Mock Exam (3)
The four-hour mock exam had finally come to an end.
“Aigoo.”
Taking a test after so long left me drained. It seemed research—something I could tackle at my own leisurely pace—suited me far better than the grind of exam prep. I was stretching my back, loosening my stiff muscles, when it happened.
“How did it go?”
Silver-white hair danced before my eyes.
“I didn’t see any problems I couldn’t solve.”
Zernya von Adelbein, the next head of the Adelbein family, stood before me with her arms crossed, smiling with easy confidence.
Bragging over a mock exam? Really?
“You sound so full of yourself it’s almost cute.”
“Hmph. If you actually score higher than me, I’ll admit it.”
Zernya twisted her lips into a tight smirk.
That was Zernya in a nutshell—she picked fights with everyone she met. The villainess who believed she was the most talented person in the world. Her pride was sky-high, and unfortunately, so were her skills. It made her utterly insufferable.
In the end, that same Zernya would betray humanity. She claimed she was simply too grand to be contained by something as small as the human race.
She would become an apostle of the Outer Deities, stand against the protagonist, and after the Federation’s collapse, get stabbed in the back by the very Outer God that had sheltered her. A spectacular, fiery end.
But that was still a long way off. Right now she was neither a villain nor anything special—just a snot-nosed little brat.
“Remember what I asked you to do earlier? Step on me?”
“Why? Should I actually do it?”
Zernya grinned mischievously and stepped closer, looking ready to grind her foot onto mine. I didn’t dodge.
Press.
“There. I granted your wish. How does it feel?”
“Not bad.”
No matter how hard she stomped with that small body of hers, it only tickled. When I remained perfectly calm, Zernya’s expression soured. She shifted more of her weight onto me, practically climbing aboard.
“You give a pretty good massage.”
“…You lunatic.”
Of course, this was all an act. I wasn’t actually crazy. Where in the world would you find a pervert who got excited from being stepped on? I simply concluded that pretending to be insane was the most effective way to deal with Zernya.
I leaned in close and spoke.
“Excuse me.”
Zernya jumped back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She rubbed her forearm and tried to catch her breath. I picked up my bag and continued.
“You can step on me all you want. But don’t you dare touch my little sister.”
—Don’t you dare touch my little sister.
Those words lodged themselves deep in Seti’s mind.
What the hell is that guy even saying?
Seti couldn’t understand Idel’s sudden behavior. She hid herself and eavesdropped on their conversation.
Zernya had poked and prodded at Idel the same way she once had at her. Yet Idel didn’t flinch. Instead, he calmly extracted himself from the situation.
The conversation ended naturally.
Seti blinked. She crumpled the remaining test papers into her bag and went looking for Edward.
“Instructor, you said you taught Idel for his interview, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, I did… Why?”
“Did he do anything weird to you over those two weeks?”
“Not at all?”
Edward studied Seti’s expression, then nodded as if he understood her intent. He smiled and spoke.
“Your brother is quite different from the image the media painted. For all his reputation, he’s actually incredibly smart. And deep down, he’s a good person. I could be wrong, of course… but that’s how he seemed to me, at least.”
Even though Edward came from the frontier, his personal opinions were always honest. Seti trusted that his words weren’t empty flattery.
It matched what Rustilla had said, too.
Rustilla had called Idel “a more pitiful person than he looks” and “someone who needs help.” That had been her first meeting with him as well.
One person’s opinion could be dismissed. But when two trustworthy people gave the same assessment, it was worth doubting her own preconceptions.
In other words, the conclusion was simple.
He might have changed.
Or perhaps—
He only does trashy things at specific times.
Seti hadn’t lived with Idel for very long. Even when they shared the same house, they rarely crossed paths, and they never ate together. Idel had always stayed shut away in his room like a recluse.
In that sense, they might as well have been strangers.
“Even if he looks like that, he seemed pretty worried about his little sister.”
“That guy?”
Seti waved her hands dismissively.
“He used to swear at me and hit me every chance he got. There’s no way he’d—”
“Brothers with younger sisters are all like that. The degree varies, but that’s probably just how he shows affection.”
“If that’s affection, it’s disgusting.”
“He’ll grow out of it eventually.”
Edward chuckled and looked off into the distance, where Idel and Zernya were still talking. Zernya snorted, grabbed her clutch bag, and strode outside.
Idel, having finished his conversation, walked over.
“Little sister, let’s go home.”
Seti’s eyes narrowed.
The mock exam results came out.
“Hey, what rank did you get?”
The moment the report arrived, my little sister burst into my room.
“What’s this? You actually came into my room.”
“Stop talking nonsense and show me your score already.”
Without a word, I handed her the report card. Seti snatched it like a hawk, scanned it quickly, and her jaw dropped.
“You forged this, didn’t you?”
“I can’t believe this.”
I rubbed my forehead and let out a long sigh. No matter what, being accused by my own sister of faking my mock exam score felt a bit much.
Seti’s eyes trembled. She was breathing hard, chest heaving as if she’d just run a marathon.
“There’s no way you could get these scores without cheating…”
“Didn’t I tell you before? Show and prove.”
Whoosh!
Seti hurled the test papers at my face.
Overall Rank: 1 (tied with 2 others) / 4565
* The number in parentheses indicates the number of tied examinees.
“You used to be such a brain-dead idiot who couldn’t even do basic division. A total moron. And now, in less than four months, you’re getting these scores? That’s complete bullshit!”
“Little sister, don’t you think your language is a bit harsh?”
“Harsh?! After everything you’ve done until now…!”
Seti’s lips suddenly clamped shut.
“A-anyway, show me the actual test papers.”
Even as she said it, Seti was already rummaging through my bag herself. The used mock exam booklets thudded onto the floor. She eventually found my crumpled test sheet, unfolded it, and gasped.
“Ah!”
Even though it was only a mock exam, it was still a test. There had been plenty of calculations and scratch work, leaving the sheet quite messy. Seti scanned the traces of my solutions and shouted.
“Hey, this… this has to be a proxy test-taker.”
“……”
“If it’s not a proxy, there’s no explanation for this.”
She really wasn’t normal.
“What rank did you get?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“I showed you mine. Why won’t you show me yours?”
“Why should I have to?”
I grinned.
“Want me to guess? Third place.”
“…Why do you think that?”
“Because Zernya is probably better at studying than you, and she tied with me.”
It was a perfectly logical deduction. There was no need to even check.
Stellarium was located at the southern edge of the barred spiral galaxy that formed the Federation. That was why Zernya, who had lived in the northern part of the galaxy, had bought a station in the south a month earlier and was using it like a personal hotel.
As time passed, she naturally received her own mock exam report. She hadn’t originally planned to take it, but her family had insisted she at least show up in case of any unexpected variables. She had taken it reluctantly.
The results were boring. Even though she had solved everything half-heartedly, she had still taken first place. Zernya judged that the test had been deliberately made easier than usual to manage the mental state of the prospective students right before the real exam.
However—
“Hah.”
There was a tie.
“…Who the hell is this guy?”
Zernya felt her temper flare for the first time in a while. Until now, no one—absolutely no one—had ever surpassed her.
Even though they had only tied, it was still infuriating.
The direct descendants of Adelbein were supposed to stand at the very top. That was the family creed and Zernya’s own iron rule. She could not tolerate even the idea of someone standing beside her.
And yet she had been hit with exactly that in a place she never expected.
Her insides had been churning even before the written exam began.
“Petya, hack the academy’s database if you have to. Find out who tied with me. I need to know at least their name.”
The Adelbein family’s information network was as sturdy as a well-woven spiderweb. The moment Zernya gave the order, it took less than ten minutes to obtain the personal details of the student who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
“We contacted the director. The name is Idel von Rheinland.”
“Idel…”
Typing that name into the internet brought up dozens of articles immediately. Most of them were negative. They were about a boy who had committed countless atrocities that would make anyone frown just reading about them.
She had never heard that the boy was particularly good at studying. The only information available was that his school life had been such a mess that he had been suspended multiple times.
“Was he always this good at academics?”
“There’s a saying that academic ability and character are separate things.”
Zernya tapped her knuckles against the paulownia-wood desk. She thought carefully about what to do with this boy named Idel.
She had no intention of doing anything childish like drowning him just because he was better than her. That would be inelegant. The Adelbeins had always crushed their family’s enemies with refined methods.
“Rheinland…”
They weren’t on the level of Adelbein, but their influence was still immense. At the very least, the reason the southern part of the Federation hadn’t fallen to monsters was because the renowned physicians produced by their family had healed soldiers with miraculous medical techniques.
“Interesting.”
Zernya finally realized it.
—Step on me.
She understood what words had been omitted after what Idel had said back then.
“…If I can manage it, that is.”
After all, this was nothing more than a practice match.
The real thing was next week.
Zernya chuckled and checked the calendar.
One week left. The Stellarium written exam was drawing near.