“An exam right after an exam, what the hell is this…”
“Caron’s worse than the Legion Commander himself!”
“Don’t insult the Legion Commander! Comparing him to them is an insult to them!”
The kids gathered at the edge of the northern forest were fuming.
They’d been dragged straight into a practical exam with no prep time, barely even a proper break.
Of course they were going to complain. Listening to their grumbling, an instructor spoke up.
“Anyone who wants to rest may rest. Caron said those who don’t take today’s exam will be allowed to take a make-up exam later.”
“A make-up exam? Did he say what it is?”
“A one-on-one duel with Caron. You start at 0 points and gain +1 for every successful hit you land. Ah, and every time you let Caron hit you, you lose 1 point.”
“…0 is the lowest possible score, right?”
“Negative numbers exist too, you know.”
Meaning your score could drop below zero.
A make-up exam where you didn’t just risk your practical score, but could even eat into your hard-earned written exam score instead of just holding the line at zero.
No one volunteered for the make-up.
For this practical, no matter how badly you did, there was at least a guaranteed minimum of zero.
“A student’s duty is to study and take every exam faithfully!”
“A make-up like that doesn’t even count as an exam! Absolutely not!”
“Even if I’m sick, I take the test! That’s the path I chose as a student!”
The kids hurriedly tied white headbands around their heads.
The headband was their life and everything in this exam.
Maybe that was why a few kids started camouflaging theirs.
“White? It’s way too conspicuous.”
“He did that on purpose. That’s so Caron. Absolutely vicious!”
“If we stick some leaves on it, it’ll stand out less, right?”
“I’m going with mud. Gross, but I can deal with it.”
Leaves, berries, twigs, mud and more.
The headbands wrapped around their heads all transformed into something different.
And near us, there was one kid—or rather, one creature—who was in full emergency mode.
“Ki-kiiiiiiik!”
Pufferfish Rabbit Rezé.
She scurried around on all fours, frantically inspecting the surrounding plants.
“1, 107, 142, 35… s-saturation… 32%?”
Rezé muttered a string of numbers no one else understood. Then she pulled a palette and special paints from her arms and started mixing colors.
Watching that process, I realized what those numbers meant.
‘…RGB?’
A standard color chart built on the additive combination of red, green, and blue, each ranging from 0 to 255, making about 16,777,216 colors.
A color map I’d only ever seen when customizing outfits in a game was unfolding before my eyes.
“O-one done!”
Rezé brought her paint-soaked brush up to the bush beside her. There wasn’t the slightest sense of mismatch.
It was exactly the same color.
Meaning she’d looked at it once and mixed a perfectly matching shade by hand.
‘Does this rabbit have a microscope in her eyes or something?’
It was a terrifyingly genius talent.
I might be shocked, but Rezé was busy moving her brush.
“A-and another! N-now if I mix these all together… i-it’ll be done!”
Khaki, light green, dark brown, and black all lined up on Rezé’s palette.
Now that I looked closely, I realized I’d seen that combination somewhere before.
After thinking it over, it clicked.
They were colors I’d seen a lot in the army.
“I-it’s the invention of the centuryyyyy!”
No, that’s just the color scheme they use in the military. The old-fashioned one, at that.
Before I could stop her, Rezé was already dipping the headband into the paint.
Then she smeared the same colors across her face in angled stripes.
“P-perfect camouflage!”
…No, that’s just your standard Republic of Korea soldier, you know?
Once she grabbed her Magic Gun, she was the spitting image of a soldier.
Pufferfish Rabbit had evolved into a national defense rabbit. I could sleep easy tonight.
Smiling proudly, Rezé held the paints out to us.
I refused, of course. I’d had more than enough of that color in my past life(?).
“Keke, what about you, Luna?”
“Why would I bother when I’ll be busy hunting? I’d actually be grateful if they spotted me and came to me.”
It was a very Luna-like thought for someone aiming for the top ranks.
And she wasn’t the only one thinking that way. Alex, Teron, Daike, Yuridia, Victoria, Adonis and the other strong ones didn’t bother with camouflage at all.
It was the natural confidence of the strong, but also—
‘If you’re carrying a lot of headbands, it’ll get harder to hide them anyway.’
Since the whole test revolved around headbands, the related rules were pretty strict.
No storing them in a Pocket Dimension.
It’d be too easy to carry and hide if you could, so at least one had to be visible and tied around your head at all times.
You could hide the extras if you wanted, but if you ever left a spot with no headbands in your possession, you were disqualified on the spot, regardless of where they were hidden.
“Guess they’re making the last exam a real pain, huh?”
Alex appeared from somewhere, whining.
“Keke, your face doesn’t exactly scream ‘struggling’.”
“That’s a misunderstanding. I’m a weakling, unlike you. I’ve got my hands full just trying to keep this one safe.”
The reason Luna didn’t react when Alex approached.
She was busy chasing Raymon, who came along with him.
Raymon was getting chewed on by Luna as usual. Seeing that, Alex smiled.
“I’m really glad Raymon found a good friend.”
“Keke, sometimes I really think there’s something wrong with your eyes.”
“Hahaha! Like you’re one to talk. Ah, that was funny. You really crack me up, you know that?”
What was that supposed to be? A provocation? Or pure chaotic evil Raymon-style comedy?
We didn’t have long to chat.
Because the protagonist of this episode had arrived.
“You all seem very relaxed.”
“Teron…”
“This fight has gone on too long. The original plan was to wrap it up before midterms… but it’s dragged on pointlessly.”
And he thought the reason for that was—
“Alex, I think the problem is you.”
Teron’s eyes gleamed coldly.
In truth, the alliance between Yuridia’s faction and Victoria’s faction was unstable from the start.
Now that Teron’s strength had dwindled, it was the perfect chance for them to become the true rulers of the first years.
But the two sides hadn’t fought.
Because Alex had been standing in the middle, smoothing things over between them.
“It’s about time we brought this to an end. Alex, come north.”
If Alex disappeared, Yuridia and Victoria would go to war before long.
Teron wouldn’t miss that chance, and the first year would devolve into a mess again.
“You still haven’t given up? What’s so great about that stupid ‘power’ that you…”
“Has it ever occurred to you that brats like you are the reason these problems keep going?”
“They’re comrades and friends. There’s no reason to fight.”
“Round and round we go again. Even someone as patient as me is getting sick of this.”
Annwood Academy was both a place of education and a miniature society.
Kids from all kinds of backgrounds came here, met new people, and either blended in, rejected them, or built a new kind of society altogether.
Teron believed in survival of the fittest.
Alex believed in coexistence and mutual prosperity.
Two people with such different ideals clashing was, in a way, inevitable.
“Then beat me. Prove that your way is the right one.”
“Teron…”
Alex reached out a hand, trying to stop Teron.
But that hand never reached him.
“How dare you reach for him?”
“Daike…”
“You’re the one who rejected Teron’s hand. You pretend to be kind, pretend to listen, then cozy up to the other side and work against us? Bastards like you…”
Unlike usual, Daike kept talking. A lot.
‘Well, considering Teron ended up forming a contract with a Demon, of course he’s furious.’
And at himself as well, for failing to stop Teron to the very end.
He must have been furious.
The two of them grabbed each other by the collar as the argument escalated.
I, of course, watched from the sidelines.
‘There’s a small misunderstanding, sure… but it’s still true that Alex’s actions caused Teron a lot of damage.’
“Ugh! They seriously can’t go a second without picking on my Zero?”
“H-he’s my Zero!”
Luna and Raymon ran over to us.
The two people Teron hated most in this world. He clicked his tongue and held Daike back.
“There’s no point talking between us anymore. Come to the northern edge. I’ll be waiting there.”
Teron turned away.
As he did, he tilted his head slightly toward me.
“Zero, that goes for you too. Come to the northern edge. I’ll… break you.”
With that, Teron and Daike left.
If I can’t have you, I’ll destroy you. This world has way too many obsessive stalker types.
“…I don’t get it. Why do friends have to fight?”
“Keke, because Teron thinks survival of the fittest is everything.”
“Even between friends?”
“If one side doesn’t see it as friendship, you can’t really call it friendship, can you?”
Alex thought for a moment, then raised his head.
“I’ll stop him. And I’ll show him what a friend really is…”
Alex started walking forward.
But Alex was never going to be the one to teach Teron the meaning of friendship.
Not once a contract with a Demon was involved and there was no going back.
‘Because Teron is actually the one who understands what friendship means best.’
“He-hehe…”
A strange laugh sounded from behind us, so I turned my head.
Raymon was giggling. In a dopey, vacant way.
…I had no idea why he was still here. Story-wise, he should’ve followed Alex.
“Keke, you’re not going with him?”
“Ah, Alex needs some time alone too, you know?”
“He looks more like he needs a friend to comfort him.”
“Y-you need comfort! R-right, come into my arms!”
I declined the offer of another man’s arms.
Not that I had to shove Raymon away myself; Luna took care of that with a flying kick.
“Hiiing…! What! Zero wanted a hug, that’s the only reason I—”
“That’s my job, okay? You go to Alex!”
“J-just you wait! Zero’s going to be mine in the end! I’m not losing to some witchy hag!”
“Why you little…!”
Raymon ran for his life.
Once he was gone, Luna stretched her arms wide toward me.
“You needed someone to hug you, right? Come on, into big sis’s arms.”
I never said anything like that. And nothing about the girl in front of me screamed “big sis with a big heart.”
“Keke, I only thought Alex might need some comfort. Alex, Teron, and Daike too.”
“Alex-whatever, fine, but why those two? They brought this on themselves.”
“Did they?”
Maybe because she’d walked up to me with open arms and I didn’t respond at all, Luna scratched her neck awkwardly.
“Well… maybe Daike is a little pitiful.”
“Pitiful how?”
“Hm? He’s been living for his master since he was a kid, and he’ll keep doing that until he dies. People aren’t animals. And he literally dies protecting his master, doesn’t he?”
That was a hunting dog’s reason for existing.
But their relationship was a little different.
“Luna, you’ve said plenty of times you’d lay down your life for me, haven’t you?”
“I have. And I meant it. If it came down to it, I’d do it.”
Luna’s not a liar. The Carpathia defensive battle had proved that already, when she nearly died carrying out my orders.
“And we’re not like them.”
“How are we different?”
“Hmm… in every way. We’re friends. They’re master and hunting dog. That’s a master-servant relationship.”
“Who knows. They might be closer than anyone. Like best friends.”
“Friends? No way. Anyone can see they’re master and hound. Even if you’re generous, it’s more like lord and vassal.”
“Really? It looks a little different to me.”
I forced my lips into a smile.
I didn’t know what kind of smile it was, but it must have looked pretty weird.
Because Luna’s face twisted instantly.
“Ugh! You definitely have something to say to me, don’t you? Just say it straight! Stop circling around it!”
Maybe because I knew Teron and Daike’s story, I’d ended up saying more unnecessary things than usual without realizing it.
“Keke, I don’t have anything like that.”
“Ugh! Seriously! I told you, stop thinking about stuff by yourself forever, and just say it if you need something—”
Wiiiiiiing—!
A siren suddenly blared through the forest.
As the kids’ chatter died down, Caron’s voice echoed from somewhere.
“Instructors, escort the students to their designated starting points.”
Rezé screamed.
“T-the time of death has coooome!”
–TL Notes–
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Damn! How will Zero resolve this!? Even if he defeat Teron how will he deal with Demon and the Duke?