Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When I woke up, it was night.

I pressed my forehead with my hand and furrowed my brow.

My head felt heavy and I had a headache.

It was because my sleeping place had been a mess.

I remembered waking up several times in the middle of my sleep.

“Grrgh.”

I heard the cries of those things from outside.

They rang out day and night and those sounds poured a strength into me that had not been there.

Time to move.

I decided to continue the magic practice I had left unfinished yesterday.

“It has to be stronger and last longer.”

I recalled the light magic I had practiced before.

My gaze moved to the cross lying on the desk.

There were three elements that made up a spell.

A medium, a formula, and mana.

When I practiced yesterday, I had only used the formula and mana.

If I added a medium to that, it would get closer to the image I wanted.

“I calculate the formula, draw up the mana, and manifest it through the medium.”

In magic, the medium referred to tools that helped you use spells.

Staffs and wands were the most common.

Depending on the person, other tools could be chosen, and for me, that tool was a cross.

I gripped the cross with my right hand.

I recalled the sensation from when I snapped my fingers.

My brain calculated the formula, and my nerves carried the mana.

When it reached the end, instead of bursting out, I tried to make it stay.

Crack!

Blue current burst up from the cross.

It was the backlash that occurred when a spell failed.

I clutched my shoulder.

It burned like my skin had been scorched from the inside.

It was painful.

Cold sweat slid down my forehead.

The pain lingered for a long time, and it was severe enough that it made me hesitate to use magic again.

“This is not easy.”

Compared to the first time I used magic, it was as if I had moved up a whole tier.

That alone had greatly increased the difficulty.

Training to use a medium was a practical assignment for third year academy students, and they spent half a year studying it.

Expecting to succeed in one go was greedy, even for Joshua, who had plenty of talent.

“…So even the time I waste agonizing is precious?”

My trembling hand calmed down on its own.

That was the judgment that came from [Cool].

Practicing magic to survive was essential, and the pain that came with it was light compared to death.

I laughed.

It was the conclusion I would have reached sooner or later, whether quickly or slowly.

I resumed practicing magic.

Thanks to the trait [Steady Nerves], my fear of failure disappeared.

I focused my mana.

And I failed.

I did not stop practicing until my holy power reached the bottom.

Blood drenched effort quickly bore fruit.

Joshua’s trait [Acquisition] was so outstanding that people called it tier zero when it came to training.

Each time I failed, I fixed the problems little by little.

It was a trait that made things approach one hundred percent.

As a result, a spell that had been unusable rose to the level where I could at least use it in a pinch.

[Holy power: 150]

I left a little holy power.

It was insurance, just in case.

At night, nothing that happened would be strange, so I had to be prepared.

I sat down on the chair and steadied my breathing.

Improving my skills through practice was good, but I had lost as much as I had gained.

It was stamina.

When my stamina dropped, my body naturally demanded something to replenish it.

Food and water.

I had to find them.

If I did not hurry, I could not know what kind of debuff would appear on this body.

[Patience] only helped me endure, it did not solve immediate problems.

It was nothing but a wall.

No matter how sturdy a wall might be, if all it did was block, it would eventually collapse.

“E-Excuse me.”

I turned my gaze toward the window.

I no longer needed to be flustered by that voice.

“Go ahead.”

I walked to the window and spoke to the woman I had saved in the morning.

“I don't think I properly thanked you for saving me earlier.”

She held her hand out past the window frame.

There was something in her hand.

I could easily see that it was a water bottle.

“I will throw it, so please catch it.”

No sooner did she finish speaking than the water bottle in her hand arced through the air.

I immediately reached out.

Tap! The bottle slipped right out at the tips of my fingers.

“It is alright. I tied the string tight so it does not come loose unless someone unties it with their hands.”

Even without her explanation, I noticed the presence of the string when I let it slip.

She was not completely foolish.

The second time it flew up, I caught the bottle properly.

“Thank you.”

I untied the string and examined the bottle.

It was not completely new.

It was half full of water, and there were signs the cap had already been opened.

I suppressed the urge to drink it right away and fell into thought.

Was she really giving this to me from pure goodwill?

What if it was poisoned?

What did she want from me that she sent this?

Someone might dismiss it as overthinking, but there was nothing wrong with being cautious.

This world was facing its end.

Everyone knew how important water was in a situation like this.

“It is lukewarm, but I hope you understand.”

She spoke before I drank.

It looked like her goal was to earn my favor.

If this water was her way of sending me interest, there was no need to refuse it.

I opened the cap and drank.

I could vividly feel the moisture filling the inside of my body.

It tasted good.

Of all the water I had drunk in my life, this had the best sense of refreshment.

“Is it really alright for you to give this water to me?”

“It is fine. I still have two brand new bottles left.”

It was not a generous amount.

Even if they shared, two bottles of water would not easily last more than half a month.

Whatever her reasoning, I had been helped greatly.

“Do you know what things are like inside the dormitory?”

“I have never gone outside, so I don't know anything. Ah! Come to think of it, you are not the only one I talked to. Someone else spoke to me too. I don't know where, but I am sure it was a lower floor. There were two of them, and they were both men. The last time we talked was two days ago.”

I was not surprised.

There was no way a building this large only had two survivors.

I unfolded the map I was carrying and replayed her explanation in my head.

The rooms that needed to be prioritized for a search in this dormitory were all clustered on the first floor.

The cafeteria.

The personal storage room.

The dormitory supervisor’s lounge.

“Were those two together?”

“Yes, they were.”

“If they stayed here, they might have heard your voice then.”

It was hard to overhear a voice from the fourth floor when you were downstairs.

But the story changed if they were on the third floor.

Since they had already talked to her before, they had been somewhere her voice could reach.

My guess was the second floor.

What worried me was that they might act before I did.

“Do you not think they might already have left?”

“That is possible, but it is hard for me to imagine.”

There was an obvious difference between walking around inside the building and going outside.

One clearly required more courage.

The preparations were very different too.

If they had taken the first floor before me, my plans would be disrupted.

“Or they might be dead already.”

She muttered under her breath so I could barely hear.

If they had died during their search, there was no need to rush.

But that was just a wish.

It was true that I felt uneasy waiting in comfort without confirmation.

Once they finished searching the floors below, all they would have left was the floors above.

I had already checked the fourth floor, and it was stripped bare.

That meant the only area left for both sides was the third floor.

If they even took that from me, I would have to live in poverty for a while.

[Cool] organized my thoughts.

Do I spend time recovering, or do I move now?

I chose the best option.

“I plan to go down to the third floor now. If I have room to spare, I will stop by, so keep that in mind.”

“What? What did you just-!”

I stepped slowly into the hallway.

The moonlight was weak tonight.

It was good weather to test the magic I had practiced.

Using the cross infused with mana as a flashlight, I walked to the staircase where I had stopped before.

“…Phew.”

I needed to lure the zombies on the third floor upward.

I planned to use sound.

Among the backlashes that occurred when a spell failed, one of them was a loud boom.

That happened when the cause was an excessive injection of mana.

I put my hands together and gathered mana inside them.

I did not add a formula.

Once the mass of mana swelled, it would explode on its own.

Bang!

A light shockwave, just loud enough to be heard nearby.

Even that was enough to lure the ones below.

“Urrgh.”

With chilling groans, they showed themselves.

Beings who had no thought other than filling their empty stomachs.

Thud, thud!

They shoved and trampled one another without feeling any emotion about it.

The first ones I counted were five.

Some of them got pushed down by the others.

Their bodies dented as they hit the floor, but the greed in their eyes stayed the same.

Soon they began to crawl using their arms.

The intact zombies quickened their steps as if they had no intention of yielding.

I slowly stepped back.

At first I thought I would not be able to move a single step.

The sight in front of me was that overwhelming.

But soon the traits I possessed returned freedom to my body.

“Come this way.”

I drew the zombies to the middle of the hallway.

This should be far enough.

Once I judged that, I thrust the cross forward.

I prepared a spell.

Following the formula I formed in my head, the light fired from the cross began to take shape.

[Shield]

It was a miracle that literally created a shield.

Its size was just enough to completely block the middle of the hallway.

“It paid off to practice the basics.”

I breathed out in admiration.

My first spell in actual combat succeeded in one try.

My Originality stat was low, so the spell’s completion was lacking, but this was enough.

Thud, thud! The zombies hurled themselves at the suddenly appearing obstacle.

Bloody handprints hammered the light made shield.

Thud, thud!

Their arms and legs twisted at grotesque angles.

Cracks ran through the shield, and shards fell away, stripping skin from their bodies.

If they were human, they should have been writhing in pain, but they were not, so their faces did not change at all.

“Their intelligence is still low.”

Because their intelligence was low, they did not think to circle around and attack from the opposite staircase.

They also did not think to use the gaps in the floor.

Crack!

But it didn’t mean I could afford to relax.

Since it was a spell I had picked up in a rush, its weakness showed in its durability.

At best, it only had twenty seconds left.

That was the limit of how long the shield could hold against the zombies’ attacks.

I moved.

I did not think about looking back.

I hurried down the stairs to the third floor and began searching any door that stood open.

I planned to visit her room last.

If we searched together, there was a risk of trouble over who owned anything we found.

I picked up three loaves of bread and one bottle of water.

I grabbed a single club.

I had no time to check their condition.

I stuffed the items into my arms and knocked on the door where she stayed.

“It’s me.”

“…Wait, is that really you?”

She did not open the door right away.

Of course she was bewildered.

I had told her I would come down, but it was not easy to believe someone could come through the zombies to reach her.

“…Come in.”

She set aside her doubts and opened the door.

It was the moment we confirmed each other’s faces.

As I had guessed, she was a student.

Her red hair caught the eye.

I knew her name.

Tania Rainwood, one of the named characters you could play directly.

“What did you do with the monsters on the third floor?”

“I tied them up on the fourth floor. They might come back down, but it is fine for now.”

Her body stiffened.

For someone who had been shut in a room just waiting for rescue, it was a hard story to accept.

I needed to change the mood.

If awkward air kept circling, it would be uncomfortable to stay in one room together.

“Second year?”

The academy uniforms had a badge on the chest.

The color of the badge showed the grade.

The yellow she wore meant second year.

“Ah, yes, I am.”

“The second year dormitory should be away from here.”

“When everything happened, this building was the closest shelter. I just ran in a panic and somehow ended up on the third floor.”

I nodded.

When you were wrapped in fear, there were plenty of times you did not even know what you were doing.

“You are a student too, right?”

She tilted her head and asked.

Unlike her, I was not wearing a uniform.

When I woke up, I was in plain clothes.

Joshua had never wanted to attend, so he had apparently not followed the rules very well.

“That’s right. Fifth year.”

The Royal Academy was a six year institution.

You entered at fourteen and graduated at twenty.

“Haha, then that makes you my senior.”

She gave a slightly embarrassed laugh.

“My name is Tania Rainwood. My family is a mage family located in the west of the kingdom.”

Tania Rainwood.

She was one of the second year prodigies.

Her path changed each time, but the conclusion was always the same.

She ended up receiving help from the knight order that served as the guardian force of the Royal Academy.

‘I need her in order to survive.’

I did not know what Joshua’s future held.

But when it came to things related to other named characters, I knew.

She was no exception.

To survive, I had to use the fates they carried.

“I am Joshua.”

I did not mention the family name Pallarion.

The name of a house that had lost its title and lands was nothing but a burden.

“…Ahh.”

She swallowed her words.

She clearly knew of Joshua.

Judging from her expression, it was not a good reaction.