Ch.100[Chapter 100] Ruins

“Thank you. I feel my knowledge base expanding.”

“I’d like to repay you somehow, but I don’t have anything at the moment.”

“For now, I’ll share one useful piece of information. We can settle the rest later.”

The giant hermit crab, Mister Hermit, chuckled as he dropped off Sir Dominic, Alice, and the spider tank at the finish line.

Compared to the two weeks they had been traveling, this was accomplished in just twenty minutes.

[Congratulations! You have arrived at the finish line first.]

[Out of 120 total points for the practical exam, you received deductions for [Signal Violation: -3 points], [No Drifting: -15 points], and [Using Sky Path Instead of Designated Road: -3 points], for a total of 21 points deducted. You earned 99 points.]

[The passing cutoff is 80 points. Congratulations on passing.]

[Would you like to take an additional exam?]

Sir Dominic quickly nodded at the system window’s message.

“I see a great battle taking place on the sky path now.”

“The sky path is chaotic, but precisely because of that, now is your opportunity to get an aerial license.”

The giant hermit crab began offering advice in return for the help he had received.

Sir Dominic listened attentively to this wise crab’s words.

After all, there’s never any harm in listening to advice.

…

A place where space battleships fly, dragons exhale fiery breath, witches cackle while throwing messy potions, and steampunk gyrocopters launch crude missiles.

A battlefield so grand that the ground-dwelling rabble would be honored just to look up at it.

“Port side! Port side! The bullet curtain is thin there!”

“Unit 5 is going down! Unit 8 is trying to fill the gap but it’s not enough!”

“The sky is dark! Enemy at 7! Sky at 3!”

“No need to aim! Just shoot wildly! Even a blind man is a top marksman here!”

Here, their own little war was taking place.

Why did it happen? And for what reason?

Nobody knows.

When wars last too long, people tend to forget their original purpose.

Yes.

Those at the license testing site had forgotten their original purpose and were now focused solely on devouring each other.

“Attention to everyone on the battlefield! The enemy is diverting forces to the left! Ugh. Dragon cavalry, block the charge on the left!”

Dick Tracy shouted into the microphone until her voice grew hoarse.

Her words were broadcast across the entire battlefield through speakers attached throughout the flagship.

“Admiral! Our casualties are increasing.”

The captain of the flagship Apocalyptic Apocrypha MK.III called out to Dick Tracy.

“By how much?”

“About 4%. A small but not negligible figure.”

While an admiral outranks a captain, the ship belongs to the captain, so Dick Tracy, who had been using mutual honorifics, suddenly remembered someone.

A knight from the previous battlefield who had been waving a flag while carrying a sword and shield, anachronistic to the setting.

4%.

It seems small, but sufficient to be a variable.

“No way.”

Could he be taking the license exam here too?

Dick Tracy smirked.

There isn’t just one license testing site.

Among countless testing sites, what are the chances of being at the same site, at the same time, on the same track?

And that war-loving knight avoided combat and simply reached the finish line alone?

Each event individually could happen, but all together seemed too improbable.

“Ah.”

Dick Tracy was chuckling at these idle thoughts when she suddenly realized something.

“Captain. This is a license exam, right?”

“…That’s correct.”

“We don’t need to fight at all, do we?”

“That’s also correct.”

“Then we just need to break through at one point and reach the finish line?”

The captain nodded.

Dick Tracy sighed and gave herself a light knock on the head.

With a self-deprecating smile at her own stupidity, Dick Tracy immediately turned on the microphone and broadcast to the battlefield.

…

[“From now on, stop this pointless battle and break through at a single point! Direction: north-northeast! All personnel attempt to break through at the designated point! Direction: north-northeast!”]

“Damn it, now?”

A mohawked man riding a pteranodon muttered as he beheaded one of the witches in a broomstick formation with his axe.

In a situation that had already devolved into chaos, Dick Tracy’s order, though logical, was difficult to execute.

“Just a little more and I could take down 13 witches!”

Some even grumbled, already captivated by the battlefield’s magic.

[“We came here to get a ‘license,’ not to fight! Don’t forget our original purpose! I repeat-“]

But the broadcast from the flagship was enough to make exclamation marks appear in their minds.

That’s right.

In the confusion of the chaotic battlefield, they had forgotten that their sole purpose was to obtain a license.

Fighting was secondary.

So why had these veterans of license exams lost sight of their original purpose?

The reason lay with their current opponents.

Gremlins and witches.

Creatures who take chaos and confusion more seriously than anyone else.

“Hey, wi-tch! Those guys are getting in formation!”

“Oh no! They must have figured out our plan!”

These creatures had continuously plunged the examinees into confusing chaos.

In fact, they were repeat offenders.

It was common for them to sneak onto the track and cause disturbances to bring chaos to examinees.

They would entice examinees to join in the mayhem, sow discord between people, or replace engine oil with sesame oil.

They did this so frequently and maliciously that even the veteran mohawked pteranodon rider mistook them for track gimmicks.

They wanted only one thing.

Just to giggle while watching the examinees become confused.

“We still have a plan. We expected this, and we’ve been through it before!”

One of the gremlin leaders said.

For some reason, more gremlins than usual had followed their leader to cause chaos today.

Ending like this would be a loss of face.

“But it’s order! The opposite of chaos!”

The oldest witch responded irritably.

Though it sounded like a Zen riddle, he feared the nature of order.

“Quiet!”

“Yes! Be quiet!”

A gremlin in a gyrocopter and a young witch shouted.

Everyone closed their mouths and focused on fighting.

Yet their ears were perked toward the two creatures.

“We run away!”

“But we destroy as much as possible first!”

“A perfect compromise!”

The gremlin and witch’s words were just a sloppy compromise between two opinions, but everyone was satisfied.

Yes, everyone was satisfied.

They simply enjoyed chaos, a tribe that didn’t match with plans to begin with.

…

As soon as Sir Dominic returned to the lobby, he spoke to the employee on the ferry.

“I’d like to take the next exam.”

“The airship?”

“That’s right.”

Sir Dominic was feeling somewhat urgent.

He recalled the giant hermit crab’s words.

‘Once a day. That’s how license exams work. And when someone who’s already taken an exam immediately takes another, they’re likely to return to the same place.’

‘And when you take an exam in a familiar place, your chances of passing increase.’

Sir Dominic firmly believed those words.

Behind Sir Dominic, Alice stamped her feet impatiently.

The employee tilted his head at Sir Dominic’s strange behavior but soon professionally handed over two documents.

“Then we’ll start with the practical exam and move on to the written test. This is a consent form stating you prefer that order, and a document in case something happens to you.”

Sir Dominic hurriedly began filling out the forms.

According to the rules, one should take the written test before the practical, but in Gacha Land, such reversals were commonplace.

Having finally completed the forms, Sir Dominic headed back to the practice area.

Now it was time to test-drive an airship.

…

“Strange.”

Dick Tracy observed the steampunk gremlins and witches suddenly distancing themselves from the battlefield.

They were watching Dick Tracy and her allies from a safe distance, as if checking their livers or dangling bait.

“Very strange…”

Some witches waved their hands in an exaggeratedly polite manner as if saying “pass through as much as you want,” while the gremlins cleared the path with suspicious smiles.

“What’s strange about it? They’ve had their fun.”

The mohawked pteranodon rider called out.

Based on his past two experiences, these creatures simply left once they were satisfied.

Although they had left before and were now watching, which was different, the mohawked ruffian didn’t think much of it.

However, as more gremlins and witches gathered around, even the mohawked ruffian realized something was off about the situation.

“It is strange indeed.”

The mohawk pulled his pteranodon’s reins to stop in place and surveyed the surroundings.

These were creatures who left when satisfied, not ones who gathered to display such unpleasant smiles.

It clearly meant they had some scheme in mind.

But what their plan was remained unknown.

The finish line was now approaching.

About 10 minutes of flight away.

That’s when it happened.

“Get ready, everyone! It’s time!”

“You’ve fallen into our trap, fools!”

The young witch and gremlin leader cackled.

And as if their maintained distance had been a lie, they instantly vanished from sight.

“What in the-“

Before Dick Tracy could question their actions, she was struck speechless.

“My God…”

The mohawked ruffian looked down at the ground.

Until now, the ground had been obscured by fog created by the witches, but after the witches disappeared, visibility returned.

Surprisingly, there was a massive magic circle made of red lava and melting metal drawn on the ground.

“When did they-“

The mohawked ruffian was also silenced by the gravity suddenly pressing down on his body.

Everyone at the license testing site looked up at the sky.

There, an enormous meteor with countless attachments was falling toward them.