While waiting in line to be assigned a team for the dungeon raid, no one spoke to me.

 

The people in front of me and behind me whispered among themselves about the upcoming exam, but they didn’t talk to me.

 

They stopped talking whenever I caught their eye, and it felt like they were scared rather than angry at me.

 

<How can I make a friend here?> (mocking Lucy)

 

‘Don’t poke me because it’s a sore spot.’

 

Friends?

 

That kind of thing was too much of a luxury for me.

 

Finding hidden pieces and efficiently raiding Soul Academy was the true mission of the pro gamer inside me.

 

If I had the time to spend my daily life with my friends, I would swing my mace one more time during that time!

 

I’m not being a loner.

 

I chose to be a loner myself!

 

For the sake of the game’s efficiency!

 

But in order to play Soul Academy most efficiently, it’s essential to build up the favourability ratings of several characters.

 

Damn it.

 

While I was chatting with the old man and waiting, I arrived in front of the interviewer.

 

One of the combat professors, Luca, smiled instead of being wary when he saw me.

 

“Hello, Young Lady Allen.”

 

It was the first time since Benedict that someone had smiled at me, so I was happy to see it, but I didn’t like Luca’s attention at all.

 

This man is a madman who believes that talent blossoms through trials.

 

Luca approaches a student he likes with sweet words and builds trust in that person.

 

Then, he uses that trust to force the student into a trial he has prepared.

 

If this trial were something that the student could overcome, I wouldn’t have called him a madman.

 

However, the trials Luca prepares are not like that.

 

The trials Luca prepares are trials that will lead to death the moment you fail to overcome them.

 

That’s why many famous students have come from under him.

 

Those who overcome trials will naturally succeed because their talent has blossomed, and those who fail will disappear into obscurity.

 

I would like to expose what this guy has done right away, but it’s impossible right now.

 

There’s no evidence, and the gap in reputation is extreme.

 

Even if I try to spread seeds of doubt the seeds will be ripped out and then shoved down my throat.

 

“Pick a number from the box and then group up.”

 

I picked up the number and then I headed down to the flag with my number on it, but then I stopped when I saw someone standing there with their arms folded.

 

No?

 

Did I see something wrong?

 

I definitely wanted someone to support the attack from the rear, and the best person for that was there, but still, this isn’t it!

 

Why is Joy Partran over there!

 

<Teaming with the enemy.>

 

‘Strictly speaking, they’re not the enemy!’

 

I’m making a bet with her, but I don’t really want to win the bet, and I don’t hate the Foolish Young Lady either.

 

Ah.

 

I unconsciously called her the Foolish Young Lady.

 

…

 

It’s all because of the Mesugaki skill.

 

Joy saw me walking towards her, furrowing her eyebrows slightly, and then spoke in a sharp voice.

 

“Luck seems to be on neither of our sides.”

 

‘That’s right.’

 

“Hello, Foolish Young Lady, it seems like we have a problem.”

 

I kept my mouth shut, avoiding Joy’s glaring gaze.

 

I felt like if I talked to Joy any longer, something irreversible would happen.

 

We had to go into the dungeon together, and if I let her ill feelings build up any further, I might get shot at from behind by fireballs.

 

If I think about it aside from my personal circumstances, Joy and I had a pretty good party composition.

 

The combination of me, a tanker who could provoke, and Joy, a magician who could control ice and fire, was a classic vanguard and rear-guard.

 

In addition, Joy, who was a mage recognized by the mages of her family after much effort, and I, who was considered a top-tier character in the Soul Academy game, were both quite skilled.

 

Whoever got in our party would have an easy time clearing the dungeon.

 

Of course, the person who got caught in between wouldn’t have a very good stomach, but that wasn’t something I had to worry about.

 

I should think of it as trading my stomach for a high score.

 

Before long, the last member of the party walked toward us.

 

The boy, who was clearly an extra at first glance, stopped walking when he saw me and Lucy ignoring each other without saying anything.

 

Then he compared his number tag with the number tag of the flag planted near us several times, and then he sat down on the floor with an expression as if the world was going to end.

 

Poor guy.

 

Anyway, Joy’s cold and beautiful appearance and my doll-like beauty according to Benedict’s description were a feast for the eyes.

 

Anyway, both of them are harmless on the outside.

 

Although their reputations are not harmless at all.

 

“Ah. Hello! I’m the eldest son of the Baron Leeds family! My name is Jacob!”

 

Jacob Leeds?

 

I’ve never heard of him.

 

Even as a passing extra name.

 

He really doesn’t interfere with the game’s story at all.

 

There’s no reason to care about him.

 

Judging from how scared he looks, he doesn’t seem like he’ll be bothering me at all, so let’s just leave him alone.

 

“I’m Joy Partran, you’ve heard of me, right?”

 

“Yes! Of course!”

 

“Lucy Allen!”

 

“You know my name, what the hell you insect? Just go crawl along the floor.”

 

Joy glared at the arrogant, almost arrogant greeting.

 

What do you want me to do?

 

Mesugaki Skill is talking on its own!

 

Joy let out a sigh as if telling me to watch it and then raised her voice.

 

“We’ll have to go into the dungeon soon. Who is going to command us?”

 

“I’ll do it, idiot.”

 

“You?”

 

Joy’s suspicious gaze pierced through me.

 

I admit that I’m not trustworthy.

 

I’m a person who’s questionable whether or not I have the talent to lead people before I’m good at dungeons.

 

But trust me just this once!

 

I can really do it!

 

“Um, that’s a little…”

 

I turned my eyes to the voice that seemed to crawl in from beside me, and Jacob shut his mouth in shock.

 

What? Do you want to command me and this idiot?

 

He trembled in fear at the fact that one mistake would be a big problem.

 

When I glared at him, Jacob stepped back, knowing his place.

 

“Foolish Young Lady, have you ever cleared a dungeon?”

 

No.

 

I remember this because it’s a setting in the game.

 

When you form a party with Joy and enter a dungeon, she says it’s the first time she’s cleared a dungeon since the academy entrance exam.

 

“No, what about you?”

 

“I have, I also learned how to clear a dungeon from the knights of the Allen Family.”

 

Joy, who had been listening to me without letting go of the tension in her eyes, showed interest for the first time when she heard the words knights of the Allen Family.

 

Even if she didn’t trust me, she trusted the knights of the Allen Family?

 

Those men who looked fierce but were foolish and kind were more amazing than I thought.

 

Of course, the people under the monstrous Benedict and Possell couldn’t be unimpressive.

 

“That must be true, right?”

 

“Yes! Trust me!”

 

“What if it’s not enough?”

 

“Foolish Young Lady, I’m better than you.”

 

I closed my mouth for a moment after hearing the distorted words of the Mesugaki skill.

 

I didn’t mean to say it like that.

 

“Aha. I see.”

 

Her furrowed brow wasn’t a misunderstanding.

 

What was engraved there was genuine anger.

 

Even in the game, Joy only gets genuinely angry twice, so why did she get genuinely angry?

 

The provocation power of the Mesugaki skill is no joke.

 

But why use that provocation power on allies when you can only use it on mobs?

 

This trash skill!

 

“Okay, you can try commanding once. I expect you to show fantastic command that matches your confidence.”

 

Doesn’t it seem impossible to clear up the misunderstanding engraved in Joy?

 

Is it because I have so many problems with my image that I’ve become an evil being in Joy’s mind?

 

<Before that, shouldn’t you worry about magic being shot to the back of your head?>

 

‘She wouldn’t go that far.’

 

If she made a mistake in the Academy exam, she would fail, so the kind and gentle Joy wouldn’t do something like that.

 

…

 

Probably.

 

In the cold atmosphere where not a single word was exchanged, we were killing time until it was already our turn to enter the dungeon.

 

The academy interviewer was talking about some precautions to us, but I ignored him.

 

After all, no matter what he was talking about, my goal was the shortest time.

 

<Is that possible when there is so much distrust within the team?>

 

‘It’s okay. I just have to make them trust me! Where does trust come from? It’s performance! If the knights of the Allen family who saw my splendid commanding ability in the dungeon praised me, no matter how much Joy hates me, she would have no choice but to trust me!’

 

<I think that’s an overly optimistic prediction.>

 

I ignored the old man’s nonsense and waited for the interviewer to finish talking.

 

“Lastly, I’d like to tell you one more time. If a dangerous situation arises, you can use the magic tool we provided to get back.”

 

With that, the interviewer stepped aside and the entrance to the dungeon came into view.

 

This dungeon was artificially created by Soul Academy, so unlike Evans’ small and medium dungeons, it didn’t feel creepy.

 

Could that creepiness be related to Agra?

 

So, I stepped inside the dungeon without hesitation.

 

The inside of the dungeon was quite bright because there were several magic stones embedded in the walls.

 

Thanks to this, I was able to leisurely observe the dungeon.

 

The floor was filled with unidentified debris, and the gray walls were covered here and there with dark colours.

 

A half-broken table that people must have used at one time.

 

Glass shards were scattered on top of it.

 

The dungeon that gave off an eerie feeling like a laboratory where some kind of accident had occurred was one of the places I knew.

 

‘Where the Alchemist Stayed.’

 

It was a place with a high level of difficulty among Soul Academy’s practical dungeons, but it also had many hidden passages, so if you used them well, you could easily shorten the record.

 

The moment I confirmed what kind of dungeon this was, I licked my lips and drew the shortest route in my head.

 

Can I really do this dungeon so easily?