Chapter 83
The sound of birds chirping drifted in from outside the cave.
The sunlight passing through the trees settled at the entrance of the cave.
It was morning.
The dawn had passed quietly.
He heard no other reports from the people who had stood night watch.
He stood up from his spot.
As he approached the entrance, the pink mist he had seen yesterday greeted him.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes.”
Luna walked out, looking as if she had not quite woken up yet.
He leaned down and straightened her disheveled hair.
“T-Thank you.”
“Was the sleep uncomfortable?”
“It was fine. I can sleep well anywhere.”
She was his familiar.
A mage could feel the emotions of a life they were contracted with.
[I want to sleep a little more.]
It was a childish thought.
“It is not that you want to sleep more?”
“Uufgh, you read my thoughts, didn't you?”
“I did.”
“Don't look into them too often.”
“Why?”
“If the words coming out of my mouth are different from my true feelings, then I am lying to you. Sister Tania said lying is a bad thing.”
Joshua showed a soft smile.
Luna was not even a few months old yet.
Her quick learning was only possible because she was a dragon with high intelligence.
She knew how to read the atmosphere and was quick witted.
She did not whine like other children.
She was an ideal familiar, but he sotis thought she was overextending herself.
“I have only given you work and never done anything for you.”
“You don't have to worry about that! Since a mage and a familiar are in a master-servant relationship, it is only natural to follow when given work.”
Luna flustered about while changing her expression.
He thought she was cute.
He thought that he might be closer to her than to his other comrades.
Because she was a life born from receiving his mana and blood.
“Think of a reward.”
“Huh?”
“If there is sothing you want to receive, I will prepare it.”
“I am truly okay without it.”
“You don't have to decline.”
He tried to peek into Luna’s thoughts once again.
Then, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head violently.
“No! don't look.”
Luna quickly hid herself behind a rock in the back.
Obstacles don't pose a problem in reading a familiar’s thoughts.
Only the distance needs to be close.
And she was still within his range.
“I don't want my current feelings to be discovered!”
“Fine. I will not read your thoughts anymore until this request is finished.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes.”
Only then did she stop what she was doing and felt relieved.
The conversation ended and he went back inside the cave.
Everyone was awake.
Tania let out a series of yawns.
Serena stretched while narrowing her eyes like a cat.
And the remaining person.
“I am finished with the preparations.”
Adela puffed out her chest with a proud expression.
She had already finished organizing the belongings of the other comrades.
“I see.”
“Um, is that it?”
“I saved ti thanks to you.”
“I think it would have been nice if you complinted a bit more bluntly.”
“Well done.”
Adela snorted.
A sense of fulfillnt filled one side of her heart.
Considering the person was Joshua, the answer just now was satisfying.
She felt she understood why the two apprentice knights who had left were so desperate for his praise.
“It is not bad.”
“We are going outside the cave now.”
“You plan to arrive at the lake today, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a plan?”
“I do.”
The key to conquering Lake Eria was ntal power.
The main body of the variant was so weak that even a novice could catch it if they just got close.
However, most died without even seeing her.
“What should we do?”
“I want you to share your mana whenever mine runs low.”
Adela let out a sigh with a disappointed look.
“I thought I would play a more cool role.”
“It is sothing only you mages can do.”
“I know that, but still. This makes us feel like mana fuel units one, two, and three.”
It was no wonder she complained.
Mages were the type who wanted to prove their abilities.
They were not satisfied with minor tasks.
However, Joshua could speak with confidence.
“The work you will do from now on is important.”
This was the Academy, but at the sa ti, it was not the Academy.
Survivors with the status of students.
Survivors must prioritize efficiency to survive.
And efficient tasks and grand tasks often did not align.
“I am fine with it. Is it not simpler than fighting zombies?”
Tania answered with a relaxed face.
“I am sorry, but it is not quite like that.”
“Huh?”
“Have you ever had the experience of having the mana in your mana core drained out?”
“No, but is it not similar to the feeling of losing strength while practicing?”
“It will be twice as hard as that.”
Joshua shrugged his shoulders.
He would drain every single drop of mana without sparing any.
Perhaps they might even faint from the fatigue.
* * *
I packed my things and followed him out of the cave.
The mist grew stronger than yesterday.
Joshua tapped the ground with his staff.
His magic beca a fence and protected us.
“If we go outside this magic, we will fall into a hallucination, right?”
“That is highly likely.”
“As long as we know we will fall into a hallucination, is it not okay even if we do?”
“It will not be that simple.”
Adela swallowed her dry saliva.
As he warned, the energy of the mist was unusual.
The forest stirred.
Her body reacted excessively even to a single small noise.
[Sothing is there.]
Serena, who was using detection magic, signaled the danger.
Joshua did not stop.
He seed to know what it was.
[It will appear soon.]
At the sa ti Serena finished writing in her notebook, the bushes shook.
What eventually appeared was a survivor.
Everyone except Joshua held back a scream that was about to burst out.
“Who is that person?”
“He must be one of the people who went missing after taking the request.”
“Is he alive?”
“Probably.”
The survivor passed them and vanished into the back of the forest.
Tania looked at the path where the man had disappeared.
“He did not attack us.”
“There will be people with strong aggression. If it is such a person, their gaze will be different from the start.”
Tania recalled the face of the survivor who appeared just now.
Gaunt skin and unfocused pupils.
Even though he lived, he did not feel like a living person.
Her gaze headed toward Joshua’s magic.
“Senior, if this was the plan, couldn't we just use mana stones?”
Tania suddenly thought of the mana stones she had used when training.
They were also items with inherent mana.
“It is not impossible. It just has poor efficiency.”
“Is that so?”
“Mana stones are items created for the convenience of people without mana. They were not designed for mages to use. For that kind of thing, scrolls are more suitable.”
Tania dropped her head.
It was an idea she had co up with to be helpful in her own way.
“We will begin extraction in the determined order.”
Tania swallowed her dry saliva.
Before departing, they had prearranged the order in which they would share mana.
She was the first.
She held out her hand, recalling the experience when she practiced magic.
Joshua grabbed it without hesitation.
She held back from her face turning red.
On the other hand, her opponent focused on reciting the formula with an expressionless face.
‘I wish he would be a little shaken.’
What an indifferent man.
Regret flowed from within her.
When she felt her heartbeat growing louder and louder.
Suddenly, she felt that sound being overturned for a different reason.
“W-Wait a minute.”
Her head grew dull.
Her hands and feet trembled, and her breathing grew rough.
This was different from when she practiced magic.
An unrciful absorption of mana.
Her eyelids grew heavy with the crashing fatigue.
Thud!
Tania, unable to endure it, fell to the ground.
The students who were watching the scene wiped away cold sweat.
“Are you okay?”
Adela approached and supported her.
“I feel nauseous. I think I am going to throw up.”
She covered her mouth and let out several dry heaves.
“Well done. Usually, people faint. It is impressive that you did not faint.”
“Ugh, is that so.”
“Luna, I think I should have her sit on your back for a while.”
Joshua picked up the fallen girl and placed her on the back of Luna, who had transford into a dragon.
“There are 2km left until the lake. As we get closer, the mist will grow stronger and the mana consumption will be faster.”
They walked again.
He calculated how far they could go with Tania’s mana.
Her strength alone was not enough.
[Joshua, your complexion is not good.]
Serena looked at him with a worried gaze.
He was maintaining a magic called [Sanctuary].
Even if he received a supply of mana, he alone had to suppress the burden caused by the magic.
It was surely painful.
It would not be strange if he collapsed right now.
“Don't worry. It is within the plan.”
[You even put that much pain into the calculation?]
“Yes.”
Joshua smiled bitterly.
Everyone was the sa in that they disliked hard and painful things.
No one chose such a path on purpose.
I endure.
If I endure, I reach what I want.
For him, survival was such a thing.
“Next is your turn, Serena.”
[Okay.]
He received mana from her just as he had from Tania.
Indeed, she was a being blessed with a body as a mage.
Her mana capacity was twice as high as Tania’s.
“Are you alright?”
[It is not too hard.]
“Don't overdo it.”
[Since you are also enduring, I will endure it too.]
“You don't have to imitate such things.”
Serena showed a bright smile.
“There is sothing I need to say to you.”
Joshua spoke while hurrying his steps.
“The mist of the lake has begun to penetrate my magic.”
Adela reacted with a pale complexion.
“Does that an we might fall into a hallucination?”
“Yes.”
“There is a way out, right?”
Joshua paused in his reply.
The longer the silence lasted, the greater the anxiety in her heart grew.
“If you fall into a hallucination, you will know it yourself.”
“That is not a thod. If we fall into one, what about the zombies?”
“Near the lake, the mana is so strong that normal zombies cannot even get close.”
“That does not reassure either.”
“Don't worry. There is a way.”
Adela set her mind firmly.
Following him, she arrived at a shelter blocked on all sides by piles of dirt.
“Are you guys okay?”
She checked the comrades who had followed her.
Tania and Serena, and even Luna.
“……Wait a minute.”
She forgot about resting and jumped up from her spot.
“……Did I fall into it?”
No one was visible around her.
She seed to have fallen into a hallucination.
She carefully traced back the previous situation.
Tania and Serena shared their mana with Joshua.
Luna transford into a dragon.
She shared a conversation with Joshua for a mont.
The problem was the mory after that.
‘I left the formation without even knowing it?’
She made a mistake.
On the other hand, she could not believe the fact that Joshua had missed her.
She sat down on the spot.
She had to stay calm.
There were two main ways she could choose here.
Going to find the comrades she had separated from.
Or returning to them herself.
‘Which side should I choose?’
What would Joshua have done?
She studied a thod while thinking of him.
‘No, I can't. Because I am not Joshua. I cannot do it like Joshua.’
He knew many things.
Compared to him, she was far lacking.
Her mind grew increasingly complex.
‘Is it dangerous to signal my location? There is a possibility the enemies will co first. A few would be fine, but I don't know how many will co.’
Joshua assured her that there would be no zombies if she reached near the lake.
‘I don't know where I am!’
She wiped her face.
The fact that she was alone was becoming more and more real.
The loneliness of not having a single person to rely on.
She pulled a dagger from her backpack and gripped it.
She then placed the blade on the back of her hand.
“……Phew.”
She had taken a class on hallucination magic.
The simplest way to wake up from hallucination magic was self harm.
It was to open one's eyes through pain.
“Please let wake up.”
The mont she was about to strike the back of her hand with the dagger.
Soone caught her wrist.
“Don't shed blood unnecessarily.”
It was Joshua.
He appeared suddenly and stopped her.
“You, how?”
“Even if you open your eyes for a mont in pain, you are in the center of the mist anyway. It would not be strange if you fell into a hallucination again.”
“I-I see.”
Adela’s eyes went wide.
She had not thought that far.
“N-No, rather than that!”
She hurriedly shook off his arm.
“There is a possibility that you are also a Joshua in my imagination.”
“I guess you are not a complete fool.”
Adela bit her teeth.
The blunt and cold voice was exactly like Joshua’s.
However, that alone did not reassure her.
He could be a well made illusion.
“Where did the other kids go?”
“They are searching.”
“You an everyone is scattered?”
“Yes.”
“There is no way you could fail like this.”
“I did not know you evaluated so highly.”
Adela’s face turned red for a mont.
She felt like she was being played by sothing she did not know was real or fake.
“Are you fake or real?”
“This is a 30 point deduction. That kind of question is too simple.”
It was exactly like Joshua to slowly irritate a person.
She fell into thought for a mont.
And a single brilliant idea ca to mind.
“……Ice Witch.”
It was the code na they had set just before entering the forest.
It was sothing he had also agreed to.
He was ssiah.
Joshua’s brow wrinkled slightly.
“……What does that an?”
He could not state the code na.
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