I Became the Academy’s Munchkin Sniper

“I couldn’t get a definite answer in the end.”

On a night when her thoughts deepened, Lumina rested her chin on the windowsill of her lodging, gazing at the dark sky.

The constellations filled the night, and the half-moon cast a soft glow over the land. 

It was the same horizon she always looked up to whenever she missed the scenery of her hometown… But tonight was different.

As she looked at the scenery, Lumina found herself thinking about someone else. 

It was the first time she had ever thought about another man in such a way.

“Kyle… He’s really an interesting person.”

Lumina thought about Kyle.

The very idea of climbing a tree and hiding during the entrance exam was refreshing, and she had never met someone so free-spirited before.

There were thirty minutes left until the exam ended, and he was lying down, watching the scenery. 

How could anyone be so indifferent?

There wasn’t a trace of tension in him.

And despite meeting her, he had the composure to joke around. 

How carefree was he? What would he have done if she betrayed him?

He appeared to possess considerable skill. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to act that way.

Thus, Lumina was cautiously guessing that Kyle might be her benefactor.

There was no other strong candidate.

The clue she obtained today was the most convincing.

“That light… It  was definitely from my benefactor.”

A beam that not only swallowed the black wind but completely annihilated it.

The fact that it appeared during the entrance exam at Artena Academy implied only one possibility.

Her benefactor was either a participant in the exam or at least involved.

But since the Academy’s investigator had declared that the man was unidentified, the former seemed more likely.

If that was the case…

Kyle, who was present at the scene, was the most likely candidate to be her benefactor.

“So I asked… But I failed.”

It was a rather absurd failure…

— You’ve come at the right time, the view here is great.

The events from earlier replayed in her mind.

She recalled the silver-haired boy, who calmly looked up at the night sky, and stretched his hand out to her.

She thought of herself, foolishly pondering how to get him to reveal if he was her benefactor or not.

But then Kyle was completely entranced by the forest, stars, and moon. Despite the fact that Lumina was right beside him

That was so amusing that the question she wanted to ask had fizzled out. 

With the conversation cut short, she had dropped the subject.

The more Lumina thought about it, the more she chuckled. 

That moment had left a strong impression on her… 

Suddenly, feeling stuffy, she flung the window wide open.

Whoosh…

A cool breeze swept past Lumina, briefly swirling through the small room before disappearing. 

Only then did Lumina exhale deeply and stretch her arms.

“So refreshing…”

Yet, it still felt lacking. 

The boy’s cozy little house crossed her mind. A peaceful retreat away from the shackles of the mortal world.

The memory of sitting on that wooden chair by the campfire came back to her.

Honestly, if she were truly honest with herself…

She wanted to go back there…

Lumina loved nature. Even though her family had scolded her numerous times, telling her it wasn’t proper behavior for a noble lady, she had always played in the hills with the children.

Those childhood memories stirred a longing within her.

“Should I send someone instead?”

With that thought, Lumina clasped her hands together. A bird with a yellow crest stood alertly in her palm.

“… I’ve summoned you after all.”

[I will go now!]

“Will it be okay?”

Just because they were spirits doesn’t mean they didn’t distinguish between day and night. 

While they didn’t require rest, they usually followed human customs and rested at night. 

Considering this, Lumina was worried, but Frene soared into the air, insisting to leave it to her.

[Lady Lumina, I’ve arrived!]

Ten minutes later, Frene’s voice came through. 

Curious about how the house had changed and what Kyle was up to, Lumina used a vision link and—

“Wow! It’s been a while. Good to see you! Hey!”

There was Kyle, a carefree man of nature, cheerfully waving his hand.

“H- hiccup!”

The moment Lumina saw him, her face flushed with heat, and she quickly cut off the vision link.

“J-just come back….”

[Yes, y-yes….]

Barely able to issue the command to Frene, Lumina sat by the window, gasping for breath.

She had no immunity to men.

———

The dawn. 

After waking up, the first thing I did was check if the embers of the campfire were still alive.

“Good. Still going.”

I had carefully covered it with leaves to prevent too much air from getting in, and it had worked. 

This was something that had to be checked regularly until I learned basic magic.

“And the clothes?”

They were completely dry, like freshly dried jerky. I carefully smoothed out every wrinkle and folded them neatly. 

I realized I’d need a separate drying rack just for laundry, apart from the one for smoking meat. I made a mental note of it.

With the basics taken care of, I was ready to move on.

“Time to get started on that.”

As I mentioned yesterday, today I planned to go hunting. By noon, when the exam results were posted, I’d have caught some animals and stored them away. 

Then, I’d check my results and, with the scholarship and living expenses loan, buy the most urgent tools: a butchering knife, pickaxe, shovel, and axe.

If I had enough money left, I’d splurge on a low-grade mana stone as well. 

Anything else I might need, I’d buy gradually.

“Let’s go.”

I put on my clothes, slung the rifle over my shoulder, and headed into the forest.

I was aiming for animals like rabbits, deer, or wild boars. But since it was my first time, I decided to focus on rabbits only.

After all, larger animals like deer or wild boar would likely require considerable butchering skills, which I didn’t have yet.

In the meantime, I needed something quick and easy, so rabbits it was.

“Found one.”

I spotted a rabbit and raised my rifle. 

I aimed carefully, set the sights, and neutralized the elemental energy in the bullet. 

Since it was my first shot, I kept it simple and used 100 units of magic power.

Bang!

“Huh?”

The rabbit was instantly killed. No, there wasn’t even a body left. All that remained was scattered flesh and blood, marking where the rabbit had been.

“Damn…!”

The problem was the rifle. The caliber was far too large for a rabbit. Even humans get cut in half by it, so what chance did a rabbit have?

I started experimenting with other ways to avoid overkill. 

I tried using only 1 unit of magic power, shooting from a farther distance, intentionally missing a bit—but nothing worked. 

Each rabbit I shot ascended to the heavens the moment it was hit.

After racking my brain for another solution, I finally decided on a last-ditch effort.

“This has to work.”

I raised the rifle like a javelin. This method required neither recoil nor magic. It was purely physical.

I threw the rifle at the rabbit.

Swoosh!

“Success!”

The rabbit was pierced through by the sniper rifle’s barrel. My strength stat is 16. 

I thought I could easily pierce through a rabbit hide, and it turned out I was right.

Well, if your strength stat exceeded 10, it was at least enough to barely pass the knight’s course. It wasn’t exactly weak.

“Good start.”

The rabbit I had already lost was a thing of the past. 

I skewered the freshly caught rabbit on a branch and set out to catch the next one.

By the time I returned home, I had an additional five rabbits in tow.

——-

Noon.

In front of the Mage Tower at the Artena Academy’s Magic Department.

A large crowd had gathered in one place. The list of students who passed was posted there.

Those who had passed quickly cleared out, while those who failed sat down with blank expressions on their faces.

“What do you mean I’m not on there? There must be some mistake!”

“Wasn’t it enough to just survive to pass?!”

“The minimum cutoff is 13 points? That’s way too harsh!”

Everyone was making a fuss, but the results weren’t going to change. 

I pushed through the crowd and looked at the large sheet of paper.

A total of 350 students.

The rankings were as expected. A festival of big names.

[1. Ciel Dunhart, 264 points]

[2. Elena Valencia, 162 points]

[3. Lien Lodran, 130 points]

…

[7. Lumina Halloway, 87 points]

The gap between the top scorer, Ciel Dunhart, and the second place, Princess Elena, was especially huge.

It was 5 points per person, so Ciel single-handedly took out around 50 people. 

Elena’s score wasn’t bad either. She took down about 30.

There was always someone better.

Anyway, the guild leader, Lien Lodran, was in third place, and the spirit master Lumina Halloway was in seventh, following the original storyline.

And at the bottom…

…

[348. Cedric, 15 points]

[349. Roden, 14 points]

[350. Kyle, 13 points]

“Ha—”

I was in last place. 

This was intentional, as I knew the exact cutoff score. 

No matter what, as long as I scored over 13 points, I would pass.

“Thank goodness.”

I let out a sigh of relief. 

This meant I’d perfectly blended in as an extra. 

It was all going according to plan.

As long as my true identity wasn’t exposed, no one would ever suspect that the unknown man is me.

“Yes! Nice!”

“Cedric! We did it!”

There was a commotion beside me. 

Cedric and Roden, who were known as the ‘foolish extra brothers,’ were jumping up and down, moved by the fact that they had barely passed the entrance exam to Artena Academy.

I carefully observed them. They were true models of an extra. 

I was learning from their every action.

“Huh?”

Just then, I spotted a head of pink hair amidst the crowd. Tied with a white ribbon, with a hairpin stuck in—it could only be Lumina. I could tell even just from her back.

I waved my hand and approached Lumina.

“Hey, Lumina. Came to check your test results?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Lumina seemed uneasy and couldn’t make eye contact. She pressed her fingers together and kept her gaze fixed on the ground.

Is something wrong?

“Lumina…?”

I bent down to meet Lumina’s eyes. Then, with a face turning bright red, Lumina started to speak.

“Y-Yeah…! Good to see you…! Yeah…! Kyle…! Well, the thing is…! I’m not feeling very well today, so I think it might be hard to have a conversation…! Y-You know, if it’s a cold, it could spread to you…!”

“A cold?”

Could it be… Because I made her climb that tall tree during the entrance exam? 

She was exposed to a lot of wind, after all.

It was not strange to catch a cold.  

I suddenly felt sorry. No matter how much Lumina was the main character and destined to be distanced from me, I ended up causing her trouble.  

“How bad is it?”  

“Eek!”  

I placed my hand on Lumina’s forehead. It was quite hot. 

The original story never specifically mentioned cold as an illness, so I wasn’t sure, but did they even have medicine here?  

“It’d be better to go to the infirmary for now. If it’s this bad, you’re really burning up. Come on. I know where it is.”  

In the original story, the infirmary was like a respawn point that players visited several times.  

You can’t expect the power of modern medicine here, but at least there was healing magic unique to a fantasy world.  

I tried to take Lumina to the infirmary, but she simply shook her head.  

“K-Kyle! Thanks so much for worrying, but I think I can go by myself! You don’t want to catch a cold, you know…!”  

“But still…”

“Really, I’m fine…! I’ll head there now!”  

Lumina hurriedly ran off to the infirmary. I still felt worried, but if she insisted, there wasn’t much I could do.  

“Is it time to go take out a loan now?”  

I had passed the entrance exam. Now it was time to take care of the reason I came to Artena Academy.  

It was time to meet the famous guild leader, Lien Lodran.