Trial of Terror (2)
Yozef clutched his head and opened his eyes. A soft, moist sensation enveloped his entire body. Having pierced through the fog and overcome the trial, Yozef found himself lying on a dew-kissed lawn.
"Ugh."
His head still spun, perhaps from the lingering effects of the illusion magic, but he managed to sit up dazedly on the grass and survey his surroundings. Then, at the bewildering sight before him, Yozef's eyes widened, and he muttered to himself.
"Are all these people still going through the trial right now?"
Scattered across the lawn were people collapsed everywhere, as if tormented by illusion magic in their struggle to break through the trial. They looked no different from those peacefully asleep without a scratch on them, but after his own recent nightmare, they all seemed like corpses to Yozef, sending an involuntary chill down his spine.
What if someone with bad intentions took advantage of them all lying here so defenseless?
"You've broken through the trial."
Just then, someone approached the newly awakened Yozef. Coincidentally, it was the very person who answered the doubt Deneb had just harbored. Yozef tilted his head at the unfamiliar face before suddenly recalling where he'd seen him.
"Ah, the guard from earlier..."
"Yes, I'm in charge of guiding the students who awaken here. Follow that path straight ahead, and you'll reach the dormitory. Get settled in a room there. Enjoy your school life."
The winged lion statues had appeared amid the fog and barriers, and at the same time, the front gate guards who had vanished were now protecting the students inside who had lost consciousness and were undergoing the trial. Looking where the guard pointed, Yozef spotted a grand building at the end of the path—not quite on the level of a palace, but impressive nonetheless.
That's the dormitory, huh.
Only now did the reality of having overcome the trial sink in, filling Yozef with a sense of accomplishment. He scanned the area once more. Aside from himself, everyone still appeared to be in a deep coma-like state. This sparked a subtle anticipation in Yozef, who cleared his throat a few times before probing the guard casually.
"By any chance, am I the first among the entrants to wake up?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean, was this body the first to break through the trial?"
No matter the event, as royalty, he ought to stand at the forefront. It felt like he'd cleared it pretty quickly, fueling his expectations. But the guard impassively shook his head.
"You broke through remarkably fast, but you're not first. It might be close, but I'd say around third place."
"Third? Ah, I know who it is now."
Yozef wondered who had beaten him but realized it with just a moment's thought. After taking a few steps down the path the guard indicated, he spotted two figures—a boy and a girl—sitting side by side on a bench along the way. The plain commoner girl startled at the sight of Yozef and let out a hiccup, while the boy with a languid expression greeted him slyly.
It was Deneb and Charlotte, waiting as if they'd been expecting him.
"Unbelievable, Sir Deneb. I had a hunch, and sure enough, it was you."
"Charlotte's here too."
Of course, Yozef thought. He didn't know about Charlotte, but Deneb waking up before him wasn't surprising. There was that saying about blue emerging from blue, but it didn't apply to Deneb and Yozef's relationship. Yozef gladly joined their group.
"Looks like the three of us can claim the best rooms. Wahaha!"
"Indeed. I heard the first few in line get the most luxurious single rooms. Lucky us."
"Yeah, exactly. But now that we're inside the academy and the same age, how about dropping the formal speech?"
"You think so?"
Deneb accepted without hesitation, mildly surprising Yozef, but as they chatted on the way to the dormitory, he became convinced that casual talk was better. Midway, Yozef grew curious about what trial Deneb had faced. He couldn't easily picture his childhood friend Deneb showing fear.
"By the way, Deneb, what did you face in the trial of terror?"
"Oh, asking me?"
"Who else? Can't very well ask a lady what she's afraid of."
Yozef anticipated Deneb's response: maybe nothing scary appeared because he feared nothing, or he'd brush it off to hide a weakness, or it turned out to be nothing much. But Deneb reacted entirely differently.
"Hm, can't say."
"Hmmm, fair enough. I won't pry."
As if recalling his trial, Deneb feigned nonchalance, but a bitterly wry smile crossed his face.
My feet wouldn't move. My lips wouldn't part. I couldn't breathe.
But this was clearly an illusion.
"Ngh...!"
The moment I stepped forward to follow Yustina but made no progress, I realized this was what I feared—something even I hadn't known until this instant.
No... that's not quite right.
I blankly trailed Yustina's receding back. No matter how fast I walked, ran, or sprinted with every ounce of strength, it was the same. Yustina walked slowly, yet the distance between us never closed.
Then I understood exactly what terrified me.
I thought that once I found Yustina, Liwin, or Elfin, we could return to that harmonious time anytime.
What happened after finding them was a problem for later. My priority was locating them. I firmly believed I'd find them eventually. Sure, there were days I worried I might not, but that hardly qualified as terror.
In the end, I'd only focused on finding Liwin, Elfin, and Yustina. Naturally, I'd sidelined thoughts of what came next. This damned illusion kindly reminded me.
And after I find them?
What could I say? Actually, I lived with you all briefly about 500 years ago... for around 10 years. Remember me? If they didn't, what then? Even if they did, how could I prove I was Dane from back then? Reincarnation? A ridiculous myth from old novels—who in this world would buy that?
The more I thought, the deeper the labyrinth. Even if I unpacked every past memory to prove it, a disbelieving attitude meant they'd never accept it.
Even granting everything went perfectly and they accepted the reincarnation, could I really live happily with them? To me, that time felt like just 17 years ago, but to Liwin, Yustina, and Elfin, it was over 500 years in the ancient past. I might already be a ghost buried in their memories. Their confusion would outweigh any joy at my return.
"......Ah."
Lifting my head again, I let out a sigh. Yustina no longer walked alone ahead. Now, an adult Liwin and a grown Elfin with a sword on her back strode beside her.
Who knew if they truly looked like that now. It was all just an illusion woven from my thoughts and the trial.
......I can't overcome it.
Walking behind the three girls, I realized it: no matter how endlessly I traversed time, I could never catch up.
It reminded me of the runner who starts late in a race and can never overtake the tortoise that started first. Maybe that runner just feared standing beside the tortoise.
If I couldn't conquer the illusion, I'd shatter it instead.
"The illusion ends now."
I murmured softly and deliberately reawakened the senses I'd muted to succumb to the illusion magic. The cottage scenery shattered into fragments and dissolved into darkness. Liwin, Elfin, and Yustina, reduced to mere light shards unable to form puppets, scattered like dust.
Only pitch-black void remained.
I hadn't overcome the fear. Instead, I'd collapsed the illusion magic itself.
The enveloping darkness faded like lifting fog, my senses returning to normal. Sight, hearing, and touch stirred first, followed by smell and taste.
The lawn came into view, quiet birdsong mingled with occasional student screams, and a cool breeze tickled my face.
Ignoring the guard who'd rushed over in shock while checking entrants at the barrier, I staggered to my feet.
"H-Hey, student? You cleared the trial already?"
"......"
I didn't answer. I didn't know how.
If asked if I'd broken through, I'd have shaken my head no. But saying I'd "ended" the trial felt too vague.
"Unbelievable. I've guarded here for 10 years, and I've never seen speed like this..."
"What's going on?"
Leaving me standing dazed, the guards gathered one by one for a serious discussion.
"The magic definitely took hold. How'd this happen?"
"No idea. He's not even a special race."
"Confirm his identity first... The youngest son of the Lehinar family, Deneb Lehinar, correct?"
"Yes."
They talked for a while longer. No student had finished the trial yet—countless were just stepping up to challenge it after breaching the barrier. A student ending it practically at the start. Their suspicion of a magic glitch wasn't unwarranted.
"Identity confirmed. Deneb Lehinar, first among first-years to pass the trial, shortest record ever for new students..."
The guard's mouth gaped in disbelief before clamping shut as he continued.
"Follow this path straight ahead. Since you finished first, you can pick any room."
"Mind if I wait for someone?"
"P-Pardon? You might lose your spot if others come, so why not go ahead and wait there?"
I shook my head at the guard's words.
"She'll wake up soon. I'll wait a bit."
"Very well... No regulation against it."
With permission, I sat on the lawn, staring blankly at the sky. Soon, I took the hand of Charlotte, who rose holding her forehead.
"Ugh, Young Master. You woke up first, as expected."
"The servant's late to her master?"
"S-Sorry..."
Even apologizing, Charlotte smiled faintly. Curious, I asked what she'd faced in the trial.
"What scared you? Not me or Sis, right?"
"Of course not, hehe..."
Charlotte glanced sideways hesitantly before whispering.
"Could it be a secret...?"
Not inclined to pry, I nodded. Walking to the dormitory together, I thought leaving Yozef behind might leave a bad aftertaste, so we sat on the bench to wait. Soon Yozef arrived, and the first three to awaken and finish the trial headed to the dormitory together.
If we meet... then what?
But the unresolved question lingered as a knot in my heart.
Meanwhile, in the deepest heart of Denebergen Academy.
The towering chairman's spire existed not merely to overlook, but to encompass every sight of Denebergen: its students, buildings, and faculty.
And at its pinnacle lay the chairman's office, forbidden to all but a select few with permission.
[327th Incoming Student List]
The white-haired woman there—the owner of the office and the academy itself—carefully lifted a thick binder under the fading moonlight through the window. Though just work documents, she seemed thrilled like a child unwrapping a birthday gift.
Flip—
Flip—
With trembling hands, she slowly turned the pages, meticulously reading the roster packed with dozens, no, hundreds of names. Hoping against hope for that name, yet knowing such coincidence was impossible.
"Humans have the custom of parents naming their children themselves..."
Sighing as if she weren't human herself, Denebergen's chairwoman let her slender finger pause briefly at 'Deneb Lehinar' on the pristine paper.
Not for some absurd reason like the first letter matching. She'd just heard the report that a boy named Deneb Lehinar had shattered her illusion magic in record time today.
"Hmph, if this Yustina-sama hadn't held back and gone all out, he'd have trembled without a peep. Still, not bad for a human."
Her soliloquy, born of long solitude, flowed endlessly. She'd set up the illusion barrier thinking it would filter entrants with keen senses to find that person. But lately, too many humans broke through easily, so she'd abandoned hope in it.
"327 years already, huh..."
She mulled the three-digit number. Over 300 years meant he couldn't possibly be alive. If she still foolishly believed he was, she'd have built a nursing home, not an academy.
If he returned someday, he'd surely be a child not yet twenty. She eagerly awaited teasing him as a brat and making him call her big sis.
The chairwoman chuckled to herself and gazed out the window again.
"......Well, this Yustina-sama can wait another millennium, no?"
The romantic young dragon Yustina, lover of fairy tales, steadfastly believed Dane would reincarnate and continued waiting. For that, she'd built the academy and inherited the dream.