[V1C12] Like a Wild Hare
Translated by Jodas 1: The Wedge TowerIn the morning of the final day of the Wedge Tower’s entrance examination, test officials and successful applicants gathered at the entrance to the forest that served as the test site.
Among the passers, the fuzzy red-haired John Rose sat down on a cut log and cast his eyes around the other passing applicants.
At this point, eight people had passed, including himself. There was no sign of the young girl, Tia, whom he had spoken to before the test.
(That kid didn’t make it in time, huh?)
There were only ten minutes left until the test concluded.
As he stared at the forest, thinking I hope she makes it in time. A voice called from behind him.
“Hey,” Turning around, he saw a thin woman wearing a turban wrapped around her straight blonde hair.
She wore a pair of loose-fitting trousers and a jacket with thin sleeves and many pockets. The handles of artisan’s tools could be seen poking out from the pouch at her waist.
“Hey, you….”
“Rukiye Sorge. Thanks for your help during the test, Rose.”
Rukiye was a test-taker he had met in the forest on the first day of the exam.
With her delicate appearance, she had been attacked by another applicant, and Rose had dove in to help her.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Defensive barriers are the only things I can use, so I’m glad I could come in handy.”
The applicant that attacked Rukiye had used attack magic, so Rose had simply blocked their attacks with a defensive barrier until the enemy gave up. That was all he had done.
“If anything, you’re the one who saved me. It was thanks to the keys you made that I was able to open that metal box.”
Rukiye couldn’t use magecraft, but she aspired to become a magical tool artisan, and her skills were incredibly refined.
She had picked up some wood that was lying around, and within a few hours had fashioned a round key.
If you didn’t have a key, then you could just make one.—That had been a serious oversight.
Rose guarded Rukiye until she had opened a safe and acquired a Wedge Medal, then after dropping her off at the forest entrance, took the key that Rukiye had used and opened a different safe.
“Thanks for all that!”
“You’re welcome.”
Rukiye responded flatly to Rose’s emphatic thanks.
It had also been like this when they were working together in the forest. Rukiye just wasn’t very personable. However, Rose didn’t mind much.
When she had completed the key, she made sure to confirm “I’ll get the Wedge Medal first, is that okay?” So he thought she was an honest and good person.
Rose loved people who were honest and good.
“More importantly, I wanted to ask something. Around what time did you get back here?”
“Umm, I think it was the morning of the second day?”
“…..That means you stayed overnight in the forest, then?”
Rukiye surveyed their surroundings, taking note of the distance between them and the others, before taking a seat beside Rose.
Then, she asked in a quiet voice.
“I heard rumors that…. a monster appeared in the forest after night fell. I passed before sunset on the first day, so I didn’t see it. Did you see it?”
“Yeah, I totally did. It was a snake with wings! It looked super cool!”
“……….”
To Rose’s careless words, Rukiye made an exasperated frown.
Rose had been surprised by the snake that had appeared while he was sleeping, but he hadn’t felt like he was in any real danger.
He immediately realized that it wasn’t there to attack the applicants, but only wandering around to intimidate them. Although he figured it would probably fight back if he were to attack it.
“It feels like the eyewitness reports have been all over the place. Some said they saw a snake with wings, but ….. look, you see that girl over there in the grey robe and the glasses? She said she saw a beast that walked on two legs.”
According to Rukiye, there were several people who forfeited the test after encountering that monster.
“On top of that, it seemed like the test officials were all nervous. Not long ago, I saw a group of Wedge Tower mages that weren’t the test officals entering the forest.”
“Really? I wonder if something bad happened, then….”
Now worried, Rose looked back at the forest, and saw a silhouette deeper in. An applicant just barely in time to pass.
(That’s….)
The one that appeared was a tall man with spiky brown hair, carrying a spear.—The man on his fourth test who went by the name of ‘Red Rain,’ Oliver Lange.
Hegelich, the test official, called out to Oliver.
“Do you have a Wedge Medal?”
“After leaping over the treacherous path before me, I have grasped the proof of glory with my own hands, that proof is indeed right here…..”
Oliver slipped something out of his pocket. It was a half-eaten ration.
Hegelich fell silent.
Acting like nothing had happened, Oliver returned his right hand to his pocket, and this time pulled out a copper-colored medal.
“After leaping over the treacherous path before me, I have grasped the proof of glory with my own hands…..”
“You don’t have to say it twice. This certainly is the real thing. The test will end shortly. At that time, we will begin the explanation to those who have passed, so stay around here.”
Oliver looked around, and noticing Rose, widened his narrow eyes.
Rose rose a hand in a friendly wave.
“Hey!”
“Crimson Fuzzy, you also got one?”
“My name’s John Rose. Your one-liner just now was so cool! But why did go with ‘leaping over the treacherous path’? Wouldn’t it be more natural to say ‘overcoming’?”
Oliver shook his head lightly to Rose’s question.
“No. I leapt over it. Like a wild hare.”
“Oh, that’s what you meant. That’s pretty cute, like a bunny rabbit!”
As they exchanged idle chatter, Röhm, the test official, could be seen heading towards a bell set up beside the tent. Before Röhm could reach her hand out to the bell’s string, they heard a voice coming from the forest.
“Piyo, piyo, piyo.”
In the breaks between a voice that kept a song-like rythym, they could hear the sound of pained breaths.
From deep in the forest, a white-haired young girl appeared—Tia.
Even more surprisingly, two people, a blond boy and a black-haired woman, were being carried on the back of her frail form.
“Fwee…” As Tia stepped out of the forest, she exhaled, and bit down on the vines wrapped around her body.
The vines snapped apart and the two people carried on her back tumbled over.
Tia supported both of their bodies so they wouldn’t fall to the ground, and declared to Hegelich.
“Piyopp! I’ve brought Wedge Medals! Three of them! One for me, and Wren, and Sevil!”
Tia sat both of them on the ground. As she did, both blinked their eyes open with painful groans.
“Ah, damn. My whole body hurts like hell…… Hey Tia, you’ve got a rare pretty boy in pain in front of you. People pay money for this, so make sure to remember it…..”
“If you can talk that much, surely you are in need of no help. Tia, about that black beast…..”
The black-haired woman asked Tia with a shaky voice.
A number of people present reacted to the words ‘black beast.’ One of them, Hegelich, quickly confirmed the three’s Wedge Medals.
“Hm, these are certainly genuine. I suppose I must acknowledge you as passing. Ms. Röhm, the bell please.”
At Hegelich’s direction, Röhm rang the bell set up near the tent.
Ring, ring, The sound echoed across the forest.
To be a pretty boy is to be pretty even when suffering.
—Wren had been focusing on keeping a pretty face while groaning through the pain all over his body, guided by that conviction. The sound of the ringing bell jolted him back to reality.
“….Where are we?”
“The meeting point. We passed, Wren!”
Wren propped his body off the ground to see Tia squatting in front of him, smiling as she spoke.
Passed. He had passed the entrance exam for the Wedge Tower. He, who had neither staff, rope, nor magical knowledge, had passed.
“Seriously?….. Seriously……”
Wren unconsciously scrunched his face in joy, as Tia beamed at him.
Sevil grabbed both of their shoulders into an embrace. A proud smile floated to Sevil’s face.
“Tia, you’ve done well carrying us here. I give you my deepest thanks. Wren as well, you tried to protect me from that monster’s attack, did you not? I owe my thanks to both of you.”
“Ehehehehe. I tried really hard! Piggyback is super hard!”
“Piggyback!? You came all the way here carrying us on your back?”
“Yep! But Sevil’s tall, so I dragged your feet a bit. I’m sorry!”
“I do not mind. You have done well to make it here. I shall give you my compliments!”
“I’ve been complimented! Hooray!”
“Just how damn strong are you…..?”
“Stronger than Wren!”
“It’s okay for me to be weak, because I’m a pretty boy!”
“Ahem.” As the three of them sat on the ground and laughed, they heard someone clearing their throat above their heads.
The test official, Hegelich.
“Sorry to interrupt you as you share your excitement, but I must now give an important explanation about the Wedge Tower.”
Hegelich looked at all of the passing applicants before him. They numbered twelve in total.
“All of you have certainly passed this examination. You are permitted to enroll at the Wedge Tower. However, before you decide whether or not to pass through those gates, I want you to hear about the role we serve as the Wedge Tower.”
What’s that supposed to mean? Wren frowned.
Was the role of the Wedge Tower not to accumulate, preserve, and research any and all forms of magic from ancient times to the present day?
Suddenly, the image of the monsters they had encountered during the test—the winged snake and the black werewolf—flashed through Wren’s head.
Director Linke of the Library Office had said:
—Monsters do exist. Even now, they still do.
—The purpose of this exam is to get you to understand that fact.
There was no way this was unrelated to that.
Wren gulped, and Hegelich stared down at him. His round glasses reflected a white glow, giving him a strangely powerful aura.
“If you hear what I am about to tell you and decide that you would like to rescind your acceptance, I will allow it. In fact, I would highly suggest that you do.”