The One Who Shatters Common Sense
She truly was a little lady with zero sense of tension.
Farming points and hunting people were daunting tasks in their own right, yet on top of that, they had to forage for rations and keep pace with the proctor. Facing a brutally difficult trial that demanded immense multitasking, she was fretting over bugs.
"Are you not afraid? Beside the bugs, I mean."
"Me? Why would I be?"
A mischievous, devilish smirk played across Orknodi's puzzled face.
"Ah~ Giselle, are you scared, mister? Scared of running through the forest? Or worried you won't get to farm? Scaredy-cat~ Chicken~ You're so wea—eep!"
"You get a knuckle sandwich because you practically beg for one."
His hand had rapped her forehead before he realized it, but he felt no true resentment. He realized his own tension had melted away without him noticing.
What a remarkably mature child.
To consider an adult's nerves first and ease their burden. Then again, perhaps she had simply wanted to tease him.
Either way, she felt no fear herself. She hadn't taken top honors in the first trial for nothing.
Though I don't know if that's something to celebrate...
Her confidence was rooted in sheer ability. And this child's ability stemmed from an aristocratic "early childhood education" bordering on outright abuse. Fed hundreds of poisons, trained to hide and evade lethal strikes, she had been left completely hollow of any common sense regarding a normal child's life, a human life, or a noble's dignity.
Yet her innocence remained intact—which made watching her all the more heartbreaking.
Teaming up with such a child and taking the exam together actually lent him strength.
I've sold plenty of tickets, but I've never taken the exam myself... Still, I have the general gist of it.
The Upper Exam was a bloodbath where even Gold Ticket holders were wiped out in droves. The other examinees were undoubtedly suffering far more than Orknodi.
"Urgh, the injury from the first trial..."
"My vision is going dark. I've lost sight of the vanguard!"
While a pack of stragglers gradually fell behind, a lead group effortlessly matched the proctor's pace.
Is the problem over there?
Around thirty stragglers, and another thirty in the vanguard. Between them sat the middle pack of roughly one hundred examinees.
Out of one hundred eighty-five examinees, that left twenty-five unaccounted for. A breakaway group had emerged, acting independently to secure food or farm sub-quest points.
"Aren't they worried about becoming prey?"
"They must be confident. Either having dependable comrades..."
"Or supreme faith in their own skills."
Isabelle and Son Ocheon were right. Food foraging aside, unless one had a trump card to rely on, venturing out for victory points was out of the question.
"Then let's go too!"
"...Did you even hear what we just said?"
Are you really not worried about becoming someone's prey?
"Got no confidence?"
Then again, she was a young lady raised on assassin training. Why would she fear a petty exam? If someone had stepped forward to assist such a young lady, cowering now was out of the question.
"I was merely concerned for you, my little lady."
"Great! I hate mosquitoes, but if we finish quickly, we'll get bitten less. Let's go clear the sub-quest first!"
Following the spirited young girl, Isabelle let out a wry, helpless chuckle, while Son Ocheon roared with hearty laughter and trailed behind, declaring he knew she'd say that. Giselle's face held no shadows either as he brought up the rear. When push came to shove, he had confidence of his own.
Characters in stories have distinct personalities.
It sounded obvious, but this was an ironclad rule in the game Graduating the Academy on Pure Luck.
A cautious character who encounters a stone bridge searches for a walking stick to tap every slab first.
A reckless character charges straight across without looking.
A vicious character crosses first, then smashes the bridge behind them.
And those vicious characters are the real problem.
At first glance, this trial seemed like an open invitation for anyone to attempt the sub-quest. But those who actually went to clear it quickly learned the hard truth: if malicious characters wanted to ruin everything, they could and would.
First-Come, First-Served: 10 Examinees Only
Capture a White-Tailed Mongoose and submit it to the Base Camp.
If you arrived late, you wouldn't even get scraps. Some jerk would use disguise magic to trade in the same White-Tailed Mongoose ten times, or they'd take their own share and slaughter every remaining mongoose in the forest before moving on.
Fortunately, it looked like they had arrived before any such griefing began, so there was still some breathing room.
"You've all seen the signpost, yes?"
"We are the proctors stationed at this base camp. To the first ten examinees who bring us a White-Tailed Mongoose, we shall award ten points each."
"The settlement process is simple. The moment our proctors take possession of the White-Tailed Mongoose, the points will be credited to the submitter's ticket-watch."
The moment the proctors finished their explanation, the breakaway examinees sprang into action.
"What in the world is a White-Tailed Mongoose?"
"Aren't you a monkey beastman? Shouldn't you know animals well?"
"How the hell would I know? Things like that didn't live in the forest where I grew up."
At Son Ocheon's blunt reply, Isabelle explained with a drained expression.
"They look like a cross between a weasel and a rat. Fierce little devils that even hunt venomous snakes, but they usually live in packs to avoid being eaten by monsters."
"Are they strong?"
"If you're asking by the standards of a two-meter-tall ape beastman, they're weak as hell, aren't they? They're a small species, not even a meter long."
"Well, that kills the excitement."
"A bit early to be disappointed, isn't it? Those mongooses are incredibly nimble. Especially the White-Tailed Mongoose—it acts as the alpha among the pack, and spotting one is rare."
Mm, an adventurer indeed! Not a single error in her breakdown.
"Ooh, is that thing they're catching over there a mongoose?"
"That's the one."
Just then, an examinee snatched a mongoose scrambling up a nearby tree.
"Screeeech!"
"Haha, pathetic weakling! Utterly insignificant vermin!"
The examinee grabbed the mongoose, slammed it violently against the tree trunk, and knocked it cold. Inspecting the tail of the unconscious beast, his face twisted into blatant