A Perfect Score
"Um, Miz...?" Aidrin, who had recovered from her shock relatively quickly, called out to her cautiously.
"...?" Miz looked back at her, still seemingly dazed by the shock.
"That footwork you just showed us... Is that really it?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Did Sillon actually copy it perfectly...? And is it normally that easy to copy?"
Ha. Miz let out a dry chuckle.
"Hey, now, Lady Aidrin. Just what do you take Baurer's Sword for? How does it look to you? Do you honestly think a fool like him should be able to copy it on a single glance?"
"Huh?! N-No, I didn't mean it like that—"
"Just kidding, just kidding. I know what you meant. For a split second, even I almost thought, 'Wait, is Shell Drawing actually that easy?'"
Miz turned her gaze toward Sillon, her demeanor suddenly turning dead serious.
"Hey, fool. No, Sillon. Spill it. What exactly just happened?"
"What do you mean, what happened?"
"Your Shell Drawing wasn't a mere imitation."
If it were just mimicking the outward appearance, it might have been somewhat plausible.
"But your Shell Drawing clearly contained the true essence of Baurer's Sword. Mastering it after seeing it just once? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. There are only two possibilities."
Miz held out both hands, raising an index finger on each.
"In situations like this, don't people usually raise their index and middle fingers on one hand?"
"What do you think? Cool, right? I invented it."
"It's so... so innovative and cool that my hands are literally shaking. May I... use that gesture sometime in the future?"
"Denied."
Miz folded the index finger of her left hand.
"Possibility number one: You are a genius with absurd, logic-defying talent."
"Oh, I like the sound of that. Shall we go with that one?"
"Naturally, since it makes absolutely no sense, rejected."
"Aw, what a shame."
Miz folded the index finger of her right hand.
"Possibility number two: You already knew about Baurer's Sword beforehand. Honestly, I'm almost certain it's this one."
Aidrin gasped.
Indeed, if Sillon had already learned Baurer's Sword beforehand, everything made sense. In fact, it was the only logical explanation.
"So, you'd better explain, Sillon. How on earth do you know about Baurer's Sword?"
Sillon brought a finger to his lips. His eyes, his squint, and the corners of his mouth curved upward in unison. Crafting an incredibly profound, mysterious smile, he spoke.
"It's a secret."
"—is what I would say, but the atmosphere doesn't seem quite right for brushing it off. After all, no matter how much Lady Aidrin looks down on it, Baurer's Sword is the proud, secret swordsmanship of the Baurer family."
"Huh? What? Me?"
"You know your stuff. Even if Baurer's Sword seems lowly and worthless to Lady Aidrin, it is still our family's secret technique."
"Wait, what? Why me...?" Caught in the middle, Aidrin broke into a cold sweat, glancing back and forth between them.
"Therefore, as the legitimate heir of the Baurer family, I have a duty to know how you acquired our swordsmanship. Keep in mind, depending on your answer, I might have to become a bad girl. A highly lethal, ferocious villainess, to be exact."
"Rawr."
Though her tone was playful, the way her hand rested on the long sword at her waist exuded a razor-sharp tension.
"Uh, um..." Aidrin, flustered but alert, subtly shifted her footing. She edged closer to Sillon, positioning herself to face Miz so she could react instantly if the other girl lunged.
"Hmm~ Well, this is quite troublesome." Another kind of smile appeared on Sillon's face—a sheepish, bitter grin.
"Since things have come to this, I suppose I have no choice but to tell you. Though, it really is a story I wanted to keep a secret."
Yet, as those words left his mouth, that sheepish grin suddenly felt incredibly ominous.
Miz took an involuntary step back. She couldn't fathom his true identity anymore; how could a man whose presence had felt so utterly light and frivolous suddenly feel this deeply unsettling?
"Miss Miz, instead of backing away, would you mind stepping closer? This is going to be a rather confidential story."
"...There's literally no one else here to listen but us."
Sillon pointed his index finger upward. Was he referring to the proctors observing the exam? A secret that even the Academy officials shouldn't know... Just what kind of story was this?
A belated sense of dread and regret washed over her. Had she poked a sleeping dragon she shouldn't have?
Miz slowly stepped closer to him, though she hesitated. We are inside a barrier, and the Academy instructors are watching. Nothing bad will happen. She repeated those words like a mantra to steel her resolve.
"Hm? Miss Aidrin, why are you—"
"What? What! Am I not allowed to hear it?! Is it a secret from me too?!" Sillon shrugged at Aidrin's huffy yet cautious reaction, then opened his mouth.
To Aidrin and Miz, his lips seemed to move in slow motion. A suffocating tension filled the air, as if time itself had ground to a halt.
And then, an unbelievable revelation spilled from his lips.
"Actually, my record for the second exam really was in the zero-minute range, surpassing both Sir Drin and Sir Kasha."
"...?"
"...?"
It was indeed unbelievable, but it was also incredibly anticlimactic compared to what they had braced themselves for. They had expected him to start with, "Actually, my true identity is..." and reveal some world-shattering secret.
Aidrin and Miz stared at Sillon's face. He was beaming. As if the ominous, profound atmosphere from a moment ago had been nothing but a mirage, his presence had instantly reverted to its usual feather-light, frivolous self.
Was it just their imagination? His goofy, grinning face seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their frozen, tense reactions.
Aidrin and Miz's faces crumpled in unison.
"What was that? You put on that whole dramatic act just to say that?"
"Are you kidding me right now?"
"Oh my~ Your reactions are a bit different from what I expected—no, anticipated."
Sigh. Aidrin let out a deep breath and shook her head.
"So, what on earth does that even mean? That your second exam record was really in the zero-minute range, surpassing Sir Drin and Sir Kasha?" As she spoke, Aidrin's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, don't tell me—you're not about to bring up that stupid 'romance' nonsense again in this situation, are you?!"
"Romance? Haha, of course not, Miss Aidrin. I am as serious as can be right now. Though, to be fair, I was completely serious about that romance talk too."
"What romance?"
"Ah, Miss Miz. Do you happen to know about romance?"
"Ah! Shut up, shut up! Sillon! Just get back to the point! What do you mean your record was in the zero-minute range? Why are you bringing that up now?"
"Come to think of it—hey, fool. I'm pretty sure I asked you how you learned Baurer's Sword. Are you trying to change the subject?"
Two pairs of eyes demanding an explanation locked onto Sillon. Smiling with satisfaction now that their wariness of him had completely vanished, Sillon continued his tale.
He shared the hidden truth behind the second exam with the two girls. He explained that his record really was in the zero-minute range, truly surpassing Drin and Kasha. And that it was all thanks to his innate talent for Assassination Arts. He told them how Instructor Sinia, worried about the controversy that would erupt if such a talent were revealed during the Academy entrance exams, had covered it up out of goodwill.
"You really surpassed Sir Kasha and Sir Drin...?"
"A talent for Assassination Arts...?"
Aidrin and Miz reacted with sheer, unadulterated shock that went far beyond mere disbelief.
"Indeed. Instructor Sinia was worried that if my talent for Assassination Arts was exposed during the entrance exam, I would get dragged into all sorts of troublesome matters, so she advised me to hide it as much as possible. Originally, I intended to follow her advice. Honestly, my only goal was to get into the Academy, so I didn't care either way. However... I suddenly got a bit greedy."
"Greedy?"
"Yes. I wanted to get the highest score possible, even if it meant risking getting caught up in complicated situations."
Sillon looked at Aidrin and Miz in turn, offering a bitter smile. "But looking at how things turned out, it seems my situation has already become plenty complicated anyway, hasn't it?"
It was exactly as Sillon said. The rumors circulating among the examinees had been so inflated and distorted that he had already been branded a despicable commoner who tried to cheat his way past Kasha and Drin's scores.
A piece of trash who tried to stand above Drin Libringer and Kasha Hanahan—the pride of the nobility—through foul play.
Or a commoner who surpassed Drin Libringer and Kasha Hanahan through sheer talent in the Assassination Arts.
Both reputations were practically in the gutter. But from a certain perspective, the latter was actually better. Instead of being treated as a powerless piece of trash, he would at least be seen as a piece of trash with actual power.
"So, I figured since I'm already trash, I might as well be a slightly better grade of trash. And right around then—" Sillon looked at Miz. "Miss Miz appeared before me like a twist of fate."
"What's with the poetic phrasing? Are you trying to hit on me right now?"
"A-As if! Miz, let's just keep listening to him." For some reason, a flustered Aidrin quickly urged him to continue.
"The moment I saw Miss Miz of the Baurer family, I thought of Baurer's Sword. And the moment I thought of Baurer's Sword, I remembered that it is a style that blends swordsmanship with the Assassination Arts. So I thought to myself: 'If I, possessing a natural talent for the Assassination Arts, observe Baurer's Sword, wouldn't I be able to grasp something profound?'"
Could I perhaps manifest my assassination talents through swordsmanship?
Snap! Sillon snapped his fingers. "And as you both just witnessed, I hit the jackpot."
Miz, processing the explanation in her head, tilted her head. "So what you're saying is... you really mastered the essence of Baurer's Sword after seeing my movements just once, and that is purely because of your innate talent for the Assassination Arts. Is that it?"
"Exactly."
It wasn't entirely nonsensical. Baurer's Sword was, after all, a style originally created and refined by the hands of assassins.
"Hey, fool. What do you think the chances are of me believing that?"
"Well, Miss Aidrin is at a hundred percent, for starters!"
"Huh? Me?"
"I see. Lady Telrn really is a bit of a pushover."
"Why are you guys always picking on me...?"
"Anyway, fool. You must know how absurd your story sounds right now."
This goofy guy had surpassed Drin Libringer and Kasha Hanahan to achieve an incredible score. And it was all thanks to his natural talent as an assassin. It was utterly ridiculous.
"The problem is, it's so absurd that it actually gains a strange sort of credibility. No matter how foolish you are, you wouldn't weave the second exam—something whose truth can be verified instantly—into a lie. And above all, you wouldn't dare use the names of Libringer, Hanahan, and the Iron Wall in vain. So, while I can't bring myself to believe you... I'll let it slide for now."
Well then. "O fool who claims to have a talent for the Assassination Arts yet devoted himself to the sword. What exactly did you realize after seeing our Baurer's Sword?"
A strange gleam flickered in Miz's otherwise lifeless eyes.
Sillon grinned, a refreshing smile spreading across his face. "Just as I expected, I realized that Baurer's Sword is the perfect medium to channel my assassination talents into swordsmanship. And—"
"And?"
"I realized that Baurer's Sword is an incredibly magnificent martial art."
"A magnificent martial art? Baurer's Sword is a rootless style—neither true assassination nor true swordsmanship."
There wasn't even a hint of self-deprecation in her tone. The contempt and discrimination directed at Baurer's Sword had long ceased to be merely familiar to her; it had become an accepted, natural fact of life.
"For a rootless bastard who was born with the talent of an assassin yet walks the path of a swordsman, a rootless sword style that is neither assassination nor swordsmanship... Isn't that just perfect?"
Yet here was this goofy man. This man who spouted the absurd claim that he possessed talent surpassing both Libringer and Hanahan, speaking of Baurer's Sword in such a way.
"In this exam, I shall elevate the prestige of Baurer's Sword alongside you, Master."
Thumbs up. Miz raised a thumb toward him. "A perfect score."
At this very moment, Sillon had fully mastered Baurer's Sword. It was the exact moment he gained both the means and the justification to freely unleash his assassination talents.