SFMC 45

SFMC

Chapter 45.

Dungeon Raid Tournament (4)

Elpior’s intrusion was kept hidden. The reason was that, just like the previous time, letting the students know would only cause unnecessary panic, and since the invasion route and Elpior’s whereabouts were unclear, it was better to keep it under wraps.

Thus, the tournament ended successfully, and we became the champions.

In the fabricated footage, it looked as if we had flawlessly strategized against the Stone Snake and defeated it.

The academy couldn’t publicly admit that its surveillance magic had been tampered with, and since we would have won anyway if there had been no intruder, they didn’t bother correcting the record.

The reasoning was somewhat understandable, but because it was Castro who supervised the event, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that everything had just been brushed over carelessly.

We were confirmed as first place through the dungeon raid, but second and third places still needed to be decided through further verification. Because of these formalities, the award ceremony was scheduled for two days later, on Monday.

That afternoon, after the tournament ended—

The only ones injured in the competition, Reina, Ridipin, and I, lay side by side in the infirmary.

“Ugh… My whole body still feels icy cold…”

“My burns are still stinging.”

“M-my back hurts…”

The way each of them muttered about their pain somehow struck me as funny, and I laughed without realizing it.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No reason. I just… felt like laughing.”

“…Weird.”

Reina gave a hollow smile as she stared at the ceiling with somewhat empty eyes.

“Once again, people were put in danger because of me. I was prepared for it, but… it still feels heavy.”

She always looked for the cause of failure in herself. It was a downside to her diligent, hardworking nature.

Even in matters she couldn’t control, she blamed herself.

And I neither could nor wanted to change that part of her. All I could do at times like this was offer gentle reassurance.

“You haven’t been using aura for long. You’ll get stronger quickly. Even Lesta said that final strike of yours in the duel was threatening.”

“Really…?”

“Really.”

If Lesta knew I’d said that, he would hate it—but oh well. Better that than leaving Reina in low spirits.

She smiled in satisfaction, then suddenly pouted.

“But even so, he mocked me while talking about my brother? Next time I’ll definitely land a hit on him!”

“Yeah. Do your best.”

While Reina shadow-boxed, beating an imaginary Lesta, I turned to the quiet Ridipin.

“Are you alright? Does it still hurt?”

“….”

Ridipin glared at me and then turned away.

“So it does hurt badly…”

“T-that’s not it!”

She suddenly sat up, yelling, and then clutched her back with a pained expression.

“See? You are sulking!”

“N-no, I’m not! …Ugh!”

Fuming, Ridipin soon hugged her knees and lowered her head.

“I… I was really worried, you know. I thought you might actually be dead. If you were going to do something like that, you should’ve told us beforehand…”

Her voice trembled. She really must have been terrified.

“I’m sorry. But I couldn’t help it. If I told you, the enemy might have caught on to my plan.”

I explained that I had let myself be hit on purpose to deal with Elpior.

They hadn’t seen Hazen arrive because they were unconscious, but they accepted the explanation thanks to Drenner’s testimony.

Still, while they accepted that I had done it to bring Hazen, they didn’t accept the fact that I’d carried out the plan without telling them.

“If that melted magic circle hadn’t worked, it would’ve been dangerous!”

“I already knew it would work. I’d been hit by that magic before.”

…In the game, anyway.

Ridipin had no counter for that, so she turned to Reina for support.

“Re-Reina, aren’t you upset too?”

“I am. But I’ll let it go this time.”

Reina smiled in a scary way.

“Remember what I said? If you do it again, we’ll train according to my routine.”

Ah.

“N-no, not that…”

Her training routine was brutal—one-minute breaks every two hours, repeated endlessly.

I’d always avoided it, saying I had magic practice or prep to do. If I really followed it, I’d probably collapse the next day.

When I avoided her gaze, Reina stepped up and grabbed my shoulder.

“No objections. Even if you collapse, I’ll drag you up and keep training!”

“B-but! Didn’t I call Professor Hazen and save us?”

“…Ugh. True.”

Reina frowned in thought, then relented.

“Fine. Just this once, I’ll overlook it.”

“Thank you.”

“But if it happens again, you’ll train with me all day, no matter what. Got it?”

“Yes.”

Luckily, that ended well.

And honestly, if it was with Reina, maybe I wouldn’t mind training all day at least once.

As Reina cooled down, Ridipin piped up.

“I-I’m still not forgiving you!”

“Then do you want something from me?”

She fiddled nervously with her hair.

“S-something… anything?”

“…What exactly are you planning to ask?”

“N-nothing weird! I’ll let it go this time, but next time… you have to give me one wish!”

She shyly extended her pinky finger.

I worried a little about what she might ask, but her timid demand for a wish felt very much like her.

Smiling, I hooked my pinky with hers.

“Alright. If it happens again.”

But I knew… I’d have to throw myself into danger silently in the next attack as well.

As ‘Ban,’ there was only so much I could do.

Which meant after the next raid, I’d owe both a day of training and one of Ridipin’s wishes.

Still, since it all came from their concern for me, I didn’t mind too much.

“Oh, speaking of wishes, I already used mine. Only Ridipin has one left now.”

“…Don’t tell me you used it to call Professor Hazen?”

“That’s right. Otherwise, he would’ve only arrived after everything was already over.”

Originally, I’d planned to save it for the third attack. But since this one came with no warning, I had no choice but to use it.

It felt a bit wasteful, but at least I’d identified the cause of the variables.

Even if it wasn’t made public, if Lost Paradise conducted a post-investigation, they would assume Hazen was the one who defeated Elpior.

With the nickname ‘Slayer of Demons,’ no one would doubt it.

For the next raid, I’d need to adjust my plan—defend and survive without outright crushing the enemy, so it looked like I barely managed.

As I thought about this, Reina gave me a wry smile.

“Sorry. I feel like you used your wish because of me.”

“No. I didn’t save only you. Ridipin was there too, and so were Drenner’s team.”

“…Still, wouldn’t it be nice if the professor showed up again saying, ‘This was my fault too. Here, have another wish’?”

“Yeah. What’s he even doing right now?”

At that moment, Hazen arrived in front of the principal’s office and banged on the door.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“Castro! Are you inside?”

“Uh, yes, but… wait a—”

Unable to contain his temper, Hazen forced the door open.

“You have a lot to explain to me—”

But what he saw inside was Castro, his side heavily bandaged and Maria healing him with sacred magic.

The bandages were soaked in blood.

“…This is troublesome. Now I’ll have to fix the door.”

“What happened to you?”

“Well… a lot.”

Maria slapped Castro’s back hard.

“This idiot! As soon as the tournament ended, he called me here and then collapsed without a word. And when I asked what happened, he wouldn’t answer!”

“Ow, Maria!”

“Be glad I didn’t stab your other side.”

“…That’s scary.”

Castro forced a weak grin but winced occasionally in pain.

“So, what do you want me to explain? I’ll tell you only what I can.”

Hazen sighed deeply and asked,

“There was an intruder during the tournament.”

“I heard.”

“Not only that—the surveillance magic was tampered with.”

“I heard that too. So why are you telling me?”

“…Forget it.”

Hazen had known Castro for a long time.

He knew that right now, no matter how much he pressed, Castro wouldn’t give him a straight answer.

And Hazen wasn’t cold enough to keep pressing a wounded friend who clearly had his reasons for silence.

“Send me the repair bill for the door. Sorry for barging in.”

“More than that, can’t you at least hear me out—”

“I don’t have the patience you do.”

“…Fair enough.”

“One last question. Was the only reason you made me stand guard during the tournament just because it was troublesome?”

“…Well, I did need someone else to take a hit for me.”

“…I see.”

That answer eased Hazen somewhat.

If his suspicion had been correct, Castro would have kept him as far away from the tournament as possible.

The vague words “I needed someone to take a hit” could mean many things, but for now, Hazen decided to leave it at that.

For now.

As he turned to leave, he stopped at the doorway.

“This time, I’ll let you handle it your way. But if it happens again, next time we’ll do it my way.”

“Since when did you not? Do as you like.”

For ten years, they had been the only comrades who could open up to each other—yet also perfect strangers who hadn’t truly understood each other in just as long.

Since none of us had serious injuries, we recovered quickly.

The next day, after the tournament, Reina, Ridipin, Drenner, Sonia, Ceres, and I gathered.

It was both a magic study session and a post-tournament get-together, so we met at a restaurant instead of the library.

Reina’s eyes sparkled as she scanned the menu.

“Hmm… The eastern seafood soup looks good. But this ‘Ratz beef’ also looks delicious…”

Seeing her agonize, the host of the meeting, Ceres, said,

“Order whatever. No matter what you pick, it won’t be more expensive than my event dress.”

“Well, even so, it feels rude to just order without thinking since you’re treating us.”

“I don’t particularly want anything. So whoever does, just order what you like.”

“Then I won’t hold back!”

And so, as usual, Reina ordered everything on the menu.

Drenner, Sonia, and Ceres all stared.

“You’re seriously ordering all of that?”

“Are you sure you can eat it?”

“Reina eats a lot.”

“…That sounded like it meant something else.”

“Nope. Just literally that Reina eats a ton.”

“…Ouch. That stings.”

Reina clutched her chest in mock pain, while Ceres tilted her head in confusion.

Ridipin gently explained,

“T-talking about how much a girl eats… can hurt her feelings.”

At that, Ceres nodded nervously.

“Then I won’t say it next time.”

…What? I’d never seen Ceres so polite before.

“S-sorry, Reina.”

“N-no, it’s fine. You don’t need to apologize…”

Even Reina looked flustered.

Ceres was rarely ever nervous—but nervous around Ridipin? That was a first.

I asked Ridipin carefully,

“Did you… bully Ceres or something?”

“Wh-what? Of course not!”

“Yeah. Ridipin’s not like that. She never bullied me.”

Her eyes darted away suspiciously.

When I looked closely at her, she flushed red and lowered her head.

Then Drenner cut in.

“Ceres is just overreacting because of what Ridipin Lightjustice showed us right after you disappeared.”

“It was impressive enough that even he got scared.”

Ridipin? But she hadn’t fully overcome her trauma yet—she shouldn’t have been able to fight at full strength.

“She wiped out most of the intruder’s snakes with just one arrow, then when that guy transformed into a giant serpent, she took it down in an instant.”

“Good thing she’s on our side. If she weren’t, we wouldn’t even have bones left.”

“S-stop it…”

She murmured shyly, but they didn’t stop.

“She went into a trance, ignored everything we said, and when she heard you were alive, she suddenly snapped back…”

“Enough already!” Ridipin cried in panic.

“Yes, ma’am.”

What the—since when were these guys so obedient?

Their reactions only made things more confusing.

Just then, the food arrived, and we dug in happily.

After we’d all eaten our fill, Ceres returned from paying in advance.

“Ban. Remember what you promised me in the dungeon?”

“…That I’d grant you a wish?”