Two months had gone by quickly as I was attacking the labyrinth and teaching magic to Lara and Marise....

　At last, the exchange match with the Imperial Magic Academy was approaching, and the five representatives were to be announced.
　The whole school was gathered in the school grounds and the principal announced it loudly.

''The representative is ... from the first year, Lara!　MARYS!　.... and Kurt!

　Oh. It's a relief to hear my name called.
　I was looking forward to it, but it wouldn't be funny if I wasn't even selected for the national team.

What?　I'll be the varsity player.
'Yes ... and rightly so!　Because Kurt is teaching me a lot of magic!

　Marise's body seemed to tremble lightly, though she said so with her mouth.

'Lara. There's no need to be afraid.
What?
'I've been watching Lara for two months and I'm sure she's no match for those wizards. I can assure you of that. And so will Marise.
'Uh-huh!　Thanks, Kurt!　I'll do my best not to drag Kurt down!

　Lara took my hand in hers and got a big smile on her face.

'Hey, hey!　You guys are so close!　Harench. Stay away!

　Marise stepped in between us.
　Even as they both squirmed, I was reminded of the past two months.

　I knew they both had good muscle, I guess. They were growing in strength at an alarming rate.
　It's a good thing that I've reached a level where I can manage to win, even if I can't remember Desmond, who doesn't remember the initial body-strengthening magic.
　I'm looking forward to the exchange game.



　-- And finally, it was the day of the exchange game.
The representative players are gathered in front of the entrance of the 《Treasure Labyrinth》.
　The entire magic academy was in a festive mood, with special stalls set up.
　But we're the representatives. I'm not sure I could enjoy a festival like that, though.

　Lara, Marise........and the third-year representative and I headed for the Treasure Maze.......


''Hey, hey!　I heard that the Royal City Magical Academy has three first-years as representatives!
You've already given up the game!
"And one of them is called defective magic. Do you think that's a match for our empire?


　It started with the players on the Imperial side abusing him.
　It seems that there is also a teacher from the Empire's.......Disualia Magic Academy, but he didn't even try to stop it.

''Hmmm!　Don't make fun of Kurt!
'Yes. Besides, I'm sure it would hurt if I underestimated you for being a freshman, wouldn't it?

　Lara and Marise are not frightened.

'Hmph!'

　One of the five players representing the Imperial side one of them stepped forward and lifted my chin with a bite.

''As I recall the little guy who was the smallest of the lot said he had defective magic power.
Me?　I would certainly have faulty magic.
'Ha!　I can't believe you didn't lie!　

　The man lets out a high-pitched laugh.

　Lara and Marise are angry behind me, but I don't think anything of it.
　The weaker the dog, the more often he barks.

'And yet...'
Hmm?　What's up. Are you scared, by any chance?

　A man who repeatedly provokes.

　Not so.
　I was surprised that the man was too vulnerable.

　Is it safe to approach him so unprotected?　
　And it doesn't seem to be deploying warding magic.

　Impossible.
　No matter how confident you are in your abilities, I'm currently deploying seven layers of magic formulas at the same time.
　If any of them were to be activated, this guy's head would be blown off.
　And yet, the reason why he's this smug and smug.......

''Kurt!　Are you okay?

　Marise quickly pulls me away from the man.

'They're the ones who get rude!
'It's true!　Let's show them what we've got in store for them in the exchange game.

　The two of them seemed to be pissed off.
　I hope they didn't lose their cool.

'Lara, Marise. Don't let your guard down.
"What?
'Direct attacks on opponents are forbidden in the exchange game, as I recall, right?

　In this exchange game, you will have to collect as many items as possible in the Treasure Maze.
　Attacking your opponent directly with magic is forbidden.
　It is forbidden to attack your opponent directly with magic, and you will be disqualified immediately.

　However......

I'm not going to be able to get my hands on any of them. What a brilliant schemer!

　If it was someone with a short temper, they might take advantage of the current provocation and be disqualified.

''Err ... I don't think so.
'Me too. It's just stupid, right?

　No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Empire's national player can't be so mindless and empty-headed.

　...right?
　Come on, Empire.

Keep up the good work. Fellow delegates.
Kurt. I'm sure you can beat the Empire this year.

　Erika-sensei and Desmond also ran up to us and gave us that encouragement.
　Apparently, the teachers are waiting at several points in the Treasure Maze.
　It seems that this is so that the students won't be in danger if an unexpected situation arises.

　But don't worry.
　It's not possible for that to happen.

　◆ ◆

'Come on!　It's finally happening, this year's exchange game!　What a surprise, Rosanlila Academy of Magic has elected three out of five freshmen to represent them!　Will this be the typhoon of the exchange game!　Ladies and gentlemen, let's cheer for each other's schools to win!

　Is a loudspeaker magic being used a woman's voice echoed throughout the school.
　It's the start of the exchange game.
　At that moment, an explosive cheer erupted from the entire school.

''We're the first to arrive!''

　As soon as we started, a representative from the Imperial side pushed us aside and entered the Treasure Labyrinth.

''Kurt!　We have to hurry!
''If you're ahead of me, the remaining items inside might be uprooted!

　Lara and Marise seemed flustered.

Well, there's no need to panic. Let's just start collecting them one at a time, one at a time.
But....
Don't worry.

　Lara gives me a worried look.


'So you're the three first year geniuses. My name's Corey.
I'm Glenn!　I'm listening to you guys. I'll let you have free reign in the beginning and you can show me your power!


　The remaining two representatives of the royal city side said.
　The rest of us are third year students.

　Hmm.
　After all, being third-years, they seemed calmer than Lara and Marlies.

Well,

　They're fast.
　The players on the Imperial side are already out of sight.
　But we have the home advantage.
　Sorry.....


I have all the terrain on the other side.


Yes?

　Marise speaks up.

'What do you mean?'
That's right. One more layer of analysis is long overdue for the past two months. I understand everything, including the hidden passages.
So you're saying there are more than a few similar passages to the first one you dove into?

　Marise is probably referring to the passage where I first found the magic stone.
　I nodded silently at her question.

'There will be a wall at the end. There was ancient writing on it. The third year students will know because they've been under there so many times.
'Oh, yeah I know where you're going with this but...'
'Wasn't that just a meaningless string of letters?　I mean, there's no way I can decipher ancient letters.

　Didn't even the third year students know of a path that led further back?

　We quickly found ourselves in front of a wall of ancient writing.

The writing is really messed up, but there's no way I can read this stuff.
'Kurt...?　What are you going to do this time?

　Lara and Marise ask me.

'I can read ... no, I can decipher this ancient script.
Really?
Yeah.

　Here's what it said.


"The fork in the road from here. Take the right hand, and you will find the treasure. Choose the right hand, and you will find the treasure.
　If you lose your way. Use the disarming spell on the obstacle in front of you.
　In the meantime, the Guardian is there. Only when you have passed the final hurdle will you be able to get it.


How can Kurt be able to read ancient letters?

　I didn't know how to answer Marise's question, so I closed my mouth.
　But the answer was simple.


　Because this ancient script was written in a language that was a thousand years old.


　I didn't expect to see you here....
　The language of this world was completely different from that of 1000 years ago.
　Thanks to this, I had to learn to read and write from scratch after I was reincarnated.

But... if what you say is true, I can't believe that there are still mysteries like this left in One Layer...!
And I can't believe we can read ancient script that no one has ever been able to decipher.
This year's freshman year really seems to be a bunch of bullshit.

　The third year students seemed to be beyond surprised and dismayed.
　Well let's leave it at that for now.

''Well to read these letters, go right at the fork in the road.

　A lock release is a magic that can unlock treasure chests and doors that won't open.
　But to use it on a wall that doesn't seem to have any kind of henpeckedness to it... I might not have realized that if I hadn't read these hints.

''But is there really a way to do that?''
'And the guardians...?　Are we the enemy?

　Lara craned her neck and Marise was thinking about it.

'Don't worry. I didn't tell you two, but I gave it a shot there once before.'
What?
I took out that guardian in one fell swoop as well. All that's left to do is collect the treasure.

　When I said that, Lara and Marise exhaled too.

　Why?
　Oh, well. Let's get that treasure back in our hands.

　...before that.

"....hmph.

　I looked back at an angle and let go of the fire spear.

'What's up, Kurt?　And all of a sudden you're using magic here.
It's dangerous. You don't want to be careless with your magic.

　Lara and Marise...or rather, the two third year guys, it would have looked like I had just unleashed a spell on an empty place.
　But there was no way I was going to do such a futile thing.

'Hey. There's a little bit of an annoying bug in there.
...?

　Totally.............................I wonder if this is also the work of the Imperial side?
　Since I hadn't heard of this before the exchange war, it wouldn't have been a problem to destroy it.
　I turned my back on everyone else who seemed to have doubts and started walking towards the supreme treasure.