Whether they’d made it on their third try or their fourth, all freshmen were equal.
So, even after hearing the name Philippe, a name that meant power second only to the Imperial Palace, I spoke to him casually.
“I’m Drowpis Eigenhardt. Well, looks like you already know that.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I immediately stood in front of the stone wall and grabbed a rope.
Even though I was moving, Gaston Philippe only hunched his shoulders awkwardly and didn’t budge.
“Not going up? You’ve got to get in, right? They say a second try is mandatory and a third is optional, but a fourth would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
“O-of course...... Of course I’m going up.”
He answered that way, but he still couldn’t bring himself to do it.
When I glanced over, his knees were trembling. The tips of his feet hesitated, unable to take the first step. This was the guy who’d failed his entrance exams before with violent vomiting and diarrhea from acute indigestion, or with a headache so fierce he’d nearly fainted.
This wasn’t a dilemma over what excuse to give this time.
It was obvious that among the people of the Empire, the question “Again?” would make the rounds along with the confident remark, “Isn’t he an empty vessel?” He’d reached the point where he couldn’t give any more excuses, so he had to go up.
Was it right to have his empty vessel exposed by falling on the way up, or was it right to go back as he was? He looked to be in the middle of a fierce inner struggle.
“If you wait any longer, you’ll be eliminated. Hurry.”
I gripped the rope, let go, and looked up at the distant top.
A very easy course. If you’d opened your Circle, you could climb it without trouble, but if you hadn’t, you could never pass.
In my past life, I’d climbed up in overwhelming first place.
Like a fucking idiot.
Without realizing that the more I stood out, the more I’d become a thorn in the Empire’s eye.
“My father always told me we should be the kind of people who support the Empire from behind. Let’s go together.”
I sent it by voice transmission so no one beside us could hear our conversation, but he didn’t hear it. I’d checked in case the conditions had changed with my return and he’d overcome being an empty vessel, but he was still an empty vessel.
Just like in the past, I channeled mana into him and then repeated the same words. Only then did Gaston understand me, and he was bewildered by the phenomenon.
Having confirmed that he could hear me, I continued by voice transmission.
“You can trust me. I only held off on starting because I had my reasons. We can climb up together.”
As if to prove it, I grabbed the rope, bounded up with one hand, came back down, and tapped my shoulder.
To the exam instructors watching, it had to look like I’d come down for a moment because my shoulder was strained.
Only after seeing my clear proof did Gaston smile brightly and take my hand.
A third of the examinees had already gone up. Another third had climbed more than halfway. The remaining third had slid back down countless times. They were supposed to climb using the power of mana, but they lacked the skill. Or they hadn’t opened their Circles.
It’d be best for my practical exam score to land within that last third.
The top thirty percent was already out of reach, but a ranking a little further back would do, so as not to stand out.
I demonstrated how to grip the rope with hands and feet, then set Gaston above me. The same way as in the past.
“See? Climb above me like that. I won’t slip.”
“I’ve climbed this cliff a few times, so I know it. They set it up differently every year, so I was just checking it out for a second.”
‘Liar.’
Gaston made up a false excuse, twisting one corner of his lips.
I gladly let myself be fooled.
He’d never get the chance to feel the shame of having his lie caught.
“Right. Push on up. I’ll follow from below.”
I wanted to know right away.
Now that I’d returned to seventeen, how great my mana and magic power were.
Whether I’d left the mana and magic power I’d built in exile behind at forty-one and come back reset to seventeen, or whether I’d brought everything from the future with me and only my body had returned to seventeen.
“Go.”
Gaston Philippe rose a few steps, making knots with his hands and feet as I’d demonstrated.
Right behind him, I lined up beneath him, took hold of the rope, and climbed.
Just as you’d expect from an empty vessel, he slipped right away. I worked my mana to push him up about ten centimeters, avoiding physical contact.
“Oh!”
He was overjoyed to find himself rising regardless of his own will.
“Pretty incredible, huh?”
“Shut your mouth. Unless you plan to spread rumors.”
I’d been careful from the bottom, but he lost his caution, overcome with excitement.
If anyone else had heard, it would mean immediate elimination for cheating.
I quickly spread a soundproof barrier around us and checked the reactions around us.
Glance.
Two or so people nearby had heard our conversation and turned their heads, looking for the exam instructors below. I sent mental-interference mana into them and erased that memory. They seemed to stop climbing for a moment, or lose their focus, and then they fell, forgetting Gaston’s outburst.
Gaston Philippe looked down anxiously at the sudden halt in the climbing.
“I erased it with mental interference. Be careful.”
Acting with everything I had, I spoke as if straining, then started climbing again.
Everything was too easy.
Mental interference wasn’t something seventeen-year-old me could do. Even if I’d managed it, it would’ve shown, either with an unpleasant vibrating hum, wung-wung~, leaking out or with the air around us rippling.
‘No doubt about it. I brought back everything I achieved in the future.’
‘Good. The way we’re climbing has changed too.’
In the past, I’d hauled him up while he stood on my head and shoulders. Because I’d climbed as fast as a flash of lightning striking flint, no one saw.
At the Ether Lake, I’d taken the lead.
Telling him it would be a problem if we kept sticking together, I’d informed him of how to cross—that I’d go ahead and plant oxygen he could breathe exactly once—and then I’d entered the Ether Lake.
I hadn’t wanted to put him in front.
Because first place had to be mine.
As it was, the gazes of the instructors standing watch everywhere were already sharp. Gaston, who didn’t understand the mechanics of mana manipulation, had nodded, encouraged by my decision.
I’d left him behind, accelerated, and arrived in overwhelming first place.
Breathing the oxygen I’d planted, he came in eighth or ninth. Thrilled at finally passing, he came straight to me the moment he stepped out of the lake and held out his hand. Congratulating me on coming in first. Thanks to his congratulations, public sentiment along the lines of “A foreigner dares to take first place?” never took root.
‘Starting here.’
In the past, I’d gone up in one go with him on my shoulders, but after regressing, I changed the climbing course. A trap had been set at a point a little more than halfway up.
A course you could only climb by using mana explosively.
The people falling again and again confirmed that my memory wasn’t wrong.
Still keeping the soundproof barrier up so only Gaston could hear, I spoke to him.
“Gaston, get onto the stone wall at that point.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Try reaching up a little.”
Gaston did as I said, then let go, so startled he nearly had a fit.
I knew he would.
Gaston couldn’t grip the rope beyond this point. It burned so hot that no hand could ever hold it, so he’d fall one hundred percent. All my pushing until now would be for nothing, and if I wanted to bring him up, I’d have to fall on purpose and start over too.
“Kids have been falling from that spot for a while now.”
“I saw. How am I supposed to get up?”
Cool the rope, or channel mana that could withstand the heat.
Those were the simple methods, but I chose a different course.
“Watch me. Gather mana in your fingertips and switch over. Like this.”
I wound the rope around my toes to make a foothold, then demonstrated switching over.
“So both ways use up mana?”
“This one only needs about as much mana as a chin-up.”
Even after my demonstration, he couldn’t let go of the rope. As an empty vessel, he had no confidence that he could grip the little grooves and stand on them.
“Hang on a second.”
I planted mana in his feet to keep him from falling, then quickly climbed about a meter. Once I was at eye level with him, I pulled him over beside me.
“Put some strength into it. I’m struggling here too, you know.”
“Khhhk. Ahh, I’m fine.”
Acting as if I’d used up all my strength, I nearly lost my grip on his collar before roughly yanking him in and pressing him against the stone wall.
I’d saved him from falling, and he smiled even with me holding him by the collar. It was also a plea not to drop him.
Ha, his collar.
How many years had it taken me to grab this collar just once?
“Hook your hands and feet into the grooves.”
Hiding my true feelings, I demonstrated the posture.
He took the posture as I’d said. Then he whipped around to look at me in surprise. As strength flowed into his hands and feet, he could stand on the tiny holes as if they were huge footholds.
“Follow me up.”
The top thirty percent who’d already gone up had climbed while erasing the heat of the ropes and iron bars with mana. The rest had switched over to the stone wall and climbed. The way people climbed differed depending on their mana capacity.
“Grab where I’ve passed. I’ll plant mana there.”
I planted mana so Gaston could climb up and reached the top one step ahead of him. Gaston, who followed me up onto the cliff, had his lips curled up as far as they’d go.
“Whoa, one mountain after another. Why is this so wide and long? It must be deep inside, too.”
“It’s deep. Take a wrong step and you’ll slide right down.”
“Having to start over would be horrible.”
“Walk in front of me. This time I’ll have to push from behind.”
Taking turns in front and behind would erase suspicion, I told him.
“What do you want?”
“Exactly what you’re thinking right now.”
“Fine. You’ll start out as my aide. I’ll help you get into central politics. I promise in the name of the Duchy of Philippe.”
The promise was exactly the same as in the past.
That promise was never kept. Knowing everything, I still smiled brightly.
Pretending to plant mana in him, I put my hand on his back, then took it away. Believing I’d planted mana in him and would keep sending more from behind, Gaston entered the Ether Lake.
I counted to ten in my head, as if hesitating.
Around me, a few people were hesitating to step in. All of them wore faces that needed resolve.
“Hyaah!”
I let out a battle cry loud enough for those around me to hear.
As if to say my mind was made up.
After confirming that a few people nearby had turned their heads to look at me, I lowered myself into the Ether Lake in a frightened stance.
When I opened my phase-synchronization mana, the countless labyrinth walls made of waterweeds turned into an open forest path. If I accelerated, I could reach the stairs in one go, but I swam along lightly, walking as if out for a stroll.
Looking front, back, left, and right, I saw the would-be cadets pressing forward while enduring lungs that felt about to burst. Since only the lower-tier mana-attuned were left, the scenery was nearly the same in every direction.
Someone abruptly vanished and then screamed something like “Aaargh, not again!” from the bottom of the cliff. It was the desperate scream of those who lacked the artifacts to activate the Veil.
To find Gaston, who’d gone in ahead of me, I slightly manipulated the mana wavelengths of the lake. For Gaston, this place, with no room to breathe, was as good as a grave.
Gaston stood some fifteen steps ahead, propped against a wall of waterweeds, looking around as if searching for me. His gestures demanded to know why it was so hard to breathe and told me to hurry up and fix it.
‘This is as far as you go.’
With countless waterweeds laid out like the walls of a labyrinth, there was no way he could see me. The upper-tier mana-attuned had already reached the Grand Field, and those here were struggling just to look after themselves.
PWAAAAH.
Before making it even a third of the way across, someone thrust their head up out of the lake. To avoid dying, you had to strike your knees to rebound and float up to the surface of the Ether Lake.
Just now another one was eliminated—no, two, three were rising to the surface and getting eliminated.
Watching this, Gaston floundered at a life-or-death crossroads. Should he use his knees to rebound, or should he look for a hole, any hole, to slide down through?
Zzzzzing.
Just in case someone might see, I reached out as if floundering in search of a way forward. I sent my mana riding on the high-concentration mana carried by the lake and erected a ‘Rack of Judgment’ where he stood. The more he struggled in pain, the stronger its binding force would grow.
When I drew up beside him, his eyes held confusion and fear.
“Goodbye.”
He didn’t seem to understand what I’d said.
Having lived the future, I knew how he’d lived. It was right for his life to end here. This decision of mine had been made down below that cliff, the moment I held out my hand to him.
“Slaughterer.”
To him, struggling to break the binding, I waved my hand and went on my way.
From outside, the surface of the lake showed not even the slightest ripple. Not a single drop of water rose. This lake had been made by my father, and my father’s mana waves and mine were identical.
Mmhhhff, mmf, mmmmf.
Each time Gaston breathed, the mana liquid that made up the lake flowed into his lungs.
Watching this clearly, I stepped aside, as if strolling, as though I had nothing to do with Gaston at all.
Mmmmph, glurrrrk.
A moment later, Gaston, who’d been thrashing to survive, slowed down and sank to the bottom.
At last, he drowned with his lungs ruptured.
‘Good!’
Every year, one or two people died in this Ether Lake.
There was no rule saying one of them couldn’t be a duke’s son.
***
TL Note: “A second try is mandatory and a third is optional” — a play on Korean exam slang. Retaking an entrance exam a second time is so common it’s joked to be “mandatory,” while a third attempt is “optional.” Gaston, a third-time applicant, is staring down a fourth.