Episode 179 – Souls in a Bottle (2)

Souls in a Bottle (2)

Endex’s dwelling.

Scratch – Scratch –

With the peaceful echo of Soliette scribbling her pencil at the desk, I lay on the mattress.

Scratch – Scratch –

Soliette is currently solving National University interview questions.

If left alone, she would just play [Bethune] every day, so I had to intervene.

Ring – Ring –

The smartphone on the bed rang. I thought it was mine, but it was Soliette’s.

“Soliette. You have a message.”

“Who is it?”

“Can I check?”

“Yes.”

[Dad: Did you apply properly? I haven’t been able to contact you lately.]

Soliette’s father. It’s Igris.

A potential suspect in the Nightmare incident, one of the prime suspects.

“……Your father is asking if you’ve applied.”

“Please reply ‘I did.'”

[I did]

I sent the reply. My eyes naturally scanned her messenger.

Surprisingly, Soliette didn’t have many contacts. Family, father, and the ignored Erick Aventagher were all.

“I sent the reply.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I put down the smartphone.

I blankly followed the movement of the clouds outside the window.

─ Meow.

While stroking Growl, who was yawning on the bed, I lifted the card I had just received from Belingham.

[Libra Internship]

Looking at it, the feeling is a bit new. Just like Soliette is getting closer to Nightmare, I’m also getting closer to ‘that place’.

Step by step, slowly but surely.

Tap – Tap –

Suddenly, the sound of the keyboard.

I looked at the desk. Soliette, who had been scribbling theories, was now tapping on her laptop.

Tap tap tap─ Tap tap tap tap tap─

She shakes her shoulders as she types on the laptop keyboard. Is she writing a comment or something?

I turned on the SZX-9500 and zoomed in on her screen.

[Lol, you’re full of shit. You say that warriors are optimized for dungeon farming? You’re a newbie. You’re talking like a newbie. And who told you that rogues are the worst in Bethune? Lol, unbelievable. Bring me the person who says that. Anyway, you sound like a newbie, so shut up. There are too many newbies these days.]

“……”

I turned off the SZX-9500. I just observed her from a distance.

Tap tap tap – She almost broke the keyboard, then click – click – clicked the mouse a few times, then scratch – scratch – picked up the pen and solved the theory problem again, then click – click – clicked the mouse again……

“……Huh?”

Suddenly, Soliette turned this way. Our eyes met for a moment.

“Oh, you startled me. Huh.”

“Shion. What is this?”

“What.”

She turned the laptop screen towards me.

[Exclusive] Petra’s successor, Elise Petra, in a romantic relationship? The partner is estimated to be a senior in the top 50.

“It seems like a rumor.”

I muttered nonchalantly.

There’s no way a person named Elise would be in a relationship. At least not now, or probably ever.

* * *

Elise had solved all the national university interview questions the night before.

Except for the last one, ‘number 12’.

After discussing with other seniors, it was concluded that ‘number 12’, worth 20 points, would take at least 1-2 weeks even for a PhD to solve.

Of course, it might be barely possible if you cling to it for 5 weeks.

However, Elise is a highly efficient person. After all, the interview exam is just a minimum requirement. She didn’t want to waste those 5 weeks.

Because.

“……Miss, fight! Enjoy the camp!”

“Fight!”

She was participating in the 135th ‘Magic Camp’.

That occurs once every 10 years, as a senior.

“I know, so go on, everyone.”

Elise waved to those who had followed her to the airport.

“Yes! Miss, try hard!”

The 13 escorts cheered and left. Elise took out a rabbit doll from her arms.

─Hello!

Cookie. PTSD is still the same, but it’s reassuring with this guy.

Elise headed for the airport’s boarding gate.

“Here. Ticket.”

“Confirmed.”

…….

The Magic Camp hosted by Magic Tower is literally a gathering to train, experience, and learn magic.

Most of the participants are mages affiliated with the Magic Tower or the association, so Elise is probably… She doesn’t want to admit it, but she will be at the bottom. She needs to focus on participation rather than ranking.

“Everyone’s wearing robes.”

The venue for this 135th ‘Magic Camp’ is a small hotel in a city called [Mellock].

200-300 participants gathered in the front yard of the hotel. They were all dressed in robes, and Elise was the only one in a luxury setting.

She felt embarrassed for no reason.

“This is a magic hotel.”

Elise looked up at the podium.

The person in charge, ‘Deol Lang. A neatly handsome middle-aged man with brown long hair fluttering.

He is a high-ranking mage who often appears on Mescom whenever a magic incident occurs.

“The purpose of the camp is simple.”

He continued in a noble-like voice.

“Study, collect, investigate, research, and train. Please gather in the seminar room.”

Then the mages start to move. There’s no expectation or excitement. They just entered the seminar room with drawn and tired expressions.

“……”

Elise is a bit taken aback. No one is talking, and everyone’s faces are tired.

She had only heard of mages, but most of them were really like this.

She’ll have to get used to it now.

Elise also entered the seminar room. Mages were sitting in the seminar room where the seats were arranged in a circle.

Elise sat down wherever.

“……I’m Elise.”

She spoke to the person next to her. The person glanced at her but didn’t say anything.

Elise asked him.

“What are we doing here?”

“……”

The mage looked at her.

Elise asked again.

“It’s my first time.”

“We don’t know either.”

“……”

“Don’t talk.”

Well, it’s somewhat understandable. The eloquent and neatly handsome mages who appear on the mass media and become the object of admiration are the top 1%.

Most are these cold, emotionless types.

“…Yes.”

──The camp will now begin.

The high-ranking mage Deol Lang spoke from the front of the seminar room.

He lit some kind of incense. At the same time, he snapped his fingers.

A magic formula rose throughout the space.

──This magic formula will transport you to a specific magical space. When the time limit is over, you will return. Entrust your body to the magic circle.

Blue light emanates from the magic formula.

Her eyes slowly closed, and the seminar room was swallowed up in blue.

──Be careful. Everything is real.

And then…….

Elise opened her eyes.

She was taken aback.

A gloomy atmosphere wrapped around her. A humid, unpleasant wind blew in. It was a swamp covered in dark green moss with a dull color palette.

“So this is the magic space.”

Elise quickly attached Cookie to her waist.

It seems that the entire seminar room was just connected to a magic space.

Moreover, all of these are real. They are not fake spaces for teaching materials.

“The space connection magic is very natural.”

Is this what magic is? It’s definitely different from Magic Spell.

Elise quickly attached Cookie to her waist.

Bang— Bang—

“…….”

Let’s start with analysis first.

She picked up a pair of tweezers. She tore off the moss from the ground and put it in a test tube.

As she stirred it, the magic power content was displayed.

“3%?”

Elise’s face was shocked.

3%.

This means that 3% of this moss is made up of magic power. It’s an incredible figure.

She took out a recorder.

“Swamp moss. Magic power content 3%. 30 times the normal detection. I wonder what kind of magical realm this is.”

She recorded while walking. Moss, grass, stagnant water with a foul smell, the surface of rotting trees, etc……. All had abnormally high magic power content.

“The materials in the space have a very high magic power content. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if the space gained self-awareness-”

Then.

──Creak. Creak.

The sound of bones grinding, no, teeth grinding, echoed from somewhere.

It’s not far.

Rather, it’s close.

Right behind her.

A creepy and cold sensation blew in.

“…….”

Goosebumps rose on Elise’s back.

──Creak…… Creak……

The sound grew louder.

Hello─ Hello─

Who is Cookie greeting?

Elise felt cold sweat all over her body, but she clenched her fists.

She turned around.

───────!

There was a horribly twisted human. It was the shape of a human. But it was not a human.

It was a phantom.

“Kyaaaah!”

Elise screamed.

At that moment, the space changed again.

It was the seminar room.

“……?”

Elise was dazed and laughed awkwardly.

──Participant number 97. Elise.

The mage Deol Lang on the stage called her.

“Yes……?”

──You were recalled due to a sudden increase in stress levels.

“Ah…….”

──Do you want to give up?

She quietly looked around. The seminar room was empty.

It seemed like she was the only one who was recalled.

“No.”

Elise shook her head.

“I will continue.”

“──Aaaah!”

Just in time, one more person was recalled so she wouldn’t be alone.

──Participant number 99. Vilront.

“Som, someone tried to cut me with a sword.”

──A sword?

Deol Lang frowned.

“Yes! Some damned blond!”

The mage named Vilront pressed his temples and shook his head vigorously.

“Isn’t this wrong? It seems there’s an outsider in the magical realm! A tall guy with blond hair!”

──That’s impossible. What did this outsider say?

“He said he knows everything I’m going to do……”

Participant number 99, Vilront, stopped speaking. He slowly turned his head. His eyes met Elise’s.

“……It’s nothing. I must have been mistaken.”

──Do you want to give up?

“I won’t give up.”

The man seemed a bit suspicious, but soon closed his eyes again.

──Please prepare.

Elise also closed her eyes in the same way.

* * *

……In the magical realm: the swamp, phantoms appeared incessantly, and Elise was recalled every time she encountered a phantom.

Not that it wasn’t, but because telekinesis didn’t work on phantoms.

For Elise, it was the worst compatibility.

“Ugh……!”

This was already the fifth time.

Elise was recalled while foaming at the mouth.

──Do you want to give up?

“No.”

She shook her head at the mage’s question.

──Please prepare.

And then she closed her eyes again, but,

“──!”

As soon as she was summoned, she met a much more terrifying monster. It was right in front of her nose.

The skin was all rotten and falling off, the eyeballs were swollen to the point of bursting, the flesh on the legs was torn in various places, and above all, it gave off a stench that made her want to vomit as soon as she smelled it.

Elise was recalled without even being able to scream.

“Ugh.”

She vomited in the seminar room.

Fortunately, she wasn’t the only one. About 20 out of 200 to 300 people were exhausted in a similar state.

That’s about the top 90%.

──Participant number 97, Elise. Do you want to give up?

“No.”

Elise was thinking of enduring with her mental strength.

Because it would be a great help for her growth.

No, because this is a mage camp that her father sent her to with almost lobbying effort.

She can’t waste this opportunity. She must not waste it.

──Your stress level has reached the limit. This is the last time.

“……I understand.”

She said sullenly and closed her eyes.

…….

It was night in the swamp. Elise walked soggily.

─Hello!

Cookie on her waist was fine, but she was on the verge of death.

As Deol Lang said, this was the last time.

─────Creak!

She hadn’t walked much, but a phantom’s head landed from a tree.

Elise’s heart sank as if it was going to burst.

“Aaaah!”

She hastily ran to the opposite side, raising a white flag.

“I really, truly, I’m going crazy, I give up. I give up!”

She couldn’t do it anymore.

“I give up!”

What is this? It’s not magic. It’s just extreme training, psychological conditioning. Damn it. She would kill whoever designed this curriculum.

“Haa, haa…….”

Elise stopped, clutching her heart.

“……Excuse me?”

But, there was no response.

She wasn’t being recalled.

She had clearly just said she was giving up.

“I said I give up!”

There was no answer.

Nothing was happening.

Sssssssss……

A strange, creepy presence was stirring behind her.

Elise’s chest tightened, and her fingertips and toes tinged with anxiety and ominousness.

“Why……no!”

She ran. She ran away from the phantom.

Tadadadadadat───!

The night in the swamp was terribly dark.

With her legs spread wide, Elise shouted to the sky.

“I give up! I said I give up!”

─Hello! Hello!

But the only answer was from Cookie.

The surroundings were already steeped in darkness.

For Elise, it was unbearable, a kind of fear and isolation.

───Kuhahahahahahaha.

A strange laughter echoed in her ears. Her heart pounded as if it was going to explode.

With each step, she sank deep─ deep─ as if sinking into mud, into a swamp.

“Ah……?”

She couldn’t hold on any longer.

Her vision blurred with dizziness, and her legs wobbled……

At that moment.

She saw a light in the distance.

A light was flickering on the lakeshore.

It was faint and dim, but it was certain.

There was ‘someone’ there.

Elise ran towards it.

“Excuse me──!”

She waved her hand, asking for help.

“Here. Please help me──!”

There was one person sitting on the lakeshore.

On a fishing chair, a man in a fishing hat.

“Excuse me!”

Pfft.

As she got closer, he chuckled.

Elise stopped abruptly.

“……Are you a human?”

She asked in a trembling voice.

“Of course. If not.”

Then, as if he had been waiting, he turned around and answered. His expression was one of amusement, almost mocking.

“A monster, perhaps?”

“…….?”

On the other hand, Elise was momentarily stunned. Her vision turned white, and she involuntarily fell to her knees.

She muttered as she sat on the ground.

“……Is this a dream?”

“It must be a dream.”

Elise rubbed her eyes.

It was still the same.

The man who had thrown off his fishing hat, the one looking at her from an impossible place.

Shion Ascal.

Why, is he here?

It must really be a dream.

“I came here to fish, and you’re disturbing me.”

Shion smiled and stood up from his seat.

Behind him, still chasing Elise, were the phantoms──

He drew his sword.