18. Special Entrance Exam
18. Special Entrance Exam
"I'm not making a plan."
"Okay."
"I just have to take down every Monster along the way and keep moving forward."
"Oh."
"So there's no need for us to stick together. It says the evaluation results are given individually, anyway."
"I see."
I nodded at the poor girl's words.
That went on for a while.
The poor girl, her face twisted into all sorts of grimaces, said in a sharp voice.
"...What the hell are you?"
"Vanguard."
"No, I didn't ask that."
"Eliarnes Eustetia."
"...I meant why do you keep staring at me."
Right.
I had been staring at this poor girl.
For nearly twenty minutes.
In the end, as if she couldn't endure my gaze any longer, the poor girl spoke first.
I don't know what she felt from my gaze, but the poor girl rattled off all sorts of things by herself.
I gave her offhand answers.
So, as for the answer to what she asked at the end—
why I was staring at her—
I don't know either.
At first, I stared because her discomfort was funny, but the more I looked... her face felt like one I'd seen somewhere before.
A face I knew in my Past Life, no less.
The idea that a descendant born now, four hundred years later, could resemble an ancestor's face is nonsense.
Even so, I can't shake the fact that she resembles someone.
I don't know who, but she definitely resembles someone.
Maybe I'd know if I heard her name.
"What's your name?"
"...Why?"
Tzing— A somewhat sharper gaze pierced me.
Whether she liked it or not, I laid out my thoughts.
"The fact that you can talk down to me so brazenly makes me think you're a noble—at least from a marquis's family or higher. Am I right?"
"You don't need to know."
"Or royalty from a neighboring country?"
After all, right now I'm a duke's daughter.
And not just any daughter—the only daughter of Duke Eustetia, whose house was known as the descendants of the hero.
There aren't many people who could speak so brazenly in casual speech to someone like me.
Either they don't know me, they're thoughtless, or they have nothing to lose.
Or they're on my level.
I could believe she doesn't know me, but she clearly knew my family name during the written exam.
And she doesn't seem thoughtless.
Nothing to lose? I don't know. Given that she has her hood pulled down low to hide her face, she seems to have a lot to lose.
So that leaves one option.
A noble of a similar rank to me.
At least the child of a renowned marquis house or higher.
But then she doesn't even have enough money to buy rye bread.
If she grew up in a noble family, she might have refused to eat it out of pride, but the idea that the child of a count's house or higher can't afford a single meal is laughable.
Was she abandoned?
No, even with an abandoned child, nobles don't leave them to embarrass themselves in public.
Because nobles are the type to take offense at anything that might damage their name.
So what is it?
"How long are you going to stare?"
"Until I'm satisfied."
"Wha—what...? What do you mean, satisfied?!"
"There is such a thing."
I answered offhandedly and stared holes into the poor girl's face again.
I can almost remember, but it won't surface.
It's like trying to grasp a cloud with my hand.
Ah, this is frustrating.
It feels like a piece of meat stuck between my teeth that just won't come out.
Then, whoosh—
Unable to withstand my gaze any longer, the poor girl hid her face completely inside her hood.
It was a little disappointing, but I was satisfied and looked away.
Once we enter the Labyrinth, we'll soon part ways.
Judging from the way she talked, she seemed confident, and since she's gunning for Signia, I'm bound to run into her again.
After finishing my thoughts, I took out a macaron I'd put in my pocket. Chocolate flavor.
Crinkle—
I peeled off the wrapper and broke the macaron in half.
At the crisp, chewy sound, the poor girl flinched.
"Want some?"
"Would I want to eat something you've been squishing with your hands?"
"I thought you weren't looking, but you were watching everything, huh?"
"Wha—what? I wasn't! I could tell just from the sound!"
Whoosh! The poor girl looked at me.
Her face bright red.
I smirked at her and said.
"I also have an unopened one in my pocket. Want me to give you that?"
Rustle— rustle—
"Ugh..."
The poor girl's eyes darted between the macaron and my pocket.
Then she gulped.
"Forget it."
Whoosh— She turned her head away.
"Suit yourself."
I shrugged, popped the macaron into my mouth, and deliberately chewed louder—crunch, crunch, chewy, chewy.
Every time I did, she kept flinching, which was extremely entertaining.
*****
"—That concludes the guidance."
Twenty minutes passed, and the practical exam was right around the corner.
The location was Signia's training hall.
As they entered, the examinees looked around at Signia's dazzling facilities with sparkling eyes.
The fact that they had us take the practical exam in Signia's training hall made me think the academy was pretty mean-spirited.
Making us feel the gap is fine, but wouldn't the letdown afterward be even worse?
Still, if you're an academy student, you'll be treated well no matter whether it's Signia or Hurnt.
I heard that carrying a student ID around the Imperial Capital gets you various benefits.
Anyway.
The room I was assigned to was last in order.
Even the examinees who had been swarming like that.
Even Eurasia, who beamed brightly whenever she saw me, was nowhere to be seen here—probably already inside the Labyrinth.
"If you're ready, you may enter in order."
The examinees' gazes turned all at once.
There stood a brilliantly shining Magic Circle.
A Magic Circle tangled and intricately twisted with countless spell formulas.
Even with my ignorance of magic, I could tell at a glance that it was a spell crafted with considerable effort.
They said if you stand in the center of the Magic Circle and inject Mana, you'll be transported.
Suck, suck— I rolled a mint candy around in my mouth and looked at the poor girl.
She'd seemed relaxed during the written exam, but now she looked extremely tense.
Was it to shorten her clear time, or because she was weak?
I can't tell, but I think it's the former.
The poor girl gave off that distinct genius-brand rudeness and ease.
"When are you going in?"
"Now."
Gripping her staff tightly, the poor girl moved first and answered me.
Wondering what to do about that rude little brat, I moved as well.
When we stood in front of the Magic Circle, Arkand's gaze pierced me.
"Good luck."
I shrugged and looked ahead.
"Oh."
The scenery changed.
A voice echoed.
This wasn't a cave; judging by the traces of statues carved into the walls, was this a ruin?
It was a Labyrinth modeled after ruins, with a closed ceiling.
A Labyrinth.
Labyrinths were originally prisons created by Demons to confine humans.
The origin of those Labyrinths was—
The Labyrinth of Sloth, the Third Legion Commander of Ge Vihenum.
I still hadn't properly seen that bitch's ability, so I didn't know how she made the Labyrinths.
But I did know that bitch could create Labyrinths.
In my Past Life, I was trapped in Labyrinths more than a hundred times.
I even fought Labyrinth there.
I couldn't kill her.
After all, because it was a Labyrinth she had created, whenever she was inside it, the Labyrinth came alive and breathed.
It means all directions, the entire world, become your enemy.
Escape routes appear and disappear at her whim, and so on.
If the ceiling is closed like this, it's relatively fortunate, but if you encounter a true open-ceilinged Labyrinth from an entirely different dimension—
the sky collapses.
Not as a metaphor—the sky genuinely collapses.
That was probably the 17th time I almost died in my life. No, was it the 18th?
While I was thinking that.
"If you want to follow, you can follow. But if you get in the way, I'll leave you behind."
The poor girl said to me in a sharp voice.
Seeing that she figured out the direction as soon as we entered, she clearly has some skill.
Well, that's that.
I pointed behind me and said.
"Nah. You go alone. I'm going that way."
At that, the poor girl tilted her head with a sneer.
"Ha. This way is the right direction."
"Yeah, I know."
"But why... No, don't tell me."
"You got it. I'm going to hunt a Basilisk."
"Alone?"
"Yeah."
The poor girl's face twisted oddly.
"You're insane..."
I need to smack that little runt one of these days.
"By yourself...?"
The poor girl cut herself off mid-sentence, looked around us carefully, and opened her eyes wide.
"No, wait. Why aren't you carrying a weapon? You—you didn't forget to bring a weapon too, did you?!"
As she said, my hands were empty.
But I already had a weapon.
"My weapon's right here."
"...Where?"
I held up my fist to the poor girl, who was staring at me as if dumbfounded.
"Look closely. This is a hammer."
I spread my hand open.
"This is a sword."
I lifted one leg.
"This is a spear."
Her expression shifted from dumbfounded to the look of someone observing an unknown organism.
"You're a Martial Artist?"
"No? Why would I be a Martial Artist? I said look closely. This is a hammer. This is a sword. This is a spear."
Why can't she understand?
"Ha, heh, ha... The Eustetia young lady is a chim—."
"Hey, you say that word and this hammer is going to smash your skull."
"...What? M-my skull?"
"Anyway, I'm heading to the back, so let's split up here. Good luck."
I turned my back because if we talked any longer, I felt like a certain brat's head was really going to burst.
Thud. Thud.
The closed-in air of the sealed space filled my lungs.
My footsteps advanced into the passage opened ahead, and the Labyrinth's characteristic sticky atmosphere coiled around my whole body.
No, it really was sticky.
Because the inside of a Labyrinth is full of Demonic Energy.
And the academy's Labyrinth was sticky too.
It wasn't as sticky as a real Labyrinth, but this place was pretty well implemented in its own way.
But did they implement this with Mana?
"Whoa... This is more legit than I expected."
I hadn't expected much since they said it was an artificial Labyrinth made with magic, but this really feels like a real Labyrinth.
Of course, there are a few sloppy spots here and there that make it fall short of Labyrinth's Labyrinths, but it's still excellent for what it is.
Even Kaloso would have racked his brain to reproduce a space like this, and the mere Wizards of the Green Magic Tower pulled off this much?
"Huh. Really."
The world really has changed a lot.
The standards have risen quite a bit too.
I touched the Labyrinth walls, swept my hand over the damp floor, and even tasted the dirt spread over it.
A thick, tacky texture rather than dry.
A bitter first taste and a finish mixed with the foul smell of Monsters.
"Whoa! The dirt tastes exactly like the real thing! What the hell, did those bastards eat dirt too because of the academy practical exam?"
Well, I had to stuff dirt in my mouth because I was once trapped in a Labyrinth for over a week.
Was there someone from the Green Magic Tower who was trapped as long as I was?
No way. I heard the Legion Commanders' activities quieted down after the Demon King was sealed.
That being the case, unless someone deliberately went looking for them, there wouldn't have been any occasion to be trapped in Labyrinth's Labyrinth.
Then the only remaining explanation is that a Wizard who was on the front lines four hundred years ago, when I was active, devised this Labyrinth.
I had to give them credit for this.
The corners of my mouth rose on their own.
My body and mind both feel like they're in Ge Vihenum, and my nerves are on edge.
My heart is pounding, and my blood is racing.
Ba-dump, ba-dump.
Savoring the rare feeling of elation, I reached into my pocket for a cigarette... no.
I was about to eat another mint—
Boom—!
—right at that moment.
I heard the sound of something exploding.
Afterward, a hot wind blew in.
The poor girl's magic.
Had she already run into a Monster?
No, more importantly.
What kind of idiot uses fire-type magic inside a Labyrinth?
She's doing the same damn thing as Kaloso.
I guess Wizards have a habit of using fire magic when they're startled.
The moment I frowned and looked back—
"Hm?"
I saw the poor girl running toward me, her face pale.
"For all that posturing, she's a total weakling?"