109. A Dragon from a Small Stream
109. A Dragon from a Small Stream
Perhaps because they were trained assassins, they refused to open their mouths easily.
They resisted desperately, but in the end, they opened their mouths. However, as expected, additional seals had been placed on their bodies, so the moment a fragment of the truth touched their lips, their brains exploded.
"In the end, we couldn't find out..."
They hadn't learned the truth.
I considered taking the corpses to a necromancer now, but that would probably require paying some annoying price again, so I decided to just set it aside for now.
Since they hadn't uncovered the mastermind, the likelihood of the enemy pulling more tricks at the academy was high.
I needed to be more vigilant.
.
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.
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Yesterday, nine lives had been snuffed out inside the academy building, but only three people in the entire academy knew that fact.
It was just me, the killer; Buckingham, who witnessed it; and the Headmaster bastard who, even after hearing about this, resolved to continue the Hunting Festival.
Gordon's insistence—that stopping the Hunting Festival now would be giving them exactly what they wanted, and that we should tighten security even further—was somewhat correct.
Was that old fucking bastard acting cocky because he believed I was here...?
But at this point, I didn't want the festival to stop either.
Woodville and a few students began training to bake the prepared dough into perfect bread.
The few people at the academy capable of baking and confectionery... they sought help from the head chef of the cafeteria and the barista of the cafe, learning simple theory and practice until they could immediately put it to use.
Liber joined the same team as Emy.
Emy's team, which had already formed with a senior named Rio who could use earth-elemental magic, became a pretty decent team with two vanguards and one rear mage.
She said a fourth team member wasn't easy to find.
I suggested it to Lucia, but she said she would do it alone. Casey was also alone... Amy said that among the remaining people, most had skills that would only be a burden if they joined the same team, so she hadn't even suggested it.
To think there were three teams nearby with meaningless empty slots left open...
Was this a silent protest?
Their stubbornness was something to behold.
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Some of the students in Class 2 of the third year spotted Rio walking with a thud, carrying a bundle made of worn-out cloth in her arms.
"Hey, the beggar is passing by."
"Ah, don't do that. Other beggars might think you're calling them and look over."
At those words, several exam admission students in the same class flinched.
But the one they had specifically called out, Rio, walked past without any reaction.
The students who snickered and spoke as if familiar with such a reaction were the influential figures belonging to the third-year upper group.
With naturally good backgrounds and good grades, they were the untouchable domain that even received the professors' favor—predators reigning over the jungle that was the academy.
"So... she formed a team...?"
"Since no one in the same grade would do it with her, she must have latched onto some clueless freshmen."
"Struggling so pathetically... it's unsightly, really."
"Leaving the academy isn't the end of your life, so why go through all that? I don't know."
Rio was quite famous among the third years.
Not in a good way, though.
The arrogant bitch who was a mere commoner but had so much self-esteem she wouldn't bow her head easily,
The grimy bitch who always wore the same old, worn-out clothes,
The wretched bitch who always won scholarships but ate like a pauper,
From the perspective of the nobility, each of these behaviors was incredibly grating, but few students directly tormented her.
This was because, as a result of her efforts to grit her teeth and improve her skills, her abilities were recognized, and she was often used by the upper-group students for group assignments.
Rio's life, during which she had been perceived as a convenient tool for the high-achieving recommendation admission students, began to go slightly awry this semester.
It was because, for the first time, Rio had seriously considered not just entering the top 10, but aiming for 1st place.
By sharply raising the scores she received on assignments right from the start of the new semester, Rio turned the upper-group students—who had previously kept her from becoming a target of others—into her enemies.
"So... do you know who the freshmen she decided to team up with are?"
"How would I know? As long as they're not one of the Five Pillars, it doesn't matter, right?"
"Right... I heard the Five Pillars are among the freshmen this Hunting Festival? The championship is out of the question then."
Just as they had made Rio, who was trying to aim for the top of the grade, know her place, the Five Pillars also would not forgive any arrogant bastard who dared to block their path.
Falling out of the Five Pillars' favor was terrifying for the future after graduation.
"Still, we'll participate, right?"
"We have to participate... but if we can't even aim for the championship anyway, how about we have a little fun?"
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From the moment she became aware of the world's ways, Rio had known that the world was unfair, but back then, she had thought that raising her own value would be enough to overcome it.
These days, maybe because difficult things were piling up, she felt increasingly drained.
'So... there are people... who live... like this too...'
Living day by day, barely scraping by on the academy's scholarship, Rio felt more and more how irrational life was.
She had known from birth that everyone's starting line was different.
The first trigger was when she met Atlas Nemea, the hot topic among freshmen, after teaming up with Emy.
At first, meeting him had been terrifying.
Outwardly, he was just cute and handsome, but that was because she had already heard and seen so many things about him.
She knew Emy, her teammate, was close to him, but she needed mental preparation to meet him directly.
"I heard you're aiming for the championship with Emy. I'll cheer for you."
He wasn't as scary as the rumors suggested.
He smiled easily and had a very good relationship with Emy.
Among the exam admission students, some secretly even called Emy a noble's lapdog, but they felt... like truly equal friends.
Atlas, who wasn't participating in the Hunting Festival, was perhaps concerned about Emy, as he showered her with an immense amount of convenience.
When it became difficult to even use a practice golem once, he had slipped off somewhere and procured one, giving it to them to use until the Hunting Festival...
And when they were in the middle of coordinating their teamwork, he would bring a basket filled with snacks or drinks for them to eat while resting.
A training golem wasn't an item a student could just bring in or use freely.
Having participated in the Hunting Festival several times already, Rio hadn't even been able to practice properly last year because the practice ground queue was too backed up.
The snacks and drinks Atlas brought as if it were nothing were by no means cheap.
At the very least, in the roughly three years Rio had been attending the academy, she hadn't had such things in her mouth even ten times.
And even then, the number of times she had bought them herself because she needed them was exactly once... the rest had all been given to her.
The luxury goods at the academy might be pocket change from a noble's standpoint, but from a commoner's point of view, if she saved that money and sent it home, it could cover a day's lavish meal for a family of four.
And this time... after a trip outside, he had come back carrying a bundle on his back, calling it a gift.
When Emy drew the sword Atlas had pulled out and Rio saw the abnormally pure white blade, she covered her mouth.
'R... rare metal alloy...?'
It wasn't just any sword; it was a sword mixed with rare metal.
For the sword to appear that white, the proportion of rare metal... meaning mithril, must have been quite high.
To see someone right in front of her who actually wielded a weapon made of rare metal—far more expensive than gold—Rio unconsciously swallowed dryly.
"Rio-sunbae, your equipment also seemed quite worn out, so I bought some things that might help during the Hunting Festival. I bought them on my own accord, so I'm not sure if they'll be to your liking."
When she saw what Atlas took out, her eyes went wide.
What he pulled from his backpack was a short 'wand' and a brooch.
The wand, made of sturdy wood and appearing to be about 30 cm long, was slightly twisted in a streamlined shape, with thin leather wrapped around the handle for a good grip.
The silver brooch, shaped like a monster's head, had differently colored jewels embedded in each eye socket, and the back was very simply engraved with initials.
Rio could tell what they were.
It was the most expensive 'Crescent Wand' from the store, which she had always just glanced at sideways, and the 'Manticore Brooch,' made by the artifact artisan Deli Friem, which amplified magical power.
Since they were items she had seen constantly every time she wandered around for three years, she could recall exactly what they were made of and what abilities they possessed.
Each and every one was an artifact she couldn't purchase even if she saved up all the scholarship money she received until she graduated from the academy.
"I... I can't possibly pay for such expensive items..."
"Pay for them? They're just gifts. Here, take them."
Atlas smiled and placed the wand and brooch into her hands.
"Haaht..?!"
The refreshing sensation she felt the moment the wand touched her hand made her unconsciously let out a breath.
They were artifacts possessing power incomparable to the cheapest wand from the academy general store she had been using until now.
Was he really providing such amazing items for free, simply because she was 'on the same team as Emy'...?
"I have other people to deliver to, so I'll be going now. See you tomorrow."
"Yes! I'll definitely win..!!"
Atlas departed, leaving Emy—who had handed out the gifts—behind.
Emy was a good kid.
Kind, obedient, outstanding in skill, and even cute.
She also respected what I, the child of a poor commoner, had to say.
Was that how she managed to become friends with such a strong person?
We were both exam admission students, so why were our circumstances so different?
Was it because Emy, though small, was still a noble's daughter after all?
Having lived desperately day by day since entering the academy, Rio found the favor so casually bestowed upon her incredibly painful.
'If I... had friends like that... too...'
Even knowing that having such thoughts about her own teammate was utterly despicable, Rio found it hard to suppress the surging sense of inferiority.