Ch 20
NEYMAR
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Genius Wizard Who Hunts Demons
Chapter 20
I had no idea why this guy was suddenly radiating such hostility toward me.
What was important here was that, even for someone like him decked out in expensive artifacts, the [Essence of Light] was a precious item.
And that he was a wizard who had reached at least the 4th Circle.
“The Essence of Light… is mine.”
In other words, he had just declared war on me.
The kind of declaration that said, This is my prize, so back off and get lost while I’m still being polite.
Such a typically noble attitude.
It was as if I could feel that he had taken everything he ever wanted in his life.
To be honest, it left a sour taste in my mouth, but…
“Take it. If you can.”
That was the best I could say.
After all, unlike me, this bastard was a noble with a surname.
Even for a wizard, who are well-regarded in this world, I had to show a minimum level of courtesy to a nobleman.
More importantly, there was no Magic Tower to shield me for talking back to a noble.
“…Are you saying you won’t give up?”
Roan tilted his head as if he’d heard an unexpected answer.
When I responded with a nod, Roan lowered his head deeply.
…Is he about to get angry?
The thought crossed my mind, but Roan’s reaction was surprising.
“Pfft, pffhehehe…!”
He suddenly covered his mouth and began laughing like a madman.
Is he actually insane…?
Fuck, first the red-haired bastard, now this silver-haired one… why do I always seem to attract these kinds of lunatics?
Only after laughing for a good while did he raise his head.
“You’re a really interesting person, you know?”
The stern expression on Roan’s face had vanished, replaced by a wide, blooming smile.
As if he had been acting just a moment ago, he spoke again in his smooth tone.
“I just wanted to get to know you. I was also curious about what you might fear. As expected, you’re not afraid of empty formalities like aristocracy, are you? Just forget what I said before.”
…He did that because he wanted to get to know me?
Case closed. You’re a certified psycho, you bastard.
“Let me introduce myself formally. I am Roan Biljeff, the eldest son of the Biljeff family and soon to graduate from the Academy. And you are?”
“Yuhannes… sir.”
“…Yuhannes. I’ll remember that. You’re the first person to surpass me when it comes to magic.”
‘Surpass?’
I wondered what he meant for a moment before I figured it out.
‘They said… I was first in all the evaluations except for mana capacity.’
It seemed he was talking about the rankings assigned by the judges in the previous evaluation.
‘Does that mean this guy was second?’
They hadn't revealed the other applicants’ rankings, so I couldn't be sure, but based on his words, that seemed to be the case.
If so, the hostility he showed earlier made sense.
It was likely born from feelings like competitiveness and inferiority.
“But you know it too, don’t you? The real contest starts now.”
I cleared my thoughts and looked at Roan.
Despite having admitted his own defeat, his attitude seemed strangely relaxed.
It was a composure that surely came from the confidence that he wouldn’t lose in the upcoming evaluations.
The kind of confidence possible only for a true genius from birth… unlike me, who gained my genius through a Trait.
“I was being sincere about what I said earlier, though. About the Essence of Light being mine.”
“…”
“I look forward to it. I’ll show you who the true owner of the Essence is.”
With those words, Roan turned and walked away.
I, too, tore my gaze from him, but my mind was spinning even faster than when we were talking.
‘I’m not a true genius.’
The genius I possessed came solely from my Trait, my Soul Imprint, and the information I held.
But so what?
In the face of my grand goal to defeat Baal and my wish to return to my original world, such a trivial matter was meaningless.
If there was an item I needed to achieve that goal and wish, and I had to win to obtain it…
‘…I still won’t lose.’
I would never let that chance slip away.
That’s what I had thought just a moment ago, but…
Shortly after the break ended and the next evaluation began.
I was already facing a major hurdle.
‘What the hell is this supposed to mean…?’
The current evaluation was none other than a written exam.
It was a simple test where we had to solve a paper prepared by the Aldeon Magic Tower.
But it wasn't as easy as it sounded.
Especially the questions that involved history.
‘Describe the name and principles of the Light Magic demonstrated by the Aldeon School at their ceremony 50 years ago…?’
For someone like me who just read a few tooltips and spammed skills, there was no way I’d know the principles of magic.
Besides, 50 years ago was an era that wasn't even in the game I played.
“Damn it, how am I supposed to know this?”
“You, there. Be quiet.”
“…Yes, sir.”
I was forced to swallow my anger at the judge’s warning.
In the end, I left that question blank and moved on to the next one.
‘Just answer what I know. Only what I know.’
The saving grace was that there were quite a few questions I did know the answers to.
I never thought the knowledge I’d gained from researching wizard builds would come in handy like this.
‘Alright, this should be enough…’
Out of 25 questions, I had answered 15 with certainty, guessed on 5, and left 5 descriptive questions blank.
They said the cutoff was 17 correct answers, so if I hadn't made any mistakes, I would pass if I got just two of my guesses right.
Of course, having to entrust such a critical matter to luck was terrifying, but I had no choice. This was the best I could do.
‘…Please.’
I waited for the test results with a trembling heart.
I couldn’t believe I was as nervous as I was when waiting for my college entrance exam results.
Soon, the results were posted, and the applicants swarmed to check the paper.
Most of them wore satisfied smiles.
“…Passed.”
“…This evaluation was a bit easier than the others. Is Aldeon going easy on us?”
“If you fail something like this, you haven’t even mastered the basics.”
…The basics, huh.
I swallowed hard and squeezed through the crowd of applicants.
I desperately hoped I was someone who had mastered the basics.
The result.
‘…I passed!’
I had gotten exactly 17 questions right, barely scraping by on the cutoff line.
Only then did a deep sense of relief wash over me as the tension left my body.
As for my rank, I was 81st out of 100, but even that was satisfying in its own way.
That meant there were 19 people who did worse than me, right?
‘They must have been truly terrible students.’
As I was chuckling at that thought, I felt someone quietly approach.
“Hm?”
I turned to my side and saw the blond-haired kid again.
Roan Biljeff.
He stared intently at the results paper before turning his head toward me.
“Strange. I didn’t think we’d be deciding the owner this early, you know?”
He said, tapping his finger on the paper.
There, proudly occupying the 1st place spot, was the name Roan Biljeff.
“…”
…What does he want me to do about it?
It had been 15 hours since the evaluations began.
My stomach felt like it was glued to my spine and my mind was hazy as if in a dream, but I couldn't complain in the slightest.
A little while ago, I had witnessed one of the applicants whine to a judge that he was struggling and demanded they be given food, only to be told, “Then you can leave and rest,” before being kicked out.
Thanks to him, we were down one competitor.
80 people remained.
‘Hoo, just gotta endure a little longer.’
Thinking of it as a game made it bearable.
Back when I was hooked on [Devil Fantasy], pulling two all-nighters was nothing.
In any case.
“Hey, Mr. First Place. You can team up with me.”
This evaluation was to test our ‘cooperation.’
For this, the Aldeon staff demanded we form teams of two, and somehow, my teammate was decided for me.
Thomson, a man of such immense build that ‘barbarian’ suited him better than ‘wizard.’
“…Sure. I’m glad to have you, mister.”
I didn't have the luxury of choosing a competent teammate.
Of the 80 people remaining, 78 of them, excluding myself and Thomson, were wizards from noble families.
I glanced over to where Roan was.
“Roan! Considering our connection, you must team up with me…!”
“Roan, you’ll be on my team, right? My main attribute is water, so if we work together…”
“Sir Roan Biljeff, is that correct? Ah, I am from the Istan family…”
They were all making a huge fuss, fighting to team up with Roan.
Honestly, I wondered if this was the right way to go about it.
If they really wanted to pass, wasn’t it common sense to stick with a talent like me, who got the best results in the practical exam?
What did status matter so much?
‘It’s a good thing I managed to secure a commoner’s identity…’
If I had come here with the beggar status I first had in this world… ugh, the thought alone was horrifying.
Because even if a beggar becomes a wizard, it’s hard to overcome their status.
They would have openly discriminated against me.
Not that it was much different from the open discrimination I was facing now.
“Looks like being a commoner has its perks! Now that I’m teamed up with you, passing is a sure thing, isn’t it? Hahahat!”
Well, it wasn't that Thomson was a bad teammate.
No matter what, this man was the only other survivor from a commoner background.
His skills were more or less guaranteed.
“Ah, did you know? That noble over there, Roan, they say he’s the top student at the Academy. The Society is calling him a once-in-a-millennium genius…”
…If only he’d talk less, he’d be perfect.
To cut off his rambling, I asked him a pointed question.
“Mister, you said you were a 3rd Circle wizard, right?”
“Hm? Ah, yes I did.”
“What kind of magic can you use?”
“Oh, right. You’re planning a strategy! Spoken like a true first-place winner. As you can see, I’m quite large, aren’t I? To make good use of that, I specialize in Earth magic…”
Just as we had nearly finished assessing each other's abilities.
“Everyone, attention.”
Our strategy meeting was interrupted by the appearance of the Tower Master, Dercion.
“It seems the teams have all been formed… Now, I will explain this evaluation.”
Thwack! Grrrrr!
When Dercion snapped his fingers, the small doors along the edges of the lobby opened.
And then.
“…Huh?”
“…What is this?”
“Don’t tell me, we have to fight those…?”
We couldn't help but stir as we saw the iron cages the judges were dragging in.
Kieeeek!
Gurk, gurrrk!
…Hsssss.
From demon goblins to demon hydras, demon basilisks, and more…
Over a dozen different types of demons were locked inside the cages.
‘These bastards… they’ve been capturing demons?’
Leaving Asternon, anywhere in this world, the demon race were targets to be killed on sight.
In other words, what they were doing right now was strictly illegal.
I couldn't believe this situation, where they were brazenly revealing such an act in front of 80 wizards.
‘Something felt off…’
I finally understood why Aldeon was so often associated with demons.
‘…If they locked their tower for 100 years and were raising demons inside, it’s no wonder such rumors spread.’
In fact, it was amazing that it had only ended as a rumor.
This was the kind of issue that could endanger the entire school if word got out.
“No way… Aldeon is really with the demons…?”
“W-we have to get out and tell everyone about this immediately!”
“…I can’t do this any longer. I forfeit the evaluation!”
As expected, a backlash erupted among the wizards.
However, Dercion acted as if it didn't matter at all, speaking with firm resolve.
“You are unworthy of walking the path of Light. Fine, if you wish to leave, then get the hell out.”
Rumble!
At Dercion’s gesture, the exit slowly began to open.
I thought he would at least blow their heads off now that things had come this far… but he was opening the door? What was he thinking?
Dercion continued to speak with a nonchalant expression.
“Only those who wish to see the true Light shall remain.”
His intentions were still unclear.
But.
“…Hey, Mr. First Place. What are you going to do?”
I had to make a choice.
Would I stay here and aim for the [Essence of Light], or would I choose another path?
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