Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Thud!
Something slammed into the dungeon wall and shattered into pieces.
Judging by the iron fragments and chunks of flesh that bounced back, it wasn’t hard to guess that it had been an orc, but the problem was why it had flown in my direction.
“…Maria?”
Beside me, Alice cautiously called her name.
We had placed Maria in the rear out of consideration for her.
With Alice and Diark guarding the front, there should have been only a single orc for her to deal with, yet now there was nothing left.
Huu—
Maria closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.
My gaze soon went to the weapon she was holding.
‘A sword? No, calling it a sword would be…….’
It looked like a sword with a scabbard still on.
It was so thick that it could practically be called a long blunt weapon.
From it, blood and flesh that clearly belonged to someone else dripped steadily.
Paaat-!
“……!”
Suddenly, Maria kicked off the ground.
She charged into the group of orcs with such force that even I flinched, then swung her weapon with eyes that had turned crimson.
Thud-!
Kreeeek-!
She wasn’t cutting them down; she was crushing them.
She wasn’t severing; she was tearing them apart.
It was a fighting style that defied common sense.
Alice, Diark, and I all stared at the scene with blank expressions.
Seven orcs remained.
Yet it took less than three minutes for all of them to be dealt with.
“…Huuuu.”
Amid the pulverized remains of the orcs, Maria calmly exhaled as if savoring the lingering sensation.
The blood-red killing intent that had covered her eyes moments ago subsided, and her face returned to its usual frail look.
“Th, that is…….”
The sight of her lifting a weapon dripping with flesh and blood while wearing a tearful expression didn’t match at all.
No, to be honest, I was extremely shocked.
‘A berserker, huh.’
Usually a graceful girl; in battle, a berserker who went mad without thinking of the consequences.
She was a character with an enormous gap.
But I hadn’t discovered that in the original work.
‘Did they set it up and never use it?’
Even if I was an editor, I couldn’t know every single setting of this world.
The main story alone spanned several hundred chapters.
The accompanying settings were bound to be vast as well.
“You’re pretty good.”
Alice approached her with a bright face and patted her shoulder.
Maria flinched, then spoke to us.
“I, I lose control when I see blood…….”
She bowed deeply, apologizing for not having said so earlier.
Was that the reason she had initially rejected Alice’s proposal? But in a way, it was closer to talent.
A berserker was a rare and unusual trait.
Especially since she seemed to regain her senses immediately after battle, it looked like she could control it to some extent.
“Well, it’s fine, isn’t it.”
I had worried she might not keep up because she seemed timid, but this should be fine.
“Yeah, don’t get discouraged. From what I saw earlier, you turned them completely into mush. Keep going pababak like that from now on.”
“Pa, pababak?”
“Yeah, pababak.”
Don’t go teaching a kid weird things for no reason.
“…….”
When I looked to the side, Diark was stroking his chin while watching them.
As I wondered what he was thinking, he noticed my gaze and casually opened his mouth.
“Isn’t she charming?”
“……?”
“Ah, of course, I’m not trying to put down Miss Alice. She has her own charms. But Miss Maria’s sense of abundance, that something big…….”
Following his words, I looked at the two of them and felt a clear difference.
Fundamentally, this world was based on medieval Western culture.
Naturally, people here were taller and more solidly built than in my country.
With Alice still growing, her build was admittedly a bit slender.
“…What are you staring at so intently?”
At that moment, Alice, who had been talking with Maria, looked at us with a chilly gaze.
“…….”
At that ghostly intuition, we simply shut our mouths tight.
The Instant Dungeon raid ended smoothly.
Naturally, we took first place overall, and unsurprisingly, the one who earned the most points in our party was Maria.
“I’ve never received a score like this before.”
If she had made it into Bayern Academy, she was undoubtedly excellent, but she said she had never taken first place anywhere.
Maria teared up as she looked at the report she had received, and Alice patted her back.
“Congratulations on first place.”
At the voice coming from behind, I turned my head to see Elysia approaching us.
Her party had taken second place by a narrow margin behind us.
Judging by individual scores alone, she would probably have placed second right after Maria.
“I didn’t really do anything.”
Since what mattered was practical combat anyway, I leisurely looked around the dungeon.
I handed my points to the others and checked for any hidden rooms or hidden pieces, but it seemed there was nothing like that in an Instant Dungeon.
“Was it Miss Maria?”
“Y, yes…….”
Elysia had a presence that intimidated people just by standing in front of them.
Maria, who usually looked frail even when standing still, seemed to shrink even more, as if the air had been let out of her, but Alice patted her back to encourage her.
Was it just my imagination that Elysia looked at the two of them with envy?
“…Anyway, next time I won’t lose. Then I’ll be going.”
“Yeah.”
Perhaps her goal had only been to exchange a few words, because Elysia ended it there and returned to where her party was.
“Oh right, Ostia. What are you going to do about our mage?”
At Diark’s question, I answered without hesitation.
“I’ve already got my eye on someone.”
“Oh, already?”
As I’d said before, unlike Instant Dungeons, when entering a real dungeon you had to form a proper party.
Even if Alice, who was originally an assassin, could fill the role of the vanguard, a mage in the rear was an essential element.
If you didn’t form a party, you wouldn’t receive any points at all.
That was why, the moment class ended, I headed straight for the magic department.
“…It really matches the image.”
Everywhere I looked, there were guys who looked like they did nothing but study.
One of them was walking with his face buried in a book and almost ran into me because he wasn’t paying attention.
The class I was looking for was the one that housed a heroine paired with Elysia.
I casually peeked inside the classroom, but unlike ours, not a single person paid me any attention.
The atmosphere was strongly focused on everyone minding their own business, which made it awkward to approach anyone.
“You are?”
Then, a strange voice spoke to me from behind.
When I turned my head, a woman with splendid blonde hair was standing there with a haughty expression.
“Ah, I’m—.”
“You don’t need to say it. You’re Ostia, right?”
She cut me off and shook her roll-bun hairstyle as she entered the classroom.
At that, the gazes inside, which had been quiet until now, all focused on us.
“You’re here to scout a mage to join your party, correct?”
As she spoke with a confident face, I lightly nodded.
She crossed her arms and opened her mouth with a self-satisfied air.
“Then state your conditions. What can you offer me if I join your party?”
…An unbearably arrogant one.
This blonde roll-bun-haired female student was named Leysias.
She was the eldest daughter of the Sheffield Count family, a powerful imperial house rumored to be a prestigious family of mages, and also a heroine paired with Elysia.
Honestly, I didn’t like Leysias very much.
Her arrogant attitude was the biggest reason, but beyond that, I didn’t find that type particularly appealing.
“I didn’t come looking for you.”
“…What?”
At my words of rejection, Leysias’s face creased slightly.
Then, as if she had realized something, she gave a small scoffing laugh and spoke.
“There’s no need to be embarrassed. I’m the top student of the magic department, you know? There’s no one more fitting for the party of the overall top student than me.”
“No, it’s not you.”
Snap.
The face of Leysias, who had been smiling and promoting herself while denying my words, froze in that very expression.
Seeing the faint twitch at the corner of her mouth, she seemed quite displeased.
“Let’s see.”
I passed by her, now turned to stone, and swept my gaze across the classroom.
The magic department students were looking at me with expressions full of curiosity and expectation.
Who would I invite after rejecting Leysias, the department’s top student?
Only when I reached the very back of the classroom did I spot a single girl.
A slender build like Alice’s.
Her flowing silver hair shimmered dazzlingly in the sunlight.
When I stopped in front of her, she looked flustered and lifted the book she’d been reading to cover her face.
“I’m Ostia from the swordsmanship department. If you’re not part of a party yet, would you like to join mine?”
“M, me?”
She peeked out with just her eyes above the book to look at me, like some small creature.
Her appearance, combined with that cute demeanor, made a smile naturally form on my face.
“Yeah, you.”
“…I think you’re mistaken. I’m last place in the magic department.”
“That may have been true until now, but it’ll be different from here on.”
Because I chose you.
At those words, the silver-haired girl looked up at me with a blank expression.
“I have a hobby of collecting talent. How about it? If you haven’t discovered your own talent yet, come to me. I’ll make your flower bloom.”
To her, it would be a fatal temptation.
Just like Maria, the fact that she had even been admitted to Bayern Academy meant her talent and effort were already extraordinary.
But to get through what lay ahead, that alone wasn’t enough.
Clear talent.
Something special.
That was also why I avoided Leysias, who was standing far away like a statue.
She lacked individuality.
Her achievements were vague, her abilities lacking.
She occasionally made her presence known through her character setting and family power, but after the academy arc, her presence sharply diminished.
In contrast, this girl, Yuria, was different.
‘In terms of overall potential, she’s definitely inferior to Leysias.’
But she possessed a very special ability.
“Uh…….”
However, Yuria couldn’t answer and instead glanced nervously toward the front.
Following her gaze, I looked behind me to see a single goblin-like figure, her mana surging as she stared at me as if she might tear me apart.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
With each step she took, her anger was palpable.
She approached until she was right in front of my nose, her face flushed red, and jabbed a finger at me.
“You.”
“What.”
“Do you really think you can put a mage into your party after humiliating me?”
At that absurd tantrum, I frowned.
No, I hadn’t even planned to include her, yet she’d gotten ahead of herself and was now throwing a fit.
This was exactly why I hated this character.
“What, are you going to stop me?”
“Do you think there’s any mage here who would dare go against me?”
The “dare” Leysias spoke of clearly referred to her family.
While at the academy, the repercussions might be relatively small, but the real problem would come after graduation.
The Sheffield family was famous even within the empire as a prestigious magic house.
If you made an enemy of such a family, you wouldn’t be able to gain a foothold as a mage.
In fact, all the magic department students around us had lowered their eyes.
Truly an overbearing young lady.
But she’d picked the wrong opponent.
“Hey.”
“Didn’t you listen properly to what I was—mph!”
I reached out and grabbed Leysias by the mouth.
Then I leaned in close and whispered into her ear in a low voice.
“I’m a Ribera, you know?”
Pick your fights wisely.
A prestigious magic family?
I was standing at the very pinnacle of power.