About a dozen students, including me, followed the instructor.
Dense trees and leaves that blocked out the sky.
Breathing sounds from animals that wouldn’t be strange to call demonic beasts.
All the way to swamps whose bottoms couldn’t be seen.
It was far from an ordinary forest.
“Something feels eerie.”
“They left nature as it is. They said they only provide minimal management, and it seems that was true.”
“I heard there are even some endangered species. They didn’t say not to kill them… but it still feels a bit uncomfortable, doesn’t it?”
“What if we get attacked at night?”
The exam time was a full two days. We had to spend at least two nights here.
It meant having companions who could stand night watch was essential. But right now, Luna and Rezé were not by my side.
The other kids were in the same situation.
‘If they placed close friends near each other, they would quickly form teams and hunt the other kids.’
They even considered the children’s relationships when setting the starting positions. It was a difficulty worthy of the final exam.
After walking enough for sweat to trickle down my spine, Instructor Urek spoke.
“Hansen, you stay here.”
“W-wait a second! They all know my position. Isn’t this too disadvantageous for me?”
He was right. The kids were already shining their eyes and memorizing the locations.
For reference, the placement order was based on grades. Hansen being placed first meant he was the lowest ranked among us.
His skills were lacking and now his position was known, so it was natural for him to feel anxious.
“It should have been written in the rulebook. Until the exam starts, you can do whatever you want.”
“Then what does that have to do with this? They’ll all rush to catch me as soon as it begins!”
Urek let out a noticeably loud sigh. It was probably because the kids still hadn’t realized the true nature of the test.
“The exam officially starts after everyone has been placed in their designated spots. You’re first, so you’ll have that much more free time.”
Terrain reconnaissance, setting movement routes, installing traps and such. There were many things he could do.
On the other hand, the later someone was placed, the less free time they would have.
“Those placed later will have no choice but to fight in the opponent’s territory. Traps and formation building. You didn’t doze off during class, right?”
Urek took out a map from his pocket and handed it to Hansen.
“Until it starts, you can move freely within a 50 meter radius. Plan your strategy well and survive.”
“Yes! I will definitely survive!”
Hope filled Hansen’s eyes. The kids who would be placed soon looked the same.
Was this Caron’s consideration for the lower-ranked students touching?
No. This wasn’t consideration at all.
‘It was simply a perverted thought to let them use everything they had and fight freely.’
The weak with their own form of counterattack.
The strong proving they were strong.
The rules were designed just to see that.
“We will move to the next location.”
After moving several hundred meters that way, another person was left behind with a map.
For reference, I didn’t know where I would be placed either.
‘Since it varies based on grades and closeness, it has no choice but to be random.’
A complex algorithm that even veterans couldn’t fully grasp. No matter how much I thought about it, this far surpassed CD game level.
Now that I was inside the game, I understood a little why it was possible.
For reference, the main characters were exceptions. Alex, Raymon, Yuridia, Victoria, Teron, Daike.
The starting points for these six people did not change. Meaning the starting points for Luna and Rezé, who were not main characters, were unknown.
As a custom character, I too would be assigned a random location.
The situation where I couldn’t prepare the perfect countermeasures as usual.
But it was fine.
‘I know all the starting points anyway.’
The only thing I didn’t know was my own location. I had the starting points perfectly memorized.
There were over two hundred starting points, but memorizing them wasn’t particularly strange.
After doing it tens of thousands of times, you couldn’t help but memorize them even if you didn’t want to.
The other veteran players had all memorized them too, so I wasn’t the strange one. At least that was certain.
The forest grew deeper and deeper.
Around the time the refreshing air and cool breeze could be felt, one of the kids opened his mouth.
“The distance is farther than expected? Hunting the lower ranks like we initially planned won’t be easy.”
“I see why they gave us two days. Maybe this test focuses more on survival than anything else?”
Surviving while avoiding the strong. It was a principle that had to be followed no matter what.
If you couldn’t survive, no matter how many headbands you took from the weak kids, it would be zero points.
“Who do we need to watch out for? Yuridia, Alex, Luna, Teron, and Daike… I definitely want to avoid them.”
“Of course. The hunting dogs receive professional tracking training, right? They train for situations where their owner gets kidnapped or something.”
“We have to be careful of Teron too. He’s been looking especially upset lately, hasn’t he?”
“No surprise. He got completely humiliated in front of everyone.”
“I don’t like him, but I do feel a bit sorry. I heard Duke Zeppelin is strict, but… it was more than I expected.”
The memory of that day must have come back. The kids shivered.
At the next location, another kid was left behind. But the topic of conversation didn’t change.
“No wonder such rumors are circulating.”
“Huh? What rumors?”
“About Teron’s older brother.”
“Now that you mention it, he did have an older brother. There was quite an age difference, I think… about ten years?”
“They say he was an incredibly outstanding person. Since he even received an award from His Majesty the Emperor, it can’t be a lie. If things hadn’t gone that way, he probably would have secured a good position by now.”
“It’s unfortunate for the Vyuern family. Who would have thought their perfect successor would suddenly become a vegetable due to illness…”
The kid listening to him clicked his tongue.
“You’re so naive. You saw the Duke’s actions with your own eyes and still don’t understand?”
“Huh?”
“It wasn’t illness. He was beaten into that condition.”
The kids rolled their eyes around. But Urek just silently walked forward.
“I’ve heard those rumors too. A perfectly healthy person suddenly falling ill. It’s suspicious.”
“The Vyuern family’s techniques cause huge internal damage. Even if he was the successor, after taking a beating like that… there was no way he could endure it.”
The kids began chattering one by one, snickering.
Sharing secrets is fun. Especially when it’s about badmouthing someone.
‘Well, it’s just a device for story progression anyway.’
Teron and Daike, who would take the roles of boss and mid-boss in this episode.
This was all preparation for that.
I let the story I had heard many times flow past while organizing my thoughts.
The fact that I brought up Teron and Daike’s story to Luna a while ago.
It wasn’t a mistake. It was intentional.
If it was the tomboy Luna, who acted first instead of thinking like me.
‘I thought she might create some variables.’
That said, I couldn’t give too many hints.
Because if she learned about the relationship between the two, even Luna would hesitate.
Teron aside, the fight with mid-boss Daike required risking your life.
I couldn’t afford to lose on purpose.
‘The key for the next two days… is making connections with the main members.’
It was when I was organizing my plan. Before I knew it, only three people including me were left.
The two kids who glanced at me. They subtly approached and asked.
“How about teaming up with us? We’re 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in this group, right?”
“Yeah. If we join forces, winning isn’t impossible. Of course we’ll push you to first place.”
“Keke, that’s a good idea.”
Color returned to the two people’s faces. At least until I spoke the next words.
“If you two were strong enough to be worth joining hands with.”
The kids’ faces soured.
They seemed to be glaring at me… or was it because my hips wouldn’t stop moving?
It probably wasn’t because I looked like a cockroach.
The two kids whispered to each other. They were deciding to team up. I could tell without straining my ears.
A moment later, the two were each assigned their positions. Naturally, the last one in our group was me.
“Zero, your starting point is here.”
Urek handed me the map. I quickly unfolded it and checked my location.
‘Honestly I know where it is without the map…’
Just by looking at the nearby terrain features, I could tell exactly where I was now.
But if I didn’t look at the map, Urek would think it was strange.
After checking the map, I immediately began national gymnastics exercises.
Stretching to increase flexibility before intense exercise was the absolute basic!
“Hmm… That’s quite an exaggerated movement for tension relief. What region’s exercise method is this?”
Urek started imitating my movements and learning them. As expected of the world-renowned K-style culture(?).
— Exam begins in 1 minute!
Caron’s voice rang throughout the entire forest.
As I prepared to run, Urek spoke.
“Confident?”
“Keke, it’ll be either first or last place.”
“Either way, interesting things will happen. I’m looking forward to it.”
— Exam start!!
I started running the moment it began.
The first goal was the point where the two ahead were expected to join up.
‘It’ll be the midpoint between them. The faster I make my first teammate, the better.’
After running for about 5 minutes, I caught sight of the two meeting at the bottom of the hill.
They were maintaining an awkward distance, as if they still didn’t fully trust each other.
From the perspective of a hunting beast, it was an absolutely perfect opportunity.
White Lightning.
“Graaah!!”
One kid hit by the white lightning let out a short scream and collapsed.
He didn’t faint, but he wouldn’t be able to move for a while.
“M-magic!? What is this…!”
Perhaps he noticed me running toward them. The remaining kid’s eyes widened.
He probably didn’t expect me to come.
Even if he had expected it, he wouldn’t have thought I would arrive this fast.
I leaped down from the hilltop.
The kid thrust his sword toward me.
“Jumping in mid-air! How stupid!”
Unfortunately for him, the stupid one was him.
When I activated the skill in the air, my body automatically spun half a turn.
Vyuern family style fourth secret art.
Meteor Kick.
Crash!!
“Ugh!”
My leg struck directly into the side of his face.
A spinning kick that dodged the sword trajectory in mid-air and connected.
Even I thought it was too perfect.
“Y-you damn…!”
I also gave a kick to the kid who couldn’t move because of the electric shock, and he immediately lost consciousness.
In an instant, I secured two headbands.
“Keke, can you feel the power?”
So far the opponents had just been absurdly strong. I was clearly the strong one.
I immediately ran toward the next target.
The joining location was already set. I should be able to meet Luna and Rezé within a few hours.
The only problem was that Luna and Rezé might get into an accident before we could join up…
‘They’ll be okay, right?’
One daughter and one pet animal.
I raised them well, but I couldn’t help worrying.
— Exam begins in 1 minute!
On top of a large rock. Luna sat there with her eyes closed, lost in thought.
“…”
Luna was slow, but she wasn’t stupid. She was the owner of an extraordinary sense that sometimes threatened even Zero.
Perhaps that’s why. A moment ago, Luna had noticed that something was strange about Zero. No.
‘He looked like he wanted to help those two.’
She had seen through it to some extent.
The Vyuern family. She knew the rumors about that place to some degree.
And that the rumors weren’t exaggerations.
‘Did Zero know?’
The scene of Zero confronting Duke Zeppelin came to mind.
The sight of him being ruthlessly trampled. This was the first time she had seen Zero take such serious damage.
‘He’s a good guy anyway. Trying to save even those kinds of people in this scary world…’
And the image of herself who couldn’t do anything while watching Zero get beaten also came vividly to mind.
She didn’t try to erase that image. Luna, who engraved it once more in her head, opened her eyes.
“No choice.”
Teron and Daike. She didn’t know what situation they were in or what Zero was trying to do.
— Exam start!!
“This big sis has no choice but to help.”
“Die!”
“You die first!”
A fierce competition unfolding over headbands.
They would never know. That the bush behind them had moved far away.
‘Hiiiiiik! D-die? T-this is an exam!’
Rezé, disguised as a national defense rabbit. The box holding her shook like crazy.
But from the outside, it only looked like the bush swaying in the wind.
The final exam.
To prove that she was an outstanding being.
That she had grown much more than when she entered.
That she was a talent for the future.
“E-eeeeeeeek!”
But Rezé only wanted to live.
–TL Notes–
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National Defense Rabbit go!
Also can’t help but wonders whether Teron big bro is actually a Red Herring and he actually got sick or something…