Chapter 32
Top floor of the main building.
Head Instructor's office.
The Executioner opened the door, then silently withdrew.
When it closed...
Only two people remained.
Berton, standing with his back toward Theron beside the window.
And a twelve-year-old trainee who had not slept all night.
"You called for me?"
Theron spoke.
Silence filled the room.
Berton did not answer.
He simply continued looking outside.
But the silence did not last long.
Berton slowly turned.
"Sit there."
"I'll stand."
"..."
One wooden badge rested on the desk.
One of the hundreds taken from the test area.
Berton picked it up and slowly turned it between his fingers.
"I heard you collected nearly four hundred badges overnight."
"Yes."
"Tell me why."
The first question.
Theron calmly gave the answer he had prepared.
"To take first place."
"First place."
"You said ranking would be determined by the number of badges."
Theron continued.
"Then taking all of them was the most certain way to become first."
"There was no reason to stop after taking half."
No hesitation.
The badge stopped between Berton's fingers.
"And the fact that this made it impossible to choose the bottom fifty?"
"The rules simply happened to work that way."
"..."
"Rankings are decided by badge count."
Theron looked straight at him.
"That was the rule you created."
"I simply chose the safest possible method of winning within that rule."
"The disappearance of the bottom fifty was an unavoidable side effect."
Silence filled the office again.
Berton placed the badge on the desk and leaned deeply into his chair.
"Next question."
He studied Theron.
"Nearly four hundred trainees."
"Scattered and hiding across the entire forest."
Berton's eyes narrowed.
"And you found all of them in a single night."
"..."
"How?"
"Some should have been hiding precisely to protect their badges."
The second question.
Berton's gaze became cold.
However...
Theron answered.
"...You already know."
"Know what?"
"That I'm skilled at mana control."
"..."
Theron was openly revealing his ability with complete confidence.
Then...
Hummm.
Mana circulated around him.
Theron continued.
"Anyone desperate enough to hide would already be among the weaker trainees."
"Their concealment techniques couldn't possibly be sophisticated."
He smiled faintly.
"With my current level of mana control, finding people like that isn't difficult."
"..."
Berton trained this boy every day.
No one knew Theron's ability better than him.
Which meant...
He also knew that answer was not a lie.
Still...
Berton asked another question.
"Fine."
"Let's say everything you said is true."
His gaze sharpened.
"Looking at the current atmosphere in Section Five..."
"You could have distributed only a few badges and put your entire section among the upper fifty."
Theron remained silent.
If they had done that...
There would still have been over three hundred tied trainees at zero.
Section Five could have secured maximum benefit while still destroying the rule of the bottom fifty.
Berton had seen enough of Theron to know one thing.
The boy was clever.
Far too clever to miss an obvious advantage.
"You care about that bond so much."
Berton rested his chin against one hand.
"You could have protected the forty-two people in your own section."
"Why didn't you?"
Theron stayed silent for a moment.
As though thinking.
His gaze remained on Berton.
Finally...
"Because the moment I made an exception for Section Five..."
He answered.
"It would become proof that we colluded."
"..."
"Like you said, even if I had done that..."
"The bottom-fifty rule still would have collapsed."
"But then Section Five and the other sections would have been divided."
Theron continued calmly.
Hell Island had been designed to make trainees constantly suspect and kill one another.
There was no reason for Section Five to deliberately make themselves the enemy of everyone else.
"There's no reason to accept that kind of risk."
Then Theron added,
"And more importantly..."
"You said this was an individual competition."
"I did."
"Encouraging my Section Five comrades to train is simply preparation for any future team test."
Theron's expression remained almost innocent.
"In an individual test..."
"Why would I go out of my way to help them?"
"..."
Every sentence made sense.
Even the selfishness was exactly appropriate.
Once every logical hole disappeared...
Berton somehow became even more suspicious.
What exactly is this boy...?
Was this strange sense of familiarity merely his imagination?
Still...
Berton slowly stood and looked down at Theron.
"I'll admit it."
"You won this round."
"..."
"But, Theron."
Berton's eyes grew cold.
"Winning has a price."
"..."
There it was.
Theron silently waited.
Would his privileges be revoked?
Would he be punished?
Something worse?
But what came from Berton's mouth was none of those.
"Two months from now..."
Berton spoke.
"An Inspection Delegation will arrive from the central authorities."
"...An Inspection Delegation?"
"They are people sent by the Master who created this island."
"Every few years, they personally inspect whether this training facility is producing results worth its cost."
Berton fully turned toward him.
A chillingly faint smile appeared on his lips.
"First place will receive treatment worthy of first place."
"However..."
