Chapter 2

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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"Alright, I'll give you one last chance. From now on, take the path in the opposite direction of where we are heading. Cross the wasteland and the forest, and you'll find a town. Report to the barracks in that town. If you can do that, I'll consider assigning you."

The princess, clad in golden armor, pointed to the road that continued beyond the wasteland as she spoke.

"Um, by myself?"

"Yes, who else is there?"

"Um, what about water and food?"

"You need to be prepared to retreat with nothing but your body, even without your equipment. Besides, there's no one chasing you, and you just have to walk the road. If you can't even do that, you're useless."

The princess was so strict that I wondered if 90% of her was made of sternness. For someone like me, who always uses escalators and elevators and considers using stairs a loss, this was going to be a severe trial. The judge, a young woman, looked at me with pity, but I wondered if that meant something was really wrong.

"Can't you at least let me have some water?"

Oh! The class representative, how kind you are.

"Hmph, drink mud if you have to, but you must reach your destination."

Damn it, I'll make that princess say "Gah!" someday. Thus, I was left behind, and everyone else left in the carriage. Out of spite, I sang "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" as they left.

Well, there's no point in just standing here, so I'll start walking. The moon in the sky is about twice as big as the one on Earth, so even at night, I don't have to worry about my footing. Still, there are no streetlights, and it will get completely dark when the moon sets. I don't know how far the town is, but I should hurry a bit.

By the way, isn't the forest quite far? It looks pretty far away, but maybe it's just my imagination.

Anyway, I'll walk, even if I complain. I'm really walking now. To put it in perspective, I'm walking in my indoor shoes, which I usually wear with my heels down, but now I'm wearing them properly. But indoor shoes aren't designed for long distances. The soles are really thin, and my feet started hurting after just a little bit of walking. Plus, unlike the clean, paved roads in Tokyo, the path here is full of pebbles and exposed soil, making it hard to walk.

Still, I walked desperately and, by my estimation, for more than two hours. I was summoned during the third period, so normally, it would be well past lunchtime, and I was starving.

Enduring hunger and foot pain, I walked for another thirty minutes and finally reached the entrance to the forest. It was good to get there, but it was so dark! The moon was already tilting, and I could barely see ten meters ahead. At twenty meters, I couldn't see anything at all. If the moon sets, it will be pitch black, right? But the town is beyond the forest, and I'm hungry, so I have to go quickly.

So, I decided to walk with determination, but it was tough for a city boy, painful, and honestly, scary, too scary. I had to feel my way through, like being in a haunted house. After five minutes, I regretted not spending the night outside the forest. It was so dark that I was only paying attention to my feet when I heard something.

"Ah!"

"What? Is something there?"

I quickly looked up, and I saw something glowing, its eyes...

"Ahhh!"

I screamed in fear and tried to go back the way I came, but there were glowing eyes on that side too.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Before I knew it, something I couldn't identify jumped at me. In the moonlight, I saw a hideous creature, about the same size as me or a bit smaller.

"Goblins... Don't come near me!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

In a panic, I swung my arms wildly to fend off the goblins, but I felt something hit the back of my head, and I lost consciousness... hehe.

What a joke, just walking the road, that evil princess, I'll really get her back...

I was attacked by goblin-like creatures and lost consciousness easily, but I regained it just as easily. Why? Because I was being eaten!

"Ouch! Damn it, get off! It hurts, it hurts, stop it! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, you bastard!"

I screamed as loud as I could. After all, goblins were not only on my hands and feet but also on my stomach. They were tearing my flesh without any restraint, so it had to hurt.

"Ahhh! It hurts, it hurts, ahhh!"

Held down, I couldn't move, and I felt something being pulled out of my stomach. When I looked, a goblin was eating my intestines with its blood-covered mouth.

"Gulp... Cough, cough, gag..."

A warm sensation rose in my throat, and it was probably blood.

"No, I don't want to die... I don't want to die... Cough, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, help... help, cough, cough... help, help, help... cough... Someone, help!"

Even though I knew I couldn't survive with my insides being eaten, I couldn't help but pray.

Splat...

Suddenly, a sound like flesh being crushed, and a goblin's head flew through the air. What? What happened?

"Ah? Ah! Ah!"

Splat... Splat... Splat...

The sound of flesh being crushed continued, drowning out the goblins' confused cries. I saw goblins being impaled by something sharp.

Clank... Clank... Clank... Clank...

After the goblins that were clinging to my body disappeared, a group of skeletons appeared.

More powerful monsters... What the heck, I'm done for... I lost consciousness again.

Chirp, chirp, chirp...

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of birds singing.

"Ah, so this is the famous 'morning chirp,' huh? Sure, last night was fun... Hey!"

I jumped up, surprised by my own joke, and found myself surrounded by a circle of skeletons.

"No way, what's going on? Can someone explain?"

'I will answer, My Lord.'

"Whoa, someone answered—!"

I was startled by the voice that suddenly echoed in my head, and one of the skeletons knelt down.

"Um... You answered, right?"

'Indeed, My Lord.'

It seems the voice in my head was a form of telepathy from the skeleton.

"My Lord?"

I pointed to myself to confirm, and the skeleton nodded.

'We are following My Lord's orders to protect you.'

"Um... So, did I call you all?"

'Indeed, My Lord.'

The skeleton nodded again and seemed to smile with satisfaction, though I don't know why.

There were eleven skeletons surrounding me, and a short distance away, seven goblin corpses were piled up. The wounds were fresh and gruesome.

According to the skeletons, they were knights who had been ambushed and killed in this area long ago. Unable to rest due to their failure to protect their master, they received my command to save me and defeated the goblins.

"But I've never used magic before, and during the magic test last night, I was told I was a 'miss.'"

'If you summoned all of us without even realizing it, you must have a rare talent for necromancy, My Lord.'

Being called 'My Lord' felt grand, so I asked them to call me by my name. Being called 'sama' was a bit much, but I decided to compromise.

The skeleton who answered my questions was Reinhardt, who had been the squad leader when he was a knight.

"What kind of magic is necromancy?"

'Necromancy is dark magic, but there are very few mages with an affinity for dark magic, so it's not a common type of magic.'

"So it's dark magic. If that's the case, the 'Magic Eye Crystal' not reacting was the correct response, right?"

'No, with your talent, the 'Magic Eye Crystal' should have turned black.'

"But the 'Magic Eye Crystal' remained clear. Why? Was it broken?"

'I was not present during your magic test, so I cannot say for sure...'

The skeleton tilted its head, creating a rather surreal scene.

"By the way, I forgot something important. Why am I still alive?"

That's right, last night, I was definitely torn apart by goblins and had my intestines pulled out, but I woke up fine this morning. My uniform was torn and bloodstained, but my body had no injuries.

By the way, I was extremely hungry when I woke up, and the skeletons brought me some fruit. One type was mango-like but tasted like oranges, and the other was a mix of bananas and avocados. The appearance and taste didn't match, but the fresh fruit was delicious.

'From what I can see, you used healing magic on yourself, My Lord.'

Reinhardt answered, but he seemed unsure.

"Isn't healing magic light magic?"

'Indeed, light magic is the most common, but some can use water magic. However, to heal internal injuries, only light magic can do it. Normally...'

"Normally... So, it's possible that water magic, which is not normally used, was used?"

'No, that's not it. Dark and light magic are considered opposites, and it's generally impossible for someone with an affinity for dark magic to use light magic.'

The surrounding skeletons, who were listening, tilted their heads in unison, which was kind of cute.

'Excuse me, My Lord.'

"Sure, go ahead, um..."

'I am Basten, the squad leader.'

It's a bit different, but since they're skeletons, it's hard to tell them apart.

'This is just a guess, but perhaps you have both light and dark magic affinities, and they canceled each other out, causing the 'Magic Eye Crystal' to not react.'

"Ah, that makes sense..."

The skeletons nodded and hit their palms with their fists, agreeing with the idea.

"But if both affinities are not perfectly balanced, wouldn't one of them react?"

When I raised this question, the skeletons tilted their heads again, which was quite cute.

'Either both affinities are perfectly balanced, or you have an unexpected attribute that neither light nor dark magic can detect. In any case, the 'Magic Eye Crystal' could not determine your magic type.'

"Right, it makes more sense to think it didn't react due to an unexpected attribute."

I thought I was a useless miss, but now I have a path to becoming a cheat.