Episode 36. Survival Survival
Friday Afternoon.
When the promised time came, the 3rd year students of the Faculty of Magic began to gather inside the station.
“wow. It’s cold, it’s cold.”
“worried. It’s still this cold, how can you survive 2 nights and 3 days?”
Everyone was wearing huge backpacks or expansion bags and heavy fur coats, as if they were going to battle.
It looked like baby bears huddled together.
And Diene in the world was no different in that way.
“Puhaha!”
“Why are you laughing. You are the same.”
“no no. Still, you and I are not the same. Who would believe that the world’s Diene Alven looks like this!”
“Yuri. Stop teasing me when I say nice things.”
Professor Tolman appeared just as the uproar among the students at the Faculty of Magic was getting louder.
Unlike the students, he was dressed modestly, but his expression was unconcerned with the cold.
“Has everyone gathered? I’ll just check attendance for a moment.”
Tolman called the students by name and checked them one by one.
The students answered each time their name was called, and in that short time, attention was drawn and everyone burst into laughter.
“hey! Daniel! Anyway, wasn’t that too much?”
“ha ha ha! Hey, look at that. They say the bag is going to explode?”
“Pyrinus. I can’t tell if you’re a man or a bear. Aren’t you going to be hunted later?”
After laughing for so long, Diene was finally called.
“Diene Alven?”
“yes.”
The eyes of the students naturally turned to Diene.
Like the other students, she was dressed in fur, but she couldn’t hide her unique aristocratic atmosphere.
“As expected, Diene. Even if you wear it like that, your dignity will not be compromised.”
“Honestly, I was expecting something funny, but this is nothing….”
“No wait! Don’t you think this is funny?”
Urich stepped out as if in a fit, but everyone shook their heads and admired Diene.
At that response, Yurihi let out a blank laugh with an expression full of energy, but no one reacted.
“Quiet, quiet. next! Adrias Cromwell.”
“yes.”
It was Adrias Cromwell, who had recently been dubbed the Professor Slayer among students for his work in expelling Burban Fernandez.
He was called a bit of a mischievous nickname, but within the academy, an atmosphere of acknowledging him little by little had formed.
That would be the case, too. When I saw him waking up at dawn every day, doing exercises as intense as those of the engineering department, stopping by the library every day to borrow books, and reading even in his spare time, I couldn’t help but admit it.
Of course, apart from that, it was an open fact that his magic skills were still not good.
The voices of the students watching Adrias Cromwell, whose name was called, suddenly cut off.
Adrias was reading with a book in one hand, expressionless, and although he was obviously dressed up more than usual, he still looked lacking, and above all, the bag he had packed was nowhere to be seen.
“That Adrias?”
Adrias looked up when someone called him.
“uh. why?”
“Didn’t you bring anything?”
“me? uh. It makes no sense anyway.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Since the professor said it was a survival game, I thought they would confiscate all my luggage.”
The student who spoke to Adrias nodded.
Of course, unless the students are idiots, that’s what everyone thought.
But in case you didn’t know
If they could bring their luggage, those who didn’t pack anything like Adrias would be left behind in the competition.
“okay? I see okay. To work hard.”
“uh. you also.”
However, the student who spoke to him nodded without saying anything and walked away.
This is because most of them know that if they get into a fight with the recent Adrias, they will only lose money.
Besides, he is the creator of the famous Everlast Potion.
There was no male student who wanted to be out of sight.
But Diene, on the other hand, made Adrias look stupid.
‘Anyway, what do you do if you just read a book every day? From my point of view, that guy is just a guy who lives only in books.’
Diene, who saw Adrias as just an impractical study bug, felt sorry for him for not preparing for the situation.
After completing the attendance check, the 3rd year students of the Faculty of Magic departed for their destination on a train under the guidance of Tolman.
* * *
“Now, return all your belongings to the assistants here. I will give it back to you on the day I return.”
“Aww.”
“I did it by chance, but it was like that.”
Upon arriving at the destination, Professor Tolman immediately began taking our luggage.
Other students cried and ate mustard and returned their luggage and stood in the cold, wearing only ‘duntun’ fur clothes.
An assistant came up to me as well, but all he had to take from me was a book and a sword at his waist.
The assistant, who took the book and sword from me, passed me by with the look of seeing all the oddballs.
“I think taking away clothes is too harsh, so I’ll just take my luggage. Now, let’s go into the detailed explanation of this evaluation.”
Tolman pointed with his baton at the simple blackboard the assistant had prepared.
There was a map drawn there, but in addition to the map, unknown markers were also drawn.
“Now, you don’t have to try to memorize this map. We’ll give each individual a map anyway.”
map… ….
If you have it, you are mistaken that anyone can use it, but the map is difficult to use if you have not learned how to do Dokdo.
I wondered if the guys who had only learned magic would have learned the Dokdo method, but it was a good thing for me.
Tolman soon began to explain the assessment.
“As you all know, this is ‘Mount Bilbore’ of the Marquis of Magna. You now have to hold out for 2 nights and 3 days in the designated area, as well as collect the points drawn here.”
He pointed to the circles drawn here and there.
Did survival mean that?
It wasn’t just about holding on.
“In addition to the points drawn on the map, there are many hidden points here and there. But the points plotted on the map provide much more points. So be careful when you go to collect the points drawn on the map. They will be aiming at each other.”
It’s hard to survive for 2 nights and 3 days, but collect points.
Certainly, the hurdles were highly evaluated by the students of the Faculty of Magic who did not have much experience.
“In the mountains, any behavior other than murder, grievous injury, sexual intercourse against the opponent’s will, and contact with the last student who dropped out is acceptable. You can team up or betray and hog your points. You can exchange food and points, or you can compete for points by fighting.”
He said that and winked at his assistants.
Then the assistants came forward and gave us a bracelet and a small bag.
“If the bracelet breaks, you are eliminated. At the moment of disconnection, assistants from the Faculty of Engineering will come and rescue you. If you are in distress or think that you cannot survive, immediately cut off the bracelet. Still, life is more important than evaluation, so please judge carefully and the moment you decide to be eliminated, the points you have will be set at 1/3. Now, let’s proceed with the evaluation.”
I put the bracelet on my wrist and looked into my bag.
There was only one map in the bag.
‘I just wanted an evaluation that would give me an acceptable grade.’
I quietly raised my head and looked up at the mountain where the evaluation was to take place.
‘I can be a little greedy.’
* * *
Marquis of Magna’s Bilbore Mountain refers to a peak in the wide range of mountains located in the western center of the empire.
Its height was not very high and there were no special features, but it belonged to the wide side as much as the area.
“Whoa.”
The pure white breath climbed up and disappeared into the cracks in the snow.
The woman, half-floating in the air and climbing the mountain, stopped for a moment and sat down leaning against a tree.
Clearly, the weather was freezing cold, but her condition seemed fine.
A translucent film formed around her.
‘So here it is… ….’
Stamina and mana were still overflowing.
The real problem was finding the way.
Looking at the map, I couldn’t tell where it was.
Since the starting point was random in the first place, it was difficult to see the map in the mountains where the current location was unknown.
‘I wish I had at least something like a compass.’
The only thing left for her was magic.
However, because they had to endure for 2 nights and 3 days, it was not efficient to blindly waste mana.
‘For now, let’s go a little further.’
I was not in a hurry because I was lucky enough to get a point on my way up.
Looking at the points written on the bracelet, I thought that I needed a place to spend the night rather.
Moving forward a little further, she arrived at a snow-white field in the basin terrain.
There are a total of six places that show the characteristics of the basin shown on the map.
The moment I was about to move forward, thinking that it would be at least one of these six places.
“Are you the Alven lady?”
Startled by the sudden voice, the woman turned around.
There stood Adrias Cromwell holding a handful of sticks and firewood.
“Adrias.”
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
At Adrias’ words, Diene prepared to use her magic and became wary.
However, Adrias put down the firewood and raised his hand.
“I have no intention of fighting.”
“Even if you think so, what if I want to fight?”
In response to Diene’s question, Adrias changed his expression expressionlessly.
“Have you prepared a place to stay?”
“Where to stay?”
What a sudden place to stay
Have you ever found a cave?
Diene questioned Adrias’ words.
Come to think of it, unlike himself, Adrias didn’t look cold at all, even though his clothes were thin.
“yes. I made a temporary residence here.”
Adrias rubbed his foot on the ground.
Then the lid was revealed, covered with snow and various debris.
“If you don’t mind, would you like to take a break for a while?”
At Adrias’ words, Diene pondered for a moment.
Clearly, I needed a place to rest.
But how do you know if it’s a trap or not and follow him?
I’d rather eliminate Adrias and find out the identity of that lid… ….
But Diene’s thoughts were short-lived.
Unknowingly, Adrias opened the lid and entered the ground as it was, and immediately gestured to Diene.
“Are you going to stay there?”
That hand gesture hurt my pride for no reason.
Adrias isn’t afraid of me?
Besides, he was also ridiculous for being wary of Adrias.
If it’s a trap, it’s good as it is.
I’ll break it down cleanly.
Diene decided to act with the leeway that she could eliminate Adrias at any time.
“Watch your step when coming down.”
Eventually he followed Adrias down through the open lid.
The inside of the lid was deeper and wider than expected.
She could have made a tunnel like this if she used magic, but she couldn’t think of it because her head was stiff in the rapidly changing environment.
“I was thinking of making something like this.”
“yes. This much is no big deal. The young lady must have done enough with magic.”
“hmm….”
Adrias immediately filled a cup hewn out of a tree with water and handed it to Diene.
Diene looked suspiciously at him for a moment, but he held out his hand as if he didn’t care.
“It has been quite some time since I came into the mountains. If you don’t drink enough fluids, you may become dehydrated.”
Adrias pointed to Diene’s sweat.
“If you didn’t realize it while you were here with thick fur and magic, you must have been sweating a bit. When dehydration comes, the function of the brain is reduced, and soon after, the kidneys and finally the heart will stop functioning.”
“okay. You can drink it.”
What else does he know?
After reading books every day these days, Diene, who thought she knew everything, accepted the wooden cup he held out.
Even if this was Adrias’s trap, he was confident enough to destroy it, so he drank it without worrying too much.
After I quenched my thirst like that, the water flowed well even though I thought I was definitely not thirsty.
In the meantime, Adrias was arranging firewood in a corner, and it was truly amazing.
He must have been far behind in his magic skills, but he set up a very good housekeeping while he was wandering on the road.
‘What the hell did you think of these things?’
It was so full-scale survival strategy and preparations that I was amazed.
However, I wasn’t confident that she couldn’t do it, so I decided to get up.
“Thank you. It’s a nuisance to be indebted to you any longer, so let’s go.”
“Are you leaving already? Aren’t you going to eat this?”
this? Are you going to eat?
When Diene questioned, Adrias calmly walked towards the end of the tunnel and cut a hole in the wall.
Then, there was a small space, and the firewood that had become ashes smoked and informed that the embers were alive.
Soon after, as Adrias cleared the ashes, something charred came out of it.
“What is it?”
“Rabbit meat.”
It’s rabbit meat.
When the hell did you catch a rabbit again?
‘How long has it been since we entered the mountain?’
During that time, not only this shelter, but also all kinds of wooden tools and firewood bunnies… ….
I was dumbfounded by Adrias’ activities that gradually broke common sense.
Adrias, whether aware of Diene’s thoughts or not, broke something charred.
Now it turns out that it was rabbit meat wrapped in mud.
“Probably not that tasty. Without spices.”
Adrias, of course, was talking on the assumption that Diene would eat it, and Diene unknowingly hugged her hungry stomach.
Come to think of it, it’s already way past dinner time.
The rabbit was much bigger than I thought.
Adrias cut off the rabbit’s leg and gave it to Diene.
“It’s still hot, so eat it carefully so you don’t get scalded.”
Diene carefully accepted it and blew on it.
And the carefully bitten meat tasted better than expected.
Was it because the market was a side dish?
Although it was a bit bland, the juicy meat provided a rich taste.
So the two of them ate the whole rabbit without saying anything for a while and rested with their backs against the wall.
‘What am I doing?’
Diene’s thoughts flashed through her mind for a moment, but soon the harsh cold environment she had never experienced before, the experience of wandering on the road, and the contrasting warm shelter and full boat made her eyes close little by little.
‘Adrias.’
Adrias, who was sitting across from him and was making something out of wood, seemed to overlap with the little Adrias he had seen when he was young.
With the shimmering little Adrias as her friend, she left for the land of dreams.
