Atel Dane was a female student in the martial arts track, a martial artist whose abilities were at the 2-Star level.
Her naturally light brown hair suited her quite well.
Her eyes were the same color as her hair, giving her a distinctly healthy appearance.
She was also on the tall side for a girl her age, which helped her stand out.
She was usually fairly good-natured and got along well with other people.
But she had a tendency to submit to differences in rank and authority.
Perhaps that was why she lived at the academy without ever being able to hold her head high.
"Your main weapons are a sword and shield, then?"
"Y-yes! I've been learning to use a shield since I was little!"
The swordsmanship she practiced relied on using a sword and shield together.
Watching her, Ex could see that she focused more on defending than on attacking.
Apparently, her dream was to join the Imperial Bodyguard.
Would she faint if Ex introduced her to Milia someday?
They desperately needed someone on the front line who could defend.
Ex, Lola, and Circe were all focused on offense, after all.
When Ex spoke with Atel separately, he learned a little more about her as well.
"M-my parents are mercenaries, so I've had chances to learn swordsmanship ever since I was little. But I don't like getting hurt, so I picked up a shield first. They thought I showed some talent with a shield, and that's why my parents sent me to the academy…."
Atel certainly wasn't lacking in ability.
It was just that Ex was surrounded by so many monstrous people that his standard for fighting strength had become rather strange.
Measured against the average person in the empire, anyone at 2-Star or above was practically on the verge of being superhuman.
Most mercenaries and adventurers out there never even had a chance to encounter a fragment of a cultivation method, much less learn one.
Their weapon skills weren't part of any organized discipline, either. They were closer to outright brawling, worse even than the Three Talents Sword Art Ex had first learned.
So there was no question that Atel was above average for a martial artist her age.
Except for one serious problem.
"You're a shield bearer on the front line, but you're afraid of fighting and try to keep yourself out of danger. You do realize that makes no sense, don't you?"
"Ugh…."
Yes. Atel was afraid of combat.
She was afraid of hurting either herself or her opponent.
Ex could have understood that in an ordinary girl. But Atel was a martial artist.
"Have you ever thought about changing that part of your personality?"
"I've thought about it a lot, but it's not something I can easily change…."
As this showed, Atel was afraid of changing herself, too.
In all sorts of ways, her personality made things terribly difficult.
Keeping what he had learned about Atel in mind, Ex moved on to the next student.
Ames Bailey was a male student in the martial arts track, another martial artist with abilities at the 2-Star level.
He was a tall boy with red hair tied back in a ponytail.
It was clear that he'd trained quite a bit, and he had plenty of small wounds to show for it.
His eager black eyes burned with enthusiasm.
"Just give me the order, and I'll do anything…!"
"Your main weapon is a spear. I'm surprised you didn't choose swordsmanship."
"I learned spearmanship from my father!"
Ames filled the role of an aggressive fighter on the front line.
With his spear, Ex could expect him to work well alongside Atel, who had trained in shield techniques.
Ames had an outgoing, proactive personality, and his attacks were fairly fierce.
He was a promising fighter who could deliver the decisive blow in most teams.
There was, however, a reason he still hadn't found a team.
"Is there a reason you keep charging in without thinking about what comes next?"
"If you're born a man, you don't retreat!"
"And that's why you were the first one to go down."
"…"
Unfortunately, Ames's personality was completely unsuited to any activity that required cooperation.
Once a fight began, he trusted only his own judgment and recklessly charged straight ahead. That was the problem.
"Would you still do that even if I gave you an order?"
"N-no! I would never even think of it…!"
"I certainly hope not. I'll say this again: my goal is to finish at the top. A subordinate who won't follow orders is of no use to me."
"Y-yes, sir!!"
Ex deliberately lowered his voice to deliver the warning.
The warning in that voice left Ames thoroughly frightened and tense.
Ex had no choice but to handle it this way.
Given the nature of Ames's weapon, he had an important role: finding the opportunity to land a powerful blow. If he ignored the leader's judgment and engaged the enemy at the wrong moment, though, it would be a disaster.
An incompetent ally was more dangerous than a powerful enemy.
After giving Ames several more warnings that bordered on outright threats, Ex spoke privately with the last student.
"I called you here so we could get acquainted, that's all. Fortunately, Tene, you don't seem to be afraid of me."
"…"
Tene Steray was a male student in the sacred arts track, with abilities at the third rank. That was quite a high level for Class F.
His short blue hair, which gave him the look of a monk, left a strong impression.
His calm, dark brown eyes seemed detached from worldly concerns.
He was of ordinary height, but he showed signs of considerable training.
"You're learning sacred arts that enhance physical abilities, correct? Are you at a level where you can enhance other people, too?"
Tene nodded cautiously.
Like Frey, he was a member of the clergy following the path of a monk.
In their earlier fight, he had enhanced his entire body before coming at Ex.
As was usually the case with combat monks, once he latched onto an opponent in a one-on-one fight, it was quite difficult to shake him off.
"Your fighting ability is fairly good, you have a decent amount of confidence, and you can enhance other people. I like having such a versatile attacker on the team."
"…"
"There is, however, one little problem that's rather a big problem."
Ex looked at Tene, who had yet to open his mouth to say a single word, and sighed.
"Have you been keeping quiet all this time because you've taken a vow of silence?"
"…"
Tene was a member of the clergy who had taken a vow of silence.
"I know you can gain divine power quickly by accepting a disadvantage for yourself. But of all the vows you could have chosen, a vow of silence…. How much longer do you have left?"
Tene held up three fingers.
"Three months?"
Tene shook his head.
"…Three years?"
Tene nodded.
The prospect made Ex's head swim. He pressed a hand to his forehead.
He couldn't exactly tell Tene to break his vow….
Vows like these had the advantage of letting a person gain divine power quickly. But there was a disadvantage, too: if the person broke the vow, they would lose all the divine power they had gained so far.
No one could tell a member of the clergy to break a vow like that. Not even the Emperor or the Pope.
Still, if that were the only issue, it would be manageable.
Tene, too, had a reason he still hadn't been able to find a team.
Tene began waving his hands around, trying to communicate through gestures.
Of course, Ex had no ability to understand what any of it meant.
"…We can't communicate in writing, either?"
Tene crossed both hands into an X to indicate that they couldn't.
A vow of silence prohibited communication through language.
The moment he conveyed something in writing or speech, the vow would be broken.
His hands went sweeping and darting this way and that. The problem was that Tene was a person who had a great deal to say.
He tried desperately to communicate something with his gestures. In the end, though, Ex couldn't understand a single thing he was trying to say.
Both Ex, watching him, and Tene himself were so frustrated they could have gone mad.
"All right. Let's try to get along from here on out…."
In the end, Tene could only clench his back teeth in frustration.
These were the teammates Ex would be doing the group assignment with.
The one bit of good fortune was that Circe and Lola would be there with him.
Whatever might be true of the others, Ex had already practiced coordinating and fighting together with those two quite a bit.
So all he had to do now was learn to work with the new teammates.
Of course, things in this world never worked out quite that easily.
* * *
Ex spent the little time available wringing every bit of effort out of the students. Then Thursday arrived.
It was time for the performance assessment in Basic Strategy and Tactics.
Since this was a practical assessment, the class met at a dedicated training site.
It was a multipurpose experimental training facility inside the research complex.
The sixteen students of Class F changed into the designated training clothes and stood before their Basic Strategy and Tactics professor.
He was a middle-aged man with a rather sharp, severe look.
Reder Winson. The professor of Basic Strategy and Tactics was a former commander who, according to what Ex had heard, had been dishonorably discharged for misconduct.
Was that why he had such a rotten personality?
He was someone who had never appeared in the original novel.
In any case, that personality wasn't going to be directed at Ex.
As always, Ex watched the situation unfold without much concern.
Reder confirmed that all the students were present, then began to speak.
"As announced, today we will conduct the performance assessment for Basic Strategy and Tactics. I told you to form groups of no fewer than four and no more than six, and to prepare to respond to any situation. You haven't forgotten that, I assume?"
Not a single student denied it.
The professor already had a foul temper. With an assessment about to begin, the students didn't want to give him any unnecessary reason to find fault with them.
After enjoying the silence for a little while, Reder operated a panel in the training facility.
"Today's performance assessment will test your tactics in a labyrinth. Your objective is to escape from the labyrinth within fifty minutes. I will observe the process and assess you in a number of different areas."
"What will the assessment criteria be?"
"Cooperation, leadership, your ability to improvise, and so on…. We will examine the various abilities required of a party. Be warned: if you fail to escape the labyrinth, you will be disqualified and receive an F."
"Are we allowed to attack the other groups?"
That was quite a perceptive question.
At the question, Reder nodded as though the answer were obvious.
"Of course. How you respond when you encounter another group will also count toward your score. For your information, this assessment will be graded on a curve. If you want a high grade, incapacitating the other groups would be a good way to get it."
"W-what if someone gets hurt? Couldn't that be serious…?"
"You will put on safety devices before entering the labyrinth. They are enchanted to return you to this location once you're judged to have been incapacitated. You may display your full strength without hesitation."
It was a statement clearly meant to encourage competition.
Once this element of competition was added to the assessment, the other students cast sidelong looks at Ex's group.
Ex's was the strongest group in the class, making it the one they needed to be most wary of.
Ex decided to throw in a remark for no particular reason.
"If we run into any of you, we'll smash you to pieces. You'd better know your place."
"Don't say things like that…! Why are you going out of your way to make enemies…!"
Startled by his words, Lola gave him several taps to make him stop. The expressions of the other students grew bleak.
Competition only worked when the opponents were on a comparable level. If one side was overwhelmingly stronger than the other, it was simply unfair.
"We will now begin the performance assessment for Basic Strategy and Tactics."
Reder followed that announcement with a few more nagging instructions. Then the assessment began in earnest.
Each group chose one of the three entrances before them. Ex headed for the middle entrance.
The moment all six members of Ex's group stepped into the labyrinth, the entrance closed and darkness swept over them.
Ex lit a small flame with magic and looked around. He could see fear on the faces of the three new teammates.
"You remember the procedure we learned for exploring a dungeon, don't you? That's what we'll follow. It's so dark we can barely see, so we'll use Cat Eye. Miss Circe, would you cast it for us?"
Circe quietly recited an incantation and cast the spell on the group. It was a night-vision spell that brightened their darkened field of view.
Even so, it didn't illuminate all the darkness within the labyrinth.
Atel, who was especially prone to fear, quietly raised a hand.
"W-wouldn't it still be better to make a light? It's pretty dark even with this. Someone might ambush us…."
"Showing a light would make us an easier target for an ambush. We'll only use light magic when we're in combat. If you're really frightened, hold on to the back of the person ahead of you."
The others accepted Ex's reasoning as well.
After that, the teammates continued sharing their thoughts on how they should explore from here.
As a basic rule, they would keep a hand on the right-hand wall as they went. If they detected anything unusual, they would approach cautiously.
If they encountered an enemy they couldn't communicate with, they would subdue it immediately. If they were ambushed, they would counterattack at once.
"Line up in single file, just as we practiced."
With a plan of their own worked out, they began exploring in earnest.
They lined up in the order of Ex, Atel, Ames, Tene, Lola, and Circe.
"If we do what we've learned, it shouldn't be difficult. This is only a performance assessment. They wouldn't have put anything absurd in here. Let's put our minds at ease, explore without worrying, and aim for an A."
At his easy, confident words, the faces around him brightened.
A leader's confidence became the confidence of those following him.
Ex knew that, which was why he made a show of being at ease.
But even he wasn't entirely free of tension.
Circe was the one person more at ease than all the others.
"…"
And there was one person whose eyes held a shadow.
What was about to happen here would not be anything good.
* * *
Only after confirming that everyone had entered the labyrinth dungeon did Reder, the professor of Basic Strategy and Tactics, let out a sigh of relief.
To think he would be repaying his debt to House Burghelm in this way. He would have to make sure he never became involved with that family again.
He had set the labyrinth's basic difficulty a little higher than usual. He had also tampered with the safety devices in a few different ways.
The students wouldn't lose their lives. But if trouble arose, they weren't going to get away with a few little injuries, either.
If things went wrong, he might lose his head on charges of trying to assassinate an imperial family member. House Burghelm had said it had taken every precaution, though.
At this point, he had no choice but to trust them.
After this, he would owe House Burghelm nothing at all.
Thinking of his future as a man of power, Reder checked the labyrinth's safety management information as he always did.
That was when something went wrong.
"…Huh?"
The monitoring devices installed inside the labyrinth weren't working.
Every one of them was sending only a notice that its signal had been lost.
What was going on…?
In this state, properly assessing the students was the least of his problems. He would struggle to respond to an unexpected situation at all. Individual monitoring devices often went dead from time to time, but this was the first time all of them had failed at once.
He couldn't call off the assessment, either….
He had an agreement with House Burghelm.
If he stopped the assessment now, he would find himself in considerable difficulty.
The one fortunate thing was that the training facility's status display still let him follow the students' progress through the labyrinth in real time, at least roughly.
He would have to use that to grade them…. Hmm?
Just as that thought crossed his mind, he noticed something else that was strange.
There were sixteen students, so there should have been sixteen life signs.
But the number of life signs on the status display wasn't sixteen.
The training monsters created in this facility were things like golems, with no life signs of their own. The display should therefore show only as many life signs as there were students.
"…Twenty?"
Yet right now, there were four extra life signs on the display.
This was an anomaly that even Reder knew nothing about.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won't get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt