novelblue
Chapter 53: Trial Begets Trial
Chapter 53: Trial Begets Trial
Chapter 53: Trial Begets Trial
Only one thing was said through the phone.
? Come home.
It was a simple message, yet nothing frightened her more. Klais was deathly afraid of being summoned by her father. Those few words had her calves stinging and evoked childhood habits. Klais burrowed beneath the covers.
She didn’t know how much time passed like that.
“Ah, that’s right, the marking....”
Remembering something, Klais crawled out of her bed like a mouse out of its hole. She took out the midterm question and answer sheets and sat at the desk.
[Subject : The Basics of Fire Magic]Klais’ exam questions had quite the reputation within the school. In a bad way.
For a subject on fundamentals, the questions weren’t very basic. That was enough to gain resentment from the students.
Klais couldn’t ignore the academic capacity of the gifted students who were under her, of course. They were sufficiently gifted and were able to solve most questions.
But even taking that into consideration, the majority of opinions was that Klais’ questions were difficult. In some ways, they could be seen as indiscriminate.
Anyway, Klais started to mark using the answer sheet she had prepared beforehand. Scritch, scritch, scritch. Snow and rain fell in turns.
The average was about 40 points, give or take. It could be considered either high or low. There were only two people who got decent marks.
[Lotte Saliere : 93 points]
[Vermel Horde : 90 points]
Saliere was understandable seeing as she was from a family famous for Fire Magic. But for an international elf student with the blessings of the Air Elemental, 90 points didn’t make as much sense.
Didn’t this student also score 90 points in all subjects during admissions...?
Was it a coincidence? She couldn’t tell.
There was something strange about it but she didn’t have the time to ponder. Because the next student didn’t have a single wrong answer. Only after marking did she see the name of the student.
[Aether : 100 points]“Again....”
It happened again? First the admissions, and now this?
She couldn’t accept it. Klais looked over it once more.
Was there anything wrong with the concepts? Did she overlook a miscalculation? Reading every line thoroughly, Klais desperately tried to find some kind of mistake.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything wrong in any part. The killer question she gave as a guaranteed fail had been solved easily as well.
It was as if the answers had been copied directly from the answer sheet. One could even think that a machine had taken this test.
“.......”
The marking was finished. Before the sun rose, Klais went to the faculty room and placed the question and answer sheets on a fellow professor’s desk. She then left a note and some silver coins in the same place.
“Master, the carriage is ready.”
Klais looked around the classroom one last time. She took in the sight of the gifted class that had been her charge.
Turning around, she suddenly had a feeling.
That she might not ever return here.
“Ah.”
This fucking thing.
? Zzz.
Bam!
I smacked the wall in a twist of spinal reflex and felt something being crushed in my hand. Powder which had once been metal parts slid down the lines of my palm.
[It’s almost summer.]
Mosquitoes were pests even in this world. And not just a pest, but a Magic Beast that needed to be rid completely.
It was a simple criteria for distinguishing a pest from a beast. You just needed to see if it was made of metal and oil.
Somehow, that was the reality of this universe. A world in which your blood was sucked by not just a normal mosquito but a machine.
“Ugh.”
Anyway, did I party too hard? The hard liquor I’d consumed over the weekend was still sloshing in my gut, and the smell of alcohol kept coming up even after brushing my teeth. I felt like I was getting drunk a second time.
As I arrived at the school massaging my temples, someone was standing at the lectern. It was Miss Heerlein.
What the.
“You’re here? Come get your test and take a seat.”
“... What are you doing in our classroom, Miss?”
“I’ll tell you later during the morning session.”
With that said, she asked the class rep to return the tests to everyone as they came in before leaving the class. I got mine, too.
It was the test paper for Basics of Fire Magic. Why was Miss Heerlein the one returning these?
Did Professor Hasfeldt dump this on her friend? Damn.
“Not sitting at the front today?”
“No, don’t feel like it.”
I didn’t want to sit right in front of Hasfeldt after the mess from last week.
Despite Lotte’s attempt to deter me, I sat in the back. The brat sat right behind me, and in front of me was the long-eared international student. Lotte carefully sat next to me.
Freyr greeted me.
“Hey! Apparently the process for releasing the patent went well!”
“Who’d you hear that from?”
“Miss Squinty Eyes!”
The conversation topic naturally turned to Flare. I couldn’t believe this was ‘girl talk’.
“But I didn’t expect that all three of us were thinking the same thing.”
“Still, kind of a shame! Didn’t even get money for beer!”
“Well.”
It didn’t matter to me how much I made here because I wasn’t going to stay on this continent for the rest of my life.
I did consider the option of using the money from selling the patent as research funds for other magic. But there was a reason that Flare had to be released for free usage.
“You both know, right?”
The two others nodded. We simultaneously hunched our shoulders as if in shared memory.
The beast invasion at the entrance ceremony. It had already been two months since then but the memories of that day were still fresh.
The details of that incident had yet to be revealed.
? This is just to say hi.
We only knew that a Cataclysm was behind it.
Cataclysms. Capable of human speech with intentions to resurrect the Demon King, the apex of beasts that ruled over the monsters beneath their feet. Also the devoted servants of evil that were actively trying to revive the Demon King who had been sealed a thousand years ago.
“It already happened once so the capital isn’t completely safe.”
Whatever happened, I had to learn the other three Element Magic besides Air Realm and get out. If the northern front collapsed before that, then it would be a wrench in my plan.
“Since Flare is released, the world should change for the better.”
“I suppose...?”
“For sure. That’s what we all think.”
I grinned and nodded.
“And Flare is only the beginning.”
“Only the beginning?”
“You’re going to make something else!”
“We have to make something stronger, strong enough to rock the world.”
Flare alone wouldn’t take down a Cataclysm. If we were going to do this, then it had to be done right.
By developing a nuclear weapon, the people of this world would be prepared even if the Demon King resurrected. At the same time, I’d learn a lot of the magic required to go home in the process of development. Two birds, one stone.
Since we had the plasma generator, we only needed to create a way to confine it.
“Have you all been well?”
Just then, an awful voice could be heard.
“By the looks of your faces, you must be.”
The Second Prince, Klion Philiut.
He appeared with bandages wrapped around his head and my face crumpled instantly. This asshole of a Prince sat right next to Vermel then turned this way with a crooked posture.
Ah, here we go again.
“Oh dear, it has been so long since I’ve been to school, my head feels like it’ll split.”
Tap, tap, tap.
He tapped my desk with his pointer. I was already fed up.
“You haven’t forgotten your promise to not come onto me and Eliyev anymore, right?”
“... Aha, that’s right. Of course I won’t. I am the Empire’s Crown Prince, after all. It would be pathetic to make excuses after having lost in a battle of chivalry. But you see.......”
Tap, tap, tap.
“If it goes on like this, the hospital fees are going to be quite high.”
“And?”
“Hmhm, I’m not particularly berating you lot. My bills are paid with tax money so you only need to cover that.”
“Was that directed at me?”
Maybe he was using my original status as a commoner to provoke me.
“Perhaps? That could be.”
“How about you worry about your grades instead of my pocket situation? You didn’t even come to school until after midterms finished.”
“Ah, the midterms! Right.... But it really is too bad!”
Tap, tap, tap.
“I’ve taken the test separately at the palace! So don’t you worry; as much as you’d like me to fail, that won’t be happening.”
The Prince let out a rambunctious laugh and left.
“.......”
Something.
Something was weird.
Vermel was quietly listening to Aether and the others talking.
“Hey! Apparently the process for releasing the patent went well!”
The patent for Flare was released...?
The story would progress once Flare was developed. Although he had been reluctant at first, Aether had been completely adamant so Vermel had to help her. It was more important to manage Aether’s stress levels than pace the story.
He even fully assisted with the testing after a brief moment of conflict, hoping that the Flare created by this girl would only be used to destroy Magic Beasts.
The progression should go back to a normal pace after this. No, it had to.
However.
Releasing the patent means.......
Now everyone could use Flare freely. Soon, scrolls containing Ultimate Fire Magic would be supplied for a thousand won each to the northern front.
It was supposed to be good news, but to Vermel who knew every route and how things unfolded, it was like consuming poison.
The First Trial is coming.
Trial. A fixed hurdle within the main story.
If you couldn’t clear this hurdle, then regardless of the remaining playtime, that playthrough was a loss. Because it would go straight to Game Over.
And among those, the event occurring as a result of humanity attacking the ‘Iron Magic Tower’ located at the first line of defense triggered the First Trial.
Thinking that they were losing, the beasts assembled at the Iron Tower to hold a meeting. And the outcome was a decision to shake up the Empire from within.
That part’s fine since I know the strategy for it. But....
Aether’s condition was critical. If she made a specific statement, then there was a chance of the Fourth Trial occurring simultaneously. If both Trials transpired at once, then that day was the end of the world.
Vermel perked up his ears and listened in on Aether and her friends.
“Since Flare is released, the world should change for the better.”
? Ah, that’s good. The world feels like a better place now.
“I suppose...?”
“For sure. That’s what we all think.”
? How about it. Don’t you think so, too?
“Ah.”
Cold sweat dripped down the back of his neck.
“And Flare is only the beginning.”
? This is only the beginning.
“Only the beginning?”
“You’re going to make something else!”
The Golden-Eyed girl nodded.
“We have to make something stronger, strong enough to rock the world.”
? This isn’t good enough for me.
His suspicion gradually turned into certainty.
Had it been a bad move to help her after all...!
No, it wasn’t quite that. If he hadn’t helped with the development, then Aether’s stress levels would have gone up significantly. It was more fitting to describe this situation as a Catch-22.
Fucking game. Why is it moving so quickly!
Still, he had to keep going. He’d only be satisfied after witnessing the happy ending.
Vermel recalled what happened immediately after Flare was commercialized in the game.
Right after Flare became free, the Demon King’s army on the northern front took considerable damage. According to the story’s flow, this would be when one of the Cataclysms gathered within the Iron Tower showed itself on the front while another one released a biochemical weapon to kill the vitality of the state. The main focus of the First Trial was stopping this biochemical weapon.
SYSTEM : (URGENT) The probability of [The First Trial] initializing has reached 99%.Though it was called the First, the level of difficulty was in the top three out of all twenty-three Trials. As such, users would have to sacrifice some key characters to move forward on the first playthrough. Even for the veteran players, the optimal build was to progress after losing one or two secondary characters.
SYSTEM : (URGENT) Now entering the event <The Black Death>.However.
SYSTEM : To achieve the Happy Ending, do not let anyone in the Academy die.The real thing was different. It had to be.
Because this was reality, not a game.