Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Alice's Nightmare (2)

About twelve hours into the practical.

We were cutting through a dense forest.

The thick canopy left almost no visibility, green pressing in from all sides.

Rustle!

Monsters lurked everywhere in the underbrush.

We pushed forward, shaking off ambushes one after another.

"Sir Viktor! More coming from behind!"

A short shout.

Snarl!

Bark, bark!

I didn't flinch.

"I've got them."

I raised the scythe quietly.

The pocket watch was already in my palm.

Click.

The moment I pressed the button, the world slowed to a crawl.

Leaping lightly, I swung the dark red scythe.

'Parrying.'

Fwish!

Shaved the attack off by a hair. The fangs spun out wide, and the wolf tumbled away without the faintest idea what had happened.

Yelp...!

It hung suspended in the air.

I leveled the scythe and murmured.

"Engage. Thorns."

Shwick, thud!

One thorn burst from the tip of the blade and punched straight through the wolf's heart.

The monster went limp and crumpled to the ground.

Growl...!

Screech!

The rest came charging in, but the results were the same.

The pocket watch cycled through my hand.

Click.

Click.

Click.

One press per wolf. Each one reduced to pulp by thorns.

Only once the last one was down did I let out a breath.

Inside the mask, sweat had beaded across my skin.

"Haah..."

All stats fixed at E-rank.

My body wouldn't keep up. I burned through energy faster than anyone, and even this much had me catching my breath.

I stood still, steadying myself, and the others made their way over.

"Sir Viktor!"

"Ah... Miss Ranne."

"My side's cleared too! Didn't think they'd ambush in such a big pack..."

"Mine's done as well. Though we did sweep up a lot of points in one go."

"All thanks to your incredible work, Sir Viktor! Those movements were something else!"

"Just a small trick. More importantly, is everyone all right? Anyone hurt?"

"I'm fine!"

"I-I'm okay too..."

Ranne, bright and sturdy as always. Alice, looking a little smaller than usual.

Neither seemed to have taken any real damage.

I checked the Crystal Orb.

[Monster 'Juggling Wolf' defeated.]

[20 points obtained.]

[Monster 'Juggling Wolf' defeated.]

[20 points obtained.]

[Monster 'Juggling Wolf' defeated.]

[20 points obtained.]

[Monster 'Juggling Wolf' defeated.]

[20 points obtained.]

.

.

.

[Total points tallied so far: 1872]

Nearly 2,000 already. All that hunting was paying off.

Part of it was Ranne's contribution, too. Second seat really was second seat. Every strike she threw carried a different kind of weight.

'Well... she is the protagonist.'

Not exactly a surprise. Still.

Alice, on the other hand, hadn't contributed much. Far from joining the hunt, she'd been shaking at the back the whole time.

"Miss Alice. You don't look well."

"A-ah, no... I'm, I'm sorry. I haven't done anything..."

"It's fine."

Of course.

I'd known from the start this was how it would go when I brought her along.

Alice wanted to keep her abilities hidden. Or rather, she had to. The thought of her power slipping out was what terrified her.

'Certainly...'

A power she couldn't rein in.

Trauma.

The Nightmare.

The Third Calamity, waiting somewhere in the continent's future. The gateway that could drag Alice's Nightmare into reality.

'Wonderland.'

Not just her. Anyone would be crushed under that kind of power.

If she lost control, it wouldn't end as a simple accident.

'Though... with me here, she'll be fine.'

I worked through it all in my head and gave the Crystal Orb an idle tap.

A screen came up. The rankings chart.

[Point Collection Status]

1st - 3903 points (Leader: Rin Glacia)

2nd - 2140 points (Leader: Gelik Rriboot)

3rd - 2031 points (Leader: Ruska Venity)

4th - 2000 points (Leader: Zenorine Kymbet)

5th - 1872 points (Leader: Viktor)

.

.

.

[Total: 51 teams]

'Smooth so far.'

Already in the top five. And apart from the runaway leader, everyone else was bunched close together, the rankings see-sawing back and forth.

'Can't realistically go for 1st... but 2nd might be doable.'

I glanced at the top team.

The name listed as leader. Rin Glacia.

Top seat of Class A. The girl who had crushed Ranne by a landslide at the entrance exam.

'Her score keeps climbing.'

Clearly a different league altogether.

Not that I couldn't pull it off if I scraped together every bug I had, but...

'No point burning energy on that.'

A sub-quest had come up, but that was secondary. What mattered was the incident about to go off in this practical. That was what I was here for.

'Two hours left.'

Two hours until it hit.

Time to start moving.

"Shall we move?"

"Yes!"

"Y-yes..."

I led the group deeper into the forest, toward its heart.

A blue window hovered open in front of my eyes as I walked.

[Sub Quest]

-Title: If You're Going to Do It, Do It Right!

-Objective: Achieve a ranking of 3rd or above in the practical.

-Failure Penalty: None

-Reward: Consumable item 'Very Discreet Necktie (B-)'

[Time Limit: Before the practical ends]

"Hmm..."

Not going to lie.

Part of me felt a twinge of regret. Probably made worse by checking the rankings so often.

'The quest only asks for top 3, but...'

These quests always had room for going further.

Finishing in 1st place would likely earn a [Bonus Reward] on top of the standard prize. That was how it worked in the original game. A perfect clear always came with something extra.

'Wonder what it'd give...'

Of course, I wasn't seriously considering it.

Even if I spent the next two hours hunting other teams, there wouldn't be enough time. And targeting top-ranking groups would eat up too much energy for too little gain.

Unless some lower-ranked team just walked up and handed their points over willingly...

'Hah... as if.'

I clicked my tongue.

Nothing to be done. Reach for both rabbits and you end up with neither.

'This is the right call.'

I reminded myself of that and kept walking through the trees.

We were nearly at the destination when Ranne, walking beside me, suddenly stopped.

Her violet eyes swept the surroundings. She'd caught something.

"Sir Viktor."

"Miss Ranne?"

"I think we've been surrounded."

Rustle.

From between the bushes, figures emerged.

A lot of them. Around thirty, at a rough count. Ten teams' worth.

They stepped out quietly and arranged themselves to block the path ahead.

"Of all things..."

I glanced back, but the way we'd come was blocked as well.

No retreat.

I looked ahead again.

Had they formed an alliance among themselves? Or were they one group from the start?

I was still turning it over when the one who looked like the ringleader stepped forward.

"Viktor."

Somehow familiar.

I tilted my head.

"Hm? You know my name."

"Of course! There's no way we wouldn't know your name."

"My apologies, but who exactly...?"

"Ha! Don't tell me you've forgotten and you're still going to play it cool?"

"......"

No.

Genuinely. Who is this.

"We're here to repay you for the humiliation you put us through!"

"Humiliation...?"

"Still pretending not to know! The Freshmen Welcome Exam was barely a week ago! Or are you scared? What happened to all that boldness when you were challenging Class C right to our faces?"

"Ah."

It came back to me.

Class C students. The ones who had gleefully dunked on Class E during the Freshmen Welcome Exam. The hangers-on trailing Shariel right before I knocked her out in front of them.

A week ago. But with everything that had been happening, it had slipped clean out of my head.

"Ha! Now you remember!"

"Forgive me. I tend to have trouble remembering people who weren't a threat."

"Argh,! Still this arrogant, to the very end! Let's see how long that smile lasts!"

"I just naturally have this kind of face. More importantly, where is Lady Labriell?"

"Shariel-nim is not here! She went to do her practical over in Purgatory!"

"Is that so."

"The ones who came to deal with you today are just the rest of us!"

Shing, click, thunk.

Weapons came out from sleeves all around. Eyes full of grudge locked onto me.

"Shariel-nim said to let it go... but we can't accept that!"

"How dare you put Shariel-nim through that kind of shame! We're here to pay you back for it!"

"Since what you did to her, Shariel-nim hasn't been herself."

"Someone who used to carry herself with such pride has wilted!"

"We don't know exactly what you did, but we're going to break you, and use that to lift Shariel-nim's spirits!"

Out came their whole story, one after the other, in full detail.

A tale you couldn't hear with dry eyes.

True loyalists of this age, every one of them. Rallying in such numbers for the sake of their deflated liege.

"Ha...!"

I couldn't help it. A grin split across my face.

The mask's corners tore nearly to my ears.

Dark red mist bled into the forest around me.

"Everyone."

Nine teams, precisely.

I leveled the scythe at them.

Who'd have thought things would work out like this.

"You all have at least 300 points on you, right?"

First place is mine.

***

Elsewhere in the forest.

A girl was moving through the underbrush.

"......"

Hair of a peculiar, luminous blue. Eyes that held nothing.

Sharp features. Cutting, even, the kind of face that made you feel the edge before you'd fully processed it.

Beautiful enough to stop anyone cold, man or woman.

Around her, monsters lay scattered. Cut apart, mercilessly, every one.

Clack.

A white blade slid back into its sheath.

A cold wind that didn't belong to the season. Snowflakes drifted down from somewhere above.

Her presence alone could've frozen the entire hunting ground solid.

"Haah..."

Breath blooming like a flower in the cold air.

Her name was Rin Glacia.

The most dominant first-year top seat in Grandia Academy's history.

"......"

Rin was alone.

She hadn't bothered keeping her group together. From the moment the practical began, she'd moved by herself.

Every time that winter-cold blade swung, dozens of monsters were swept aside without resistance.

Slash!

She never tired, never stopped to rest. Just cut through them like a machine, one after the next.

'Rankings...'

The thought surfaced.

Rin drew the Crystal Orb from her pocket. The smooth surface was coated thick in white frost.

'...I'm in first, obviously.'

A foregone conclusion, but she brought up the screen to confirm anyway.

A few flickers, and the rankings appeared.

Rin scanned the chart with eyes that held nothing.

But then.

"...?"

A question mark. She couldn't help it.

The rankings on screen had completely defied her expectations.

[Point Collection Status]

1st - 5839 points (Leader: Viktor)

2nd - 4394 points (Leader: Rin Glacia)

3rd - 2531 points (Leader: Ruska Venity)

.

.

.

[Total: 51 teams]

A name written in her spot at the top. Ahead of her by over 1,500 points.

The blue-haired girl stopped where she stood.

"...Hah?"

Her eyes went cold and flat.

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