Chapter 37
It had been about twelve hours since practical training began.
We were making our way across a dense forest.
Perhaps because of the thick greenery all around us, our field of vision was quite limited.
Rustle-!
Monsters were hiding in various places around us.
We pressed on while fending off their ambushes.
“Sir Victor! They’re coming from behind too!”
A brief shout.
Immediately afterward, several wolf-like monsters came charging.
Hideous teeth. They were closing in quite quickly.
Perhaps because they hunted in packs, there were as many as seven of them.
-Kyaaaak!
-Woof woof!
But.
I did not waver in the slightest.
“I’ll handle this.”
I merely raised my scythe quietly.
A pocket watch was clenched in my palm.
Click-.
When I pressed the button, everything in sight began moving slowly.
It was like watching a scene in slow motion.
I leaped lightly and swung the dark-red scythe.
‘Parry.’
Pshik-!
I shaved the attack away by a hair, sending the teeth flying in an unexpected direction.
The wolf was knocked away without knowing what had happened.
-Yelp…!
The creature was sent floating into the air.
With my scythe aimed at it, I murmured.
“Ignition. Thorn.”
Shraaak, thud!
A single thorn shot out from the tip of the scythe.
It pierced the wolf’s heart.
The monster collapsed, its strength gone.
-Grrrr…!
-Kyaaaak!
The rest charged, but the result was much the same.
The pocket watch spun around in my hand several times.
Click-.
Click-.
Click-.
Every time the button was pressed, thorns mashed another monster to pulp.
Only after dealing with the last one did I finally exhale.
Sweat had beaded up inside my mask.
“Phew…”
Overall Stats: E Rank.
Perhaps because my body could not keep up, I ran out of energy unusually quickly.
Even now, I was already short of breath from moving just this much.
As I quietly caught my breath, my teammates approached.
“Sir Victor!”
“Ah… Miss Ranne.”
“We’ve finished clearing this side! Who would have thought they’d attack in such a large pack…?”
“Our side is done too. Still, we swept up a lot of points all at once.”
“That’s thanks to your efforts, Sir Victor! Such ingenious movements!”
“Just a minor trick. More importantly, is everyone all right? Is anyone hurt?”
“I’m fine!”
“I-I’m fine too…”
Ranne was spirited, while Alice seemed somewhat intimidated.
Neither seemed to have anything seriously wrong with her.
I checked the crystal orb.
[Monster ‘Jugglen Wolf’ defeated.]
[You gain 20 points.]
[Monster ‘Jugglen Wolf’ defeated.]
[You gain 20 points.]
[Monster ‘Jugglen Wolf’ defeated.]
[You gain 20 points.]
[Monster ‘Jugglen Wolf’ defeated.]
[You gain 20 points.]
.
.
.
[Current points tallied so far: 1872]
Our points were already nearing 2,000.
It was rewarding to have gone hunting so diligently.
It was also partly thanks to Ranne’s performance.
As expected of the runner-up, every one of her attacks packed a different level of power.
‘Well… she is the protagonist.’
It felt strange to be impressed all over again.
Alice, on the other hand, had not contributed at all.
Rather than hunting, her role was to tremble in the back.
“Miss Alice, you don’t look well.”
“N-no… It’s just that… I-I’m sorry. I haven’t done anything…”
“It’s all right.”
Of course.
I had brought her along knowing this would happen from the start.
Alice wanted to hide her abilities.
No, “had to hide them” might be more accurate.
The girl was afraid of a situation in which her power might leak out.
‘Certainly…’
Power she could not control.
Trauma.
Nightmares.
The third destruction that would one day descend upon the continent.
A gateway that would bring the girl’s nightmares into reality.
‘Wonderland.’
It was a power that neither she nor anyone else could handle.
Even if she were to run wild, it would not end as an ordinary accident.
‘Of course… she’d be fine with me by her side.’
I turned things over in my head as I tapped the crystal orb in my hand.
Afterward, a ranking window appeared on the screen.
It was a chart showing the current state of point collection.
[Point Collection Status]
1위 – 3903 points (Team Leader: Rin Glacia)
2위 – 2140 points (Team Leader: Gelic Leribut)
3위 – 2031 points (Team Leader: Ruska Vanity)
4위 – 2000 points (Team Leader: Genorinne Qumbet)
5위 – 1872 points (Team Leader: Victor)
.
.
.
[Total: 51 teams]
‘Going smoothly.’
I had already entered the top five.
Besides the overwhelmingly dominant first-place team, the rest were all fairly close.
The battle for rank continued as they jockeyed back and forth.
‘This… first place is out of reach, but second seems possible.’
I discreetly looked over the first-place team.
The name listed as team leader was Rin Glacia.
The valedictorian of Class A.
At the entrance exam, she was the girl who had crushed Ranne with an overwhelming margin in scores.
‘Her score is climbing fast too.’
That team was definitely in a league of its own.
Of course, if I scraped together every bug imaginable, it might not be impossible…
‘No need to strain myself for it.’
A sub-quest had appeared, but it was a secondary matter.
In the end, what mattered was the incident that would erupt during practical training soon.
I was moving to prevent it.
‘About two hours left.’
Two hours until the incident broke out.
It was about time to move for points.
“Shall we move?”
“Yes!”
“Y-yes…”
I led my teammates toward the center of the forest.
A blue window was floating before my eyes.
[Sub-Quest]
-Title : If you’re going to do it, do it properly!
-Objective : Place third or higher in practical training.
-Penalty for failure : None
-Reward : Consumable Item ‘Very Secret Necktie (B-)’
[Time Limit: Until practical training ends]
“Hmm…”
How should I put it?
I did feel a little regret.
Maybe it was because I kept checking the rankings periodically.
‘The quest said I only needed to finish in the top three…’
But quests like this had a concept called overachievement.
If I finished the practical training in first place, there was a high chance I would receive a [Bonus Reward] in addition to the originally scheduled reward.
That was how it worked in the original story, too.
A reward provided additionally for a perfect clear.
‘I wonder what it’ll be… I’m curious…’
Of course, I had no intention of getting distracted.
Even if I started hunting students from this point on, I would probably run out of time.
On the other hand, targeting the top-ranked teams seemed like far too much of a waste of strength.
Well, unless the lower-ranked teams came rushing over to donate their points, saying, ‘Please catch me’…
‘Tch… As if that would happen.’
I could only click my tongue in disappointment.
It could not be helped.
If I tried to take care of everything, I might end up losing both targets.
‘This is the right choice.’
I encouraged myself and crossed the forest.
Just as I was nearly reaching my destination.
Ranne, who had been walking beside me, suddenly stopped.
Her violet eyes scanned the surroundings, as if she had sensed something.
“Sir Victor.”
“Miss Ranne?”
“I believe we’ve been surrounded.”
Rustle-.
Then, people began emerging from between the bushes.
There were a lot of them.
Perhaps around thirty.
Judging by teams, there seemed to be about ten groups.
They appeared quietly and stood there as if to block our path.
“Oh dear…”
I looked behind us, but the path we had come from was blocked as well.
There was no escape route.
I looked forward again.
Had they formed an alliance among themselves?
Or perhaps they had been one team from the beginning…
As I fell into thought for a moment, a fellow who looked like the leader stepped forward.
“Victor.”
A somewhat familiar face.
I tilted my head and asked.
“Hmm? You know my name.”
“Of course…! There’s no way we wouldn’t know your name.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you…?”
“Ha! Don’t tell me you’re going to put on that swagger when you don’t even remember us?”
“……”
No.
Who was he?
I really didn’t know.
“We’ve come to repay the humiliation you inflicted on us!”
“Humiliation…?”
“Are you going to keep pretending you don’t know to the very end?! The freshman welcome test was only a week ago! Or have you gotten scared? Where did that nerve go—the nerve to brazenly provoke our Class C?”
“Ah.”
I finally remembered.
The Class C students.
The guys who had enthusiastically mocked Class E during the freshman welcome test.
They were Shariel’s lackeys, whom I had knocked unconscious on the spot.
It had only been a week ago, but I must have forgotten because so much had happened lately.
“Ha! That’s finally the face of someone who remembers!”
“My apologies. I have trouble remembering weak people…”
“Grr, you insolent…! You’re still arrogant to the end! Let’s see how long that sneer lasts!”
“I was born with a smiling face. More importantly, where is Lady Shariel?”
“Lady Shariel isn’t here! She went to the Purgatory side for practical training!”
“Oh?”
“Only the rest of us came here to meet you today!”
Shing, click, clunk-.
The Class C students each drew weapons from their sleeves.
Their eyes, filled with vengeance, glared this way.
“Lady Shariel said we should let it go, but… we can’t tolerate that!”
“How dare you bring such shame upon Lady Shariel! We’ve come to avenge her!”
“Ever since you did that to her, Lady Shariel has been acting strangely.”
“She was once so dignified, but she withered away!”
“We don’t know what you did, but we’ll crush you and restore Lady Shariel’s spirits!”
The lot of them rattled off their circumstances.
A tale one could hardly hear without shedding tears.
True loyalists of this age.
To come rushing over in a pack like this for their dispirited mistress.
“Hah…!”
Thus, I had no choice but to break into a broad grin.
The corners of the mask’s mouth split as though they would reach my ears.
Dark-red mist spread through the forest.
“Everyone.”
Exactly nine teams.
I aimed my scythe at the students.
Who would have thought things would work out this perfectly?
“You all have at least 300 points, right?”
First place is mine.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest.
A girl was walking between the bushes.
“……”
Mysteriously colored blue hair.
Eyes that seemed devoid of emotion.
Her features were so sharp they seemed almost pointed.
A beauty capable of making anyone, man or woman, stop breathing for several seconds.
Beside the girl lay the corpses of monsters brutally slaughtered without mercy.
Click-.
A pure-white blade slid into its scabbard.
An icy wind inappropriate for the season.
Snowflakes were drifting down through the air as well.
The girl’s presence seemed capable of freezing the entire hunting ground.
“Haa…”
Her breath bloomed like a flower.
The girl’s name was Rin Glacia.
She was the first-year valedictorian known as the most overwhelming in Grandia Academy’s history.
“……”
Rin was alone.
She had not bothered to look after her teammates.
From the moment practical training began, she acted on her own.
Every time the sword containing winter swung, dozens of monsters were swept away helplessly.
Shraaak-!
Perhaps she did not even tire; she never took a break.
She simply massacred monsters like a machine.
‘The rankings…’
Had it suddenly occurred to her?
Rin took a crystal orb from her bosom.
A thick layer of pure-white frost had formed around its smooth surface.
‘……I must be in first place.’
The result was obvious, but she activated the screen just to check.
After blinking several times, the rankings appeared in her field of vision.
Rin skimmed the table with emotionless eyes.
But,
“……?”
Once she saw the results, the girl could not help but display a question mark.
Because the ranking shown on the screen had completely defied her expectations.
[Point Collection Status]
1위 – 5839 points (Team Leader: Victor)
2위 – 4394 points (Team Leader: Rin Glacia)
3위 – 2531 points (Team Leader: Ruska Vanity)
.
.
.
[Total: 51 teams]
The name listed in first place instead of Rin.
A score 1,500 points ahead of her own.
The blue-haired girl came to a stop.
“……Haa?”
Her gaze had turned cold.