chapter4 · 065-ep65

Episode 65: Aptitude Test

"Ahh, yep. Yeah, I figured it'd be something like that."

Sparring with the instructors.

I'd had a feeling it'd be something along those lines as soon as he said "aptitude test."

They'd called us in to help with a job that involved facing Awakeners. Of course the final assessment wouldn't be a written test or an interview.

"I'll say this first: you don't have to beat an instructor to pass."

Kujō-san looked around at us as he continued.

"You can use your abilities freely. We'll be watching how well you can move and how you fight."

We didn't have to win.

That was a bit of a relief.

Of course not.

The people teaching us on the government side had been Awakeners fighting on the front lines ever since dungeons appeared.

And Kujō-san himself was standing there with the instructors.

If beating that man were a condition for passing, there might not be anyone in the first cohort of nationally certified people.

"And while we're on the subject of Achievements, there's one more thing I should explain."

Kujō-san looked at the screen behind us.

"There are Job-Exclusive Achievements. Just like the name says, they're Achievements provided for each Job."

I knew about those.

Actually, one of them had been the Achievement I'd been most focused on lately.

"When you complete the specified Job-Exclusive Achievements for an evolution, you can evolve your current Job into a Unique Job. The conditions and evolution options differ by Job. We don't think every Job has only one possible evolution, either."

I see.

So they weren't something only my Enchanter Job had after all.

Well, of course not.

It would've been stranger if I were the only one with Job-Exclusive Achievements.

"Incidentally, every instructor you'll face today has already evolved their Job into a Unique Job."

Every one of them?

I looked at the people lined up behind Kujō-san.

Saeki-san was there, along with instructors who'd handled the Beginner and Intermediate groups.

Whoa. Impressive.

As expected of the government's elite.

After celebrating six thousand uses so grandly, I hadn't expected to find myself facing a whole line of Unique Job holders right away.

I felt just a little less special.

Well, these people had been entering Gates on the government side the whole time. It wasn't strange they'd evolved before me.

"So, let's get this test started. First up, let's see..."

Kujō-san looked over the participants.

Then, for some reason, his gaze settled on me.

Ha ha. Surely not.

"Himuro. Want to go?"

"Huh?"

Wait, seriously?

"First?"

"Yeah. What do you say? Up for it?"

"...Yes. I can do it."

I mean, no way could I say I couldn't at this point.

Naturally, I kept that to myself and answered him straight.

"Good. Saeki, if you would."

"Understood."

I'd really planned to watch a few other matches and get a feel for the test before it was my turn.

Unfortunately, I wasn't getting any time for that.

"Saeki's Job is Guardian Swordsman, by the way. A Unique Job evolved from Swordsman."

Guardian Swordsman.

From the name, it sounded heavily focused on defense.

I was curious what he'd had to do as a Swordsman to evolve into that, but this was no time to ask about my opponent's Achievements.

"Himuro, over here."

"Yes."

The people around us moved toward the wall, and Saeki-san and I headed to the center of the room.

This was my first time facing Saeki-san like this.

But it wasn't my first time fighting in front of him.

"Been a while since I watched you fight like this."

"It has."

"Since you fought Rio?"

"Ahh... yeah."

Back when I'd just been placed in the Intermediate group, when I sparred Rio-senpai for the first time.

I remembered that.

As if I could forget.

At first, just seeing his attacks was all I could manage. Then we both got weirdly fired up, and in the end Rio-senpai clearly tried to do something dangerous and Saeki-san stopped him.

Now that we talked normally, I knew the guy really did act on impulse.

Well, I couldn't exactly talk.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how much you've changed."

"Don't get your hopes too high."

Saeki-san smiled a little and held his right hand out in front of him.

Light gathered in his hand, gradually taking on a long, thin shape.

A sword appeared.

But its blade wasn't sharp, and the whole thing was somewhat thick. It looked a lot like a wooden practice sword.

Come to think of it, Rio-senpai had said that swords created with Swordsman Skills could be made without edges for training, not just sharp enough to cut.

So that must be one of those.

Makes sense.

I didn't want to get cut for real during an aptitude test.

"Saeki's Level 33 now," Kujō-san added from the side.

"Thirty-three..."

That was high.

I'd only just gotten into double digits, and his level was more than triple mine.

Maybe that was normal for someone on the government's front line, but hearing the number suddenly made winning feel impossible.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

I looked at Saeki-san again as I answered.

Level 33. Guardian Swordsman.

Hearing that made me think I should use battle armor too.

Obviously I should, if you thought about it.

When I'd tested it yesterday, I could maintain Strength, Agility, and Endurance without spending MP by leaving all three lingering with Enchant Echo before entering Battle Armor Form.

I'd undoubtedly be stronger than before.

But once I entered battle armor, I couldn't change the enchants I'd fixed midway through.

If I canceled it, they'd all disappear, and I'd have to start enchanting from scratch.

I didn't know how Saeki-san fought. I couldn't tell whether locking in Strength, Agility, and Endurance right from the start was the right move.

So I'd begin the way I always had.

Try fighting while switching abilities, and if I really couldn't manage, I'd use battle armor.

Yeah. Let's go with that.

...Also, I'd rather not break my promise to Kashiwazaki-san less than an hour after making it.

And then there was Interferer.

I definitely wasn't using my Observer Skills.

Another Observer had attracted that much attention by appearing in a broadcast.

If I suddenly announced, "Actually, I'm an Observer toooo," I had no idea what would happen to me.

That was way too scary.

"All right. Here we go."

At Kujō-san's voice, I focused on Saeki-san again.

"Begin!"

Agility enchant first.

I felt my body grow light and closed the distance at once.

Saeki-san held the wooden-sword-like blade in his right hand and waited for me to come.

The complete opposite of my fight with Rio-senpai.

Back then, he'd attacked as soon as the match began, and while I struggled to keep up, one attack after another came my way.

This time, it was practically an invitation to attack however I liked. Somehow, that made it harder.

Well, nothing would happen if I kept thinking about it.

I stepped in and reached with my right fist toward Saeki-san's left shoulder.

I wasn't trying to punch him hard.

Just touching him would do.

But rather than dodge, Saeki-san lightly touched the flat of his sword to my forearm.

It didn't feel like he'd knocked me away with any force.

And yet my fist veered off target, and my forward-moving body was drawn to the right with it.

By the time I thought, This is bad, the tip of his sword was already in front of my stomach.

I pulled back in a hurry and barely avoided it.

"Oh? You dodged that?"

"Barely."

I knew it wasn't a cutting blade, but something long and solid flying at my stomach was still scary.

I opened some distance and tried circling slightly left.

Saeki-san didn't pursue me.

He simply turned with my movement, keeping the sword between us at all times.

It didn't look like speed alone would get me around his flank.

Then what if I pushed through with strength?

I switched from Agility to Strength and stepped in again while my speed still lingered as an echo.

I extended my right fist again, and Saeki-san met it with his sword just like before.

When I put my weight into it, his right arm was pushed back a little.

I could do this.

But as I stepped in farther, the resistance suddenly vanished.

"Whoa!"

Saeki-san had apparently drawn his sword back on purpose.

My body pitched forward. The instant I put a foot out to avoid falling, the hilt of his sword struck my side.

"Ow...!"

Not being able to cut didn't mean it didn't hurt when he hit you.

Thanks to Posture Control+, I stayed on my feet and pulled away.

"You've got plenty of strength, too."

"Feels like you just used that strength against me."

"I did."

Figures.

Instead of meeting my attacks head-on, Saeki-san barely touched them with his sword and changed the direction of the force.

In that case, next time I made contact, I could read the direction he'd redirect me and move with it.

I closed in again and threw my right fist.

The instant the sword touched my arm, Contact Perception told me which way he was pushing.

This time I didn't fight it. I turned my body with the motion and sent my right leg out.

"Ohh."

The kick didn't land.

But Saeki-san took one step back.

Yes.

Only one step, but I'd made someone who'd barely moved until now retreat.

"You're thinking things through. Then how about this?"

Saeki-san adjusted his grip and pointed his sword straight ahead.

He was about to do something.

I closed the distance while my Agility still lingered as an echo.

Then I extended my right fist.

Just before it reached his sword, something like a thin film spread between my fist and the flat of the blade.

"Huh?"

The moment my fist struck it, the momentum I'd used to attack came straight back into my arm.

My shoulder was forced backward, and my feet stopped advancing.

"Guardian Counter."

Saeki-san's voice reached me while I was still stunned.

"It's a Skill that reduces the force of an opponent's attack when I receive it and reflects some of it back."

He hadn't just stopped my attack. He'd sent it right back at me.

No wonder I was pushed back.

In that opening, Saeki-san closed in and swung his sword from the side.

I switched to an Endurance enchant.

"Guh...!"

The moment it hit my side, my body was knocked sideways.

I managed to stay standing with Posture Control+, but when I looked up, the sword's tip was already right in front of my face.

"That's enough."

Kujō-san's voice rang out, and I stopped moving.

Saeki-san lowered his sword immediately too.

"Phew..."

He'd completely gotten me at the end.

I knew this test wasn't about winning or losing.

I knew that, but having a sword pointed at my face to end it was still frustrating.

If I'd used battle armor, maybe I could've reacted a bit better to that last attack.

...No.

There'd been no time to enter battle armor once that final exchange started.

If I'd used it from the start, that would've been different, but then I'd have had to lock in my enchants without knowing how Saeki-san fought.

Hmm.

Ahh, once I lose, I can't help thinking of all sorts of things afterward.

"Himuro."

"Yes?"

Saeki-san made the sword in his hand vanish.

"You've gotten stronger."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. You're a lot different from when you first fought Rio."

Ohh.

Hearing that from Saeki-san made me genuinely happy.

He'd watched my first spar with Rio-senpai from start to finish.

If he said I'd changed, then it wasn't just in my head. I'd really grown at least a little.

"Thank you."

"If he can move this well, I think that's enough."

That last part was directed not at me, but at Kujō-san.

Enough.

So that meant national certification, five hundred thousand yen a month, deployment allowances, and government-managed Gates—

No, hold it.

Nobody had actually said I'd passed yet.

Way too early to start imagining payday, Ren.

"No."

Kujō-san gave a short reply.

Huh?

"Kujō-san?"

"That's not enough."

He'd said it wasn't enough right after Saeki-san said it was.

Kujō-san wasn't looking at Saeki-san. He was looking straight at me.

"Himuro. I didn't say I wanted to see how much you've grown."

"Huh?"

"I want to see what you're capable of right now. You're still holding something back, aren't you?"

"..."

I doubted he knew about Battle-Armored Enchanter.

But somehow, he'd noticed I wasn't using everything I had.

...How the hell did he know?

"The work we're asking you to do isn't something you do alone. Out in the field, you might put your life in the hands of the person beside you. We can't have people there who don't know what their teammates can do."

That... well.

He had a point.

I'd fought the way I always did at first so I could see how Saeki-san fought.

I'd intended to use battle armor later if I needed it, and I didn't think that decision itself had been wrong.

But this wasn't a test to see whether I could beat Saeki-san. It was a test for working alongside these people.

Looking at it that way changed things a little.

"So I don't want to call someone who holds back my teammate."

Kujō-san walked up beside Saeki-san, then stepped into the center of the room.

"Saeki, switch with me."

"...You're going to face him, Kujō-san?"

"Yeah. I'll take a look myself."

Huh.

No, wait.

I'd already lost to Saeki-san.

And now Kujō-san was next? Isn't that normally supposed to go the other way around?