20. Special Entrance Exam
20. Special Entrance Exam
After that, we wandered through the Labyrinth without much trouble.
Whenever a Lizardman appeared, the poor girl popped its head. Pop, pop, pop.
When I clapped from the side and told her how impressive she was, the poor girl got even more excited and showed off all kinds of magic.
Thanks to that, I didn't have to shed a single drop of sweat for quite a long time.
If I got a little friendlier with her, she'd probably lend me money too.
She looked rude as hell at first glance, but she was a total pushover.
"Why do you keep staring at me like that?"
"How was I staring?"
"I don't know. It just feels bad."
This is why I hate perceptive little brats.
I gave a casual shrug and started walking.
"You feel that way because you don't like me."
"Right. I don't like you. I really don't."
"I don't like you either."
"Why?"
"If you don't like me, why should I like you?"
Her violet eyes darted around.
Her lips worked soundlessly as she searched for something to say.
Then, as if she couldn't find it, she narrowed her eyes and snapped.
"You're seriously annoying."
"I know."
"You're seriously... if you weren't a noble, and a ducal daughter at that, you'd have gotten yourself beaten to death somewhere."
I heard that a lot in my Past Life too.
And I actually did get beaten up until I died.
"And on top of that, you're short, which makes it even more infuriating."
"There's barely any difference. What do you mean, short?"
"I'm taller than you. A lot taller. You're looking up at me right now."
"To other people, we probably look about the same."
At a glance, the poor girl looked to be in the low-to-mid 150s in centimeters. I was a handspan shorter than that... a handspan by my own hand, it seemed.
So, from above, we'd probably look identical.
"We're different. Height, chest. I'm bigger in both."
"Ha, isn't comparing yourself to me already ridiculous? Or wait, maybe we are pretty comparable."
"Wh-what?! Y-you... you!!"
I covered the mouth of the poor girl, whose face had flushed bright red.
"Mmph?! Mmph!"
"Over there."
Then I pointed to one corner of the Labyrinth.
Shadows flickered against the wall, as if a fire had been lit.
They obviously weren't human shadows.
But they weren't the shadows of the Lizardmen we'd encountered so far, either.
There were six of them.
Judging by the weapons reflected in the shadows: three spears, two bows.
And one staff.
I glanced at the poor girl's face.
As expected, she had gone pale.
"Do you know what they are?"
The poor girl carefully removed my hand and slowly opened her mouth.
"...They're elite Lizardmen. Unlike ordinary Lizardmen, they have intelligence. And... at a glance, there seems to be a Wizard among them too."
So she did know.
As the poor girl said, those things were not ordinary Lizardmen.
Simply put, they were Monsters with intelligence.
In other words.
Monsters blessed by Demons.
Demons had ranks, and Monsters had ranks too.
First, considering only Monsters.
From ones with nothing, to Low-grade, Mid-grade, High-grade, Highest-grade.
Calamity.
They were divided into six grades like that.
And the ones up ahead right now were Low-grade Monsters. Low-grade Monsters that had received blessings from low-ranking Demons, elevating them from Monsters with nothing.
I hadn't expected them to have implemented even Low-grade Monsters. The deeper I looked, the more serious the whole setup seemed. I liked it.
I bumped the academy up a notch in my estimation.
I'd thought she'd improved a bit, but the poor girl had gone pale again. I asked her.
"Can you take them?"
"...One at a time, maybe. Six at once is hard."
The poor girl, who had been whispering in a trembling voice, bit her lip and glared at me.
"It's not that I'm weak. I'm low on Mana. Why are you looking at me like that? You know how many Lizardmen I've killed so far."
"About thirty?"
"Thirty-seven. All by popping their heads in one shot."
"Yeah. I know. Good job. You were cool."
Without a single mistake, the poor girl had killed thirty-seven Lizardmen.
Well, in the middle, thanks to my compliments, she did spam some slightly bigger magic. Even so, she put on a pretty decent showing.
"But why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because I think you can take them."
"...What?"
The poor girl's eyes went wide.
"You use magic with Silent Casting. If you chant an incantation in that state, doesn't your Mana consumption drop drastically?"
"...That's true."
Kaloso was like that too.
That bastard also used all magic with Silent Casting.
When Mana consumption was extreme, he had no choice but to chant an incantation. But when he was certain it would be the final spell of the battle, he used even grand magic with Silent Casting.
"But you still can't do it?"
"Even so, no. It's too dangerous. If I chant an incantation, the casting time inevitably gets longer, and then... we might both die."
No, it's a fake Labyrinth, so why does she keep talking about dying?
I thought that, but I didn't say it out loud.
Because I felt like the answer would be, "I said it's not! Are you stupid?! How is this a fake Labyrinth?!"
"I'll protect you during that casting time."
"What...?"
"Use whatever magic you want. I'll protect you while you do. And you—why do you keep trying to do everything alone when you're completely useless without a vanguard?"
"Because you're a chimpanzee."
"Oh yeah? You little—"
"Eek."
"Scaredy-cat."
The poor girl's face flushed.
Then she looked at me with a deeply confused expression.
Did she just try to hit me?
This tiny thing tried to hit me? And I flinched?
That's ridiculous...
That kind of expression.
Maybe because she was so proud, she reacted completely differently from Eurasia. It was fun.
Well, that's that.
It was about time to wrap this up.
They said clear time didn't matter as long as we caught the Basilisk, but we'd dragged this out too long.
"Did you forget what I said I came here to catch?"
"...How could I forget that insane nonsense?"
"Then why do you keep trying to protect me? I'm supposed to be protecting you."
"Why do you talk like that even when someone's protecting you? And you haven't said thank you even once."
"Ah, sorry. Thanks for everything so far. And I'm asking out of pure curiosity. Logically speaking, isn't someone who says they're going to catch a Basilisk supposed to be strong?"
"A chim—no... how strong can a Martial Artist even be?"
The poor girl, who had been grumbling while looking at me, finally grabbed my arm and pulled.
Her hand was cold.
Her expression was calm and prickly, but every part of her body betrayed her fear.
"Anyway, it's too dangerous. There's a sure method, so why are you trying to choose a dangerous one? Are you really a chimpanzee?"
Honestly, I wouldn't really care if I left her here alone and went to finish it by myself.
But the reason I kept leading the poor girl to use magic was because there was something I wanted to confirm.
I could confirm it while facing the Basilisk, but she's already this scared now. In front of the Basilisk, it probably wouldn't work even if it could.
I had to confirm it now.
So I said it.
"All that big talk, and you turned out to be a worthless little weakling."
"Wh-what?!"
"No, I mean, you go on and on about adventuring in Ge Vihenum for over two years, getting trapped in a Labyrinth, and soloing an Ogre. But seeing you scared of just those six, wasn't it all bullshit?"
"It wasn't!"
"Look at you pouting. Anyone can talk big. Hey, I was actually Ronan Luzarak in my Past Life, and I personally took the heads of two Legion Commanders."
"What—hey! Who'd believe such a childish lie?"
"That's how I feel right now."
It wasn't just talk, though. It was true.
"Y-you... seriously..."
The poor girl chewed her lips and clenched both fists. I spat one more line at her.
"Well, what are you gonna do? What can a pathetic, lying magic-spammer with no Mana left even do?"
"Ugh... h-ha... ha! Fine. I'll show you. I said I'll show you! I don't need help from a chimpanzee like you. I'll do it alone. So just shut up and watch."
Her face flushed bright red as she stepped forward. Violet Mana trailed in her footsteps.
"Hoo..."
Her sigh, blown from close range, carried the scent of milk-flavored macarons. Her hands trembled, and through her hood, I glimpsed damp navy hair clinging to the nape of her neck.
Even so, the girl's violet eyes gleamed sharply, searching for a solution.
Then an incantation I couldn't quite make out flowed from the girl's lips. It wasn't an unknown language. I knew it, but the sound was blurred, tangled with Mana.
As the incantation continued, the color of the Mana seeping into each syllable grew clearer. The Mana that had taken form gathered.
What she drew was a circle. Three circles made of Mana spun fiercely, radiating light.
At last, when the girl opened her eyes, the magic was complete.
"Lightning."
Blue-white light illuminated the Labyrinth.
[KKKKKRRRAAAAAAAAAAA—!]
A Monster's scream burst out.
Three screams could be heard.
Whether the vanguard or the rearguard had died, I couldn't tell. So the girl continued with a new incantation.
The Mana circle that had risen behind her back began to spin again. The rotation, fiercer than before, blew off her hood.
Navy mixed with violet.
Navy hair reminiscent of the early dawn sky scattered in the air. Cold sweat ran down the nape of her neck. When that sweat trickled down her slender shoulder.
"...Floral, Spear."
A rough wind shot forth.
A Monster's scream rang out, and the poor girl staggered. Even so, she turned her head with a triumphant expression.
"See that... don't you ever spout that crap at me again—"
At the same time.
Thwip—
A sharp sound came through the billowing dust.
An arrow shot toward the girl's chest, intent on taking her life. But she couldn't react; she seemed barely able to steady herself.
"Everything was good, but the finish was sloppy."
I grabbed the staggering girl's shoulder and pulled. I trapped her collapsing body in my arm, and my other hand shot upward from below. I clenched my fist.
Thwump—
"Huh...?"
An arrow stopped inches from her chest.
The girl's body trembled as she saw the arrow stopped in my grip.
"Watch closely. I'm good at shooting arrows too."
I grinned and immediately hurled the arrow.
Fwoo—WHAM!
The arrow, launched while gathering the surrounding dust, popped the Lizardman's head.
"See that. From now on, if you call me a chimpanzee, your skull's gonna crack just like that."
I tapped the girl between the eyebrows. Tap, tap.
Her violet eyes welled with tears.
The corners of her usually sharp mouth trembled.
A bead of sweat rolled down her glistening, sweat-soaked nape.
"...Wh-what was that just now?"
Ragged breathing. Her defeated sigh carried the sweet scent of macarons, while a faint smell of soap and sweat drifted from inside her hood.
"What do you mean, what? I threw an arrow."
Her lips parted slightly, as if in disbelief.
I popped a peppermint candy I'd unwrapped in advance into her mouth.
The poor girl reflexively closed her mouth and grimaced at the mint flavor spreading inside.
"You... I really hate you."
"I hate you too."