Chapter 9

“It’s been a while, Lord Gis.”

“How have you been, Imperial Court Mage Rozes?”

Gis greeted Rozes Lewellin.

Rozes Lewellin.

A cousin of the current Lewellin family head, holding the rank of imperial court mage for the empire.

“Abad, Chelsea, and Celia all entering Lumene in the same year—ha! As a fellow citizen of the empire, I can’t help but celebrate!”

Abad, the family head’s son, was sixteen. Chelsea, fourteen.

For the empire, having the nation’s three top talents enter the same year was a blessing.

But for the two greatest families, locked in rivalry for the top spot, it was the start of a fierce competition.

“Of course, Abad will take the top spot in the western entrance exam.”

“Do you have a reason to be so sure?”

“Abad and Celia are both top contenders for first place.”

Rozes glanced at the examiner, Albi, standing on the platform.

“This year’s test is unusual. There are too many variables. And Abad has Chelsea.”

He was suggesting the siblings would work together to defeat Celia.

Chelsea was one of the five strongest applicants.

If she aided Abad, Celia wouldn’t stand a chance.

‘It’s a tough spot in many ways… But that doesn’t mean I’m pessimistic.’

Gis smiled meaningfully, thinking of Leo.

Just then, a giant square magic mirror appeared in the air.

Oooo— The audience gasped.

A magic that allowed them to see inside the Hero’s World.

The test situation was being broadcast live.

As the magic mirror shone, an image appeared.

The moment they saw it—

“Pfft—!”

Gis burst out laughing before he knew it, while Rozes’s eyes widened.

There was no sound, but a blue-haired girl was screaming.

She was dangling from the air, her hands and feet bound, with a campfire burning beneath her.

And a white-haired boy was grinning wickedly as he adjusted the rope.

* * *

When Chelsea came to, she found her hands and feet bound together, dangling in midair.

“W-What is this?”

“You’re awake? Good. Let me ask: will you cooperate or not?”

“You’ll regret using such a sloppy binding instead of just eliminating me.”

Chelsea’s eyes flashed with malice as she tried to gather her Mana.

‘Huh? Why isn’t my Mana moving?’

She could feel something was suppressing her magic.

“Is this… a Mana-sealing formation?”

“That’s right. I drew it myself.”

“You’re a magic swordsman?”

“No. I just don’t have any Mana right now. So, the sealing formation isn’t that strong.”

“Ugh! Who’d have thought you had magical training! But a sealing formation without Mana can’t hold me for long!”

“Maybe not. As long as you can concentrate, that is.”

“What? Hii—!”

Chelsea shrieked at the heat rising from her backside.

As Leo lowered the rope, the fire’s presence became obvious.

“Wait! Stop! Kyaaaa! Don’t lower me!”

“So, will you cooperate or not?”

“As a Lewellin, why would I ever cooperate with a Zerdinger!”

“Fine. I don’t care if your butt gets cooked.”

“Kyaaaa! Stop! Stop it!”

Chelsea squirmed.

The heat licked up her backside.

She frantically tried to break the formation, but it wasn’t easy.

Mana-sealing formations demanded considerable magical knowledge.

Even breaking a weak formation without Mana required intense focus.

If Chelsea had been a little more experienced, it wouldn’t have worked.

But for all her skill, she was inexperienced.

Leo had seen right through her.

Chelsea’s face went white.

‘The entrance exam is being broadcast outside! If anyone sees me like this—!’

There was no greater humiliation!

Fwoosh—!

Her skirt caught fire!

“Kyaa! Hot! Stop! Please!”

“Swear it on your family’s name. Swear you’ll cooperate.”

“I will! I swear it! I’ll cooperate in the name of Lewellin, so please stop!”

Tears welled in Chelsea’s eyes as she begged.

‘She’s just a kid. Too easy.’

Leo snickered as he pulled the rope.

Barely freed, Chelsea, on the verge of tears, put out the fire.

‘No way… People didn’t see this, right? Yeah, they couldn’t have. The test just started, so they must’ve shown other people first.’

But unfortunately for her, Leo and Chelsea’s scene had been the first broadcast by magic.

* * *

‘Hmph.’

Albi sighed listlessly.

This Hero’s World was special to him.

The first page of his heroic tale.

The turning point that made him a hero.

Watching the applicants struggle in that world, Albi thought,

‘They’re all so low-level.’

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

A hero is someone recognized by the gods.

So people think of heroes as noble and dignified.

Of course, some are like that.

But Albi was nothing like the typical image.

He was irritable and obsessed with efficiency.

He hated inefficiency.

He hated hassle.

That’s why he designed this test.

Survival in the Demonic Frontier.

Those who survive are strong.

A simple test that clearly separates the wheat from the chaff.

And its effect was clear.

Eliminating competitors.

Battling monsters to survive.

This exam offered two choices.

For most applicants, the choice was to eliminate competitors.

‘How foolish.’

They must have thought it was the fastest way to rise in the rankings.

The monsters in the Forest of Monsters—orc, gnoll, goblin—weren’t a real threat to the examinees.

Of course, trolls were dangerous, but there were few of them.

The examinees made two key mistakes.

First, they failed to properly understand the information.

Albi had explained the test.

But he never revealed the actual passing criteria.

That is, they needed to realize that eliminating competitors wasn’t the only answer and proceed with caution.

Second, they misunderstood the Forest of Monsters.

This is a forest even the armies of powerful nations have failed to conquer.

Even if the monsters are low-ranked, endless fighting will exhaust you.

And yet, to fight without cooperating in such a place—

If this were real, it would be total annihilation.

‘Of course, with overwhelming skill, you could do both—eliminate monsters and rivals.’

Albi smirked as he looked at the magic mirror.

A girl with black hair and red eyes, her sword wreathed in flaming Aura, appeared.

‘Celia Zerdinger. Just as the rumors said.’

Celia was facing off against three trolls.

Behind her, a boy with sky-blue hair was chanting a spell.

‘Abad Lewellin as well. The empire has a bright future.’

The two rivals, by coincidence, met as soon as they entered the Hero’s World.

Both had the overwhelming skill to pass this test alone, but chose to cooperate instead of competing.

They had seen right through this exam.

‘With those two, there’s no problem. It’ll be hard to say who’s better.’

He looked satisfied.

While he was certain they would be the top two,

The screen changed again.

The next candidate shown on the magic mirror was fighting orcs.

‘Was his name Leo Plov?’

He was the first examinee shown on the magic mirror.

And across the entire test, the most outrageous behavior came from him.

Most people saw Leo, who had tied up the Lewellin girl and nearly roasted her over a campfire, as completely insane.

But Albi rated Leo highly.

‘No matter how he did it, getting Chelsea Lewellin’s cooperation is a positive.’

So he was looking forward to what Leo would do next.

And right now, what he was seeing surpassed expectations.

Even as a hero, he was surprised.

‘He’s not as flashy or overwhelming as Celia Zerdinger, but…’

The way he cut down orcs with minimal movement radiated a sense of seasoned skill that seemed almost limitless.

‘He’s an unexpected dark horse.’

* * *

Splurt—!

“Chyaaah—!”

Spinning away from the heart-pierced orc, Leo drew his sword smoothly.

Harnessing centrifugal force, his blade lopped off the head of another orc sneaking up behind him.

The moment he encountered a group of ten orcs, Leo charged straight at them.

Orcs are smart monsters; if given a chance, they’ll form up and attack in formation.

So Leo struck quickly, not letting that happen.

While Leo cut down the orcs at the front, Chelsea chanted a spell.

“Wind Arrow.”

Fwhoosh—!

“Kuaaagh!”

“Chyaeek!”

Orcs pierced by magic screamed.

Seven orcs died to the magic.

After cleanly slitting the last orc’s throat, Leo shook the blood from his sword.

Then, without a word, he walked on ahead.

Chelsea, following behind, muttered to herself,

‘This is so much easier.’

Even if she aspired to be a battle mage, a mage is still a mage.

The most efficient tactic is to leave the front line to a skilled warrior and focus on fire support from behind.

Chelsea found herself working extremely well with Leo.

Forced into a party with him at first, after three battles she was glad for it.

It wasn’t just about fighting monsters.

He herded the monsters so they clustered together for her spells to hit with maximum efficiency.

Magic is most effective when enemies are grouped up.

“Not bad, handling orcs that easily without using Aura.”

“I don’t know how to use Aura.”

“What?”

“I haven’t learned it yet.”

‘He can move like that without Aura?’

She finally understood why he’d been able to get the jump on her earlier.

‘Since he wasn’t using Aura, there was no Mana signature to sense.’

Chelsea put her hands on her hips and flashed a smug look.

“To reveal your secret like that! How naive!”

“You don’t have to worry. You can’t beat me with your current skills anyway.”

“Hmph! Don’t act tough.”

“I’m just stating facts.”

Leo replied indifferently.

“To be honest, you’re pretty skilled.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve got strong Mana and probably know a lot of spells too.”

“Even if you flatter me, it won’t do you any good.”

She spoke primly, but the sudden compliment made her feel good.

“But that’s the problem.”

“Huh?”

“You’re so skilled that you’re not making the most of wind magic’s true nature.”

Chelsea’s fighting style relied on overwhelming opponents with powerful spells.

But that wasn’t the essence of wind magic.

“Our family’s pride is wind magic. How dare you talk about wind magic in front of a Lewellin.”

Chelsea scoffed.

She couldn’t let that slide.

She began chanting a spell in runes, thrusting her staff forward.

“Wind Break.”

“Graaaah—!”

A blade of fierce wind tore through the bushes, shredding a hidden troll to pieces.

The troll twitched on the ground before going limp.

It was a high-level spell she’d prepared in advance, just to show off in front of Leo.

‘So he thinks he knows magic? Bet he’s shocked now.’

Chelsea wore a proud expression.

Leo looked unimpressed.

“That’s not how you use wind magic.”

The greatest strength of wind magic is its versatility.

Simply overpowering with force is the worst way to use it.

Chelsea scowled at Leo’s words and turned her head away as if she didn’t want to hear any more.

‘Well, even if I knew magic in my previous life, I can’t use it now.’

Leo smirked and suddenly stopped.

Chelsea’s eyes widened.

There were troll corpses scattered around.

But the state of the bodies was strange.

They looked as if their life force had been sucked out, dried up and shriveled.

“What did this? There shouldn’t be any monsters in the Forest of Monsters that drain life like this.”

Chelsea examined the corpses in confusion.

Leo touched a corpse and narrowed his eyes.

‘Could it be?’

“First, I think we should meet up with Celia and your brother. I think I have a good idea what the real goal of this exam is.”

“Huh? What is it?”

Seeing Chelsea’s shocked face, Leo gave a meaningful smile.

“To clear this world.”