Welcome to The First Checkpoint!
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of the man
I had captured thrashing around.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh."
"Oh, sorry, sorry."
When I took off the gag,
"Hey, what is this! Get these ropes off me right now!"
"No, that's out of the question!"
"Why didn't you kill me?"
"Well, there's no reason to kill you."
"No, there is! He tried to kill you!"
"Do you want to be killed that much?"
Clarissa turned her gaze.
"A, no, I don't want to be killed, but... hahaha..."
"More importantly, you! Why is your magic power suppressed? You were leaking it out so much yesterday!"
"We taught him how to control it."
"No, no, you can't do it right away after being taught yesterday!"
"You're noisy! I said the same thing, but he was able to do it,
so it can't be helped!"
"Huh?"
"By the way, what's your name?"
"I'm not going to tell you!"
"Why?"
"I'm Harbel, what about you?"
He seemed a little hesitant,
"I'm Tact!"
"Tact, I'm going to release you now, so don't attack me!"
"Okay..."
Harbel released him, and Tact immediately took a fighting stance.
"Okay, okay, I understand!"
Tact raised his hands as if he had given up.
"I'll tell you something good as thanks for helping me!"
"Something good?"
"Yeah, there are four checkpoints in total before the goal,
and you can't reach the goal unless you clear them all."
"I see."
Harbel stared at Tact.
"Okay, okay, I understand! The first checkpoint is a general
store in the Gazal district!"
"Thank you."
"I won't tell you anything more! I've returned the favor!
Don't follow me!"
"Okay, you can go."
"Why are you letting him go! He'll try to kill us again!"
"No, Tact won't attack us anymore."
"I think so too."
"Maybe that information is true too."
"Then, shall we go to Gazal first and then go see our master?"
"Okay."
"Understood."
"What's your means of transportation?"
"A car, it's over there."
There was an old-fashioned car parked there.
"Then, can I get a ride?"
"You're going to drive!"
"No, I'm only 16, I can't drive!"
"How did you get here?"
"Ah, Sky Bike."
He said that and showed me a cool gunmetal Sky Bike.
"Wow, cool..."
"Then, let's go."
In the end, Clarissa ended up driving, and Harbel was lying down in the back seat.
"Tell me about Harbel."
"There's nothing particularly interesting."
I told them the story up to this point in chronological order.
"Oh, by the way, I seem to be a reincarnated person..."
When I said that casually, the two of them fell silent.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"So, you know about Dual too?"
"Dual?"
"No, if you don't know, it's okay, forget what I just said!"
Clarissa changed the subject and continued talking.
I was very curious, but I pretended not to care because it seemed like a topic she didn't want to touch on.
"We're in the Gazal district from here. I think he said it was
a general store."
"Yeah."
"Isn't it here?"
"I see, it's suspicious."
There was a sign that said "Suspicious General Store"
in big letters.
"It looks suspicious from the outside..."
"Well, let's go."
Harbel and the others cautiously opened the door.
"Excuse me, is anyone here?"
There's no answer.
"Excuuuuse me!"
"Oh, I can hear you! What do you want? You're noisy!"
"Excuse me, is it true that this is a checkpoint for the MD
exam?"
"Hey, Harbel!"
"Well, well, you've got some strange ones here!"
The old store owner suddenly changed her personality as
if a switch had been turned on.
"You're the first one to ask me so directly! I like you! Anyway, ask me anything!"
"Yes, how can I get to the MD exam venue?"
"Do you think I'll answer that question honestly?"
"Grandma, don't answer a question with a question!"
"Oh, you've got guts! I'll praise you for your spirit!"
The old store owner was rustling through something.
"I'll let you test how much you've mastered the basics of
magic!"
"This is bad, Harbel hasn't received basic training yet!"
"We should have met the master first."
"Well, it's too late now! The exam has already started!"
She said that and slammed the table loudly.
"Ah, it's okay, but I'll take it last. I'll observe the two of you
taking the exam."
"Oh, I don't mind. It's not something you can do by just
imitating."
The old woman handed out coins on the table.
"Try to spin these coins without touching them!"
"Without touching them?"
"From this state?"
"Yes, if you've mastered the basics of magic, it shouldn't
be that difficult."
"Understood."
Saying that,
Nell held the coin in both hands as if to cover it,
and created a small vortex with wind magic in her hands.
"Wind Storm"
While adjusting the magic power, she skillfully adjusted
the small vortex to make the coin float, and it began to
spin around in her hands.
Clarissa also did the same,
"Whirlpool"
She rotated the water like a whirlpool in her hand and
showed me how to spin the coin.
"Okay, well done! The basics of magic power control seem
to be sufficient, you've passed!"
"What about you over there?"
Harbel casually sat down on the chair and held his hand
over the coin.
"What are you going to do?"
Harbel slowly brought his hand closer to the very top of
the coin, and just before it stopped, he slowly closed his
palm while lifting it up.
Then, the coin stood up by itself. As he continued to
slowly raise his hand, the coin floated into the air.
"What, the coin floated?"
"It's like a magic trick!"
Then, the coin started to rotate little by little and accelerated
more and more. The coin, which kept spinning in the air like
a top, flew away with a tremendous sound.
The coin embedded in the wall was distorted and bent.
"What did you do?"
"Ah, I saw the magic of the two people earlier and I knew
that if you control the wind or water magic well, you can
rotate it, but it's boring to do the same thing, so I imagined
the magic power as thin as a thread and attached it to
the coin and pulled it up into the air.
I gradually added centrifugal force to it there with magic
power, and that's what happened."
"Hmm, I don't understand what you're saying...
I don't understand, but it seems that you can control magic
power, so well, you've passed."
"What are you doing?"
"Because it looks interesting?"
"Fufufu, Harbel is wonderful."
"Well, that's fine, all three of you have passed, I'll give you a
hint for the next checkpoint."
The old woman wrote down how to get to the next point on
a piece of paper.
"Grandma, thank you."
"Thank you very much."
"Take care!"
The old woman took the bent coin out of the wall,
"That young man named Harbel is what you call a natural
genius. Honestly, I couldn't even understand what he was
saying, and he didn't even chant. He's terrifying."
The old woman threw the coin into the air and caught
it with both palms.
When I looked, the coin had returned to its original flat shape.
"Then, let's go see the master this time."
"It'll take about two days from here."
"Thank you for your help."
I put my hands forward and bowed.
"No, is it a confession?"
Clarissa made a retort, but no one responded...
"Seriously, you're ignoring me..."
