None
"A-are you threatening me? Even if you talk like that, I can't reverse your disqualification!"
The examiner shouted at me.
"This tournament was ordered by His Majesty the Emperor himself. Guards! Drag this failed contestant out of here at once!"
He issued the order to the same man who had just hauled a nobleman away without mercy.
Unlike when he'd seized the noble, the guard approached me hesitantly.
"What are you doing? We need to continue the examinations — seize him already!"
"Examiner, sir. This man is not a failed contestant."
"…What?"
The examiner looked back and forth between the guard and me, bewildered.
Apparently he'd mistaken me for someone who'd failed and was now threatening him. It was a fairly reasonable assumption — someone who'd passed wouldn't go around threatening an examiner with talk of life and death.
The examiner's exhausted eyes flicked between the paper on the table and me. He went back and forth two or three times, as if he couldn't believe it.
"Y-you're actually a passer?"
Hadn't he just seen it with his own eyes moments ago? He'd been processing people so mechanically that he'd already forgotten what he'd looked at.
"Um, Mr. Rix? Why did you threaten me?"
"Threaten? When did I ever threaten you?"
"Excuse me? If that wasn't a threat just now, then what was it?"
"A prophecy."
Prophecy.
The moment I said that word, the atmosphere around us shifted. Not only the examiner and the guard, but even the people waiting their turn behind me fixed their attention on me.
"A-a prophecy…?"
"Why so surprised? Isn't this a tournament to select prophets?"
"…The preliminary event is predicting the result of a coin toss. There was no need for you to prophesy about my future."
The examiner continued, tense but logical. He was right — as someone who'd already passed the examination, I had no need to prophesy about the examiner's future.
No need, true.
"Leaving someone who's going to die just doesn't sit right with me. I was merely offering a light word of advice."
Gulp.
The examiner's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.
"By that, do you mean I'm going to die in the future?"
"Everyone dies eventually, don't they? Don't you know there's no such thing as a person who doesn't die?"
"Th-that's not what I meant! I'm asking whether I'm going to die today!"
Bang!
Apparently fed up with my wordplay, the examiner slammed the table and rose from his seat.
"If I told you that you were going to die today — would you believe me?"
"…"
Even though he'd been pressing me for an answer just moments before, the examiner couldn't open his mouth.
"You believe everyone gathered here is nothing but a fraud. Would you be able to believe a prophecy spoken by me — one of those frauds?"
"…Haha."
Unable to answer my question, the examiner only let out an awkward laugh.
"You're right. I clearly wouldn't have believed it."
There were no noble prophet families in the East at all. And yet the tournament preliminaries had drawn a crowd large enough to rival a festival.
Everyone gathered here is nothing but a fraud. That was what the examiner believed.
"To think you even knew that much…"
The face of the examiner who'd seemed so robotic changed. He looked like a child who'd discovered a new toy, his expression full of curiosity.
"So then — am I going to die today?"
"You've got a poor memory. Didn't I already tell you a moment ago?"
On your way home. Be careful near the water. Today, take an unfamiliar path home instead of the one you know.
That was what I'd said.
"…So you're saying I die today."
"Good thing your memory is better than a pigeon's."
No need to say it twice.
The examiner seemed to think for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"I'll take it as good advice received."
"Then I'll be on my way."
I'd delivered my warning to the examiner, so my business here was done. Just as I was about to leave —
"Mr. Rix. What exactly are you? As far as I know, there are no prophet families in the East."
"What I am…"
An otherworlder from South Korea. The bastard son of House Valentier. The banished noble, Rix.
Various labels that described me flashed through my mind. But the answer had been decided from the start.
"I am a shaman."
With that, I left the examination hall.
Hawkin, the examiner in charge of the Eastern city's preliminary examinations, stretched and rose from his seat.
At last, day one of the long preliminary examinations was over. He dragged his exhausted body onto the road home.
Rix… He definitely told me to take the long way home today.
He'd met all sorts of troublemakers during the preliminaries. But Rix was the only one who'd made a prophecy as his troublemaking.
Is he a real prophet?
Hawkin rummaged through his memory, trying to place the name Rix.
Rix… I have no idea who that is.
He wasn't a famous noble, at any rate. Moreover, while preparing for this tournament, Hawkin had memorized the names of every noble from the prophet families. The fact that he still couldn't remember meant Rix wasn't from a prophet family either.
…I wonder what he wrote down as his desired prize for winning.
Suddenly curious about what Rix wanted, he stopped by the place where the contestants' documents were stored before heading home. He found the form with Rix's information.
Name: Rix
Desired Prize for Winning: None
Desired prize for winning. None?
Hawkin rubbed his eyes. He looked again carefully.
None.
No matter how much he rubbed his eyes, that was clearly what was written.
What am I looking at…?
The prize for winning this tournament was that the Emperor himself would grant whatever the winner desired. Commoners wanted vast sums of money. Nobles dreamed of capital real estate or a rise in status.
Of course, there were people who wanted something other than money or fame. Among the mage contestants who'd left the secular world, there was one who wanted rare magical materials. Members of the church who believed in the god Kariel wanted holy relics as their prize.
But not a single person had written None.
Could there be an item called "None"?
Hawkin briefly wondered if there was some object named "None" that he simply didn't know about — then quickly recognized how foolish that was.
No way. I just had a stupid thought without realizing it.
Rix genuinely wanted nothing as his prize for winning.
Having finished checking the documents, Hawkin finally set off for home. He walked along, lost in thought. There had been countless preliminary passers, but only Rix lingered in his mind.
He told me to be careful near the water.
Hawkin recalled the advice Rix had given him. The path he usually took home ran right alongside a river. Rix's advice matched perfectly.
He might have known where I live.
If he'd investigated in advance, it was something he could easily have gotten right. It was still hard to be certain it was a prophecy.
…Still, it doesn't sit well with me.
The anxiety that the prophecy might be real began to take root. Hawkin felt an unpleasant unease.
Today, I'll take the long way around.
Instead of his usual route, he went home by a path far from the river. The journey was thoroughly peaceful. Being an unfamiliar route and a detour, it took longer, but his mind was at ease.
Hawkin arrived home safely and spent the night.
The next morning, he headed to the examination hall again to conduct day two of the preliminaries.
"Good morning."
"Yes. Looking after security again today, I trust."
He exchanged greetings with the guard and prepared for the examinations. Hawkin scanned today's list of contestants and spoke casually.
"Heard any news?"
"What kind of news are you referring to, sir?"
"Accidents, someone getting hurt — that sort of thing."
"There is one piece of similar news."
The guard had been gathering information about events in the village as a precaution. He told him about an incident that had occurred just yesterday.
"Apparently the horses pulling a carriage suddenly went wild yesterday. Fortunately no one was hurt, but I heard several of the goods loaded in the carriage were smashed."
"…Do you know where that carriage went wild?"
"They say it was while passing along the Evona riverside. Luckily no one was using that road at the time, so no one was injured."
"The Evona River…"
A chill. Goosebumps rose all over Hawkin's body.
That's the path I was originally going to take.
The path he always had to pass through to get home. An incident had truly occurred on that path.
He's a real prophet.
Hawkin was certain. Among the worthless frauds, he had found the genuine article.
Just which family is he from?
There was definitely no one named Rix among the prophet families. As he rummaged through his memories, suddenly Rix's self-introduction came back to him.
When asked what he was, Rix had answered like this.
I am a shaman.
Hawkin slowly mulled over that answer.
What is a shaman…?
He didn't know exactly. But the word "shaman" carried a strange power.
I should report this to my superiors.
Anyone who showed unusual behavior was identified in advance. It was to prevent cheating.
Rix's information spread to the Imperial Palace.