Group Practice Performance Evaluation

Group Practice Performance Evaluation

I decided to leave this matter entirely to Delia.

Not only was she bound by contract, making betrayal impossible even if she wanted to.

In case of any problems, it was possible to shift all responsibility to Delia at any time.

‘Well, even if something goes wrong, I don’t think anything major will happen to me.’

Still, it’s better than drawing unnecessary attention and creating variables.

After naturally letting everything fall to Delia, I added some additional words.

“I’ll provide sufficient funds, so don’t worry and proceed.”

“Huh, what?”

“And let’s have the Herdi family, not the Lercier family, carry out this free funeral service.”

“……”

Delia looks at me with a bewildered expression, apparently not expecting me to dump everything on her.

Seeing her like this, I realized that if I let this slide, she wouldn’t come forward with proposals directly anymore.

So I threw her a carrot that she might like.

“If this project runs smoothly, I’ll help with magic modifications, so do your best.”

Since magic modifications aren’t something that ends with just one or two, I offered this reward.

Delia quickly nodded and said she would do so.

‘Well, I guess that takes care of the miscellaneous tasks for now.’

‘It’s about time to move on to the next step.’

‘Now, all that’s left is to sell Ariel’s story to the Welcome Library.’

I wanted to take Ariel right away and sell her story, but since she was still alive, I couldn’t do it easily.

‘I’d like to kill her and take her right now if I could.’

To extract the Heaven God Cult, I need to keep Ariel, the new teacher, and that male student alive for as long as possible.

I decided to postpone it for now.

While I was smiling, thinking that Ariel’s lifeline was longer than I expected, Delia approached me.

“Who are you going to do the group practical assessment with?”

Ah, right, that was a thing.

I had forgotten about it momentarily due to the many events happening.

After pondering for a moment, I slowly turned my gaze towards Delia and Rumi.

‘I should take these two with me.’

As they both ranked within the top three in test scores, I thought they would at least pull their own weight even if they performed poorly.

Just then, a notice about the practical assessment came through the magic book.

There were various details written, but the three main points to note were:

The groups would be randomly assigned.

Each group would consist of 3 members.

Lastly, the test would take place in the Forest of Time near the Academy.

I couldn’t hide my confusion at this announcement.

In the novel, students were allowed to form their own groups, but according to this notice, the groups would be randomly assigned.

I noticed that something was wrong and that someone had intervened in the evaluation test.

‘Without even having to think about it, it must be the Heaven God Cult.’

There would be no reason to change this otherwise.

If I wanted, I could go directly to the principal’s office and restore it.

‘If I use it in reverse, it seems like it could bring even more benefits.’

I decided to pretend to proceed as they wanted and then backstab them.

* * *

The funeral matter progressed faster than expected.

I’m not sure if it’s because Delia’s abilities are excellent or because of the power of the family behind Delia.

Before a week had passed, the plan was completed, and corpses were continuously piling up.

“If we assume 3 coins per corpse, I think we’ll get about 300 coins a day.”

It’s not a large amount, but considering it’s a continuous income, it’s not bad.

I nodded and told her she did well.

Delia, feeling very proud, continued talking to me.

“I’m really good at this kind of thing.”

Since her business acumen seems decent, I decided to delegate similar tasks to her in the future and nodded.

‘We’ve accumulated about 3000 coins so far, so in a few weeks, the time to read the ancient magic book will come.’

Thinking that it would be good to focus on other things for a while after reading the ancient magic book, I looked at Rumi.

‘By the way, is she okay?’

Strangely, she seems to look worse now than when I first met her.

I hope it’s just my misunderstanding.

Her expression looked quite serious, which made me worry.

‘The guards said there might be minor assaults, but no severe beatings.’

Still wondering why she seemed so troubled, I narrowed my eyes.

‘I can’t just go up to her and demand to know what she’s thinking.’

I decided to wait until Rumi spoke for herself and turned my gaze away.

* * *

Two weeks passed after that.

Originally, the expected earnings for two weeks were about 4,200 coins, which was far short of the 10,000 coin goal.

However, since Delia said she would immediately perform the magic modification as soon as I collected 10,000 coins, I was able to reach the target about twice as fast.

Looking at the very excited Delia, I felt she was remarkable in many ways.

For now, I decided to check the ancient magic book first.

“Wow… Customer, you’ve already collected 10,000 coins. That’s amazing.”

Ember’s eyes sparkled as she held a book as big as herself.

She immediately guided me to the ancient magic book section and said to me.

“As I mentioned before, 10,000 coins only allows for a one-hour rental. Is that okay with you?”

When I nodded, Ember, as if she had grown fond of me, tried to dissuade me once more.

“Well… it’s not really my place to say this, but even the most renowned magicians need to spend at least a few years to decades with this book. I think renting it for just an hour isn’t a very good choice.”

“It’s fine.”

“… Is that so? If you insist, I can’t stop you anymore… but I’ll give you some more time to think about it, so please reconsider.”

At those words, I shook my head and gestured for her to hand it over quickly.

Ember muttered something like ‘You’ll regret this’ and said to me.

“I have received 10,000 coins. Time will start flowing from the moment you open the book, so please open it when you’re ready.”

I nodded, thinking it oddly reminiscent of a speed run, and quickly opened the ancient magic book.

*

“What? You’ve already finished reading it? All of that?”

I managed to complete reading the magic book in less than 30 minutes, let alone an hour.

Ember exclaimed in shock, alternating her gaze between me and the ancient magic book.

“Never mind the quantity, it should be difficult to understand even a single sentence, so how on earth did you read that?”

There wasn’t much I could say in response to such a question.

This abnormal talent, even in my eyes, simply allowed me to understand and acquire everything.

‘It’s like being asked how to breathe, if I had to make a comparison. Learning is easy, but explaining it is difficult.’

While I was thinking that even I don’t know why I acquire knowledge so quickly and unable to say anything else.

Ember speaks to me with a somewhat suspicious expression.

“You’re not just saying you couldn’t understand it and want a refund, are you?”

Since it seems she would doubt anything I say, I’ll just ignore it.

Ember rolled her eyes and muttered, ‘It still looks like a lie no matter how I see it,’ then said to me.

“Then I’ll refund you 5,000 coins for now. If you lied to me, consider it me giving it back out of pity, and if you really did acquire everything, remember it as a sign of my approval.”

Nodding, I examined what I had learned from the ancient magic book earlier.

*-*

[Magic Mastery evolves into Ancient Magic Mastery!]

– Ancient Magic Mastery acquired while learning ancient magic. As the level of this skill increases, you gain ??? effects.

*-*

It seems I’ve succeeded in acquiring it for certain.

Looking at the uncertainly written content in the description, I felt the need to take time to reinterpret what I had acquired for now.

‘Then it would be good to spend some time preparing for this.’

I’m already excited at the thought of checking the ancient magic I’ve put into my head while holed up in the lab.

‘Besides, the Heaven God Cult guys will try something at the upcoming group practical performance evaluation.’

I massaged my shoulders, thinking that I would be able to play an active role in many ways since there was a definite experimental subject.

* * * * *

In the center of a ruined temple with countless huge white pillars.

There, a man wearing an excessively ornate priest’s robe smiled and spoke to the people around him.

“The day of judgment will soon come. All believers, let us strive to eliminate the heretic Deren Lercier and plunge Rumi into an even deeper abyss of despair, as commanded by the Heaven God.”

In response to his voice, the surrounding believers cheered like people immersed in madness, responding to his words.

It was more like a cult than a normal religion.

But no one doubted this, or rather, they were accepting all of this with enthusiasm.

After they had been making noise as if a festival was being held for a while.

They suddenly stopped laughing and cheering as if the lights had gone out, focusing all their attention on the center.

The man in the middle smiled at the men standing nearby and continued speaking.

“Well then, I’ll leave it to you. Inquisitors of heresy.”

With those brief words as the last, the men nodded their heads politely and left their seats.