Chapter 2
Chapter 2
It was truly a scene of utter chaos.
Of course, the students who were eliminated here didn’t actually die. They simply woke up from the illusion.
To begin with, this entire stage existed only because everyone had been caught inside a realistic illusion spell.
Still, considering that such a massive number of people had been thrown into a single illusion, the archmage really was impressive.
“Hmm.”
The strong hunted down those hiding and attacked them, while the weak gathered their strength to resist the strong.
Some formed teams, only to betray each other and strike from behind moments later.
In the middle of such a battlefield, I alone remained completely at peace.
I was openly walking around, yet the students only glanced at me and none of them tried to attack me.
The important thing was composure.
Even if magic and sword aura flew around nearby, the key was not blinking an eye.
Scratch scratch.
And presentation.
I organized a braised beef short ribs recipe in the notebook I had prepared beforehand. The students probably thought it was part of their individual evaluation.
I even wrote it in Korean in case someone tried to peek. Even if they saw it, they would probably assume it was some kind of code.
The students continued fighting while subtly keeping an eye on me.
Of course, among the sharp ones, there were people who suspected me.
“Hmm, something feels strange.”
One of them was the rabbit beastkin girl wearing the witch hat who had tormented me the other day with her tearful ambush tactic.
Ariel Ether.
But if I panicked over something like this, it would only make me look like a guilty thief.
So what was needed was a direct breakthrough.
“Looking away during battle…”
Scratch scratch.
I immediately started writing down a kimchi stew recipe.
Instead of avoiding Ariel’s suspicious gaze, I looked straight at her while continuing to write.
I had spoken quietly, but at this distance she would surely understand.
If you don’t want your evaluation ruined, fight each other until you bleed.
Ariel immediately realized my true intention and quickly looked startled before resuming her standoff with the other students.
What a perfect plan.
There was always a chance someone might realize something strange about me, so the key point was to remain outside the awareness of the other students as much as possible.
However.
“Hmm…?”
Deceiving everyone perfectly was naturally impossible.
Before I knew it, someone had started watching me closely.
The imperial princess, Lobelia.
I maintained my calm while continuing to write, pretending not to notice her gaze.
“Your Highness! That examiner is extremely strict. He said even looking at him would result in a deduction.”
“Really?”
“But you’ve been standing still for a while now. Is something wrong?”
“No. It’s just that no matter how much I look, I can’t find Johann Damos anywhere. I was thinking he must be hiding quite well.”
“…Now that you mention it, I don’t see him either. Could it be that he was eliminated the moment the exam started?”
“That’s what I thought at first too. But now I’m not so sure.”
As expected, the princess seemed to have noticed something.
It wasn’t a problem.
At first glance, my plan of doing nothing might look like it had already collapsed, but if I ended up in Class F, every single moment would become special.
After all, the plan of remaining unnoticed depends on timing.
Even if you briefly stand out in the beginning, if you stay quiet afterward, people naturally lose interest.
It’s better to stand out briefly at the beginning like this than to end up in Class F, which becomes the center of every incident.
Just look at what happened when I stayed quiet for an entire year and ended up being caught.
So what I needed was selection and concentration.
“Hmm?”
Flash.
Just as I was organizing my thoughts, my vision flickered again.
It seemed the exam had ended.
As expected from a group of elites, it ended quickly.
“Then with this…”
Midterm results.
I survived, so somewhere between A and C.
However, since I did nothing, somewhere between B and D.
Considering that I planned to sabotage my evaluations from here on…
“In the end, I should be able to finish somewhere between C and E.”
That was a relief.
After the group survival test ended, and after I finished the written exam with good results, only the final test remained.
The one on one duel.
“Oh! Oracle. We finally meet.”
“Ah, shi… I mean, Your Highness. I am not the Oracle.”
“Of course, of course. Johann Damos. I must have mistaken you for a moment. Right? And that word you started with ‘shi’ must have been something I misheard.”
“…Of course.”
“Yes, let’s say we both made a mistake.”
This damned mouth of mine.
I really needed to be more careful.
Maybe living alone all the time had made my personality worse.
Yes, loneliness truly does make people sick.
“Anyway, how did you survive the survival test? With your grades, it should have been difficult.”
“….”
So it wasn’t a coincidence that she had been watching me earlier.
“It seems you had quite an interesting method that only you could pull off. Something I could never imagine.”
“I was just lucky.”
“Ah, I see! So you were lucky enough that every spell missed you and every sword and spear chose not to point at you! In that case, I suppose I have no choice but to acknowledge it.”
“….”
The imperial princess is surprisingly skilled at sarcasm.
Something I never realized before.
Her personality is pretty nasty.
And this is the protagonist?
Or maybe that personality is exactly what makes her the protagonist.
“Ah, it seems it’s my turn soon. I’ll be going now. Oracle, I hope you achieve a good result as well.”
“Yes… I’ll do my best.”
Lobelia laughed heartily and left her seat before climbing onto the stage.
One of the three tests of the Class Placement Exam.
The duel.
The point of this test was simple.
Based on first year grades, students would fight either an upperclassman or a lowerclassman.
The fact that the opponent would not be someone of the same grade but rather a senior or junior made it quite a cruel system.
If a lowerclassman defeated an upperclassman, they would receive a grade between A and C.
If an upperclassman lost to a lowerclassman, they would receive a grade between E and F.
If the upperclassman defeated the lowerclassman, both would receive grades between B and D depending on their performance.
In my case, I would likely face a lowerclassman.
No matter the result, I would probably end up somewhere between C and E.
After all, I survived the survival test and received a grade equivalent to A in the written exam.
Naturally.
For reference, Class S is reserved only for those who receive A in all evaluations and demonstrate completely outstanding performance in the exams.
If I remember correctly, there are seven of them.
They are basically the number one targets that outsiders drool over when choosing assassination targets.
Just imagining it is terrifying.
I’m just happy I survived all those hardships.
“Winner! Second year student Lobelia Vicious van Miltonia!”
While I was waiting for my turn, I happened to catch a glimpse of Lobelia smashing the head of a third year student with her fist.
Why does every punch sound like a bomb exploding?
It was a terrifying sight.
“Next! Second year student Johann Damos!”
Just as I thought it should be my turn soon, my name was called.
So who would be the one to determine my final Class Placement Exam result?
“My name is Dietrich, senior. Please take care of me.”
“Hmm… I see. I am Johann Damos.”
Jet black hair.
Shining blue eyes.
Visuals that wouldn’t be strange for a protagonist.
One of the most famous names among this year’s new students.
One of the playable characters in the game Promotion Tale that I once played, aside from the protagonist Lobelia.
“What the hell…”
The future Sword Saint was standing in front of me with a chilling sword, threatening me.
Why am I fighting him?
No, whatever.
Meeting someone related to the main story during the exam isn’t really a problem.
Honestly, I was confident I could get beaten by anyone.
Still, there was one thing that worried me.
“…Senior, you are a noble.”
I had absolutely no way of predicting what kind of assumptions this clueless guy would make after seeing me.
Hey, don’t do that.
Don’t grip your sword like that with such tension in your voice.
Thinking nobles are all amazing is a terrible prejudice.
Of course, it is true that noble students are generally superior to commoners.
They grow up eating better food and receiving systematic early education.
And the talent inherited through bloodlines also plays a role.
There is a clear wall between nobles and commoners.
But none of that applies to me.
Even if I ate well and received systematic education, what good does that do?
I have no talent.
Against people hardened through real combat, it means nothing.
“Then I will begin.”
“Huh…?”
Clang.
A blade flashed toward my neck in the blink of an eye.
What the hell, you lunatic?
A sharp pain ran through the hand gripping my sword.
I almost lost the exam in a single strike.
I never expected to win in the first place, but at least I needed to show that I tried.
“Hah!”
I swung with all my strength.
To me it was a desperate counterattack, but Dietrich blocked my sword effortlessly.
The way he deflected it so smoothly made it obvious that the gap in skill was large.
At this point Dietrich must have realized I was a complete amateur…
Clang.
Another sharp pain shot through my hand.
What the hell? That bastard hit even harder this time.
Dietrich was a commoner.
More precisely, he was one of the orphans who had wandered the back alleys.
The reason someone like Dietrich could enter the Cradle was purely because he had a good friend.
A friend who came from the same back alleys but was wiser than him.
Cult.
Cult used his intelligence to diagnose and cure the long standing illness of a high ranking noble lady.
As a reward, he was adopted into that noble family.
And when he became an adopted son, he brought Dietrich along as a retainer so he could learn swordsmanship.
“Dietrich, you have talent. This is a debt too. Pay it back later.”
Originally, Dietrich’s life would have ended in the back alleys.
But after learning the sword, he quickly began to stand out.
Strength and skill that did not fall behind even against grown men.
Because of that, he was able to enter the Cradle as a scholarship student.
Behind all of this was Cult.
He was the one who gave Dietrich an opportunity and recognized his talent.
That was why Dietrich trusted Cult’s words.
“Dietrich, if you ever face a noble, you must fight with all your strength.”
“Why?”
“That’s because…”
Clang.
The sound of metal colliding pulled Dietrich out of his thoughts.
The Class Placement Exam.
His opponent was a noble upperclassman.
He had expected to face an upperclassman.
After all, as a scholarship student it was only natural.
However, he had not expected his opponent to be a noble.
In the first exchange, he saw the opponent barely manage to block his sword.
It was clearly the movement of an amateur.
But.
“The weight behind the sword was considerable.”
Of course, by Dietrich’s standards it was nothing.
If the opponent were not a noble, he would have simply thought he was weak.
But.
“Nobles basically never use their full strength against commoners.”
Cult had said so.
Students born as nobles never go all out from the beginning.
Part of it was because they looked down on commoners.
But it was also about pride.
If a noble fought a commoner with full force from the start, who would consider that honorable?
So the first attack would not even be thirty percent of their strength.
They would gradually increase it and pressure their opponent.
“So this is thirty percent.”
A noble really is a noble.
For a power that a commoner student would need full strength to produce to be only thirty percent.
If Dietrich had not heard Cult’s advice, he might have been completely fooled.
“Dietrich, if it becomes a long battle you will be at a disadvantage. Nobles consume all sorts of elixirs since childhood, so their total mana is far greater.”
If this was only thirty percent, he could not let his guard down.
If the noble began using full strength, he might lose.
In that case.
“I’ll use everything from the start and finish it in one blow!”
Dietrich converted all his mana into sword aura and swung toward Johann.
“Huh…?”
Johann Damos.
The greatest crisis of his life.