━━━
[Adventurer’s Geographical Adaptation]
-Monday Wednesday 5th Class 19:00~21:00
-Professor: Sadako
-Adventure Department, Major
━━━
After sending off Hestia with a promise to consider her mischievous proposal, I arrived at today’s final exam venue.
“You’re late.”
“We almost went in together!!”
Pretending not to be scared, Jiang trembled in fear, while Titosso wasn’t even pretending.
Seeing the frightened faces of my cowardly friends made me feel good.
“Hehe. How do you plan to survive this treacherous world with such fear? You can’t do anything without me, can you? As the veteran player I am, it looks like it’s up to me to help you out!”
“Don’t get smug. Even if I’m scared, I can hold it in. I’ll endure and get the best score!”
“When scared, just close your eyes and swing the lightsaber! I learned that somehow it works! So, with the power of the lights, I’ll manage just fine!”
Courage to overcome fear.
Suddenly, I was curious about the two kids.
“What kind of mama do you two have?”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”
“Hmmm~ A sickly little girl? I heard my mama has been weak since she was a child.”
Unlike Jiang, it seemed Titosso had a story related to their mama.
“Didn’t Titosso’s papa say he was the mayor of the Southern City-States?”
“Right. The mayor worked hard to cure mama’s illness, and that’s how he got the position!”
“Wow. That’s amazing!”
“Right? Papa is amazing!”
As we chatted and entered the exam venue, Titosso’s voice got quieter and quieter.
“I wish Papa could share his courage with me… There’s never been a moment I need courage more than now…”
“More than making ten friends?”
“I need ten times more courage than that… Here, there’s no way this is an exam for first-years…”
That was true.
Honestly, the exam venue was quite scary.
The entrance of the venue yawned wide like the mouth of a pitch-black darkness.
From within the darkness, screams and wails from all ages echoed incessantly.
What on earth lies beyond that darkness?
What does this have to do with [Adventurer’s Geographical Adaptation]?
Is Professor Sadako really planning to turn us into undead?
Titosso’s spinning eyes and racing thoughts were clearly visible.
‘If only this exam could finish within the 5th period!’
The announcements from the magic watch spoke of grim prospects.
━━━
[Baiscs and Understanding of Disguise]
-Monday Wednesday 6th Class 21:00~23:00
-Professor: Pinkberry
-Adventure Department, Major
-2nd Semester Midterm Schedule: Wednesday 19:00~21:00 + α
━━━
The next exam date for the following lecture is Wednesday.
That means tonight is as if Professor Sadako has rented the place out!
…That’s very bad news!
What is Professor Sadako planning to do by stretching the test time so late into the night?
It’s surely not a good sign.
Walking along the only path illuminated through the darkness, a gray mansion, presumed to be the exam venue, finally appeared.
At the mansion entrance, a middle-aged man in a suit and others were waiting for us.
“Nice to meet you, first-years. I am Yep, leader of the Non-Formal Training Group.”
“Hello, Yep!”
“We are your exam opponents invited by Professor Sadako.”
Behind the suited gentleman, a crow beastfolk with ominous black wings peeked out, followed by two owl beastfolk with diamond-shaped eyes.
“Kkamang.”
“Jukeong.”
“Silheong.”
“Kkamang, Jukeongmusae, Silheongmusae. These are the names of the members. More specifically, these three are also your exam opponents.”
Having dealt with enormous opponents since the day, I took the sudden appearance of this new organization in stride.
“What kind of people are they? Titosso, have you heard of them?”
“No!”
But then, over there, they’re giving us hints.
“Is Charlotte a warrior?”
“Oh, so you’re from the Foundation!”
“Foundation?!”
Regardless of the scared Titosso, it was a pleasant reunion.
“You’re the Director, right?”
“That’s correct. I am the person you were looking for.”
“Great! Let’s hurry and take the exam, so we can talk about what we want to!”
Isn’t it a bit embarrassing to call an incident where one exam subject gets quietly killed during Professor Sadako’s exam an accident?
Seemingly worried about Charlotte, the others nodded agreeably.
After exchanging greetings, the mansion’s main entrance creaked open with a creeeak sound.
“Gekekekeke. Welcome to the midterm exam of [Adventurer’s Geographical Adaptation]. This exam consists of escaping the Death Field before the exam opponent team. The faster you are, the more bonus points you receive, and the slower you are, the more penalties you’ll face. If penalty points reach a certain level…”
“Hin-hing! Oknodie, Jiang. What do we do? Supplementary class with Professor Sadako, I might be dragged to the torture chamber!”
That’s just torture.
“Calm down, Titosso. No matter how much of a sadist Professor Sadako is, she wouldn’t drag you straight to the torture room!”
“Sniff… Really?”
“If only the worst inferior student gets taken to supplementary class, that might be a different story!”
“Tch. That means I’ll be the one with the worst score!”
“It’s okay. Just trust me. If we pass the exam, we won’t have to attend supplementary classes!”
Actually, there is a very simple way to pass this exam.
Professor Sadako has provided a truly easy path.
Jiang seems to have realized the answer as he already fiddled with his dagger, anxious to throw it.
“Now, our goal is to escape this place, so let’s gather some information first.”
The floorboards creaked underfoot, and occasionally, dust would fall with a thud from the ceiling.
“Jukeong. Jukeong.”
“Don’t run. It’s scary.”
“What useless super cowards they are. Bringing those two along might have been a mistake.”
The members of the Non-Formal Training Group were frozen in fear at the first taste of Professor Sadako’s exam.
On the other hand, we who had experienced [Ghost House] in the first semester strode confidently, kicking open doors and rummaging through items loudly to find hints.
“Jiang. Isn’t there a hidden door behind this shelf?”
“Good idea. Let’s knock it over.”
Creeeak, thud!
“Gyaah!”
With the shabby scream of the beastfolk echoing, a perfect wall came into view behind the toppled bookshelf.
“Nothing here.” “If we knock on the wall, there might be a hidden space.”
“Really?”
Taking the lead, I banged on the wall with my fists, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.
“Ugh, ugh!”
Cough, cough… this isn’t looking good.
“Ugh, please, save me…”
“Oh dear, Titosso. What if you get curious and lie under the bed? It’s dirty; get up quickly.”
Helping the clumsy Titosso to her feet while we dug through everything in sight, hints began to appear here and there.
━━━
New Maid’s Journal Page 3
I shouldn’t have fallen for the announcement that all the new maids ran away and we are now recruiting butlers.
Sadako, who boldly demanded human blood, was clearly a vampire.
The butlers had two choices left.
Either get bitten to death by the young lady or find and offer a sacrifice to be bitten to death instead.
Fortunately, there’s a dungeon nearby.
Spilling rumors that there’s treasure in the dungeon, adventurers will surely flock here.
I’ll write a request letter to the Adventurer’s Guild from the office.
━━━
━━━
New Maid’s Journal Page 6
I never knew.
There really was treasure in the dungeon.
It’s even suspected there are artifacts beyond just treasure!
The adventurers’ stronghold has now turned into a dungeon town.
Adventurers blinded by treasure.
Merchants blinded by a loose purse.
Gangsters, organizations, nobles blinded by privilege.
All sorts of people began to swarm like clouds.
I’m glad the number of sacrifices for Lady Sadako has increased.
━━━
━━━
New Maid’s Journal Page 9
When I heard the legendary adventurer was coming to town, I had to spread false rumors to deceive them into thinking the dungeon had already been conquered.
The adventurer possessed skills as great as the rumors suggested, and the dungeon was finally conquered.
That was the beginning of misfortune.
The adventurer could not refuse the invitation of the beautiful Lady Sadako.
The dungeon core the adventurer brought began to shroud the lady in darkness once more.
In front of the adventurer with a solemn face, the lady spoke.
“My meal isn’t finished yet.”
“Not even a scrap will be left. Nothing can be taken away.”
The mansion became a new dungeon.
This time, the butlers had two choices left again.
Either challenge the lady alongside the adventurer or kill the adventurer under the lady’s command.
But we’ve already stained our hands with too much blood.
It’s too late for forgiveness.
We have already become monsters entangled in [Sadako’s Mansion] dungeon.
━━━
Wow. This continues from the notes of the new maid’s first semester!
Imagining Professor Sadako carefully typing this note makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
She’s probably thinking, “This will scare them.”
“This way they’ll move to the next course.”
The effort put into designing the exam room shines as much as the creator of the ghost house.
‘Huh? But didn’t we just skip ahead and break through everything to clear the path?’
…I hope Professor Sadako doesn’t get mad.
That would be really scary.
“Oknodie. Look! I found a suspicious altar. It seems there’s a big jewel that should be placed on it, and next to it is an hourglass.”
“Gekekekeke. Well done finding this place so soon. If you find the jewel of life and place it here, you’ll be able to escape the mansion. Since you’ve read the new maid’s journal up to this point, surely you can figure out the identity and location of the jewel.”
“Skeleton Instructor…!”
Jiang jumped and clung to the ceiling like a cat at the sound of the voice.
“Why are you here? Are you planning to kill us during the exam and turn us into undead?!”
“Gekekeke. Half right and half wrong.”
Why is it half right?
“Why is it half right? No, I don’t want to know.”
“Gekekeke. It’s useless; even if you say you don’t want to know, I’ll tell you anyway. The incorrect part is that I will kill you. If you cannot pass the exam, you will surely die. The correct part is that you will become undead after death. I, the instructor, will grant you the mercy of becoming undead so you may still pass the impossible exam.”
“Cough.”
Hearing that loud declaration, the wandering crow beastfolk nearby started to hiccup in terror.
A sad fate awaited the poor crow beastfolk.
“Oknodie. Let’s hurry and kill the exam opponent. ‘This exam is to escape the Death Field before the exam opponent team.’ If we kill the opponent, we’re guaranteed to escape first. This exam might even end right there.”
The crow beastfolk, who was genuinely threatened by the possibility of being killed by a student, trembled in fear.
“Jiang, that thought has a flaw!”
“Where?”
“The term ‘escape the Death Field before the exam opponent team’ means there’s also a case where neither side escapes!”
Even if we kill our opponent, we can’t guarantee passing the exam.
Jiang’s expression grew dark.
“I don’t want to become an undead assassin. Should I charm Professor Sadako right now…?”
“Huh? There’s no need for that. Killing doesn’t guarantee passing, but we could acquire materials to escape. Didn’t the Skeleton Instructor just tell us that?”
I clearly heard with my own two ears.
“He said if we find the jewel of life and place it on the altar, we can escape. That means if we kill a living being and use its blood and flesh to create the jewel of life, we can escape without needing to search for it!”
Cough.
Jiang didn’t even turn his head and only followed the crow beastfolk’s hiccup with his eyes.
Like a hunter quietly stalking its prey before it flees.