So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

Suspicious whispers spread among the students.

While no one burst into cheers, the atmosphere suggested everyone knew what it was.

'Phili! What's the Mirror Room?'

When asked that, Phili answered with a somewhat bitter expression.

'It's a special space in the royal palace... There's something called the Mirror of Essence there.'

'Mirror of Essence?'

'It's a very special mirror that's said to show one's essence.'

I was surprised.

No, even if you guys are similar to 'those magic school trio,' having a mirror that shows desires could be problematic!

If Amain looks in the mirror and sees himself happily smiling with his deceased mother and family, that wouldn't be good...

Fortunately, it seemed that wouldn't happen.

The Mirror of Essence was not some mirror that shows desires hidden in one's heart.

'It shows the essence of its target.'

'Have you used it?'

'No, princes are absolutely forbidden from entering the Mirror Room.'

The meaning of that is.

'They say the Mirror of Essence shows your future self. Though it doesn't only show the future, when young people look in the mirror, they typically see their grown-up selves.'

'Then...'

'In the past, when it wasn't forbidden for princes to look in the Mirror of Essence, two princes saw it.'

What the princes saw there were visions of themselves wearing crowns.

They say that had never happened before.

Both princes who saw the mirror firmly believed they were destined to become king, and bloodshed swept through the royal family.

'So what happened?'

'One prince became king, and the other died.'

'Then wasn't the Mirror of Essence wrong?'

'Well, at the time, out of dozens of princes, only those two saw themselves as king, so who knows.'

They say that in most cases, the future shown in the Mirror of Essence comes true.

Something swelled up in my heart.

It was burning curiosity.

'I want to see it...'

'You, teacher? The mirror?'

'Why shouldn't I be able to see it! We just need to make one of you get first place and sneak in!'

I've always loved personality tests and MBTI tests.

Around when I died, MBTI was so popular that small talk would start with MBTI discussion.

Of course, I never had small talk since I had no friends.

For reference, my MBTI was obviously...

"I want to see it..."

The one who muttered that then was none other than Rania.

It seems she wanted to see the Mirror of Essence too.

Come to think of it, Rania, who had lost both her family name and reputation, might be curious about her essence.

Hmm...

Rania.

Unlike Amain and Phili who became my disciples, I tended to be a bit negligent with her.

Alright!

Pat!

I jumped onto Rania's hand.

「Using Crown of Connection lv2.」

And I said to Rania.

'Rania!'

'Ah, yes, yes!'

'Let's get first place.'

Rania looked at me for a moment.

Then firmly nodded her head.

'Yes!'

And the Principal shouted.

"The time limit is until sunset. Then..."

Sparks rose from Balanyar's raised hand.

Whoosh- Bang!

"Begin!"

Students began running into the forest.

Well then, let's go get the first strike~

==

Teperi Forest is moderately large.

How large is moderately large? About half the size of the great forest Arkam Basin.

While crossing the forest takes just half a day, searching the entire forest would take far more than a day.

Amain and Phili were walking through that forest.

The rule was just to find and collect gold coins.

Of course, forming teams was allowed.

Extremely speaking, even dozens of people moving together would be fine.

Though that would lower efficiency.

Following the snake's strategy, Amain and Phili decided to stay together.

The forest was dim.

Since monsters lived there too, Phili's body shrank every time there was movement somewhere.

He increasingly clung to Amain walking beside him.

"Ah, Amain."

"Let's find the King Tree first."

The 'King Tree' was one of the landmarks marked on the map.

They wouldn't have just scattered gold coins randomly everywhere.

Though they hadn't found any gold coins yet, they decided to first look for the huge tree where coins were likely to be.

"North, we need to find north..."

"We already confirmed the direction earlier."

Unlike the tense Phili, Amain was calm.

About 30 minutes must have passed since the game started.

Before the expected gold coins, something else appeared.

Rustle!

This time it was a definite presence.

Even the relaxed until now Amain stopped abruptly.

And slowly raised his hand to prepare casting magic.

"Oh, it's not a monster."

Muttering that, two people emerged from the undergrowth.

The badges on their vests were blue.

Third-year badges.

"Your Highness the Prince, pleased to meet you."

"Y-You!"

Instead of monsters, people jumped out but.

Sometimes people could be more dangerous than monsters.

"Have you collected many gold coins?"

"We haven't collected any yet. So get lost!"

Phili shouted.

If they had been first-years at least, the shout invoking princely authority might have worked.

"Haha, as participants in the Solarian, we can't just back down."

"Your Highness needs to take a rest."

The 'pouch' was distributed for storing gold coins.

Without it, collecting many coins would be useless.

Phili growled like a cornered cat.

"Did brother, did brother order this?"

"Huhu."

Could the Second Prince's influence be at work?

Phili looked very displeased with this situation.

"I warn you one last time. Leave now."

"Hand over the pouch. If not, we'll take it by force."

"So, you won't heed the warning."

At that moment, the third-years' expressions became strange.

Phili had smiled.

"Don't tell me you're counting on that little magician beside you?"

"I do trust Amain, but I have something even more reliable."

"What do you..."

The third-year couldn't finish speaking.

Someone jumped down from a tree somewhere.

Moreover, extending their knee to strike one third-year's temple with the falling momentum.

Thwack!

The hit third-year fainted without even screaming.

"Aagh!"

The third-year who wasn't hit screamed.

The girl who showed the clean knee kick.

The first-year with the strongest physical abilities, the human weapon among the trio, Rania cleanly roundhouse kicked his jaw.

Crack!

It landed perfectly.

==

'This is a celebration!'

Rania's kicks were excellent.

So this was the level of House Martein's martial arts.

"Phew."

She showed no signs of difficulty.

Choosing Rania was indeed the right choice.

"Guys! Let's search them!"

At her shout, Amain and Phili rushed over to search the third-years' pouches.

The coins that came out were just four 1-point coins.

'One each for you two, Rania gets two.'

I perfectly distributed the coins.

And through Rania, gave instructions.

"I'll hide again, keep pretending to be weak like before!"

"I wasn't really pretending to be weak..."

Rania hid her presence again and slipped into the tree shadows.

Amain and Phili started walking aimlessly again like weaklings.

'Once the game starts, the third-years will definitely target Phili.'

That much was expected.

Then my plan was to hide with the strongest Rania and ambush them to steal their coins.

This, evil and terrifying plan.

Yes.

Snake Zhuge Kongming has returned to Teperi Forest.