Please, Just Read It

Please, just read this

Chapter 33

Their Circumstances (2)

Our Olivia has a peculiar habit.

Whenever she sees the corpses of the dead, she prays to release their grudges and grant them ascension.

It doesn’t matter how they died.

Whether they fell into a trap, were killed by a monster, or perished in battle with other candidates…

Olivia always prayed for the corpses she saw.

By the way, the ones she was praying for this time were the candidates who had just become a meal for the transparent chimera.

“Please, great mother of magic, take care of the souls of these dead, ᚱᚲᚳᛈᛉᛊᛋ, ᛌᛍᚢᛤᛥᛦ, goddess of servitude, ᛰ᛫᛬᛭ᛮᛯ, ᚥᚦᚧᚨᚩ…….”

“…….”

[…….]

Just as I thought, she mutters ancient runes in the middle of her prayers.

According to Olivia herself, this is how prayers are supposed to help the souls ascend faster…

Hmm, well.

Honestly speaking, that’s all superstitious nonsense.

The very concept of ascension was created by religious folks to suck money from people.

But what can you do?

Olivia insists that she must do it this way.

“Phew, it’s done…”

“Hey, you dimwit.”

“……What?”

After finishing her prayer, Becky shot a question at Olivia.

“Why do you keep doing this annoying thing?”

“It’s… it’s for the honor of the dead…”

“Then why do we have to preserve the honor of the dead?”

“Um, th-that’s…”

Olivia started explaining in a hesitant manner, gesturing with her hands.

The great mother of magic guides the souls of deceased magicians to the afterlife, and to do this smoothly, the grudges of the dead must not remain, blah blah blah…

‘This is just nonsensical superstition.’

[Agreed.]

But summarizing what Olivia said…

Well, it turns out that’s the rule of the Blaze Arcane Academy.

[Is that even a religion or an academy?]

Honestly, from listening to Olivia, it seems no different from a cult.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they were hunted down by heretics right now!

[Seriously, those ancient magic nerds are still strange as ever, just like 300 years ago…]

It wasn’t surprising that they were treated like fools.

“By the way, Olivia.”

“……Yes?”

“I have a question too.”

This time Riley asked.

“You mentioned earlier that there’s no magic for finding paths among ancient magic.”

“Ah, yes…”

A conversation between Becky and Olivia from half a day ago.

This was during the time when Riley was trying to dispel the magical interference in the ruins for her pathfinding.

-What? Can’t even use basic pathfinding magic? You can’t even do pathfinding?

-…Yes.

[That’s definitely what she said.]

Recollecting my memory, I turned my gaze back ahead.

Riley continued her questioning.

“So how did you pass the first test?”

“Y-Yes?”

“You said you can’t use pathfinding magic. So you couldn’t have found the administration office, right? How did you pass the first test?”

“Uh? That’s a good point!”

Hearing Riley, Becky shot up from her seat to interrogate Olivia.

“Hey, you dimwit, how did you pass the first test?”

[Hmm…]

Now I’m curious too.

[Sharp observation.]

How on earth did Olivia manage to pass the first test?

Without being able to use pathfinding.

Without being able to use any pathfinding magic.

Really, Olivia only seems to flaunt her meager knowledge of ancient magic…

How did she navigate through the magic circles spread throughout the Wilhelm area to find the administration office?

“Um, uh…”

Upon hearing the question, Olivia started fidgeting with her fingers.

She quietly trailed off her words.

“Um, well…”

After hesitating, Olivia finally opened her mouth. Her answer was somewhat shocking.

“I didn’t necessarily have to find the administration office myself.”

“……What?”

“……Huh?”

When Riley and Becky simultaneously questioned her, Olivia continued in a squeaking voice.

“That’s right. I can’t use basic pathfinding magic. The only thing I can do is ancient magic.”

“……”

“But that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”

Olivia slowly lifted her head, and for some reason, her eyes were mysteriously shining.

“I know the most about ancient magic among our academy members. I’m the most knowledgeable.”

“……”

“I guarantee you, there’s no one who knows ancient magic better than me among existing magicians.”

She continued to speak slowly, but clearly.

“Though it’s awkward for me to say, I’m a genius. I’m the only one who has perfectly mastered the principles and systems of ancient magic.”

“……”

“So…! If I’m just rotting away in a minor academy, it’s a tremendous loss even on an empire scale!”

Olivia’s voice started to rise gradually.

“I absolutely must enter the Five Great Towers! No, rather, the Five Great Towers should worship me!”

“……”

“Why, you ask? Because a genius like me is one of a kind in this world! No one else knows how to use ancient magic better than me!”

The corners of her mouth twisted peculiarly.

“But alone, I couldn’t find the administration office. When I asked others, none of them knew where it was.”

“……”

“I was disheartened. If I can’t find the administration office, I can’t register for the test…”

Olivia was smiling.

No.

To be exact, it was a crazy laugh.

“Just because I couldn’t find the stupid administration office, and couldn’t use that ridiculous pathfinding magic… does that mean this genius has to fail and not even take the selection test?”

“……”

“Unbelievable! That’s impossible!”

Suddenly, Olivia’s outburst left Riley and Becky stunned, unable to interrupt her words and standing there in shock.

“S-So… I thought of another method.”

“……What method?”

“I went to a wizard guild that specializes in pathfinding and asked for their help. I asked them to find the administration office for me.”

That was insane.

To be trying to rely on others during a test where you have to prove your ability.

It defied all common sense.

“Coincidentally, there was a magician in that guild who had already finished registering for the selection test.”

“…….”

“He had some strange markings on his hand, which were supposedly the proof of being a candidate for the selection test!”

“……”

“So, I asked that person for help! Please help me out. I really want to register for the selection test…”

He would have of course refused.

That magician must have turned her down.

“But that person rejected my request. He said that finding the administration office itself is part of the test.”

That magician must have been a good person.

After all, just giving her information about the first test would have benefited Olivia greatly.

He showed kindness to someone he didn’t even know.

But it seems Olivia thought otherwise.

“As I said, I can’t use pathfinding magic, right? There’s no way I could find the administration office by myself! So I begged and pleaded for them to find the way for me.”

She continued to talk.

“But that magician ignored me. He treated me like a crazy person and tried to chase me off! Saying that someone like me, who tries to rely on others, doesn’t deserve to take the selection test!”

I would probably say the same.

After all, it’s like setting the table and then whining to be fed with a spoon.

Anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Olivia muttered in a low voice.

“So in the end, even though I really didn’t want to… I decided to use my own method.”

“What’s your method?”

When Becky asked, Olivia whispered softly.

“There are many terrifying spells among ancient magic. There are spells that can blow up mountains, split the seas, and drop meteors…”

“……”

Pausing for a moment, Olivia sighed and confessed.

“Among them, the one I’m best at is torture magic.”

“……”

[…….]

Torture magic.

In short, it meant she tortured the pathfinder.

-Kuah! Alright, I’ll do it! I’ll do it! Please! Please stop! Kuhah, ahhh!

Until he loses his mind and proclaims himself as Olivia’s puppet. And until he pleads to find the administration office on her behalf.

“Wow! This is insane!”

Becky’s eyes went wide upon hearing that.

“Did the administrator let that pass?”

“W-Well, technically, I did end up finding the administration office with the help of my ability.”

“Hahaha!”

Becky burst into hearty laughter.

“Wait, so you were throwing a fit about respecting the dead while being a psycho like that? This is driving me crazy!”

“W-What does that have to do with this…?”

“What? Bwahaha! Aha! Aha! Hey! Riley! Did you just hear that? What does that have to do with it? This guy is also a certified weirdo! Uwahaha!”

Without fail, Becky started rolling on the ground with laughter.

“……”

[…….]

Meanwhile, Riley and I were making faces that said we were beyond fed up.

[This is genuinely ridiculous.]

You figured out where the administration office is by torturing another candidate?

What kind of madness is this?

[How are there no sane people here?]

‘That’s exactly what I want to say.’

One person is using a clone to create chaos.

Another is having the candidates tortured into doing the test for her…

[Hah.]

Only Riley managed to pass the test in a logical manner.

It’s truly dizzying.

Is this really a test to select talents?

Or is it a talent for disaster?

*

The exam time was precisely one day.

Exactly 24 hours.

Half a day had already passed since the exam started.

So realistically, we only had about 12 hours left.

[Ugh…]

The requirement for passing the second test was to find the core of the Golden Golem.

The core is the power source for the golem.

It’s like the heart for a human.

To obtain this core, we only had one task to do.

[First, we need to capture this damned Golden Golem quickly…]

The problem is, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

[Hah…]

I sighed.

[Is it still evading us?]

‘Yeah.’

We had been tracking the Golden Golem for several hours now.

This was truly a headache.

Of course, it started smoothly.

Using Riley’s “Pathfinding,” we could find the nearby Golden Golems without much trouble.

But there was one fact we had overlooked.

[This is maddening…]

This place was the interior of the ruins.

Moreover, it was a very dangerous ruin with a labyrinthine shape.

The paths were already complicated, and there were monsters and traps everywhere.

As we tried to avoid these obstacles, the Golden Golem had gotten further and further away.

This was the reason we hadn’t captured the Golden Golem over the past half day.

‘However, there’s one piece of good news.’

[What is it?]

‘They’ve stopped moving.’

[Huh?]

‘The two nearby have completely ceased movement.’

They had completely stopped moving.

Those Golden Golems that had been wildly running about at that.

[This is a heavenly opportunity.]

We couldn’t miss this chance.

As we were about to follow the traces of the Golden Golems and move forward…

Suddenly.

Just then.

Riley halted her steps.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“……”

Becky, beside her, asked.

“Another trap?”

“No.”

“Then why did you stop?”

Instead of answering, Riley pointed forward.

Thud, thud—.

From the opposite side of the alley.

Three wizards revealed themselves.

“……!”

Wearing robes, they glanced at us and immediately showed shocked expressions.

As if they were completely surprised to see people in a place like this.

[…….]

I examined the opposing party closely.

Their faces were covered in dried blood marks.

However, strangely enough, there were no visible wounds on their bodies.

‘Could that blood on their faces be from monsters?’

[No.]

It wasn’t some flimsy guess.

From the color, viscosity, and smell, I could be certain.

That was definitely human blood.

To be precise, it was the blood of candidates who had fought them recently.

“What are you going to do?”

Becky asked.

“Let’s just pass by.”

“Why? It’s a great opportunity to reduce our competition. Can’t you see how bad they look?”

“Still, we should avoid unnecessary battles. Finding the golem’s core is our top priority for now.”

Avoiding unnecessary battles.

That was the way we had been approaching the selection test for the past 12 hours.

“Hm……”

Upon hearing that, Becky smiled faintly.

“Riley.”

“Yes?”

“I understand your intention to avoid unnecessary battles.”

Becky pointed toward the candidates in front of us.

“But unfortunately, they don’t seem to feel the same way.”

Killing intent.

In the suffocating tension, mana suddenly erupted. The opponents initiated an attack without saying a word.

One of the wizards waved his hand slowly.

A red line was drawn across the air.

Whoosh──.

There was no time to provide a warning. Riley quickly crouched down. Becky also forcibly pushed Olivia’s head down and got low.

“Ah!”

“Just bow your head, you dimwit!”

And in the next moment.

Following the line, the ruins split in half.

CRACK──.

A surreal scene.

The background behind us started to collapse.

Countless piles of stones and debris rained down with tremendous noise and dust.

“Hah, hah…”

Becky laughed awkwardly.

“This is a tough opponent.”

“Yeah.”

Riley’s expression hardened.

Olivia trembled.

“Ugh, it’s hard to believe that someone who gets so scared like this during a fight tortured others. This is just unbelievable.”

And as she looked at Olivia…

[What the heck is that? Gross.]

“……”

Twelve had become our number.

“Is this your first time facing a clone?”

Becky grinned at the panicking opponents.

“Well, this will be a great experience for you guys.”