Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The moment the Selection Grounds ended, the Tutorial Fairy would pass all of its power on to the player and fall asleep.

It did not die. It simply sank into a deep slumber within the sword.

That was why interaction was still possible, but the script you got was limited to a single line.

─A pleasant thrum, like the pulse of one sunk in sweet sleep, can be felt.

And as for other Easter eggs, the most you could get was a faint little resonance if you called its name.

If I cleared the Selection Grounds like this, the only end awaiting me would be an endless sleep with no promise of waking.

‘That is one option too.’

Falling asleep did not mean I would never wake again.

When you defeated the final boss, the Gatekeeper, the ending script would play, and the one speaking then was the fairy. In other words, if we safely reached the final chapter, I could wake again.

My owner would never replace her weapon, so unless she died somewhere along the way, she would carry me with her all the way to the end.

‘But is that really acceptable?’

The problem was that it meant staking everything on an infinitesimal chance. The odds of success were vanishingly small.

If she failed, then I would never be able to complete the mission.

‘Rather than that, maybe I should just......’

I shook my head before I could finish the thought.

‘......No. That is absurd.’

A game and reality were not the same thing. There was no guarantee that I, of all people, could make it to the final chapter.

More than anything, my strategies were built on the premise that she was there.

Even if the specs were identical, once the conditions changed, variables were bound to appear.

It would be better to search for a way to avoid falling asleep in the first place.

‘It would be better to find another way.’

This world overflowed with bizarre bugs, so there had to be some way to keep a fairy from falling asleep.

Or perhaps there was a way to forcibly wake a sleeping fairy.

I cleanly erased the option of stealing her body from my mind.

[That is done now. You can pick me up.]

“Ah, okay.”

To unequip the portrait, simply thinking I want to do it was enough.

As the bug unraveled, I felt a strange sensation sweep through my whole body.

I spoke to her as she picked up the sword, still looking a little dazed.

[Come to think of it, we still have not properly introduced ourselves.]

“Huh? We had not?”

We had been in such a hurry to keep moving that we had never even exchanged names.

As though trying to shake off the ugly thought I had entertained, if only for a moment, I gave her my name.

[My name is Lee Sunan.]

Since I had no idea what the fairy’s actual name was, I gave her my name from Earth instead.

It really did suit me, did it not?

A name that felt as though it had melted my storm-tossed life into its very sound. I had hated this name desperately when I was a child.

“Hm? Lee...... Su......? Lis......?”

[Lee Sunan.]

“Li...... Sran?”

It seemed my name was hard to pronounce in this world.

I had not paid much attention to it before because we had been able to communicate from the start, but the language here was different from Earth’s.

She kept trying to say “Lee Sunan” with a tongue-tied voice, then suddenly burst out laughing.

“Your name is so hard! What even is that?”

[Would you stop laughing at someone else’s name?]

“No idea! I am just going to call you Isran.”

Just because it was hard to pronounce, I had my name changed on the spot.

I, who had gone from Lee Sunan to Isran in the blink of an eye, stared at her for a moment.

“Then my name is-”

[I know.]

I did not need to hear her name.

I already knew it.

[Ishara.]

Ishara.

The name of my longtime partner.

“......”

Ishara blinked her wide eyes after hearing her name from me.

[What?]

“It is just... hearing you call me by my name feels strange.”

[You are making a big deal out of nothing.]

Children this age really did have that sort of sentimentality.

In my fairy form, I flew over to her and held out my hand.

[It may be late to say it, but I am counting on you, Ishara.]

“I am counting on you too, Isran!”

So my name was truly settled as Isran now. Ruthless.

As I watched her beam and clasp both my hands, shaking them enthusiastically, I made my decision.

[You are going to do well.]

I felt sorry for Herman, but I had no intention of taking her body.

That was not my way.

‘There is going to be a lot to do from here on.’

I had no idea whether a way to avoid falling asleep even existed, but for now, my task was clear enough: find a solution before the Selection Grounds ended.

‘Or, as a second-best option, I could pass my knowledge on to Ishara.’

The skill and stat-based tech tree.

How to fight enemies.

And every usable gimmick and bug as well.

I would pass on the knowledge I had used to conquer the world.

‘She might even be able to wake me again.’

If Ishara learned how to use the bugs, then even if I fell asleep, she might be able to wake me again before long.

That path had its risks as well, but compared to reaching the final chapter, it was far safer.

[Keep up. I am going to teach you an absurd amount of things other fairies do not know.]

“Gasp. Is this some sort of secret tutoring?”

[Secret tutoring? This is closer to divulging the secrets of heaven.]

This was practically the same thing as teaching her how to conquer the world.

“Do you think...... cough, cough! Do you think I can really learn all that?”

Ishara coughed dryly and gripped the sword hilt tightly.

“As you can probably tell, I am not very healthy. They said I might live a month at most. I have barely ever even touched a sword or magic.”

Her bitter smile turned toward me.

“Would someone like me really be enough?”

[Did you already forget what I said?]

This was not mere knowledge for dealing with the Selection Grounds, and learning it would be extraordinarily difficult.

Even if I were human instead of a sword, I would not be confident I could truly master it all myself.

But I believed in her.

If it was Ishara’s talent, then she would undoubtedly learn every bit of it.

[I told you, did I not? I chose you knowing all of that.]

Even if her circumstances had been far worse, my choice would not have changed.

If nothing else, that much I could say with certainty.

“......You really do say exactly that.”

Exactly that? As though she knew me all that well.

She looked moved, but unfortunately, there was no time to sit around and wallow in sentiment.

There was too much to do, and when that was the case, even a single minute, a single second, was precious.

[That is enough. If you are done resting, let us move on. There is far too much you need to learn.]

“Yes, teacher!”

[......Then would you mind letting go of me now?]

“No~ I like it better like this.”

Still holding my hands, Ishara skipped outside.

I was not some cherished doll.

Letting out a low sigh, I ran through the features of the next stage in my mind.

‘At last, here it comes.’

The place that served as the main stage of this game.

The next stage was the tutorial for the Dungeon.

***

The thrusting blade scraped sharply across the shield.

The clash of steel brushed past her ears, and as the Knight Puppet’s guard broke, Persica’s eyes flashed.

Crunch!

The sword she had drawn back shot forward like a spring.

The unwavering tip pierced the puppet’s neck with perfect precision, and the beheaded puppet fell to the floor without moving again.

[Y-you are amazing! To defeat it so quickly......!]

“It was nothing.”

Despite the admiration of the fairy fluttering over to her, Persica’s expression remained flat.

She checked the time she had recorded.

“3 hours 35 minutes 24 seconds.”

It was not a bad result.

The previous best record had been 3 hours 10 minutes 24 seconds, so under normal circumstances, this would have been more than satisfactory.

If not for that newly set record.

<3 minutes 26 seconds>

That was the record set by the black-haired girl who had gone ahead first.

A record beyond all records, one that surpassed not only Persica’s own time but even the old best record by a ridiculous margin.

She pressed a hand to her forehead at a number she simply could not comprehend.

‘How on earth did she do it?’

The Knight Puppet was not an easy opponent. Not in the slightest.

Its skill was not lacking even compared to a real knight, and it was not merciful enough to stop its blade before killing.

And that was not all. If you did not strike its proper weak point, it even revived.

‘And an examinee...... defeated that in only three minutes?’

That was practically the same as saying she had hit its weak point exactly in a single exchange.

Was that even possible?

The common consensus was that if you prioritized safety, it would take at least five hours, and even with extraordinary talent, anything under three hours was impossible.

Even her own record was good enough to inspire admiration, yet three minutes?

“How......”

She could not accept it.

She had endured the harsh and merciless training of Ortanis, the most renowned house after the royal family, by sheer stubborn determination.

She could confidently say she was stronger than not only her peers, but even many of her seniors.

And yet something she could not do had been done by some commoner girl whose face and name she did not even know?

“Look over there. To defeat the Knight Puppet that quickly......”

“As expected of Ortanis’s......”

One by one, the people entering the area were busy marveling at the record Persica had set.

After all, she had cleared both the first and second tests at astonishing speed.

It was a natural reaction. Entirely natural.

And yet Persica did not feel any better.

“Cecil.”

[Y-yes, yes! You called for me, my lady!]

At the cold summons, her fairy came rushing out at once.

“Play the replay.”

[B-but if we do that, the gap between you and that girl will only grow wider......]

“The next test can be done while watching.”

[B-but still...... Eek! Understood!]

At her glare, the fairy hurriedly began making preparations.

The Selection Grounds offered a replay function for every test, so you could watch how the other examinees had cleared them as well.

As it happened, the next test was merely about learning things like weapon enhancement, so it could be cleared with little more than a token effort.

In any case, House Ortanis had already taught her everything the Selection Grounds covered.

[I will start it now!]

The fairy darted up and swiftly called up the recording.

Persica’s eyes widened.

While drinking down one potion, she focused with fierce intensity on the unfolding footage.

“That......”

The girl’s movements were...... strange.

Her footwork and swordsmanship seemed to lack all foundation, and yet somehow the knight could not cut her down.

Every attack missed her by the width of a sheet of paper, no, by an even narrower margin than that.

It was so perilous that sweat formed in Persica’s own hand just watching, certain that the next strike would land.

And yet the girl was not cut down even once. In a single counterattack, she struck the knight’s weak point, its neck, with perfect accuracy.

It was an acrobatic feat Persica could not even imagine reproducing herself.

‘Something is slightly off......’

Persica’s eyes caught a subtle awkwardness hidden within it.

As though the girl were imitating something that did not belong to her, there were tiny, stilted hesitations woven into her movements.

Persica did not struggle long to find the reason.

“Her gaze.”

At first glance, the girl seemed to be looking at the Knight Puppet, but in truth, her eyes were fixed blankly on empty space.

As though she were in a trance, following motions someone else was feeding her.

And who that someone was, was obvious.

Even if it could not be seen in the replay, there was one being that would always be beside her.

‘The sword’s fairy.’

There was no doubt.

That fairy was teaching her.

“......”

[Eek......!]

Persica turned her head and glared sharply at her own fairy.

Her family had said that all fairies were the same.

Then what was different between my fairy and that one, that it knew such outrageous things?

And why-

Why had it rejected me and chosen that shabby-looking girl instead......?

“Ah, this is so irritating......”

She had already finished the third test while watching the replay, and she had even put away her enhanced sword, yet she could not bring herself to move.

Her insides were burning so much she could hardly bear it.

She wanted that sword to the point of madness.

“It seems, judging by your reaction, that you too watched that girl’s replay, young lady.”

She turned at the voice and found a hulking middle-aged man standing over her.

Dressed in a suit stretched over a body packed with bursting muscles, and even wearing round sunglasses, he looked like some barbarian warrior disguised as a civilized gentleman.

“My name is Dominic Esmond. Of House Esmond-”

“I am not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.”

“That is understandable. It is only natural to envy the outstanding skill of a warrior. The others are pretending otherwise, but they are all watching too.”

“Who said I was envious?”

Even as she snapped back, she cast a sideways glance, only to find the other examinees watching replays as well.

She could not see their screens, but what they were viewing was obvious.

They were watching that girl’s test.

“Grit......”

“Do not blame them. A great warrior is, by nature, worthy of imitation.”

“That was not some proper style or school. It was a rootless sword technique with no foundation.”

“Then is that not all the more remarkable?”

Dominic asked the question as though he were genuinely puzzled.

“If she knows nothing of swordsmanship, then it means she has never properly learned the sword. In that case, what you saw was the result created through ‘improvised response’ by someone ignorant of the blade. It is a fragment of talent worthy of study and admiration.”

The Knight Puppet’s skill was on par with an active knight.

For a girl ignorant of the sword to overwhelm it in real time using nothing but judgment and instinct?

It would not be excessive to call that the talent granted by heaven itself.

“I have to go.”

There was no way she could remain still without seeing it with her own eyes.

As luck would have it, the fourth test was the one concerning the Dungeon.

It used an entire wide field as its stage, so there would surely be a chance to meet the girl and speak with her.

“I will confirm it with my own eyes.”

After putting away her enhanced sword, Persica headed straight for the next test area.

Dominic, who had been quietly watching her retreating figure, followed behind her.

He, too, wanted to know the secret of that girl.