Test Subject (1)
Test Subject (1)
He sneered at me as I stood there staring blankly.
"It's already too late. Ugh, running away won't do you any good. The only reason it hasn't exploded yet is that I'm not dead... Or maybe you want to try to run... like crazy... right... now?"
I didn't really intend to run away, either. Instead, I asked him a question.
"Those two seemed to trust you. Are you really okay with betraying them like this?"
Was it because I looked so calm? He grimaced.
He seemed to hate my serene expression even more than his own impending death.
Even so, unlike before, he answered my question.
Should've done this sooner.
"I-I foolishly went around prattling about being a master, but in the end, we were nothing more than test subjects. Me and these kids, too. Well, since these kids suffered without even knowing why, I suppose they're worse off than me... Ugh. S-Still, well, he gave them abilities and allowed them to dream of a future, so both of them will forgive me, right?"
"Forgive you, my ass."
He looked taken aback by my words.
"Ah, that feels refreshing. Now that I think about it, I don't have to keep grumbling under my breath, do I?"
By beating him within an inch of his life, I learned more than I expected.
He was having a hard time even speaking now, so it seemed unlikely I'd be able to get any more information out of him.
Still, I asked one last time.
"Who do you belong to? The First Prince? The Second Prince? The Duchy? Or the Empire? Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
He could only stare at me in disbelief.
"Y-You bastard..."
As expected, he couldn't manage another word.
Maybe I should have cut off just one arm?
I'd stabbed him while narrowly missing his heart, but too much blood was flowing from both arms.
Even for an awakened noble, holding out this long was impressive.
Gulp. Gulp.
He tried to say something one last time, but all that burst from his mouth was blood.
"See you again."
I waved at him as he drew his final breath.
His breathing stopped, and he died with an expression of utter incomprehension.
Thud.
In that instant, the mana connecting him to the children snapped.
The children's bodies began to glow brightly.
It was the same phenomenon as during the entrance ceremony.
He hadn't lied.
There had been only one during the entrance ceremony, and the building had been sturdy, too. With two of them, it felt like this whole street was going to be blown away.
The thought crossed my mind for a fleeting moment, but since I was getting caught up in it too, it was pointless.
Was it because this was the moment of death? The light seemed to spread outward in slow motion.
Plan B.
The start of a truly sigh-inducing plan: dying to start over again.
I gritted my teeth against the impending pain.
Flash!
The world was filled with blinding light, and—
The next moment, agony as if my entire body were violently shattering struck me in the head.
And then, darkness.
[You have died. Restarting from the Automatic Save Point.]
"This concludes the entrance ceremony."
When I opened my eyes, I was inside the entrance ceremony hall.
Right as the ceremony was ending.
'Still, it's bearable this time.'
Unlike when I repeatedly died during the entrance ceremony, perhaps because a few days had passed, I was able to regain my senses before long.
Even so, the pain remained.
As I leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, adults passing by even stopped to ask if I was all right.
In the novels I read in my past life, characters died hundreds or thousands of times as if it were nothing. Yet dying just once was brutally difficult.
Seeing how death came for me every time I tried to accomplish something, my life was truly wretched enough to make me sigh without thinking.
After that, time passed just as it had in my previous life.
The female instructor lying in the infirmary had already committed suicide, and this time, too, her death was quietly swept under the rug.
The entrance ceremony concluded normally, and the interview with Katrin and the head knight went much the same as before.
My final request, however, was different.
"I would like a private room. Near the end of the hallway, please."
Unlike when I asked to share a room with Piar, there was no need to rattle off endless explanations.
That was because they also believed I needed a room to myself.
That evening, when I arrived at my dormitory room, a student came out of the adjacent room.
I greeted him.
"You're in the room next door?"
"Ah... Yes..."
Piar flinched at my words before replying.
Though my greeting had been casual, I already knew he was in the next room.
In my previous life, I'd seen that the room next to Piar's was vacant, so I'd requested this specific room.
After exchanging a brief greeting, I stepped inside.
Just as when I shared a room with Piar, my luggage had already arrived.
Before unpacking, I sat down at the desk.
I opened the drawer, took out a pen and paper, and began organizing my plan.
The few days before my death this time had been far from satisfying.
Perhaps because of the freshmen's frantic movements, I'd gotten quite flustered myself.
And because of Piar's sudden outing, I'd confronted the enemy unprepared and ultimately met my death.
"Honestly, I could have gotten through this time without dying..."
I felt like I could have simply run away once I realized things had gone wrong.
Well, if I was going to think like that, there was no need to attend this academy in the first place.
I could just drop out, go home, prostrate myself before His Grace the Duke, and flee far away to the countryside with my mother.
Tsk. Thinking about it again, that option wasn't easy, either. It wasn't as if my older brothers and the nobles attached to the Duke's estate would just leave us alone.
Regardless, during those far-from-satisfying days, I was able to gather a few pieces of information.
First, that guy who called himself the master.
If what he said before dying was true, it meant there were people artificially creating inherited abilities.
Was that even possible?
In my past life, that would have made front-page news as the invention of the century and swept the Nobel Prizes.
Hmm. He called them test subjects, so did that mean clinical trials were still underway?
Well, looking at the wretched state of human rights in this neighborhood, conducting clinical trials on humans didn't seem particularly extraordinary, either.
Still, judging by how they blew up the entrance ceremony hall and by the looks of that guy calling himself a master, this didn't seem like something cooked up by pure academics.
Which meant some ridiculously powerful figures were pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Monsters terrifying enough to commit an act of terrorism by blowing up the Princess and the nobles inside the Royal Academy—and to create the very inherited abilities that upheld this world's class system.
If I meddled needlessly, I'd just end up dying over and over again.
Or wait, had I already been dragged into it?
The Princess and Katrin crossed my mind.
A sigh escaped my lips involuntarily.
I forced the Princess and Katrin out of my thoughts and continued.
Piar's and Mirisa's necklaces.
Piar's detonation hadn't been his inherent inherited ability. It was something triggered through the necklace as a medium.
"Is it an item that causes mana overload? I'll need to look into this, too."
After roughing out my schedule and the people I needed to meet on paper to commit them to memory, I burned the paper.
Then, after quickly organizing my luggage, I lay down on the bed.
Tomorrow was bound to be terribly busy.
"More than anything, I hope I don't have to unpack my bags ever again."
Hoping I wouldn't have to relive today, I quickly tried to fall asleep.
The next morning's two liberal arts classes.
History and Fundamentals of inherited abilities went no differently from in my previous life.
My status as a pseudo-outcast remained the same, as did the professors' boring lectures.
I ate lunch alone, too.
In the end, the afternoon classes proceeded identically as well.
The Knight Faculty's core class began with sparring matches against the knights, and Katrin called me up to spar with her.
Clang!
Our blades clashed,
Clang!
And a sword bounced off a shield.
"My goodness, don't tell me they're sparring without mana?"
"Nonsense. There's no way moves like that are possible without mana!"
"Is that so..."
"Still, it's impressive. He looks to be at the level of an average apprentice knight."
The students who had already finished sparring whispered among themselves as they watched Katrin and me duel.
The knights who had finished their bouts, along with one or two perceptive students, seemed to realize that Katrin and I were fighting without using mana.
"As expected, you haven't slacked off on your training."
"Of course not."
As our swords crossed, Katrin and I talked. Since we weren't using mana, we had enough mental focus to spare for a conversation like this.
Unlike in my previous life, I didn't engage in imagery training while fighting in this spar.
Since it was hard to accurately gauge my true skill anyway, I thought it would be better to shift people's perceptions, even a little.
There was no need for me to use mana, either, so I had no choice but to sweat it out as I crossed swords with Katrin.
"Tsk, but it's hard to judge someone's skills properly through a spar like this."
Katrin took a step back, looking disappointed.
We'd crossed swords for quite a while, unlike the others, but in the end, it was difficult for either of us to show our true abilities in a spar like this.
I stepped back as well and sheathed my sword.
"We'll have to make time to spar properly later. Is that all right?"
"Yes."
I was nothing but grateful.
Among the people who knew me, she was one of the few who properly understood my capabilities. She was also a comrade-in-arms who had fought shoulder to shoulder with me.
To keep honing my skills, proper sparring outside of real combat was essential. There was no better sparring partner than her.
After giving her a final polite nod, I glanced around. The audience's reactions were noticeably different from those in my previous life.
I saw envy, jealousy, admiration, and disdain, but still, no one seemed able to look down on my skill anymore.
Although I hadn't properly displayed my full strength, this was a smooth enough start.
Now, after a bit more basic instruction, the afternoon class would end.
I asked Katrin for permission first.
"I think I got cut slightly. May I head back early after stopping by the infirmary?"
I showed her my arm, where blood was steadily trickling down.
"Huh? When did you get hurt like that?"
"It's been a while since I sparred without mana, so I made a mistake."
"Dear me, you should have been careful."
Though we hadn't used mana in our spar just moments ago, it had still been a duel close to actual combat.
Since our bodies weren't protected by mana, getting wounded was entirely possible.
Neither Katrin nor I were at a level where we'd get wounded in a spar like this.
Since I claimed I'd been hurt because of a mistake, she had nothing to say against it.
"You didn't damage any muscle, right?"
"No. It's just a superficial cut on the skin. I just need to go to the infirmary and get healing magic."
A priest's healing magic was the absolute best for simple wounds. It was beyond comparison to the bandages or surgical procedures from my past life.
"Then you may head back early."
As expected, Katrin granted permission.
I bowed to her and the knights before leaving the training ground.
Seeing the wound on my arm, the students seemed slightly relieved.
Once I was out of everyone's sight, I wiped my arm with my hand.
Despite the trickling blood, the wound was barely visible.
The bleeding stopped immediately, too.
That was because I had blocked the blood vessels around the wound with mana.
A scratch like this could barely even be considered an injury.
It wasn't something worth showing a priest. Simply put, it was the kind of cut that would heal with just a dab of spit.
That was indeed the case.
It wasn't a wound inflicted by her.
It was a wound I'd inflicted on myself, squeezing it to draw out blood.