Chapter 89: Midterm Exam 9
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 89: Midterm Exam 9
It happened just as the younger professors were noisily gossiping about Loki’s love life.
"Save the gossip for after we’ve finished grading," Gedra said, cutting them off.
Idra, who had been insistently shipping Clara and Loki, puffed out her cheeks and glared at Gedra for the interruption.
"Professor Gedra, it’s because you’re so old-fashioned that you’re unpopular with the students."
"I have no interest in such things. Just hurry up and finish the grading. The students are waiting for the results."
For the record, in a secret popularity poll conducted among the students, Gedra had ranked 1st, while Idra had ranked 28th.
First, the professors checked the points the students had earned in the forest, excluding the evaluation scores.
"As expected, Student Loki is overwhelmingly in 1st place for forest points."
"Student Clara is 2nd."
"Honestly, the forest is so vast that I thought the exam would only end when the time limit ran out. I never imagined it would end because only one person was left standing..."
When the exam concluded, there were still 2 hours and 33 minutes remaining. The professors didn't think they had given the students too much time; rather, the exam had ended prematurely because Loki had used the sound of screams to keep the students in a state of constant conflict.
"Now, all that’s left is the evaluation score."
Since the professors had already done a significant amount of grading by observing the students' actions during the exam, there wasn't much left to do.
"1st and 2nd place are decided, but the problem is which of these two to put in 3rd..."
The professors were agonizing over the third-place spot. Both candidates for 3rd place had utilized their abilities well, but both had made mistakes during the exam.
"Let’s settle it with a show of hands. We’ll vote on whose mistake was greater, and the one with the bigger blunder will take 4th."
The professors held a vote to finalize the 3rd place ranking.
"Then we shall award 3rd place to this student."
"By the way, Student Loki is 1st in evaluation points as well."
"To be fair, he handled his abilities the best—to a degree we couldn't even have imagined."
The criteria for the evaluation score was how well a student utilized their abilities. Loki had utilized his in such diverse ways that he had surpassed all the professors' predictions.
Just as the professors finished the grading and were about to leave the monitoring room to announce the results...
"But will the other students accept Loki’s evaluation score?"
"""..."""
At that one professor's remark, the room fell into silence. Loki’s actions were a bit—no, extremely—peculiar. There would undoubtedly be students who protested.
Of course, they had no intention of changing the scores just because of student complaints.
"What can we say to make the other students accept Loki’s score?"
While the professors were worrying about how to convince the student body...
"Ah! I just thought of a great idea."
Idra explained the method she had come up with, giggling as if she had thought of something incredibly entertaining.
* * *
After sitting in chairs and chatting over tea, Clara and I followed the professors' guidance to the area where the eliminated students had gathered.
I wasn't sure why, but the looks the professors were giving me were different than before. I couldn't quite describe it, but earlier, they looked at me like I was a madman; now, it felt like they were looking at someone impressive.
Clara had rested while drinking tea and was now able to move around.
"My '2nd place' Clara, who lost to me—shall we head over to where the Special Class students are? Just follow '1st place' me."
"..."
Clara didn't say anything. It seemed '2nd place' Clara was so moved by '1st place' me speaking to her so kindly.
Finding the Special Class students wasn't difficult. You just had to look where the most eyes were focused.
Step, step.
The gazes that had been fixed on the Special Class shifted toward Clara and me the moment we appeared. Ignoring their stares, we walked toward the gathering.
"""Who won?"""
Since the results hadn't been announced yet, the Special Class students approached and asked.
"I am '1st place,' and our dear Clara unfortunately finished in '2nd place' after being pushed back by '1st place' me. Well, 2nd place is still good. '2nd place' Clara, don't be too discouraged just because you got '2nd place.'"
I put extra emphasis on the important parts, causing the expressions of the other Special Class students to turn strange.
"""""..."""""
Thwack!
Clara, who was standing beside me, jabbed her elbow into my ribs.
"Ow! What was that for, '2nd place' Clara? Surely you aren't taking your frustration out on me for getting '2nd place'?"
"Shut up. If you emphasize that one more time, it won't end with just an elbow."
Clara said this while manifesting a ball of fire in her hand. Just as I was thinking I’d really get burned if I teased her any further, Lucas spoke to me.
"Oh, right! I heard everything from Gashurin. That elimination broadcast earlier—it was fake, right? Then where were you while you were pretending to be eliminated?"
Come to think of it, I hadn't run into Lucas even once during the exam. In fact, I hadn't run into most of the students.
"I met him briefly. Though someone ran away immediately."
"Ahaha, I had something urgent to do back then..."
I laughed awkwardly at Sepia’s words. For some reason, Sepia looked grumpy; she seemed bothered by the fact that she had lost her fight against Lucas.
"As for where I was..."
Since the exam was over and it wasn't exactly a secret, I was about to tell them I was in the monitoring room when...
[Silence! We will now announce the exam results.]
A professor’s voice boomed, cutting me off. As soon as the announcement began, the noisy chatter of the students died down instantly.
[First, we will announce the points you earned in the forest.]
The professors projected a large sheet of paper containing the students' scores into the air for everyone to see. The students' eyes darted around as they searched for their names.
The Special Class students were all in the top ranks, and naturally, I was 1st.
"Why is that guy 1st? Didn't he get eliminated earlier?"
"Right? He was eliminated midway through, so those points don't make sense..."
"He even has more points than Lady Clara. Did he take her down?"
"That guy was eliminated way before Lady Clara. Do you really think that makes sense?"
The Special Class students knew the broadcast was fake because Gashurin had told them, but the other first-years didn't seem to know yet. They began whispering among themselves upon seeing my score.
[Silence.]
[From now on, we will announce the evaluation scores. We will reveal the 3rd to 1st place rankings first and explain the reasoning behind these scores.]
[3rd place is Sepia Rivayden, with 83 points.]
This was a bit of a surprise. Since Lucas had beaten Clara, I naturally assumed Lucas would be 3rd.
"Ahaha. Well, I made quite a few small mistakes."
When I looked at Lucas, he laughed awkwardly as if he had an idea why. From what I’d seen, Lucas wasn't the type to get nervous just because it was an exam.
"Is something bothering you?"
"Well, you see... Sigh... No, never mind. I'll tell you later."
Just as I was about to say something to Lucas, a screen even larger than the one I’d seen in the monitoring room suddenly appeared. While the students were wondering what it was, the screen flickered on and began showing footage of Sepia during the exam.
Sepia had used Earth and Wind spirits to locate artificial monsters and students, then eliminated them using Fire and Water spirits.
[Utilizing the ability to handle four types of spirits simultaneously to gain points was extremely efficient.]
The students marveled at Sepia handling four spirits at once, but Sepia’s expression remained dark.
[The regrettable part is that she engaged in a fight at the end when she didn't have to. Recognizing one's current physical condition and choosing to retreat is also an excellent option.]
The screen showing Sepia turned off, then flickered back on after a moment. This time, it showed Clara.
[2nd place is Clara Adelian, with 94 points.]
The sight of Clara flying through the sky with flight magic and picking off students and artificial monsters with spells was so one-sided it looked more like a hunt than a fight.
[The strategy of utilizing her strengths to use appropriate magic without sparing mana was excellent.]
Then the screen changed again, showing Clara holding a mass of black flames in both hands—the same one Sepia had thrown at the ground at the very end.
"What on earth is that magic? I've never seen anything like it in my life."
"Isn't that a Fireball?"
"What kind of nonsense is that? There's no way a Fireball could be that huge. And the color is different."
"No, I mean, the magic circle structure is similar to a Fireball..."
[The judgment to fire the spell at the ground to buy time in a critical situation was surprising even to us.]
The screen showing Clara turned off. The students began to buzz with excitement, thinking the screen would now show the 1st place winner.
"Who’s 1st?"
"The Crown Prince hasn't appeared yet, so it must be him."
[1st place is Loki, with 100 points.]
""...""
The reason the students fell silent wasn't just because I got 1st place or a perfect score. It was mostly because of what was being shown on the screen.
Unlike Sepia and Clara, who were shown coolly hunting monsters or eliminating students, the screen showing me displayed...
[Good grief! You shouldn't do it like that. You have to do it like this, and then like that. Ah! They don't even know that much? How frustrating. I could run better than that myself!]
It showed me half-reclined in a chair, sipping a drink and back-seat driving the other students.
And unlike when they showed Sepia and Clara, this time, there was audio.