Academy Entrance Exam (Part 3)
"Dalek Ron Lagrangd... As expected, truly impressive."
"He had been rejecting our repeated entrance invitations for a long time. Yet now he's reversed that stance and entered the academy."
One and done.
Despite the exam golem being crafted with durability in mind and built to be rock-solid, it had been sliced clean away in a single, meaningless strike.
"I thought no ordinary applicant—or even an incoming student's level—could shatter it."
And every applicant who took the test today had felt the same.
"They had only been enough to stop the golem by dealing damage, not to cut it."
"Moreover, using swordsmanship instead of spearsmanship is also noteworthy. The records say the specialty is spear techniques."
"Even with swordsmanship, it's exceptionally superior. There's no problem. This student is going to decide whether they'll be the first or second place."
The exam supervisors began scribbling down the parts of the forms that had impressed them most.
"The records of students we had previously considered passers were filled with lengthy notes, but Lagrangd's was concise."
"That was because they were definitely going to pass. If there was any supervisor who didn't award a passing score to someone showing performance like this."
'That supervisor will either have to step down from their position or consider retirement.'
Everyone thought the same thing. With the deeply memorable exam of the impressive applicant now behind them, the supervisors moved on to the next form.
"The name is Lir Oustrin, I see. How unusual that the specialty field is blank."
"Indeed. She looks delicate at first glance, but there must be something there."
"The slightly bluish tint in the eyes of the white-haired girl who had caught their attention made her seem fragile at first sight."
"But even from a distance, her confident expression was clear."
The supervisor slowly reviewed the form and found one notable element.
"You're the talent recommended by Professor Helahem, I see? The signature is Professor Helahem's, isn't it?"
"Oh, really? But I've never heard of the name Lir Oustrin..."
"Applicants recommended by professors or famous figures of the kingdom were a name that would occasionally reach the supervisor's ears."
"So before the exam, we had roughly acquired information and were evaluating the student."
"But this time, despite being recommended by the massive Professor Helahem, the applicant was thoroughly unknown."
"And it wasn't that their presence or aura felt unremarkable at all."
"...As expected. First, we should look closer."
Her build was slightly smaller than average. Yet her body didn't show the dense signs of accumulated training from childhood that other students had.
"Evaluating people by appearance isn't something I should do, but a pretty face... Honestly, the professors would have thought she belonged in the magic department."
As the supervisor gave the signal, the 291st applicant stepped forward with the same confidence as her expression.
***
"...It's a sword, as expected."
She confidently drew the sword. It was the one Dalek had set down, placed directly into both her hands.
It was a bit heavy, but not so heavy that she couldn't swing it properly. Whether due to her training results or because the sword was lighter than it looked.
"One strike. If the winner is decided in a single blow, it's the right weight."
Kurururu, a large door rose in the distance, and the golem appeared in the testing hall. It looked exactly like the one that had been destroyed moments ago.
With a red cross-shaped light on its face, the wandering golem saw her slowly swinging the sword and gradually increased its speed.
"Come on, let's do it the same way."
She closed her eyes. Just as Dalek had, she slightly lowered her head as if offering a prayer to the sword.
The heavy footsteps grew closer and closer, and the floor vibrated just a fraction of a second before the sound reached her.
The golem's massive body, several times heavier than hers, was charging toward her.
She measured the distance with the vibration felt from beneath her feet, took a deep breath, and exhaled.
"Slowly circulating all the mana in her body."
Koong, koong, koong, koong.
Every time the ground vibrated, the strength of the tremor increased and the sound reaching her ears grew louder.
Her heart was trembling because of it. But that was not fear—it was excitement born from delight.
The golem's feet came right in front of her.
"Right now, I can feel that it's drawing its arm back to punch me."
Koong!
'Now.'
Right now, as the golem took its final step, at this moment.
She felt it. At that instant she poured out the drawn mana. At the same time she gathered all the strength in her body and swung the sword downward.
Swish!
Just like moments ago, the sharp sound of slicing through the air was heard.
Thud!
The sound of the blade striking the metal lump.
But something was off. With the shock of striking the metal lump in both her hands, she felt a lightness.
'...What is this?'
Opening her eyes in confusion, the first thing her eyes saw was the broken sword blade.
The golem's fist had not been fully split, and the broken blade was flying upward while the fist was right in front of her.
"Tsk, damn...
She twisted her body as if falling and barely dodged the fist, but it grazed her cheek and scratched her skin as it passed.
"She had avoided it just enough to not fall completely, but with the sword now broken, she had no attack power with her bare hands to stop the thing."
***
Thud!
The sound was quite different from the one-and-done that Dalek Ron Lagrangd had shown earlier.
The technique shown by the girl and her concentration in putting power into it in a single moment were excellent. It was clear that she was the talent recommended by Helahem in that short instant.
"Clearly she could split the golem in two, just like he showed. Everyone present felt that instinctively."
But the future after that was different. The sword had broken, and only a dent remained on the golem's fist.
"Wh-what...?"
All weapons had undergone a thorough academy screening and were prepared weapons.
She had compared them to the golem's body and prepared so that even after dozens of attacks they wouldn't break.
But the broken sword blade floated upward.
Startled by the unexpected situation, all the supervisors moved to press the buttons on the desk to stop the golem.
In such situations, students would usually freeze. Soon they would be exposed defenselessly in front of the golem's attack, so the supervisors had to end the test at an appropriate point.
"Wait."
The supervisor in the cap hat, who had hastily tried to press the button, was stopped by another supervisor.
At that moment, an action that even ordinary students wouldn't show happened right in front of them.
The fallen girl, without the slightest hesitation, threw down the sword.
She moved as if snapping her body and gripped the resting spear with both hands.
"Spear...?"
Gripping the spear in her hand and adjusting her stance was done with perfect skill.
The girl had shown in her posture that she wasn't just a girl who had mastered the sword—she had also mastered the spear.
Holding the long spear that was only about as tall as her, the girl stared at the golem without fear.
At that moment the golem's second fist came crashing toward her.
Kaaang!
The second impact sound rang in the ears of everyone in the hall.
The golem's fist did not reach the girl. The tip of the spear she had thrown straight pierced the golem's face.
With a koong sound, the golem's knees hit the ground and the red light disappeared.
The testing hall fell into silence for a moment. Everyone lost what to say at the unexpected sudden situation and the girl's smooth handling of it, as if it were the most natural thing.
"T-that's enough."
After a few seconds, the supervisor in the cap hat declared the end of the test.
"291 applicant, please exit the hall."
At those words, the girl set the spear down and walked toward the exit.
Soon after the girl disappeared, the silence that had been between the two supervisors was broken.
"...Did you see that?"
"Truly impressive. It was on the verge of an accident, yet she handled it so calmly."
The two supervisors received a completely different kind of intense impression from the girl than from the performance Dalek had shown earlier.
"The sword broke."
Normally, one would lose motivation there, or at least freeze up. That would be the natural reaction.
"But the girl's body didn't stop. She only twisted to dodge the attack and made the best judgment possible."
"After changing weapons to the spear."
"She successfully countered the second attack and stopped the golem."
"...I don't think I could have done something like that."
"I don't think I could have shown such composure in that situation either."
It was too calm and proficient a response for a delicate girl to have shown.
"It was as if she had already experienced countless times and had already done everything."
"An unbelievable movement."
"This wasn't just talent."
'...No, maybe it was another amazing talent we hadn't thought of until now.'
The two fell silent and began carefully noting the scene they had just seen on the forms.
***
Thud, thud, thud.
The footsteps walking through the dark, narrow corridor echoed inside the passage.
"Sigh... That was dangerous."
"Of all times, the sword had to break. I was scared and nearly in real danger."
Swish. Wiping the cheek where the golem's fist had grazed her with the back of her hand, a bit of blood came out.
"A direct hit on my frail, crude, and exhausted body would have made me faint for sure."
"And looking at the broken sword blade gripped in the other hand. The broken edge part was not clean—it was slightly dripping."
"How much mana did she pour out?"
Haha, she let out a dry laugh.
"She had concentrated mana to the limit the sword could withstand, and the sword melted without enduring it."
"That's why my single strike couldn't have held."
"Of course, that wasn't me. At that moment, there was no mana in my body capable of melting the sword."
"So the culprit had to be the 281st who was in front of me. The black-haired young man, without a doubt."
"Dalek Ron Lagrangd, right...?"
She carved that name into her memory. She had thought he would be a truly remarkable person in the future.