“…That really was quick.”
“Right?”
Having already finished updating their licenses, Keiichiro and Tōru were walking down the corridor.
The Adventurers Guild was quite a large building.
It was sizable enough to house several domes like those used for sports matches or popular idol concerts.
Adventurers had become an important asset to the country.
This was because they were closely tied to the power balance between nations.
It was a worrying state of affairs, but one reason was likely that they were sometimes counted as military strength.
In other words, nurturing Adventurers was a crucial matter for the nation.
That was precisely why the Guild was equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.
Besides, only Adventurers visited this place.
People who could run several hundred meters in just over ten seconds.
People who could easily leap to places 10 meters high.
These were the kinds of individuals involved.
It was inevitable that the Guild would be built large and sturdy.
“Kageura-san, are you going to take the exam now?”
“Yeah. It’s nice that you can make reservations for the B-Rank exam.”
Keiichiro was heading for the 8th floor of the Guild.
It was the top floor.
According to what he’d heard beforehand, the promotion exam for B-Rank would be held there.
“…Is it okay if I come along?”
“It should probably be fine, right?”
Keiichiro replied lightly.
It might be difficult for her to enter the same room, naturally.
But watching the exam from a separate room shouldn’t be a problem—or so he hoped.
☆
—In conclusion, Tōru ended up waiting in a separate room.
He could see Tōru beyond the glass wall.
Incidentally, this glass was also Adventurer-spec; even if an average Adventurer struck it with an attack, it wouldn’t even get scratched.
They probably used materials obtained from Dungeons.
“We will take your examination ticket here.”
The room where the exam would take place.
A woman sitting at a table by the entrance said this.
She was a young woman in a suit—likely a staff member here.
She seemed a little nervous, perhaps because she was a new employee.
“Here you go.”
Keiichiro handed over a small slip of paper that could fit in his palm.
He had filled in his information on it beforehand.
What the staff member wrote in the remaining blank space would determine—pass or fail.
“Kageura Keiichiro-sama, correct?”
The woman glanced down at the slip of paper.
She was confirming the name that had been reserved in advance, but—
“Um, your class is—[Trapper]… Ah, yes.”
The woman hesitated slightly.
From her tone, it seemed her eyes had landed on the section for Keiichiro’s class.
“Um…”
Looking slightly awkward, the woman looked at Keiichiro.
“Is something wrong?”
When Keiichiro asked, the woman hesitantly said—
“There is a fee just to take the exam… Are you sure you want to proceed?”
—Perhaps she thought he was just taking it for the experience.
In a way, her concern might have been understandable.
[Trapper] was known as one of the weakest classes.
She probably couldn’t believe that someone like him would be promoted to B-Rank.
“Yes. The fee was 10,000 yen, correct?”
Keiichiro took a 10,000 yen bill from his wallet.
“Ah… yes. In that case, I will guide you to the venue.”
Once he paid, the woman, looking slightly bewildered, guided Keiichiro into the room.
“G-Good luck… okay?”
The woman offered words of encouragement with a strained smile.
☆
About 10 minutes after Keiichiro entered the room.
Besides him and the female staff member, there were three young men in the room.
It seemed today’s exam would be taken by four people.
“This is where we conduct the exams for those with magic-based classes,” the woman announced, standing before Keiichiro and the others.
Apparently, they tested Adventurers skilled in physical attacks separately from those skilled in magic attacks.
“There is a Target over there. Please attack it with any magic you like. You will be evaluated on a scale of 100 points based on the power.”
The woman gestured with her hand.
A target shaped like a human torso stood there.
“This Target is made of materials with high magic resistance, so please feel free to attack it with all your might.”
(So that’s why they separated by class.)
Keiichiro understood.
The exam wouldn’t work if the target kept breaking.
Therefore, for the exam for magic-using Adventurers, they used one specialized for magic defense.
“The Target doesn’t move, so please take your time and aim—ah.”
The woman, who had been continuing her explanation, stopped.
Her eyes darted between the target and—Keiichiro.
Not understanding the meaning, he waited—
“Um… For a [Trapper]… what should we do…? A Trap won’t activate on a stationary Target… um…”
The woman muttered, looking troubled.
(…I see. True, it’s impossible to catch a stationary target in a Trap.)
He understood why the woman was perplexed.
Traps wouldn’t activate unless an enemy stepped on them.
And this time, the target wouldn’t move.
A convenient setup for landing magic attacks.
However, trapping it was nearly impossible.
A situation where the exam itself couldn’t proceed.
It was understandable that the woman was unsure how to handle it.
As Keiichiro was thinking this, the young men next to him started to chuckle.
It was clearly mocking laughter.
“Huh? Seriously? A [Trapper] showed up?”
“You’re so weak the examiner doesn’t know what to do. Just go home already.”
“Or maybe you’ll carry the Target yourself and put it in the Trap? If a [Trapper] even has the strength to lift that thing!”
“Ah… no… um—”
The woman looked flustered, trying to say something.
But perhaps unable to find the right words to calm the situation, she closed her mouth.
She looked apologetically at Keiichiro.
Was she regretting that her own words had made him the target of ridicule?
Keiichiro let out a breath.
“—Your concern is unnecessary.”
And with that, he started walking.
He headed straight for the front of the Target.
He stopped just before a line drawn on the floor.
“From here—I just need to aim, right?”
Keiichiro asked, turning only his head back towards the woman.
“Y-Yes… But, a Trap that can hit from here—”
The woman nodded, but stared at Keiichiro with a blank expression.
He gave her a slight smile—and faced the Target.
“[Arrow] + [Flame]”
Making sure the people around wouldn’t notice, Keiichiro used his own body as a shield to fuse the Traps.
He had no intention of showing off his Unique Skill in a place like this.
(Let’s try something.)
An idea suddenly occurred to him.
Keiichiro put it into action.
An [Arrow] floated near his hand via [Aerial Deployment].
Keiichiro—bent it.
As if obeying his will, the Arrow twisted, forming a spiral.
As the Arrow formed a spiral, the flame converged even further.
If his previous fused Traps could be described as a flamethrower, this attack was a laser beam.
The flame became thinner, more focused, increasing its piercing power.
“Launch.”
Click…
Keiichiro snapped his fingers near the Trap.
The resulting air vibration activated the Trap—
Silently—the flame pierced through the Target.
“Eh…”
Only the woman’s voice could be heard.
The room was that quiet.
That meant the Target had been pierced without even a moment of resistance.
“The Target…” “It got burned through…” “No way…”
The young men who had been watching were also staring at the Target, mouths agape.
“O-One hundred… 100 points,” the woman, rebooting after a few seconds, read out the result presumably sent from the measuring device inside the Target.
“Um—Kageura-sama.”
“Yes?”
The woman walked up next to Keiichiro.
“I apologize for the inconvenience… but may I check your Adventurer Card again?”
“? Why is that?”
“The magic just now… was extremely unusual for a Trap, so I’d like to confirm your class… um… I’m sorry.”
She averted her gaze as she spoke.
(True, it’s hard to see that as a Trap.)
What Keiichiro had used was a Unique Skill.
The phenomenon it caused was too different from a typical Trap.
For someone who knew his class, its abnormality would stand out.
“That’s no [Trapper] Skill!”
“You were pretending to have a weak class just to make the exam easier!”
“This isn’t just B-Rank, you’re gonna get your license revoked!”
The young men raised their voices.
Perhaps because the possibility of Keiichiro cheating had emerged, their voices grew louder.
“…Hah. Is this alright?”
“—My apologies.”
However, Keiichiro had nothing to hide.
He handed his Adventurer Card to the woman.
An Adventurer Card constantly performs [Appraisal] on its owner.
Naturally, countermeasures against forgery were also perfect.
“Eh……”
The woman let out a gasp of surprise.
The Adventurer Card proved that Keiichiro was a [Trapper].
The card, which could not be forged by science or magic, had provided proof.
“I… It’s [Trapper]… There’s no mistake.”
Even as she said that, the woman kept flipping the card over and over, checking it.
“The card itself isn’t a fake… Is it? Could it really be…?”
“Like I said from the start, I’m a [Trapper].”
“Eh, eeeh…? A [Trapper]… did that…? Eeeh?”
For some reason, she seemed slightly put off.
Maybe piercing the Target instantly was a bit overkill.
“–Is the measurement of magic capacity next?”
“Ah… no.”
Keiichiro said that, trying to change the subject, but the woman shook her head.
He had heard that for magic-using Adventurers, magic output and total magic capacity were part of the exam, but–
“Kageura-sama, you previously exceeded the measuring device’s upper limit–achieving a score approximately five times the passing standard… therefore, you are exempt from the other tests.”
“””F-Five times…!”””
The young men stood in a line, their mouths agape.
“–Please submit this paper to the counter on the first floor. We will proceed with your promotion procedures.”
The woman quickly wrote down the numbers with a ballpoint pen and returned the examination ticket to Keiichiro.
“Thank you very much.”
“Ah… um.”
Just as Keiichiro was about to leave, the woman’s voice stopped him.
“Yes?”
Was there something she forgot to tell him?
Thinking that, Keiichiro turned around and saw the woman bowing her head.
“I apologize for doubting you earlier.”
“Ah… no. I’m aware that I did something that would naturally invite suspicion…”
Keiichiro scratched his cheek.
If another Adventurer had done the same thing, he probably would have suspected them of falsifying their information too.
In fact, even Akino had told him, ‘That’s not what a [Trapper] does…’.
It was only natural for a woman who didn’t know him well to be suspicious.
If anything, the fact that she checked properly showed she was diligent in her duties.
“Besides, I passed properly. I don’t mind.”
“…Thank you very much.”
In any case, he had obtained the ticket to become B-Rank.
Keiichiro left the room just like that.
“…What the heck was with that guy?”
“Maybe… the bar for today’s exam is set really low?”
“Y-Yeah…! Alright, I’ll go next!”
“We sincerely apologize… The load from the previous magic was too great, and the measuring device is displaying an error… Could we ask you to wait about an hour for maintenance…?”
“””Eh…”””
“Keiichiro-san, that was amazing.”
When Keiichiro left the room, Tōru was already waiting there.
She praised his exam results with a deadpan expression.
“I was worried I’d fail the exam if I held back too much, so I might have failed to moderate the power… I hope I didn’t break the measuring device.”
Keiichiro gave a wry smile.
He probably could have easily passed the threshold even if he had diffused the power of his attack to some extent.
But because a new idea came to mind, he ended up firing an attack with its power focused on a single point.
Now, anxiety crept in that he might have broken the device measuring magic power.
“Mm… It’s their fault for providing a measuring device with insufficient specs… probably. Maybe. I hope so. Please.”
“I hope so…”
He really didn’t want to be asked to pay for damages.
Keiichiro prayed inwardly for the measuring device’s well-being.
–Regardless, Keiichiro had become a B-Rank Adventurer.
Next time, the battle to meet the conditions for promotion to A-Rank begins.