Doggone Academy

Chapter 46 Entrance Exam (7)

I had observed some mages casting freezing spells on the Plantaras. Plantaras do not need to maintain a body temperature and are not susceptible to frostbite. Even if their exteriors were frozen, they would immediately shatter the ice and move on.

To subdue a Plantara with freezing, it needs to be thoroughly frozen from the inside out.

The bomb Cecil gave me had a much better performance than the ones used for fishing.

Given the nature of magic engineers, combat becomes somewhat difficult once consumables are depleted. Giving me a magic bomb, which is like a lifeline, makes for a curious sentiment. It was a favor larger than expected.

There were still more gates to pass for the top candidates, and some sections where breakthrough was uncertain, so it had to be tested.

The experiment was a resounding success.

Thanks to Cecil’s gift, a bit of a path has opened up for me.

However, it is not entirely good. The punch from the Plantara hurt fiercely.

From my encounters with Plantaras during the exams, I realized something: they are meant to subdue the candidates, not to kill them. Because of this combat mechanism, I was a bit less tense. It was my oversight.

Lilith is there calming her mind. She seems to have been quite scared, as she is still sniffling a bit.

I sat leaning against the wall. The tumble had made a mess of my clothes. Blood seeped through the shirt hidden under my cloak. It’s not a good situation.

Lilith approached me slowly, her emotions still not quite settled.

“I guess I have to say it. Sniffle, thanks for saving me…”

“…”

“Now I’m certain. You really are strong.”

“And you… you are the craziest person I’ve ever seen or heard of in my life.”

It’s as if she was raised in a greenhouse, unaware of the multitude of human types out there. If she knew what goes into making a griffon potion, she would probably foam at the mouth.

While friendship stories about camaraderie formed through adversity are nice, I didn’t have the luxury to bother with Lilith at the moment. As I was without proper armor, I had to absorb all the shock with my body.

I took off my cloak. Then, I started unfastening my shirt buttons from the top.

Lilith gave a puzzled look at my actions.

“…?”

She spoke in a slightly flustered voice.

“Wa, wait, what are you doing now…?”

With my shirt off, my bare skin was exposed.

My shoulder and chest were badly bruised, and there was a deep gash from my side to my back.

She seemed to begrudgingly accept the reason for my actions upon seeing the injuries and did not speak further.

I pulled out a potion from my backpack. It was one Silveryn had given me for when I got hurt.

Lilith’s gaze was sharp. She stood with her arms crossed, staring blankly at me, the fidgeting of her feet annoyingly distracting. I looked up to meet her eyes, prompting her to finally glance away.

“…”

Was Cecil tearing her skirt the same feeling as this?

Is this the first time you’ve seen a guy’s body?

I popped the cork and downed an entire bottle of the potion. The potion ingredients would start circulating and internally fix the damages that weren’t visible to the eye.

I tossed the empty bottle aside and took out another one.

Lilith stared incredulously at the empty bottle.

“Wa, wait, what did you just drink?”

Ignoring her, I opened the bottle and began pouring it roughly over the wounded area.

“No, wait! That’s not how you use this!”

Then she clung to me, grabbing my wrist.

“The pattern etched on this glass bottle. It’s definite, that’s a Mericania special elixir.”

Lilith’s face was one of horror.

“How did you get this without even knowing how to use elixirs? You can’t buy these with money!”

“…”

She said these words, yet she was still sniffling.

I understand I’m impressive, but what good is holding onto someone in pain?

As I gazed blankly at her, Lilith stuttered.

“Tha… that… No, sigh, just hand it here. I’ll apply it for you.”

She snatched the potion from my hand and took out a handkerchief from within her clothes.

Then she soaked the handkerchief with the potion and took a deep breath.

“Ready? I’m applying now.”

With a grave expression, she started dabbing the potion onto my wound.

Her hand was so tense it seemed she was grasping onto something vital.

So engrossed in what she was doing, she didn’t notice that some of her dark gray hair had brushed against my body and become stained with blood.

Without realizing, she placed her other hand on me and then startled herself, quickly retracting it.

“Uh… sh-show me your back.”

As I turned, Lilith continued applying potion on my wound.

“The elixir heals fast, so if you don’t apply it slowly, sniffle, it will scar badly.”

She is probably concerned about a through-and-through scar on my side from an old fight with a mace.

She doesn’t mention it, but the scar is something that would certainly leave a strong impression on her.

For me, it’s like a medal of honor, so I didn’t want to erase the scar.

As it’s identifying, I’d better not carelessly take off my shirt if I’m not wearing a mask.

“See, healed up nicely?”

Her sniffling had stopped, and a proud smile played on her lips.

Lilith closed the elixir bottle. The wound had healed, but there was some potion left.

I gathered my clothes once I was sure I was healed. There was no more time to tarry here.

Lilith spoke gruffly.

“Don’t I get at least a ‘thanks’ or something?”

I quietly looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were beginning to cover the sky bit by bit.

***

Joyce was making his way up a valley with his colleagues from the Weisel Knight Order.

His fellow knight Julian asked,

“Is this the right place?”

“Just a moment.”

Joyce pulled out a map. It was different from the one given by the Eternia examiners that he held in his hand.

After much inquiry back in Rigved, he had barely managed to procure this map, which showed a secret route that bypassed the 1st waypoint and directly led to the 2nd.

Thanks to that, they were heading to a place unknown to the other candidates.

“Are you sure. But didn’t you say there would be Plantaras lying in wait here too?”

They had been warned that even though it was less than the number one would encounter following the officially distributed map, some Plantaras would still reside on this shortcut.

Contrary to the herb seller’s explanation who had sold them the map, the valley was unnaturally quiet.

“Let’s just go.”

They set out following the route as marked on the unofficial map.

As they proceeded, at a certain point, Julian suddenly startled and cried out.

“Ah!”

He gripped Joyce’s arm.

“Damn it. There’s a Plantara guardian here too!”

Julian pointed to a spot in the valley.

A Plantara as large as a house was partly visible, with its arms and head draped over one area of the valley.

Here was a guardian they weren’t supposed to encounter until after the 1st waypoint, yet it blocked their unofficial path.

It appears Eternia had anticipated candidates might try this route as well. They hadn’t held out much hope, but indeed, they hadn’t allowed for any tricks.

As Julian and the others tried to run away, Joyce stopped them.

“Wait, wait.”

Joyce had a feeling something was off.

“Wait, look! Isn’t it not moving?”

All the knights calmed their racing hearts and observed the guardian.

With its head peeking out threateningly over the Weisel Knight Order, there was no other movement.

“…It’s true. There’s something odd.”

All the knights swallowed hard and exchanged glances.

At Joyce’s gesture, they all tiptoed, slowly making their way deeper into the valley.

As they squeezed through an area hidden by trees and piles of rocks, a large clearing came into view.

Those who witnessed the scene were stunned.

Someone had come before them and swept through the area.

Dozens of Plantaras were sprawled out, cleanly cut in halves.

Most striking was the Plantara guardian itself.

A guardian the size of a house lay with its upper body cleanly severed, crashed against one rocky wall of the valley.

“What on earth…”

And the place where the guardian had been cut emitted a faint blue afterglow, still smoking.

Joyce said,

“…Looks like another candidate passed through first.”

Julian shook his head in disbelief, muttering over and over,

“What kind of… crazy, this isn’t something a human could do.”

“…”

“Damn it, this is monstrous. Could it be the work of a candidate like us? No, right? It’s too different from our level.”

Joyce watched the remnants of the Plantara closely.

He had heard rumors about a sword that left a blue light.

Rumors that had spread far and wide after the confrontation with Gale.

“There’s only one person who could have done this.”

Many epithets were attached to that person.

The talent of a century. The disciple of the Swordmaster.

If the rumors were to be believed, this was a feat no other candidate could match—an overwhelming realm of power.

“It must have been Sion, only Sion.”

***

The man in the mask had caught a deer and prepared a suitable amount of meat. Lilith gathered dry twigs and mushrooms.

Once everything had been moved into the cave, rain started to pour down just in time.

As he started to create sparks with flint in front of the piled-up twigs inside the cave, Lilith said,

“Step aside. There’s no need for that.”

As soon as she chanted an incantation, fire blossomed instantly.

“…”

Speaking not a word, the man began to skewer mushrooms and pieces of meat.

Lilith used her handkerchief to wipe off the falling raindrops. The handkerchief was stained pitch-black with blood.

“Sigh, it was one I treasured.”

She laid the handkerchief out to dry on a rock sheltered from the rain and sat opposite the man.

Then, she began to skewer pieces of venison and mushrooms, cooking them over the fire.

There was a sense that they were in perfect harmony, even without the need for much conversation.

It was a peculiar sense of stability after a long ordeal. Despite the severe conditions compared to her usual abode, strangely, she felt uplifted.

She watched the sizzling skewers and suddenly thought,

“Hey,”

“…”

“At this point, we’re pretty much like partners, aren’t we?”

The man in the mask looked at Lilith intently.

And then he firmly shook his head.

“Huh.”

They had spent the entire day together, he had personally tended to injuries, they shared the food they foraged amicably, and were camping together in the cave, just the two of them.

Wasn’t that all after having conquered such trials together? They weren’t partners?

It implied he could leave Lilith behind without saying goodbye at any given moment.

Something surged up inside her.

A feeling of sorrow. And a peculiar sense of hurt.

Even if he didn’t actually feel that way, couldn’t he have at least given a pretty answer?

With a face full of resentment, Lilith said,

“You’re really nasty, you know that?”

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