Chapter 10
“You seem to have found your motivation all of a sudden. Did you really want to go to the banquet that badly?”
“It’s not like that.”
Well, it wasn't not like that, either. I'd just heard that ‘something like that’ was at stake in this exam.
‘If Father is the one I'm up against…!’
I'd failed to persuade Big Sis, but that was only because I'd gone about it the wrong way; the truth itself hadn't been dismissed.
Moreover, if it was Father… if Father truly believed that souls could move freely, he wouldn't simply laugh off my honest confession as ‘impossible.’
Of course, Big Sis and Eggan would make a huge fuss the moment they saw me… but who cared? Father was the head of our family.
Besides, those two wouldn't dare lay a hand on a distinguished guest of Luminus who had received an official invitation from the head of the family.
If only to prevent the terrifying plan Big Sis might be preparing, now was the time to visit Father—more important than anything else.
‘The problem is that bastard Kairos….’
Honestly, I didn't think I would lose to any of the other first-years.
Aside from the tremendous output of Rene's magic, I had already confirmed during my battle with Big Sis that I could use the Tier 2 spells I'd learned as ‘Evan’ in Rene's body without any trouble.
As far as I knew, only that bastard Kairos and the young lady from House Clostermann who ranked second in the year could wield Tier 2 spells without difficulty despite being first-years.
“Then we’ll begin assigning the groups.”
I was beginning to feel a little tense. This was no longer merely a test for ‘Rene’; it had become a momentous challenge with the future of ‘Evan’ at stake.
‘Gulp….’
Without realizing it, I swallowed dryly and slowly turned my head to sneak a glance at Kairos.
“Ugh.”
But he was looking this way too. The moment our eyes met, Kairos smiled at me with his eyes and waved.
‘Crazy….’
I hurriedly turned my head away. Had he been watching me all along? Gooseflesh rose across my forearms.
‘…….’
But humans are endlessly devious creatures, and an absurd thought began to rear its head: maybe I wanted to end up in the same group as that psychopath.
The confident conviction that, if I ended up in the same group as him, we'd definitely receive the highest grade.
The feeble thought that the only way I could fail to get a high score was by being rated lower in comparison with him….
My own craftiness was horrifying. I shuddered and hurriedly shook my head. Clenching my fists and forcing myself to regain composure, I grabbed the underachiever’s elbow tightly.
“Hm?”
The underachiever looked back at me quizzically.
“If possible, I really hope we end up in the same group.”
I muttered as though making a vow to myself, trying to brainwash myself into believing that a true elite ought to be able to lead even one underachiever and still earn the highest grade.
The underachiever stared down at me blankly for a moment, then her face lit up as if deeply moved, and she shouted energetically, “Yeah!”
Meanwhile, up on the platform where the teachers had gathered… the fateful group assignment that would determine my future was finally about to begin.
※※
“Hehe… hehehe….”
I couldn't stop grinning.
The underachiever, who had been staring at me curiously, soon shrugged and looked around at her groupmates. Then she smiled brightly and stepped forward energetically.
“Well then, shall we start with brief introductions?”
Then she immediately shot her hand up and began introducing herself.
“I’ll go first! I’m Ria from House Arnim! My parents run a small trading business back home, and I have a younger sister! My favorite food is goat meat, my favorite color is red… Oh, and the magic I’m most interested in is necromancy!”
‘As expected, she’s from a merchant family.’
I was beginning to understand the source of her frivolity.
“All right, then… Ms. Eli, would you like to go next?”
The underachiever called on the next person without hesitation.
“Y-you mean me?!”
Caught completely off guard, Eli jumped and hunched her shoulders.
She looked around anxiously, her eyes darting nervously, then quietly mumbled in a voice taut with nerves.
“I-I’m E-Eli from House Clostermann. My parents are… um… soldiers… and I have two older brothers. Um… my favorite food is strawberries, my favorite color is purple, and the magic I’m most interested in is… d-destruction magic.”
‘Whoa, she’s improved quite a bit.’
House Clostermann was one of the Empire’s Seven Great Houses, standing shoulder to shoulder with House Friesna. As the eldest son of House Friesna, Eli was also a fairly familiar face to me.
When I saw her at a social gathering a year ago, Eli had hidden behind her older brother Pierre and couldn’t even raise her head properly. Feeling oddly proud, I approached Eli and clasped her trembling hand in mine.
“There’s no need to be so nervous. Ria may seem a little frivolous, but she’s not that bad a person.”
“What… frivolous?!”
The underachiever immediately flared up and shouted.
“Ah….”
Eli stared blankly at me, meeting my gaze.
I simply gave her a gentle smile. At that, Eli’s trembling hand quickly stopped trembling as well.
If only I had had a younger sibling too… Feeling that familiar regret all over again, I absently patted Eli’s head.
“I look forward to working with you, Eli.”
“Ah… yes.”
Eli obediently lowered her head. I left her and returned to my seat.
“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re always snapping at me!”
The underachiever grumbled with a pout, but I merely turned my head aside and ignored her.
After chattering away and huffing for quite a while, the underachiever finally snorted, “Hmph,” and turned away. Then she shifted her gaze to the last group member, who had been standing awkwardly there the whole time.
“Well then, Ms. Julia, could you go next?”
“Ahaha… yes.”
Julia stepped forward with an awkward smile.
“I’m Julia. I’m fourteen years old, and I’m very interested in transformation magic. I look forward to working with you.”
It was a neat, no-frills introduction. Well, favorite foods and family backgrounds weren't particularly important for a group assignment.
“I’m Rene. I like every type of magic and am confident in all of them. I look forward to working with you over the next few days.”
Finally, I too finished my brief introduction.
The underachiever clearly didn't like how abruptly short the introductions had become, but she didn't complain; she merely clapped her hands sharply.
“Just as I expected, you all seem like wonderful people! Honestly, I was really worried about whether we’d do well on the exam, but seeing your faces made all those worries disappear!”
‘Worried about what? You weren’t even that concerned.’
Still, I did agree with her to some extent about ‘her worries disappearing.’
In a pleasantly contented mood, I looked over Eli and Julia.
‘Looks like the school really classified Ria and me as a proper underachiever duo.’
Kairos was not the groupmate I had desperately hoped for, but having Eli, the year’s runner-up, join our group was undeniably a tremendous stroke of luck.
Moreover, I discreetly used mana detection on Julia and found that she possessed excellent mana far exceeding the level of an ordinary first-year.
Considering that the school had matched Ria—the weakest student, who couldn’t even properly use Darkvision—with Eli, the year’s runner-up, Julia clearly had to be fairly high-ranking herself, someone who would normally have been matched with the original Rene.
‘I unintentionally threw off the balance… heh heh.’
As expected, I couldn't help laughing again. Everything had worked out perfectly.
The underachiever, who had been chatting with Julia with a sunny smile, suddenly tilted her head and looked back at me.
“That reminds me, what do you think this assignment will be?”
“Probably a treasure hunt.”
“A treasure hunt…?”
“Yes. We’ll have to combine the clues we’re given to find items the teachers hid in the mountains beforehand.”
It was one of the large-scale, hands-on assignments held at least once a year.
Since an invitation to the Friesna family banquet was at stake—of all things—the school seemed to have put quite a bit of effort into this one.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Look around. Every group is made up of students of only one gender.”
Only then did the underachiever slowly look around.
“Huh, you’re right!”
“A treasure hunt is a fairly long exam that takes two days at the shortest and more than a week at the longest. Naturally, we’ll have to camp in the mountains during that time.”
I shrugged and continued.
“But mixed-gender groups would cause all sorts of problems, wouldn’t they? When sleeping, or washing up, for instance. So they must have arranged things from the outset to steer the groups toward being single-gender.”
That was how things had always been. Luminus didn't exactly prohibit boys and girls from dating, but they couldn't very well have Eli, a noble young lady, stay in the same space as a commoner boy of uncertain origins.
“Oh, I see.”
Ria nodded, though she was still tilting her head.
“But how do you know so much about that, Rene?”
“Kairos told me.”
“Ah, I see. Well, Kairos does know everything.”
The underachiever nodded at once, as though satisfied.
Just as I’d suspected, Kairos’s name seemed to work like an all-purpose shield against the underachiever.
“Um, excuse me… We really are going to camp in the mountains?”
At that moment, Eli cautiously spoke up, her face—as expected—filled with fear.
I smiled gently and nodded.
“You don’t need to worry too much. The school will provide everything, including food and bedding.”
Autonomous golems roamed the mountains, taking responsibility for the students’ safety, monitoring cheating, and providing assistance when necessary.
The students simply searched for the treasure from morning until evening, then, once the sun went down and the golems appeared, ate the food they distributed, climbed into their sleeping bags, and remained on standby until the next morning.
“Nighttime travel through the mountains will be prohibited too, right?”
This time, Julia asked.
I immediately nodded and answered.
“Yes. The mountains at night would be a little dangerous for first-years to handle.”
I heard that fifth-years who had learned Tier 3 magic were also allowed to travel through the mountains at night, but I didn't know the details myself.
“Then, I’ll now announce the details of the group assignment.”
Just then, Ms. Justina climbed back onto the platform and raised her voice.
As expected, the next order of business was a detailed explanation of the ‘treasure hunt’ assignment.
I looked around at the other three with an expression that seemed to say, ‘See? Wasn’t I right?’
Then I said with a confident smile,
“Just trust me and follow my lead for this assignment.”
For the sake of my future, I intended to give this exam everything I had.