148 – The First Day’s End

The Orion Academy instructors had engaged in a not-so-brief conference to determine the practical exam.

From the outset, the idea of having the cadets play a “badge snatch” game amongst themselves had been floated, but reflecting on recent events, it felt…insipid.

A deeper understanding of the cadets was needed, even if it was to make the semester two education all the more enriching.

Thus, the badge was transferred from cadet to instructor, and a variety of evaluation criteria emerged.

Among them, there was one that garnered a positive response from all the instructors.

The majority of Orion Academy cadets hailed from prestigious families.

Even if permitted to employ every conceivable tactic, it was highly likely that these scions wouldn’t cross certain lines, seeking to preserve their honour.

This wouldn’t do. Frivolous honour was but a husk that invited a futile death in real combat.

The instructors made it one of their goals for this opportunity to strip away that honour as much as possible.

Separately, they held high expectations for the ingenious stratagems the cadets might bring to bear.

Kwaaang───!!!

An explosion, accompanied by a thunderous noise, erupted from the spot where Carrot had stood.

The watching cadets gaped, dumbfounded by the unforeseen spectacle.

Carrot, of course, was unscathed.

She hadn’t exactly won her Orion Academy instructor position in a game of tiddlywinks.

“Eee, my ends are singed…”

Carrot fussed over her hair, affected by the explosion, muttering with disappointment, but her lips curved into a smile.

Wasn’t this fun from the very beginning? Already exceeding expectations.

‘The ground felt… off. But when did they plant a bomb?’

Carrot had only sensed the incongruity with her beastkin’s innate intuition.

When she had first stood in that spot, the anomaly had been difficult to discern visually. Plants grew as usual in the soil, and there was no sign of digging.

Which meant they had meticulously cleaned up after planting the bomb.

“Heh heh, so cunning.”

As the black smoke dissipated, Rohan came into view.

Meeting Instructor Carrot’s gaze, Rohan maintained his smiling countenance as he extracted a vial of liquid from within his coat.

A brown glass bottle, the kind you’d see in a hospital.

Right in front of Carrot’s eyes, he hurls the bottle skyward! Aiming it above Carrot’s rabbit ears.

Rohan leveled his pistol. He squeezed the trigger.

Carrot watched the scene unfold, eyes gleaming with amusement.

‘Hydrochloric acid or sulfuric? Or maybe a poison?’

Ordinary poisons or acids are useless against a body infused with mana. They’re barely more effective than a bomb, in most cases.

Yet he used it, meaning he must have confidence in it. He couldn’t afford to take the hit.

Bang!

The bullet pierced the glass, shattering it with a crash! and spilling green liquid into the air.

Carrot propelled himself off the ground to dodge the falling fluid.

He leaped forward, closing the distance to Rohan.

With a single bound, Carrot reached striking range and launched into a kick.

Rohan contorted his body, narrowly avoiding the kick aimed at his jaw.

“Don’t be so upset. It was just regular green tea.”

“…You’re a really amusing cadet.”

Was it a trap, meant to set up his next move? Or to lure him into a straight-line approach? Or to observe how he reacted to an unknown attack?

Carrot couldn’t suppress a smile at Rohan’s tactics.

A strange feeling of being led by the nose.

‘Did Instructor Joo-yeon teach him this? Experience gained in the South? Whatever it is, it’ll be stimulating for the others.’

Rohan was unnervingly seasoned for a mere cadet.

His transitions and movements were too natural to have been learned from someone else. Even if he’d imagined this scenario, it didn’t feel like a first attempt.

“Hyah!”

The leg strength unique to rabbit beastkin.

Rohan’s large frame was sent flying by the roundhouse kick.

‘Without a shred of mana!?’

Rohan’s eyes snapped wide open.

Even with mana to anchor himself, to be knocked back like this spoke of a different level of impact, of raw strength.

–Screech! Rohan skidded across the floor as he landed.

Carrot was already right on top of him. Displaying his litheness, he raised his leg high.

Without hesitation, Rohan raised his scabbard to block the downward strike.

*Crack!*

‘Heavy.’

From Carrot’s toes, a profound discipline surpassing mere talent could be felt.

If he hadn’t added his gun-bearing arm for defense, he might have dropped his sword.

“Instructor, you show no mercy.”

“Of course not! My head was split open, I’m furious!”

She looked anything but furious. Her rabbit ears were perked high.

–*Thwack!* Carrot’s attack conveyed her excited feelings through a light rhythm.

Rohan naturally drew Radiance from its scabbard.

Imbuing it with Scorching Might, he swung without hesitation.

[One Sword – Flame Cut]

Carrot spun backward to evade the slash, then playfully wiggled her behind.

“Eee! Rohan Cadet, you’re so mean! Trying to kill such a pretty instructor?”

“I’ll contribute as much as I can to the condolence money.”

Rohan fired his pistol, *Bang! Bang!*

Carrot dodged the bullets with minimal movement, and again began to extend her leg.

“I don’t accept the pocket money of cadets!”

“Ugh!”

Carrot’s agility was something else. Each time he blocked a kick, the hand gripping his sword felt like it would tear.

The fact that her strikes were casual taps, without intent to kill, was unbelievable.

‘…My mana is being ground down.’

Her movements are readable to the eye, but even following with the blade and gun barrel is an ordeal.

*Click! Click!* He pulled the trigger, but no bullet fired.

He detached the empty magazine.

Rohan tossed the pistol upward.

Gripping the sword with both hands, he swung, pushing Carrot back slightly.

Then, he reached into his magazine pouch.

“Heh!”

Carrot wouldn’t allow it, latching on tenaciously.

Rohan, once again, pulled out something other than a magazine.

This world holds weapons unseen in the one I knew before.

Firearms, specifically tailored for magic users, had evolved in strange and wondrous forms.

Rohan bought many.

But here, only one would serve.

The ultra-low frequency noise grenade, purchased for 46 coins. A grenade in shape.

Such low frequencies were barely audible to the average person. Inaudible, for most. Back in my world, they were only used to deter wild animals.

But the beastkin heard them clearly. Sion, the elf, too.

Asked what it felt like, she’d described it as a “disagreeable noise that disrupts concentration.”

*Click!*

Rohan pressed the button and tossed the noise grenade onto the floor.

It began to vibrate like a ringing cellular phone.

Several of the beastkin students watching nearby winced, covering their ears.

“···!”

Carrot’s expression tightened. Her perked rabbit ears twitched rapidly.

If not for the constraint to minimize magic usage, she could have easily protected her hearing. A regrettable situation.

Carrot tracked Rohan’s pistol descending from the air.

Rohan would need to grab that for the fight.

That was why Carrot was aiming for the noise grenade on the floor.

‘As expected.’

Anticipated, even, that she’d try to kick it away.

Rohan ignored the falling pistol, not even attempting to catch it. The rune wouldn’t even scratch if it fell on the floor.

“Hngh!”

Rohan threw himself forward.

Shoulder-checking Carrot, who was winding up to boot the noise grenade like a soccer ball, sending her stumbling.

“Ah!”

The two tumbled to the ground.

Rohan, clinging to Carrot’s leg, prevented her from standing up.

“Hehe, you know, girls never hate persistent men.”

Could that really be a leg attached to such a lithe frame? Rohan’s body dragged across the floor as he was pulled along.

He discarded his sword and grasped her ankle with both hands, attempting a joint lock, but her ankle was as unyielding as wrought iron. It wouldn’t budge.

‘Damn it.’

My leg strength is a joke. I considered using Weakness Infliction, but rather than firing it as a bullet, contact would mean unpredictable mana consumption.

Therefore, I resolved to bring out what I had prepared first.

Just as Rohan was about to gesture towards a distant building.

“I surrender~”

Carrot smiled, raising both hands.

“Huh?”

“First, could you turn off that noise grenade? My ears are killing me.”

“…”

Could this just be a false surrender? Rohan narrowed his eyes.

Carrot seemed pleased by this, chuckling softly and pointing to one side.

“Ah.”

The silver bell that had been hanging from Instructor Carrot’s waist was already gone.

It must have been hanging precariously by a single thread before finally rolling away and breaking off.

Rohan jumped up, collected the bell, and disabled the noise grenade.

“I apologize.”

“Apologies are~ your immediate distrust! Excellent.”

Carrot looked at the dazed cadets standing around and felt even more satisfied.

She clapped, congratulating Rohan.

‘I used too much mana on defense.’

If I use more, it will be difficult to fully recover within a day.

I don’t plan to expend any more than this on the first day. Impatience is poison.

From now on, I will focus on observing the remaining tests and gathering information.

Rohan wandered around, focusing on gathering information.

He also made sure to have a hearty lunch.

And so came the promised 17:00. An announcement came over the loudspeaker.

─ The first day of the practical exam is over. The first day of the practical exam is now over.

─ Those who are injured can come to the tent set up in the center to receive treatment from Instructor Marcel…

Without a second thought, Rohan left the academy.

Lohan, finished with his shower, lay on his dorm bed, checking his phone.

He opened Orion Circle, the Orion Academy’s online community, continuing his eavesdropping.

[Practical Exam Difficulty, Real Deal?]

[That kid posts ten times a day…]

[Just assume the Red Bauble doesn’t exist, instead of assuming there’s only one LOL]

[Diary! Do Not Click ♡]

[↑ Don’t even;]

[But about that explosion during today’s test, was that magic? Or an actual bomb?]

[Lunch Recommendations for Tomorrow]

[I heard more than half the people didn’t get a bauble on the first day]

[Let us observe a moment of silence]

[I’m doomed ㅠㅠ]

[A girl I’m kinda seeing asked if I’m gay, what does that mean?]

A complete free-for-all.

But if you sift through it, there’s still worthwhile information to be found.

[Saw Instructor Carrot give out a bauble exactly once, and Ichinose Yui and Noah Frozenheart managed to get baubles from Instructor Ed]

Those two had already claimed one of the measly twenty baubles each.

Looks like we’ll be diverging again tomorrow.

‘This kind of competition is not good.’

Though they contacted each other frequently, they’d naturally stop contacting each other during the practical exam period.

There would be much to tell once it was over.

He scrolled further down, continuing to gather information.

‘More than half were stopped cold on the first test.’

If they only blindly increased the size of their mana with elixirs and such provided by their families, they wouldn’t be able to pass Instructor Marcel’s test.

It would take them three days just to grasp the trick. And there was a high probability it would take even longer.

“Hmm.”

He sensed a not-unpleasant beginning.

He was pleased.

Lohan rose from the bed and continued his preparations for tomorrow’s test.