Fannie's eyes began to widen and when I looked at the place where she was facing, I too was shocked.
On the hourglass depicting how much time we had, only less than a quarter of sand was left.
Just by talking we had consumed so much time, if this goes on, we would eventually face the trial without any plan at all.
"Everyone, we need to hurry." (Fannie)
Fannie quickly stood up and brushed her cloak away.
Holding her staff, she began walking to where Shelly, our examiner was waiting.
"Hurry where?" (Rose)
Leaving our belongings, we followed behind Fannie.
I didn't know what she was planning, and the others were also displaying question marks above their heads.
After a bit of walking, we arrived before Shelly.
Well, bellow her since she was sitting at a platform suspended by metal bars on the wall.
"Excuse me, miss Shelly." (Fannie)
The person in question was laying back to her chair while snoring.
She had a messy way of sleeping as her body had half dropped down to the floor and her face was in a mess.
"Miss Shelly!" (Fannie)
Fannie shouted and seeming to react to it, Shelly dropped to the floor.
"Ow ow ow…" (Shelly)
We couldn't see what just happened, but it seems that she hit herself when she fell.
We waited for her to come out, I hoped that she won't be angry that we interrupted her beauty sleep.
Moments later, her body rose and she slowly approached the ledge.
Looking down on us, her smile became radiant.
Though, her hair was still in a mess, did she not notice perhaps?
"Excuse me miss Shelly, but can I ask you what you're doing here?" (Fannie)
"Huh? That's a weird thing to ask." (Shelly)
She was right, even to us the question was out of the topic.
Moreover, we had no time to discuss such things, literally no time left.
"I just want to know what your role is in the trials." (Fannie)
"Oho~ Did you guys perhaps developed an interest in me? Very well!" (Shelly)
Was she really this stupid?
"I am an examiner, I make sure that those who get to enroll the school are worthy and that they had passed the trial." (Shelly)
"What happens if there's no student left before the trials finished?" (Fannie)
"Well, my paycheck would be cut in half and…" (Shelly)
Her words were inaudible to us, but she had the face of both pain and sorrow.
To me, since the beginning, I could see that she was doing her best to intimidate us and make us suffer so that we'll quit.
There was even a time where the thought of her being a sadist passed inside my head.
But seeing her expression now, she was just a hardworking person.
"Well then, we all agreed to quit." (Fannie)
Oh, I see where this is going.
Roman almost shouted in protest but his mouth was covered by someone and he collapsed on the floor.
"Oh my, it seems that he couldn't handle the stress of fighting a dragon right now. Please not to worry, our friend Len will carry him with us." (Rose)
It seems that the princess also got the plan without even knowing.
She really must be a genius.
With orders given by the princess, Len kept quiet and carried Roman's body.
Beside me Fran was making confused and weirded out expression.
But since I'm here, I patted her head and showed myself placing a finger between my lips so that she'll remain quiet.
"HHAAAAAAHH!!??" (Shelly)
Shelly raised her voice as she had heard Fannie.
"W-Wait! What do you mean quit?" (Shelly)
"It is as what I said it, we will not drop out from enrolling. Thank you for guidance until today." (Fannie)
Fannie bowed her head and turned around.
As she was to proceed on walking away, Shelly stopped her by trying to reach out to her.
But since she was on a platform above us, only her shout reached us.
"I said wait! If everyone leaves now, I'll be in trouble! Please, wait!" (Shelly)
Shelly's agonizing pleads reached Fannie's ear and she quickly turns around.
It was a trap; all of this was a trap set all along in the first place.
Fannie looked up to her and spoke in her usual tone.
"Please… At least finish the trial…" (Shelly)
Shelly seemed to have given up.
Her body was hanging on the platforms edge and she was close to crying.
Fannie sighed.
"In truth, I want to make a request." (Fannie)
"A request… If it's not too big then I can do it, if you promise to stay…" (Shelly)
Shelly spoke quietly and she sobbed between her words.
"Is it possible for us not to fight the dragon?" (Fannie)
"That, I'm sorry… Even if I want to, that dragon is the last trial out of the ten trials. Like I said before, I could only do this much since I saw how good everyone's teamwork was…" (Shelly)
Shelly hid as she realized that the request was a failure.
She must be scared that we'll leave if she didn't do it.
"I see, so we need to face the dragon in order to advance…" (Fannie)
Fannie began thinking, but I could tell that she had already planned this all along.
"Since that request isn't possible. Then can we make a different request?" (Fannie)
"As long as it's in my power…" (Shelly)
"Is there a way where we can delay our time in fighting it?" (Fannie)
"YES!" (Shelly)
Shelly's body jumped and everyone became surprised when she shouted.
She was brimming with energy and high on the platform's edge, she's actually close to falling over if she's not careful.
"… I, ahem. I-Is that so." (Fannie)
Fannie became a bit lost just now, but she easily recovered.
"Then, how long can you delay the time limit?" (Fannie)
"Hahaha, I did it." (Shelly)
Shelly was smiling as she celebrated.
She had ignored us, everyone only smiled wryly while looking at her.
"Umm, miss Shelly?" (Fannie)
"Take as much time as possible. I'll wait here if everyone's ready." (Shelly)
"You mean we can spend as much time as possible?" (Fannie)
"Yes, yes. As long as it's within the trial's normal schedule, which is…"
She looked at her arm and there we saw a silver bracelet.
What's more, at its top was a sort of decoration.
Since we were only looking from below, I wasn't able to see it clearly.
"Forty minutes… I'm sorry…" (Shelly)
Ah, miss Shelly had become depressed again.
Since it was a longer time span than the five-minute break, for me it was alright.
"Is that so. Well then, we'll accept your generosity." (Fannie)
"R-Really?... You guys won't leave?" (Shelly)
Shelly looked at us with pleading eyes.
But since Fannie had decided it, we all agreed.
There we saw, Shelly smiling kindly like before.
"Well then! You kids will have a forty minute break! Be sure to take your time and make a plan." (Shelly)
Shelly stood straight and reached her finger upwards, pointing at the ceiling.
She must have felt very happy to make a pose.
"Hahaha, we shall take our leave now." (Fannie)
Fannie bowed towards Shelly and left.
Behind her, we followed until we reached the spot where we had recently gathered.
Our bags were still intact and so we sat to where they were and sat at our former position.
Since Roman was knocked out earlier, Len had gently placed him on the floor besides the two of us.
The princess really didn't show hesitation when she knocked him out did she.
"Let us go with a briefing before we start." (Fannie)
Like before, we all nodded to her words and she continued.
"We now have forty minutes before the trial begins. Like before, it seemed that this trial will also have a time limit." (Fannie)
"Time limit?" (Fran)
"Yes. The three trials that we've just faced all had a time limit. An obvious example is both the first and second trial. The third trial seemed to have a limit also since I noticed that the wall had stopped pouring out slimes when I finished drawing my circle." (Fannie)
She was right.
At that time, we all thought that all slimes were vaporized after the spell was casted.
But if the wall truly had an inexhaustible amount of slimes, we would've struggled and eventually fail.
"So that means, we can just wait and win the trial." (Ai)
"That's right." (Fannie)
Fannie pointed her staff towards me and smiled.
"But there's still one problem in that plan." (Fannie)
"The dragon." (Rose)
"Precisely." (Fannie)
Though we can just wait for the trial to end, it would be hardly possible if the dragon were to appear.
It won't wait the same like us and attacking will be the most possible thing it'll do.
"Since attacking it isn't really necessary, I would like to make an all out defensive plan in today's trial." (Fannie)
"I see. We can just defend and dodge its attacks until the time runs out. With this we can also lessen the amount of both our mana and stamina from being drained and most risks will be also avoided since all of us won't be close to it much." (Rose)
"Wow." (Ai, Fran, and Len)
The three of us clapped our hands towards the princess.
"I'm, amazed. You must've attended the highest class of education during your time in the castle. No less from the kingdom's princess." (Fannie)
Fannie gave her words of praise and Rose happily smiles as she accepted everyone.
"Fufufu, your flattery is well accepted. But this isn't the time for that, let's continue." (Rose)
Rose gave out her words and Fannie nods.
But still, to arrive at those possible outcomes after just hearing a brief sentence, she really is a genius.
"I agree. Ahem. Like what the Rose had stated, we will be able to develop advantage points if tactics were made while experiencing the trial. Since this will be a dangerous trial, I would like everyone to share what abilities they posses." (Fannie)
"Abilities?" (Ai)
Oh no, does she mean what I think she means?
"Yes. I want to know what type of magic everyone uses. At the same time, if you have a talent you possess that might help us later, please don't be shy." (Fannie)
This is bad, I don't know how to say it.
I slowly raised my hand while trying to avoid detection as much as possible.
But since there was only a small amount of people, I was noticed without any problems.
"Is something wrong Ai?" (Fannie)
"Well, your plan is good and I think everyone agrees. But…" (Ai)
"Is there something you're worried about?" (Fannie)
"Ai?" (Fran)
Beside me, Fran held my clothes.
Yeah, I really can't hide it anymore.
If it's possible, I wanted to say this earlier but I didn't have the time.
"It's about my magic…" (Ai)
"Ah, do you perhaps possess a kind of magic like necromancy? No need to worry, even if your magic is useless in today's trial, I will think of a plan to cover everyone." (Fannie)
"No, it's not that." (Ai)
"What's wrong Ai? You seem scared." (Fran)
Fran had noticed.
I was scared in speaking out the truth.
Sweat was running down my forehead and my chest was bumping faster.
"Then is there a problem in my logic?" (Fannie)
"No, it's perfect. I…" (Ai)
My throat was dry as everyone looked at me.
Fran had a concern look, Fannie looked at me normally, both Len and Rose had curious looks.
Yup, the secret's out I guess.
"I… don't have magic." (Ai)