Tensei Shoujo no Rirekisho - Volume 3 - Chapter 82

82. Student Activities 10 – Uproar at the Mana Drain, Part 1

This year’s Mana Drain is apparently farther away than last year’s, so it’s a multi-day trip. Therefore we needed to procure some overnight goods from the market. Charlotte and I weren’t sure what we needed. But I’m a camper. I’ve gotten used to preparing for travel. At the market, the four of us had fun together and bought our overnight goods and some sweets, and finally the Mana Drain event came.

I was really excited, but when I confirmed our members at the meeting spot, my excitement level suddenly dropped. The teacher leading us was that vice-principal with the neatly-parted hair. As I recall, his name was Vice-Principal Thomas. As usual, he was partial to fire magicians, so as soon as he found Ritz he started regaling him with the splendor of fire magic. Alan, who had partnered with Ritz, got a little sulky.

Although he was supposed to be the teacher guiding us, he seemed to have no intention of leading, instead droning on endlessly about the magnificence of fire magic. In his place, a fifth-year senior in the knight’s department led us to our carriages.

Parted Hair, do your job.

Even though Parted Hair added stress, we reached our destination after ascending mountains for two days. In front of us stood a large lake. I’d heard that some of our rivers flowed from this lake. The lake is apparently at the bottom of a cliff, so I’m a little scared to peer over at it. But it also feels like the great outdoors. Maybe negative ions really do give off a good feeling.

Apparently, we’re going to do the Mana Drain here. We’ll apply magic to the lake, using the river flowing out of it as a kind of barrier.Last year it was a rope around a mountain, but this year it’s a lake. I wasn’t sure what to do and whether we’d be scattering salt again, but we really did scatter salt.

Alan and the magicians scattered salt around and then put some kind of alcohol into the lake. It was kind of like people cleaning up after a BBQ…

Then, Charlotte, Ritz, and the other spiritualists started casting spells while throwing stones. It’s just like they’re playing a game, but I can’t say anything because their faces are so serious. I guess this sequence of meaningless actions is necessary for the mana draining.

The mysterious ritual seemed to come to an end, and the teacher leaned over to peer over the precipice. He was apparently checking the state of the mana drain, but I have no idea what he was looking for.

Suddenly, Charlotte cried, “Gah! It hurts!” and collapsed onto the parted-hair teacher. And the teacher fell into the lake from the momentum. Ah…

Although Charlotte collapsed, she didn’t fall into the lake, but the teacher fell off the cliff with a loud splash. Ah! Teacher! I wasn’t too worried, but I looked down anxiously and the neat-haired Professor Thomas was energetically treading water, so he seemed to be okay for now.

“T-teacher!”

The students around me were also worried, looking at the fallen teacher. One of the magical students picked up some vines and dead grass from the ground and cast a spell to make a kind of rope. Ah, he must be making a rope to pull him up. Magic is so convenient! Well then, since I can’t do anything there, I forgot about the teacher and turned to Charlotte, whose face had turned blue.

“Charly, are you okay?”

I mean, I wonder why she bumped into the teacher. When I called to her, Charlotte looked at me with teary eyes, rubbing her legs.

“Ry-Ryou! I-it wa-was an ac-accident! Because something hi-hit me!”

Hey, don’t cry, Charly. I know you’re really confused, but the teacher who fell is an adult, so he’ll be fine. As I was rubbing her back and saying things like that, Charlotte kept rubbing her legs, near which lay a bloody hare. Is it unconscious? I wonder. Maybe Charlotte bumped the teacher because that rabbit hit her foot and surprised her. Certainly she’s defending herself with teary eyes, crying, “That thing-, hit me-, surprised me!”

I think we can safely say the rabbit hit her. But why is the rabbit covered in blood? I could see it getting knocked out when it ran into a girl’s leg, but it’s bleeding. And there’s a wound, as if something caught it…

“WAAAAAHHH!” I heard students screaming behind me.

I looked through the bushes in the direction of the voices, and in the trees on the far side of the lake there was an enormous beast. We encountered a demon last year, could it be a demon?! That was my first thought, but looking closely, it was just an ordinary bear.

No, wait, even bears are dangerous! During my time as a bandit, the boss even had fierce battles with bears sometimes. Maybe this bloody rabbit was the bear’s prey. It must be that the rabbit ran away from the bear and hit the girl’s leg at full force, while the bear frantically chased it. The bear seems to be watching the noisy students with bloodshot eyes. It might be agitated from playing with that rabbit just now. It’s dangerous.

I threw my standard chili bomb from my bag at the bear’s nose. Bears are surprisingly timid. Most bears run away when something hits their nose… I was thinking that as I watched the bear, but although it howled and scraped at its nose, trying to remove the chili powder where the bomb exploded, it showed no sign of running. It must be hungry.

If it won’t run away, we have no choice but to kill it… As I was thinking that, Alan grabbed my arm and forced me down behind him, trying to advance to face the bear. Then he cast a spell, instantly equipping his right hand with a mighty sword.

“Ryou! Don’t step in front of the bear! Why are you being so reckless right away! I’m here, rely on me!” For some reason Alan was angry at me.

B-but, I’ve lived in the mountains, and I was with the boss when he fought bears, so i-it’s not like I can’t take care of myself. There’s a chance I could win, really.

I remembered that when I was working as a maid, they also scolded me to take better care of myself. As I was distracted with those thoughts, it seems the bear drew back on its own, and after looking around restlessly, it sprinted into the depths of the woods. Perhaps when it saw Alan drawing his sword and some of the older student knights, it got scared. It got riled up chasing the rabbit, but it might have felt disadvantaged once it calmed down.

Since the bear was gone, the students’ tension seemed to break, and I heard sighs of relief all around. I also took a little breath and checked on Alan. Wa-was he still angry?