A Letter on the Breeze

Simon heard the full story from Nephthys.

Because this exam had been conducted barehanded, there had been no shortage of injuries, great and small. The patient count had already passed fifty, though thankfully there were no deaths.

The weapons had been enchanted with remote-controlled dark magic: the instant a blade was about to strike a vital point — the head, the heart, the solar plexus — it would halt, and the student in question would be declared "eliminated by death" and teleported to the infirmary.

Nephthys had come to look in on the infirmary, and while she was at it, dropped by Simon's room. Then she'd gotten hungry and started gnawing on Pier — or so her explanation went.

Pier, still nowhere near calmed down, was raging away inside Simon's head.

"Nyahaha!"

Oblivious to everything, Nephthys had turned Simon's hospital bed into her personal playground, rolling this way and that.

It was maddeningly distracting, but Simon forced himself to ignore her and turned his attention to the infirmary's mana screen.

As it turned out, this exam wasn't being run with all 898 students at once — they'd been split into groups of roughly three hundred. On the screen, the final third group's students were only just beginning Stage One.

"Say, Simon~"

Nephthys, who had been burrowing into the blanket and wriggling about, poked just her head out and looked at him.

"Got anything weighing on you these days?"

Simon flinched inwardly, but answered without letting it show.

"I'd say any Kizen student who claims to have no worries is lying."

"Scary Mister!"

The words came out of nowhere, and Simon blinked.

"The Scary Mister's been trying to get onto Roc Island!"

"……!"

Simon's face froze solid.

"This time he tried to come in as an observer, so I shot him down."

Nephthys, who had been rolling around in circles, clambered up onto Simon's legs and promptly rolled right back off.

"But I'm not some all-powerful goddess, you know~ I can't block everything. Kizen is a complicated place, and I can't devote myself entirely to its affairs! I have to go fight the Holy Federation again tomorrow!"

She tried to hop down off the bed, but the blanket she was wrapped in came along with her clothes, cocooning her so completely that she toppled over with a soft whump.

The tension drained out of Simon, and he burst into a small laugh.

"Aren't we in a ceasefire with Efnel?"

"That ceasefire broke ages ago. The peace that holds now is a peace built on someone's blood being spilled, one way or another."

Freeing herself from the blanket trap, she strode over to Simon's bed with a hearty "Hup!" and tucked the blanket up around him.

"The moral of the story is: watch out for the Scary Mister! Because the Scary Mister is scary!"

"……Ah. Yes, ma'am. I'll keep it in mind."

She thrust her arm up in the air, shouted "Toodles!", and marched out of the room. Simon waved back.

When the door closed, he let out a long breath of relief.

So Lady Nephthys has been protecting me.

Even now, his odds of actually defeating Magnus in battle were slim to none.

If the Legion of Betrayal's existence ever became known to the whole world, even Nephthys would have no way to shield him.

Every word of it was a hundred percent right. Simon nodded and clenched his fist.

"I'll study even harder. Pier."

While he rested in the infirmary, Simon watched the other students' matches from start to finish.

Camibarez, who had grown more than anyone over the break, put on a performance that drew genuine gasps of admiration.

At the Stage Three ordeal, where weapons rained down without end, she whipped up a whirlpool of blood and slipped inside it, moving at tremendous speed.

The incoming weapons were caught in the vortex and flung away, and just as her strength began to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fail, she reached the red buzzer with seconds to spare — passing Stage Three with her head held high.

Dick, for his part, was as shameless as ever. He'd simply exploited the exam's own system.

Stage Three worked by mana sensors reacting to every living creature carrying mana that passed through, triggering the weapon drops.

The moment Dick arrived, he sent in a batch of wind-up toys to map out how the traps operated. Then he pulled out a lightning-rod-like contraption crowned with an antenna.

It was an invention that drew in the surrounding mana.

Dick himself draped a mana-blocking cloak over his body, planted the rod flat against the ground, and walked backward.

The mana sensors fired, and countless weapons came raining down — all toward the rod in Dick's grip.

Dick himself came through without a scratch. The sensors prioritized attacking the antenna where the mana was being detected.

-Hahahaha! Behold: DICK STEALTH MODE!

Having cheesed his way through and smashed the red buzzer, Dick was asked whether he would proceed to the final Stage Four or end his run there — and without a moment's hesitation, he broke into a beaming grin and chose to end the exam.

Dick never changes.

Watching from the sidelines, Simon could only laugh.

And so every exam came to an end, the results of all three groups were combined, and the rankings were set.

Simon Polentia — 10th.

Camibarez Ursula — 98th.

Meilyn Villenne — 220th.

Rick Hayward — 564th.

Simon's biggest problem had been burning a full thirty minutes summoning the Blood Golem in Stage Three, but his astonishing stamina in the final stage carried him proudly into the top ranks.

Meilyn's downfall was her pacing. She had dumped every ounce of her strength into Stage Three, and the time she spent recovering her jet-black in Stage Four sent her ranking into a freefall.

Camibarez, meanwhile, who had sat squarely in the middle of the pack in the first exam, seized a spot in the top 100 with flying colors — enormous progress by any measure.

Just like that, the students' rankings swung wildly depending on the exam's theme. This time, the students aiming for Spirit Magic and Jet-Black Mechanics posted strong results across the board, while those headed for Toxicology tended to lag behind.

And the overall first place of this exam went, as expected, to the half-giant Chatel Maer.

With a defense rated the finest in all of Kizen, his taking first place in an exam themed around defense and endurance was, in a way, only natural. The gap between him and second place was staggering, too.

And as always, Lorraine and Serne showed precious little attachment to their rankings. Both of them cleared Stage Three and simply ended their exams there.

The two of them always acted as if they had some other purpose beyond the exam itself.

Thus all the exams concluded. Forty-eight students who had failed to clear the Stage Three ordeal were joined by the two who cleared it dead last, and fifty students in all were stripped of their Kizen uniforms — expulsion confirmed.

……Kizen's standard really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is brutal.

Stage Three had been hard enough to seem downright unfair, yet most of the students had cleared it anyway.

They'd stumbled and bled their way through it, but like Dick, they had scraped together a solution in the end.

There was, in fact, one hidden element as well.

Simon, sprinting like a madman, had never noticed it, but the course contained "rest zones" where no weapons fell at intervals. Anyone who exploited those stretches calmly and cleverly could have found a way through.

Only three people in all of Kizen — Simon among them — had bulldozed straight through without ever touching a rest zone.

And so the Second Comprehensive Dark Magic Evaluation drew to a thunderous close, trailing enormous buzz and controversy in its wake.

Articles proclaiming this Kizen generation "the greatest in academy history" spread across the entire Dark Alliance, and the scouting war two years down the line was already showing signs of overheating.

Simon was discharged the very next day and returned to the dormitory.

The weekend began today, and Kizen had declared the start of Mission Assessment season — an assessment period of up to four days, spanning the two weekend days plus two weekdays.

After exams and training this demanding, Kizen customarily scheduled the Mission Assessment season to let the students blow off steam.

Students who had prudently cleared difficult missions in advance could take on easy Roc Island assignments and rest up, but students who had only been picking the light missions all along now found themselves forced to consider blue request sheets — even red ones — however ragged their condition.

Simon, who had diligently worked his way through mission after mission until now, decided that this season, at least, he would take a simple Roc Island assignment and rest properly.

He had only just recovered from his injuries, and above all, stepping outside Roc Island meant the threat of Magnus's Legion might be waiting.

Staying on Roc Island, safe under the protection of Nephthys and Kizen, was clearly the best move.

I'll take a break from training for a while and focus on Curse studies and written work here in the dorm.

For the first time in ages, his mind was at ease. Dick, on the other hand, was packing for an early departure with a hollow look in his eyes.

"……I'm headed to the Shahed Kingdom."

"Wow. That's far."

For Dick, who had only ever taken Roc Island missions, it was an unavoidable choice. Taking on something difficult now would ease the pressure come the next assessment.

Meilyn and Camibarez, meanwhile, had formed a two-person party and signed on for a merchant caravan escort. Since Simon planned to stay on Roc Island, he remained behind.

"……Uuugh, what a hassle. I'm gonna go shower first."

"Yeah."

And with that, Dick headed for the washroom. Kajan had already left on a classified mission.

Sitting alone at his desk, Simon opened one of Bahil's curse theory books.

Flutter!

Hm?

A letter came drifting in through the open window.

The very wrapping paper practically dripped with aristocratic elegance.

Was this what a royal decree felt like? Simon broke the seal and drew out the paper.

Simon's expression froze over.

……Don't tell me.

He flipped the letter over — and there, fastened to the envelope, was a single white feather. It was Serne's, without a doubt.

I really, really don't want to go.

Just hearing the name Serne was enough to make his shoulders tense. Things had improved lately, if only because they'd been forced into contact so often, but honestly, his sincere wish was to never get tangled up with her at all.

Resolved to just keep studying, Simon took out his quill and underlined a passage in his book.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

……It was gnawing at him.

He tried to ignore the letter, but his conscience pricked. Simply brushing off ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Serne's request was hard to stomach — she had helped him plenty over the years.

During the island survival assessment.

When he was learning Internal Jet Black Eruption.

And during the Saintess incident, too.

There had been moments that would have been mortally dangerous without her help.

"Heeey~ what're you sighing so hard about?"

Dick, back from a hasty shower, snatched the letter straight out of Simon's hands and read it.

The mischievous look on his face hardened, moment by moment, into something rigid.

"……Ngh—gghk!"

Dick's hands holding the letter trembled violently.

"That's girl handwriting if I've ever seen it! Rochest on the weekend? And she says don't wear your uniform — so what, she wants you dressed up in boyfriend-material fits?! Holy sh—…!"

Consumed by jealousy and betrayal, Dick lunged at Simon and locked his head in a headlock.

"Hey, you sneaky little snake! You said you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't have a girlfriend! Talk! Who is she?!"

"Ghk! Dick, that hurts!"

"I'm trekking all the way to Shahed while you're off meeting a GIRL? A daaaate? A couuuuple?! All couples deserve to die! Couples deserve nothing but PUNISHMENT!"

"I said it hurts! Let go already!"

But Dick, blinded by jealousy, showed no intention whatsoever of releasing his grip.

That was when Simon's arm shot up through the gap of the headlock. At the same moment, his other hand clamped onto the back of Dick's knee.

WHAM!

"!"

Dick's vision spun a full 180 degrees. When he came to, he had been flung onto his own bed.

"I told you not to do that."

Simon said it lightly, brushing off his hands.

Gghk!

So it was true — he could never beat that brutish country bumpkin on raw strength.

The guy only looked like some pampered young noble because his clothes hung loose on him. Underneath all that fabric, he was pure muscle.

Dick burrowed under his blankets with a defeated look on his face.

"Sniff. This rotten world! The tyranny of looks!"

As Dick pounded the mattress and wailed, Simon sighed.

"Enough. Don't you have somewhere to be today?"

"……Rotten world! Just fall apart already!"

Grumbling, Dick got up and started gathering travel clothes. Simon opened his own wardrobe as well.

Something other than the uniform……

Kizen uniform, adventurer's garb, everyday robe, the robe he'd bought in the Holy Federation, a going-out robe.

A pitiful lineup, all told.

"……Dick?"

"What."

Dick's answer was clipped and sour. Simon offered a sheepish smile and scratched the side of his head.

"Think you could lend me some clothes? Just for today?"

Dick lunged at him in a fury.

Sometimes a man has to fight, even knowing he'll lose.