chapter 20
20 – Suspicion (2)
The day dawned. Based on the time of being possessed, it was the second morning I greeted.
I finished my preparations, neither fast nor slow, and left the tower.
“Haam.”
As I walked down the street, yawning leisurely, the approach from behind seemed familiar to me.
“Hey, good morning.”
It was Nick who greeted me with a kind smile.
It wasn’t unusual for school start times to overlap, so I responded with a light wave.
Nick naturally kept pace with me and took off the rush.
“I heard there is a team training session today. I wonder if you heard of it.”
I immediately nodded.
“It’s a famous story that, in order to understand the approximate level of the students, they put them straight into the arena from the second day. Thanks to you, we will be beaten hard today.”
“What if I thought that way from the beginning? Instead of being beaten, you have to come up with a way to beat them up.”
“Well… ….”
At Nick’s words, I let out a skeptical laugh.
As I said, it was an openly known story that on the second day of the academy, freshmen were pushed into a survival game held under the name of a team event.
As a matter of course, after clearing the entrance exam, which is an early tutorial, you will be greeted with the survival team exhibition.
I was well aware of the mess that was about to unfold today.
Should I say that the picture is drawn?
If I were a player outside of the game, I would of course control my character and film Musou, but this is reality.
No matter how much it was, it was unreasonable to go around beating all of our prominent classmates with this weak body of ‘Dante’.
My goal is to maintain a reasonable ranking. That was enough.
I didn’t need more than that, and I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to in the first place.
As long as I don’t take the penalty and unlock my abilities, there’s a high chance that I’ll be punished even if I’m 1v1 with an average student.
I just slightly turned my gaze to look at Nick.
He was looking at the female students around him with a carefree expression, but I knew better than anyone else that his skills were not formidable, unlike such a light-hearted appearance.
Even if he wasn’t in a special class outside the standard like Ariana Beatrice or Grisha, it’s undeniable that Nick was a high-ranking student in both name and reality.
I don’t have the confidence to touch even a hair on this guy I’m facing right now, so what am I supposed to do? In the end, you have to figure it out.
“What can I do?”
I spat out the words in a slightly depressed voice with that meaning in mind.
“If possible, I hope you don’t meet special friends. Then why don’t you go in the middle?”
“Hmm?”
Then Nick blinked in wonder.
I meant it with all my heart, but Nick didn’t seem to understand it at all.
“If you ask me, you are also an exception. You caught the eye of that gold dragon, what are you worried about? Even so, wouldn’t it be easy to get into the ranks?”
‘Even if I say so.’
I awkwardly scratched the back of my head instead of answering.
As if Nick’s question was amplified, those eyes blinked continuously, but there was no proper answer to give back.
Aria Ten, Beatrice Lewis, Grisha Finnier.
Unlike the three special admission students except me, I did not have steadfast skills.
Even though I was selected as a special case, it was a fluke after all, and it did not prove my ability.
Tsumei also had many questions about me, so they only put me in the academy. If I hadn’t been a possessor, I would have had to pack up and go right away the moment I failed the first exam, let alone the special admission.
…… Assuming this body has a home to return to, that is.
‘Come to think of it, I’m curious.’
As I entered the main building, I brought up a concern I had forgotten for a while.
This body I possessed had the name Dante.
And that was the body of a ‘person with special abilities’ that will be applied as a new job in the next update of the game…….
To put it bluntly, it is the characters called playable characters that halfway cross the line between the world in the game and the original world.
Then there is one question that arises at this point.
I thought as I sat by the window in the classroom, which became more and more noisy.
So, for this playable character, ‘Dante’.
Does there really exist a clear past that applies to this reality?
If that’s not the case, did I really fall from the sky at the same time as I was possessed?
‘Hmm.’
It was a question I didn’t know the answer to.
If you know that, I think you can get a little closer to the truth of this possession.
Well, it was greedy to expect to be able to obtain such key information on the third day of being possessed.
There is no need to rush. Because it’s something to do slowly.
‘Let’s not look too far.’
It makes no sense to think about it anyway.
For now, yes. Rather, it would be more efficient to focus on acquiring the demonic sword.
If possible, approach the lab of a suitable professor today or tomorrow, get a brooch, and go down to the ‘basement’ as soon as the weekend arrives.
That’s all it takes.
Thinking of that, I ate at ease.
*****
The grounds of the academy are large.
It wasn’t just words, it was really suspiciously wide and huge.
No matter how far it is from the city, what more needs to be said at the point where there is a small forest or lake in the middle of the campus.
I stared blankly into space.
…… If you ask me why I am suddenly saying this, it is because the place I am right now is one of those small forests.
“Class A, 122 students in total. Are you all gathered?”
A heavy and solemn voice came out. When I suddenly came to my senses and turned my head, there was a large man standing there.
A very impressive red hat draped over a monotonous uniform of one color.
‘Uh… ….’
That was the instructor.
No, no one said anything, but a person who seemed to be called an instructor appeared in every way.
Where have I seen a lot of outfits like that?
“Nice to meet you. I am Professor Edler, who will be in charge of the general director of this team training. Did you hear an approximate explanation? From now on, you will divide into two teams and enter the forest.”
In addition, the way he spoke was unnecessarily stiff, it felt like the picture was being drawn with a useless prejudice about what kind of personality he might have.
I listened to the instructor’s explanation with one ear for a while, then let it out with the other, then turned my head and looked at the forest again.
The forest that the instructor pointed to just before was a small forest, as he likes to say, but in fact it was no different from a jungle.
Of course, it wasn’t once or twice that I was surprised and embarrassed by the gap between the description in the game and reality, but I thought this was a bit too much.
You want to go in there and have a survival battle?
If I get lost inside, who will find me?
‘No, why is there a forest in the school in the first place?’
A fundamental question came to mind, but it didn’t last long.
These are the scenes that I passed casually when I was going through the screen right away, and now in this fantasy world, too many things have passed by me to discuss the probability or reality.
I wondered if it would be better for me to adapt as soon as possible rather than being startled whenever I see something unusual.
I entered the stage of no thoughts, and that was when the instructor pointed to a box that had been prepared.
“The team selection will be decided by drawing lots. Come out one by one in the order your name is called and take the paper.”
Next, the students conducted a lottery according to the names of the assistants who assist the instructors.
I was no different, and the color of the lot I drew was red for the red team.
As I turned my head and looked around, I could see the students slowly moving according to the color.
The blue team goes to the blue team, and the red team goes to the red team.
The total number of students in Class A is 122, so if there are no exceptions, 61 students will be assigned to each team.
Certainly, a large number of people was a large number of people.
After splitting into their respective camps, quite a spectacle unfolded. Now all they have to do is ‘kill each other’.
Is it because they foresaw that a battle royale under the guise of a team battle would soon take place?
Tension stood out on everyone’s faces.
‘By the way… ….’
In the meantime, I was thinking of something else.
‘How do you decide where to start? I don’t think I’m going to throw them in one place and make them fight.’
In the case of this group training in the game, for convenience reasons, all students start out in the forest.
As such, it was only natural that small and detailed stories such as preparation, moving, or drawing lots would be skipped.
It was something I couldn’t help but wonder about. Now how do we distribute students throughout the forest?
“Hmm. It looks like everything is ready.”
The time to resolve the question came quickly.
The instructor looked over the two camps, blue team and red team, nodded in satisfaction and raised his hand.
“This is also an educational process, so please do your best to get good results in the final evaluation at the end of the semester.”
Ugh!
After he finished speaking, a bright light instantly burst from his palm.
“Ugh!”
“What… ….”
When everyone reflexively covered their eyes, some were able to sense the identity of the light.
That was mana.
The magic was being activated.
It was in the middle of a single spell involving both the blue and red teams.
“Huh.”
I was a little taken aback and let out an absurd laugh.
Was that instructor mage?
‘Looks like a martial artist to anyone.’
In close combat, even a formal knight had a very delicate job with a subject that looked like it could be chewed.
Not to mention the ability to move a hundred or so students at once, isn’t he a very outstanding wizard even within the academy?
With the exception of a few professors, the faculty members of the academy basically do not appear in the setting book. This is because most of them were close to extras who were not even supporting actors.
As such, of course, I had never heard of a professor who looked like that instructor.
‘Did I say Edler?’
It was around the time that I was engraving the name intact in the person encyclopedia in my head.
“Then, good luck!”
As soon as the instructor shouted, the magic circle was completed.
Hwaaak!
I also closed my eyes for a very short time at the brighter mana light.
“…… Mmm.”
What fills my eyes the next moment is a scene in a forest full of fresh green energy.
The group exhibition has begun.