Next, we headed to a large hall-like area in the school grounds.
　Apparently, the students who had finished their exams elsewhere were also gathered here.

''Ah, Kurt!

　He leaned back against the wall until the exam began.
　Lara came running up from the entrance.

'That was amazing magic earlier!　That's Kurt for you!
No, it's not.

　I shrug my shoulders.
　In fact, I don't really mean it at all, so my body starts to itch if I'm being praised for something like that.

　As me and Lara are talking, the other candidates are gazing at us.
　Lara is a beautiful girl.
　The fact that a girl like that is talking to me, I think they may be jealous.

I have to thank Kurt for that.
Thank you?　If it was yesterday, we're done.
'And about yesterday!　It's today!

　And Lara held up her hand with the ring on it.

This ring I'm sure Kurt did something to it, didn't he?
What makes you think that?
Hmmm, a hunch!

　Blithely, Lara said.

''..........''
'What!　Why are you looking at me like that!　It's like they think this guy is an idiot!

　Lara flapped her hands around.
　Every action was loud and funny.

'My instincts are often right in these situations!　Because this ring ... it's an amazing thing, but it wasn't as great as this when I bought it, right?　At best, it's a little more wizardly than usual.　It was like, "Oh my God!
Isn't that what Lara is capable of?
No. I used to be good at magic but I'm just as good as everyone else in here. When I showed Kurt the ring yesterday, he did something for me, didn't he?　So ... thank you!

　Lara lowers her head.

　Earlier, Lara seemed to feel that people thought she was stupid, but that's not true.

　Intuition is important.
　That's because it's backed up by accumulated experience and knowledge.

　When you think it through to the last minute and still don't know the answer.
　There are times when I leave it to the luck of my fingers.
　And Lara's intuition is actually right.

'But!　But!　 Billions of times more amazing!　Instead of casting a spell on the Mad Doll, you're breaking it.
You won't be able to kill an entire dragon if you can't do that.
'I'm not trying to kill a dragon!　I mean, there's no way a human could beat it!

　What are you talking about?
　I have slain more than 100 dragons in my previous life.
　Not one of them has ever really pleased me.

　And besides.....

"There are dragon hunters, aren't there?　How are they doing?
Dragons....hunters...?

　Lara cocks her head.

'Well, there's no such thing as a horrible person!　Aren't dragons only in mythology?
Uh....

　Apparently, the profession of 'dragon hunters' is not common in this world.
　In a previous life, dragon hunters hunted dragons like they were competing with each other.

　Once they over-hunted the dragons and incurred the wrath of the hunters.
　I was the mediator and made a peace treaty between man and dragon.
　But I also ran into a 100,000-year-old divine dragon, so I didn't get away with it, but it's a good memory now.

It's not that I'm the only one who seems to be praising them, but I think Lara is amazing too. It's a red magic power, and I think it will continue to grow as we train it.

　Change the subject.

　I thought I was giving her a compliment out of hand, but Lara slumped her shoulders and

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that there is a lot more to me. That's because I'm a 'disadvantageous magician'.
Unfortunate magic?
''As Kurt knows, it's a magic power that isn't suited to the offensive system of magic, as you probably know. That's why it's hard for me to be an adventurer and that's why they call me unfortunate.

　You're saying that red magic isn't good for attacking?

　It's not at all in line with my perception.
　And even if the red color wasn't suitable for attacking, if you train your support and body-enhancing magic, you'll be able to work well as an adventurer party.

''It's funny........''
What?
'That perception is wrong. Red is definitely a good magic for attacking. I don't know where you learned that but you need to have more confidence in yourself.

　A thousand years ago, a nobleman who was jealous of me is going to pretend that a magical revolution never happened and I'm going to believe him.

　...No, it's possible because of them.

'Yeah!　Thank you for comforting me. I love Kurt!

　I was just telling the truth and Lara seems to have taken it the wrong way.
　Good grief.


"--We're going to start our final exam.


　Oops.
　When I was talking to Lara, it seemed that the time for the exam had come.
　It seemed that they were using some kind of loudspeaker magic to make their voices echo in the hall.

''The final exam is a competition. From now on, we will tell you in turn the combination and the number of the stage. Candidates must quickly move to the stage to which the number is assigned and start the test.

　Hmmm.

'At the start of the exam, we'll have each of you put up a defensive spell here. If that defensive magic is broken, or one of you gives up or runs out of time, the test will end there. Also, we, the examiners, as referees, will be watching your fight. Please note that even if the referee stops the fight, it will be over.

　I see.

　Long story short, the point is to show that you're stronger than your opponent in time, right?
　It's been a boring exam, like writing and target guessing, so my heart flutters when I hear it.

It's not a good idea. I'm not good at fighting people...

　Lara bent her knees lightly and shivered.

　Then the exam numbers were called out in turn.


'Exam number 99--exam number 200, please move on to Stage 1 where the exam will be conducted.


　Whoa, they finally called my name.

"Kurt, good luck!
Yeah.
You have to win, right?
Of course.
I'll pray that he's not too strong!

　What do you mean?
　The stronger the better.

　I hope my opponent is strong.

　With my back to Lara, we stepped onto the circular stage.