Chapter 16
Anyway, our group’s supervising professor was Professor Kadisha.
When I checked the rest of our team, I recognized two of them.
Blonde hair and blue eyes. And a haughty expression.
“Have you been well, Elettra?”
“I know I’m saying this late, but you’re speaking very casually to a princess.”
“Oh, should I use honorifics?”
Gilliam asked nonchalantly.
But Elettra was tense inside.
‘He’s speaking casually to show off how close we are, isn’t he?’
Gilliam was the man who had picked a fight with the Crown Prince on the very first day of school.
It was obvious what it meant to clash with the Crown Prince while getting along with the princess.
Gilliam intended to support her.
In the struggle for the throne.
If so, asking whether he should use honorifics meant, Do you want me to withdraw my support for you?
His matter-of-fact tone meant, I wouldn’t lose anything either way.
‘What an arrogant man. How can he play hard to get so calmly with a princess?’
So the answer Elettra needed to give now was—
“…Keep speaking casually if you want.”
If you want to keep supporting me, go ahead.
But don’t think I’m the one clinging to you.
‘Hmph.’
Even Elettra herself thought it was an excellent answer, a decent bit of push and pull.
‘Gilliam, you’re certainly an interesting man. But I have no intention of being led around by you.’
“Elettra.”
“?”
After gazing into space as if lost in thought for a moment—
“Your waist looks really lovely today, too.”
“W-what!?”
What kind of compliment was that all of a sudden?
It wasn’t that she disliked it.
No, actually, it was a compliment that made her genuinely happy!
Because Elettra had actually been dieting lately, concerned about her waistline.
Such a precise compliment, striking right at her heart.
Her heart was about to start pounding wildly.
‘N-no, I can’t. I said I wouldn’t let him lead me around. Stay calm. Calm, calm, calm…!’
Inside, she was flustered.
Outside, she was the calm and cool princess.
“That means you’ve been watching me closely—”
“Have you been well too, Roy?”
Gilliam moved on to the next person.
Elettra’s hand, which had been about to fold across her chest, clenched tightly into a fist.
Nor was the next person to receive Gilliam’s attention happy about it.
Roy Edgers.
The very student Gilliam had thoroughly trounced in the mock duel on the first day.
“…Everchess.”
Roy ground his teeth.
“Hey, don’t grind your teeth. You’ll ruin them like that.”
“…G-gh, th-thanks for the advice.”
“You….”
Gilliam again stared into space for a moment, as if lost in thought.
“Hmm… never mind.”
Crrrrrack…!!
The other three had never spoken to each other before.
“….”
“…Everchess the troublemaker.”
“Gulp….”
In other words, they were wary of Gilliam.
Professor Kadisha spoke up.
“If we’re all done introducing ourselves, let’s move.”
Around this grassy field, some distance from campus, were training dungeons managed by the academy.
There were six entrances in total. They looked like stone gates leading into ruins.
“The other groups… have arrived at their entrances, too. Then I’ll start the countdown.”
Professor Kadisha pressed the timer.
The hourglass inside the sophisticated item rotated and began measuring time.
The cadets glanced at one another.
The faster they cleared it, the more points they could earn.
But before blindly charging in, they should probably have a strategy meeting.
Naturally, everyone looked to Elettra.
Because she was a princess.
But someone stepped forward before Elettra.
Gilliam simply strode straight into the dungeon.
“H-hey!”
“…!”
Flustered, Roy and Elettra followed him, and the other three cadets hurried after them.
Roy shouted at Gilliam, who was leading the way.
“What are you doing, charging in without warning?”
“We’ll get a higher score if we clear it quickly.”
“We should plan our approach first!”
“Plan? The layout of this dungeon has already been made public. Didn’t you all look it up in the library?”
…This dungeon was covered in books at the library?
Roy bluffed.
“…Well, I did look.”
“Then you all know. The dungeon is divided into three main areas. The first area is an ordinary left-and-right branching maze. The correct route is left, left, right, left, right, right.”
“W-wait. What?”
“Left, left, right, left, right, right.”
They reached the first fork. Just as he’d said, Gilliam proceeded without hesitation to the left.
“And the monsters placed here are slimes. Assuming we take the correct route, we’ll encounter eleven slimes in total.”
The rest of the team, including Elettra, listened intently to Gilliam’s explanation.
‘So that’s how it is? Eleven…?’
‘I had no idea….’
‘Does that mean we’ll encounter more if we take another route?’
“Well, I’m sure you all know this already.”
Everyone swallowed their words. No, it seems like you’re the only one who knows this.
At a loss for words, Roy nitpicked something else.
“…Why are you the one deciding that instead of Her Highness the Princess?”
“Elettra isn’t the team leader. And anyway, Elettra thinks the same thing, doesn’t she?”
Elettra flinched.
“I-I suppose so.”
She didn’t look like someone who’d thought that at all.
Still, Gilliam nodded.
“I knew it.”
“….”
“….”
“….”
Was he trying to save Elettra’s face, or was he insulting her instead?
Gilliam was so serious that it was hard to tell.
In the bewildered atmosphere, they continued onward for now.
Whenever they reached a fork, Gilliam chose without hesitation, and every time, he picked the right route.
“And this is where we’ll encounter the first monster.”
Slimes.
Small, nearly harmless monsters.
Roy stepped forward.
“I’ll take care of that. <Blizzard Sword>!!!”
The three-star ice magic sent blades of ice flying forward, freezing and shattering the slime in an instant.
“One point for Edgers.”
Professor Kadisha noted the bonus points.
Separate from the group’s overall score, the system awarded bonus points to those who contributed greatly during the clear.
“Hmph.”
Roy sneered at Gilliam.
“See that? This is the difference in our abilities.”
“Impressive. You really do have a talent for magic.”
“Grrrr…!”
“…Keep that up and you’ll need dentures within a few years. Wait, can magic restore teeth?”
“Grrrrrr…!!!”
The next slimes they encountered numbered three.
“I’ll take care of those.”
With a quiet sound, Elettra drew her sword.
Delicate and ornate in appearance.
The Sealing Sword.
One of the most powerful artifacts in this world.
Even without releasing its power, a single swing made all three slimes disappear.
“Three points for Xantias.”
As expected, Professor Kadisha continued scoring.
And the remaining seven slimes were gathered in the center of the second area.
Roy saw them and thought,
‘This is my chance.’
Gilliam had definitely said they’d encounter eleven slimes if they took the correct route.
They’d killed four so far.
The seven in front of them were all that remained.
If he killed all the slimes here, Gilliam wouldn’t get a single bonus point.
In this situation, a wide-area spell was ideal. For instance—
“<Mana Blizzard Tempest>.”
With the incantation, the three-star ice magic activated.
A blast of cold swept through and froze all the slimes solid in an instant.
However, the one who had cast the spell wasn’t Roy, but Gilliam.
“H-how could you…!?”
“I saw you use it and learned it.”
“No, that’s not the point—”
But before Roy could get over his first shock, a new one piled on.
“Ten points for Everchess.”
“Wait a second! Why does Everchess get ten points? Wasn’t it one point per slime?”
“Look at that.”
There was an especially large one among the slimes.
“A Heavy Slime. That one’s worth four points.”
Six were worth one point each, and one was worth four. Ten points in total.
Logical.
“Ghh….”
With no comeback, Roy had no choice but to retreat.
He was beginning to feel defeated by Gilliam.
But their group continued making rapid progress after that.
“Next, left, then right, and after we pass the trap that appears if we stand still at the fork, go straight.”
In no time, they moved forward smoothly.
It was a flawless strategy.
“We’re at the boss room now.”
As expected, Gilliam opened the door at once without even hesitating.
The boss waiting inside was a gigantic King Slime.
The cadets took up fighting stances.
Kadisha rested her hand on the notebook where she recorded bonus points.
‘So, what will he do here? Will Gilliam handle the whole thing by himself again?’
If he did, it would be grounds for a deduction rather than bonus points.
Cooperation was also part of the combat skills taught at the academy.
Some geniuses tried to do everything on their own.
But they would surely hit a wall someday.
Becoming a team stronger than the sum of its individual members through cooperation.
That was one of the qualities the academy aimed to cultivate.
‘I’ll keep watching.’
And right in front of Kadisha’s gaze, Gilliam—
“Roy, use an area spell to pin down the King Slime. Don’t let it split.”
Roy was flustered.
‘What’s he trying to do?’
Was he trying to make him waste magic and wear him down?
But Gilliam’s commands flowed smoothly.
“Eric, strike the King Slime’s surface. Melinda, give Elettra an Agility buff. Ryuk, protect the mages. Elettra, stab it with your sword when its core is exposed.”
Specific commands poured out in an instant.
And he wasn’t just saying whatever came to mind. He was coordinating each team member’s abilities precisely, chaining them together. He’d never even met three of them before.
The King Slime’s enormous body moved. It was trying to split.
“Roy!!”
“Ghh…! <Frigid Temperament>!!”
In the end, even Roy had no choice but to follow Gilliam’s instructions.
From there, spells, skills, and attacks chained together one after another.
“<Speed Boost>!”
“Hyaaaah!!”
“<Lesser Shockwave>.”
“—!!”
Kadisha’s eyes widened.
‘Amazing…!’
Cooperation.
Team composition.
Matchups and attributes.
These were all concepts the academy worked hardest to drill into the cadets—and struggled hardest to teach.
Proud cadets found cooperation with others the most difficult thing in the world.
‘He calculated all of that in such a short time…!!’
It was talent.
And he hadn’t merely devised a strategy; he’d actually gotten his team to follow it.
Of course, Gilliam himself had no awareness that he’d done anything impressive.
‘Putting together a team and chaining skill combos is basic stuff in pretty much any game.’
And even defeating the King Slime was ultimately just a prelude to the main event.
‘The truly important event is about to happen.’
Elettra’s sword split the King Slime’s fully exposed core.
“We won!!”
“Clear!!”
At the very moment the team members were about to cheer—
A sinister wind blew through the dungeon with a whoosh.
‘It’s here.’
Suddenly, all the torches inside the dungeon went out.
“Huh!?”
“I can’t see…?”
“Professor!? E-everyone here!?”
“Everyone, stay calm! I’ll light—”
Translucent figures glowing in the darkness rose up.
- Shaaaaa….
- Sshhaaaaa….
Hissing sounds. A hideous appearance like half-rotted corpses.
The quintessential ghost-type monsters: wraiths.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?!?”
Elettra let out a shrill scream and clung to Gilliam.