's progress and follow secretly, so this was standard procedure. It didn't feel like it took us that long to come down, but his progress was faster than I'd expected.
"Looks like it's safe to go through."
We entered the quiet room, where only traces of destruction remained. Golem fragments lay scattered everywhere. Afraid of being spotted, we crept toward the next room. Faint sounds became audible as we approached its door.
"Seems like they're in the next room."
"Hmm, they're moving faster than I expected. It's only been about fifteen minutes since we heard the noise."
Transmigrator or not, the original protagonist was quite strong.
Even for an exam dungeon, clearing rooms at that speed was impressive. In game terms, Lewis seemed to have been developed fairly well. But reality differed from the game, so I couldn't rule out the possibility that his other party members were stronger than expected.
"Sif. Take out the telescope."
"Got it-"
We took out our telescopes and carefully stepped inside the doorway. It was another room of similar size. We stuck our heads out slightly beside the doorway to get a fix on Lewis's party's position. Lewis's group was busy fighting monsters and paying absolutely no attention to this direction.
Tsk.
If it were me, I'd have planted traps in the rear and then moved, prepared for an ambush.
"Sif, keep your distance. I'm going to observe those students through the telescope."
"Observe? Why them? Aren't they just students?"
Sif tilted her head and asked me.
"Once we enter the Dimensional Rift, cooperation with those students might become necessary. Ideally, I plan only to watch... but in case an unforeseen situation occurs, I need to gauge the students' combat capabilities."
"In short, hazard pay's going up, right?"
"...Interpret it however you like."
I sighed inwardly at how Sif's every train of thought led back to money, then sat in a suitable spot and raised the telescope to my eye.
With the telescope, I could see the original protagonist's party fighting hard in the distance clearly enough to distinguish their facial expressions. First, I checked the lineup of the party members.
A five-person team, huh. First, Lewis, the swordsman and melee dealer. Wizards Shuri and Laperinne. One male student who looked like a priest, and one unknown female student throwing vials.
One healer and four dealers.
Their opponents were three rock golems that looked as though they had been assembled from rough blocks, along with three or four goblins. The lineup seemed to have been thrown together from whatever was available, with no thought for synergy.
"Whoa, that swordsman is pretty good."
"What do you think would happen if a stronger enemy appeared?"
"Hmm... That swordsman is quick, so he'd probably still be useful. His footwork isn't bad, and he draws enough attention to keep the enemies off his allies. But without armor or a shield, it looks dangerous... Ah. He got hit."
Just as she said, Lewis took a blow to the shoulder and his face twisted in pain. It looked dislocated. No sooner had she finished than white light clung to his shoulder like a leech, and his expression quickly relaxed. The healing magic seemed effective.
"Seems like he's quite skilled."
"But isn't the setup putting way too much burden on just that one swordsman? If he gets badly hurt like that, the back line is..."
"Probably going to be fine."
No sooner had I said it than a blast of water shot from the tip of the blue-haired girl's umbrella. It sprayed like a fire hose and blew off the golem's arm in one strike.
"Whoa, I've never seen water-attribute magic used like that."
"That student is Laperinne Nereid, heiress to House Nereid. Her water magic is said to be comparable to that of third-years."
Source: the game.
"So she was born with a silver spoon."
"Correct."
I turned the telescope toward the dog-eared Wizard chanting fire magic in the rear. She was the heroine who had been openly flirting with Lewis at the market. Was fire magic her specialty?
"That dog-beastkin student is Shuri, an honors student well known even within the Magic Department. She's not as strong as Laperinne, but she has more than enough ability to pass an exam like this."
That information also came from the game. Naturally, I didn't know how accurately it reflected reality.
"But Laper... whatever and Shuri don't seem to get along. They glare at each other whenever they get the chance."
"They're rivals, so it can't be helped."
"Aha."
I did not know how Lewis had won Laperinne over in the short gap between the market duel and the final exam, but he'd somehow recruited her like a proper protagonist. Normally, Laperinne could not be recruited until the second semester.
Did the story get twisted because Karina was absent?
"What about that priest, then?"
"Don't know."
"Don't know?"
"I don't know him, so I don't know."
There was no way I'd know about an extra who didn't appear in the game. I was just guessing he was a priest because I saw him use recovery magic.
"What about that female student, then?"
"Looks like she's from the Alchemy Department."
It was hard to argue that a student throwing vials wasn't from the Alchemy Department.
In short, it was an awkward lineup of one protagonist, two heroines, and two extras. The balance was questionable, but their firepower was excellent—a typical 'DPS solves everything' party.
Of course, for this dungeon, which was just for the final exam, ending it with pure burst damage would suffice... but in a Dimensional Rift, problems were absolutely going to arise.
"...He's not a transmigrator after all."
Because if he were, he wouldn't have deliberately picked an all-around ambiguous swordsman.
"What?"
"It's nothing... Time for us to move."
I slipped the telescope into my chest pocket and stood up, because at the edge of my vision, I'd seen tiny dots moving. I pulled jerky out of my pocket, stuck it in my mouth, and set out after the protagonist party.
-------------------
Was it about time for the Dimensional Rift to open?
We'd reached the final boss room and hidden near the entrance, enthusiastically spying on the protagonist's party. They had smashed their way down to the third basement floor and reached the boss room in impressive fashion.
As expected of a protagonist, Lewis had assembled a capable party and used them well. The happy circuit in my head—the hope that my plan to freeload through the main story might actually work—heated up like a hand warmer.
"Is it really gonna open?"
"It'll open, just wait a little longer."
"Really? Give me one more piece of jerky."
"Here."
Sif munched on the jerky I handed her while scoping out the protagonist party with her telescope. At first she'd looked bored, but now she was spectating as if watching a sports match. Was this what it felt like to watch a game from the audience seats? I'd never actually gone to one, so I wasn't sure.
"Whoa, as expected of someone born with a silver spoon, even her magic hits differently. I've never seen a Wizard punch holes in solid steel with a jet of water."
"As expected of the heiress to House Nereid."
In the game, that had been one of her basic Skills, so reality was probably not much different. I compared my game knowledge with what I saw as the protagonist's party fought the exam's final boss, the steel golem.
Lewis deflected the steel golem's attacks with his sword, moving mainly on defense; Shuri accumulated damage with fire magic; Laperinne impeded the golem's actions with water blasts. And whenever the unknown female student's vials struck the golem and shattered, smoke billowed from the golem's body.
Was it something like hydrochloric acid?
At any rate, a chemical that melted steel. No idea why she was carrying something like that around, though.
"Oh, one arm just flew off."
"It'll be over soon."
As we predicted, the battle ended in less than three minutes. The steel golem, shattered and melted with its initial grandeur nowhere to be found, almost made me feel sorry for it.
They'd taken down the golem, so was it time for the rift to open?
"It should appear any moment now."
"You even know that?"
"Yeah."
The Dimensional Rift would open any moment, so I needed to prepare to jump in. I put the telescope in my backpack and fastened it securely.
The Dimensional Rift would open soon...
...So why wasn't it opening?
I remembered it originally opening right after the steel golem was defeated.
What would happen if it did not open?
"Yohan, what's with my hazard pay?"
"Hold on. I'm trying to figure out what's going on—"
It was at the moment I was about to sink back into the swamp of contemplation. As if proving god hadn't abandoned me, the dungeon began to shake. This was definitely a sign that the Dimensional Rift was opening.
Unless, of course—
"Yohan!"
"Don't shout. At this rate we'll get cau—"
"Yohan! Behind! Behind! Behind you!"
At Sif's scream-laced voice, I had no choice but to turn my head and look behind me.
Ah.
Fuck.
A blue vortex filled my entire field of vision.
That was my final memory.