<strong>Proof of Skills (3)</strong>


    2 PM. After lunch, ny seniors gathered in the main hall of Baramil Stadium, where the stage was divided like a concert hall.


    “We will now start the mini draft.”


    Chedric, the person in charge, said as he looked around at them.


    “Team leaders, pleasee up to the stage.”


    Ten team leaders, including Gerkhen Kal Doon, Soliette, and Elise, ascended the stage and took their seats.


    “Starting with overall first ce, Gerkhen Kal Doon.”


    The first pick of the first round went to Gerkhen Kal Doon.


    At first nce, it might seem fair for the tenth ce to have the first pick, and indeed it is, but the college board prioritizes skill over fairness.


    “I choose Berrick.”


    Without hesitation, Gerkhen Kal Doon chose Berrick. Berrick walked out to apuse.


    He was a man with long hair.


    His Prism score was 13th. In ten years, he’d be among the elite, holding a key position in one of Edsi’s big mana-techpanies.


    Anyway, if I know his name, he’s apetent guy.


    “Berrick. Come up to the stage and sit in the chair behind Gerkhen Kal Doon.”


    “Yes!”


    Berrick took his ce on Gerkhen Kal Doon’s team. He looked quite proud.


    “Next, Soliette.”


    The second pick of the first round was Soliette’s.


    I suddenly felt nervous. My hands were shaking so much that I quickly put them in my pockets.


    “Hoo.”


    I took a deep breath.


    Whether then or now, she’s a woman who disturbs my peace.


    Just then, she nced at me. I didn’t avoid her gaze. I told her with my eyes that I was confident.


    “I choose……”


    Soliette opened her mouth.


    I had an inexplicable intuition. It felt like she was going to pick me.


    It might just be a simple expectation. But-


    “Kielli.”


    “Huu.”


    Suddenly, I coughed.


    ……


    The mini draft was over.


    First round, second round, third round, fourth round.


    The draft went around four times in total.


    Ten people were picked in each round.


    My name wasn’t even called as a joke.


    -Let’s do well. Really.


    -I’ll work my ass off.


    The guys who were picked were full of pride on the stage, and those who weren’t picked, like me, just scratched the back of their necks and gave awkward smiles.


    -Ah. My condition wasn’t good today.


    -I was born in the No-Magic Zone. Honestly, isn’t the No-Magic Zone useless?


    -I don’t know. They say it’s important.


    I didn’t feel particrly frustrated or anything. There were 40 people who weren’t picked.


    Of course, I was a loser among those 40.


    “Those seniors who weren’t picked will also be given 15 minutes to form teams.”


    No one looks at me. They avoid my eyes. They even subtly back away when I try to approach.


    It’s probably because of somework.


    Elise.


    In fact, the moment she marked me, my school life was pretty much over. Not just in Endex, but in a year or two, the social circles of Edsi’s capital will fall into her hands, so my social reputation is already fucked.


    —So, we’re a team of six?


    —Sounds good, right? Our bnce is just right. What’s your GPA?


    —Hey, hey. We’re just average among the 40. Let’s just do it with the four of us.


    —Shouldn’t we push with our side numbers?


    —That’s overkill. Let’s just pick about 20.


    The outcasts were chattering among themselves, but I was alone. It didn’t seem like anything woulde from forcing myself into their conversations.


    “15 minutes have passed. Submit your teams.”


    Time was up, and Chedric spoke. The outcasts all tried to ascend to the stage—


    “Choose a team leader and only they shoulde up.”


    Chedric stopped them. The ones on the stage snickered, and the outcasts below resumed their discussion.


    —Hey, then you be the team leader.


    —No, why?


    —Just do it. There might be bonus points.


    Having no choice, I stepped forward first. I ascended the stage and looked at Chedric. Behind Chedric, the eyes of the ‘regr teams’ selected through the draft focused on me.


    Chedric asked, “Shion Ascal. Your team?”


    “I submit.”


    “Are you alone?”


    “Yes.”


    Pfft—


    Someone snickered at that moment. It was La. She twisted her hair and avoided my gaze.


    Chedric wrote my name on the file.


    “Team number 11, Shion Ascal confirmed. Go down.”


    A total of eighteen teams were confirmed. Ten regr teams, eight outcast teams. Most of the outcast teams consisted of 4-6 members, and of course, I was alone.


    Is this… the loneliness of a one-man army?


    “I will announce the group assignment.”


    p—! Chedric pped his hands. Ny pairs of eyes focused on him. The sound of swallowing was loud.


    Chedric spoke without hesitation.


    “It’s an exploration.”


    Exploration. At the same time, groans erupted here and there.


    Quite an annoying assignment.


    “Somewhere in Edsi, there are several regions with different characteristics artificially created by the university association. You have to explore there and write an ‘exploration report’.”


    Correction.


    It’s not just quite annoying, but incredibly annoying. Exploration are annoying enough, but what’s with the report?


    “There are a total of 10 exploration sites.”


    Chedric projected tenndscape photos into the air. They werebeled [A], [B], [C], [D], [E]… in alphabetical order.


    A was a foggy mountain, B was a deserted ind, C was a jungle, D was a desert, E was a swamp, and so on.


    “Also.”


    Snap—! Chedric flicked his finger. Then, thick envelopes floated up and were delivered to the team leaders, ten per team.


    Ten envelopes alsonded on my arms. The letters A, B, C, etc., were written on the surface.


    “Inside envelope A, there are two magic forms rted to exploration area A. One is a magic form that will tell you the coordinates of the exploration area, and the other is a magic form containing the key to enter there. The same goes for envelopes B, C, and so on. You have to choose an exploration area, decipher the magic form, and find the exploration site yourself.”


    It seems like ‘finding the assignment area is also part of the assignment’ is a cliché.


    “Meet up by 9 a.m. on Friday. If you can’t find it, you fail.”


    I suppressed a sigh that was rising to my chin.


    “My Magic skills are still at middle school level, how am I supposed to solve this?


    —…Soliette. What should we do?


    Suddenly, a name pierces my eardrums. A voice calling Soliette as if they were close friends.


    My eyes turned in that direction.


    It was ‘Kielli’.


    First round, second pick. In other words, Soliette’s first choice.


    It’s not like that was supposed to be my spot.


    But it bothers me for some reason.


    Jealousy… perhaps.


    I admired her, and loved her.


    Of course, the Soliette of the future and the Soliette of now arepletely different people. They shouldn’t be the same.


    —I’ll take care of it.


    —Hey. You still need to gather with your team members.


    Soliette is talented in almost every field. Swordsmanship, magic, magic forms, even finance including stocks and real estate.


    —Yes. After we gather, I’ll take care of it.


    Because of this, she has a habit of trying to do everything on her own.


    “Today ends with team selection. Since the assignment starts on Friday, there will be no assignments on Wednesday.”


    It’s a relief to hear that. The unexpected break brought a strange smile to the other seniors.


    Chedric said as he put files into his document bag.


    “Let’s start the group assignment.”


    Whoosh——!


    At that moment, all the teams rushed out of the stadium. A few nced at me, alone, with a mix of pity and amusement, but only for a moment. In just one minute, all 89 of them disappeared.


    Only Chedric and I remained in the stadium.


    “……”


    I looked at Chedric without a word. Chedric seemed slightly conscious of me, but soon packed his bag and left.


    I let out a pointless yell.


    “Ah——”


    ——Ah.


    The echo reverberated in the stadium.


    In such a vast ce, there’s only me.


    Just me.


    A group assignment without group members.


    It starts today.


    Back at my temporary residence, I’m studying. It’s thest chapter of [Magic for Mages, Middle School-Level Magic Comprehension].


    Fortunately, the discipline of Magic can be learned. At least I won’t forget a form I’ve seen once, thanks to the 「Notepad」.


    Ah, don’t get me wrong.


    It doesn’t mean I’ll never forget something I’ve seen once.


    It means I can ‘Load’ it by consuming magic power.


    Just like how I can bring in a Memory like Perion with the 「Notepad」, I can also recall a pure Memory.


    Can’t remember a form you’ve definitely studied?


    Just bring in that Memory with the 「Notepad」.


    My 「Notepad」 keeps a Memory of all the experiences I’ve had.


    “This is doable.”


    As a result, I sessfully finished reading [Magic for Mages, Middle School-Level Magic Comprehension].


    I guess I’m at least at middle school level now.


    Hmm.


    I took out the magic forms from the envelope I received today. One pair of magic forms per exploration site, a total of 20 magic forms.


    I have to choose one of these ten ces.


    “……I don’t understand any of it.”


    All the magic forms are still foreignnguages to me. No, they’re not even anguage, they’re just patterns. Damnplicated patterns.


    He gave up after staring intently.


    After all, he was only at the level of a middle school student. He could barely interpret magic forms, let alone magic spells. This was even a group project’s magic spell, a problem of almost college level that could only be solved by putting several heads together.


    “Ugh.”


    Having tossed aside the magic spell, he picked up andscape photo of the exploration area.


    Of course, he couldn’t tell anything from such andscape. If he could, that would be a problem error.


    “…Wait. This.”


    But, this exploration area [A].


    A mountain covered in fog.


    Looking at the fog and the mountain here, he felt a growing sense of incongruity. Something seemed to be on the tip of his tongue, and his chest felt heavy.


    Was it a memory from before his regression? But at this time, he had been lying in a hospital bed. There was no way he could have any meaningful memory.


    Therefore, he didn’t know what caused this sense of incongruity.


    Instead, the 「Notepad」 might know.


    “…”


    He closed his eyes quietly. Slowly, he summoned the memory of the 「Notepad」. As if searching for a file in a folder, he limited the period to ‘March 2013’, just before his regression.


    There would probably be no or faint memories of having ‘seen’ something directly around that time. He had been lying nkly, looking out the window for three months after being diagnosed with Cancer of the Magic’s Core. He had been a corpse since then.


    …However.


    [Last night, there was news of a ‘magic phenomenon’ urring during the college board process.]


    Apparently, the sense of memory that the 「Notepad」 has is not only ‘sight’.


    [We have a reporter on the scene. Reporter ine, please tell us the situation.]


    The anchor’s voice ying in his ears.


    The memory of ‘sound’.


    Hearing.


    [Yes. This is the artificial fog mountain in the Parascale region, where the college board project was carried out. Yesterday at 9 PM, there was amotion when a level 5 magic phenomenon, Dispel, urred during the college board process…]


    He had ‘heard’ news rted to this college board.


    [The beasts in the caves and underground couldn’t ept the sudden change in the atmosphere and jumped out, threatening not only the seniors who were in the middle of the project, but also the residents of the city…]


    [Fortunately, it was resolved without any casualties and remained at the level of a happening, but a mandrake was found during the suppression operation…]


    [Next news. A monster was found near the fog mountain of Parascale and was killed…]


    At that moment, his eyes popped open.


    Mandrake.


    Forget about the monster or the fact that there were no casualties, mandrake.


    A crazy nt that screams like a madman when pulled out, resembling a human.


    “Insane.”


    Contrary to popr belief, mandrake is not a elixir. It’s more akin to poison, or even a drug.


    It’s expensive.


    And it makes money.


    “You’re mine, damn it.”


    Mandrake.


    Depending on the quality, the price is around 20,000 Ren per 100g on average, but the mandrake of the fog mountain is a whopping 500g.


    Even after deductingmission,bor costs, and taxes, it’s over 40,000 to 50,000 Ren.


    “You’re mine, damn it.”


    I absolutely have to get it.