The Midterm Exam
The darkness was absolute.
Unlike the minimal light sources from before, this time the space was filled with true darkness.
"Leaf? Ray?"
I called out their names.
The absence of echoes suggested the tunnel was neither collapsed nor fully sealed.
That was a relief, at least.
"O-Over here!"
It was Leaf's voice.
"Stay put there. Ray?"
No answer. They must have been separated.
The walls had shifted, and the entire underground structure seemed to have changed.
That explained the disconnect between Leaf, me, and Ray.
Even the museum was alive? This underground floor?
'My luck had been rotten.'
Or maybe it had been deliberate.
Someone had scattered the group on purpose.
"For now… Light."
I had mastered a few simple universal magic formulas.
At first I had to calculate every magic circle, but now with Pi'ona-sensei's tips, a simple chant was enough.
Recalling my master's kindness, I summoned light.
And what appeared was…
"L-Leaf?"
"Yes?"
My ears perked up sharply.
Such long, pointed tips, unlike my rounded ones.
They weren't as long as Elune's, but clearly longer than a normal human's.
Paired with a straw-dirty-blonde head of hair and eyes the color of a forest in summer green.
This was…
"…An elf?"
At my words, Leaf's already pale face paled even further as he hurriedly pulled his hood back up.
His two hands trembled as he clutched the hood tight, a pitiful sight.
"N-No…!"
His voice shook with instability.
There was probably some kind of trauma.
Like mine or Ray's slave past.
Best to ignore it in times like this.
"Drink some water."
"A-Alright… thanks…"
Leaf accepted the water pouch I offered and gulped it down eagerly.
In normal situations I'd ration water, but right now it didn't matter.
There was a walking water fountain named Leaf.
After drinking, Leaf took a deep breath and steadied himself.
Soon the trembling stopped.
The shock had been too sudden for him to prepare mentally.
Thinking back to the times I'd asked him to take off his hood like before, he clearly hadn't intended to hide forever.
Leaf quickly composed himself and spoke cautiously.
"Um…"
"Yeah."
"A-Aren't you scared?"
"I was."
Sincerely.
I hadn't thought Leaf was an elf.
The Elementalist = Elf formula existed, but this world wasn't that.
The magic-savvy race had traded the outdated elemental magic for elemental and nature magic, which was why they were elves.
The formula Elf = Prodigious Mage still held true.
They had ridden the tide of the times after all.
Elemental magic was the loser of the past, after all.
"But if I react with surprise, it'll probably cause even more chaos."
"Ah… sorry…"
Leaf wrung his hands around the water pouch and shrank his shoulders.
Even normally, Leaf had an abnormally low self-esteem.
'The ear length is ambiguous. Half-elf?'
I had glimpsed an elf passing by earlier in the academy.
The elf's ears were definitely very long.
That was why the Half-Elf theory had been born.
Compared to that, Leaf's ears were closer to human than full elf.
Proof he wasn't pure-blooded.
'Maybe…'
I somewhat understood where his low self-esteem came from.
"Feeling better?"
"Ah, yes. Here…"
Leaf handed the water pouch back with both hands politely.
I accepted it, tucked it back at my waist, and took his hand to help him up.
"Let's move first. We'll have to break through the wall… but I don't see any sign of Ray breaking it from the other side. Maybe it can't be shattered or has already collapsed."
"That's right. If it were Ray, he'd have smashed through it long ago."
"Exactly."
After the light banter, Leaf's tension seemed to ease a little, and his voice grew brighter.
"But in this case, what about the bet?"
"Oh! You're right. There was a bet. But didn't you think it would turn out like this, Roman?"
"Honestly, that was half just talk."
For two years I'd learned the hard way there was no plot twist, hidden talent, or divine prophecy waiting in this world.
No expectations that lasted more than a day or two.
By a week, all I could think about was surviving until tomorrow.
"Then the other half?"
"…I was serious. I learned there was a grand duchess."
I didn't know about that part, but this training ground had way too many peculiar details.
Even Ray, who had been sold as a slave and escaped, but Alexandra, the academy master's daughter, and Asher, the young genius of a famous guild, were even more interesting.
And now a grand duchess?
"This is too suspicious. It feels like the perfect setup for something to happen."
"…Aren't the odds usually against it?"
True.
When high-ranking officials came, they usually made arrangements strict for ceremonies and escorts to avoid any accidents.
But the world didn't always work that way.
We were already in the middle of an assassination attempt on the top candidate for Earth Prime's next leader.
And with an isekai background on top of that?
It became reasonable suspicion.
Plus, the suspicious circumstances I'd personally witnessed?
Even rational reasoning might not be enough.
"Anyway. There's a bet, so first let's reunite with Ray as soon as possible…"
*clack*
"…It doesn't look like it's going to be pretty."
The ground bulged, and a skull pushed its way out.
"Undine!"
*CRACK!*
It rose and exploded.
"Eh?"
"H-Hurry! We have to take it out before it comes up!"
Leaf, you're terrifying.
I skipped even the appearance scene.
So when it transforms, it attacks without mercy.
But right now, that's perfect!
"That's an excellent idea!"
Let's do it right away!
§
What am I doing now?
Ah, I'm fighting skull mole rats.
When a skull mole rat pops out its head, I crush it without mercy.
*CRACK!*
As I crushed another one with a magic bullet.
"Roman! Left side!"
At Leaf's shout, I immediately turned left and fired a magic bullet.
With limited light and restricted vision, Leaf and I advanced while scouting left and right.
Why did Leaf only shout?
Because Leaf had assigned Undine the task of auto-defense.
Undine was hidden, smashing incoming skull mole rats after we passed.
A very reliable rear guard.
Compared to that, I was handling it myself with my body.
'Is elemental magic actually scam-level?'
The feeling I had when I realized Ray, who I'd thought was a commoner combat mage, was actually a noble combat mage returned strongly.
"More are coming!"
"Why do they never stop?!"
"Save your mana! One bullet per skull!"
Even in all this, Leaf had the luxury of worrying about my mana.
Running, shooting, running, shooting.
Without Ray as the guide, I just charged forward blindly.
Until we reached a junction.
But there was no time for relief.
Unlike the tunnel, there were more skull mole rats here that could surround us.
I stayed on alert as something weird might pop out, and Leaf and I cautiously entered the junction.
I added a little more light to Light and floated a sphere of light above us.
The interior came into view.
"Oh, more of them."
Blood was everywhere.
The blood covering the walls and floor was still wet and flowing.
It hadn't been long.
The thick stench of blood indicated it had been shed recently.
'Cause?'
There was no need to examine it closely.
In the center of the junction spoke that light voice.
He was the one who created this scene.
The corpses scattered on the ground resembled the trainees who had entered the training ground.
Not resembled, but were their bodies.
And my magic circle eyes, which had expanded, saw it.
The mana swirling around his body.
"You… what are you?"
"Me? Does that matter?"
Yeah.
It didn't matter.
He had killed the trainees.
Even though there was an instructor assigned to prevent casualties.
The possibility I had harbored was shattered.
The chaos on the underground floor was not part of the planned test.
It was the dark side.
Someone had planned it with malicious intent.
To kill the trainees.
So I was also just a target for him.
I pulled in as much mana as the contract allowed.
"Hee… black hair, huh… for now, let me ask out of curiosity."
The guy suddenly asked.
"Where is your god?"
God?
What nonsense.
"I don't believe in gods. Not even demons."
Gods gave no answers no matter how much I prayed.
My guardian demon Seir answered just by calling her name.
But there was more.
He filled my mana to the brim, saying not to fight randomly.
Why believe in gods?
When I can just believe in demons who fill my mana solidly.
"Hmm, right? Anyway, I'm the one who said I'd do it, so…"
The guy, who had been stretching his body in some strange exercise, suddenly stopped.
"You can die roughly too."
At the same instant the guy said it in his light tone.
I saw it.
What?
A blade.
Which?
Flying toward me.
Who?
Me.
With the intent to cut me in a straight line.
It was slow.
The blade approached.
Slowly.
I should dodge.
Contrary to my thoughts, my body didn't move.
My body was frozen.
Only my thoughts were free.
'Ah, this can't be…'
Deja vu?
At that moment, the thought that flashed through my head was oddly not my past life, but a conversation from not long ago.
"Creating magic by borrowing the power of demons means you start by imitating some ability of that demon."
First day.
The moment I regressed was when I talked with Pi'ona in the library.