“The trial… started?
Right, Shaula?”
Subaru looked at the girl beside him in surprise.
Shaula nodded and said “It started!
Let me see Master’s handsome side!”
“Don’t say it like this is some entertainment act at a drinking party… Besides, if I fail, won’t I lose all my dignity right in front of you?”
“Don’t worry.
Master’s dignity was thrown away a long time ago!”
“I know that’s true, but you don’t have to say it that bluntly!
My pride is hurt.
That really stings.”
“What?
I actually managed to hurt Master?
Hmph, hmph.
Looks like four hundred years of training really paid off.
I’ve improved so much!”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“So was I.
Hehe.”
Subaru stopped paying attention to Shaula’s fooling around and began thinking about the voice he had heard.
“The hero beaten to death by Shaula… Shaula, tell me everything you know about the heroes you destroyed.
Anything that might be a clue.”
Subaru chose to ask Shaula, who was right beside him.
Shaula took two steps back, struck a pose she thought was cool, and said, “Leave it to me!”
Then she closed her eyes and began thinking.
Thinking.
Thinking…
“Remembering the names of the guys you kill is the work of a second-rate assassin.
A first-rate assassin like me stops remembering after the first hundred!”
She still said it with complete confidence, even giving Subaru a thumbs-up and a wink, as if saying, ‘Master, hurry up and praise me’.
“Yeah, I figured!”
Subaru felt like crying but had no tears.
Her powerful yet completely useless answer had struck him right in the knees.
As expected, she was unreliable.
Just as he had guessed, Shaula’s answer was empty.
From the way she had spoken and acted up until now, Subaru had already felt that Shaula knew very little, like a sheet of pure white paper.
The hero beaten to death by Shaula.
Even if she was capable of knowing the correct answer, there was a high chance she did not remember anything from beginning to end.
Noticing that Subaru seemed disappointed, Shaula hurriedly tried to explain.
“I only used Hell’s Snipe to wipe out every single person who approached the tower.
Their corpses were all cleaned up by the mabeasts outside, so I don’t know their names.”
“No, wait.
This tower had the trials first, and then Shaula became the administrator, right?”
Subaru sharply realized something and turned to ask Shaula.
“Mm!
That’s right.
What’s wrong, Master?”
“If that’s the case, then the question must have existed first, and only afterward did you become the administrator.
Thinking about it that way, the hero you killed must have been someone from four hundred years ago, or maybe even earlier.”
“Come on, remember.
It’s because all your nutrition went to your chest and butt that your memory ended up this bad!”
But even if you tell me to remember, honestly, I still can’t recall anything.”
Subaru stared at Shaula, hoping she could give him some kind of answer.
But Shaula only continued frowning deeply, unable to remember no matter how hard she tried.
“Just casually name a few people.
You’ve definitely killed some people, right?”
“Master, what do you think I am, some kind of murderer?
I’m a maiden who can even bite flowers, you know.”
“That’s not a maiden.
That’s a caterpillar or something!”
In the end, Subaru still could not get the answer from Shaula.
He sat down on the ground.
“What kind of question is this… The hero killed by Shaula…”
Even asking Shaula herself could not produce an answer.
Just who had written this test?
The material used for the exam was not even qualified.
Wait…
Shaula herself?
Right.
If it were another challenger, not him, how could they possibly ask Shaula questions?
In other words, the answer to this question should be something that could be solved without asking Shaula.
Subaru supported his chin with one hand, closed his eyes, and sank into deep thought.
In this trial, whether Shaula existed or not was not important.
Or rather, it was even possible that a challenger might defeat Shaula’s attack and, by the end, still not know who Shaula was at all.
“In other words, even without Shaula… it should still be possible to find the answer… I see.”
Subaru seemed to understand something.
He turned to Shaula and said “Shaula, help me out.”
“Here!
Master!
Waiting for your orders!”
“Hold me, then jump up.
I want to observe those slabs.”
“Yes!”
Shaula excitedly lifted Subaru into a princess carry, smiling with a suspiciously pleased expression.
Then she leapt, jumping dozens of meters into the air in one go.
“Hiss—”
Feeling that superhuman strength for the first time, Subaru, as an ordinary high school student, could not help being amazed.
The girl’s slender arms were not delicate at all.
They were filled with power.
“Just as I thought… I know the answer.”
After Shaula landed, Subaru got down from her arms and said seriously, “The hero beaten to death by Shaula is Orion!”
“Orion?”
Shaula thought carefully for a moment, then immediately shook her head.
“Never heard of him.”
“Haha, of course you haven’t.
At first, I was definitely misled by you, you not very smart idiot.
But once I realized that this ‘Shaula’ wasn’t referring to you, it all made sense.”
“Eh?
No way!
There’s only one Shaula, and that’s me!
I’m Shaula!
Shaula waved her hands as if declaring ownership over the name.
“The name your master gave you had an origin from the start.
Shaula is Lambda Scorpii.”
Subaru began explaining.
“It means ‘the stinger.’ And if we’re talking about what kind of stinger, it’s the stinger of a scorpion.
According to legend, the hero Orion became arrogant and was stung to death by a scorpion sent to punish him, then became a constellation.
After that, the scorpion that killed Orion also became a constellation because of its achievement.”
“So the hero killed by Shaula is Orion of the Orion constellation.”
“And these slabs, if you observe them from above, you can tell they’re actually imitating the patterns of constellations.
Seriously… the person who designed this question is really nasty.
How would people from this world know this?”
Following his memory from earlier, Subaru moved between the slabs and found the group that formed the Orion constellation.
“The most dazzling moment, huh?
The most prominent star in Orion is Rigel, also known as Beta Orionis.
But sometimes, Betelgeuse, Alpha Orionis, shines even brighter… If it’s asking for the most dazzling moment, then the answer is—”
Subaru pressed the slab corresponding to Betelgeuse.
The next moment, all the slabs vanished.
A gust of wind swept through the pure white room.
Sound and scenery were both cast away.
Everything was blown apart.
And in the end, the scene around them changed into a room filled with countless books.
An enormous library.
“The trial was successfully cleared.
So this is the third floor, Taygeta?”
Subaru looked at the vast library and curiously walked up to one of the bookshelves.
It was packed with a dazzling number of books.
“These…”
“I can’t read a single word.”
Right.
Subaru did not know the written language of this other world at all.
“Shaula, can you read this?”
“Eh, eh?!
There’s actually a place where Shaula is needed in the field of literature?
Does this mean Shaula’s brain has finally started catching up to Master’s?”
Subaru nodded helplessly and said, “At least for this moment, you’ve caught up.”
“Mm… These are all people’s names, Master.”
“People’s names?!”
Books made from people’s names?
And there were this many of them?
Subaru could not understand what special meaning this was supposed to have.
He casually took out one book and opened it, only to find that it was filled with written characters he could not understand.
The words tangled together across the pages.
“Ah, I really need to find time to learn the written language of this world… Shaula, do you understand this world’s writing?”
“Hmph, hmph!
Of course I do.
But… if Master wants me to teach you… I don’t mind… But… I’m only at a half baked level, hehe.”
“Yeah, expecting you to help when I actually need you really is difficult.
Just do your best.
I’ll work hard too.”
Looking at Shaula’s happy expression, Subaru could already tell that this girl probably would not be able to teach him much.