“P-Professor Kaisel!”
Klein raised his voice, his face flushing.
“What do you think you’re doing, turning up like this?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Still seated behind the wheel, Kaisel replied coldly.
“I’ve come to pick up Eriol.”
“But why would you suddenly…”
“What a strange thing to say.”
Kaisel answered Klein’s protest without batting an eye.
“Is it such a big deal to give my nephew a ride so he gets home safely?”
“Since when have you been so considerate…!”
Klein’s voice rose.
Honestly, I had to agree with him on that point.
“P-Professor Kaisel. I have things to discuss with Eriol today. We were going to have dinner…”
“Today is a day off, Professor Klein. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t monopolize the students’ time.”
“Y-you make it sound as though I’m trying to drag Eriol off against his will! That’s not…”
“It isn’t easy to refuse when your supervising professor asks you to dinner. It amounts to coercion.”
“Urgh…!”
Leaving Klein biting his lip, Kaisel turned his gaze to me.
“Eriol.”
With everyone watching, Kaisel motioned to me with his eyes.
“Get in.”
That was outright coercion.
The luxurious, glossy black magical automobile drove across the academy grounds on our day off.
“Uncle.”
“What?”
From the passenger seat, I asked Kaisel a question.
“Won’t this hurt your relationship with Professor Klein?”
“Klein has never liked me much.”
“Really? Why?”
“Who knows?”
Maybe because he always treated him like this…
“Klein was probably planning to use this opportunity to win you over.”
“Pardon?”
“If you’d gone with him, you would have spent this evening introducing yourself to every senior member of the Lore Department. Then you’d have ended up signing a pledge to join them next year.”
Kaisel spoke with his hands on the wheel and his eyes on the road.
“That’s what the Lore Department is like. Remember that.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Anyway.”
Kaisel immediately changed the subject.
“What did you think of today?”
“Of today?”
“Labyrinthos.”
“Oh… It was fascinating.”
I nodded as I spoke.
“I’ve imagined what it would be like many times while reading, but it exceeded anything I could have imagined.”
“You say that after seeing only the upper levels?”
“Pardon?”
“The deep levels contain wonders that make the upper levels pale in comparison. You shouldn’t be so quick to say something ‘exceeds anything you could have imagined.’”
“…”
“You want to venture into the deep levels yourself, don’t you?”
Kaisel seemed to have read my mind.
“You have a strong thirst for knowledge. A tour of a small part of the upper levels won’t satisfy you.”
“…”
“You want to see the other areas of the upper levels, and even the deep levels, with your own eyes.”
He was right.
I wanted to venture down there on my own two feet… all the way to the deep levels.
“But students can’t enter and leave the dungeon freely. Normally, you won’t go inside except during practical lessons.”
“Uncle, about that.”
Recalling something, I spoke up.
“Isn’t there a way for students to enter the dungeon freely, too?”
“So you already know.”
Kaisel nodded.
“Students with a ranger license can enter the dungeon without special permission.”
Monster hunters, treasure hunters, and the like had existed for a long time.
But these days, you needed a ranger license to do that sort of work.
All sorts of unlawful activities in and around dungeons had become a social problem.
“Quite a few upperclassmen have ranger licenses.”
“Do they?”
“It lets them gain combat experience against monsters and gather materials needed for magic. And… they can earn money by taking on ‘commissions.’”
“Commissions…”
“There are all kinds. Requests to kill a particular monster and bring back its carcass, or gather medicinal herbs that grow only in a certain area.”
Adventure novels often had scenes where characters accepted commissions from the Ranger Guild and went on quests.
The academy had a system like that, too.
“Students whose families aren’t well-off earn money by completing these commissions. There are plenty of expenses beyond the cost of living when you attend the academy.”
“…”
“Come to think of it…”
The automobile stopped briefly at a crossroads.
While we waited for freight wagons to cross in front of us, Kaisel spoke in a dispassionate voice.
“Your family isn’t well-off either.”
“No…”
A failed investment had left our family penniless.
I could hardly expect financial support from my parents.
“How are you managing for money these days?”
“I still have some of the scholarship money from the entrance exam, so my living expenses are covered for a while. But…”
“You won’t have much to spare. You can’t buy all the books you want, either.”
“…”
“You’ll receive a scholarship each semester, but that alone won’t be enough. Once you’ve paid your tuition, you’ll barely have enough left for basic living expenses. You’ll need to find other funds for practical work, assignments, and personal research.”
That was right.
Studying magic at the academy cost a lot of money beyond tuition.
But I had no one to cover those costs for me.
Kaisel didn’t seem to have any particular intention of supporting me financially, either.
“In the end, you’ll have to earn money somewhere.”
“I’ll need a part-time job…”
“You could work in the shopping district, at the harbor, or in a campus shop. But the easiest way to earn money…”
The long procession of freight wagons came to an end, and the automobile moved forward again.
“Is to obtain a ranger license and take on commissions in the dungeon.”
“…”
I did a few quick calculations in my head.
Getting a ranger license and entering the dungeon did seem like the best option.
“Uncle.”
“What?”
“How do I get a ranger license, then?”
“There are two ways to obtain one. The first is to take the exam held in the second half of each year.”
“That’s a long way off.”
“Yes. Which brings us to the second method.”
“What is it?”
“An ‘instructor-rank ranger’ recognized by the Ranger Association can grant someone a provisional ranger license without an exam. It still has to be registered with the association, of course.”
“So asking an instructor-rank ranger would be faster.”
“Exactly.”
Kaisel nodded, his hands on the wheel.
“But they rarely agree to do it.”
“Why is that?”
“They have to sign a guarantee accepting responsibility for any trouble the provisional ranger causes. That’s why they’re generally reluctant to sign one.”
“I see.”
“Klein of the Lore Department is also an instructor-rank ranger, but he’d balk if you asked him to sign a guarantee. It would be a serious matter if you went into the dungeon and died.”
True. I wouldn’t want to sign one myself.
“That really does make it… difficult.”
Muttering those words, I looked at Kaisel.
“Who could I possibly ask?”
I already knew.
Kaisel had earned his instructor-rank ranger license long ago, in recognition of his contributions to the exploration of Labyrinthos.
“Eriol.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
Still holding the wheel, Kaisel spoke calmly.
“I told you to take sole first place in the overall first-year assessment.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Do you know what you’ll need to do to achieve that?”
“Do well on the exams?”
“There are midterms and finals each semester. But apart from those written exams, there are practical assessments at various points throughout the year.”
“So the year-end results combine the practical assessment scores with the midterms and finals.”
“Correct.”
What was he working his way up to this time?
Feeling my hair flutter in the wind, I looked at Kaisel’s profile.
“Your first practical assessment will be the competition for new students, commonly known as the ‘Rookie Tournament.’”
The competition for new students.
I had caught bits of other students talking about it.
“You can think of that as the point when the scoring begins.”
“I don’t know much about it yet. What sort of competition is it?”
“Simple target practice.”
“Target practice?”
“We use golems as targets. Training golems made by the Fabrication Department.”
The Fabrication Department again.
They really did seem to make everything.
“You cast magic at a stationary golem. The type of magic doesn’t matter. You can launch a sphere of flame, an arrow of ice, a spear of lightning… You could even make it rain over the golem’s head. It isn’t a test of magical power.”
“Are you testing how well the spell is executed?”
“We assess it as a whole. The rankings are determined by combining objective data from the sensors built into the golem with the judges’ subjective assessments.”
“So it isn’t just the spell’s power or speed… Creativity and artistry would count toward the score as well, then.”
“I’m not so sure about artistry.”
It would be one thing if we were graded purely on objective measurements, but the judges’ subjective assessments made things tricky.
It meant there was no right answer.
“That sounds difficult.”
“It is. Looking at past Rookie Tournaments, unexpected students have often taken first place. There have also been several cases of the clear top student receiving a low score.”
“Just for reference, how did you do, Uncle?”
“The event was different when I was a first-year, so it won’t serve as a reference.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I did come first, though.”
“…”
What an irritating man.
“Eriol.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“I expect you to take first place in the Rookie Tournament.”
“…”
“If you want to rank first in the overall first-year assessment, winning the Rookie Tournament will give you an advantage.”
I fell silent for a moment and looked at his profile.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Professor Klein told me something today.”
“What was that?”
“He said a mage’s achievements should always be properly rewarded. Even if that mage is a student.”
“Hmm…”
“What will you do for me if I come first, Uncle?”
“You already know what I’m going to say, don’t you? Irritating brat.”
You’re the last person I want to hear that from…
“If you win the Rookie Tournament, I’ll grant you a provisional ranger license. I’ll sign a guarantee in the name of Kaisel Valencia.”
“Sounds good.”
That settled our agreement.
Now all I had to do was win the Rookie Tournament and get that guarantee from Kaisel.
“We’re nearly at your dormitory. I’ll let you out.”
Before I knew it, we had reached the dormitory.
Kaisel stopped the magical automobile and looked at me, but I stayed in the passenger seat.
“What is it?”
“What do you gain from my being able to enter the dungeon?”
“You’re curious about that?”
“You don’t strike me as someone who would make a promise like this to his nephew for no reason.”
Hadn’t Professor Klein said it himself earlier?
Since when had he been so considerate?
“Hmm. It’s only natural for you to wonder.”
“Would you tell me?”
“There’s something you need to know first.”
“What is it?”
“Most academy professors have a research project or two they can’t tell others about.”
“…”
“They want to keep those projects secret. So they try to work alone, but in practice, that presents all sorts of difficulties. Having someone they can trust to assist them makes their research much easier.”
Someone to assist him.
Hearing that, I realized what Kaisel wanted me to do.
“For instance… if you wanted to obtain a material found only in a particular part of the dungeon in absolute secrecy, having someone to help would be convenient.”
“Exactly. Going to fetch it personally presents a professor with plenty of difficulties.”
“I understand.”
I now had some idea why Kaisel kept taking an interest in me.
Though of course, that probably wasn’t all of it.
“Off you go, then.”
“Yes.”
In the end, Kaisel hadn’t given me any practical advice.
He could at least have given me a hint about how to cast an offensive spell that would do a lot of damage to a golem… but apparently he had no intention of teaching me magic himself.
“By the way, Uncle.”
“What?”
“Shouldn’t you at least buy me a meal? I turned down Professor Klein’s offer to buy me dinner and came with you.”
As I asked the question while getting out, Kaisel replied coldly.
“You don’t particularly want to eat with me either.”
“That’s true.”
“If you want me to buy you a meal, do well on your exams.”
With that, Kaisel drove off.
“It’s not that I particularly want to eat with you…”
I was simply curious what sort of food a man like Kaisel would choose for his first meal with his nephew.
“What does he even eat every day…? I’d like to know.”
He didn’t seem like someone who would ever eat a hot dog.
With that thought, I went into the dormitory.
The next morning.
As soon as I got up, I left the dormitory and headed toward the outskirts.
Eating bread I’d bought at a bakery along the way, I arrived at… the eastern shore.
Nice and quiet.
The island’s southern side, where the harbor lay, was bustling, but the other sides saw fewer people.
The terrain to the north was rugged, and there were plenty of anglers to the west, so I’d come to the quiet eastern side.
Well then… Shall I get started?
I loosened up a little and took a deep breath.
I’ll need this to do well in the Rookie Tournament, and when I enter the dungeon later…
There was no one around.
And the open sea stretched out before me.
It was an excellent place to practice.
Let’s give offensive magic a try.
Magic for real combat, which I hadn’t formally learned yet.
I wanted to try practicing it.
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