With the team assignments announced, two people—a guy and a girl—now stood by my side.
One was a petite guy with a bowl cut, fiddling with a tetrahedral object in both hands, while the other was a timid-looking girl with long blonde hair tied in braids. Going by his youthful face, the short guy playing with the tetrahedral object was likely in his teens. Meanwhile, the blonde girl had long bangs covering most of her face; she looked like she could be a teenager, but I wouldn't have been surprised if someone told me she was in her thirties either. In short, her appearance was completely ambiguous.
"Ramune. Aspiring mage. Nice to meet you."
Without even turning my way, the blue-haired bowl-cut guy greeted me curtly, his hands never pausing as he toyed with the tetrahedral object.
"I'm... Kiki. Good with swords... Nice to meet... you."
On the other hand, the blonde girl with braids introduced herself in a voice so faint it seemed on the verge of fading away entirely.
"I'm Kai Heinemann. A swordsman. Looking forward to working with you."
Just as I offered a friendly smile and raised a hand, a familiar, furious shouting match reached my ears.
"Being on the same team as you makes my skin crawl to the core!"
Roman spat the words without making the slightest effort to conceal his disgust.
"That's my line! Aren't you supposed to be the next head of your house?! Why don't you just stay holed up in Lamoor forever?!"
Lumine snapped back instantly.
"What about you?! Tagging along all the way out here, did it never cross your mind that you're just a burden to Lady Laila?!"
Roman raised his voice as well, barking back at the top of his lungs.
"My sister and I are always together! That's my happiness, and it's my sister's happiness too! Stop forcing your twisted standards onto me!"
"What did you say?!"
"You heard me!"
The two of them snarled at each other, practically nose-to-nose. They really never failed to meet expectations. They weren't undiscerning toddlers anymore; I wished they would just calm down a bit. In fact, their other teammate, a boy with cropped brown hair, was cowering anxiously the entire time.
Even so, Roman and Lumine on the same team, huh? One could write it off as pure coincidence, but it smelled fishy no matter how I looked at it.
The sudden, drastic overhaul to this year's exam was also nagging at me. It never hurt to be cautious... I supposed.
(Deimos. Are you there?)
Deimos was the black skeleton who had recently become Girimehkala's subordinate—the Deimos Lich.
(Sir! By your side.)
Concealed in the grass behind me, a black skeleton draped in black robes knelt down. He had already undergone behavioral correction under Girimehkala's tutelage to fix his rotten temperament, and reports indicated he now possessed a respectable level of strength.
From what I understood, the Deimos Lich had been a human mage in life, making him well-suited for this kind of behind-the-scenes work. For that matter, expecting Girimehkala and the other merry companions in the Subjugation Compendium to show the discretion of staying out of sight without explicit orders was an absolute pipe dream. On the contrary, they would cause a massive uproar with flashy spectacles like that Path of the Sword stunt, and the exam would be the last thing on anyone's mind.
On the other hand, leaving this to Lucas or Oboro, whose fanaticism toward me had grown remarkably intense lately, was also out of the question. I acknowledged that they were rapidly growing stronger by leaps and bounds. I acknowledged it, but leaving matters to those two honestly brought to mind nightmares far worse than Girimehkala.
All things considered, Deimos was ideal for this kind of stealth mission.
(You know of a girl named Laila Helner, correct?)
(Sir! Per Lord Girimehkala's orders, I have been standing by at your side, and thus I am aware of her.)
Girimehkala had been nagging me relentlessly to keep a subordinate at my side, so I chose Deimos—who was presumed to possess a relatively normal grasp of human common sense—and granted permission.
(Then I leave this to you. Protect Laila Helner.)
(Sir! If any obstacles arise, may I eliminate them?)
(Yeah. Her safety is your absolute priority; everything else is secondary. Act according to your own judgment.)
(Understood.)
(Deimos, I'm counting on you.)
The sound of grinding bones echoed faintly from behind.
(Such... absolute bliss.)
A trembling voice brimming with overwhelming joy reached my ears, and in that same instant, his presence vanished.
Well then, time to get moving. I didn't know what that vixen of an elf was plotting. But if it went against my principles, I would resist with everything I had. Yes—thoroughly!
"Hey, instead of flirting, hurry up and get moving. You'll be at a disadvantage if you fall behind, you know."
I offered some helpful advice to the pair who were so intimately squaring off.
"Shut up! I know that without you telling me!"
"That's right! Keep your nose out of our business!"
Spouting the exact lines I anticipated, the two stormed off at a brisk pace as if competing with each other, disappearing into the forest. The boy with the cropped hair hurriedly scrambled after them.
Those two were so reckless I could hardly bear to watch. Under these circumstances, I felt far more confident in Laila. Roman was my cousin, and Lumine was practically a little sister to Laila. I couldn't very well leave them to die. Especially with the vixen's true motives still shrouded in mystery, a certain level of vigilance was warranted. Guess I'll activate Divine Eye to keep tabs on the two of them.
Honestly, playing babysitter in the middle of a war zone like this was no joke.
I cursed silently to myself.