EP.218 The Story of the Past, The Pied Piper of Hameln - 4
Graduation practical training is a field evaluation designed to uncover talents that are difficult to assess through exams or sparring matches.
In other words, it is the last chance prepared for children who cannot advance to the military academy.
Desperate children volunteered for this dangerous training that resembled actual combat.
The training proceeded smoothly.
The graduation practical training was a comprehensive evaluation, with the goal being that students must pool their strength among themselves to build a raft, travel down the river, receive evaluation from instructors at the downstream garrison, collect supplies, and return.
Alchemy, crafting, brute strength, stamina, navigation, organizational skills, negotiation skills, and so on. It was a training prepared to evaluate various abilities. Various crises arose, but the students overcame them by demonstrating their talents at the right places and times.
"Chento. You studied meteorology while studying ballistics, right? It's a slightly different field, but what do you think? Would it be better to put up a sail?"
The boy called Chento turned his head with a hissing sound as if pricked by something.
"...Tch. I don't know. How would I know? I quit halfway."
"Still, there's no one here who knows better than you."
"Ha. Are you making fun of me right now? You know, Huey. Top of the entire school."
"I'm just a desk worker. My experience is different from yours, who has actually thrown things, shot things, and observed them."
"...Hmph. It was just child's play. Something anyone can do."
Though Chento grumbled, he examined the wind direction and the mast's material, then fiddled with something. When the wind blew, the raft advanced a bit more easily. Subtly, but surely.
"It does help."
"...Not really."
Chento bowed his head with a devastated feeling. It wasn't an attitude someone who had accomplished something would show, but understanding his circumstances, I didn't bother to say anything.
Praising and elevating something that has already been given up only makes the regret grow larger.
The raft fleet advanced slowly. The Hameln River, stretching toward the south, wasn't very large but was winding and slow-flowing, with all sorts of floating debris drifting about and many birds and beasts lurking above them. Whenever a dark shadow following the river scraped the bottom of the logs, everyone had to tremble with fear.
It was while we were advancing for quite some time. An emergency arose when one of the instructors who had been watching this side for evaluation briefly left his position to move to the next point.
The river was blocked due to the driftwood filling the water's surface. With the already slow current and tree trunks and leaves completely filling the river, there was no way to advance on a raft.
The children fell into confusion at the sudden obstacle.
"It seems like drift debris piled up and blocked the river because it's a spot where the current slows down."
"What do we do...? If we continue like this, night will fall! We need to reach the downstream today."
And naturally, all eyes turned to me. They relied on me, hoping I would resolve this somehow.
At the beginning of the school year, when all the children entered the Military Middle School as blank slates. The children each harbored dreams and hopes with swollen hearts.
Most of the children envisioned themselves wearing smart uniforms. Level 3. A special position different from ordinary military citizens, where one could truly accomplish something. The most important step to move forward.
However, specialness is constrained by numbers. It is special because the number is small, and because it is special, everyone desires it.
Not everyone can obtain it.
I called someone who had once been an aspiring magic officer.
"Carrapald. Can't we solve this with magic?"
"With our magical capacity, it would be impossible even if we spent an eternity using formalized magic. If it were Lancart... that might be different."
It was a half-hearted answer, but it was an obvious fact. I nodded and turned my head in another direction.
"Siati. It's impossible to clear that from on top of the boat, right?"
"...With this kind of footing, it'd take all day. And there's nowhere to put what we clear."
When Siati stomped her feet loudly, screams erupted nearby.
She was somewhat of a promising martial fighter, but Siati, whose growth had stopped, didn't have the talent to overcome her physical limits. Driven to the edge of a cliff, she wanted to reverse her evaluation in this graduation practical training.
Siati, who had been stomping her feet, whipped her head around and snapped at me.
"Anyway, aren't you the one who should be giving orders, Huey?"
"Me? Why?"
"Why? This graduation practical training was actually prepared for you."
She didn't know about the Devouring. If Siati had known about it, it wouldn't have ended with just a foot stomp.
Siati narrowed her eyes and probed me.
"The Chief Instructor must have wanted to evaluate your command ability. That's why you, the top of the year, had to participate in the practical training."
Unfortunately, that's the surface reason. Nicholas spread such rumors among the instructors and some students, injecting a reason why I had to participate.
It was a plausible reason difficult to forcibly refuse, so I couldn't decline and ended up washing ashore here.
Probably, to the drift debris prepared for me.
"...Give us instructions, General. I'll wait for your orders."
Siati said sarcastically.
At the same time, a sense of helplessness, even loneliness, seeped through. She spoke like that, but she too was accepting it.
I gave the orders for her sake, who was waiting for them.
"Dock the boat to the riverbank, and let's clear the drift debris from land. It'll be much safer to clear it from the ground."
"Then we'll have to go into the forest..."
"This boat is a raft. We're loaded like cargo, but it's already overloaded. Let's move first. If things go wrong, we can just come back."
Eventually, we docked the boat nearby and set up a temporary camp. Going deep into the danger-lurking forest was a bad move, so we built a campfire in a clearing not too far away and huddled together.
Clearing the drift debris was an extremely difficult task. Hauling out waterlogged driftwood, tree vines tangled like fishing nets, and all sorts of debris was arduous even with over a hundred vigorous children.
Just when we thought we had cleared a little. Children looking at the sky muttered.
"...Isn't this dangerous? If this continues, it'll become night."
"Actually, night has already come. The sun will set in a few hours."
"Night is dangerous. How did it end up like this?"
They never even dreamed that this situation might have arisen from someone's conspiracy.
Pushing through the forest a bit, a clearing appeared. It was a clearing with traces of someone having stayed there, and the children rejoiced even more, saying they could build an excellent camp, but sensing the ominous fate beneath it, I smiled bitterly.
Night fell. The time of beasts. In the darkness, humans cowered in fear, comforting themselves with a small campfire.
There was no plan to stay in a place like this from the start. Drinking water, food, clothing—everything was insufficient. It was fortunate that tents, blankets, and firewood remained over there; without them, we might have had to spend the night on a swaying boat.
"It's a relief there's a camp. Otherwise we'd be helplessly..."
Without knowing that all of this was within a scenario, the children rejoiced at this fortunate situation amidst misfortune.
Huddled together with campfires burning here and there. As time passed, anxiety sprouted in their hearts. As the bright flames illuminated each other's youthful faces, the children looked at each other and muttered.
"What do we do. Should we give up now?"
"Can't something be done? Let's build a big fire and call the instructor. Spending the night like this is dangerous..."
Building a big fire is tantamount to a declaration of surrender. The instructor would come, but a negative evaluation would be unavoidable... but some thought that there was no choice if it meant becoming safe right now.
Then Chento jumped up and shouted.
"We mustn't call the instructor!"
As if sympathizing with Chento's words, the children nodded with stiff faces. Siati also agreed with him.
"The graduation practical training is very important! This is an unexpected situation, but if we overcome it well, we'll receive a better evaluation! In the first place, why did we come all the way here! To become Level 3!"
"But."
"If you give up here, you'll be Level 2 for life. You'll work a day of forced labor and barely scrape by for a day, living the same daily life like a hamster wheel! Are you okay with that?"
There's a joke that says it's better to live as a Level 0 than as a Level 2.
Level 2 citizens who graduate from the Military Middle School perform forced labor in military facilities that require a middle school education level. It's called forced labor, but it's essentially service.
Naturally, it's more dangerous and cumbersome compared to other forced labor. The pay is higher than regular forced labor, but it's property that can't be passed down anyway.
"I have to become Level 3. Otherwise it's meaningless! You all feel the same way!"
What do you gain from a higher level? Just a lowly sense of superiority. And even that stops at an emotional level. If a Level 2 were to wield violence against a Level 1 or Level 0, or give private orders, they'd immediately be dragged off to a forced labor camp.
The only thing that can discriminate between levels is the military state. Whether Level 2 or Level 0, they're all slaves of this military state.
Things change starting from Level 3.
Recalling that fact, the children were wrapped in another surge of enthusiasm.
"Yeah! This is actually an opportunity!"
"If we overcome this situation, we might receive an even better evaluation!"
"Set up the watch schedule! Oh, and the password too!"
Perhaps thanks to Siati's speech, an encouraging atmosphere formed among the children. Excited emotions rose like campfires, danced, and then faded.
While I was quietly watching them, Carrapald called me in a small voice.
"Huey. Come here."
Telepathy reads everything. Having instantly read Carrapald's business, I nodded slowly.
He, who once dreamed of becoming a magic officer, was a devotee who worshipped Lancart like a god. Such a person received Lancart's summons yesterday. Lancart called him, who usually followed him, and spoke subtly.
That there was a trap hidden in this exam.
So, he was the first to notice something strange and approached me.
"I found something."
Carrapald took me to the riverside in the middle of this night. He approached the water's surface near where the boat was tied and emitted light with formalized magic. Beneath the river that his shining fingers illuminated... a long, sturdy rope was tied underwater.
I raised my head. It was hard to see due to insufficient light, but on the water's surface reflected in the moonlight... above the straight line where this rope extended, a long line of drift debris stretched out.
Carrapald said proudly.
"It's a net. This drift debris was caught in the net and stopped."
"So it seems."
As expected.
While this point is an area where the current slows and drift debris accumulates, for it to pile up so timely... they must have made such artificial manipulations.
"You must have roughly known too. Hehe. Right. The existence of this camp that seemed prepared in advance was strange from the start. The surface exam is to go downstream, but the real exam is... dealing with a crisis. Coping wisely and surviving in a shipwreck situation is the real purpose of this exam. Right?"
No. Coping unwisely and all dying is the real purpose of this exam. So that no one notices this is a trap.
In that sense, Carrapald was the pressing reminder sent by Lancart.
A personality that likes digging things up. A person who feels pleasure from discovering knowledge itself rather than using it. He'll probably continue to roam around trying to grasp the hidden truth of the exam. If left alone, he might uncover the secrets hidden in this camp, even the forbidden unsealing. No, he will uncover it.
Carrapald, he had even vaguely heard about something like a taboo from Lancart... he was truly a ticking time bomb.
He was the existence I had to drive to death first in order to devour all the children. He was a person designed to be just that.
Lancart.
You are not here right now. The wind that reaches me now belongs only to Carrapald.
That's why I cannot heed your will. No, you cannot change me in this way.
I, on the contrary, smiled.
"That's correct, Carrapald. To figure this out already. You're quite good."
Carrapald's eyes sparkled with satisfied curiosity.
"As expected, top rank! I knew you would know too!"
'Even rotting, the top rank remains... I only knew because Lancart gave me hints. But still! Right here, right now, I'm second!'
The wind blows.
The desire for life. The joy of having achieved something with the knowledge one has learned. Camaraderie and fellowship. Or the hope that has come.
I cannot trample on those for a handful of magical power or life force.
Rather.
"Carrapald. Your prediction is right. There's definitely a secret hidden in this camp."
"What kind of secret?"
"I don't know everything either. I have to find out from now on. So, Carrapald, would you do it for me?"
The military state abandoned you. It might be because of me. Because I was such an optimal talent for the Devouring, Nicholas forced it through.
But I cannot say that's my responsibility. Because the military state, or Nicholas or Lancart, orchestrated it. I don't want to kill you.
It's embarrassing to say this, but it's already become sufficient nourishment for my heart.
Both Nicholas and Lancart. They want to change me, but that's all there is to it. Their emotions are calm. Regret and remorse merely lie at the bottom like a quietly settling water surface.
I have no interest in cold emotions that try to wield others without any personal stake.
Rather...
"I have a lot to do, so I'd like you to form a team and investigate."
"Really? I do it? Do I have to report properly later?"
"Of course. Why would I omit what you've done when I have nothing to lose."
When the plan is exposed, when this problem comes back to haunt you, how you will react. What emotions you will show. I'm just more curious about that.
You must also put your necks on the line. That's only fair, right?
"Only you, who noticed this fact first, have that qualification. Carrapald. Would you first try drawing a map of the camp?"
"Got it!"
If you draw a map, you'll come to know. What shape this camp forms. What lies beneath it.
If blood flows, what shape it will draw.
'Look! I've already grasped the essence of this exam. With this, I'll be several steps ahead of the other guys!'
Though the truth obtained at that end can never be accepted with a smile.
I should go prepare too. So that the children can accept a somewhat clearer truth, I need to slowly release information and scatter bait.
So that even with only very superficial knowledge, they can know this is a taboo.