Chapter 4
It had been a long day.
After the entrance exams concluded, a meeting was held at the Grandia Academy.
The faculty had all gathered around a large, round table without exception.
"Thank you all for your hard work."
""Thank you for your hard work!""
The entrance exams had been ongoing for the past half month.
Now that the schedule was finally complete, it was time to review the results.
"There are quite a few standout talents in this batch."
"I agree. Regardless of the discipline, there are several promising kids."
Each of the faculty members operated the crystal ball in their hands.
The screens were packed with the students' measurement results.
With just a few clicks, dozens of profiles swiped past.
"Ranne Kihano. She easily passed, as expected. All her grades are B or higher."
"She's the eldest daughter of the Kihano Count Family. Hasn't she been making a name for herself for a while?"
"Right. They say she has exceptional talent as a knight...."
This batch had a particularly large number of highly anticipated rookies.
Several names were brought up.
"The top student among the freshmen is... Princess Glacia, of course."
"She's overwhelming. You could say she's practically a fully-fledged user of magic already."
"There are also talents worthy of being called the best in sorcery and holy power...."
The faculty scanned the records with eyes full of anticipation.
Class A.
Class B.
Class C.
Class D.
And finally, all the way down to the lowest tier, Class E.
Even amidst their heated discussion, the faculty soon turned their attention to the very last profile.
"Victor...."
Victor.
The individual who enrolled tied as the bottom student in this batch.
He was a boy wearing a strange mask over his face.
He was flashing a comical V-sign towards the screen.
"The bottom student... He's dead last even in Class E."
"He received an E rank in every category except theory."
"How strange. How did a guy like this even get accepted?"
"They say he got a perfect score in the practical exam, but is that logically possible?"
Each of the faculty members harbored their own doubts.
They checked the video recorded during the practical exam.
[Teaching assistant?]
[Are you alright? There's still one try left.]
The bug wasn't recorded.
Therefore, no special effects or hallucination could be seen on the recorded screen either.
All the faculty saw were shadows that popped out here and there, flickering like a strobe.
Their apathetic gazes sank into serious ones.
"What is... this?"
A professor muttered subconsciously.
Everyone shared a similar sentiment.
"It's unsettling."
"Should I call it bloodlust...."
The faculty all furrowed their brows in unison.
A bizarre chill brushed the napes of their necks.
A smiling mask.
A wide. Smiling mask.
The air was so sharp it felt like it could cut them.
"A guy like this is the bottom student...?"
The continent's greatest educational institution, the Grandia Academy.
Fitting its prestige, the level of the faculty who taught there was also incredibly high.
Sword, magic, sorcery... these were the people at the forefront of their respective fields.
"His profile is strange, too. Was it manipulated?"
"Stamina, strength, agility... They're all E-rank, right?"
"And he overwhelmed a teaching assistant with those stats?"
The professors' eyes narrowed.
Suspicion.
"This is the bottom student? Just looking at the video, I'd believe it if you said he was in Class A."
"It took him exactly 1 minute and 27 seconds to clear the practical exam with a perfect score."
"What was the top student's record this time?"
"Serila Glacia. It was 3 minutes and 12 seconds."
"That means he was twice as fast as the top student...."
A clown mask.
Whenever they met his eyes through the screen, it felt as though goosebumps traveled down to their hearts.
It lacked the murderous intent to be called bloodlust.
And his stats were too meager to call it intimidation.
If they had to point it out and define it somehow....
"It's an unpleasant atmosphere."
Unpleasantness.
No, it was a more alien sensation, like something scratching at the side of one's heart.
The aura the boy exuded was just that chilling.
It felt like even a blank white sheet of paper would be dyed pitch-black if placed next to him.
"It does seem like he wields... some sort of special power."
"No matter how you look at it, it isn't a normal power. Magic power, holy power, sorcery... I can't feel a hint of any of them."
"This smells a bit fishy. Isn't he a spy? Wasn't he sent by those cultist bastards?"
"No demonic energy was detected. If there was even the slightest hint of it, we would have noticed the moment he set foot in the academy. Besides, his approach is too sloppy for a spy...."
"How can you be sure? We must always keep all possibilities open...."
The temperature of the conversation rapidly dropped.
The professors ultimately ended up arguing.
"It isn't good to be so quick to suspect! Isn't that child also a student we must embrace!"
"Who said to blindly suspect him? He's suspicious. To ignore the circumstances when there's evidence is also...."
"More than anything else, it's the performance he showed in the practical exam. It's unbelievable for those stats...."
"We definitely need an explanation regarding that part...."
The meeting hall hummed with noise.
At that moment, an old man opened his mouth.
"Enough."
""....""
At those words, the professors fell silent as if it were a lie.
The old man at the head of the table wore a wrinkled smile.
That alone was enough to silence his surroundings.
The faculty bowed their heads and listened closely to the aged voice.
"We are the Grandia Academy."
A man who was once called the Cultist Slaughterer.
The head leading the teaching staff of Grandia.
The dean.
"We do not discriminate when it comes to learning."
Valther Droit.
The old man expressed his opinion with a good-natured smile.
With just that, the professors could no longer make a sound.
"Student Victor is qualified. There is no issue with him enrolling."
""....""
"Of course... there are unsettling parts, so a safety measure will be necessary."
A finger tap-tapped against the desk.
As if hearing the signal, a shadow that had been standing behind the old man stepped forward.
"I will assign Professor Javert as the homeroom teacher for Class E."
"Do you mean... Chief Investigator Javert?"
"She is the most reliable person for this kind of problem."
Chief Investigator Javert.
A professor who specialized in teaching countermeasures against cultists.
She was a woman said to have killed a triple-digit number of dark mages.
"Professor Javert."
"Yes, Dean."
"I will assign you as the homeroom teacher for Class E starting this semester."
"Yes."
A dry response.
An atmosphere and impression so cold it felt like it could cut.
The woman seemed as though she had been forged from steel.
Her red hair cascaded down.
"I ask you to keep an eye on student Victor. If he is connected to the cultists, or if you notice anything suspicious...."
"I will handle it at my discretion."
"I leave it to you."
Surveillance, investigation, disposal.
The direct mention caused the mood in the meeting hall to turn deathly heavy.
The ominous mask still stood beyond the crystal ball.
Distrust and wariness flickered in the faculty's eyes.
Meanwhile.
Whether he knew of his impending crisis or not.
The person in question was walking along, bobbing his head.
"Ah~ I really reaped the sweet rewards from that bug!"
Muttering such carefree things.
***
After finishing the entrance exam, I was walking down a secluded alley.
A leisurely satisfaction melted into my every step.
'It was perfect.'
I recalled the practical exam.
It was the result of working hard to get the hang of things over the past month since possessing this body.
It was considered quite a high-difficulty bug among the ones used for footwork.
If the timing was even slightly off, it would easily fail.
'Step twice with the left foot, once with the right, take a wide turn and....'
Crackle-.
As I matched the sequence of steps, my vision flickered.
I had ended up using teleportation to move about 5 meters.
I continued to stack the bustling movements.
Crackle-.
This time, my steps bounded even further away.
It was a bug that utilized command overlapping.
It's difficult, but once you learn it, it's a bug that's useful anywhere.
'Thanks to it, I got a perfect score on the practical.'
If there was one flaw, it was that it caused severe motion sickness.
If I use it a few times in a row, the world spins around.
'Anyway, enrollment is a success, and....'
I figured I'd probably be placed as the bottom student of Class E.
Well... honestly, there were ways to enter a high-ranking class by using loopholes.
I could steal a recommendation letter with a bug, or manipulate the measurement results.
'However.'
There was a reason I deliberately enrolled in Class E.
It meant it was an intentional build-up from the start.
'Because a huge incident breaks out there too.'
It's quite a bit later, but this was also my share to handle.
I crossed the pitch-black alley while rolling these idle thoughts around.
The sky had grown dark in the meantime.
'The semester starts in a week.'
Until then, I had to wait at a nearby accommodation.
'Then... should I take care of some business in the meantime?'
There was someone I had to meet.
Trudge, trudge-.
Before I knew it, my steps had reached the corner of the city.
A deserted place. The night trembled along with my breath.
"Oh, here it is."
I turned the fifth Alley and walked exactly 3.5 meters.
At the same time, a wall came into my view.
And a stone slightly wedged beneath it.
I lay face down on the stone without hesitation.
Then I started to rub my body against it.
Thud, thud-.
'Maybe it is because I am being poked by the stone, but it hurts a bit....'
However, I endured it and kept rubbing my body.
If anyone else saw me, they would surely call me a Genius of wild floor humping.
There was a reason for doing such an idiotic act.
'When is this going to clip through...!'
It was because this was the Point where the Bug occurred.
I was serious.
'Map Clip Bug.'
A Bug where the character passes through a wall if you rub your body at a specific spot.
I wondered if it would work in reality, and it actually functioned similar to a Teleport.
A format where you are moved if you rub your body at the Point.
I had already tested it a few times.
'If I clip through the floor here, I can reach my destination all at once...!'
I too was a civilized person with a sense of honor.
(While humping the floor in a late-night Alley.)
I was merely enduring a bit of humiliation and shame for the greater good.
I wonder if it had been about three minutes since I started mating with the floor.
I felt a sensation as if my body was slipping.
Swoosh-!
"Whoa!"
Plop-.
Following that, my body sprawled out on a damp floor.
It seemed the Bug had finally worked.
'I almost lost it.'
The surrounding scenery had changed quite a bit.
A damp, foul stench pierced my nose.
An underground sewer.
And an isolated scenery at that, far away from the Academy.
I pushed my body up.
"Hmm."
A familiar sight.
It was a background I had seen many times while playing the original work.
It seemed I had arrived properly.
Was it reacting to a nearby event?
A reaction also rang out from the Status Window.
Ding-!
[Story The Night of Carmilla is in progress.]
[Would you like to accept the Main Quest?]
I clicked Yes without hesitation.
Right after, the Status Window fluttered over and unfolded like the pages of a book.
[Main Quest]
-Rescue Carmilla, the last Princess of the Vampire Dynasty.
-Time remaining until Carmilla is murdered: 1 hour 36 minutes
The last Vampire, Carmilla.
A supporting character who gets murdered early in the story if the Player does not save her.
It was also the reason why I went out of my way to visit this old sewer.
Because she was a person I absolutely had to recruit.
"Then... shall we go save the Princess."
Screams and the presence of people heard beyond the darkness.
I moved forward, my pitch-black Robe fluttering.
Towards a certain girl, who would be waiting for her savior.
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