Chapter 346 – Volume 70 – Project Pass (1)
It definitely seemed like there was a dazzling light in front of my eyes.
So I reached out there.
To capture that dazzling light with these hands.
“Ah…”
But it was useless.
As soon as it touches my hand, the light dissipates.
As if it wasn’t the light given to me.
In a world where many lights are twinkling, I try to reach out again and again.
The countless colors of light that seemed like they would reach me do not reach me.
“…!”
But something was caught in the hand that had nothing.
But even after I grabbed it and looked there, there was still nothing.
“Ugh…!”
The girl woke up with her hands outstretched in the air, startled.
… It’s a very strange dream.
“It’s time. Should I go too?”
After staring at the advertisement on her smartphone for a while, the girl let out a long sigh.
In the end, she applied with the feeling of grasping at straws.
See what’s in her and see if these people will give her a pass…
“…”
I was worried as I looked at the auditorium filled with so many people.
Everyone must have prepared hard to come here.
Is it okay for me to not know anything?
“Ha.”
I think I have tried many things in my own way.
Not only swordsmanship and magic, but also recently popular things like coding.
I have failed the academy entrance exam several times and in many different ways.
And then, without any such conditions.
She came here after hearing a rumor that she could pass the exam with a talent unlike any before.
… Was it called Role Playing Academy?
“Candidate, please come here and place your hand on the machine.”
“… Yes.”
Don’t get your hopes up.
Even though she thought so, she also wondered if there was a talent here that she had never found before.
In the end, unable to hide the sound of her pounding heart, she placed her hand on the device.
After feeling slightly dizzy, the employee checked the equipment with a very embarrassed expression.
“Oh, that’s strange… Wait a minute. The equipment isn’t moving.”
“Yes?”
“Hmm… Can you bring it over here? There is no response. Thank you for your hard work. We will notify you of the results later.”
… They said they would notify us later.
She knows very well what such a reaction means.
A look of compassion towards those who are certain to be eliminated.
“As expected…”
She thought it might be so.
Applying to an academy that you don’t even know anything about.
There is no way you can pass that easily.
The girl decided to give up now.
It is right for me to give up on the Academy.
If I get accepted to a famous academy, will I be able to break away from my engagement and live my own life?
“Sounds so unexpected…”
For me, it’s just to marry the man my family needs.
There was no qualification to be anything more than that.
I have been convinced of this through numerous challenges so far.
So you should stop.
Probably because I knew that I was such a piece of trash.
The family must have said they would let me go under those conditions.
“Oh, you’re already here.”
In fact, it is said to be a talent that can be identified without much difficulty.
The results were probably produced as soon as the data was collected and verification was performed.
I heard that this kind of work has become faster since the recent introduction of smartphones and computers.
“… Huh?”
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the notification message.
I thought maybe I didn’t see it right, so I washed my face and checked again.
The content had not changed at all from what I first saw.
A phrase I see for the first time.
I’ve applied to numerous academies so far, but I haven’t seen any…
The word ‘pass’ wavered before my eyes.
“Huh? Why?”
The person who tested me obviously said it as if I had failed.
There may have been some mistake.
… So I tried to call to inquire, it must have been like that.
“Ugh.”
In the end, I couldn’t make a phone call.
Even if it is a mistake, I don’t want to correct it.
I wanted to enjoy this false happiness, even just for a moment.
Maybe if I really go to the entrance ceremony, they’ll say there was a mistake and kick me out.
But I was too scared to confirm that fact right now.
… I held out without making any contact until the admission date approached.
Follow the information provided in the notification message.
I eventually headed to the academy on the date of the entrance ceremony.
“…”
It’s a strange feeling.
It feels like I, someone who shouldn’t be here, has arrived.
Suppressing the desire to run away at any moment, I slowly participated in the entrance ceremony.
“Hello! I’m Hana. What about you?”
“Yes…?”
And the girl next to me smiled brightly and greeted me.
I was confused for a moment and hesitated, then was able to answer carefully.
“Rest in peace. The girl is called May.”
“Uh, uh. Are you a nobleman? I’m sorry.”
“No, I don’t care at all.”
“Really? Then it’s okay for us to be friends?”
“Of course. That’s what I want to ask.”
Perhaps my being here was a mistake.
If that’s the case, there’s no point in getting close to me.
It would be happier to make more proper friends.
“Huh? That can’t be possible. Why does May think that?”
“… I’m the one who always fails at the academy, and even on the day of the evaluation, the machine didn’t observe anything.”
“No. That’s strange.”
“Yes?”
After saying that, Hana spread her hands in the air, closed her eyes, and began to concentrate.
Then, a bunch of sparkling lights bloomed like flowers on her hand.
I stared blankly at that fantastic sight.
“Actually, I was joking that I was going to test this today. Like this.”
It was the moment when I attached that flower to myself.
The light tried to wrap around me as if it would stick to my body.
Suddenly it exploded and disappeared.
“Look, I have a unique ability. This is the first time I’ve seen my abilities erased.”
“It gets erased…?”
And let’s repeat the same thing a few times.
I felt a little dizzy, and after that, the flower successfully stuck to my body.
… As if the shield that had been blocking it until now had disappeared.
“I guess I’ve run out of strength. Now, it’s normal for people to stick together like this. Even people with or without ability stick to it.”
“… But, it doesn’t stick to me.”
“Yeah, that’s probably May’s ability.”
The ability to erase other people’s abilities.
The effect looks great, but it doesn’t seem to be possible indefinitely.
… Wait a minute, but when did this ability come about?
“Ability…”
It is a bit different from familiar powers such as magic, auror, and divine power.
A mysterious power that seems to only appear in popular comics these days.
Unable to believe that something like that was in her hands, May stroked the flower made of light for a long time.
“Huh? Didn’t you know? Haven’t you seen all of Project Pass?”
“What is that?”
“She applied to the academy without knowing anything?”
“Yes, actually, I was depressed because I had tried several academies and failed to get them all. I heard that there was an academy that would select you if you showed up with a different standard…”
“I see. Then I’m glad I passed even here.”
“Passed…”
I couldn’t believe it.
It is true that I was properly accepted into this academy.
That the power, which is like proof, has been given in my hands?
“Hmm, how do I explain this?”
“An explanation?”
“By any chance, do you know anything about the hero?”
“What is a hero?”
Is it because I was so focused on studying to pass the academy until recently?
Watching Hana keep telling stories she doesn’t know.
May blankly put the information into her head.
… Of course, it is a memory that was put in without proper understanding.
It wasn’t organized properly, so I couldn’t understand it.
Some information was helpful for understanding.
A surprising fact was announced not long ago.
In fact, the invasion of demons, which was thought to have ended in the past war, was continuing steadily.
It is said that many warriors fought and died in unseen places.
In order to hide this fact from everyone, the empire erased all records of the warriors.
Because there are no records left of the former warriors.
The fact that we are alive and well is the only proof of the existence of those heroes.
“Hero…”
“And in the form of a cartoon, artist Siwoo exposed it.”
“Cartoons?”
‘Project Pass’, the comic that started it all, depicts the next era of warriors.
It reveals some of the principles of the hero’s power, rather than secretly sacrificing those who possess its seeds as before.
The main point of the content was that now we have to fight in the sun.
“So, this ability is the power of a hero?”
“Yes.”
“Are you saying this ability existed before?”
“That’s right. But people with abilities fought in secret without being known.”
The role-playing academy where the entrance ceremony is currently taking place was created so that everyone can know and appreciate it.
Here, new warriors, or ‘passers’ as they are called in cartoons, are trained and created.
Those warriors build a system to prevent the next invasion of demons.
“Next? The existing heroes cannot be stopped?”
“It seems that the demons periodically develop resistance to this hero’s power.”
In order to overcome it, those newly empowered must fight.
Such periodic replacement of generations can be seen as the gist of ‘Project Pass’.
“Passer…”
The person who thought he couldn’t do anything became a ‘hero’.
To be honest, it doesn’t feel real at all.
“Now, freshmen! I introduce you to Rika de Gladis, the ‘first passer’ who is fighting as hard as she can to entrust your future to you!”
“… Is that you, senior warrior?”
A video shows him holding a pitch black sword and taking out numerous monsters with just one person.
The person in the video walked into the auditorium smiling.
I was distracted by the gorgeous video, so I couldn’t pay attention to it.
“Is that the passer…?”
The sight of enormous enemies and the hero who defeats them for the first time.
Even though I entered this road without knowing anything about it, it seemed very noble…
It wasn’t just a short-term dream of avoiding an engagement, it felt like I was going to have something different in mind.
