The Flare's Signal
The flare became the trigger that set everyone here into motion. The students all began sprinting toward the forest. Attacks using magic were already flying back and forth as they tried to hinder one another. I calmly spoke to my teammates.
"Everyone, get a grip! Watch out so you don't get caught up in the attacks! We can't split up!"
In a place swarming with students like this, getting separated would basically mean game over. If someone tripped or got left behind alone, winning would be the least of our worries—we might even get seriously hurt. In situations like this, we needed to stay sharp and stick together. But making that happen in the middle of such a chaotic crowd wasn't easy.
The students started running frantically, and as they pushed forward aggressively, they ended up tearing our group apart. My companions and I gradually drifted farther away from each other amid the hundreds of people. At least Elin, who had been right beside me, wasn't shoved away by the other students. I wrapped my arm tightly around her shoulders to keep her from being pushed over and shouted to the others.
"Ron! Lloyd! The summit can wait! We need to meet up at the center of the forest first!"
I yelled loudly as they cut through the crowd, but it seemed like they couldn't hear me. This place had already turned into a battlefield—a complete madhouse where everyone was attacking each other to secure the golden object at the summit.
Limited resources. Students hungry for them. The deadline was tomorrow morning. It was impossible for all one thousand students to get perfect scores. There were only two golden objects in total. The other objects gave fewer points, but hundreds of them were hidden throughout the forest and mountains. Aiming for those was an option too. But even with hundreds of them, they were still finite resources. It was currently afternoon, yet those would be found and claimed in no time.
What we were aiming for was first place. To achieve that, we had to pursue a different method that no one else was using.
"Elin, you said earlier that you trusted me, right?"
"Y-yes! You're the person who helped me before!!"
"Good. Then hold on tight so you don't fall off."
"Huh?"
"We're going at full speed."
....
Elin. She was a country girl who had grown up in a remote village on the outskirts of the mainland. Her village could be called a real backwater. Her parents, who had originally lived in a big city, moved to this small rural area after she was born. It was a tiny village, but the village chief and the other elders treated her family like their own, and they settled down there.
In that place, she grew up surrounded by love from her family and neighbors, never lacking for anything. From a young age, she helped her parents with their work, looked after her younger siblings while they were busy, and handled household chores. She grew into a kind-hearted girl. The only peers she had were her siblings, who were a few years younger, so she grew up without any friends her own age. But she never complained. This place, with her family and neighbors, was happy enough even without friends.
Her hometown had small fields and farms, and they lived a simple life. Her father and mother, who had earned plenty of money in the city before retiring, lived frugally despite their wealth. Raised by such parents, Elin grew into a pure-hearted and beautiful young woman.
The village she lived in had a small river, and behind it stood a modest mountain. She often went up the mountain with her siblings to play. She would catch rabbits, gather herbs and vegetables, and treat the mountain like her own backyard, coming and going as she pleased. The mountain was her second home and her friend.
She had lived like that, enjoying peaceful days with her family. Then, on an ordinary peaceful day, disaster struck.
It was a day when dark clouds hung over the village and heavy rain poured down. Thunder and lightning cracked across the sky, and strong winds began to howl. On that sudden stormy day, everyone in the village had sealed their windows and doors tightly and stayed inside their homes. That's when she belatedly realized her younger siblings were missing.
Thinking they must have been unable to come back from the mountain, she immediately sprang into action.
"Allen? Adel! Where are you?!"
Elin was running frantically through the fierce storm, searching for her siblings. Even as stones carried by the wind struck her or sharp branches scratched her face, she pressed on. She reached the mountain and searched desperately for them, but couldn't find them.
She kept thinking furiously, accelerating her thoughts like mad.
Where could my siblings be? My siblings aren't the kind to get hurt so easily. They must have found somewhere to hide from the storm.
Yes, they must be hiding somewhere...
"Hiding?"
It came to her. Their hideout. The little place she and her siblings had built together bit by bit over the years. It was a small treehouse built around a large tree on the mountain. Her father and mother had helped them make it, and the house was very sturdy. If that was the case, her siblings were probably there.
Finishing her thought, she started running again. But no matter how small the mountain was, with the rain pouring and fierce winds blowing, her legs began to tremble. Blood trickled down from the head that had been hit by a stone. Even so, she didn't give up. They were her family. Her one and only siblings in the world.
Her proud pink hair became caked in mud, and her body was soaked by the rain, making her look like a pitiful wet puppy. Still, she kept walking. Because her precious siblings were more important than her own body.
Then, she instinctively sensed that something strange was happening to her exhausted body. An unknown power was surging into her body that felt like it could collapse at any moment, forcing her legs to keep moving. Her body felt lighter than before, her vision cleared dramatically, and she could see her surroundings much better.
Yes. She had awakened her mana.
In this world, everyone possesses mana, though the amount varies by individual. But controlling mana is an entirely different matter. Ordinary people have mana and thus possess slightly stronger bodies than those from other worlds, but they can't properly use the power of mana.
However, if an ordinary person experiences a certain trigger or trains relentlessly, the story changes.
Awakening.
The phenomenon where one can directly sense mana and use its power. Yes. Her will, her conviction, her desperate desire to save her siblings had awakened another power within her.
Mana—the power that mana produces. Originally, mana refers to the refined form of the mana existing within the body that enables supernatural powers like magic. Her power was at the level of a newborn chick. At the time, she didn't realize it, but she had unconsciously spread her mana throughout her body to strengthen it.
But she was just an ordinary person. A country girl. She had never once read a book related to mana. The only exposure she had was from the fairy tales about heroes that her parents used to read to her when she was little.
Yet her will had the ability to turn that uncontrollable power into her own. With legs that had grown even faster, she was climbing toward the summit of the mountain where their hideout was located.
Krrrr-boom!
Thunder roared and lightning flashed. Amid the thick downpour, she arrived at their hideout. Their second sanctuary stood firm even against the strong winds. She climbed the ladder that looked like it might break at any moment and entered inside.
"Thank goodness... Really... I'm so relieved."
Fortunately, her siblings were safely hidden inside. As she thought that, her siblings came running toward her. Allen and Adel threw themselves into her arms. Elin gently stroked their heads.
"I'm so glad you're not hurt... Really... I was so worried about what might have happened to you..."
"We're sorry, sis... We went to pick wild strawberries with Adel... and because of us, you..."
"Big sister..... we're sorry....."
"Sis, you're bleeding from your head! Are you okay? And why do you look like that?!"
"Because of us... sis.... sob... we're sorry... we did wrong..."
They must have been so scared, yet the first thing they do is worry about me. What good kids.
She hugged her siblings tightly and calmed them down.
"I'm fine. I'm okay, so let's go home now."
She patted their heads.
"Okay, sis. Adel, get up. Let's go home."
"Yeah!"
But they weren't the only ones in that treehouse.
"By the way, who is this person?"
An old man wearing ragged clothes and a strange cone-shaped hat was lying unconscious. His very long mustache and snow-white hair made him look like the eccentric wizard from fairy tales.
"Ah, we found this grandpa when we went to pick wild strawberries. The rain and wind were so strong that we were going to leave our hideout, but we discovered him collapsed right in front of it."
"Me and my brother brought him inside because the rain was too heavy!"
"I see. Did he get caught in the storm? Is he conscious? Does he have any awareness?"
"No. It looks like he collapsed from exhaustion."
"So we mashed up the wild strawberries we picked and mixed them with water to feed him a little!"
"I see. Then let's head home first. Our parents must be worried. We'll take the grandpa with us too. It might be dangerous to stay here."
"I'll help, sis."
"Me too!"
Elin carried the old man on her back and climbed down from the treehouse first, then helped Adel and Allen down safely. She had found her siblings, and although she had picked up an unidentified old man by chance, they could head back now. All that remained was to get home before the weather got any worse.
That's what she thought.
Until the monsters appeared.