༺ Practical Exam (3) ༻
The scene from a while ago kept replaying in my head.
‘…She definitely said ‘Long time no see’.’
I reflected on the last words Chancellor Sullivan left me.
No, seriously, where and when have I ever met her? I couldn’t remember anything.
At the very least, since I had come to this world, I hadn’t even seen her face, let alone acquainted myself with her.
[Maybe you met her when you were young?]
Suddenly, such words flew out from Soul Linker.
‘What?’
[Like, you met her before and you forgot.]
‘…There’s no way that’s the case.’
I mean, Sullivan was one of the most important characters in the main scenario. If I had ever met someone like that, there was no way I wouldn’t remember her.
And it was even more so when ‘complex emotions’ was involved in it.
“…”
‘Wait, now that I think about it, fuck you.’
‘Are you trying to tell me that I’m a piece of shit who didn’t even remember the woman I cuffed in the past?’
[Now, you’re just being paranoid.]
‘…’
[You’re right though.]
Motherfucker.
“…”
Actually, that was still a possibility.
Maybe I really met her in the past and I just didn’t remember.
After all, there was a ‘blank period of time’.
If I recall correctly, I entered the world of Savior Rising and became ‘Dowd Campbell’ when the original body was seven years old.
As for the memories before that, well…
‘…Due to some circumstances, my memories before I was seven are a bit vague.’
[Well, that settles it, back then—]
‘That should be impossible though.’
According to what Father said, I was so unbelievably weak that he almost gave up on my survival at that age.
It wasn’t merely on the level of being unwell, he said that I was practically in a vegetative state, my body was the only thing that was alive.
I never opened my eyes nor spoke, I barely clung to my life, basically I was a lump of meat that was only able to breathe.
No matter how skilled the physician he brought, or what medicine he used on me, it didn’t fix me anything.
When I was seven, I miraculously recovered, becoming somewhat mobile.
There was no way I interacted with someone with me being in that kind of state back then.
[Your parents must have had a hard time, huh?]
‘Father did, yes.’
[…Huh? What about your mother?]
‘…’
When he saw me sighing without giving him a proper answer, Caliban shut his mouth.
He looked taken aback, but I really didn’t want to talk about that person.
How should I put it?
Every time I talked about her, a chill ran down my spine.
I guess it was a feeling similar to horror or fear?
[From your mood, it doesn’t seem that she died or anything… What happened?]
‘…It’s better for you not to know.’
With such thoughts, I rubbed my temples.
“Student Dowd~? What are you thinking so deeply about~?”
When Dame Ophelia, who was in charge of the exam, asked, I snapped back to reality and looked at her.
“Are you alright~? Any discomfort~?”
“…No, Dame Ophelia, I’m fine.”
I barely managed to reply with an even voice, prompting Dame Ophelia to tilt her head while staring at me.
Since I kept getting lost in thought while she was explaining the exam progress, I guess she must have been worried about me.
“Please continue your explanation.”
When I requested with a forced smile, Dame Ophelia, though tilting her head, continued to do so.
“First, I’ll explain again just in case. In the siege, Student Dowd’s role is defense~ As a Second-Year student, you’ll be facing First-Year students along with two teammates~”
She pointed to the mountain behind the academy, which would be used as the test site.
If the flag at the very top was taken, it was a victory for the attackers; if it was defended, it was a victory for the defenders.
‘…I have to win.’
After all, if I lost this test, everything became utterly futile.
Even though the variable known as the Chancellor existed, I had to go through all this trouble to see the Empress.
After all, there were quite a few parts that revolved around her, especially in Chapter 4, the chapter that was related to Faenol.
“You’re free to choose your own teammates, but~”
Dame Ophelia looked back and forth between my application form and me.
“…Are you sure you’ll be okay with these two~?”
Objectively speaking, it was a strange choice of people.
Seras was just a transfer student who joined recently and while Faenol’s grades were exceptional, she was only a First-Year student.
For defense, normally one would form a team consisting of the top three students of the same year.
However, this was the most rational choice given the current situation.
In the first place…
This was not simply a problem of stopping students.
“…”
Thinking that, I glanced at the hastily built stand near the hill.
It had an undeniably makeshift vibe but it also gave off the feeling that it was meant to welcome a special guest.
“…It’s fine, Dame Ophelia.”
With that answer, I looked at the golden woman entering the stands.
“I can show a satisfactory performance with this roster.”
Looking ahead, I continued my speech.
“No matter what situation we face.”
I truly believed that.
Because otherwise…
It would really be a disaster.
I spoke so confidently to Dame Ophelia, but…
Honestly, I was a bit anxious.
Both these girls were like ticking time bombs in terms of ‘possibility of them causing trouble’.
‘…For starters, this one…’
As I thought so, I glanced at Seras from the corner of my eye.
Fortunately, the Purple Devil was slumbering calmly inside her.
Considering her nature, I was worried that she might pop out all of a sudden and cause trouble.
“…Miss Seras?”
“What do you need, Mast—”
“…”
…Were you about to call me Master?
Panicking, she covered her own mouth.
[…Doesn’t seem like this one’s completely sane.]
“…”
I know, right?
Why the hell was she like this? Seriously, she made me feel uneasy.
“What do you need, um… Senior Dowd…?”
“…Could you take one of those entryways?”
I pointed to one of the paths laid out on the map.
There were two entryways in total. Faenol would handle one of them, while Seras would handle the other one. As for me, I’d handle the final point where the flag was.
“…You’re asking a student of the Theology School to engage in combat alone?”
Faenol made such a remark while tilting her head.
In her view, it was indeed quite ridiculous to assign such a task to a first-year who wasn’t even a student of a combat-oriented school.
After all, the usual tactic in a defense game was for the three to stick together and while blocking the final point with teamwork.
“Yes.”
In other words…
“It’s Miss Seras, it’ll be fine.”
Saying that was my way to tell Faenol that Seras wasn’t any ordinary Theology School freshman.
“…”
“…”
Seras looked at me with an odd gaze.
Yeah, well.
From Seras’ perspective, even after considering what that happened so far, it wasn’t a wonder for her to question how I was so sure about how competent she was.
Ready to give my prepared excuse, I opened my—
[ ‘Skill: Fatal Charm’ is activated! ]
[ Favorability Level of target ‘Seras’ has increased! ]
[ Rewards Available! ]
“…”
Why?
The fuck, why did it increase?
I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, but her expression hadn’t really changed much. She was as expressionless as usual.
“…I’ll do my best. After all, I’ve already come all the way here.”
“…Yes, thank you.”
Her response came out so smoothly that I replied calmly as well, but…
Why was she being so submissive…?
I should check, just in case.
[ Using ‘Scan’. ]
[ Gathering information on the target. ]
[ A 24-hour cooldown applies before reuse is available on the same target. ]
Characteristic: Vessel – Purple Devil
Status:
…Could it be that he is trusting me? Is he entrusting me with this task because he believes in me? Should I take this as a somewhat special sign— Wait, hold on. Get a grip, Seras! You shouldn’t get so flustered over a man like this, he isn’t His Holi—
“…”
Expressionless, nah…
This girl…
Was way too easy to please… Like, was this okay?
Even after taking the Purple Devil’s characteristic into consideration, making her most susceptible to my influence among all the Devils, this was still a little too much.
She already had an abundance of worrisome traits, in the first place.
Now, she was practically a whole-ass minefield for me.
[ Emergency Quest has been successfully completed. ]
[ Exclusive Quest ‘Treachery’ for target ‘Seras’ has been unlocked! ]
〖 Treachery 〗
[ Raise the Favorability level of the target to ‘Love’! ]
[ The target will betray her current master and swear loyalty to you instead! ]
[ This will significantly impact the progression of Chapter 5, ‘Paradise’. ]
[ It is linked to the 2nd Quest, ‘Family Making’! ]
“…”
Getting her to betray the Pope sounded good and all.
But the subsequent 2nd Quest seemed a little…
Turbulent?
I felt like the moment that quest started, a catastrophic development would definitely occur.
You know what, I’ll increase her Favorability Level as slowly as possible.
‘…Anyway.’
With a sigh, I turned my head towards Faenol.
The gesture was filled with a question on whether she could handle an entire entryway by herself or not, but…
“I don’t have any problems with it.”
She shrugged and replied with affirmation. At that, I nodded too.
Well, this wasn’t too surprising.
Setting aside the fact that she was the Red Devil’s Vessel, she was one of the most skilled geniuses of the ‘Mage’ class that could be encountered in the game.
She shouldn’t have any problems handling mere students.
-!
As we finished discussing our strategy, a sharp horn echoed nearby.
It was the signal for the start of the exam.
“Alright. Let’s go. To our positions.”
With that, everyone headed to the place where we discussed earlier.
And before I moved to mine…
I sneaked a peek at the distant stands one last time.
Chancellor Sullivan was there, seemingly discussing various topics of conversation with Dean Conrad, who was seated nearby.
Unlike before, she didn’t respond immediately just because I was looking at her from afar.
It almost made me wonder if what I saw before was just my imagination.
“…”
With a sigh, I stood up as well.
I didn’t know who exactly she was.
Nor did I understand what she had to do with me.
And I didn’t know what awaited me in this exam either.
But whatever it was, I would deal with it as always. No matter what I had to do. That was it.
After all, had I not done this countless times before?
At least, that was what I thought five minutes ago.
I would deal with whatever came my way, huh? Bullshit.
“…Excuse me.”
I opened my mouth in an incredulous tone.
The fact that I was addressing someone like this meant someone had reached the final goal, the flag, within that time.
“…What are you doing here?”
I didn’t particularly blame Seras and Faenol.
Because the one in question is this person.
“Ha! I’m glad to see you, Dowd Campbell! Finally, the revenge of the Chester House—”
“Hey, you. Just shut the fuck up.”
I snapped fiercely at the dumbass who was babbling triumphantly.
Dude, fuck off, I don’t care who you are. At least, not now.
My headache was getting unbearably worse.
I groaned again, clutching my temples.
“…So, what are you doing here, Eleanor? Wait, why the hell is the Student Council President joining the attacking team?”
“…I am not Eleanor.”
With her hood pulled down low, Eleanor was definitely trying to change her voice somehow.
“…I’m just an enigmatic freshman from the Knight School. Eleanor? I know no such person.”
“…”
“T-There should be no p-problems with me participating… Yes…”
“…”
Dude.
Seriously?
What was she doing here?
As I sent her a piercing stare, she awkwardly coughed before opening her mouth.
It seemed even she was embarrassed by her current actions.
“I have come to engage in a fair duel with you.”
“…A duel?”
“That’s right.”
“…”
My headache got even worse.
“The vanquished must fulfill one demand of the victor.”
“…”
“My demand is, well…”
Eleanor stopped speaking for a while.
From her appearance, it seemed like it took an incredible amount of courage for her to say these words.
And as I watched her, my anxiety grew even further.
Hold up. Wait.
What on earth are you tryin-
“…I-It is for y-you to spend time with me.”
“…”
“From dusk till dawn. Just the two of us.”
“…”
Hey.
Seriously.
Please.
[…I gotta say that her antics are cute, but…]
Caliban giggled as he spoke.
[What she wants is practically a one way ticket to your instant death, isn’t it?]
“…”
I agree.
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