Chapter 3: First Battle
Wooo wooo—the sudden blaring alarm made Kazuma jolt, his body trembling. Although it was an alarm he had never heard before, Kazuma knew what it signified. It was—
“An Ibinom has invaded the city…!”
The alarm sounding meant that an Ibinom had broken through the defense system, breached the encirclement by the National Defense Force and Gifteds from private corporations in charge of security, and had invaded the city. And, there were alarms in each district. For it to be heard this loudly meant that an Ibinom had invaded the district Kazuma was currently in.
“But, well, this is inside the academy, and there are many combat-type Gifteds, so it’ll probably be subjugated quickly.”
The Ability Test had ended, and Kazuma, who had been relaxing carefree, remembered that this was an Esper Academy, so he remained calm without any particular panic. Kazuma was optimistic, thinking that the combat-type Gifteds would surely take care of it.
However, that wouldn’t be the case.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
On the academy grounds, near where Kazuma was resting, a female student’s scream could be heard. If this had been a Kazuma with no such experience, he would have been frozen in surprise, but Kazuma, who had heard screams countless times in the other world, found his body moving before he could think.
When Kazuma rushed to where the scream came from, a female student was being attacked by a fly-shaped, insect-type Ibinom. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be injured yet, so he could save her. Kazuma started to run to help, but then he remembered and stopped.
“(Wait. Didn’t I just decide to live peacefully?! Even if I don’t jump in here, other Gifteds will surely…)”
Just as he thought they would help, the Ibinom opened its vicious mouth wide, about to devour the female student.
“Someone, help meeeeeeee!!!”
“!!!”
It was already a reflex. Before Kazuma knew it, he had punched the Ibinom away and was standing protectively in front of the female student.
“Eh…”
“Hurry and run while you can!”
“Eh, ah, yes!”
Kazuma yelled, ordering the female student to flee. The female student was bewildered by Kazuma’s words but quickly ran away.
“Tch… I went and did it~”
As soon as the female student fled, the Ibinom returned to Kazuma. Perhaps angry that its prey had escaped, it gnashed its fangs and glared at Kazuma.
“Should I consider this good timing? I’ll test if my magic works on you!”
Thinking positively that this was a good opportunity, Kazuma decided to test if the magic he had acquired in the other world would work on the Ibinom. He enhanced himself with Body Enhancement magic, circled to the Ibinom’s side, and unleashed a fire-attribute spell.
“Flame Lance!”
A spear-shaped flame shot from Kazuma’s hand towards the Ibinom. The Flame Lance directly hit the Ibinom, piercing through its hard carapace.
“Giiiiiiiiii!!!”
The Ibinom shrieked in pain. But it wasn’t dead yet. The Ibinom recognized Kazuma as a threat and tried to escape by flying into the sky.
However, Kazuma had no intention of letting it escape. He moved ahead to intercept the Ibinom’s escape path and aimed his palm at it.
“It seems magic works on you too. This is the finisher! Flare Burst!”
Struck by the mass of flames released from Kazuma’s palm, the Ibinom turned to cinders without even a chance to let out a death cry.
Kazuma landed lightly with a thud and clenched and unclenched his hands a few times.
“Phew… That was my first time fighting an Ibinom, but from the looks of it, they might not be that big of a deal? Well, but that one was an insect-type and not a particularly strong individual, so I shouldn’t let my guard down.”
As a result of this battle, Kazuma learned that the magic he acquired in the other world was also effective against Ibinoms. That alone was a great discovery. Moreover, the female student had escaped safely, so it was the best possible outcome.
“Hm…? Someone’s heading this way. This could get troublesome, so I’d better run.”
As Kazuma was basking in the afterglow of defeating the Ibinom, he sensed multiple presences heading towards him. They were probably combat-type Gifteds. It would be bad for Kazuma to encounter them now. Since Kazuma had already subjugated the Ibinom, they would ask various questions to Kazuma, who was at the scene. If that happened, it would become a question of who subjugated the Ibinom, and Kazuma might come under suspicion.
Deciding he should avoid that, Kazuma quickly left the scene. A short while after Kazuma left, two Gifteds arrived at the scene.
“It seems a battle took place here…”
“Looks like it. But for not even the Ibinom’s corpse to remain…”
“For now, let’s contact the academy and hear what they have to say.”
“Let’s do that.”
While the male Gifted took out his phone and made a call, the female Gifted investigated the surroundings. However, since not even the Ibinom’s corpse remained, there were no clues left.
“No clues… huh. Who on earth could it be?”
Since no clues were found at all, they couldn’t determine who had defeated the Ibinom on the spot.
“I’ve spoken with the academy. Mizuki, they said the scene was captured on a surveillance camera.”
“Is that so? Then, let’s go check it immediately.”
The woman called Mizuki headed to the academy with the male Gifted. A teacher was waiting where they went, and after guiding them into the academy, they headed to a monitor room where they could check the surveillance camera footage. There, the footage from the surveillance cameras installed in the academy could be viewed in real-time.
“So, where’s the footage in question?”
“Yes. It’s this one.”
A staff member in the monitor room operated the controls and switched to the recorded footage. What was shown there was an Ibinom and tree leaves. It seemed the camera was attached to a tree, but Kazuma, who had defeated the Ibinom, was not visible. However, the female student Kazuma had rescued was shown fleeing.
“We can’t tell who was fighting, but it looks like we can identify the one who was attacked.”
“Seems so. Hey, can you zoom in a bit more? I want to identify the fleeing female student.”
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
The staff member operated the controls, zoomed in on the camera footage, and focused on the female student. They increased the image quality and proceeded to identify the female student. Her entire face became clear, and Mizuki urged the staff member to hasten the identification.
“What’s this girl’s name?”
“Judging by the color of her ribbon, she’s a first-year from the Support Course. Her name is…”
They searched the student roster using the facial photograph and identified her.
“Understood. She is Kamishiro Matsuri-san, a first-year in the Support Course.”
“I see. Well then, Sugisaki. Let’s go talk to her right away.”
“Roger.”
“Please wait. In that case, let’s call her over the school intercom. You two, please wait in the reception room.”
“That’s what they say, what do you think, Mizuki?”
“You’re right. That would save us the trouble of searching, so let’s accept their kind offer.”
“Then, this way. I will guide you to the reception room.”
Mizuki and Sugisaki were guided by an academy teacher to the reception room. Once guided to the reception room, the two sat on the sofa, and all that remained was to wait for Kamishiro Matsuri-san, the female student who had been attacked by the Ibinom.