166. Final Exams
166. Final Exams
"Ah, my lady!"
Eurasia, who had stopped the carriage right after subduing the professor targeting us, was waiting for me not far away.
Thanks to that, I reached the carriage in no time.
"You finished... quickly? It was a professor, right?"
"Yeah. A Wizard. Seemed like around 7th Circle?"
"What did you do?"
Eurasia, who had let go of the reins and offered me water, fanned me.
"Subdued them."
"...Subdued?"
"Yeah. Probably didn't even hurt."
"...Is that allowed?"
"If it wasn't, wouldn't they have said so beforehand? That Wizard professor didn't say it wasn't allowed either."
To be fair, I did smack them in the jaw before they could say it wasn't allowed.
But well... the Flame Emperor who handed me the bracelet didn't say anything, and neither did Wivir when she checked the communication, so it's probably fine.
"Uh... if you say so, my lady... shall we depart for now?"
"Yeah. Tell me if it gets hard. I'll take over."
"We only have to go for three hours."
Eurasia smiled brightly and took the reins.
I gave her head a rough pat and climbed into the carriage.
"It ended... well, right?"
"For now?"
"It seemed pretty far, but you came back faster than I thought."
Silina, who had been feeding peanuts to Pina, stared intently at my face.
"Seeing as you're not catching your breath or sweating... you went up another Tier, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I'm Tier 6 now."
"Huh...! Wh-what?! Tier 6?!"
Silina asked and I answered, but Gailan next to her jumped up.
"R-r-really... really?! Eliarnes, you... you're really Tier 6?!"
"Yeah. What would I get out of lying about something like this?"
"Good heavens... Tier 6 at seventeen, isn't that a first on the continent?!"
"Not the first."
"Huh... N-not the first? Who... who else reached Tier 6 at seventeen?!"
"There is someone."
Hudd van Chaser.
That ogre-like bastard supposedly reached Tier 6 at fifteen. Now... he's gone completely insane and turned very strange, but anyway, I'm not the first.
But I'm not going to say who.
The van Chaser siblings seem to want to keep that fact hidden.
"There really are amazing people in the world... I'm still only 2nd Circle."
"That's fast too. And don't be too down. You're comparing yourself to me, after all."
"Huh...? Is that... comfort? It's comfort, right...? Uh... yeah... okay."
Next to Gailan, whose shoulders drooped dejectedly, Pina beamed.
[Gailan! I'm 2nd Circle too, so let's do our best together!]
"Ahaha... yeah. Pina, you can do it!"
[Yes! (smiling squirrel face)]
Wriggling her short fingers, Pina peeled a pistachio and handed it to Gailan with a bright smile.
And beside them, Silina, who had been quietly watching me, tilted her head.
"Eliarnes."
"What."
"Do you... on the Community... write information posts or tip posts or anything?"
"I don't."
"Are you sure?"
Silina narrowed her eyes.
"Why would I write that kind of thing for someone else's benefit? I'm busy enough with my own stuff."
"...True. With your personality, there's no way you'd do something that weird."
"Why are you suddenly asking that? Is there someone impersonating me?"
"No. There's no one like that. Who'd be crazy enough to impersonate a Eustetia? I just... saw a post bragging about going up a Tier this time, so I asked."
"I see."
Even though I looked away, Silina's gaze remained on my face.
"That person is a really strange person."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"Their way of talking is like some old fossil of a professor, but they know a lot. They even seem to know how to do a lot of things."
"Old fossil... what kind of way is that to talk about a professor?"
"They show up on every single question post about martial techniques or combat and make horrible jokes with a creepy way of talking."
"I... see."
"And they're so obnoxious it's unbelievable. The way they act, you'd think they were a Hero who was active 400 years ago. Always going on about 'back in my day, back in my day' and pulling ridiculous seniority. Anyway, a strange person."
"Ah...! I think I know who Silina's talking about..."
As Silina was talking, Gailan clapped her hands and cut in.
"You mean that person, right? The one who's always throwing up thumbs-ups with the letter b, ending every sentence with 'kick' and laughing, and spamming tildes. But that person... isn't it probably one of the professors? Their way of talking is like that too, and they know a ton about old times."
[Ah! I think I know too! But... that person always left weird comments, so I blocked them!]
"...Blocked?"
[Yes. They kept showing up on all my posts and leaving strange advice, and Stella said blocking people like that early is good for your mental health, so I followed Stella's example and blocked them!]
"...Stella also... blocked that... strange person?"
[Yes! Eurasia did too!]
"So... if you block them, uh... you can't see the posts that person wrote?"
[Yes! You can't see the comments that person wrote either!]
"I see..."
[If you'd like, Eliarnes, I can teach you how to block them too!]
"No... I'm fine. I... don't use the Community, so blocking... yeah. I don't need it."
[I certainly thought you wouldn't use something like the Community, Eliarnes! You're not the type to waste time on such places!]
"Right... I... have very, very busy days, so I don't have time... for that kind of thing."
I looked away again. The weather is nice.
The fluffy clouds are pretty, and maybe because it's a mountain path, the sounds of the insects are nice too...
"Eliarnes."
"...What?"
"It's really not you, right?"
"If you're talking about that strange person on the Community, it's really not me."
"True... someone like you who can't even send a single text properly couldn't possibly do something like that."
Silina shook her head and also turned her gaze toward the window.
Pina was still peeling and eating pistachios with her tiny, delicate hands, and Gailan, whose motion sickness seemed a bit better, was eating pistachios with Pina.
I closed my eyes gently, feeling the breeze blowing in through the window.
So there was a block function.
No wonder the comments I'd been getting lately had seemed sparse...
But still... no matter how you look at it, isn't blocking a bit too much...
*****
"Don't you think we're the first ones?"
"Seems like it. It's completely empty."
After passing through the cold, harsh mountain path, we arrived at the entrance of the Anketin Mountains.
We'd been attacked a dozen or so more times along the way, but I subdued them all cleanly and kept the carriage safe without issue.
The closer we got to the mountains, the stronger the attacks became, and at the end, I thought actual bandits had shown up. So without realizing it, I subdued them a bit... hard.
And every time that happened, the bracelet broke.
I'm starting... to get a feeling.
My Mana doesn't just break weapons—it seems to wreck all sorts of Artifacts too.
Then why was Luna's bandage perfectly fine?
Was it because it was a miracle completed with Holy Power?
"The Imperial Capital's air isn't bad either, but it feels a bit fresher here."
Silina stretched with a groan and narrowed her eyes against the wind.
"The Eustetia Duchy has better air than here."
"Impressive."
"Come visit during winter break."
"Why winter break and not summer break?"
"I'm busy during summer break. Hngggh... hnggyak..."
I stretched as well and savored the wind blowing around us.
A mountain range that seemed to stretch on endlessly. Between its peaks, a breeze blew that was quite cool for midsummer.
I'd been here 400 years ago too. Does it look the same as it did back then? It doesn't. I can see parts that are warped and abruptly cut off here and there.
It couldn't be helped. 400 years ago, back when we were still inexperienced, we fought a pretty brutal battle here.
Those strange shapes are the traces of the battle we fought.
The Legion Commander, Gulaka of Gluttony.
The Anketin Mountains were where I first encountered a Legion Commander.
Of course, they're not here now, but for some reason my chest feels restless.
"Since we arrived first, do you think there'll be bonus points or something?"
"I don't know about bonus points, but we can rest until the others arrive, or scope out a good spot."
"You think survival is guaranteed, my lady?"
"Yeah."
My heart was restless, but my steps were light because the carriage had been absurdly comfortable. Modern carriages really didn't make your butt sore even after long rides.
"Then... is it a good thing the freshmen packed a ton of luggage?"
Still a bit motion-sick, Gailan staggered over.
[I packed a ton of sweet things!]
"Really? I only brought enough to eat for exactly fifteen days. There wasn't room in my bag..."
"Well, I don't think you need to worry about that separately."
"...Really? Why?"
"Because the five of us are probably going to be assigned to the same group."
I gestured with my chin toward the front.
Gailan, Pina, and Eurasia looked ahead.
"Welcome!"
Clap clap clap—a professor clapping like a seal came into view.
"Professor Adelia!"
Adelia Baros.
She was there to greet us.
"To think my Class students would be the overwhelming first place! I'm so, so moved."
"We got here quickly and comfortably thanks to Eliarnes...!"
[It's all thanks to Eliarnes!]
Gailan and Pina trotted over to Adelia and explained in great detail how I'd handled everything along the way.
"I see... impressive. Normally, you'd lose your carriage in the first attack, and in the second, third, and fourth, you'd lose all the luggage you brought."
Adelia smiled with curved eyes as she inspected our carriage and our very tidy appearances.
"But you all came riding in your carriage as is, and your luggage... seems to have arrived perfectly intact."
"...Y-yes... is that not allowed?"
Gailan asked worriedly, but Adelia shook her head.
"Of course it's allowed. The process was meant to show you how harsh the journey would be, but you all defended it well, didn't you? So now it doesn't matter how you use it."
Gailan and Pina sighed in relief. Gailan's was probably for practical reasons, and Pina's was probably worry that she might not get to eat something delicious.
"So, did the other students all lose the luggage they brought?"
"Most of them lost it. Ah, the first-years all lost everything except for you all."
"So it's fine if I share the things I brought?"
"You could even take another group's things, and it would be fine."
Adelia chuckled.
Meaning our group's things could be taken too.
"That won't happen."
I shrugged.
There's no need to take, and no chance of being taken from.
"So, our group is these five people?"
"That's right. They concluded that being with people you chose yourself would be at least a little more helpful for the future than random assignment."
"And the content of the final is fifteen days of survival."
"Exactly."
"You all have quite the nasty streak."
"A nasty streak... fufu, Miss Eliarnes is very quick on the uptake."
"What's there to be quick about with something so obvious?"
People you chose yourself.
If you have to pick someone to ride in a carriage with for a long time, of course you'll pick someone you're close to.
And if you form a group with that close person and have to survive for fifteen days in the gaps between these harsh mountains, your relationship is bound to sour.
No, actually, from the moment they lost their carriage and had their luggage taken, there's a high chance the relationship already soured.
Especially the nobles.
Those bastards can't endure anything dirty, hard, or inconvenient. If they can't eat when they want to eat and can't drink when they want to drink, they'll lose their minds.
Then that anger will naturally be directed at the commoners, and the commoners will bow their heads and take the anger.
And then, after arriving at these mountains, if they're put in the same group and have to survive for quite a long time with people who were shitty from the start?
I don't know the details of the exam, but some very entertaining things are going to happen.
"Miss Eliarnes doesn't seem worried at all?"
"What's there to worry about? It'll be a story from another world for us anyway."
"A story from another world... fuhu, I suppose so. If you don't pay attention, that's how it'll be."
Adelia smiled as if to say, "Will you really not pay attention?" It's extremely annoying that she knows my personal relationships so well for no reason.
I clicked my tongue and took the paper Adelia handed over.
"It's a brief summary of the final exam. Originally, you should have received it when you were hit by the second attack, but... all the professors who were supposed to hand them out lost consciousness, so it wasn't delivered properly. It starts tomorrow at 6 a.m. Until then, you can rest well, take a walk listening to the birds, or go into the mountains and look for a good spot in advance."
"Yes. Then, we'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Yes. For the next fifteen days, be careful not to get hurt."
Adelia smiled with curved eyes and said the same thing to Eurasia, who was standing next to me.
"Miss Eurasia, you be careful too, always."