32. First Day of School
32. First Day of School
The world flipped upside down.
Literally flipped upside down.
The lecture hall flipped upside down too.
Everyone inside the lecture hall fell toward the floor—no, toward the ceiling.
"Are you all right?!"
And at that moment, I was cradled in Eurasia's arms.
Of course, I reacted faster. The moment I sensed something wrong, I grabbed Eurasia and held on with all my strength, but since I was so small, it ended up looking like I was the one being held in her embrace.
Humiliating...
"Yeah. I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm fine too."
"...Then, could you let go of me?"
"Oh, yes!"
Only after Eurasia's arms, which had been wrapped tightly around my back and hips, loosened could I push myself up.
"Hah..."
I let out the breath I'd been holding and looked around.
Of the eight people besides Eurasia and me, two had apparently landed badly and lost consciousness, three were in no condition to move, and three were more or less intact.
Those three were:
Imperial Princess Silina de Hermann.
A squirrel Beastkin clutching her tail.
And a plain girl wearing round glasses.
Half remained, and half were down for the count.
"What in the world is going on...?"
Eurasia, who had straightened her clothes and come over a moment later, surveyed the wrecked lecture hall and picked up a broken desk leg.
"...Who knows."
I tilted my head and looked out the window.
I could see the shattered glass.
Above, there was ground. Below, there was sky.
And sand and all sorts of debris were raining down from the ground into the sky.
I bit the tip of my tongue just enough to draw blood.
I rolled the welling blood around in my mouth and sharpened my senses. The taste was faint.
I finished assessing the situation.
It was Illusion Magic.
Not ordinary Illusion Magic.
Magic that blurs the boundary between dream and reality, then slams the caster's dream—and beyond that, the caster's imagination—into the target's mind.
No, an Authority.
A Legion Commander. The Authority of Luxrina of Lust.
And.
Luxrina was already dead.
I slit her throat myself.
I even burned her corpse with Luna's Holy Flame.
So how was Luxrina's Authority manifesting?
A Black Wizard? Calling it a Black Wizard doesn't make sense either.
A being who had left not even ashes in this world couldn't bestow an Authority upon a Black Wizard.
Then an Archwizard's Unique Magic?
It was possible.
Right now, that's the most plausible explanation.
But.
I could sense Demonic Energy in that space.
It wasn't ordinary Unique Magic. It was Black Magic.
...Which means it could also be Luxrina's Authority.
"...My lady?"
I subtly unclenched my fist. I gathered the blood seeping out, then clenched my fist again.
"Yeah."
"Are you... all right?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
There was no malice. No hostility.
The Demonic Energy was docile. It didn't burrow into human bodies. Rather, it veered away and read our flow.
Someone was watching us.
Testing us? With Black Magic?
"Ha..."
What kind of shit-for-brains bastard is pulling this kind of prank?
I roughly swept my hair back and met the gaze that had been fixed on me for a while now.
Silina de Hermann. Her platinum eyes were staring straight at me.
And then her lips parted.
"Eliarnes Eustetia."
"What."
"Gasp."
"Eep."
Eurasia flinched, and the plain girl trembled. The squirrel Beastkin was still out of it.
Silina's eyelids twitched too, but she soon continued with a composed expression.
"You know what's going on right now, don't you."
"It's Illusion Magic."
Silina's eyes narrowed.
"...You're saying this is Illusion Magic?"
"Then does this look like reality to you?"
"Hah. M-My lady..."
"Eep..."
Silina, who had been glaring at me with furrowed brows, followed my nod and looked out the window. She did so for a long while. Then she let out a faint sigh and rose from her spot.
"It seems so. Sorry for doubting you."
"Um, so... you're saying we're inside an illusion... right now...?"
The glasses girl, unable to decide whether to use formal or casual speech, asked in an awkward tone.
"We're not inside an illusion, but it's not reality either."
"...Huh? What does that mean...?"
"Somewhere in between. If you're going to use casual speech, commit to it."
"Oh, okay. I mean, yeah...!"
The glasses girl also composed herself and slowly stood up.
Now all that remained was.
The squirrel.
I looked at the squirrel clutching her tail.
She glanced around nervously—her eyes darting here and there as if wondering who I was looking at—then, realizing my gaze was directed at her, she startled with a jolt.
And then, flustered—squirrel-flustered—she scrambled to her feet and scurried over to me.
I hadn't meant to call her over.
"So, um... what should we do about the ones left behind?"
The glasses girl, who had approached with cautious steps, murmured as she looked at the students sprawled on the floor.
"We leave them and go."
"Huh...? Is that really okay?"
Silina, apparently agreeing with me, picked up a suitable piece of scrap metal in each hand and walked over to me.
"Um... won't they die?"
"Yeah."
They won't die.
This illusion wasn't brought out to kill us.
Judging by their expressions, they do seem to feel the pain directly, but if they lose consciousness like that, they'll be pulled back to reality.
"R-Right? Since it's... Illusion Magic. Yeah. The professor must be doing this to gauge our level."
Muttering—
The glasses girl reluctantly nodded and set about rationalizing. Actually, it wasn't even rationalizing.
It was closer to self-hypnosis, replaying the current situation and telling herself it was fine.
The squirrel clung to my side with a terrified expression.
Eurasia wore an expression that said she'd follow my words no matter what, and Silina looked annoyed.
What does my expression look like?
I don't know, but I think it's probably similar to Silina's.
"Eliarnes. Do you know how to get out of here?"
I knew.
I could get out right now if I wanted to.
But I didn't want to. Nor should I.
I couldn't show my full strength to a Black Wizard who was overwhelmingly stronger than my current self.
Even if this had been deployed to gauge our level, I wasn't going to reveal my full power.
Against an opponent I would eventually have to fight, I had to keep information hidden.
If they learned that I could break through this Illusion Magic immediately, they might pull out something else when they eventually tried to deal with me.
So, for now, I had to suggest a different method.
The direct approach.
"We just go to the end."
Silina tilted her head slightly.
"The end?"
"The end of the Illusion Magic."
"And do you know where that is?"
I completely undid my disheveled twin tails and tied them back up.
"We'll have to find out from here."
*****
Three in the vanguard, two in the rear.
Fortunately, we split up with good balance.
Eurasia, me, Silina.
Eurasia had a sword, I had my fists, and Silina—I didn't know what she used, but for the moment she had two weapons.
The squirrel, the glasses girl.
The squirrel wasn't doing anything—I didn't know whether she used a bow or what. So I put her in the rear.
The glasses girl used magic.
Without a staff, her magic was pitifully weak, but she did seem able to use it at least.
At that point, an hour had passed since we'd divided up the positions.
Roughly a dozen or so Monsters had popped out, and Eurasia handled all of them.
Each time, Silina wore an oddly wistful expression, and the glasses girl sighed as if she'd narrowly escaped disaster.
Meanwhile, the squirrel, who hadn't lifted a single finger alongside me, clutched my uniform as if to tear it every time a Monster appeared and hid behind me.
I can't understand why she keeps hiding behind me.
If she's going to hide, shouldn't she stick to Eurasia, who looks the strongest here?
Judging by appearances alone, I'm probably the one who looks weaker than the squirrel.
"By the way, what's your name?"
In the midst of that.
Eurasia, who had just beaten a Monster to death with a desk leg and wiped the Monster blood off her cheek, asked with a kind expression.
The glasses girl's face went pale at the sight.
"G-Gailan. I'm Gailan. I don't have... a surname."
"Gailan, is it? Then, what about you?"
The squirrel girl, who had her ears folded, was clutching her curled tail and trembling, opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
"Hm? Huh...? Sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say it again?"
Open, close—
Eurasia's expression turned peculiar.
Gailan's expression also clouded with confusion.
Even the indifferent Silina glanced at the squirrel.
So I looked at her too.
Then the squirrel trembled all over and covered her own eyes.
I'd been curious for a while now—why does she keep covering her eyes?
I wanted to ask, but I held back.
Whenever I tried to talk to her, she seemed like she was about to keel over, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut.
On the other hand, she listened to Eurasia perfectly well.
She stuck to me, but talked to Eurasia.
It was ridiculous.
"Is it... hard for you to speak?"
Eurasia's careful question.
The squirrel's eyes sparkled.
Nod, nod—
In an instant, Eurasia's face darkened.
Gailan's face darkened too.
Silina looked straight ahead as if her curiosity had been satisfied.
And I muttered.
"If you can't talk, you should just say you can't talk, why don't you just... Oh. You can't talk. I-I'm sorry."
The squirrel's breathing started hitching again.
Eurasia smiled bitterly and told the squirrel it was okay, and Silina glared at me.
"...I said something stupid. Sorry."
I scratched my head awkwardly and picked up a pen and paper that had fallen on the ground—no, the ceiling.
"Here. Use this to talk. No, use this to, um... talk, huff... just use this."
Nod, nod—the squirrel nodded so hard her neck might snap, then trembling, she scribbled something on the paper.
The handwriting was wobbly, as if she had tremors.
[Pina. My name is Pina. I don't have a surname.]
"Aha. So your name's Pina. Yeah. Pina. My name is Eurasia Espirot. Nice to meet you."
[Yes. Eurasia Espirot. Hello.]
"Oh, um... ahaha. You can speak casually..."
[No. I'm comfortable speaking like this.]
"O-Okay. Then I guess there's no helping it. All right! Shall we get moving again? If it gets hard, just tell me anytime... no, just let me know anytime. We can rest and then go."
[Yes. Thank you.]
After the awkward conversation ended, we started walking again.
Now, three floors up. Two floors down.