Chapter 13: Destination

TN: I was busy with some stuff, so the post was late. Enjoy the chapter!

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“Wow! What a large pile of carcasses!”

“Wow … this is kind of amazing …”

”Ummm … this is a..little …”

The three of them caught up with me afterwards. They look strangely uncomfortable, but…?

Ah, I’ve got it. If you look at the ground you can see the carcass of many spiders lying there in a heap. There were dismembered bodies and splattering of bodily fluids on it. Surely this would have offended me if I wasn’t used to it.

”Ray, did you do this all by yourself?”

“Yeah, but…”

What’s going on? You’ve got a very unflattering expression on your face.

“Earlier, Mr. Allium and his party were attacked by these spiders earlier.”

“What … really?”

“Yes. I assisted them, but there was this strange fog that came out of nowhere and they were gone.”

“Maybe that’s a form of magic applied in these woods.”

“But I can’t figure it out. That amount of spiders is also strange. This exercise is supposed to be controlled by the faculty. We can assume that the ecosystem is under some degree of control. But that thing was clearly overkill. Honestly, it wasn’t surprising that at least one of them had become food for these guys.”

“…..Is there something different about this exercise?”

“…maybe.”

Considerations.

As I mentioned earlier,I felt that this was more than a student could handle. It was like a gut feeling I’d had since the spider swarm was making its move. Oddly enough, it was right on target, but why would they do this?

The ecosystem went a little crazy, and the unexpected happened……I hope that’s the case…but I’m not sure if it’s a groundless concern.

”Ray-kun……..”

“Elisa, what’s wrong?”

As I’m pondering this alone, Elisa approaches me.By the way, right now Evi is collecting the carcasses in the center and Amelia is assigned to dispose of the them.

”Those clothes……..”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s not a pleasant one to look at.”

There was a little bit of spider-spider fluid on my clothes, but it was all over my clothes. Elisa stared at it and then exercised her magic.

“Oh! You only emanated the liquid that adhered to it!”

“Uh … yeah. If it worked out well that’s fine.”

“No, it really helps. Elisa seems to be very good at fine control of magic. Or rather, you seemed to have a good handle on the code.”

“Really…?”

“Oh. I’m sure, my brain hasn’t been able to keep up with the code until now.”

“I see………Ray-kun…….you’re still very knowledgeable.”

“Huh, I don’t hate studying.”

I don’t hate it now, though. I even hated it for a while. That was all because of my teacher’s education……..well, it’s a nostalgic memory now.

“Ray. It’s over”.

“Hmmm… that was pretty tiring.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll let you take care of it.”

“You must be tired after the battle, right? You could atleast leave it to me….”

“Yes! We should help each other out, right?”

“Yeah. You’re right. Thank you.”

　It’s only been a month and a bit since we met. But I’m lucky to have met such good friends. At the same time, I still think about it somewhere in the back of my mind.

　My past, and the days I spend hiding it. It’s about time my master’s ‘Universal Countryside Forest’ answer was getting suspicious.

But is it okay to tell the truth…I wonder if it’ll be alright.

Doubt. Impatience. A little bit of those things go through my brain.

By no means, I’m not a false image of the person they are dealing with right now, but someday I’ll have to face reality.

I had a premonition that I would have to face reality.

　◇

We kept going after that.

Defeating the demons that came out, while considering the cycle of magic in the forest so that we wouldn’t wander. We noticed that every three hours or so, there is a period of time when this forest’s prima materia thins out

Perhaps that is the time when the magic of this forest is weakening. We were definitely moving forward as we weaved through that time. With breaks in between, of course.

”Let’s rest here for today. Let’s try to get … about six hours of sleep.”

It is now midnight on the first day. Eighteen hours have passed since the exercise began. If you add in the six hours of sleep, there is just one whole day left. The rest must be cleared by this time. Of course, it would be possible to proceed without sleep. There was an atmosphere where everyone seemed to be crazy.

But fatigue, and lack of sleep for that matter, is not a stupid thing.

Of course the decline in physical ability is also a problem, but most of all it makes it difficult to exercise magic. Magic is a phenomenon that is brought about mainly by using the frontal lobe in the brain. The place is called the magic area, but if you overdo it, the magic area overheating will occur. This is why careful rest is more important than anything else.

‘I’ve never slept outside before…’

“I’ve been there, though!　Well, we had a tent then, but….”

“Wow, me as well…”

“I’m sorry, but it’s hard to make that sort of thing now. You’ll have to lie down with grass underneath you. As for the dirt and so forth I’ll just have to ask you to think of it as an unavoidable condition.”

“Ray is still quite used to it. Huh.”

“Yeah. I’ve been sleeping outside a lot.”

“Hmm. That’s right.”

Amelia told me so matter-of-factly, but I still seemed to think she was suspicious of me.

But it is. I know that I’m from a commoner family and can’t use magic well, but as far as combat skills go, I’m a normal You’d think it was oddly tinny to say that I was above the sorcerer. That’s when I remembered my master’s words.

“Ray. You’re going to be a student now.”

“Yes, I understand.”

”But I’m not going to tell you to never hide the fact that you’re a Grand Wizard.”

“But wouldn’t it be a problem if they found out…?”

”That’s for the convenience of the magic society. Some of the seven great magicians are open about their identities. But in your case, it’s a unique situation. Besides, the academy is a surprisingly closed space. It’s very easy to spread rumors. If you want to enjoy academy life, you should try to hide it for four years. But since neither you nor I are already a soldier, you are free to do whatever you want…………….just keep that in mind.

“Ha. Yes, ma’am!”

“But if you’ve made a friend you can truly trust you might as well confide in him. Maybe there will come a time when your past needs to be told, too.”

“….”

“It’s an unfortunate memory. For me and for you. But one does not live alone. You will always have to cross paths with others. Therefore, be faithful to those you trust, Ray.

“….Master. Thank you for your precious words.”

Before I started school I had this exchange with her. At the time, I just had a superficial understanding of what the words meant. But within a month of entering the school, I already had a friend that I felt I could trust.

─ What should I do, Master?

Thinking about that, I fell asleep.

　◇

“Hah … hah … hah … hah …”

“Holy shit….oh no…”

“Ugh … um … my legs …”

　We wake up in the morning and we’re on our way again. The relentless sunshine comes in and drains the water from our bodies. We manage to make up for it by re-hydrating and taking breaks, but it was getting close to the peak of fatigue for everyone except me.

　Should we have gotten more sleep ? However, there was a possibility that it would barely make any difference … was that a misjudgment?

“Huh … huh … huh … huh …”

“Elisa, let me hold your hand.”

“Eh, but…”

“I’ll support you.”

The one with the most difficult case of all of them was Elisa. That’s why I walked backwards and lent Elisa my shoulder.

“I’m sorry to say that we’re going to have to stick together.”

“No … no problem at all. But … well … thank you.”

“Yeah. It’s all about the spirit of mutual aid.”

Evi and Amelia also watched such a situation, but they did not complain. Evi giggled and smiled with a thumbs up, and Amelia smiled with a kind expression on her face.

Everyone understands. They know what we as a party should do. And Elisa has given me a lot of support for magic-related things. Her magic was useful for generating water and other times when we were facing demons. Probably in terms of the number of times magic was used, Elisa was the most frequent.

There was no doubt that she was fatigued not only physically, but also in a mental sense.

And supporting her with that magic is something I would never be able to do right now. Therefore, it would be time to repay that favor.

”Ah!”

“Hey, look, Ray!　That was….”

“Oh. That’s for sure.”

“Yeah … finally …”

It was in the middle of the forest we found carefully placed landmarks. And I could catch a glimpse of Gray-sensei and Wright-sensei as well. That must be the end of the line.(TN: Since he was a military man, he seems to call them Instructor, but due to the holy rule of Anime #101, I will only address them sensei)

”Oops!”

As if the tiredness was never there, Evi runs. Amelia followed, and me and Elisa proceeded in a kind of tripod fashion but I sensed something.

This is………a sign of magic.

”Evi! Amelia! Stop! Delay magic is applied there!

“Oops….”

“What…?”

Evi and Amelia snapped to a stop in time ,as if my advice was in time.

“Elisa, give me a moment.”

“Uh, yeah…”

I put Elisa down on the spot and picked up a nearby stone and threw it in front of me. Then……….

”Whoa!”

“Yikes!”

Instantly, a delay magic was triggered, perhaps in response to the impact. Something like a birdcage emerged from the ground.

”As I thought…….quite a characterless trap.”

“Ray, I’m glad you noticed.”

“Yeah. You really are something else.”

There was a stagnation in the Prima materia. That’s unique to delay magic. Now, let’s go, shall we?”

I carried Elisa and we all got there as it was.

“Congratulations. You guys are the first to arrive.”

“Yeah, yeah. This year’s students are brilliant. Aren’t they the fastest of all time?”

Gray-sensei and Wright-sensei who were there says so.

“The time………it’s now 17:30? So that means it took about forty-one hours?”

”Oh!　Nice work, guys!　You’re the first to arrive!”

“Yeah!”

“Yeah…!”

Yeah. It was a collaborative effort by all of us.

We had a lot of things going on, but we ended up on top of the practical exercise.

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TN: Next post will be of “Person with Inferior ability returning from demon world”.

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