Chapter 14
There is no such thing as kindness without a reason.
Even if there were, it wouldn't be something you'd extend to a complete stranger.
That was the lesson I had learned through firsthand experience after coming to this world.
I had also learned that, surprisingly, people with polished exteriors were more dangerous.
When someone's appearance is strange, people become wary of them from the outset.
Those who approach others with malicious intent know that all too well.
In that regard, that woman, Fiona, was an ultra-high-risk case.
'It would be troublesome even if she weren't a swindler.'
I knew Fiona wasn't a swindler.
I could tell just by looking at her followers.
Then she must obviously come from a lofty noble family.
"Y-you don't know me?"
"Um, my knowledge of the world is rather limited...."
I'd heard bits and pieces about who had entered the training center and such.
But I had spoken with very few people, and I had never been particularly active socially, so I couldn't match names to faces.
Besides, if I tried to get close to people, I'd obviously just hear them look down on me for being a Devil Sorcerer.
In that case, it was better to stay in the training grounds and practice firing magic bullets, or practice magic in the library.
"No! Even so!"
A blush, blended half from embarrassment and half from shame, colored Fiona's snow-white face.
Unable to get the answer she wanted, Fiona spoke to Leaf this time.
"You, you know, right? Fiona McManus. You don't know her?"
When she had spoken to me, Fiona had emphasized the name Fiona, but this time she pretended otherwise and shifted the emphasis to the latter part.
Apparently, her family was more famous than her own name.
At the desperate question, Leaf let out an "Ah..." and placed both hands against her temples as if trying hard to dredge up the memory.
Fiona's eyes shone with a glimmer of hope and expectation.
I looked at her with a touch of pity.
'What a vain hope....'
That's Leaf for you.
Don't underestimate Leaf, who held an unrivaled position even in our team's collective of utterly unreasonable people.
"Uhhh, I think I've heard of her...."
As expected.
"What do you mean, you don't know me? How can people who come to Res Limen not know the McManuses? The Grand Ducal family that rules Res Limen! Descendants of the great Lobard!"
Rather than angry, Fiona sounded bewildered as she shouted, and Leaf brightened as if she had finally remembered.
"That's right! The grand ducal family's name was McManus! Oh... then, could you be...?"
"Phew, yes. I'm Fiona, the Grand Duchess."
Fiona returned to her noble bearing, once again raising a finger to her chest.
But Fiona's expression had changed considerably from when she first arrived.
She looked somewhat exhausted.
"I'm sorry. I was rude for failing to recognize you, Your Grace...."
"It's fine. If I wanted that kind of treatment, I would have brought along some maids."
A frankness that wasn't very noble-like.
Alejandra was like that too.
So genuine nobles really were different from those bastards who looked down on their inferiors while prattling on about honor and dignity.
Even though she came from the city's highest-ranking noble family, the grand ducal house, she acted like that.
'Come to think of it, using honorifics with someone she'd just met is already pretty far from the usual noble attitude.'
The noble behavior I had learned about in this world involved cutting off a slave's hand for daring to touch one's carriage with dirty hands, or pulling out their tongue for daring to answer back.
To think Res Limen's future was bright enough for its people to know how to respect others regardless of status.
But that was that, and this was this.
In fact, knowing Fiona's lofty status made me even more cautious around her.
"There isn't any reason for the Grand Duchess to help me, is there?"
"Um... that's...."
Fiona trailed off as if there was a reason, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
'I think I can figure it out without her telling me.'
Fiona had approached me by mentioning Alejandra from the very beginning.
That meant her business wasn't with me, but with Alejandra.
And now that I thought about it, Fiona had glared at Alejandra once when Alejandra spoke to me.
In short, Fiona wanted to get in Alejandra's way.
By supporting me and helping me win the bet.
It was a stratagem of killing with a borrowed knife.
...Was that too grandiose?
Let's soften it to: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
While Fiona hesitated, Leaf suddenly spoke as if she had remembered something.
"Come to think of it, you came here last time too...."
"Ahem! Ahem! More importantly!"
Fiona hurriedly cut Leaf off and raised her voice.
"S-so, are you saying you don't need my help?"
I didn't know what Leaf had been about to say, but it must have been rather embarrassing, since Fiona even began to stammer.
She usually looked so sharp, judging by her speech and posture, but she seemed thoroughly flustered.
I was curious, but I had to respect her privacy.
A public humiliation show would be a bit much.
'I can ask Leaf when we're alone later.'
Anyway.
"Of course I'm grateful for your help, but...."
If I accepted help, I had to give an appropriate reward in return.
Otherwise, that help would eventually become a debt.
That was different if it was family or a very close friend.
But surely it was clear that Fiona and I weren't that close.
Now then, what could I do for Fiona?
Win the bet with Alejandra?
That would benefit me too, so it hardly counted as repaying her kindness.
Especially since it was the Grand Duchess herself who would be teaching me.
It wasn't as though I could offer her a material reward, either.
'What, am I supposed to grab her by the hair and say, Please teach Roman magic, meow?'
I'd be out of the running since I'm not a red-haired beauty.
Wouldn't that be Alejandra's job?
"I have nothing to offer Your Grace."
"Hmph. Did you think I would ask for something in return? As someone who has learned more, teaching those who know less is a duty I am obligated to bear as a noble."
Fiona snorted and crossed her arms decisively.
Her words were filled with the lofty pride of someone who never told lies.
"Ooh...."
Clap clap clap clap.
This time, my admiration was genuine.
So this was the duty of the nobility.
Not the duty to roughly say, 'You're uncivilized, so shut up and follow my orders,' but the duty to devote oneself to genuine enlightenment.
I couldn't help but applaud that.
When I began clapping, Leaf, who had been silently watching the situation in front of me, hesitantly joined in.
At the sound of our applause, Fiona's shoulders straightened as they had when she first approached us, and her chin lifted slightly.
"So you're really just helping us?"
"Of course!"
To be honest, I didn't take those words entirely at face value.
Fiona's real goal seemed to be sticking it to Alejandra as hard as possible....
But that was something I would be doing anyway, wasn't it?
If I was going to do it, I might as well do it properly.
I weighed the options of accepting Fiona's help and refusing it against each other.
I was confident I could win the bet without Fiona's help.
But.
'There isn't any reason to refuse it.'
Devil Sorcerers were outsiders even in mage society to begin with. Why should I worry about what a school thought?
In that case, it was better to have the powerful Grand Ducal family backing me.
I'd receive instruction, build connections, and win the bet.
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed there was nothing but upside.
I made my decision quickly.
"Should I call you Master?"
§
On the way out of the library after taking a lesson from Fiona, the Grand Princess and a top-tier magic instructor.
Before we split up for our respective dormitories, I asked Leaf,
"Come to think of it, Leaf."
"Yes?"
"About what you were going to say earlier. What was it?"
"Ohhh, that?"
Leaf clapped her hands and said,
"Didn't you know? She'd been coming to the library for a few days now. Hmm... Maybe she was looking for a chance to talk to you?"
She had been looking for the perfect time to talk to me?
I had thought she was nothing but confident, but the Grand Duchess had a surprisingly cute side to her.
"Oh, is this a secret?"
Though it seemed like it stopped being a secret the moment she told me.
Well, if I pretended not to know, it would be a secret.
"All right. Let's keep it a secret between the two of us."
So did that make Leaf and me secret friends now?
§
A fairly uneventful daily routine passed.
Academic training in the morning, skills training in the afternoon, sparring with Rei afterward with added physical-enhancement training, then learning magic from Fiona in the library, and finally returning to the dormitory to enjoyably create magic with Seir.
I really couldn't imagine using the twenty-four hours in a day any more efficiently than that.
Then, dawn broke.
"From this point onward, we will begin the completion qualification exam."
The day of the exam had arrived.
As during training, the academic exam came first in the morning.
It had been a while since I'd attended school, so this brought back memories.
I used to feel like this when the teacher announced that the test papers were being handed out.
"Uuugh... I'm doomed...."
It was perfect, right down to having a doom parrot beside me who started by announcing that the exam was a disaster.
"That's why I told you to study."
"I-I was going to!"
"So you didn't in the end."
Rei was ruthless.
How unfair, beating someone up with facts.
Stand up straight, Leaf. Why didn't you study ahead of time?
I was going to, but Mr. Roman started learning magic from Ms. Fiona right beside me....
The conversation was more or less like that.
"Silence. The test papers will be distributed now. Anyone who speaks afterward will be considered to have cheated and immediately disqualified."
At those words, Leaf clamped her mouth shut with a snap.
She had said she was going to fail, but apparently she still didn't want to be disqualified.
And so the exam began.
The test papers were passed around, and pens were set down.
The pleasant white noise of scratching pen nibs filled the exam hall.
Meanwhile, I didn't even pick up my pen. I skimmed through the questions first.
Then I smiled.
'What good luck.'
I knew every single one of these things.
§
While the completion qualification exam was in full swing, things outside were bustling with final checks for what could be called the real exam: the practical skills test.
The completion qualification exam was under the responsibility of Mosley, the ecology instructor.
The director and the other four instructors were all assigned to the practical skills test.
Most of the scenario setup was handled by Aaron, the illusionist, and Mark, the senior instructor and barrier mage, but the other two also had parts to play.
"Davenford, guard the center carefully so you can be deployed at any time."
"Understood."
Davenford, the instructor in charge of combat skills, was responsible for intervening if excessive physical conflict broke out among the entrants.
"Lindsay, support Aaron."
"Sure~ Will do~"
As an alchemist, Lindsay helped Aaron set up the examination grounds and manage the injured.
"Everyone, keep this in mind. We absolutely cannot make a mistake on this exam. Especially... you know what I mean, right?"
The director didn't bother naming anyone in particular, but every instructor filled in the omitted part on their own.
"...The completion qualification exam is over."
The director spoke with a slightly tense tone at the mana signal Mosley sent.
"It will begin immediately after the meal, so everyone, prepare yourselves."
The instructors dispersed.
Since they had already eaten beforehand, they headed straight to their assigned positions.
Mark and Aaron moved to the control room.
Davenford went down underground ahead of time.
The director went to join Mosley and lead the entrants.
Watching their backs, the alchemist Lindsay muttered with a bright smile still on her face,
"Of course~ We can't make a mistake~ Especially when it comes to that person."
She had been waiting for this day for so long.
There would be no mistakes.
Absolutely none.
§
The provisional license exam was held underground, where we had conducted our exploration training.
The structure and difficulty would be completely different, of course.
"This is our last time here!"
Leaf shouted excitedly, her energy at its peak.
After comparing answers with me, she was delighted to find that every problem she had guessed on was correct.
Hmm, had I given her knowledge and received luck in return?
The law of equivalent exchange was still in effect here too.
Maybe she'd be good at alchemy if she quit spirit magic.
"Roman's like that again today."
When I remained silent, Rei said it irritably.
Ever since taking Fiona's magic lessons, I had been distracted by thoughts of creating magic.
During training, aside from the first day, all I had to do was follow Rei, so there hadn't been much for me to do anyway.
Was I not the log after all, but Rei?
"Hey, Roman. Snap out of it. How long are you going to stay lost in thought? Worry about magic later and focus on the exam. You said there was a bet. We need to hurry."
"No. It's not that."
But that was only during training.
I wasn't such an idiot that my mind would wander during an exam too.
"Then what is it?"
"Something's strange."
"What is?"
"Things shouldn't be going this smoothly...."
"Huh?"
Rei let out a derisive laugh as if I were spouting more nonsense.
But still.
I was serious.
Things had gone too smoothly.
During the academic exam in the morning, they hadn't even tried something like testing my cheating skills.
And even the afternoon exam, despite being a little more difficult than the training, had ended smoothly without any trouble?
That was impossible.
"Isn't it common sense that something goes wrong in exams like these?"
"What do you think our instructors are, exactly?"
Rei looked at me pitifully.
But I wasn't thinking this without any basis.
Would I really spout nonsense based solely on things I'd seen in novels or manga?
That had only been the starting point.
The real basis came from somewhere else.
"I've felt something was strange for a while, but recently, I've become certain."
"What?"
"That rock-wall basilisk we caught last time. No matter how I think about it, that wasn't something they could just let slide."
The rock-wall basilisk had only reappeared during the final exploration training right before the exam.
That meant they hadn't placed it there to be caught from the very first training session.
And in ecology class, they had specifically warned us about rock-wall basilisks, teaching us that they were top predators on the first floor of the Abyss and that beginner explorers often fell victim to them crawling along the walls.
We had caught one on the very first day, and we had deliberately gone looking for it at that.
And yet they were just going to let it pass without mentioning anything?
"There's something going on."
At my explanation, Rei and Leaf gradually became serious as well.
"...You may have a point, but we can't turn back now."
"Yeah. We've already come this far."
"W-we should hurry. We can finish quickly before anything happens! We have the bet too!"
Leaf seemed uneasy after hearing what I said as well.
"Then let's start picking up the pace."
It was just then that Rei, leading the way, took several long strides and moved ahead.
Ruuumble-!!!
The underground floor began to shake.
The ground trembled, while the walls bulged out and writhed.
This was absolutely not something that happened during an ordinary exam!
"Everyone, get together!"
The underground level was thrown into upheaval, drowning out my shout.