165. Final Exams
165. Final Exams
Somewhere beneath the Holy Kingdom.
Luna is there. Not that I saw Luna directly. Havar, which means reunion.
Luna's Holy Power dwelling in Havar, her miracle, did not show me Luna's form.
It only told me the location.
But in that vision, I felt Luna.
I was certain that she was there, somewhere underground.
I thought she would be there as I had seen in the vision before—one arm torn off, sealed.
Why? Why, of all places, the Holy Kingdom?
Why is Luna in the Holy Kingdom, the center of this vile, unsettling vortex?
Did she make peace, seal the Demon King, and return to the Imperial Capital? Then why is she sealed there?
What about the Demon King's Seal?
The pieces don't fit. I can't make sense of it.
I don't know.
I don't know, but I've learned where she is.
I felt her presence. I also know what I have to do.
So I will go to the Holy Kingdom.
But I'll go fully prepared.
There's no need to rush.
I've waited four hundred years. Waiting another month or two is nothing.
I hid my trembling hand in a fist.
With my other hand, I popped a dacquoise into Pina's mouth.
"Hee..."
Watching Pina innocently accept the dacquoise calmed my burning chest a little.
"Feed me too!"
Eurasia, acting cute beside me, helped as well.
"What flavor?"
"Strawberry!"
With a beaming smile, Eurasia opened her mouth. I moved to put the dacquoise in, then instead slipped my finger in.
Her soft, wet tongue caught against my finger. I scratched it with my nail—scritch, scritch.
"Ah... heek?!"
Eurasia's body trembled.
"Ah, ahahi...!"
She couldn't bite my finger, and she had no room to pull away, so she just sat there with her mouth hanging open, on the verge of tears.
"What, don't you like it?"
Scritch, scritch. Snickering, I kept scratching Eurasia's pink tongue.
Then, in the middle of that.
"Aha."
"Ehe...?"
I felt a prickling hostility. Not killing intent.
But not clear hostility either. It was clumsy hostility, the kind I wouldn't have felt unless I focused my senses.
Were they aiming for a surprise attack?
I pulled my finger out of Eurasia's mouth and scanned the inside of the carriage. Only then did Eurasia straighten her expression, as if she'd sensed something too.
Pina still found the dacquoise delicious.
Gailan was suffering from motion sickness, and Silina was staring out the window with a cynical face.
And the coachman who had been driving the carriage.
He had already gotten down and was watching the carriage from behind.
What about the horse pulling the carriage? Well-trained as it was, it was moving along the route on its own without the coachman.
So the exam had already begun.
How were we supposed to respond? We hadn't been told anything.
Well, I'd figure it out when I got there.
Grinning, I wrapped my whole body in Mana.
Only then did Silina and Pina turn their heads, as if they'd noticed something too.
Silina probably felt it herself, and Pina probably heard it from Sparkle.
"Hee...?"
"Eliar... Right, you noticed first after all. You're quick..."
"Huh? Huh...? Why all of a sudden?"
Gailan still didn't know. She couldn't help it.
The source of the hostility was quite far away. Gailan, who had barely reached the 2nd Circle, had no way of knowing.
She might never have felt blatant hostility in the first place.
Because this was that goddamn age of peace.
"I'll go out."
"Oh... you'll go yourself, my lady?"
"I don't want to walk all the way to Anketin in this heat either."
"Then I'll drive the carriage."
"Yeah."
I opened the carriage door and jumped straight out. We had already passed the Imperial Capital's gates. The only scenery around was grass and trees.
The one giving off hostility? To the left.
I turned my head. I could feel very faint hostility.
And when I turned my head, that hostility wavered.
Judging by the immediate reaction, a Wizard, or maybe an archer? It didn't really matter.
As I'd told Eurasia, I didn't want to walk to Anketin in this heat.
If they shot arrows, I'd snatch them out of the air as many times as it took. If they used magic, I'd leave the carriage to Eurasia and charge the exam instructor to subdue them.
"I hope they shoot arrows..."
Muttering that, I moved toward the source of the hostility. At the same time, Mana squirmed.
Magic.
"Ugh."
I let out a sigh and dashed forward.
*****
Baladi Arsha, a new academy professor with dark brown hair tied into twin buns.
Among the professors, Baladi was called a late bloomer in both looks and career. Today, she had been assigned as an exam instructor for the academy's first-years.
She had many duties as an instructor, but the first thing she had to do was simple.
She had to wait under the midsummer sun for the students' carriage to arrive, then break its wheels once she sensed it.
There were many other roles too—escorting the carriage from outside the students' perception range, driving off bandits and mercenaries roaming the mountains, guiding ordinary people to safety, and so on.
But Baladi, who was often ignored because of her cute looks, small build, and short stature, had been assigned a role that kept her out of sight as much as possible.
Still, Baladi was satisfied. Sniping from long range was what she was most confident in, and meeting lots of people made her shy.
Baladi smiled brightly.
She thought she'd finally be able to do something professor-like since joining the academy.
Then, far off in the distance, a carriage appeared.
Baladi, who had been crouching in place, sprang to her feet and aimed her staff at the carriage.
Then she flinched in surprise.
"Oh... it was hostility first, not magic... hnnngh..."
She wasn't supposed to use magic right away. She was supposed to leak hostility first. Then, if the students noticed, she would use magic. That was Baladi's job.
Gripping her staff with both hands, Baladi radiated hostility so the cute students inside the carriage could feel it!
Actually, she didn't know how to radiate hostility.
She had never radiated hostility in her life.
Born into a count's family, having lived happily her whole life, with a head full of flowers from birth, Baladi didn't know hostility. So she just glared—bzzzt.
"I am your enemy...!!"
Had that been the right answer?
The carriage door swung wide open. Baladi's wide-eyed face brightened too.
Then she briefly sank into worry.
"Isn't the distance too far for them to notice...?"
Was it an honor student...?
Well... Beastkin or Wizards with keen senses could expand their perception range as long as they were alert, so it wasn't impossible.
Having reached that conclusion, Baladi aimed her staff to use magic. At the same time, a cherry blossom peeked out from inside the carriage.
"...A cherry blossom?"
She narrowed her eyes and looked closely... it was a person. Pink hair. Pink eyes.
A girl with a lovely appearance.
Her skin was so pale it was almost transparent, and her frame was slender.
Her tightly pressed lips and her deep, sunken eyes, too mature for her age, gave her an air of detachment.
A student with that kind of appearance.
No, in the first place, there was only one student with such lovely pink hair.
"...E-Eliarnes, is it...?"
The worst, most vicious delinquent in the academy's Signia Class.
The villainess whom even the professors couldn't treat carelessly.
Eliarnes Eustetia.
She seemed to have made eye contact with that Eliarnes.
Was she imagining it? No! One corner of Eliarnes's mouth curled up crookedly...!
Scary... so, so scary!
Baladi withdrew her Mana for a moment.
There were rumors that even the other veteran professors couldn't handle Eliarnes carelessly. Why was that? She didn't know the reason, but there had to be a reason.
"Wh-what do I do..."
No matter how much she agonized, there was only one option.
Shoot magic at the carriage wheels and flip it over.
She had to stop the carriage from moving. That was the first obstacle of the final exam that would last fifteen days.
In the process of flipping the carriage, she had to cast another spell so the students wouldn't get hurt, and then she had to slip away without being noticed.
Baladi had been given a very, very important and difficult role.
Even at this very moment, the other professors were surely working hard. She couldn't give up just because she was scared...!
Baladi made up her mind.
She glared at the carriage wheels. She took a deep breath and gathered her Mana.
What magic should she use?
There was no point agonizing over this either; the answer was already decided. The student driving the carriage was so skilled that it was moving twice as fast as normal.
She had no choice but to fire a projectile to stop the carriage.
Baladi's lips moved rapidly.
A refreshing wind gathered at her staff.
Unlike water, fire, and earth, wind magic was less powerful, but it excelled at stealth.
Literally made of wind, it could be hidden from sight if the caster willed it.
And that wind was a wind created by Baladi's Intent.
Moreover, in this case, the follow-up was convenient too. After breaking the wheels with wind magic, she could use the lingering traces of wind to wrap around the students so they wouldn't get hurt.
Even she thought it was an ingenious method.
With a confident smile on her face, Baladi finished her incantation.
"Plea!"
The wind gathered at the tip of her staff became a butterfly.
Light, elegant wingbeats. But its speed couldn't be followed by the eye.
A butterfly with a lovely, cute appearance.
The butterfly she had seen in her mother's garden as a child. The form of the butterfly that had first become friendly with her—
Whoosh—!
The butterfly split in half.
"Eh...?"
As if that weren't enough, two pale hands tore the split butterfly's body and wings to shreds.
"Ah, uh...?"
Baladi couldn't understand the situation.
The butterfly, her childhood fantasy...
The magic... was torn apart? How?
Baladi's Circle was the 7th Circle.
It was the Realm where one could imbue Mana with Intent, like a Tier 6 Martial Artist. She had imbued this spell with Intent as well. Then it couldn't be broken unless the opponent was also in a Realm capable of handling Intent.
What's more, Baladi prided herself on having Mana cohesion solid enough to rank among the top even among fellow 7th Circle Wizards.
Yet it shattered in one blow? Barehanded? That easily?
She grew gloomy looking at the torn butterfly.
She was slow to assess the situation because she was searching for a reason.
It was the reaction of a typical noble daughter, raised like a flower in a greenhouse, who had never felt or radiated hostility in her life.
"Hello?"
So Baladi couldn't even return the greeting of the student who appeared before her eyes.
Baladi was on the short side. That was why people had looked down on her, but the girl who appeared before her was even smaller.
Her gaze naturally lowered.
She had looked lovely from afar, but up close, she was lovely enough to draw admiration.
This student was a delinquent? A villainess?
Could the rumors have been distorted?
While she was thinking that, Eliarnes beamed.
"What do I do now?"
Even her voice was lovely...!
Baladi's heart ached.
"...Y-yes...?"
"Your role was to subdue the carriage, right, Professor?"
"Th-that's right...? To subdue it while hiding... and the students in the carriage weren't supposed to get hurt. But... I got caught like this—"
"Then I just have to do the same, right?"
Eliarnes let out a pretty little laugh.
But, the same?
"...The same? What?"
The moment Baladi voiced her confusion.
Tap—
Eliarnes's small fist grazed the tip of Baladi's chin.
Baladi's body crumpled.
Eliarnes watched Baladi collapse for a moment, then decided to just catch her.
She seemed to be a new professor, and she couldn't leave her unconscious under this blazing sun.
She stretched out both arms and caught the professor's body.
Then she dragged Baladi along—scrape, scrape—and propped her up against a large tree.
"If I leave her here and go... won't she get captured by bandits or something...?"
The moment she voiced that concern, her bracelet vibrated.
-This is Senior Professor Wivir Arkand. We will protect Professor Baladi, so Student Eliarnes, please return to your carriage.
"Oh... understood."
-Ah, and one moment.
"Yes?"
-Student Eliarnes's bracelet appears to have malfunctioned. We will send someone shortly, so please wait where you are. It will take about a minute.
"Malfunction? Well, yes. Understood."
Eliarnes, who had been examining the bracelet, nodded with a slightly sour look.
Meanwhile, inside the academy, Wivir, who had been monitoring the overall situation of the first-years, let out a small sigh.
The laughter of Leona and the Flame Emperor, guffawing behind her, was loud...
"Nyahahahahaha! Isn't that Eliarnes kid seriously insane?! She hit a professor without a moment's hesitation!"
"Eliarnes seems to take after Vice Dean Leona's personality... khm. Perhaps it's because they're master and disciple..."
Then would Stella eventually come to take after the Flame Emperor too?
She should show off a bit more... of this Flame Emperor's magnificent self.
With that thought, the Flame Emperor stroked her chin.
At the same time, Leona snapped back.
"What? I'm not a blockhead like that."
"...Leona... do you truly think so?"
"What kind of question is that? Are you saying I'm a blockhead?"
Leona's tail puffed up.
Wivir, who noticed it at once, whispered in the most careful tone possible.
"Um... first, could you bring Professor Baladi back to the academy? We've driven off all the bandits, but just in case... I'd appreciate it. Also, Student Eliarnes's bracelet has malfunctioned, so we need to deliver a bracelet as well."
Calling it a request was laughable.
The Flame Emperor and Leona had been stationed precisely to prepare for situations like this. Of course, Wivir didn't have the nerve to casually order around the Six Pillars.
So she even bowed her head as she asked...
"Hm, this Flame Emperor shall go. Do I simply take this bracelet? It seems correct."
"Hey! Don't run away!"
Leona reached out, but the Flame Emperor became a burning ember and slipped out the window.
"She's pointlessly fast at running away... tch. Wivir, you want something to drink?"
"I-I'm... fine."
"Then I'll just go buy two of whatever I want?"
"...I'm really fine—"
"I'll go buy them?"
"...Thank you."
"Nihihi."
Bang!
Inside the situation room, which had gone quiet in an instant, Wivir sighed once more.
According to the original plan, the students who lost their carriage in the first attack were supposed to join forces with their group members and travel to Anketin on foot.
Then, in the next attack and the one after that, all their brought luggage was to be taken away, and they were to take the final exam empty-handed...
Eliarnes had protected her group's carriage.
And on top of that, she had subdued a professor...!
"...Hah."
Protecting the carriage and protecting the luggage.
It wasn't entirely unheard of since she'd taken a professorship.
But a student who subdued a professor by punching her in the chin without a moment's hesitation was a first.
Seeing that there was no word from above, it didn't seem to matter much, but for some reason, this year's final exam felt like it would be full of unexpected events.