After walking for about thirty minutes, a river appeared.
The headwaters at the island’s northernmost point split into eight streams that flowed all across the island, and this river seemed to be a branch of one of those branches. It was shallow, but more than sufficient for drinking water. On top of that, there was a rocky mountain behind it and a dense forest overhead, so it could truly be called an ideal spot.
I took out the tent. It was a magic tent, shaped like a small disk. But once magic power was infused into it, it became a tent. Following the manual, I infused the disk with the magic power of Stigma, and the disk moved around on its own, growing larger until it became a tent of a fairly decent size.
“Oho.”
I opened the door and went inside. The interior was quite cozy. As expected of a magic tent, there were even a few pieces of furniture inside. A folding bed and a dining table.
There probably wouldn’t be much going on in the early stages of the exam, so for now, I should catch up on the sleep I’d been lacking.
“Huaaam.”
I yawned widely and flopped down onto the bed.
* * *
Nine hours since the exam began.
The blazing sun had set in the west, and a heavy curtain of darkness had fallen over the island and the sea.
“Haa……”
Amid the chilly night wind, Rachel sat on a nearby rocky mountain, catching her breath.
She had boldly set off after shaking off Kim Hajin and the other cadets who had asked to form a team with her, but now, more than anyone else, she felt the need to be in a team.
More than anything, it was because of food.
“……Ow.”
Rachel looked down at her food pouch with a troubled expression. More than half of the supplied food had already disappeared. She had certainly eaten two hours ago, but after wrestling with a monster, she was hungry again.
Here, food had to be procured on one’s own. It probably meant they were supposed to catch and eat beasts. It was reasonable to assume that beasts would be around the river.
But even if she caught a beast, cooking it was the problem. Cutting the hide, separating the bones from the flesh…… Rachel had never done that kind of butchering before.
She had already killed six monsters, so there was also the option of trading with other cadets. However, grades were important. She had hunted monsters to gain points, and that was why she was hungry; spending those points again to buy food simply wasn’t worth it.
Just as Rachel was agonizing over the matter with a grave expression—
A faint aroma hovered at the tip of her nose.
“……”
She rose and looked down below. On the dark mountain, there was a spot where a small red light burned. Perhaps because it was night, it stood out unusually clearly.
There were probably cadets there. Judging by the smell, they were definitely grilling something. And it was meat.
Rachel swallowed the saliva gathering in her mouth. She still had about half of her rations left, but she had to save those rations as much as possible. Not only would the desperate party always lose out in a trade, but the rations were also the cleanest and most reliable food.
Rachel jumped down from the rocky mountain. She covered the 300-meter-high rocky mountain in three minutes at a run and reached the ground. Then she followed the smell.
They were not far away.
Rachel discovered five cadets cooking a rather large wild boar. The cadets also sensed Rachel’s presence and turned their gazes toward her.
“Huh?”
At one person’s exclamation, all five of them looked at her. Three men and two women. It was a well-balanced group. Rachel looked at them without a word.
“……What brings you here?”
They showed caution first. Rachel gauged her own strength against theirs. However, it was not yet time for cadets to be able to fight one another. Rachel silently pointed at the boar that was cooking.
“I’d like to purchase some.”
“Ah~ haha. You’re working alone, I see.”
The man who seemed to be the leader of the group stood up. He approached Rachel and held out his hand. It was a hand gleaming with grease. Even so, Rachel was willing to take it, but the man withdrew his hand first.
“Ah, my hand’s a mess.”
Then he continued speaking with an easy smile.
“Just come and eat. No need for cadets to buy and sell things between each other…… Right?”
The man turned around and sent a meaningful look to his companions. Rachel could not see it. The man faced forward again.
“Oh, right. You don’t know our names, do you? We know yours, but…”
“……”
Rachel nodded silently. The man scratched the back of his neck and said,
“Well, Miss Rachel, you’re famous…… I’m Ju Yeohun.”
* * *
“Ugh. Where the hell am I?”
Chae Nayun had been wandering through the forest for a full fourteen hours. During that time, she had taken down as many as nine monsters. It was the result of using both her bow and her sword at the same time.
“There’s no end to this, fuck……”
She pushed through vines and undergrowth, moving forward and forward. But no matter how much she walked, she couldn’t find any meaningful source of drinking water or food, let alone another cadet, and her body was so exhausted that she was on the verge of collapse.
……Just as she felt she might fall over at any moment.
Like a light of salvation, a faint torch appeared in the distance. Or perhaps it could be called a campfire.
“Ooh!”
Whatever it was, Chae Nayun hurriedly ran toward it. The closer she got to the light, the more a savory aroma rose into the air.
At last, after breaking through the undergrowth, Chae Nayun witnessed the identity of the light before her eyes.
“Huh?”
There, Kim Hajin was eating meat. He froze with his chopsticks still holding a piece of meat and stared at Chae Nayun.
“……What are you doing here?”
He tilted his head and asked.
For now, Chae Nayun gulped down her saliva. Chae Nayun prided herself on having rather refined tastes, but she had been moving nonstop for a full fourteen hours. The rations she had received had gone into her stomach long ago. In other words, as long as it was edible, she was in a situation where she could eat it deliciously no matter what it was.
Chae Nayun first examined Kim Hajin and the situation around him. Behind him was a large tent that somehow looked comfortable. What she had thought was a campfire or a torch was actually a modern burner. And that wasn’t all. The folding chair, the frying pan, and the meat cooking on top of it—what on earth……
“Y-You, what is all this? Where did you get all these things?”
“……I prepared them.”
“What? How did you know to prepare all this?”
“I brought them just in case. Don’t you know I’m ranked first in the entire world?”
Kim Hajin tapped his head and said,
“My brain works exceptionally fast.”
“……Yeah, good for you.”
Her sarcasm was brief; Chae Nayun gulped down her saliva.
Meanwhile, Kim Hajin wondered if this situation had been created by luck. Looking at the circumstances alone, it seemed as if points had rolled right up to him on their own.
“Are you hungry?”
“……”
Chae Nayun nodded silently.
“Your food?”
“……Lost it while fighting a monster.”
She had eaten it all, but Chae Nayun told a small lie.
“I-It’s true. I’m kind of careless.”
“Hmm.”
Kim Hajin crossed his arms and pondered. Chae Nayun held her breath, waiting for his mouth to open.
“How many points do you have right now?”
So it was going to be like this after all. If anything, that was a relief.
She had earned 35 points by killing nine monsters, but she did not answer honestly.
“Twen……ty-five.”
“Then hand over half.”
“H-Half?”
A full half. For a single day’s meal, it was an extremely expensive price.
“In return, you’re sleepy right now, aren’t you? I’ll lend you a sleeping bag as a bonus. Take it or leave it.”
“O-Okay. I just have to give them to you, right?”
Chae Nayun turned on her exam watch. This watch recognized cadets within a three-meter radius.
[Kim Hajin]
─Point Trade
─Reveal Location Information
She pressed Point Trade.
Half of 25 was 12.5, but there was no decimal-point trade function. After thinking for a moment, Chae Nayun simply transferred 12 points, then subtly sat down beside him. After confirming that the points had arrived, Kim Hajin handed her well-grilled pork belly.
“But are you fine with this? It’s just pork belly.”
“……If I don’t want to die, I have to eat.”
She had heard that such things were commonplace in dungeons and towers.
Chae Nayun ate the pork belly. Perhaps because she was hungry, it was surprisingly quite tasty. As she forced herself to keep chewing only meat, Chae Nayun saw Kim Hajin dipping his food into some kind of sauce. So she tried eating it that way too. It tasted a little better.
After that, the meal continued for about twenty minutes.
During that time, the two did not exchange a single word.
“Ah, I’m finally a bit full.”
Once her hunger had roughly subsided, Chae Nayun suddenly felt awkward. That was how uncomfortable her relationship with Kim Hajin was. They were tangled together through various incidents, so if anything, it was more uncomfortable than not.
Just as she was wondering whether she should quietly run away—
“Here.”
Kim Hajin held out a bottle of water. Chae Nayun only stared at it, hesitating.
“It’s bottled water, not river water.”
Does this guy have some talent for seeing right through me? Ahem. Chae Nayun cleared her throat and accepted the water. Gulp, gulp. After emptying nearly half of it in one go, she let out a satisfied sigh.
“……By the way, what’s that?”
Then, suddenly noticing it, she pointed without much thought at the ring on Kim Hajin’s index finger.
“……”
Kim Hajin’s face stiffened for an instant. He silently stroked his ring for a moment. At his cautious yet flustered attitude, as if he were choosing his words, something flashed through Chae Nayun’s mind.
“Ah, never mind. Never mind, never mind. I’m not curious. Not at all.”
Despite appearances, she was quick-witted. It was probably something like a keepsake left behind by his family. Chae Nayun drank the rest of the water without waiting for an answer.
And Kim Hajin looked at Chae Nayun with dead-fish eyes.
“I never told you to drink it all.”
“……Huh?”
* * *
The next morning came. Birds chirped, and from somewhere, the ferocious roar of a monster echoed.
Waking from sleep, I sat up on the cot. It left me stiff, but on an island with nothing, this much was more than enough luxury.
“Ahh.”
For now, I tried to step outside and enjoy the sunlight. But even when I pulled back the tent flap, no sunlight came in.
“……Is it a polar night?”
Just as the words suggested, the outside world was still dark. There was a high chance that it was the doing of the magician in that central tower.
I looked around. On the ground, Chae Nayun was buried inside a sleeping bag, asleep. It was the sleeping bag I had lent her, and perhaps because last night had been quite cold, everything except her face was buried inside it, making her look like some kind of larva.
Boing!
Just then, the seed on my tent table suddenly bounced up. Looking at it, it had already finished all its food(?). Perhaps sensing my gaze, the seed began to tremble.
“……Why are you so damn cute?”
After tickling the seed as it acted as if it were being affectionate, I wrapped it in fresh gauze and put it in my chest pocket. Then I retrieved the tent as well. In any case, I had no intention of staying in one place for long. Chae Nayun was still using the sleeping bag, but well, I could just consider it a gift.
“For now……”
From this point on, fights between cadets would become legal. I had no intention of staying still either. I would start picking fights in earnest. If possible, it would be best to retire the dangerous individuals first.
However, I couldn’t kill them. Among the Djinns here, there were some who didn’t even know they were Djinns. In truth, they were not Djinns “yet.”
That was the difference between a “Djinn contracted to a Djinn” and a “Djinn directly contracted to a devil.”
In the former case, they had their magic power replenished by another Djinn, so they could avoid going berserk and the contract was loose, but they were merely consumables or test subjects. If they failed their mission, there was a high chance they would be abandoned or killed according to the terms of the contract.
In contrast, the latter was more direct and central, but there were very few of them.
Representative examples were Sven, Yun Hyun, and Lancaster—the Djinn who had attacked Rachel in the past—but directly contracting with a devil came with considerable side effects, so among the cadets currently on this island, none had overcome even a small part of that except Ju Yeohun.
“I should head for higher ground.”
For now, my first destination was the “World Tree” at the center of this island. The name sounded grand, but it was just an extremely large tree. Because it had taken root in the center of the island and was absurdly huge, it had been given the name “World Tree.”
* * *
Within twenty-four hours of the start of the exam, Yu Yeonha had created a group of her own. It was a sort of “small guild” made up of five people in total. The guild members had gathered around their guild leader, so to speak. Yu Yeonha was putting them to moderate use, accumulating points as comfortably and efficiently as possible.
“Yeonha-ssi. I found someone.”
Hidden in the bushes, Rose whispered to Yu Yeonha, who had been watching the southeast. But Rose did not wait for Yu Yeonha and aimed an arrow at him. The bowstring drew taut.
Just as Rose was about to release the arrow, Yu Yeonha’s whip lashed in from somewhere and tightly bound her arm and bow.
“Eh?”
“No.”
Yu Yeonha glared at Rose with stern eyes.
“······You must not touch that person.”
“Huh? B-But that person’s ranked 934th.”
Rankings would only be updated after the final exam was over. Also, according to the rules of this final exam, that man had his rank attached to his name tag. He was a cadet Rose knew as well.
934th.
Kim Hajin, widely rumored to possess a talent related to firearms.
“No. Rose-ssi, you can’t beat him.”
But Yu Yeonha cut her off firmly.
There was no need for a long explanation; conveniently, Kim Hajin moved first. With remarkable agility, he climbed a gigantic tree. From the ground to the treetop. He shot up a full 150 meters in just a few breaths, then slipped into the leaves at the crown.
It was such an unrealistic sequence of movements that Rose was left dumbfounded.
Yu Yeonha rebuked her in a rather strict tone.
“You saw that, didn’t you? I just saved your life, Rose-ssi. To that person, rank is nothing more than a number. If you had released that arrow, you would have lost without question. Not only you, but I would have been put in danger as well.”
“Ah······.”
“There are many hidden experts. It’s the same principle as how, no matter how powerful the Hero Association may be, they cannot treat the ‘Hunters of the Radiant Source’ carelessly. From now on, don’t even think of acting rashly until I give you instructions.”
Like a student being scolded by a teacher, Rose simply nodded.
“And please keep it a secret that he’s strong enough to not match his rank.”
“Huh? Why?”
But even Rose could not help but question that much. Yu Yeonha explained simply.
“Because he might become part of the family later. For your information, I like people who know how to keep their mouths shut.”
Rose flinched.
Essence of the Strait, a scout offer from the world’s second-ranked guild.
For Rose, who was ranked 68th, it was far too tempting an offer.
“Ah, yes! I’ll keep it secret! Until the day I die!”
“Good.”
After smiling generously at Rose, who obeyed like a dog, Yu Yeonha looked up at the giant tree Kim Hajin had climbed.
It was truly a colossal tree, one that no one would even think of climbing without considerable courage. Yet Kim Hajin had climbed that neck-straining tree in a matter of minutes.
“······Hmm.”
She began an untimely deliberation over whether she needed to revise Kim Hajin’s physical abilities in the report upward once again.
Ding—
At that moment, a message arriving on the exam watch cut off her thoughts.
“Ah, I got a message from Ijin-ssi. Let’s head back now.”
People who shared their location information with one another could exchange messages.
That was probably information Yu Yeonha had discovered before anyone else.
End
A long while later, Chae Nayun opened the eyes she had been squeezing shut. Only after confirming once again that Kim Hajin was completely gone did she get up.
She had woken up long ago, but for some reason, her mind was still dazed. Was it because what he had said just a moment ago still rang so clearly in her ears?
—Why are you so cute?
“······.”
Both her cheeks turned bright red. Well, she had heard since birth that her appearance was outstanding, but that did not mean there was any need to say it directly to a sleeping woman—she could not say there wasn’t a part of her that thought that······
“Aughhh.”
Chae Nayun shook her head violently, throwing off all those idle thoughts.
Whatever it was, I didn’t hear it. He just muttered to himself. There must have been a cat or a puppy somewhere nearby.
Muttering that it absolutely must have been the case, she crawled out of the sleeping bag. This sleeping bag was soft as if she were lying on a bed and warm as if she were covered with a blanket, making last night quite comfortable; it was a very good