The Event Begins
“Kuaaaagh!”
“Guaaaat…!”
The moment Siwoo and Aria swallowed the improved mana activator I’d given them, they collapsed to the floor and started rolling around in agony.
‘I expected this from Siwoo, but even Aria…?’
The image of Aria I knew from the game and from everyday life was that of a benevolent saint. I’d assumed she’d be able to grit her teeth and endure something like an improved mana activator, but right now there wasn’t a single trace of saintly grace left in her.
“…Stop whining and get up already.”
I gave the two of them a few light kicks as they writhed on the ground. Only then did they seem to register their surroundings; their flailing gradually began to subside.
“Whining…? This isn’t whining! It seriously hurts like crazy…!”
“I know it doesn’t hurt that much, so just stand up.”
Who did they think they were fooling? Having taken both the original and the improved versions myself, I knew perfectly well that the improved activator wasn’t painful enough to be unbearable. Sure, it hurt, but considering the amount of mana contained in the drug, the pain they were feeling was nothing. I had suffered at least a thousand times more than them, yet I’d only taken a single drop. There was no way they couldn’t handle this.
And yet here they were, unable to endure even this much.
I gradually put more force into the kicks I aimed at Siwoo and Aria. Sensing the increased intensity, they finally staggered to their feet.
“See? It wasn’t unbearable after all, was it?”
I nodded and gave each of them a couple of pats on the shoulder. Immediately, a sharp glare stabbed into me from Siwoo on my right.
“What, got a complaint?”
“…No.”
“Good.”
No complaints, and they’d even raised their mana efficiency nicely with the elixir. In that case…
“Dismissed!”
There was nothing left to do!
“Wait! Miss Plea? You’re ending it already?”
“Well, there’s nothing else to do. It’s the day before the event, so maintaining your condition is the most important thing.”
“Even so…”
Aria fidgeted, clearly wanting to say something. I could roughly guess what it was.
“Are you scared because you haven’t done anything the day before the test?”
“Y-yes… that’s right. It’s the day before the exam, so I feel like I should be doing something…”
Of course. She was a model student, after all. Having lived every day with a perfectly balanced schedule of rest and study, the idea of spending an entire test day doing nothing probably didn’t sit well with her. But what could I do?
“Then shall I give you some training?”
“Really?”
“The endurance training we did last time.”
“Ah, I’ll pass on that.”
The smile that had bloomed brightly on Aria’s face at the word “training” instantly froze. She shook her head vigorously.
“You really hate getting hit, huh? What about you, Siwoo?”
“I’ll pass too.”
“Then we’re done here. Get plenty of rest today. Starting tomorrow, the event and everything else is going to keep us busy.”
Both of them wore somewhat dissatisfied expressions, but what could I do? The range of training I could provide was simply too narrow.
‘If they wanted additional training, they should’ve gone to Dana instead of me.’
After all, the training I gave was nothing more than the absolute basics.
“Then I guess there’s no helping it… See you tomorrow.”
Siwoo looked a little disappointed, but apparently deciding my words made sense, he left the private training room without hesitation. Aria also waved goodbye and followed him out.
— It seems your friends have all left?
The familiar voice of an old man flowed from the brooch pinned to my chest, accompanied by a crackling sound.
“Yes, there’s no one listening here, so you can speak comfortably, Director.”
— I see. Since when did you know?
“You mean the function you mentioned? I’ve known about it from the beginning. After installing a surveillance and wiretapping function, there was no reason not to include a speaker, was there?”
— Hehe, you seem to have grasped my personality quite well.
“We’ve spent quite a lot of time together, after all. But you didn’t contact me just to make idle chit-chat, did you?”
— Hmm… I thought we could have a nice chat since it’s been a while, but if you’re going to be like that, I’ll get straight to the point.
The director’s voice grew heavy with seriousness.
— I will order an investigation into the Escal Group.
“It’s because of the mana activator, isn’t it?”
— You’re well-informed. Military supplies from Hellion are strictly controlled by the government. It is absolutely unacceptable for them to have leaked into the civilian market! Our side will focus on identifying the traitor who smuggled military goods out from behind the scenes. Therefore, Miss Plea, I ask that you investigate the Escal Group that received the order for the items.
“When you say investigate, what exactly…”
— After this final exam ends and summer vacation begins, make contact with the chairman of the Escal Group through Camilla.
“By force?”
— If necessary, you are permitted to use the girl’s newly completed second personal weapon.
In other words, make simple contact first and ask a few questions. If anything felt off, I was allowed to beat the answers out of them. The fact that permission to use that weapon had been granted meant there were no restrictions on the level of force I could employ.
“So you intend to eliminate the Escal Group after all?”
— …Dissolving the entire group would be the worst-case scenario. If possible, I’d like to end it with just the chairman’s life.
So the chairman of Escal was going to die no matter what. He was someone who had colluded with demons, so he certainly needed to be killed. Still, thinking about the mental shock Camilla would suffer made my heart heavy. But it had to be done…
“Understood.”
— I’m counting on you.
With those final words, the director cut the communication from the brooch.
“Haa… I’m tired.”
It wasn’t physical exhaustion. More like mental fatigue. The more I thought about the things I had to do, the more it felt like my mental strength was being chipped away.
“Let’s just sleep.”
Carrying a faint headache, I returned to my personal room and collapsed straight into bed.
*
The next morning, the event that had replaced the official midterms began in earnest.
The format of the event was simple. Various booths offering different events were set up across the academy grounds, and participants earned points each time they cleared a booth.
At first glance it seemed like an ordinary event, but there was a reason it was said to be replacing the midterms. Every booth clearance was evaluated and scored, with points awarded on a differential scale. The total points were then tallied to determine rankings.
Still, to preserve its identity as an event, it stated that rewards would be given according to point rankings. Unfortunately, there was nothing among the rewards that would actually help me…
“Still, it looks like it’ll be fun.”
Even though it was called a midterm replacement, it was still ultimately an event. They had included enough entertainment alongside the tests, so it didn’t seem like it would be boring.
I walked along the street with a breakfast sandwich in my mouth, looking at the map that marked the locations of the event booths.
“Let’s see, where’s the first booth… Mana measurement?”
I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but fortunately the map also provided a brief summary of what each booth’s test involved.
“Participants place their hand on the mana-measuring crystal installed in the booth… The color of the crystal changes according to mana capacity in the order of green, blue, red, black, and white…”
The lower the mana capacity, the closer to green the color became; the higher it was, the closer to white. Naturally, the closer to white, the more points were awarded.
“This might be interesting…?”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t properly measured my mana capacity in the last few years. Of course I knew my mana far exceeded common sense, but that was about it. I didn’t know the exact figure. Besides, participating in the event would apparently give me a sheet of paper with my mana displayed as a number… It was the perfect opportunity to learn my precise mana capacity.
“But there are a lot of people here…”
“Indeed. Did you come to do this one first as well, Miss Plea?”
When I actually arrived at the mana measurement booth, it was packed with so many people it was practically bursting. Since the event was open to all grades and not just first-years, it looked like well over a hundred people had gathered at this single booth.
I clicked my tongue in mild disappointment, but I was grateful that Aria was there to chat with while we waited, so I joined the line.
“By the way, why are there so many people here?”
“Because it’s rare to have a concrete way to measure your own mana.”
“Is it that rare?”
“Of course. The mana measuring device here is a treasure produced only in Elimaton, the holy land of alchemists. There are only three of them across all of Hellion.”
I hadn’t realized it was such a rare item since it didn’t have much importance in the original story. Only three in the entire country… Now that I thought about it, the director seemed to know my exact mana value. Did his lab have one of these devices? I should ask him later.
While chatting idly with Aria, time passed quickly, and soon it was her turn.
“Next participant, please enter!”
“Looks like it’s my turn. I’ll go first, Miss Plea.”
Aria walked briskly into the booth where the mana measuring device was installed.
And a short while later—
Ohhh…! White! Such a brilliant white! It’s a perfect score!
“Aria… got a perfect score…?”
The noisy interior of the booth made it perfectly clear what had just happened inside. Still, while I knew Aria had a lot of mana, enough to get a perfect score…?
“Is it really okay for me to do this?”
No matter how conservatively I estimated it, my mana had to be at least a hundred times greater than Aria’s…