Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Transfer Ceremony (5)
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"Senior, do you think there'll be some promising kids this year?"
The three great academies representing Academy City.
Commonly known as SKY.
Among them, Roberto Botticelli, a rookie scout from Slaine Academy—the S in SKY—couldn't hide his excitement at his first transfer ceremony.
"Eh, don't get your hopes up too high. A transfer ceremony is like unfiltered sand at the end of the day. Whether you find a gem or just more rocks is pure luck."
Roberto put on a serious face at his senior scout Rachel's words.
"Leave it to me, Senior! I'll definitely uncover some promising talent!"
"Heh, you've got spirit. Alright, let's see what our rookie can do."
With files in hand, they left the office and boarded a waiting carriage, heading toward the transfer ceremony grounds.
"Let's start with some info sharing. Rookie, you know the top prospects for this year?"
"Yes! We've got about thirty candidates to watch. The ones worth us moving on ourselves are the Imperial Empire's First Imperial Princess, the Dongriam Democratic Republic's Chief Executor, and the Rosario Holy Empire's third Saintess Candidate!"
"Right. There's word that Viheight's second princess is enrolling too, but with no movement yet, it's probably fake intel."
"Agreed."
"But you missed one, rookie."
"Huh? One? No way..."
"The most important one, at that."
As he frantically checked his files with a puzzled look, Rachel handed him a single sheet.
He read it over briefly, his face gradually lighting up with delight, until he finally blurted out in an excited voice,
"I-Is this for real, Senior?!"
"Yep. Exclusive intel from Slaine Academy."
"No way! The disciple of the Divine Archer enrolling?!"
"Quiet. It's top secret. You never know when or where info could leak. Watch your mouth."
"S-Sorry, Senior."
"Anyway, 'she' is this year's prime target. A high elf from the Great Forest and the Divine Archer's disciple, no less. Academy City is keeping it under wraps out of concern for the chaos, even exempting her from the ceremony, but they can't hide it forever. Come enrollment season, word will spread across the city, and every academy will come swarming for her."
"My god..."
Who was the Divine Archer?
The Dark Elf Queen who ruled the Great Forest, a legendary archer said to have drawn a national border with a single arrow.
One of the Seven Great Powers, the continent's undisputed top archer!
And her disciple!
'If this gets out, Academy City will lose its mind!'
Roberto reacted with glee at the unexpected big fish.
'I have to be the one to recruit her!'
Full of rookie determination, he vowed to himself—only to snap back as Rachel's voice pulled his focus.
"Well, she'll show up during regular enrollment season anyway, so today's real priorities are those three you mentioned."
The Imperial Empire's First Imperial Princess.
The Dongriam Democratic Republic's Chief Executor.
The Rosario Holy Empire's third Saintess Candidate.
The First Imperial Princess of the continent's hegemonic power, the Imperial Empire, was an obvious must-have.
The Executors were human weapons from the fallen Liam Kingdom, each capable of taking on a thousand foes.
No one knew why one with such rich combat experience was coming to this playground for fledglings, but with the Chief Executor enrolling, Slaine and every other academy in the city would compete fiercely to snag him.
And since this was the illustrious Chief, Slaine had assigned their top scout, Rachel, for the job.
'I won't let Senior down either!'
Roberto, positioned as her backup, was being groomed as Slaine's next ace scout.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Slaine Academy was going all-in on this recruitment drive.
'The Saintess Candidate's no lightweight either.'
Meanwhile, as Rachel reviewed her files, her expression hardened at the thought of the Holy Empire's third Saintess Candidate.
There were only three Saintess Candidates in the entire empire.
Now that the final one had arrived in Academy City, the battle for Saintess would truly begin.
'She'll enroll in Saint Maria Holy Academy, so recruitment's off the table for us. But since our schools are allies, we still need to make a good impression.'
Saint Maria specialized in buffers, after all.
Slaine and Saint Maria had long maintained mutual exchanges.
With their give-and-take relationship, getting a foot in the door early would help build ties.
'We'll be helping each other in large-scale field training anyway.'
In joint field exercises that included even lesser academies, Saint Maria—everyone's top recruitment pick—was one even prestige like SKY had to accommodate.
"By the way, Senior, intel says the First Imperial Princess is twenty-one, right? She should've enrolled ages ago. Why now?"
"Who knows what the high-and-mighty are thinking. But heading straight to the university division means the salons are in for a storm."
Slaine had more nobles than most academies.
The noble extracurriculars—salons—wouldn't let her slip by quietly.
Especially in the university division, where graduation loomed and networking ramped up—a big shot like an imperial princess would cause a real uproar.
Sensing the chaos ahead, Rachel furrowed her delicate brow. Roberto, at her side, chimed in.
"Anyway, I'm pumped. First time seeing a transfer ceremony up close!"
"Oh? Then pay close attention this time. Get lucky, and you might even spot the ceremony's infamous spectacle."
Of course, only if you could stay conscious after the chairman's aura hit you.
.
.
.
.
"Uwaaagh—!"
And sure enough.
Roberto spewed bile from his empty stomach, unleashing his fury at Rachel.
"You said spectacle! Spectacle!"
"It is a spectacle."
"How's that a spectacle?! Getting blasted by the chairman's terrifying aura?!"
Hit by bad luck just outside the grounds, he kept dry-heaving as he vented.
"F-Filtering people like this! The chairman's insane! Urk...!"
"What's wrong with it? It works. Non-combatants like us are fine, but for frontline fighters like those kids, it's everyday stuff."
If anything, the chairman was going easy on them.
Giving them a taste before they hit the real front lines.
"Alright, looks like screening's done. Time to head in."
"Eek! Wait, Senior! My stomach's still..."
Rachel, who held a certain respect for the chairman after years on the job, scooped up the grumbling Roberto and slowly entered the transfer grounds.
───
"So many people."
Leaning against the wall with a haggard face, Roberto gaped at the grounds packed with enrollment hopefuls.
'At least ten thousand, easy.'
How were you supposed to find talent in a crowd like this?
He scanned tirelessly, but no standouts caught his eye.
His senior was different, though—her eyes darted ceaselessly as she issued orders.
"Rookie, keep eyes on the kid in the blue hat, the one in white stockings at the back, and the sword at their hip way over there."
"Got it."
He was curious why those three, but saved questions for later.
Rachel wore an expression he'd never seen before.
"No way..."
"Senior?"
Staring wide-eyed at one spot, she whipped around and grilled him.
"Rookie! That kid over there! Got intel?"
"Uh? Um? G-Give me a sec!"
"Hurry!"
The platinum-haired pretty boy exuded a mysterious aura even to Roberto.
So unique, it was baffling they'd never heard of him before.
Moments later, after digging through files, he handed her the sheet while she stared lasers at the spot.
"Name's Noah. Commoner from Viheight Kingdom. No specialties or traits listed. Past record unknown."
"Weird."
"Yeah, looks fishy up close."
Clearly tampered-with records.
No specialties, traits, or history? Suspicious as hell.
No way someone like that even crossed Academy City's threshold.
But while Roberto sensed red flags, Rachel lit up with fervor.
"Rookie, correction: five big shots this year."
"Huh? What're you..."
"Noah, right? We're bringing that kid to Slaine, no matter what."
Roberto couldn't buy it, though.
Enroll a kid with zero background into Slaine, Academy City's top academy?
"Senior! That's a bad idea! What kind of school do you think we are? We can't take randos!"
"Idiot."
Her response to his heated protest was ice-cold.
"Hey, rookie. Forgot who's with that kid?"
"Who else...?"
And that's when it clicked for Roberto, just a bit.
"The ch-chairman?"
"Yeah. The chairman's with him."
The same chairman who'd never once meddled in a transfer ceremony.
"Which means..."
"He sees something in the kid, obviously."
Saying it with a grim face, Rachel shot Noah a burning gaze.
The first talent to ever catch 'that' chairman's eye.
Her scout instincts screamed to grab him at all costs.
And Rachel had never failed when she trusted those instincts.
'Whew. Time to show my stuff today.'
Short thought, swift decision.
Resolved to recruit Noah, Rachel switched to work mode.
Her dazed eyes sharpened, her demeanor turning keen in an instant.
She scanned the surroundings, checking rivals—then scowled.
'Damn, the chairman moving in drew too much heat.'
Other scouts were starting to eye Noah too.
His files screamed 'nobody,' so they wouldn't rush, but even the attention irked her.
'SKY's watching, obviously. G1 and G2 academies too.'
Way too much aggro.
Approaching outright would be a blunder.
She'd have to bide her time and find a subtle in.
"Senior, should I get close and eavesdrop?"
"...Absolutely not. The chairman will spot you for sure."
A man who blanketed the whole field with aura, shaking people to their cores.
No way someone mastering aura to that extreme missed a rookie lurking nearby.
Desperately reining in her rookie, Rachel sent him outside the grounds with one task.
"Rookie, your role's crucial."
"Leave it to me, Senior!"
As the cocky rookie vanished, she cautiously closed the distance, observing without being too obvious.
But enough to let them know she was watching.
Tuning into their voices amid the noise,
"...Pervert."
"Getting called that by another guy is confusing."
What was going on?
Did the chairman do something?
Wait, the target wasn't a guy?
'No, definitely male.'
A flicker of dissonance, but one look at his face confirmed it: boy.
A very pretty one, sure, but looks didn't matter against skill.
'Now, show me what you've got.'
Perfect timing—the chairman was recommending the warrior class since he couldn't pick a trait.
Listening silently, Rachel nodded in agreement.
"Makes sense. If you've got talent across fields, training the body first is most efficient."
Build stamina, and you could train longer.
"The chairman calling him 'not bad material' himself, though."
What kind of potential was that?
She eyed him again, but even as a pro scout, Rachel couldn't spot Noah's true gifts.
'Every stat below average. Too low even for a G3 academy, let alone Slaine...'
Strong ones naturally exuded matching auras, wanted or not.
The chairman reeked of dominance.
The instructors patrolling the hopefuls each had their own vibes.
Even prospects had some trait that gave them presence.
'Nothing from him.'
Staring at the blank slate, Rachel's frown deepened.
'Is my scan off?'
She even started doubting herself.
'If my read on him is wrong...'
With the chairman approaching him, maybe she was the fooled one?
No way the chairman wasted time on a true below-average scrub.
'Yeah, has to be. My scan's glitched.'
Somehow hiding his presence—but he couldn't fool the chairman's eyes.
'Skill to evade my sight. Potential to move the chairman. Yeah, he's the GOAT of this transfer ceremony.'
Convinced inwardly, Rachel bumped Noah's priority to max in her head.
And moments later.
"Wh-What the hell...!?"
Rachel was utterly floored when Noah bombed the test with failing marks and got eliminated.