Practical Exam (1)
There was a moment of mutual awkwardness.
After our heads and bodies had cooled down, we headed to a café near the training grounds to take a breather.
Siiiiiiiiip—
"……."
"……"
Actually, scratch that. Our bodies had cooled, but apparently our heads hadn't.
We'd chatted about this and that and even come to the café for a cold drink, yet the awkwardness still refused to fade.
"Ugh, seriously! Both of you, just say something!!"
In the end, Lumia couldn't take it anymore and exploded.
But being told to talk didn't exactly give us anything to talk about, so the silence showed no signs of lifting.
I definitely need to say something.
Siiiiip—
I thought about it as I drained my cold Americano.
She'd gone weak in the knees and was about to fall, and I'd moved on pure reflex — and somehow things had turned out like this.
What do you say to break the awkwardness? What do you say to break the awkwardness? What do you say to break the awkwardness…
How did I handle this in my past life?
I racked my brain, but nothing came to mind.
Was I really that much of a loner?
Only a rather shocking realization came of it.
Thankfully, though, I quickly reached the conclusion that no, I wasn't.
Oh right — given enough time, things just naturally stopped being awkward on their own.
Most of my relationships in my past life were ones I'd built at school, after all.
Whatever happened, just showing up the next morning smoothed everything over.
Except right now, I can't exactly go home, can I.
Technically this place counted as a school too, but… that wasn't the point. The situation itself was the problem — a big one.
If I went home now, it wouldn't fix a thing; we'd just be even more awkward the next time we met.
I'd never dated anyone, but even judging by feel alone, I knew that much.
What do people actually do in situations like this?
So I spent a long while mulling it over, mindlessly gulping down my Americano, until finally one plausible idea surfaced.
"Nia."
"…Mm?"
When I, having made up my mind, spoke to her, Nia answered after a pause.
Damn it.
I knew she was just naturally reserved and always talked like that.
But given the circumstances, it couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
Illusion
I hastily twisted their field of vision with my Illusion, wiped my sweat, and said,
"So, uh… how was it?"
"…It felt good."
"Huh?"
She meant the sparring match, right?
"O-oh, did it?"
"…Mm."
By all accounts she'd just been toyed with, so I had no idea why she'd say it felt good.
She must have gotten absolutely pummeled. Did she enjoy taking hits?
Wait, was her blood type M or something?
Well, I suppose that's possib—
No. That's not the point.
Snapping out of it under Lumia's razor-sharp stare, I brought up what I'd actually meant to say.
"Anyway, I think we're done with sparring, so let's do something else for a bit."
"…Something else?"
Nia echoed my words, sounding puzzled.
Steadying my nerves, I said,
"Yeah. Let's work on how to conceal your presence."
"…Ah."
I'd already talked with her about teaching her to hide her presence before.
We'd put it off alongside the sparring session, but our weekday schedules had filled up completely and we'd never found a chance to meet — now that we finally had, this was the time to settle it.
Working through official business together was a surefire way to dissolve awkwardness anyway, so the timing was perfect.
"…Alright. Let's go."
I couldn't tell whether Nia had reached the same conclusion, but seeing her readily accept and stand up, it seemed my thinking wasn't far off.
…Right?
For some reason, I could feel Lumia's gaze on me in a distinctly meaningful way.
After an eventful weekend, Monday came back around.
"Now then, everyone, attention. I have an announcement."
With all classes finished and even the supplementary lecture registration forms collected, Instructor Bronson tapped the lectern to draw everyone's focus.
"I trust you've all settled into life at the Academy by now."
He swept his gaze across the cadets, and not a single one dared to tune him out.
"As you all know, the Academy runs two major evaluations per semester — the midterm and the final — to assess your capabilities and divide you into class sections tailored to your level."
"Ah, class placement…."
"What do I do? The other kids are all flying around out there. Am I gonna get cut?"
At his words, the cadets finally remembered the brutal reality they'd been forgetting, and a murmur rippled through the room.
"Ahem. Quiet, everyone."
Instructor Bronson cleared his throat loudly to rein in the atmosphere before continuing.
"However, if the Academy relied on those two evaluations alone, some cadets would inevitably be judged unfairly. That's why, in addition to the midterm and final, the Academy periodically holds practical exams throughout the semester to evaluate its cadets."
It was quite similar to schools back in my original world.
Maybe because the developer was a Korean company?
Anyway, since the game showered you with a hefty pile of experience and various resources, how much you milked out of this 'Practical Evaluation' event essentially determined the quality of your character build.
I wasn't sure how resources worked here, but it'd probably let me grind out quite a few levels.
I hadn't been out hunting lately, so apart from sparring, I hadn't had many chances to level up quickly — this was a welcome coincidence.
"The first practical exam will be held before long. The exam will be conducted in teams, and each team will be assigned arbitrarily by the Academy with fairness in mind."
Probably based on grades, knowing this place.
Except I'm the top-ranked student.
The thought of being saddled with a pile of dead weight made me a little anxious.
Hmm… well, I suppose I'll just run them through the wringer first.
Then again, I'd done this in the game too — carried a run as the top student and drilled the dead weight into shape — so it wasn't entirely unfamiliar territory.
No matter how hopeless they seemed, they were still Academy cadets with real potential, so if I worked them to the bone, they'd climb to a usable level.
"This is not an exam for the Swordsmanship Department alone — it will be held jointly with the Magic Department and the Healing Department as well, so you'll need time to gather with your teammates and build coordination."
As Instructor Bronson explained, this was an exam the entire first-year class would take together — so if push came to shove, I could just position everyone properly and carry the whole thing solo, and it would still work out somehow.
That would cost my teammates a decent score, but… eh, whatever.
I'd drill them, train them, see how much they grew, and then decide what to do.
While I was untangling the mess in my head, Instructor Bronson wrapped up his explanation.
"Team compositions were arranged with each cadet's position in mind, not just their grades, so there will be no appeals. The team assignments will be posted on the Academy's notice board — check them promptly so you don't find yourself at a disadvantage. That's all. Class is dismissed for today, so everyone head out."
"Come on, let's move! Gotta check it fast before the crowd shows up!"
"Should we wait until evening and go once some people have cleared out?"
"And what if that makes us late meeting our teammates and things fall apart?! I'm going ahead!"
The instant his dismissal landed, the cadets surged for the exits.
Just as someone had said, if we checked the board too late and missed our window to arrange things with our teammates, we'd be in trouble — so I hurried to my feet as well.
"Lucian."
"Ah, Seria."
Just as I was about to move, Seria called my name.
She'd said she'd keep her distance, but switching seats so abruptly would have felt awkward in its own way, so we were still sitting together.
We'd simply avoid walking together during lunch and the afternoon, that was all.
Anyway, being late would be a problem, so I urged her along.
"What are you doing? Get up, you too."
"Hm? If we go now it'll be absolutely packed. Wouldn't it be better to wait a bit?"
"What if our teammates have already checked and are waiting for us?"
Union Academy was a game set in a medieval world.
Which meant that, short of an expensive comm-magic device, there was no way to contact someone the way you would with a phone.
So if you weren't standing face-to-face with someone right now, there was no way to reach a stranger.
Which meant I had no choice but to go hunt down my teammates myself.
In the game, there was a choice for this, wasn't there.
It had presented [Go check your team] and [Wait and go later] — and picking the latter made it hard to arrange things with your teammates, imposing a penalty that threw off everything that came after.
I'd been burned by it once myself as a newbie.
"I didn't think of that."
"Exactly, so get up. Even if we wait, we'll have to go eventually."
"Okay. Just a sec, let me grab my things."
After a brief wait, Seria hastily gathered her belongings and we left the classroom together.
"Hey, move it!"
"If you've already checked it, get out of the way!!"
"Oh, for the love of— you have to leave a path for people to get out! Shoving through with your whole body, what is wrong with you?!!"
We'd gotten a late start, so we hurried to the notice board — but the crowd had already packed itself solid.
"Looks like this is going to take a while."
"And this is even after we rushed over. Leaving late really was a mistake on my part."
"…Sorry."
"No, you don't need to apologize."
There she goes again.
Ever since the sparring session, her attitude toward me had grown noticeably more careful — and it seemed she genuinely felt bad about it.
Still, she's the type who's good at everything. She'll bounce back soon enough.
As I'd once thought before, time healed most things.
Tap, tap—
"Um…"
I was in the middle of thinking about Seria when I suddenly felt someone tap my shoulder.
"Hm? Who is it?"
I turned, and there stood a girl.
Perfectly ordinary chestnut-brown hair, an equally ordinary build, a slightly less ordinary chest, and dark circles sagging beneath her eyes.
She was dripping in sweat despite her pristine white cadet uniform, and the zombie-like state of her suggested she was unquestionably a Healing Department student.
"Um… y-you're, the, the top student… right…?"
"That's me. And who are you?"
"Ah! Ah— u-um? I-I'm Helena Curci… a Healing Department student!"
"Hm?"
Helena Curci…?
That name sounded familiar.
So she'd been released as a playable character.
Who was she again…
Ah.
It came back to me.
Helena Curci.
A 4-star character who'd existed since the earliest days of Union Academy.
Despite her 4-star rating, her highly versatile ability, textbook skill set, and respectable healing output meant she often saw play even over 5-star buffers.
In story mode, she was practically a mandatory pick.
"I-I was picked for the same team as you this time! Th-there are so many people, so I thought I'd come find you instead of waiting! I-I look forward to working with you!"
The very girl I'd relied on back in the day as a story-mode veteran was standing there, tense as a drawn bow, holding her hand out to me.