https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/63/
Falling Out
While the other teams were being formed, ours had gotten into a circle so we could talk amongst ourselves. Because as it turns out, our team has a fatal weakness.
“You’re saying you can’t use any magic? Please stop with the jokes.”
Ran immediately wrote off Nerine’s words as a joke. I’d like to do the same, but there are a couple of sticking points that immediately pop into my mind.
When me, Nerine, and Lily were taking a bath together, she literally ran away when Lily asked her to use magic to dry her hair. Nerine told me later that she might have a crush on her, so I just assumed she was embarrassed to be with the Lily’s naked body.
But then there was that time after we ran away from the crowd in the market. Olive buffed us so we could run to Rose’s place, and instead of buffing herself, Nerine stood in line with the rest of us.
She has avoided using magic in the past. Those incidents together make her claim immediately believable to me.
But those are just the couple of times I’ve been in contact with Nerine. Everyone else here was on the same team as Nerine and did requests with her. There’s no chance she was able to get through all those requests without anyone noticing she never cast a spell right? That’s not even considering the huge spell she threw during the unveiling event.
“That’s how it is…. it is true that none of the requests during the first screening ever necessitated the use of magic. I just assumed you were being considerate to Olive and were refraining from casting any spells, but I see now that I was wrong. What of the unveiling event then?”
Lily answered my questions herself. Olive acted as the head of the competition’s nobles while Nerine is an emerging aristocrat. It makes sense that their relationship would be rocky, and Lily assumed Nerine was holding back to avoid making waves.
“That was…. Daddy. I mean, we were planning to have him cast magic from a spot nobody could see so people would think I could use magic myself, but then we got into a fight….”
“Then please make up with him immediately. For all our sakes.”
“No way!”
“Why!?”
Ran closed in on Nerine. Ran is quick to anger, and since it seemed like she might actually raise a hand against Nerine, Lily rushed in between them. Having received a mighty shield, Nerine then stuck her head out through the gap between Lily’s arm and stubbornly continued her refusal.
“Absolutely no way! I want to be free!”
“Hah? Freedom? Isn’t that why you’d want to be a hero?”
“I don’t wanna! I absolutely hate the idea of becoming a hero just so I can quit and marry some noble I don’t know as the ‘former hero mage’!”
I think I remember her saying something similar when we were alone together in the dorm’s courtyard. She originally did what her father said and came all the way here, but this time on her own has given her the ego to fight back against her father. Which would be why her father is hitting back by refusing to help her with her magic anymore.
Nerine was supposed to be the nice little sister character, but now everyone’s holding their heads since she’s stubbornly refusing to have any kind of reconciliation.
“Come to think of it, Lily got engaged to Nerine’s older brother right? Whatever happened with that?”
Since that talk had reached a stalemate, Ran brought up a random memory and turned to Lily.
“On hold for now. It will be postponed indefinitely once I have become a hero. It will be a blank slate for me. I recommend reading the articles in the newspaper other than the ones relating to the audition more thoroughly in the future.”
Maybe it’s because that particular subject was a sore spot for her, but Lily’s tone was ice cold. Ran just brushed it off with a “Yes yes” and a hand wave though. This team wasn’t working with the best atmosphere to start.
“Haa…. Lily and Ran are both strong, so while I’m not too worried, I think we should stick with an easier monster to fight.”
Peony was understandably worried about our future and ended the talk there before things got any worse.
The formation of the other five teams had finished up while we were talking. When teams were made the first time around, nobles were always grouped with other nobles while the commoners stuck close to the commoners. This time around people weren’t nearly as picky. With almost half of us gone and the test this time being a fight against monsters, mages were the hot item regardless of their background.
There was also demand for a healer like Melia too, and I was relieved to see she ended up on a team with Olive and Ren who comes from the same town as Ran.
“Then it is time to announce the monsters you will be subduing!”
This portion of the event was moving quickly, and a board with a cover hanging across the front was brought out some time without me ever noticing. At Heath’s shout, that cover was pulled off to show six different pictures of six different monsters. Each picture was joined with a mark of one to five stars which I assume is supposed to represent how strong the monster is.
“The group of goblins would be the easiest. The dragon is worth the most amount of points, but that would be a difficult fight for this group. I do not know if my sword could cut through their scales.”
Lily was seriously staring at each of the monsters posted up there. I’m glad she is because I have no idea what makes each of those things different or how tough any of them really are.
I’ve never seen a dragon before, but I have heard a couple rumors about them. Nothing good mind. Every once in a while one of them will come down from a mountain because of a passing whim and burn down a village. It’s the equivalent of a natural disaster that people can only chalk up to bad luck. Only a handful of people are ever affected by a dragon in a single person’s lifetime, so they must be rare.
“Has Lily-san ever fought a monster before?”
I interrupted Lily’s thoughts, so it was a beat before she finally looked at me and answered.
“No. I wonder if there is anyone on our team who has.”
“I have. It was just a wild bear that had left the forest though. I’ve never gone out of my way to fight anything.”
I’ve seen some wild bears in my hometown when they come out and destroy our fields. Usually we have to send a subjugation request to a guild to get rid of them, so they must be dangerous in their own way.
“Isn’t the group of goblins fine then? The low points mean it’ll be an easy fight.”
“True…. but how will it look when a powerful mage like Nerine plus her teammates decide to take on the weakest possible opponents?”
Lily shot down Peony’s suggestion. Sure, choosing the goblin option would be perfect if all we wanted to do was complete the task, but when you consider the fact that a choice like that would make it look like you had a poor work ethic and impact who will vote for us, suddenly you’re less likely to want to show your uncool side.
“Huh? Where’d Nerine go?”
Ran’s question made me look around. Nerine was just in the circle with us, but at some point, she disappeared without any of us noticing.
“Oh! She’s over there! She’s already taking…. oi oi oi…. please don’t…. oh no…. damn it.”
Ran was the first of us to find out where Nerine had scampered off to. While the rest of us were discussing which monster to take, Nerine had stepped forward and chosen one all by herself. Apparently no part of what we were talking about had reached her ears because she went straight for the dragon. It comes with a high score, but that’s because it is a hard fight to take.
“That girl…. what in the world is she thinking….”
Even Lily seemed at the mercy of Nerine’s actions and was now holding her head.
For her part, Nerine returned to us with a gallant step and a triumphant look on her face while showing off the picture of the dragon.
“Thanks for waiting! This one came with the highest score….”
“What were you thinking!? You can’t use any magic can you? Then who’s going to kill the dragon!?”
Peony rounded on Nerine as she tried desperately to keep her composure.
“W-What did I do? We should all work together to kill the one worth the most points right?”
Nerine gave a reply that made me wonder if she’s naturally this airheaded or just flat out stupid.
“Well…. we cannot change things now. All we can do is put our heads together and think about how we can defeat it.”
As someone with no combat ability, all I can do is suck it up and go along with whatever Lily ends up deciding.
No wait, there is something even I can do.
“U-Um….”
Because of Nerine’s silly mistake, the atmosphere in the team was abysmal. I managed to raise my hand in that kind of situation, and everyone put their eyes on me.
“Actually, I have a dance that should be able to increase everyone’s strength. I know we’re in a spot where we can only ask Ran and Lily-san to do your best, but I should be able to help out at least a little.”
“I see. I would like to take some time to verify how effective it is compared to magic…. but for now, let’s allow Heath to finish.”
After each team had finished choosing which monsters they would fight, Heath lifted the megaphone once again, so we cut off the conversation there.
“I believe there are many here who have no experience with fighting monsters. Therefore, a time period of two weeks has been set aside to allow for further preparations. Once we include time for rest and transportation, and it is determined that the second test will take place three weeks from today, in the grasslands outside the royal capital.”
I didn’t think we’d be fighting right away, but three weeks is a lot longer wait than I would’ve bet on. There were a lot of people relieved to hear the news.
“I wish everyone good fortunes in the trials ahead. You are all dismissed.”
At Heath’s final word, everyone filtered out of the hall and headed for the waiting room.
When we reached a hallway that was out of sight from the audience, Lily suddenly pushed Nerine against the wall. I was trailing at the back of the pack, so I was the only one who noticed.
“O-Ouchie”
“Nerine. Enough with the careless tomfoolery! It is okay to not want to be a hero. But do not get the rest of us involved. I want to be free, just like you. That is what I am here for. If you wish to apathetically follow me from behind, that is one thing, but please stop trying to pull our legs out from under us.”
Nerine’s eyes were frightened at first, but they gradually clouded over the longer Lily talked. By the end, it appeared as if she was fully trying to provoke Lily and laughed.
“Stop with the false accusations please. If we beat the dragon faster than anyone else, we will definitely walk away with the most points. Even Liffy-san, who is ranked at the bottom, might be able to advance to the next round. Am I wrong?”
“Then why did you not pick another mage for the team? You cannot use magic, and your father is refusing to help you. Considering those things, it should be obvious what you should have done. It’s what I would have done.”
“Oi! Lily, let her go. You’re hurting her neck.”
Ran and Peony had come back, probably suspicious as to why we weren’t behind them. The three of us worked together to separate Lily and Nerine.
“Ran-san, Peony-san. Lily-san suddenly attacked me. She said I stole first place from her….”
The provocative face she had a while ago disappeared, and Nerine returned to her usual cute, little sister character as she asked for help from the two.
But I saw the whole thing and know the truth. She’s clearing acting with the intent of making Lily look bad.
Ran and Peony were willing to take Nerine at face value though and looked suspiciously towards Lily.
“T-That’s not true! That is not the reason! Liffy saw, right? I said nothing about that.”
The sudden reinforcements and wrongful charges threw Lily into a panic. I’ve never seen her so distraught before. That’s why, even if the real reason why she grabbed Nerine was different, it feels like in some corner of her heart, Lily was really bothered about losing first place. But, Nerine’s false accusations could lead to real problems in the future.
“Lily-san was just asking her about why she picked the dragon. She never mentioned anything about the rankings.”
“Haa…. Well, I know it’s frustrating to fall in rank, but it’s already been decided we’ll be fighting the dragon, so there’s no point in bringing it back up. You said that yourself, didn’t you Lily?”
“Anyway, we all need to try and get along. We shouldn’t let something like popularity cause a fight between us. There’s a chance we’ll be working together here for a long time.”
Neither Ran nor Peony confronted Nerine over her false testimony. Even if the reason was something else, they probably assumed anger over the rank change was what brought the fight out in the first place.
And on Peony’s point, the latest round of voting brought Nerine out at first, Lily out as second, Peony as third, and Ran as fourth. Assuming there isn’t a massive upheaval in the future, these are the four who will one day become heroes. It makes sense to not want a sore spot between them when you think about what the future holds.
When the conversation hit a lull, the two of them flanked Nerine on either side, and the three of them slowly walked away.
For a long while, the fact that she hadn’t been trusted left a deep impact on Lily, turning her into a doll that just kept repeating, “Not true, not true” over and over again while staring at her feet. I tried several times to rub her back which looked thinner than usual, but each time her arm brushed me away.
Experimental Translations 