“…What the hell?”

In the exam setters’ waiting room, the professors watching the situation widened their eyes in unison.

The scene before them wasn’t easily comprehensible. No, it was outright incomprehensible.

One professor, staring blankly at the footage, muttered as if unsure of what they’d just seen.

“Taking an exam blindfolded?”

“…….”

In the footage, Lucas Askanian tightened the loose cloth over his eyes again and began talking with his teammates.

Meanwhile, in Team 1’s footage…

All the students were frozen around Narce Farnese, their faces etched with shock.

The First Academy professor in charge of setting the exam muttered unwittingly,

“…A breakthrough.”

“There was one.”

A Second Academy professor in the back row picked up the sentence. It was Johannes Ron, the homeroom teacher for Class 2.

The First Academy professor nodded, as if entranced.

There was a breakthrough.

None of the professors had anticipated a breakthrough.

They hadn’t even considered such an option.

Unknowingly, the corner of the First Academy professor’s mouth curled upward. He spoke again, as if confirming what he’d witnessed.

“…Blindfolding fills the mind with chaos, doesn’t it? A battle mage who’s been blind for years might act skillfully in low-visibility situations, but for that student, every detail will register as critical information.”

“Indeed.”

Even a faint breeze brushing the ear would be perceived with heightened sensitivity.

In that case, the information Narce Farnese reads wouldn’t be field assessments or teammates’ strategic discussions but rather a flood of external environmental hazards surrounding Askanian.

For instance, something tripping his foot or a teammate’s magic power felt behind him.

Utterly useless information.

Not only useless but also disruptive, hindering Narce’s movements.

It’s like trying to solve exam questions while someone whispers nonsense in your ear.

“…….”

“Hah… well, damn.”

Someone, at a loss for words and staring blankly at the screen, let out a hollow laugh and shook their head.

A clean hit.

Not just to Team 1, but to the professors watching this match.

Team 3 was no longer doomed to lose.

Lucas Askanian’s unexpected decision transformed this one-sided, loss-guaranteed game into one worth playing.

‘It was the same in the second exam.’

To us setters, it was an easy problem, but for students untested in real combat, it was daunting. Yet, from our perspective, he solved it in a flash.

Even a seasoned mage, dropped into Zugsspitze without preparation or guidance, tasked with handling two berserkers bare-handed, likely couldn’t have made decisions as sharp as that student.

That wasn’t the quick wit or judgment expected from students with less than 20 years of magic training.

And hadn’t that student, unlike others, only just begun learning magic?

‘A raw gem.’

Judgment as precise and swift as—or sometimes surpassing—the seasoned veterans of the field, the ability to devise solutions no one else could in under a minute, and the boldness to embrace risk without hesitation for greater gain.

That’s true talent.

Everything else pales in comparison.

The talent glimpsed at Zugsspitze was neither a fluke nor a coincidence.

The First Academy professor’s gaze remained fixed on Askanian.

Then, Johannes Ron, watching the screen from the back, muttered,

“He’s remarkably similar.”

“To whom?”

“His Excellency Ernst.”

The professors’ eyes turned to him. The First Academy professor, lost in thought, said,

“Hm, I heard he played a significant role in getting you out.”

“Yes, that’s right. Even when there seemed no way to prove my innocence, he did it for me.”

“Ah, a similar situation. With no clear answer in sight now… To be compared to the one who helped you, that’s high praise the student would be thrilled to hear. If our foundation polishes him well, he could become like His Excellency Ernst.”

At that, the professors nodded with pleased expressions.

Even then, the eyes of the Class 2 homeroom teacher didn’t leave the footage.

The First Academy professor turned back to the screen and said,

“With Team 1’s initial plan in ruins, they’ll pull out another. Now they’ll have to face Team 3 directly. Starting with all their plans rendered useless, we’ll see both teams’ raw skills judged as is.”

The professors, once colored by shock and surprise, nodded with serious faces, though a faint excitement lingered from earlier.

The First Academy professor in charge of setting the exam looked at them, his eyes gleaming.

“It’s just beginning. Let’s watch closely.”

* * *

Lucas slightly lifted the bandage over his eyes to look at his friends.

Hope flickered on his teammates’ faces.

You’d think they’d be skeptical of going this far, but after facing a seemingly hopeless situation, no such complaints came. Instead, their minds seemed dominated by the thought, ‘Now we’ve got a fighting chance.’

‘Confidence is high.’

Lucas smiled at his teammates.

Just then, an announcement came through the artifact hooked to his ear.

[Attention. Reports of residual damage have been received. Three secondary victims of a berserk incident have been identified in this area. Please promptly rescue the victims and warp them to the Imperial Central Hospital. Repeating…]

Now it’s really starting.

Lucas turned, loosened the cloth, and tied it tightly again.

He could feel his teammates moving behind him to assess the situation below.

With his vision blocked, he focused on the flow of magic power, and this method made it surprisingly easy to sense where people were.

This was, in fact, thanks to Leo.

Thanks to Leo’s relentless grit, refusing to end training even when sweat blinded him, Lucas had honed the ability to track opponents’ positions through magic flow instead of sight to avoid getting hit.

‘Thinking about it pisses me off, that bastard…’

Anyway, thanks to that, he could use it like this, so he’d make good use of it.

With that thought, Lucas focused on the air’s flow around him. As soon as he was ready, Tsheringen’s voice came.

“Lucas.”

“What?”

“That’s surprising. I didn’t expect you to blindfold yourself.”

“Me neither. Lucas, what the hell are you?!”

Oswald shouted in an excited voice, bouncing over to Lucas’s side.

“What’s what? If I can’t stop thinking ahead, I just don’t look. Right?”

“Hahaha! …Yeah, exactly. As expected, Lucas, you always…”

“Always?”

“Nothing.”

Lucas could feel Tsheringen’s magic power surging toward his face.

From experience, it was obvious what she wanted. Lucas lightly swatted her hand.

Then, Tsheringen’s cheerful laugh rang out.

“Let’s do this right, one more time.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, guys. This is touching and all, but we need to assess the situation quick.”

Elias clapped his hands to grab attention.

“You can tell what kind of field this is just by looking, right? Team 1’s probably figured it out too, so I’ll just tell Luca. This is Berlin, and there’s another clock tower in the east.”

“Another one?”

“Yup. Looks like they copied part of the city and pasted it right next to it. Or maybe mirrored it.”

“It’s mirrored. The second hand on that clock tower over there is ticking backward.”

Auguste’s voice.

“Nice observation.”

“No big deal. The Spree River is in the north, the south is… nothing special. In the west, there’s the Reichstag and the Victory Column. Beyond the Victory Column, it’s blocked by a barrier or something, can’t see. In the east, there’s Alexanderplatz, with the city hall, right? There’s another one right beside it. Seems like Alexanderplatz is the boundary for the duplication.”

“Hm, nice.”

The Victory Column in the west, the city hall at Alexanderplatz in the east. And then another city hall, another Victory Column.

That’s the structure.

That’s enough for the scope.

Lucas nodded slightly and gestured.

“Alright, guys. Cast a silencing spell and revise the strategy.”

“How’d you know we need to revise the strategy~? See you later then~”

Elias snapped his fingers.

Lucas didn’t need to know the strategy. We’ll drag him along ourselves.

It might seem unfair, but it’s what he wanted. Anyway, Lucas can churn out high-quality countermeasures even when reacting on the spot, and that’s the only way to stop Narce from reading his thoughts early and positioning teammates in front of us in some insane setup. No matter how well Narce reads thoughts, he can’t dodge a surprise attack.

Elias left Lucas behind, approached the teammates, and spoke.

“Alright, we need to find three victims. No way to pinpoint their locations, and this tower closes in five minutes—well, four now.”

At that, Oswald laughed and said something dumb.

“Man, I wish we could just stay here.”

“Too advantageous~ The school’s closing it, what can we do? Anyway, with a field this big, even your sense of smell has limits, right, Oswald? And we don’t have anyone who can even roughly locate them.”

Elias scanned the teammates with a playful smile.

“So, you know what we need to do, right?”

Yulia flashed a confident smile, raising her eyebrows. The other teammates’ expressions weren’t much different.

Grinning, Elias stared at the other clock tower in the distance and said,

“Let’s go find Heike Ainsidel from Team 1.”

Team 1 will definitely use Heike’s unique ability.

The ability to read an object’s past—perfectly suited for this field, isn’t it? The school deliberately set up multiple berserk incidents without specifying which streets they occurred on. Knowing where a berserk incident happened would give a rough idea of the secondary victims’ locations.

No way we’re just drooling and watching that prime ability.

* * *

“Bandage~?!”

Narce, clutching his head while using his ability, suddenly shouted, then rummaged through the clutch at his waist and pulled out the medical kit.

A gauze bandage long enough to wrap his head three times fell into his hand.

“…Ha… haha.”

A disbelieving laugh kept slipping out.

No explanation needed—Team 1 members who saw it already grasped what happened.

Hildegard, from Team 4, pressed her forehead and turned away.

“…Damn it…”

“Who the hell thinks to blindfold themselves during an exam?! Is it really a blindfold? Narce, you sure you’re not misreading?”

Ulrike, frozen in a daze, burst out laughing and looked between the students, as if hoping someone would say something positive.

But no one answered. Giving up, Ulrike let out a hollow laugh and paced in circles.

“…I felt it during the competition, but… that guy’s no joke. Really? This is for real?”

“Hoo…”

Leo, pressing his brow, let out a deep sigh and scanned the team with sharp eyes.

“…It’s already happened. It’d be more surprising if Askanian didn’t prepare for this. Let’s revise the strategy quick.”

The students gathered around Leo with serious faces.

They couldn’t let it end like this.

Anyway, this also meant Team 3 was down one member. We’re six, they’re five.

Even if that weren’t the case, they were all confident in their skills, so facing six wouldn’t have been an issue.

They just lost their advantage.

There was still plenty of time to start from scratch.

“We prepared dozens of contingencies, but we didn’t account enough for failing to extract meaningful info from Askanian’s thoughts. So, you know what we need to do now, right?”

“Figure out how Team 3 will move.”

Heike Ainsidel said quietly.

Thinking about our own moves first is foolish.

We need to know how the opponent will move.

Leo ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

Then, after a moment, he spoke.

“Alright. First, Team 3 will target you, Heike Ainsidel.”

“…….”

Heike nodded.

“Lucas and Oswald, who trained with you for two weeks, know you can read memories by touching objects. They don’t have anyone with a unique ability to locate victims in this vast field. That means they’ll come toward our area.”

“Right.”

“Now let’s think about Askanian. Lucas Askanian will stay as far back as possible. He’ll keep the blindfold on, not knowing when his mind might start strategizing without him realizing it. With no vision, he’s at a huge disadvantage in direct combat.”

Leo lowered his voice, looking at the team.

“We can’t let him stay hidden like that.”

“Right.”

“Exactly. So, you’re sending one or two to hunt Askanian? I’ll go.”

Leo was momentarily speechless.

Does she think she can win? Even blindfolded, Lucas is Lucas. His skill isn’t something just anyone can overcome.

Of course, he couldn’t say that out of courtesy.

Leo shook his head with the same expression as before.

“Not at all. Act like Askanian doesn’t exist. Don’t even think about him.”

At that, the teammates exchanged glances.

Then what?

If they could just get Askanian’s blindfold off, victory would be within reach. Even if he tries not to think, he’ll find the right answer, and the moment we crush and block that answer, their team loses momentum and heads toward defeat.

Didn’t Leo just say they can’t let him stay hidden?

But now, don’t even think about him?

The students’ questioning gazes turned to Leo.

As if he’d anticipated this, Leo looked back at them, unfazed.

“Heike.”

“Yeah.”

“From now on, east is south.”

“…?”

Heike, who’d been expressionless, gaped.

The teammates looked at Leo with bewildered eyes.

* * *

A street emptied by the aftermath of a berserk incident.

Elias’s eyes were glued to the sliding window of an empty commercial building’s hallway.

Two Team 1 students were visible outside. Bringing Oswald here instead of sending him to search for victims was worth it.

Crouching low, Elias pressed his wand to the window crack, held his breath, and counted.

‘Three, two… one.’

Crack—! Shatter—!

“Argh!”

“What the hell?!”

“J-just now… something flew from above. My artifact’s broken…!”

“What?!”

The Team 1 student beside them quickly raised a barrier with their wand, aiming it skyward. Clearly trying to figure out where the magic came from and where Team 3 was.

‘Not happening.’

Elias put a finger to his mouth, cast a silencing spell, and chanted.

[Yet Yahweh knows all my paths.]

Blue magic power, guided by a spell, twisted sharply, slipped under the barrier, and shot toward the other student’s ear.

Shatter—!

“Ugh! What?! Where are they?!”

“Yours broke too?!”

Hearing that, Elias whistled and darted downstairs.

Oswald was at the back door, gesturing for him to hurry.

“Okay~ Two down~”

[Wow, already broke two? Nice work, Elias~]

Yulia’s gentle voice came through.

Elias grinned and started teasing.

“What’s the key to battle? Firepower? Numbers?”

[Focus.]

Despite Lucas’s scolding, Elias kept whistling and continued.

“Info, that’s what~ You gotta know to win.”

[…Alright, well done.]

Lucas’s laugh, tinged with slight resignation, came through.

“But why’d you connect the artifact, Lucas? If Narce finds out, they’ll come to stop it.”

[You were doing so well but missed something. If I cut the connection, they’d know right away.]

“True~ So? Why’d Yulia connect your line? That’s not all, is it?”

[Haha, sharp, Elias. You should come over now.]

At the center of the two clock towers, next to Alexanderplatz, stood the Grand Hotel.

Yulia, crouched on the hotel rooftop, touched the artifact by her ear and spoke to Elias.

On the street below, Heike Ainsidel was kneeling, hand on the ground. The hotel wasn’t tall, so the view wasn’t vast, but Heike was within sight.

Heike stood, placing a hand on her artifact.

“…Found it. West from the starting point. Below Alexanderplatz.”

Faint, but with magic focused in her ears, Yulia heard clearly.

Heike said that and waited there for her teammates.

The implication was clear.

A berserk incident happened there, and an unrescued secondary victim was nearby.

Yulia, keeping watch, said to Elias,

“Elias, I found the location.”

[Nice. Where is it?]

“Two blocks south from the Grand Hotel. North from your perspective.”

[Got it. I’ll be there in under a minute.]

Yulia smiled at that and kept watching below.

‘…Hm.’

That’s odd.

It’s been over two minutes since Ainsidel contacted her team, but no one’s shown up.

Even looking far out, there was no one.

“No sign of anyone.”

Just then, Lucas, sitting beside her, spoke as if reading her mind.

“Right. I was wondering about that too. It caught your attention, huh. Elias.”

[Hm?]

“Hold off for now. It could be a trap. I’ll contact you if Team 1 shows up here.”

“No.”

Lucas shook his head.

He lifted the blindfold slightly to check where Heike stood.

“Elias, take Oswald and head north now.”

* * *

“…Man~ As expected, sharp.”

Narce looked up, gazing beyond the building.

East is south.

What does that mean?

Exactly what it sounds like. East is south, south is east. West is north, north is west.

A plan to confuse Team 3 students, who could be hiding anywhere.

Narce placed a hand on the artifact and said with a smile,

“Leo. Lucas already figured it out. You’d better hurry~”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep