Class Assignment Exam
“Aaaagh!”
The moment I regained awareness of reality, a scream tore from my throat at the searing pain. My body lurched, balance gone, and I collapsed, rolling across the floor.
Shit! Shit!
Panic flooded me. This was a situation I had never even imagined enduring in my entire life. Clutching my leg, I looked up to see Alissa Bretes slowly walking toward me and stopping right in front of me.
“How does it feel? Hurts a lot?”
“Kgh… Alissa.”
“That’s not even one percent of the pain I went through. You’re still far from done. We don’t have time, so let’s finish this quickly.”
Alissa seemed impatient. She swiftly brought her rapier toward my other leg, clearly intending to sever that one too. She probably planned to cut off all my limbs first, then slowly torment me at her leisure.
I shouted in a hurry.
“W-wait! Hold on!”
“Why? Planning to threaten me again? That won’t work anymore. You just need to quietly accept your punishment.”
Alissa spoke as if the conversation was already over. In that extreme moment, I racked my brain for a way out.
“My diary! There’s a diary in the mansion’s drawer!”
“…A diary? What does that have to do with anything?”
“I wrote down everything that happened that day. If I become an idiot, someone else will find out. You’re fine with that!?”
Alissa knew it too. No matter how much she tortured me here, it wouldn’t change reality. She would still be the illegitimate child of the Bretes family, a defective product with no value. If she had truly been prepared to give up everything, she would have attacked the Priuli mansion long ago. So there was no way she would throw her own life into the gutter just to inflict pain on me.
Strength drained from her hand. The rapier that had been radiating killing intent lowered toward the floor.
Did I make it?
The moment I thought that—
“You’re right.”
Alissa nodded and lifted her head. Her eyes burned brighter than ever with rage.
“But I’m not letting you off that easily.”
Alissa thrust her rapier forward. The tip aligned perfectly with my pupil and shot straight toward it. The sharp blade grew closer and closer.
“N-no—”
Thud!
The rapier pierced through my soft eyeball and drove straight into my brain. Agonizing pain assaulted me. The terror of death and emptiness wrapped around my entire body. It felt just like the sensation I had experienced in the sinkhole. A coldness that eroded all the way to my soul. Just before I was completely swallowed by it, some kind of hand pulled me back to reality.
“Hah!”
Gasping for breath, I woke up and touched my eyes. They were fine. No wounds at all. The pain from moments ago had vanished. After barely calming down, I raised my head. White curtains surrounded me, making it hard to see clearly, but the place resembled a hospital. It was probably the recovery room next to the grand auditorium.
Voices drifted in from outside.
“Priest Along. How is the student on your side?”
“Fortunately, there’s no major issue. He just received a brief shock.”
“They’ve had a rough time right after enrollment.”
Priests from the Order of Light were always stationed at Solias Academy. As expected, they were treating students who had failed the exam and lost consciousness from the shock. Only then did I truly realize it.
Right. There’s no way I would die.
Even though I had known that, the sensation had been so vivid that I had mistaken it for reality. I glanced down at my palm. It was still trembling slightly, as if the aftereffects of death hadn’t faded yet.
“Damn it…”
The feeling of a cold blade stirring through my brain had definitely been real. High-level illusion magic boasted such precision that it was indistinguishable from reality. I clenched my fist tightly.
“It’s fine. I’m alive.”
Sometimes the human body and mind make foolish mistakes. Which one was mistaken right now?
After repeating it to myself and reminding my body that I was alive, the trembling soon stopped.
“Let’s head back to the grand auditorium for now.”
Looking at the clock, the exam had just ended. The results would be announced after an hour’s break, so there was still time. It would be better to go and check in advance. I got off the bed, explained to the approaching priest that I was fine, and left the recovery room.
A short while later, I arrived at the grand auditorium. Perhaps because the exam was over, the students were busy forming groups and building friendships, while the professors were chatting as they evaluated the performances they had seen during the test. I lightly brushed past them, and my gaze fixed on the hologram displaying the exam results.
[Class Assignment Exam Results]
1st - Skadia Maryland
2nd - Ethan Gloucester
3rd - Deborah
4th - Felicia Belmore
5th - Oscar Caldrick
6th - Alissa Bretes
As expected, every name was familiar. Among them were both allies and villains, but the one I paid attention to was naturally Alissa.
The ranking changed.
Originally, Alissa should have been in 4th place, but she had dropped two whole ranks. Remembering how she had acted before failing the exam, it made sense—she had been searching only for me without caring about the test at all.
“This is going to be a headache.”
I had sensed that variables would arise the moment I raped Alissa, but I hadn’t expected them to appear this quickly and this extremely. At this rate, I wasn’t sure if I could safely get through academy life and reach the ending. As I let out a sigh—
Thud!
Someone I hadn’t noticed had come up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. A chill ran down my spine. My survival instincts kicked in along with the hair-raising sensation, and I quickly turned around while trying to slap the hand off my shoulder. Unfortunately, the mysterious person pulled their hand away, so my swing missed.
“Oh? You actually tried to slap my hand away just now?”
“Ah… Professor.”
The mysterious person was Sara Caiman. She looked at me with a cheeky, smiling face before her expression hardened and she asked worriedly.
“How’s your condition?”
“…I’m fine.”
“Really? You should be honest. Putting on airs in front of a woman will only make you look more ridiculous.”
She was treating me like a child. Even so, I had lived long enough. In terms of sexual experience, I had far more than Sara, who was still a virgin. A sudden mischievous urge rose in me, and I deliberately brought up a topic she would be sensitive about.
“Professor and I aren’t that far apart in age, are we? Calling yourself a woman in front of me feels a bit…”
As I trailed off and scanned her body, Sara flared up and thrust her chest forward.
“Are you asking to die? I’m still plenty firm, you know? Did you see for yourself?”
“Then show me.”
“You really are shameless! I have a man, you know? No way!”
“I’m not interested either, you know? You’re the one who brought it up first.”
“Ahem! Anyway! I’m glad you’re okay.”
Having nothing left to say, Sara coughed awkwardly and patted my shoulder again. It felt strangely healing. The tension that had unknowingly built up throughout my body loosened, and my expression naturally improved. Sara noticed it too and smiled before asking in a careful tone.
“But what happened? Alissa Bretes’s condition didn’t look normal. Of course, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You saw it after all.”
“Of course. I don’t know what you did, but you survived in the harpy’s nest for so long that I kept an eye on you the moment you came out. I never expected you to be eliminated like that, though.”
Sara’s cheeks flushed slightly as she mentioned the harpy’s nest. She was probably imagining what had happened to me there. This perverted professor.
This is why no one wants to date her.
Professor Verdan Roosevelt, whom she was in a budding relationship with, would die midway through the story, so she was clearly fated to remain a lifelong virgin. I clicked my tongue inwardly. The problem was that it must have shown on my face, because Sara narrowed her eyes after looking at me.
“What’s with that face? You look like you’re thinking something pathetic.”
“Huh? No way.”
“Hmm… I’ll let it slide this once. So, how was it? Can you tell me what happened with Alissa Bretes?”
Tell Sara that I raped Alissa? That wasn’t even worth considering. Naturally, I shook my head.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t talk about that. It’s not a good memory for me either.”
“Is that so? It must be a serious problem. Come to think of it, after killing you, Alissa Bretes showed some really strange behavior. She cried like the world was ending, then suddenly laughed like she had gone mad. But once the exam ended, she disappeared with a completely emotionless face, like a doll. If you don’t want to, I can’t force you, but if you ever want to reconcile, tell me. I’ll arrange a meeting for you. Got it?”
“…Yes. Thank you. I’ll let you know if I need it.”
“Good. Then I’m off. Professor Roosevelt is calling me. Ohohoho! Yes, I’m coming!”
After showing a reliable side, Sara let out a laugh like a middle-aged woman and walked away. If she just fixed that ridiculous act of pretending to be innocent, she would have had no trouble attracting men. As I stared at her retreating figure, I turned my head back toward the exam results window.
[6th - Alissa Bretes]
“She cried and laughed, then turned into a doll?”
I was the one whose legs were cut off, whose eye and brain were pierced—why was she the one crying? The thought was blunt, but deep in my heart, a strong sense of pity welled up. This could be called sympathy. Alissa wasn’t without fault, but what she had gone through was far too harsh to be called just the price for breaking a promise.
At that moment, I let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“Hypocrite.”
Even if the whole world pitied Alissa, I had no right to do so. Because I was the one who had raped her.
Yeah. Pity is a luxury.
Right now, I was nothing more than a puppet bound and controlled by the threads of fate. If I couldn’t forge my own destiny, then the best I could do was submit to it. If the world wanted me to be a rapist, then I would become a rapist. And I would grow stronger, until one day I could break this thing called fate. I made the vow once more.
The next morning, the central bulletin board was crowded with people. I pushed my way through and checked the class assignments.
“Class 3, huh…”
Class 3 was definitely where Deborah was. She was the heroine of Abel Chronicles, disciple of Roxana Sprouse, the Gray Magic Tower Master, and a character who possessed the Eye of Prognostication and created massive variables in the main story. Due to trauma, she usually wore sealing lenses, so she was fine, but she was someone I needed to be wary of. If she caught even a glimpse of my future, it would be disastrous.
This isn’t the time for that.
While thinking about Deborah, I shook my head and quickly searched for Abel’s name.
“Class 6…”
As expected, the future had changed. Originally, Abel should have been assigned to Class 3 with me, but he had ended up somewhere else. This would make it even harder to intervene in the main story. For now, since I lacked the power to get involved, it was fine, but the future was the problem. Letting out a sigh of regret, I turned away from the bulletin board and headed toward the assigned Class 3.
As I climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway—
What the hell.
I saw Alissa Bretes walking toward me from the opposite direction. It was already too late to avoid her, and more importantly, there were far too many eyes watching. I needed to play the role of the scoundrel. That meant I couldn’t do something like running away after seeing Alissa. Of course, if Alissa didn’t want the fact that she had been raped to spread, she would have to let it go as well, but I wasn’t sure if she was capable of rational judgment right now.
In the midst of the tension, we finally came face to face. Alissa stared at me with an unreadable gaze before walking past without saying a word.
Huh?
This was unexpected. I had at least thought she would frown, but there was no reaction at all. That only made me more uneasy.
She’s not suddenly going to commit suicide or something, right?
In movies and such, characters whose hearts had completely died would lose their attachment to life and end it all. I couldn’t feel at ease. Something… I needed to respond.