The screen in the stands was thick with black smoke.
The nobles watching murmured.
Even on the committee's side, it was quiet, without a single shout.
When no news came for a while, the stands stirred.
"Good grief... Are we watching some kaiju battle?"
"More importantly, who on earth is that guy in the robe? Anybody bet on him? At least his name."
Everyone shook their heads as if hearing of him for the first time.
No one had.
No name appeared on the screen either; it only said 'Examinee No. 48.'
It might be a gambling den, but it was still a Recruitment Exam.
Participants' detailed information couldn't be disclosed.
Most bets on participants were made on nothing but rumors from high society and among nobles; the only ones who openly sold participant information were illegal black marketeers.
And even those black marketeers didn't know about Adam.
"What happened?"
"Surely the Archmage isn't losing?"
"With an explosion like that, wouldn't even the Archmage have a hard time?"
A pillar of blue fire, rare even for those who'd reached a stage to see, filled the sky.
The instant it exploded, the Archmage vanished into the smoke.
Those who'd only heard of the Archmage's standing by word of mouth wondered, couldn't it be possible? But those who knew the Archmage's authority just snorted.
"Talk sense. Even if you turned that ground upside down, the Archmage wouldn't die."
"Then isn't it unwinnable from the start?"
"You think he'd fight that way? Of course he's going easy on them."
"That's him going easy?"
"Honestly, I don't think anyone would survive even if active-duty men went out there, but by the Archmage's standards, he must have been going easy."
Everyone shared the same thought.
Of course he'd gone easy.
He was the Archmage.
But even so, they'd never imagined an examinee would come along who'd seriously try to fight the mountain that was the Archmage.
"I can see it."
"Now it's finally showing."
Only smoke showed in the stands' crystal ball.
No one knew whether the Archmage had won or the mysterious robed mage had.
When the wind swept away the smoke, an examinee lying on the ground, eliminated, came into view.
The examinee, fainted with his eyes rolled back, was teleported away and recalled.
A person's shadow appeared on the other side of the smoke.
Looking at the shadow, Ether frowned.
"Did we get him?"
Adam smacked the back of Ether's head without the slightest hesitation.
"Are you holding a ritual to bring him back to life?"
Ether had gone and cleanly planted a survival flag.
And as if answering that flag, the shadow was Aicolman.
"I nearly croaked, you punk."
Steam rose from Aicolman's whole body.
Judging by the thick stench of burning coming off his body, it was a fatal wound.
Even an Archmage felt pain just the same if he failed to defend.
A sensation like needles being stuck all over pounded his whole body.
"Goddammit. You ungrateful brat......!"
Aicolman had burns all over his body, and his wounds weren't light.
But that was all.
10 exploding spheres would leave a small meteor crater in a forest, and yet his body, which had withstood it alone, was still rooted to the earth.
"This is really too much. He should be falling down about now."
"Can't be helped. Anyway, you're not planning to give up after coming this far, are you?"
In truth, Adam had already drawn out and spent today's mana to the limit.
He still had a last resort, but whether it would reach Aicolman was unknown.
Even so, the reason he was bluffing was that Ether's will hadn't broken yet.
"That's a relief. I thought I was the only one with any fighting spirit."
Ether put her hand on her sword.
Her hand trembled a little, so she took one big, deep breath.
The trembling disappeared.
Ether charged straight at the Archmage without hesitation.
Against an Archmage, feints were meaningless.
She poured all her strength into a single killing thrust.
"Not bad, you gold digger."
It failed so simply it was anticlimactic.
He'd raised a wooden shield in advance at the spot she'd stab, so it didn't even touch his skin.
"Says the human vegetable!"
Pulling her sword out at an angle, Ether raised it high again and slashed diagonally.
Aicolman clicked his tongue and dodged to the side.
'Is this a kids' game?'
It was a one-dimensional move even a fool could dodge.
A form so simple he could subdue her bare-handed by grabbing her throat right away.
But—
"Kuh!"
Aicolman got his side cut open without knowing how.
'What was that just now?'
To Aicolman's eyes, the greatsword had looked like it split into 3 for an instant.
Ether taunted him, her face flushed red.
"Long time no see, old man."
"Since when do you know me well enough to call me old man?"
This could hardly be called swordsmanship.
Was it magic?
Magic even I've never seen. Don't tell me this one's a grimoire user too?
"A tyrant of a gold digger, reaching her filthy hands toward my family."
"Tyrant? I knew it! You know who I—"
"Shut up."
But there was no need to understand.
"Kuhk!"
Aicolman stretched out his arm, transformed into a tree root, and choked Ether by the throat.
If it was magic that was useless to dodge, then he just had to not give her the chance to attack.
Ether tried to pull off the wood wrapped around her neck, but it wasn't so weak that her strength could tear it off.
Clang.
The sword Ether had been holding fell to the ground.
It wasn't life-threatening, so the committee didn't forcibly recall her.
Aicolman set her down on the ground, touched the wound on his side, and frowned.
"...Adam, you've chosen quite a fine sword."
"You're complimenting me, for once."
"I'll compliment you for finding a sharp blade. But this bitch is a gold digger, so as your senior in life, I recommend you cut ties."
"That's for me to decide."
The two looked like a father and son (sire and son) meeting after a long time apart.
The forest rustled in an early autumn wind that seemed to blow from nowhere.
The space of forest and plain where the Imperial Palace Recruitment Exam was being held.
Only the two of them faced each other.
Aicolman found that face amusing.
"Haah, I got too worked up."
"Sorry?"
"I didn't intend this, so I'll go with the original plan."
Without delay, he took a number tag out of his coat and tossed it.
"Adam, take this."
The tossed number tag bounced twice with a light tap.
And then lay there all alone between the two of them.
"Whew... Really ruthless. Ruthless."
Adam almost snatched up the number tag in an instant, but quickly regained his composure.
"How badly do you want to win? I never would've thought you'd throw away a number tag as bait."
"I'm not trying to trick you. I'm really giving it to you."
"Why?"
He'd lived half his life as a slave.
Enduring every kind of humiliation, gritting his teeth, agreeing with his every word and humoring him.
This was a reward for all that toil.
"That's your last paycheck. Take care at the Palace."
Adam looked at the number tag without a word, then lifted his head slightly to look up at him.
"I've thought hundreds of millions of times that you're a character-bankrupt, rotten bastard, Aicolman, but I've never once resented you in all my life. If anything, since you gave me work and raised me for over 10 years, I've thought of you as my real parent."
"Are you an idiot? I worked you like a slave. What do you mean, parent?"
"What's my name?"
"What?"
Aicolman tilted his head.
"Adam Sanchez."
"And isn't your name Aicolman Sanchez?"
The two shared the same surname.
Aicolman was an orphan with no parents, so his surname was one he'd received from the Emperor for his achievements.
"I'm a member of the Sanchez family, same as you. If that's not family, what is it?"
"I gave you my surname because I didn't know how to treat a slave!"
He'd only given the slave a surname because he didn't know any better.
"Doesn't matter. I've lived 10 years with this name, so I'm going to live with this surname for the rest of my life."
"Stop it. I don't go around telling people my surname either. There's no one in our family but me. It's a worthless family."
"There's you."
Aicolman's eyes went wide.
The arm pressing on his side trembled slightly.
Having said it calmly, Adam casually walked over to the number tag.
"Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, I get to pass right away."
"Wait."
Aicolman stretched out his arm, transformed into wood, and took the number tag back.
"......."
Adam's arm stopped in midair, and he looked up blankly at Aicolman.
"I've changed my mind."
"Haha, now of all times?"
"What does it matter?"
Aicolman put his hand on his side.
When he stitched up the wound with a tree root as sharp as a needle to stop the bleeding, the bleeding stopped.
"Starting today, I'm the head of the family."
"The head of a family of just two people."
"Every beginning is humble!"
Blue light came into the magic circle.
He'd fed it every mana stone he had on hand.
There was a good chance not all of it would turn into explosive spheres, but it was more than worth testing.
The two faced each other, their gazes crossing in midair.
There was no need to exchange any more words.
***
The timing was simultaneous.
As they poured out attacks at each other freely, holding nothing back, their mana hit bottom in no time.
A short, 3-minute clash went on.
Aicolman struggled more than he'd imagined.
There was no way he could fall behind in mana. How had he fought at a level similar to his own?
He soon found out why.
"Aicolman......."
Just then, he met Adam's eyes in the smoke.
Adam was drooling from his mouth.
The magic circle on the back of his hand and the look in his eyes were glinting at the same time; he'd turned into something like a madman.
"You're drunk on magic."
A blue liquid was smeared around the mouth of Adam, who couldn't keep his sanity.
"An elixir."
The doping potion taken from the cabin swordsman.
It brought a temporary mana boost at the cost of getting drunk on one's own magic and dizziness afterward.
The moment Adam's potential and the mana boost overlapped, his power briefly reached even an Archmage.
'But it's still just doping. All I have to do is buy time.'
Aicolman put his hand to the ground, generated wooden shields, and blocked the way.
Just as he was thinking he'd simply hold out like this.
She appeared out of the mist.
"Isn't thinking you can win by holding out a little too naive?"
Ether's sword cut open Aicolman's ribs.
"Kuh! You... you gold digger!"
A little red elixir was smeared on her lips.
"How dare the Tyrant Princess covet my family! If nothing else, I'm dragging you, you bitch, to the very threshold of the underworld!"
"Don't make me laugh! I'm not the me you know anymore! And Adam needs me too, you know!?"
Bleeding, Aicolman's concentration blurred.
The generation of wooden shields stopped.
The explosion in front of him shattered the giant tree shield in an instant.
At his side, a knight with a greatsword; in front, an explosion mage.
The fight was decided.
When he dodged the knight's greatsword, Adam's explosive sphere came flying as if it had calculated his position.
Aicolman thought.
'It'll shave some years off my life, but should I fight a little dirty?'
Having fallen for the temptation, he soon gave it up.
Before he knew it, the Adam in front of him had lost his right arm.
There were 2 holes in his chest, and the plain on the other side was clearly visible through them.
Seeing Adam gritting his teeth and trying to beat him, the dregs left in his chest washed away.
Aicolman wondered how to describe this feeling.
'Right, is this the blue drawn from indigo, bluer than the indigo?'
He shook his head, denying it.
'No, still, it's only natural that I'm stronger for now.'
He felt like he'd forgotten something, so he dug through his pocket.
It was the number tag.
Right before the explosive sphere burst in front of him, Aicolman threw the number tag up into the sky.
Something small glinted in the sky.
The bursting blue flames and light swallowed Aicolman.
The wind swept away the lingering traces of the explosion.
And the hazy fog that had been covering the screen in the stands gradually began to clear.
"Look at that!"
On the screen, the number tag in Adam's hand glinted.
The stands watching the Imperial Palace Recruitment Exam were turned upside down.