By Zephyria 
September is both the month of vacation and the month of the Class Certification exam. So, I deliberately put off improving my achievements, and now I’m in the late 4-star range. Of course, that’s what I wanted, but my worries grew deeper as time went on. I had been searching so hard for a way for a human body to withstand a Black Mana Heart, but I still hadn’t found one.
Anyway… there’s nothing I can do about it now. And there was something more important than that right now. I was on my way to the exam site to get the White Class Certification.
“We’ve now crossed the territory border! We will arrive at the White Class Certification exam site shortly.”
The guide in the large carriage, who had volunteered to help me get to the certification exam site, said after looking out the window.
There are currently a total of 10 people in this large carriage, and except for Herman and me, they are all strangers. Since several of these moving carriages operate in each region, it seems that not all of Class A take the exam together in the same carriage.
“Have you guys heard anything about this exam?”
At that moment, a nameless human girl sitting next to me spoke quietly. To be exact, it was the seat next to mine.
Herman was sitting in the seat next to me in the direction she was sitting. Although the carriage was large enough to accommodate 10 people, the distance between the children sitting was not very wide, so even a whispered voice could be heard by everyone.
When someone spoke in such a quiet carriage, the children’s curious eyes glanced this way all at once.
Herman narrowed his brow, wary like a cat with its fur standing on end at the sight of the unfamiliar human with long bangs hanging down, making him look somewhat gloomy. Nevertheless, he faithfully answered the question.
“No… I only know where the exam site is.”
“Right. It’s the Monoden Marquess territory.”
She chuckled softly and continued.
“Then how about this? They say that a White King and a Black King who protect the forest live on the border of the Monoden Marquess territory. They’ve been fighting an unresolved battle for a long time, or so I hear.”
Herman showed a sign of embarrassment at that. It was a sudden story, so it was understandable. Some of the children seemed to have understood that it meant Fiends were living there, and their faces were already pale with fear.
What was she thinking, telling such a story?
It was quite meaningful, so I wanted to ask her more, but the conversation was cut off there because the guide spoke immediately after she finished speaking.
“We’ve arrived, everyone! Please get off here.”
We ‘just’ crossed the territory border, but they said we’ve already arrived. Quite a few of the children were puzzled, but most of them got out of the carriage without arguing. We couldn’t just stay in the carriage, so Herman and I followed them out. I frowned as I looked around.
‘Is this really the exam site?’
It was a wasteland with a thick fog that blocked my vision. Except for the dense forest in front of me, nothing else existed in this area.
“What… is this?”
Someone muttered in a bewildered voice.
Amidst a sense of unknown tension.
Suddenly, a scream of surprise was heard from the carriage. When I turned around, a human man was sitting down.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?!”
Someone approached him and asked. The man pointed inside the carriage with a pale face, and the woman who had approached him also seemed to be looking inside intently, but then she gasped and moved away from the carriage.
“Ah… there’s… no one inside?”
“Huh?”
Someone’s bewildered voice came from somewhere. There should still be a guide inside the carriage who hasn’t gotten off yet. It didn’t make sense that there was no one inside the carriage.
I looked inside the carriage to see for myself. And I could see a bizarre scene where there was no one in the seat where the guide had been sitting, only clothes were left behind.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Is this really the exam site?!”
“Ah, mister! The guide lady has disappeared!”
At that moment, a young man rushed to the coachman. In addition to the students, the coachman and two horses that had brought the large carriage here were still there.
“Mister! Don’t you know what’s going on yet?!”
The young man grabbed the coachman’s collar, who was sitting motionless in front of the carriage, and shook him. Then, the coachman’s lips curled up into a smile, and he chuckled. Then, the coachman began to crumble from the head down like a clay doll.
“Heok!”
The young man, startled by the sight, fell backward. The coachman’s body, which had crumbled and was no longer in the form of a living human, turned into black powder and scattered… and the two horses also crumbled and became straw bales.
“Kyaaaa!”
“What the hell is this!”
Naturally, chaos broke out among the children.
“Ray….”
Herman swallowed hard with a nervous face. Amidst the chaos, I approached the coachman, who had turned into powder, and the two straw bales that had once been horses. Herman made a fuss, saying it might be dangerous, but I ignored him.
‘This is….’
I narrowed my eyes as I carefully examined the traces.
‘I see.’
It wasn’t that living creatures had turned into powder and straw bales in the first place. From the beginning, they were not living creatures. They were ‘Mana lifeforms’ created by someone’s Magic, disguised as human and horse forms.
‘A considerable sculptor.’
Perhaps even more so than Polargehen.
‘Who on earth….’
As I was lost in thought, resting my chin on my hand.
“Hehe.”
Suddenly, a quiet laugh was heard from the girl. When I turned around, it was that gloomy girl who had said something meaningful in the carriage earlier. The eyes hidden behind the long bangs that covered half of her face were slightly revealed. She soon looked towards the forest and stretched out her finger.
“Isn’t that the examiner? There’s someone there.”
Then the children all turned their eyes in that direction.
In fact, there was a human figure standing in the forest.
“It’s true. It’s a person!”
But it was definitely strange.
‘Until just now, there was definitely no one there.’
No matter how thick the fog was… I had definitely checked. It was bizarre that there wasn’t even a hint of a living creature, and then suddenly someone appeared out of nowhere. Of course, it was possible that they had come using Space Transition… but something kept bothering me.
It seemed that I wasn’t the only one.
“Something’s strange.”
Herman muttered, unable to hide his worry. Some of the children also seemed to feel something was wrong, and they were just looking at the figure with nervous faces. I felt that maintaining composure in this situation was enough to show them that they had the qualifications.
However, that wasn’t the case for everyone. Some of the more faint-hearted children took the girl’s words at face value and tried to lighten the mood.
“They were trying to surprise us, I guess.”
“Haha. Maybe!”
“What. I was scared for nothing.”
Then they got up and started acting as promoters, saying they should quickly join the examiner. They seemed anxious to meet someone quickly because they were scared of this bizarre situation. They also seemed to want to get out of this unsettling place where the beings that had been moving just fine until just now had suddenly disappeared.
“Then let’s go, everyone.”
“Joining them is the priority.”
Some of the children who agreed with the statement to join the examiner moved towards the forest in a group. That was about five out of ten, so it was more than just a few, it was half. Eventually, the other two who had been watching also followed them, and the gloomy girl followed them as well, so Herman and I, who were the last ones left, had no choice but to move as well.
“I don’t know if this is okay….”
Herman sighed next to me. I glanced at him and looked back at the group walking ahead and said.
“Well. It’s better than just standing still, isn’t it?”
“I guess.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll save you if it gets dangerous.”
Suddenly, Herman’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed. Then he furrowed his brow deeply. Judging from his pouting lips, it seemed like he had some complaints.
In fact, what came out of his mouth was a complaint.
“You don’t have to.”
How dare a servant complain when his master is offering to save him. He should be grateful that I’m not abandoning him just because he’s weak. I raised my eyebrows in annoyance, but he soon lowered his eyes and muttered in a small, barely audible voice.
“I want to be the one to save you from danger….”
At that moment, I genuinely found it funny and grinned.
“You? Save me?”
“Why are you laughing!”
The strange thing was… I didn’t feel bad. A human was spouting nonsense without knowing his place, but it didn’t make me feel bad. Why was that? Just as I was about to grin again at his face, which had turned as red as a carrot, the front suddenly became noisy.