Chapter 77

Chapter 77

“……?”

Simon’s eyes widened. An outside lecturer? This was a first.

“Please come in.”

Jane gestured, and a middle-aged man came up to the stage.

He had a good smile on his face and was wearing overalls with many pockets.

“Introducing you to Hunter Edward Bulkbag.”

Said Jane.

“He may be unfamiliar to some of you, but he’s a legend in his field and a top-notch treasure hunter with over tens of thousands of ancient ruins discovered.”

Applause poured out from everywhere. Rick in particular was beating the desk in excitement.

“Insane! Woah! Is this for real? Is it ‘that’ Treasure Hunter Edward? The level of Professor Jane’s recruitment is out of this world……”

“Is he a great person?”

When Meilyn asked that with a sour face, Rick turned around, shocked.

“Hey! How could you not know Edward? Now this is a real lack of common knowledge!”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“Gaaaaaah!”

Edward opened his mouth with a nervous smile as he came up to the stage.

“Ah, hm. Nice to meet you. You’re first-year students at Kizen, am I right?”

“Yes!”

Loudly answered the students.

“Uhaha! To think that a day would come where I’m giving a lecture at Kizen! Looks like I’ve been successful, huh? In fact, it was all thanks to my father that I was able to be this successful. I was born in a poor environment, but—”

“Ahem.”

Jane, who had her arms folded behind him, coughed a little. Edward flinched and straightened his back.

“Ah, yes! Let’s skip the idle talk and start right away! I’m confident that there’s no single place in the Dark Territory that I haven’t been. Ah, to be precise, there’s no place that I haven’t explored across the continent. As well as the Holy Federation, I secretly—”

“Hunter Edward.”

“Ah, ah! I’m sorry, Vice President! Hahaha! To put it simply, I’m a survival expert. I don’t have as powerful dark magic as all of you, but the weak have their own way of surviving. It’s called thorough preparation! Now, now.”

After speaking incoherently, Edward took out the materials he had prepared from his bag and stuck them on the blackboard.

The types of monsters and vegetation appearing on the island were shown in pictures and tables.

The assistant teachers walked around handing out copies of the materials to the students.

“The place where you’ll take the test is called ‘Kera Island’.”

Said Edward after turning to the students.

“It’s an area prohibited by Kizen, but there are several other large and small islands besides Kera Island. I’ve been to all these islands, and based on this, I was able to estimate the vegetation and the monsters in Kera Island.”

He was very nervous about being in Kizen, and he checked on the countenance of Jane standing behind him. Still, when he started talking about his field, Edward appeared very professional.

Plants you can and can’t eat on Kera Island.

Inedible and edible monsters, and exactly which parts can be eaten and how to cook them.

Weather and climate, terrains to watch out for, low and high tides, behaviors that attract the attention of monsters, how to ward off wild snakes, and more.

Even the nobles who were acting perverse, complaining about why she called over a person like him, were immersed and concentrating, leaning forward. This was only natural, seeing as it was survival knowledge that would come in handy two days later.

The students frantically moved their quills and took notes.

“Yep! My explanation ends here. Thank you for listening! Any questions?”

Hands were raised from all over the room.

While Edward was answering questions one by one, Simon was going through copies of his material.

‘Hm?’

There was one particularly strange entity among the many monsters inhabiting the island. He didn’t know why, but it caught his attention.

It was a monster whose face was covered with something like a bandage.

When Simon was staring at the monster, Pier’s clone wriggled and moved.

[Hey, Boy……!]

‘Oh, Pier. When did you arrive?”

The eyes of Pier’s clone widened.

[That picture! Put it close in front of me!]

Simon put the picture in front of his chest so Pier could see it properly.

The clone’s eyes shook frantically.

[Unbelievable. No way! Why is this guy over there?]

“Do you know who this is?”

[Of course! This is an ancient undead who served as a captain of the Legion!]

Simon’s eyes widened. A captain appearing in this place?

[Kuhehe. To think that I’m seeing that face again.]

Pier’s clone muttered in a serious voice,

[Boy! I’m sure you remember the sin of the Legion.]

‘Yes. Following my father’s instruction to protect my mother, they betrayed the Dark Alliance and fought the Necromancers……’

[Yeah. After fighting for a while, the Legion withdrew due to the large-scale offensive of the Alliance. There was a guy who sacrificed himself to defend against the attack and escaped us safely to sea.]

‘Don’t tell me that’s……’

Simon’s gaze turned to the monster’s eyes again covered with bandages.

[This guy’s name is Bigkrum.]

Pier’s eyes became serious.

[He’s the captain of the giant troops.]

* * *

Translator – Ramen

Proofreader – Artethrax

* * *

Simon heard a detailed explanation from Pier.

An ancient undead who sacrificed himself for the sake of the Legion. Pier said that he was extremely devoted and loyal to the Legion, unlike an undead.

[I thought he must’ve died then, but to think that he’s alive. On an island owned by Kizen at that.]

‘……’

Simon rubbed his chin and went into deep thought.

Something was strange. His father’s undead was in the place where he was heading for a performance assessment? The timing was just too right.

But the bait was too big to completely ignore it.

[It’s not like there’s no relation at all! If you go all the way toward the continent from the place called Kera Island, you’ll find the port city Ballot. Since Bigkrum disappeared in the battle there…]

‘I understand. I’d like to take him in seeing as he was my father’s undead. Would that be alright?’

[Kuhehe! Of course! That guy is an important military strength. If you obtain him, he’ll be a great help to you in the future.]

‘Alright. Trying wouldn’t hurt. Let’s try to get in contact with him.’

In addition to taking the Island Survival Assessment like regular students, Simon added a new goal.

A mission that may be more important than getting good grades.

[However, since a considerable amount of time has passed, his personality or his mind may have changed.]

Simon nodded his head. Elizabeth was also uncooperative with the Legion at first.

[So take me too! I’ll have to persuade him myself.]

“Mm.”

Simon turned the pages of the guidebook with a troubled expression.

‘If you look at this, apparently all the subspaces of the students are inspected right before the teleportation. It’s forbidden to bring in unnecessary items or food, so……’

[Subspace inspection? That’s annoying.]

‘I’ll try to come up with a solution. I’ll have to stop by the ruins this evening and talk to Eliza.’

Then the bell rang, announcing the end of the lecture. Jane clapped her hands and came back up to the stage.

“Today’s lecture ends here. Please prepare thoroughly for two days. It’d be good to familiarize yourself with the detailed rules and the operation of the tongue pad in advance. Let’s end now.” 

“Thank you for the lecture!”

The students rushed out of the classroom like a tide.

Some students, including Rick, seemed to want to talk to Edward and get an autograph, but they turned away after a look from Jane.

“Simon, what are you doing? Let’s go eat already.”

Simon replied with a smile at Rick’s words,

“I’m sorry, but could you eat with Meilyn and the others today? I have some personal business.”

“?”

* * *

“3 minutes and 21 seconds left for your meal.”

Edward thought that this woman, the vice-president of Kizen, was scarier than any monsters or traps he had ever encountered.

After shoving the food in his mouth without knowing how it tasted, Edward walked out of the restaurant and followed Jane’s guide to the teleport magic circle.

In fact, it was more like being pulled off rather than guided.

“V-Vice President.”

Edward gave a forced smile.

He decided to give it a chance. I mean, she wouldn’t turn a person into a skeleton just because they mentioned it, right?

“Five hours! No, just two hours, please! A so-called professional treasure hunter has come to the mysterious Roke Island. I can’t just go back like th—!”

Jane looked at her wristwatch with a blank expression on her face.

“People who don’t have formal permission to enter Roke Island can’t enter Kizen. You have 6 minutes and 23 seconds left for your permission, Hunter Edward.”

Edward was sweating profusely.

How could a person be so single-minded……?! But he couldn’t give up like this.

“Th-Then, it’d be alright if we extend that permitted time a little bit more! A-A while ago, a professor named Bahil asked me to hold a lecture for Class B……”

In that moment…

Fires lit up in Jane’s eyes.

Edward, realizing he had made a mistake, shut his mouth, but it was already too late.

She gestured to the assistant teacher following Jane.

“Tell professor Bahil to come to my lab right now.”

The assistant teacher tensely said,

“Uh, with what reason shall I call h—”

“Tell him I’m going to him if he doesn’t shut up and come running to me within 10 minutes.”

At that, the assistant started running frantically.

The corner of Edward’s smile started to twitch.

‘I don’t care about adventures anymore. I just want to get off this island in one piece.’

Just like that, after walking for a few more minutes, they arrived in front of the teleport magic circle returning to the continent.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

But the trouble wasn’t over yet.

When she heard the report of the teleport manager, who approached her with a troubled expression, Jane began to blaze up.

The manager bowed repeatedly as though he had committed a deadly sin.

“The teleport magic circle is overloaded due to the preparation for island survival? What kind of ridiculous excuse is that?”

“W-We’ll get things fixed!”

“Please assemble the entire teleport team into my lab by 6 o’clock.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Jane let out a deep sigh and walked over to Edward. She then closed her eyes and bowed her head.

“It seems your return will be delayed by about 10 minutes due to an internal construction problem, Hunter. On behalf of Kizen, I apologize to you.”

“A-Ahahaha… I-I’m fine! It’s really, really fine!”

I mean, why did she scold people that much for just delaying the return of an outsider by 10 minutes?

“I’ll have to check the magic circle myself. You, please stay still and wait, Hunter.”

At her words, Edward felt as though his whole body was frozen.

‘Is this the curse that I’ve only heard of?’

“I-I understand! Please, take your time! Haha!”

Jane went to see the teleport magic circle.

Edward, left alone, sighed in relief. As he was squatting down because his legs somehow felt like jelly…

“Hello!”

Somebody spoke to him. When he turned his head, a male student in a Kizen uniform looked down at him with a smile.

“Oh! You’re……!”

“I’m a Class A student who took your class, Hunter. It was a really good class.”

Edward jumped up, feeling his self-esteem quickly restored. He then flicked out paper and a pen from his clothes. 

“Fufu, great. What’s your name again?”

“I’m not here to get autographs. I’m here because I have something to ask you about the contents of your class.”

Edward lowered his pen with a sullen face.

Why were the students and professors of this school so rigid?

“This monster listed in your material, Hunter.”

Simon continued while presenting the picture of Bigkrum.

“Do you know anything about this?”

Edward grabbed the picture before looking around at it.

“Hmm… So there was a picture of this monster. I didn’t check it separately because It was all printed out collectively.”

“I pictured it because it looked interesting at that time, but I don’t know what kind of monster it is. I’ve been in this field for almost 30 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a monster like this.”

“……What do you mean by interesting?”

Edward blearily opened his eyes and said,

“It was foggy that day, so I don’t know if I saw it correctly, but suddenly this monster became colossal in size as it wandered around the island. When I rushed out the mana camera, its size shrunk back.”

Simon gulped.

“How big did it become?”

As though recalling that moment, Edward’s face stiffened.

“Big enough to cover the entire island.”

——