episode_0011

Chapter 11: Class Placement Test

It had been about three hours since the test began, and Alisa was frantically searching the forest, her eyes burning.

“Where in the world is he?”

She felt as if she’d already scoured half the forest, but that hateful face was nowhere to be seen. Now, a faint worry began to creep in.

“Could he have already been eliminated?”

Considering the rumors about Ruan Friuli, this outcome was more likely.

The strength he displayed in the alleyway was extraordinary, so she’d harbored some faint hope, but it seemed to have been a useless attachment.

Alisa suddenly recalled what happened yesterday.

“If only that woman had helped him.”

Immediately after the entrance ceremony yesterday, she had urgently sought out Skadia Maryland.

After circling around for a while, she finally couldn’t hold back and directly asked about Ruan Friuli, and the answer she received was quite a spectacle.

-“Why are you asking me that? It’s unpleasant. If you want to see him so badly, go find him at his mansion. I don’t care what the two of you do.”

Though her words might not reveal it, her gaze clearly branded Alisa as a woman having an affair with Ruan Friuli.

For Alisa, it was utterly infuriating.

“Ignorant wretch.”

If Skadia had just managed her fiancé properly, the rape wouldn’t have happened.

Alisa, grinding her teeth, let out a sigh.

Just as the thought of giving up and focusing on the test began to slowly creep in, she fiercely shook her head.

“No. It’s too early to give up.”

Saying she’d scoured half the forest meant, conversely, that half remained untouched.

She had to keep looking, at least until the test ended.

Only the northern section remained. She’d vaguely seen harpies in the distance and, annoyed by the prospect of fighting them, had intended to avoid that area, but she had no choice.

It was at that moment, as she proceeded north.

From ahead, amidst the sounds of clashing and striking, one, then two presences entered her detection range.

“Abel! Just hold on a little longer!”

“Yeah! Don’t worry about me!”

“I’ll help too, meow!”

The three of them formed a team: a male student with a sword blocked the monster head-on, while a cat beastman circled around, looking for an opening, and a female student cast a spell from the rear.

Alisa’s steps faltered.

‘Should I avoid them?’

None of the three were at a very high level, and she could probably handle them by herself, but she didn’t want to waste time unnecessarily.

Her goal was, after all, Ruan Friuli.

However, another thought popped into Alisa’s hesitating mind.

‘Wait. They might know Ruan Friuli’s location.’

She didn’t know how long the three had been active in the northern section, but it must have been longer than her, so there was a chance they’d seen him.

Having made her decision, Alisa revealed herself in the clearing where the fight seemed to have just ended.

“Ah! Ali… it’s someone else, meow!”

“Uni! Pernia! Get behind me!”

“Abel, be careful!”

Abel, upon spotting her, quickly blocked Alisa’s path and pointed his sword.

The tension grew taut.

Both Abel’s group and Alisa knew which side was stronger.

The fact that they hadn’t noticed her approach until she was this close was more than enough proof.

Just as Abel, unable to withstand the pressure, was about to launch a preemptive attack.

“I have no intention of fighting you.”

Alisa took a step back.

Caught off guard, Abel hesitated, then, as a wave of relief washed over him, he tightened his grip, which had begun to loosen, and questioned her.

“Then why did you appear before us? You could have just slipped by unnoticed.”

“Because I have something to ask.”

“Something to ask?”

“Yes. Have you seen Ruan Friuli by any chance?”

The group exchanged glances.

Abel and Uni, mere commoners from a rural village, were relatively unknowledgeable about noble information. There was no way they’d know who Ruan Friuli was.

And Pernia deliberately feigned ignorance.

Reading their true feelings from their bewildered faces, Alisa frowned one eyebrow and explained.

“He’s a man with black hair and silver eyes. His height is almost the same as yours. Have you not seen him?”

“Hmm… sorry, I haven’t seen him. What about you, Uni?”

“Me? I haven’t either. Abel was the first person I met, you know?”

“I don’t know either, meow!”

Students preferred monsters roaming the ground to harpies flying in the sky.

That way, they could accumulate points faster.

Contrary to her expectations, the immediate negative answers disappointed Alisa.

“Sigh… really? Alright. Thank you.”

“No problem. It wasn’t a difficult question.”

“Right! But why are you looking for him? Are you close?”

Uni’s eyes sparkled brightly.

With her girlish fantasies activated, romantic scenes between Alisa and Ruan Friuli played out in her mind.

Alisa shattered her expectations.

“If I find him, I’m going to kill him on the spot.”

“Uh, huh?”

“I’m going to kill him. It doesn’t matter if I kill him here, right? Well then, I’m off. You all keep hunting diligently.”

“Ah! W-wait—”

Alisa resolutely shrugged off Uni’s voice, which tried to hold her back, and left the clearing.

Because she could predict what they would say.

If they had dared to babble on about how killing was wrong no matter what, or how it was better to resolve things with words, she felt she would have killed them first.

To her now, Uni’s persuasion was nothing more or less than an obstruction.

‘I must have my revenge.’

Ever since her purity was taken, Alisa had been tormented by an obsession for revenge.

It was the only salvation that could soothe her uneasy heart.

*

At that hour, in the grand auditorium, the faculty observed the students’ activities through magic.

On one side, the point standings were displayed, making it possible to immediately identify which student was in the lead.

Sara Kaiman, who had been calmly surveying the situation, suddenly thought of Ruan Friuli.

Contrary to the rumors of him being a womanizer, he was a fellow with immense passion for growth and strong perseverance. Although his combat ability was pathetic, she found herself inexplicably harboring expectations.

‘Could he have already been eliminated?’

She checked just in case and, surprisingly, found his name in the mid-ranks.

Curiosity surging, Sara immediately checked Ruan Friuli’s location.

“The Harpy’s Nest?”

This was an unmonitorable area.

Just as Sara clicked her tongue, thinking he’d been caught in such a place of all places, a sudden presence appeared beside her.

“How curious.”

A seductive voice that tickled her ears.

With the chilling sensation of goosebumps rising on her spine, Sara turned her head and spotted a woman.

It was Roxana, the Gray Archmage.

Her wavy, deep purple hair resembled the night sky just before the sun completely set, and her blue eyes were as deep as the abyssal sea.

Overall, she exuded a mature yet decadent aura.

Even the gentle curve of her lips emitted a magic that made it hard for men to tear their eyes away.

Sara, who had been staring at her as if enchanted, belatedly snapped back to reality and asked.

“…What do you mean by that?”

“I’m talking about student Ruan Friuli. Isn’t it curious that he’s still alive in the Harpy’s Nest?”

She smiled sweetly, as if seeking agreement, and it was unbelievably vexing.

Sara replied somewhat curtly.

“Well, harpies don’t kill males immediately. You know that, don’t you? Didn’t you design it that way yourself?”

“Hehe… indeed. But what I want to talk about is how long student Ruan Friuli has been alive. By the way, this student was caught by a harpy less than an hour after the test began, you know?”

The test is held from 9 AM to 4 PM, for a total of 7 hours. If he was caught less than an hour in, that would have been 5 hours ago, so it’s quite unusual that Ruan Friuli is still alive.

Sara was startled.

“You mean he’s lasted for over 5 hours already?”

“Exactly. Isn’t it amazing? Just how strong is his stamina for the harpies to have kept him alive? Shall I take a little peek?”

Roxana, with a mischievous smile, reached out her hand towards the hologram. Sara knew it was just a gesture, yet she couldn’t help but shout.

“Stop that! That goes against imperial law.”

As Sara reacted as intended, Roxana’s eyes curved into crescent moons with a playful smile.

“Ahahaha! It’s a joke. A joke. I know. It’s just that women are naturally drawn to strong men. It’s only natural to want to see, isn’t it?”

“…Not at all. He is merely one of my students.”

“Oh? You seem to have a lot of affection for your students.”

Sara was annoyed by Roxana’s gaze, which implied there was no need to be so modest. She truly had never harbored such thoughts towards Ruan Friuli. Desiring a student was a disqualification for a teacher.

‘And there’s no need to.’

Although it was still just a ‘something,’ things were going well with Verdan Roosevelt, so there was no need to cling to a student.

As Sara, having regained her composure, began to openly ignore her, Roxana shrugged her shoulders, turned her back, and walked away.

“Ah… I wish I could see.”

Roxana let out a sigh of regret.

With just a flick of her finger, she could satisfy this curiosity, yet her last shred of conscience absolutely refused to allow her to peek.

To be a mage capable of deceiving everything, yet be bothered by such a trivial matter.

She was utterly weak.

‘But it can’t be helped.’

Because if her beloved student were to find out about this, he would be disappointed.

Her eyes turned towards the point standings.

[3rd Place – Deborah]

Hang in there, my student.

*

[0:30]

“Shall I head out now?”

I had been spending an incredibly boring time, and now, checking my magic bracelet, I got up.

By now, most students would have been eliminated, and the northern section, where the harpies were, had particularly few people, so there would be no problem even if I left.

I glanced at the dead harpies, covered in semen, and then exited the nest.

I had to be careful from now on.

If I moved carelessly, I could be discovered by harpies or stumble and fall off the cliff.

A moment later, I safely reached the ground.

Only after looking around and confirming that nothing was amiss did I let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew… no problems for now. Shall I find a place to rest?”

I had already rested plenty, but since there was nothing to do for 30 minutes, it was wiser to choose a suitable spot and wait for the test to end rather than aimlessly wander around.

Wandering through the forest, I soon discovered a clearing.

There was also a large rock in the center, perfect for hiding.

It was as I approached.

“What a coincidence?”

Alisa walked out from behind the rock, accompanied by a familiar voice.

An alarm bell rang in my head.

“Why are you here…?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Of course, I came to find you. It’s fortunate. I was going to turn back if I didn’t find you after scouting up to the cliff.”

Shing—

Alisa smiled brightly and drew a rapier from her waist.

She intended to kill me.

“Wait. Calm down.”

“Calm down? Have you forgotten what you did to me? I won’t kill you easily. I’ll slice off your flesh, piece by piece, until you beg me to kill you.”

Her eyes had completely gone wild.

The current Alisa, consumed by revenge, was beyond reasoning. If things continued like this, I would be cruelly tortured to death.

‘Damn it. What do I do?’

Even though it was a virtual space and I wouldn’t actually die, if I were tortured, the pain might drive me insane.

If I developed trauma related to Alisa, I wouldn’t be able to intervene in the main story at all.

That had to be avoided.

‘But I can’t fight either.’

Putting aside the fact that the professors would be watching, I had no chance of winning to begin with.

Even if I used ‘Rape Declaration’, I wouldn’t be able to handle Alisa with just increased strength, and I’d be tortured and incur penalties as well.

For now, I decided to try appealing to Alisa’s conscience.

“I’m sorry about what happened then too. But that was because you didn’t keep your promise, wasn’t it? If you had cooperated, there wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“…….”

Alisa’s steps stopped instantly.

She was silent for a moment, then opened her mouth with a twisted smile.

“So, you’re saying it was my fault?”

“I’m saying it’s true that you provided the cause. But none of that matters, does it? I have no intention of arguing about right and wrong over this. It’s just that you’re not in a position to be entirely blameless either.”

So give up on revenge.

Alisa, implicitly understanding the meaning behind my words, suddenly turned serious and her eyes snapped wide open.

“You only know one side, not the other, don’t you? I don’t need justification. All I need is to be able to kill you. Are you done talking? Then die now.”

Killing intent burst forth from her entire body. Combined with the visual effect of the rapier spewing sharp energy, it was enough to make my knees tremble.

I instinctively recoiled, taking a step back.

‘Persuasion won’t work.’

Have you ever heard the saying that the most terrifying person is one who has nothing left to lose? Currently, Alisa believes her future is already destined for ruin.

That’s why she could openly display her hatred, even in a situation where she was under the concentrated gaze of others.

There was no solution like this.

Ultimately, I had no choice but to pull out my last resort.

“If you do that, you won’t get off scot-free either.”

“…What? What do you mean?”

“Do you think I’ll just sit still if I’m tortured like this? You know what will happen if that fact gets out, don’t you? If you don’t want that, you should stop.”

Alisa’s face stiffened instantly.

Being blackmailed by the rapist in return, she soon let out a hollow laugh, as if dumbfounded, then revealed her fury.

“Then I’ll just have to turn you into a complete idiot. I’ll make it so you can’t even open your mouth.”

“What? Wait. Hold on. That’s—”

Before I could even finish my words, Alisa lunged faster than my dynamic vision could track and swung her rapier.

Slice!

My right leg flew into the air, accompanied by blood.