Vol 5 Chapter 23

#(2)

"Gasp...!"

Startled by the sensation of his entire body falling into an abyss, Kapros sat up. All he could see before him was darkness.

'Where am I?'

"Fireball!"

He instinctively uttered the spell, bothered by the darkness, but strangely, the expected whoosh of flames igniting didn't come.

"...Fireball. Fireball!"

Even after chanting it three times, there wasn't even the slightest feeling of mana being drained. As he tensed his entire body, sensing something was amiss, suddenly a white light flashed before his eyes and someone appeared.

'Ah...'

Kapros, who had reflexively taken a defensive stance, hesitated as soon as he recognized the person who appeared.

It was Superior. More precisely, it was the Superior from ten years later that he had seen in the memory of meeting Ilumine. The androgynous beauty was gone, replaced by a short-haired Lord Superior who looked like a suddenly matured young man with a scar on his face.

He had always seen him from afar, but now the fact that he was face to face with him felt very strange.

After staring into Kapros's eyes for a long time, Superior grinned and raised his hand.

"You're not very sociable, are you? Well, what use would a mage pursuing solitary training have for sociability?"

"...Are you talking to me?"

Kapros asked in disbelief, and Superior nodded.

"Who else would I be talking to? I don't have a habit of talking to myself."

"Well, this is..."

As Kapros muttered in disbelief, Superior nodded as if he understood.

"You must be surprised. I understand. Meeting such an unprecedented genius, how could one not be surprised and still be human? Yes, indeed."

Despite clearly seeing Kapros frown deeply at those words, Superior continued speaking without concern.

"Do you know why you're here?"

If he knew that, he wouldn't be in this situation.

"I don't know."

"This is a place I prepared for when you would appear someday. The same goes for me. To be precise, I could be called an avatar left behind by the man known as Lord Superior for his future successor."

"So this is also a continuation of the quest?"

"...In other words, I'm both an examiner and a helper. But don't worry. This is the only time I'll act as an examiner."

Kapros was surprised to hear himself say "quest" without thinking and immediately regretted it, but Superior continued speaking as if he hadn't heard. It seemed that content related to the game system outside didn't reach him.

"From now on, I'll test you according to my mission. There are two parts to the test, and if we were to divide them, they'd be like written and practical exams? Hahaha. Which do you want to do first?"

"...Pardon?"

As Kapros unconsciously asked again, he saw Superior's brow furrow slightly as he stared at him intently.

"Sigh... For a successor I've waited for over many years, to be honest, you seem to fall short in appearance to be my successor. With that dark thing you're wearing... Your eyes and hair are dark, so why dress in such dark clothes too? You're not some monster hunter."

'...What did he say?'

Feeling like he was losing what little patience he had left at this image-breaking statement, Kapros closed his mouth. After grumbling a few more times, Superior explained once again.

"So, as I said, I'm going to test you now. There are two tests. One that uses your head and one that uses your body. Which do you prefer?"

Despite the grumbling, the tone imbued with honesty evoked more likability than displeasure. Roughly concluding that this was not much different from all the hardships he had to endure during the quests so far, just in a different form, Kapros brushed back his hair and hood and opened his mouth.

"Using my body seems more comfortable."

After all, in his real life up until now, he had been more of an athlete who used his body more than his head. Superior's lips curved upward upon hearing the answer.

"It seems my successor is more vigorous than I am. Well, that's fine. Then draw your sword."

"...Sword?"

Thinking it was nonsense to talk about a sword that wasn't there, Kapros reflexively moved his right hand to his left waist where he usually carried a sword, and was startled to feel something that shouldn't be there, lowering his gaze.

What he grasped was a long mass of light resembling a sword. The weight felt was neither as light as it looked, nor was it heavy. This appropriate weight and the feel in his hand was like...

"It's fine, right? It's a sword matched to the balance your body remembers, so of course it'll be fine. Then I'll take up my sword too."

It fit his hand perfectly and had a familiar weight, even more so than the sword he had bought before, as much as the sword he used to use.

The moment Superior reached out into the air, a small light that burst from his hand, which was clenched as if grasping something, suddenly elongated and clung to his hand.

Grasping it and spinning it around once impressively before lightly holding it with both hands, Superior nodded his chin and provoked Kapros.

"We'll use only our bodies and swords, no other abilities. Since it's your first time, I'll give you three chances. Come on!"

Kapros thought Superior must be crazy, but regardless of his thoughts, his body was nimbly grasping the sword and rushing in to find an opening. As he thrust the sword quickly and powerfully towards the exposed flank, Superior's sword slid in to block it, causing a strong repulsion as they clashed.

Bang!

"...Ugh."

"Ho, your body is really good. It might have been better if you had become a swordsman with that physique, why did you choose to be a mage?"

The teasing words made his fighting spirit flare up like fire. He felt his concentration heightening to an unusual degree.

It made sense given that he could see nothing but Superior and himself, but he was excited to a degree he couldn't control, unlike usual. As he circled around, facing off against Superior who had stepped back to create distance, Kapros began to attack again without hesitation as soon as he saw an opening.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Ba-bang, bang!

Perhaps this was the first time?