CH 6

The one who was most shocked was not me, but probably the person himself.

Lancelot, who received a great shock from the appearance of a human with the same appearance as himself, or at least appeared to be behaving that way, jumped out as if he had been shot.

“Feeling worse than I thought about my own fake.”

As he said that, his whole body was wet with rain. The sound of the arrow that was strung on the bow was stretched to the limit and could be heard well in the wet forest.

The second Lancelot, who saw this, had a shocked face, or perhaps he was genuinely shocked, and also strung an arrow.

“He’s more quick to fight than he looks, that guy.”

Hal, next to me, ruffled his hair. After looking at it sideways, I looked back at Lancelot.

I sighed.

——What are they doing?

When the two Lancelots finally put in a lot of strength and two arrows shot through the air and flew out, I also pulled out my short sword and jumped out.

I grabbed the back of the neck of Lancelot, who was facing this way and had been with me a moment ago, and pulled it down forcefully. His balance was broken and the arrow changed direction and flew away.

And the other Lancelot, the one who appeared just now, broke the arrow that was shot with his short sword.

“I don’t know which one is the real one… Please calm down. Although the defensive magic is activated, just in case something happens. I will now have both of you restrained and head towards the goal together. That’s okay, right?”

Then, the two Lancelots who had been shocked by my actions, both made faces of dissatisfaction at the same time.

One of them should be a teacher, but there are always students like this every year. Neither of them showed any signs of disturbance, and this confusion is a failure.

Then, how about this? I naturally opened my mouth with a faint smile.

“I’m sorry, please bear with it, Lancelot-sama.”

One of them said, “Oh, I understand.”

The other one said, “Why, my name is.”

The tension runs. The air relaxed, and the expression that collapsed and smiled bitterly was that of Lancelot who appeared earlier.

“Fake, found!”

I couldn’t help but smile with my face, and the fake Lancelot beckoned me. When I approached, I was handed a small wooden box.

“Congratulations, Miss. This is a reward for finding the fake, please.”

It’s an ordinary-looking small box. But inside is a powerful magic that is only closed once. This is a typical disposable magic tool in this country.

I carefully tucked the small box into my skirt and tried to say thank you to the teacher with a smile. That’s when someone suddenly patted me on the head.

“Nice, Miss Beth.”

It was Hal.

My body flinched and I suddenly felt a chill, as if the temperature had dropped several degrees.

My body wouldn’t move as I was still being patted on the head. The rain began to pick up and the sound of the trees getting soaked by raindrops grew louder. I saw a large bird circling overhead. I felt like I was being swallowed by the wet forest, but the coldness wasn’t the reason why.

I slowly turned my head to look at Hal.

No, [Hal].

Why did [that person] suddenly look so strange?

The hand on my head, the raven-black hair, the beautiful face.

——nothing was wet with rain.

“——?!”

Instinctively, I shook off the hand and stepped back. [Hal] raised both hands and grinned, but the same attitude as before was now disturbingly eerie.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

I looked at the speaker, surprised. Not only was it the real Lancelot, but even the fake teacher had a curious expression on their face.

I couldn’t see it before! Only I could see it from the beginning!

Who is this? Is this maybe…

“I came to see the one that seemed the most interesting. I was torn between choosing a healing magician, but I’m glad I chose you now.”

I don’t know why, but the more [Hal]’s voice enters my ears, the more it feels like I’m being injected with medicine and my body is shaking. Why is my back so cold? I can’t keep myself together as [Hal] slowly approaches me. The rain-soaked hair on my face feels uncomfortable.

The rain intensifies and the droplets hitting my skin hurt, but what’s more, the bird’s cries above my head are strangely bothering me.

“Feeling bad? That’s a rejection reaction that happens when someone with weak magic comes into contact with too much magic… It’s not about size, it’s just that our compatibility seems poor.”

I’m not sure what [Hal] is saying, and I’m starting to not understand. My feelings are bad. My vision is blurred. The rain is strong. The bird is… what’s that called again? Right, that’s it…

——Eagle?

“Rebecca! Over here!”

The stretched arm of [Hal] missed grabbing me, and a loud voice from somewhere woke me up from my consciousness almost at the same time.

Although it was difficult to see due to the dark sky and dense vegetation, there seemed to be a cliff about 3.4 meters to the immediate left.

Standing below it was a young man.

Rebecca.

With his hair wet from the rain and his arms open wide towards me, his lips moved once again.

“Ah, too bad, it was just a little short.”

I thought I heard the voice of [Hal], who didn’t seem at all disappointed. But the fear from earlier was gone as if it were a lie.

I didn’t think to wonder why the young man knew my name.

Deep, deep blue eyes. Because I couldn’t think of any other choice but to trust the gaze that looked straight at me, I was able to jump into his arms with ease.