Entrance Exam — Swordsmanship Department (2)
About an hour before Ethan and Lilith arrived at Luminor Academy.
Caraham Samuel Auguste, eldest son of Margrave Samuel Bruce Auguste and an aristocratic swordsman who had inherited the Auguste school of swordsmanship, was also making his way toward the Academy to take the Swordsmanship Department's entrance exam.
Inside a carriage bearing the Auguste crest, he fidgeted restlessly, his leg bouncing up and down.
Thump thump thump, thump thump thump.
"……"
Thump thump thump, thump thump thump.
"……"
Thump thump thump, thump—
"Caraham! Can't you stop shaking your leg?! At your size, the whole carriage rattles when you do that!"
"S-sorry, sister!"
Caraham bowed his head at the shout from his one and only younger sister, Lizzie Lyn Auguste.
Thanks to her scolding, he managed to shake off some of his nerves and calm his heart. He somehow stopped his bouncing leg and seemed, for a moment, to gather his composure.
But that temporary calm began to waver again in less than five minutes, like ripples spreading across a still pond.
Thump thump thump, thump thump thump.
"……"
Thump thump thump, thump—
"Ca~ra~ham~!"
"S-sorry, sister! The anxiety just got to me without my noticing…!"
"……Ugh, honestly."
Watching her younger brother bounce his leg as if he were about to leap right out of the Auguste carriage, Lizzie let out a long sigh, then asked, wondering what on earth had him so worked up.
"What is wrong with you? It's just the Academy entrance exam. Where did all that usual confidence go — you know, the attitude where you swore you could never lose because Father taught you the Auguste school himself?"
"N-no, sister! It's not that I'm anxious about the sparring matches in the exam — it's something else…."
"And what would that be?"
"I-it's this line of carriages that hasn't moved an inch since a while ago! We've been standing completely still for a whole hour now — of course I'm going to get anxious!"
"Haah, Caraham…."
Lizzie had actually been thinking of cheering her brother on, wondering if even he might be nervous about the exam. But seeing him frightened by a reason far more ridiculous than anything she'd imagined, she couldn't help feeling exasperated.
In the end, instead of encouragement, she began offering the same advice she always gave: a nobleman ought to keep noble decorum.
"What's so nerve-wracking about a carriage standing still for an hour? A noble should know how to sit patiently in a carriage for five, ten hours at a stretch."
"I can certainly wait patiently in a carriage when traveling long distances! B-but if we just sit here stopped like this, we won't be able to move forward, will we?! When on earth are we going to reach Luminor Academy?!"
"Carriages backing up on exam day is perfectly normal. By now the carriages at the front should be finishing their exams and trickling out one by one, so this line should clear up in three or four hours."
"Th-three or four hours?! What if the exam ends before we get there! If the eldest son of House Auguste fails to take the exam and can't enter the Academy, that'll be the laughingstock of the century…."
"The entrance exam runs from morning until evening, so there's nothing to worry about! Now sit still and read a book like a proper noble. Here!"
"Y-yes, sister…."
Lizzie handed her brother a history of swordsmanship she'd packed in case something like this happened, and Caraham absently took it.
He forced the book open, hoping to calm his anxious heart somehow, but with his mind in such a state, there was no way the contents were actually sinking in. Worse, a history book with almost no pictures and nothing but dense walls of text only scrambled Caraham's head even further.
"If you can't stand it, lean against the carriage wall and take a nap. I'll wake you when we arrive…."
"…Actually, no. I can't do this, sister."
"Hm?"
"I'm setting off for the Academy ahead of you. Running there myself would be far faster than sitting here waiting for the carriage to move."
With that, Caraham grabbed the sword he'd leaned against the carriage wall and bolted out the door.
Lizzie hurriedly called after her brother, who was suddenly behaving so strangely, but Caraham's footsteps were already racing toward Luminor Academy.
"Hey, Caraham! Hey!!"
"Take your time, sister!"
"I'm not even taking the exam today! And you're leaving me alone in the carriage when I'm not even testing? Get back here right now!"
"I'll return right after the entrance exam!"
"Hey! Heeey!!!"
Caraham paid his sister's calls no mind, his steps already carrying him toward the Academy.
And so, inside the purposeless Auguste carriage, only Lizzie remained, sitting all alone.
"Aaargh! I came all this way out of concern for him!!"
Only the quiet shriek of the Auguste young lady, left behind in a line of carriages still crawling along like turtles, echoed faintly through the surroundings.
"Finally, examinee number sixteen — Caraham Samuel Auguste!"
"…Caraham?"
Caraham Samuel Auguste.
At the sudden appearance of a name character, a strange tension stirred in me as well.
At first, I genuinely wondered for a moment whether I'd misheard.
Of course, the moment that booming, dim-witted voice followed, I knew instantly that I hadn't.
"Yes! Eldest son of Samuel Bruce Auguste! Inheritor of the Auguste school of swordsmanship — Caraham Samuel Auguste!"
"……"
"……"
"……"
At that boisterous voice and absurd self-introduction, my eyes, Ethan's, the staff member's, and every other examinee's gaze snapped toward him all at once.
Yet the eldest son of House Auguste, as oblivious as he'd been in the original story, simply strode shamelessly toward the staff member.
"Is the exam hall in there?"
"Ah, yes! Go on in and spar in an evaluation match with the other examinees."
"Haha, understood! Thank you for your hard work!"
And with that, Caraham entered the exam hall behind me and Ethan, loud as ever.
My gut told me that running into him would be a waste of time, so I hurried Ethan's steps deeper into the hall.
"Let's get inside quickly, young master. If Lord Auguste's son happens to recognize you, I suspect nothing but trouble will follow."
"…Right, Maid. I'm not really used to people like that, either…."
"Oh, isn't that Lord Ethan over there! My, it's been quite a while!"
"……"
"……"
Caraham recognized Ethan from the back alone, in that dim corridor of the sparring hall — as if anyone but a sturdy young titan of the Empire could manage such a feat.
Why did it have to be this annoying spot where he decided to play friendly?
Apparently, there had been an occasion when the palace guard — everyone except me — had to make a trip to the Imperial Court, and that was where they'd first met. Ethan, for his part, hadn't seemed eager to get close.
Still, ignoring a fellow noble lord who'd greeted him first would have been a breach of etiquette, and in the end Ethan had no choice but to answer Caraham's questions.
"…It has been a while, Lord Caraham."
"The last time we met was when His Majesty the Emperor honored us with commendations, wasn't it? Meeting you in a place like this brings back quite the memories."
"…So it does. I didn't expect to run into you here, either."
"I certainly never imagined Lord Ethan would be taking the Academy's Swordsmanship Department entrance exam this year! I'd assumed you were far too young for it, without a doubt."
"…Right. Thank you for the compliment."
Ethan's brow twitched hard at Caraham's tactless greeting.
The fact that Ethan hadn't aged in five years due to his curse was common knowledge among the nobility by now — and this man had the gall to mention it so breezily.
Truly, just like at that party hall before — the man was as oblivious as ever.
"By the way, Caraham, it seems your sister didn't come with you. A man with muscles for brains like you ought to have your sister stuck to you like glue."
"Ah, my sister is in the carriage right now! She was so worried about me that she came along to see me off!"
"…Hmm. So she's 'worried,' yet she won't even observe the exam? It seems her affection for you isn't all that deep."
"Haha, you're quite the joker, Lord Ethan! Walking from the Auguste carriage to the Academy on my sister's own two feet would take at least an hour — I couldn't possibly put her through such trouble!"
"……?"
"……?"
Caraham's utterly incomprehensible logic was already giving me a headache.
Even when Ethan had openly called him and his sister a muscle-brain and a barnacle respectively, poking right at his Achilles' heel, the fool's dim mind simply let the insult slide right past without registering it.
In a simple conversation, Ethan could never win an argument against that thick skull. Not that Caraham would even realize he was in one.
Just as the two men stood locked in this odd standoff, another staff member emerged from inside the exam hall to call for Ethan and Caraham.
Their footsteps, briefly halted by the unexpected reunion, moved on into the exam hall.
"Examinees! It's time to enter!"
"…Let's settle the rest of our conversation with our swords."
"Haha! I look forward to it, Lord Ethan!"
The two prospective freshmen moved toward the exam hall together amid that peculiar tension.
I simply followed them in silence, standing at Ethan's side.
Quietly praying, from the bottom of my heart, that the exam would end safely and without any serious injuries.
"Come to think of it, I have a feeling I've seen the person beside you somewhere before…."
"…We meet for the first time, Lord Caraham."
"Hmmm, is that so? My apologies, then."
…Oblivious as ever, yet with uselessly sharp eyes — exactly like the game.