Chapter 50 — Unpleasant Events Are But a Fleeting Moment

1

It was confusing.

The distortion of laws was a rather unpleasant thing.

Though no light entered, he could feel that everything had stopped.

The stench was no longer perceptible, and the hail hung suspended in mid-air.

“…Why?”

Whoosh-.

Movement was detected in the distance.

In this gap, only two types of beings could move.

Either a chosen human, or a demon.

Manus cast his magic again.

[Dux]

What he desired now had changed.

He was drawn towards where the unknown entity was.

‘The direction is accurate. Perhaps Alano could be in danger.’

Was this what was meant by unpleasant events?

How had Alano survived here?

Six hours.

Perhaps she might have to endure even longer.

[Wooooooo-.]

A low-frequency curse that made his chest tremble pierced the air.

Something roaming the mountains could be seen writhing in the darkness.

It looked like a massive hill moving.

Gulp-.

For the first time, Manus felt powerless in the face of that tremendous force.

A giant wall.

No, it was a giant force of nature.

‘A naturally occurring demon?’

Demon?

Demonium?

A life form so enormous it was hard to know what to call it.

It was an entity that had never appeared or been mentioned in the game.

As he stared blankly up at the gigantic being, its massive eyes, generating their own light, looked back at Manus.

A being that creates its own light and one striving to create light recognized each other.

[Wooooooo-.]

However, the gigantic being didn’t even pay attention to Manus.

It walked across the land and slowly sank beneath the sea.

And then, the world began to move again.

“What on earth…”

Alano must have felt it too.

The gigantic being.

That overwhelming presence was no ordinary entity.

Perhaps this was what she meant by unpleasant events.

The artificial island.

And Mythos Academy.

He realized there were secrets yet to be revealed in the main story.

[Interference has begun.]

Some kind of interference had started.

An interference whose nature and target were unknown.

Manus instinctively felt that the axis of a great wheel of fate had begun to turn.

Just how vast was the world the game encompassed?

What secrets would be unraveled in the DLC?

For the first time, Manus felt a sense of crisis.

‘Faster…’

He felt that the flow of time was excruciatingly slow.

For the first time, the pressure to become stronger faster weighed on his shoulders.

A single entity.

An unpleasant event created by a single encounter.

2

“Huff-! Huff! Huff-!”

Thud, Alano fell to her knees and palms on the ground, breathing heavily.

Her whole body trembled, and the overwhelming fear was uncontrollable.

In the end, she showed an unsightly appearance.

“Uweeeeek-!”

She ended up vomiting everything she had managed to eat.

Pale vomit soaked the undergrowth.

For a while, she writhed in pain, clutching her dizzy head.

What on earth was that life form?

What exactly was the true nature of this artificial island?

Alano barely pulled herself together, wiping away her tears.

“Ugh…”

‘I’ve never heard of such a demon. Besides, it’s not even midnight now.’

She felt despair and powerlessness.

How did Manus feel when he saw that monster?

Even though she saw it from very far away, its size and power felt like the world was crushing her.

Leaning her back against a tree trunk she had barely found in the darkness, she remained dazed for a long time.

Somehow, she had endured until the last day of the week.

She ate things she didn’t want to eat, and using her experience from missions, she managed to make some kind of shelter.

‘I just want to sleep all day.’

Suddenly, she missed Manus and the first-year juniors.

She even thought it might be better to be climbing the tower.

The signal flare in her bosom tempted her.

It seemed to be shouting at her to ease her pain, saying that with just one finger, it could send her to a place with light and warm water.

Thump thump-.

She banged the back of her head against the tree, shaking off her distracting thoughts.

“You’ve come this far. If you give up now, it’ll all be for nothing-.”

She steadied her wavering heart and quietly closed her eyes.

Despite the foul stench and pitch-black darkness that had settled, her mental strength was robust.

Alano endured the last day thinking of one person.

-His hair reminded her of the sky blue color.

3

“It’s terrible.”

“Ahem-. We were in an unavoidable position…”

This was the chairman’s impression as he watched the situation from the control room.

The magicians who had adjusted the magic circle let out sighs.

They had only followed the emperor’s orders, but they didn’t expect the results to be this disastrous.

It was the worst assessment in Mythos Academy’s history.

Only five people survived.

Out of hundreds of students, only five survived until the end.

“Is this the emperor’s will? It couldn’t have had any discriminatory power at all.”

“…”

Who should be held responsible?

It was a frustrating situation.

The artificial island was damaged to the point where it couldn’t be used for a while.

The device controlling the climate was completely broken, possibly due to the forceful addition and modification of the magic circle.

In the end, it seemed they wouldn’t be able to enter the artificial island next year.

Chairman Nyx decided he must exact compensation.

“You’ll need to prepare a compensation plan. Even if it wasn’t the emperor’s intention-.”

“His Majesty gave us this. He said to deliver it after everything was over…”

The magician summoned a large chest using magic.

Whoosh-.

The chest appeared, stirring up a gust of wind.

At a glance, its weight was clearly extraordinary, and its decorations were luxurious.

“This should be enough to cover the cost of restoring the magic circle. Additionally, His Majesty conveyed that compensation should be given to the students as well.”

“-You mean to say he foresaw even this?”

“He is the Emperor of the Empire. He must always be seeing something beyond our comprehension.”

Chairman Nyx carefully opened the chest.

Inside was a note bearing the emblem of the Imperial Family and a vast amount of gold and treasures.

It was enough to cover the Academy’s annual budget and then some.

The chairman slowly read the note.

It was a letter personally sent by the emperor.

『To the esteemed Chairman of Mythos Academy.

I should first apologize for sending a delegation in the emperor’s name and exercising power arbitrarily.

The fact that this letter has reached you means that you have carried out what the emperor you saw requested well.

I apologize for the rudeness. There was something I wanted to test.

Give grand rewards to those who passed this trial.

These are warriors who have proudly proven their abilities on a stage tested by me, the Emperor of the Empire.

The Emperor will be watching them.

I promise my unwavering support.

Always take pride.

Mythos Academy is the continent’s finest educational institution and one that strives for the peace of the continent…』

Chairman Nyx let out a sigh.

When it comes out like this, there’s really nothing one can say.

It was about time to go and welcome the returnees.

The chairman envisioned what would happen next.

They would need to prepare a splendid podium.

He wanted to give the students who had suffered for a week a wonderful day.

“Professor Trail. We should have an awards ceremony, right?”

“That would be good this time.”

“They’ve been through a lot, so we should let them relax a bit. Hehe.”

Professors Chandler and Trail agreed.

They too had come to the control room as soon as classes ended and watched the progress over the week.

Although everyone dropped out due to the unprecedented difficulty, the final five never gave up.

Commending their efforts was only natural.

Professor Chandler raised a finger and added another suggestion.

“How about this? We give the five who passed a chance to summon a familiar.”

“…That’s a good idea.”

“I agree as well.”

Familiars could be summoned by anyone who could handle mana, regardless of their profession.

Of course, it’s undeniable that mages, being more attuned to mana, had an advantage.

In any case, visible preferential treatment was important.

As someone once said, Mythos Academy was not an educational institution based on equality.

It was a sufficiently understandable reward, and they had shown themselves worthy.

“There’s no need for debate. If they’ve proven themselves in such a trial.”

“Then, it’s decided.”

With Chairman Nyx’s declaration, the rewards were decided.

The professors who left the control room headed to where the newly returned students were resting.

The five students, including Manus, arrived at a huge auditorium.

It was the auditorium where the teleportation magic circle leading to the artificial island was drawn.

Disheveled appearances, gaunt faces.

The students bore the full brunt of the tremendous ordeal.

“-You’ve all done well.”

“It was quite harsh for an assessment.”

When everyone returned in tatters, Manus, the only one who appeared unscathed, spoke up.

The chairman and faculty gave bitter smiles.

There was no need to hide it anyway.

The chairman decided to be honest and lay everything out.

“The Imperial Palace, the Radiant Sun of the Empire, has tested you all. Those who survived in such harsh conditions will receive commensurate rewards.”

Manus remained silent.

Alano, though sitting down, opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Then, a gruff voice unlike Manus’s was heard.

“What are the rewards bestowed by His Majesty?”

Golden hair.

With a sturdy physique and holding a tattered shield, it was Guillermo.

He too was among the top talents in the second year.

Guillermo glanced at Manus and Alano before turning back to the chairman.

The Magic Department classmates are strong.

As many as three of them passed-.

‘But surely, appropriate rewards have been prepared for each class.’

Guillermo.

And the aspiring knight of the ‘Gladi’ family.

These two were given the opportunity to monopolize the rewards.

The chairman smiled and listed the rewards.

As expected of the emperor, the scale of the rewards was very large.

And what about the quality?

“First, let’s announce the rankings. First place is student Manus. Second place is Alano, and third place is student Guillermo.”

Fourth place was from the Gladi family, and fifth place was from Magic Class B.

The chairman’s lips fluttered as he poured out the rewards.

First, 50 gold per person.

Additionally, cloaks inscribed with high-level magic would be provided.

Mages would receive artifacts, knights would receive swords, and guardians would receive armor.

On top of that, there were differentiated cash prizes.

‘I don’t really need money.’

Manus showed more interest in the artifacts than the gold.

At the same time, a welcome notification filled his vision.

As always, it was time to receive rewards.

『Calculating the scenario.』

Once again, his own story had come to an end.

Now it was time to enter another story.

–TL Notes–
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