It had been a monumental struggle to get back from the depths of the mountain range after exhausting my magic power.
The way there is a breeze, but the way back is a beast—or something like that. Actually, that wasn't quite right.
Though I was still feeling the lingering fatigue, summer vacation was far from infinite. I didn't have the luxury of resting.
And so, I found myself standing before a dungeon in the Yudaina Mountain Range, accompanied by both Mariana and Alicia.
The goal was to conduct the bootcamp we had discussed back at the Academy dungeon. This wouldn't be some basic training routine; it was going to be the ultra-practical Brave-style ordeal. The kind of experience that left you teetering on the razor's edge between life and death.
"It’s as steep as ever... I’m exhausted..."
"Gasp... wheeze... Just getting to the dungeon... I can't walk another step..."
At the mouth of the cave, Alicia wiped sweat away with the sleeve of her tracksuit while Mariana collapsed onto the ground in a heap.
Observing Mariana’s breathless state, I was reminded of how impressive Alicia’s stamina truly was. It was the clear result of her elite upbringing in swordsmanship and magic. For an ordinary person from the Royal Capital, simply trekking through the Yudaina Mountain Range was a grueling task.
"Alicia, p-p-please, a lap pillow! Please, help me!"
"Don't be spoiled. I’m at my limit, too."
"No wayyyy!"
How fragile.
She was clutching her head in despair, but lately, Mariana had been leaning far too heavily on Alicia. Overdependence is a dangerous habit.
"Sigh, I’m tired. Probably because Ragna wouldn’t hold my hand this time."
Alicia puffed out her cheeks and shot me a sidelong glance.
"Don't be spoiled, don't be spoiled."
I brushed her off, though it felt like a knife to my own heart. In the Yudaina Mountain Range, those who were pampered were the first to die. Besides, I could hardly flirt and hold hands in front of Mariana. Ours was a wholesome, proper relationship, after all!
"You two, the monsters are scarce on the mountain this year, so you're actually having it easy."
I had culled their numbers before leaving for the Academy, and with Onyx preying on them, the monster population was low. Ordinarily, we would have been ambushed by now. Furthermore, dungeons were crawling with monsters regardless of any external culling, so things were about to get very hectic.
"If you're flagging at this stage, you're going to die. Get your heads in the game."
"If I'm going to die, at least let me have one last coffee..."
"Don't say such morbid things. There's no way that's actually going to happen, right?"
Alicia looked toward me for reassurance, but I simply looked up at the sky.
"The Yudaina Mountain Range is a place where a single moment of carelessness results in death."
On this point, I wouldn't waver, even if she started rattling my leash. They say a lion pushes its cubs into a bottomless ravine; to be honest, I didn't intend to go quite that far. I was operating with a solid safety margin, but I needed them to believe, on a visceral level, that they might actually die. That was why I spoke with such gravity.
Then again, was it a problem if they acted like they were already dead? Well, it was the nature of living creatures to struggle for survival when backed into a corner. I would have to be the villain today.
"Alright, let's head in."
"Ragna, you look more energetic than usual... it's unsettling."
"Ragna-san, your smile is terrifying..."
And so, we stepped into the pitch-black maw of the cave. We were entering one of the relatively simple cave-type dungeons in the Yudaina Mountain Range—the Ant's Nest of Madness.
Naturally, I hadn't told them the name of the place.
"Sigh... I thought we would, you know, do some sightseeing first..."
"No such thing exists."
"There's none of that here."
Alicia and I spoke in perfect unison, shooting down Mariana’s murmur.
"Fueeee."
This was the Brave Territory, after all.
"Whoaaa! I thought it was just a normal cave at first glance, but it really is a proper dungeon!"
Though Mariana had been flagging at the entrance, she underwent a total transformation once we were inside. She scurried around with a lantern in one hand, huffing with excitement and constantly adjusting her glasses. I was genuinely concerned that the repeated friction would wear down the frames until they snapped.
"...It’s so dark."
In contrast, Alicia was sticking to me like glue, her eyes darting around restlessly as she stayed on high alert.
It was quite the gap in character. I never would have imagined that Alicia—who usually commanded such a dignified and regal presence—could be reduced to this.
"Let's dig up some soil and take it home."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Just as she had done in the Academy’s dungeon, Mariana began striking the walls with a shovel. Alicia immediately snapped at her.
"This isn't a tour, Mariana!"
"Eh? But the dungeon soil..."
She looked like a child who wanted a souvenir but didn't have the allowance to buy one. I suppose there were tourist spots in the Brave Territory after all—if you counted dungeons. Though for most people, they were "tourist spots" in the same way a minefield was.
"You triggered a trap doing that exact same thing before, remember?"
"T-That’s right... I’m sorry..."
Mariana looked dejected, but the sight of her glasses glinting in the lantern light as she continued to eye the wall with her shovel was genuinely unsettling. Danger aside, she really needed to stop.
"Ragna, what kind of threats should we expect? I don't think this will be effective training unless we have some prior knowledge."
"Right now it's just dark. There's nothing yet."
In the Ant's Nest of Madness, the suffocating darkness was the first thing to greet intruders. The real ordeal began once we reached the open space ahead. Like a literal ant's nest, the paths branched out repeatedly into various chambers, over and over again.
Furthermore, a massive colony of giant ant monsters patrolled the tunnels. From standard workers to winged scouts and heavy-jawed soldiers, there were countless varieties. Somewhere in the depths, a Queen Ant was said to be perpetually churning out new workers.
"I'll wipe them out! I can handle bugs!"
"Hiee, bugs... I hate bugs."
Alicia’s eyes burned with sudden combat instinct while Mariana shrank back. They were perfect opposites. It was a classic dynamic between a former heroine and a former villain.
"Now, for today's objective. The worker ants themselves aren't particularly formidable on their own; they just rely on numbers. We’re going to use them as live target practice so you two can learn chantless magic."
"I see. So it's not that dangerous after all? Ragna, you'll teach us the secret to chantless casting beforehand, right?"
"Yeah. I'll explain how mages actually pull it off."
"Wow! I tried to do it on my own but I couldn't get it to work at all. This will be a huge help!"
"Hahaha, there's a trick to it, you see."
Think of an incantation as a manual. By putting magic power into words, you were essentially following a preset guide that determined the quantity, density, shape, and speed of the spell.
Chantless casting required you to determine all of those variables in your head without a manual. It offered much more freedom, but the spell simply wouldn't activate if the construction was flawed. Usually, the best way to learn was through slow trial and error with simple spells, but we didn't have time for that. We were going to skip straight to the end while facing monsters.
Basically: "Do it or die."
It was a sensation similar to being able to solve exam questions with supernatural speed when you desperately needed to use the restroom during a test. I honestly felt like anyone could grasp the concept if pushed. I blamed the Academy’s curriculum; they taught incantations as if they were holy law. That sort of rigid thinking was exactly why people stayed weak.
"Oh, by the way, you aren't allowed to go home until you've mastered it."
And I didn't just mean a single successful activation. The condition for returning home was the ability to construct chantless magic effective enough to ensure survival.
When I told them that, the expressions they made were... well, they were something else entirely. Their faces were so ghastly that it made me wonder if they were still the same young ladies I knew.