Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer
Vol. 5 - Ch. 225

Five hours had passed since the beginning of Final Preliminary.

As there was the clause that 'Shortest Final Preliminary may last for six hours' in the rules, the contestants, who had yet to collect 100 points, started to be caught in an air of hurriedness.

Amidst the hecticness of others, a certain girl was walking down the mountain trail at the suburb for any hint to find the watermelons. Her expressions were calm and poised. She was helding to a fourth-grade spear in her hand, and a fourth-grade azure inner wear as protection on her body. Compared to other contestants, her equipment was a bit inferior.

Plus, the more peculiar point about her was her standing as a contestant with no calling. Though while she wasn't graced with one yet, she was bestowed a keen sense from heaven, putting her apart from other contestants; an inherent ability <Enhanced Hearing>.

It fell into the category of the so-called incompetent inherent abilities, a contrast to exploration forward ability which could tangibly affect the physical world. While it wasn't even speck comparable to pure martial ability like <Thunder Spear>, which was the inherent ability of Rui Itagaki, a seeded contestant for main tournament, it was also bygone compared to Tenji's inherent ability since his could directly affect the materialistic world.

Her inherent ability just makes her hearing a bit better than others. This was it.

But if you ask her, she would surely say a fitting match with her. It was during college that she noticed her inherent ability, and with a few years of effort, here she was. With her improvement speed, she was surely a prodigy.

"Uh-huh, I guess this is it huh. Anymore and I would be walking into a trap."

The woman halted on her footsteps, almost focusing entirely on her ears as she suddenly grumbled. Then she changed her course of direction and walked away to somewhere else.

"What a bummer......I thought that monkey was a hint from the management side. Who could have thought it'd be an ability of some contestant...no, was it even an ability? It's not the land-bound ghost, is it? Well whatever, It's best to stay now. I don't want to be labelled as a point stealer."

Relying barely on her ability, she easily skipped past Tenji's trap.

But Tenji could only guess that his opponent was an owner of keen hearing.

†　†　†

Tenji was huddled in a squat position, leaning against the thick trunk of a tree.

It should have been 45 minutes since he'd been like this, lying in ambush, setting traps around to force the woman, capable of seeing Ancient Caged Fire, to show herself. Thinking about the girl, who showed not even the trail of her clothes no matter how long he'd waited, Tenji gazed at the clear blue sky from the silent forest at the suburb, and hummed a song.

"One day~, happened to I~, meet a bear in the forest~. In the forest trail~, blooming with vigour~, I met a bear~............She's not coming huh."

As Tenji hummed the song, Koro-chan, who had fallen into dreamland perched atop Tenji's head, suddenly woke up. It softly bounced in the air and asked while yawning at the eye level of Tenji.

<3rd Lord~, do you so badly want to meet a bear?>

<No way~.>

<What about watermelon search? This is the competition for who can search more, eh? It would be bitter if you lose, 3rd Lord~.>

<Relax, this contest seemed like it is in for a long stretch, it wouldn't hurt to take a good rest. The real waste would be to keep stressing over and exhaust my spirit. A comforting time like now is absolutely to be looked for. After all, human bodies can't give their 100% all time like you, Koro-chan.>

<Being human is so problematic.>

Koro-chan then moved back to atop Tenji's head, floating into the air.

Tenji resumed his humming, entrusting his body to the tranquil rustle of trees leaves and thickets and chirping of insects. If only he had snacks, this would have made for a perfect 3 PM snack time.

He'd been thinking of good nothing when the situation took a new turn.

In the sky far above the tallest tree in this forest, a crimson shadow had crossed the pale blue sky.

"Huh, what's it?"

Tenji's eyes slightly snapped wide at the glimpse of unusual scenery.

The shadow grandly covered the sky, a sight you wouldn't expect within a tournament.

That person was wearing a red attire, with some kind of white, fluffy material adoring the hem and cuffs. They wore a white and red theme hat. Taking another close look, the said person was a man cosplaying as a gramp, their face mostly filled by white hairs. Though there was no reindeer with red nose, The gramps was straddling a wooden sledge, gracefully traversing through the sky.

Then, on the lower part of the sledge, three large presents wrapped in white bags were hanging.

As he stared at the situation unfolding, Tenji slowly spinned his words, suddenly realising what was happening.

"Ah, yes, today's christmas. The time for Santa-san to venture out."

Right, the final preliminary's date was 25th December. Tenji recalled.

Perhaps, it was another event planned by Renji Ukai to entertain the audience. Though, he couldn't help but wonder about the opinion of other contestants at the sudden spectacle.

At the very least, Tenji stared at the cosplay santa with curious eyes, humming.

"Aww, so cool......It definitely tells why he was a hero of the masses! This, there couldn't have been any better performance! Ha-ha, it's very much like him to instil excitement in others!! So cool~."

Tenju said with an exhilarating tone and cheerfully hopped back to his feet.

He swiped the dust and grass from his butt and twisted his body left and right, seemingly to undo the stiffness from all the sitting.

He then picked up his weapon case and slinged it on his left shoulder.

"Well, well, Santa's debut means the present. I wonder what it would be; sweets, meat, fish, or maybe canned food? But......"

Tenji trailed off, prompting Koro-chan to ask in return.

<But what?>

"Hmm, well......I just think the number of presents is too few to go around. If they had just wanted to give something to a contestant, they could've just handed out bags of supplies from the start."

<Oh, it does sound strange now.>

"But they had forbidden us to carry anything, except a pet bottle. The only things we could've carried were weapons and small items. Maybe, Ukai-san wants us to scramble over these presents."

As the realisation dawned on him, Tenji wasted no moment in chasing after the santa clause.

The tranquil atmosphere of afternoon 3 PM snack time was just as fleeting snow in summer.

The significance of Santa Clause was the starting of a scuffle between fellow contestants, adding to the chaos.

But since fighting between contestants was prohibited, it was the battle of first come first serve.

And thus, the participants with empty stomach blazed in the direction at once.

†　†　†

Santa Claus dropped one present and flew for another ten minutes before dropping another, repeating this until he had dropped a total of three presents. Out of the 52 participants, only three would get supplies.

The white present bags, each with a small parachute, floated gently to the ground, carried by the wind. Tenji decided to pass on the first two presents and instead go for the third.

(My competition is with......five people huh.)

Tenji's eyes shone red as he zapped toward his goal with an incredulous speed, confirming other contestant's movement. All five seemed to know how to navigate the forest, running straight toward the present without being hindered by nature's obstacles.

Neither of them really appeared to stop. They dashed through forest with trained movements, seemingly attributed to their training back at school or guild.

(Well, it seems like I can't hope much from them to stop.)

Tenji was genuinely impressed by how fast these students were.

With a speed enough to possibly put them in Mallorca, the five advanced toward their target. However you had to have luck and hard-boiled strength to make it to Mallorca, and Tenji at least triumph over them in this aspect.

(What to do now? The encounter is inevitable at this point.)

Tenji swiftly changed his mindset and started to contemplate how to surpass other contestants. Out of the five, he could see two clearly within his line of sight. One was wearing the white uniform of the Explorer High School, and the other was in the azure attacker uniform of the same school. He also had his eyes on the movements of the remaining three contestants.

With no warning, white uniform contestant suddenly grinned. Perhaps he had become sure the victory was in his bag seeing his competition was with black and azure uniform guys.

Meanwhile, the azure uniform contestant looked at white uniform contestant, his face as if he had to swallow a bitter bug, and suddenly spoke.

"Kokugou-senpai! How about sharing it equally? I will prevent other from catching up so senpai can secure that! It's easy, too, and I have already confirmed the bottom line that infringe on no fighting rule!!"

"2:1 is my offer, Seiya. And I will be taking all the points."

"Ughh......fine, we shall do it! It's a deal, let's work together to stop others! Senpai, you focus on the present, while I will keep others at bay."

"Sure thing, supplies are definitely ours!"

Confirming an alliance in voice loud enough for others to hear, who had been rushing just as much, the azure uniform student turned his sharp gaze toward Tenji. Gradually, he closed the distance and abruptly spoke up.

"Are you really a student of our school? Which grade? And wait, are you wearing that black uniform to mock us?"

"Third year, just like Kokgoku. Also......I am sorry. It was probably a prank from my caretaker."

Tenji calmly replied as his opponent brimmed with intention to stop him.

Recalling Leon's vulgar laughter, he seriously apologised.

"Y-You're in grade above me!? No wait, then how come there's a student in this Final Preliminary I didn't notice at all! Who did you purchase this uniform from? I doubt it's our school, maybe it's to elude your abilities."

"Believe it or not...I am really a student of explorer high school."

Seemingly stumped at the situation, Tenji knitted his eyebrows.

He certainly hadn't frequented Japan's Explorer High School for that long before moving to Mallorca after a few months from enrollment. Then, he spent several months in Mallorca before heading off for another foreign dungeon where he trained

One could say it was......inevitable they don't know him.

As Tenji's expression turned stiff, the red uniform guy suddenly sidled up close, almost pressing his body against Tenji. Tenji could feel the tension as the student tensed his core, bracing himself.

"Well, forgive me, Pseudo-senpai! I don't know you so no hard feeling. Now drop here!"

Thudd!

A dry but impactful sound echoed as he crashed into Tenji.