A Demonologist's Unyielding Path at the Training Center
The moment I stepped into the recruitment center, my life as a mage began in this fantasy world.
They called it training via the Demonology function, and I finished dead last in the rankings.
That score sheet didn’t just drag the team I’d once led to victory down to the lowest rung of the nobility combo. No, if anything, it had dropped even further than the “maybe things will change” level I’d briefly climbed to.
I could feel the prejudice dripping from every look people sent my way.
Today’s morning session was Ecology of the Abyss.
Unlike the hands-on outdoor practice, the actual lesson happened inside the lecture hall.
The training ground looked nothing like a lecture hall, yet here we were in tiered seats that rose as we went deeper.
I thought university lectures were like this…
Even at the training center, in this other world, I never imagined I’d be sitting in one of these.
As soon as I walked in, the sound of the door caught their eyes and every head turned my way.
I was used to it by now, so the emotions behind those stares were crystal clear.
They hadn’t even bothered hiding it to begin with.
Those familiar, contemptuous glares.
I actually felt grateful when people looked away in indifference.
“Hey, he’s here. Look at him.”
“Right?”
“Yeah, it’s him. The demonologist.”
“Dead last.”
“He was acting all high and mighty on day one. This is the mask slipping off.”
“Heh, already?”
A few idiots were muttering loud enough for me to hear, clearly thinking I wouldn’t notice.
Yep, this was exactly that.
“Hey, there goes my boyfriend.”
“Bullshit.”
Maybe a different crowd.
I ignored their stares and picked a quiet corner seat.
Almost instantly, someone sat right beside me.
“Hello.”
“Huh, hi.”
I answered on reflex, then took a second glance at my neighbor.
Beautiful scarlet hair, slightly wavy.
Her clothes screamed expensive.
Good bloodline, for sure.
Like Arthur’s.
But why me?
“I heard you’re dead last.”
The way she spoke felt completely casual.
That made sense. High birth meant she was used to looking down on people.
“…If you’re here to mock me, you can leave.”
“Huh? No, I’m curious. When I saw you during the trials, your mana felt pretty strong. I didn’t think you’d last this long.”
“I don’t think you need an answer.”
She was tossing jabs, but she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
Even when I hinted it was time to go, she kept going.
“Oh, right. I’m Alejandra Rubio. I’m an elementalist. I mostly use fire.”
“Roman Sun. Demonologist.”
“Hm~ So that’s it.”
She mentioned using fire, so maybe she wanted to know which demons I’d contracted with. Did she think I was crazy?
Among demonologists, the details of our contracts were the most private secret there was.
Once the true identity of a contract demon leaked out, it was basically the same as exposing the source of our power.
“What about this? Answer every one of my questions and I’ll put you on my team. We’re number one.”
She was that curious?
Alejandra Rubio was sending off an unusually strong wave of curiosity.
Number one team.
I’d heard it from Arthur.
The Alexandria School’s top magic academy in Res Limen had a team of new recruits who somehow ended up number one.
Turns out it was her team.
From dead-last team to number-one team.
That was a complete reversal of status, wasn’t it?
Which was exactly why I had to be careful.
There was a saying, wasn’t there?
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
“Changing teams… don’t you need everyone’s agreement?”
“It’s fine. Everyone’s really nice. If it’s my request, they’ll do anything I say.”
That made sense.
She was clearly a precious young lady.
No one would dare refuse her.
And behind her back, they’d be scheming. Predictable.
But would Alejandra really cover for all of that?
I wondered.
Just looking at her, she seemed to have approached me purely to satisfy her immediate curiosity.
Once that was done, she’d probably lose interest and toss me aside like a kid playing with bugs, catching one, messing with it, then throwing it away.
“Well, I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid not.”
“…Why?”
“My team’s not that bad right now. We’re dead last because we’re still getting used to each other.”
They weren’t trusting each other enough to call it a proper team, but still.
“Next time will be different. Once I get a better handle on universal magic and Ray guides us straight to the destination instead of wandering off, we’ll cut the time down to nothing.”
Anyway, the Demonology function training was still going to be practical like last time.
By then everyone would understand.
Our being dead last was just growing pains, a temporary step toward a healthy team.
“You’ll regret it. Nothing good comes from being on the dead-last team.”
Dead-last team.
Yeah, that stung a little.
At least the reason we’d been late was wasted time from pointless friction.
And more importantly, we were already a team now.
I’d said it myself just yesterday.
Remember that we’re a team.
To be honest, my feelings for the two of them weren’t that deep. Even with Leaf or Ray it was mostly business, but the fact that the team as a whole got looked down on felt unpleasant.
And the worst part was them treating me like nothing more than a toy for their curiosity.
Maybe that was why the words just spilled out of my mouth.
“How about a bet?”
“A bet?”
“Which team will pass the Demonology function exam first on the mid-term?”
Alejandra looked at me like she was checking if I was serious.
Her gaze was exactly like the first time she’d seen something strange.
“Really?”
“Completely serious.”
Alejandra let out a short laugh.
She must have been surprised; it slipped out.
Maybe that laugh was closer to her true feelings than anything else.
“Alright. What’s the wager?”
“Nothing specific yet. Something simple like a wish—nothing too unreasonable. Keep it within normal bounds.”
“Within normal bounds? It’s vague, but I don’t mind.”
Sorry, but this bet is mine to win.
That time it took one hour and fifty-one minutes.
With a bit of effort, I could cut it in half, maybe even a quarter.
Ray’s navigation ability is real.
Even Alejandra’s team was fast, but I didn’t think they’d beat us.
Ray’s navigation was on another level.
She never hesitated once, even at the most complex forks.
I wondered how she found the dragon so easily, but Ray just had a sixth sense for it.
After she caught the dragon, she took us straight to the destination.
If it weren’t for me and Leaf falling behind, Ray might have been first on her own.
Maybe she wasn’t a commoner elite but a noble one.
“Arthur’s team placed third,” I added.
Even if Ray was that good, and Alejandra’s team was number one, I could still beat them.
With an endless barrage of magic bullets, sure.
Not something I can’t do.
[As expected of my contractor. You really do have everything planned out.]
That’s right. I don’t do fights I can’t win.
Seir’s satisfaction came through in her tone.
She seemed pleased that I was treating this as a guaranteed win.
Alejandra, meanwhile, secretly curved her lips, clearly confident in victory as well.
“If you change your mind, come find me. I’ll be free for a while. Just so you know.”
“That’ll be when I lose the bet?”
“Exactly.”
Alejandra stood up with a satisfied smile.
With a team waiting, she probably wouldn’t stay here long.
“I’ll be waiting for you with anticipation.”
She left without a trace, as if the meeting had been more than enough for her.
Well, from her perspective, it had been pretty entertaining.
Betting with the dead-last demonologist team against the elite of the number-one team.
She probably thought it was a boring, one-sided match.
But the world never plays out the way you expect.
“U-um… excuse me…”
The voice from right beside me made me almost jump out of my seat.
Why did she move so silently?
Leaf was standing there, having left her staff behind.
“…When did you get here?”
I’d spoken to Leaf on the way back from yesterday’s training.
I’d told her to speak comfortably, but she kept using honorifics because she said it felt more natural to her.
“I, I just got here. But…”
She fumbled her words, looking visibly nervous.
I figured I knew what the problem was and asked.
“Did you hear everything?”
“Y-yes…”
She kept her head down, voice trailing off.
She was clearly too embarrassed to admit she’d heard.
“Don’t worry. You saw Ray, right? We just need to keep up with her. Is the hood uncomfortable? You can’t see out of it?”
“It’s fine. I can see… well.”
Surprisingly, she could see through it despite how tightly it was pulled down.
Come to think of it, she hadn’t missed a single step during the Demonology training yesterday.
“Should I take it off?”
“…Huh?”
“N-no! I mean the hood! The hood. We’re a team… it wouldn’t be polite to talk the whole time with my face hidden…”
“Do whatever’s comfortable. I don’t plan on looking at you so hard. If your face stays hidden, so what? As long as we can talk properly.”
But hood girl Ray was…
She hadn’t even come out at all.
The classes were individual evaluations.
Absences came with their own penalties, and only the student bore them.
Even if they were minor, they still meant missing lectures.
This isn’t something I need to worry about.
The team was the team, and I was me.
If it had been a team project, sure. But I couldn’t interfere in Ray’s personal matters.
I set that thought aside for now.
“I am Mosley, the head instructor of the Abyss Ecology course. I’ll skip the usual self-introductions and jump straight into training. Today being the first session, we’ll start with a lecture. Next time there will be practicals, so pay attention.”
I raised my pen.
§
“It’s a coffee break, huh?”
A woman with steel-grey hair grinned as she watched Alejandra returning.
Alejandra was tall for a girl, but this woman was even taller—over 180 centimeters.
It wasn’t Alejandra who flinched, but the brown-haired man beside her—Juan.
“Don’t talk nonsense, Amaya. It is a coffee break. That stupid demonologist ruined my day.”
“We agreed to call it a coffee break, Juan.”
Amaya’s words made Juan click his tongue.
He did that whenever he had nothing to say.
“So, how’d it go?”
“Hm~ Interesting. There’ll be some fun in figuring it out.”
Demonologists usually tried to hide their class.
Mages were ironclad egoists.
They hated uncontrolled power.
Which meant they didn’t trust demonologists who dealt with unpredictable demonic forces.
A demonologist who shared control of magic with a demon was seen as a kind of time bomb.
That’s why they were shunned and their position narrowed.
But the guy named Roman… he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the demonologist label.
Roman had been completely at ease.
As if he had no shame at all, almost proudly so.
What could it be? I can’t wait to see how he handles himself at the training center.
Alejandra watched Roman with a faint smile.
And she wasn’t the only one.
§
In the director’s office at the training center, a meeting was in full swing.
Senior instructor Marc, the highest-ranking among the five, was reporting to the director.
“Director, starting today we will begin the regular training process.”
“Thanks. How many students?”
“Forty-five.”
“Forty-five?”
The director’s voice sounded skeptical.
Normally the training center accepted around fifty new students.
Forty-five was noticeably below average.
Yet the director’s words contradicted the numbers.
“More than I expected. I ordered a stricter process this time, but they let in too many worthy applicants.”
Daughter of the head of the Alexandria School.
Grand duchess of the ruling family of Res Limen.
Top prospect of the strongest guild.
Even if I only thought of a few, it was already impressive.
And there were more from various groups sent here under the guise of friendship.
When Marc heard the question, he quickly denied it.
“That’s not possible. In fact, this time we’ve already expelled teams that lost in the team trials, which is why the number is even lower.”
Back then we hadn’t announced it, but we’d already planned to weed out the losers to filter applicants.
Normally one trial wouldn’t decide admission, but this year the numbers were too high and the students too strong.
“Really? Even if we cut the numbers in half, it’s still a lot.”
“Probably because so many followed them…”
“Like moths to a flame.”
These were students from various groups who had chased the glow of those three.
“How were the three?”
“Absolutely outstanding. Truly magnificent.”
“Still just young chicks. Any other reports? Don’t want some old fogeys chasing the chicks and causing trouble.”
Marc started to say there was nothing special, but then a thoughtful expression crossed his face.
“…There was one student who stood out.”
“Who?”
“Roman Sun. Demonologist.”
“Demonologist?”
What?
Was he joking?
The director narrowed his eyes. “Why would a demonologist even come up?”
But he had to hear the rest.
“But… it’s strange.”
“In what way?”
“No fear in his eyes.”
Every demonologist fears their own power.
Because they know it’s a noose tightening around themselves.
Becoming a demonologist is like climbing onto a gallows with the lever in your hand.
They bind themselves with the demon, then pull the lever to use the power.
Eventually, when they fail to control it and yank too hard, the noose tightens, cutting off their breath and snapping their neck.
“Yet even though he’s using a power that requires a huge price just for one attack, he shows no sign of wavering. It’s like the fear has been completely burned away.”
The director, after listening to Marc and thinking briefly, spoke.
“One of two things.”
He added,
“Either a madman who’s gone completely insane, or a narcissist who believes only he’s special.”
Neither kind lasted long—especially not in the Abyss.