Chapter 317
Chapter 317
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 317
Chapter Title: One-Third (3)
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Though retired from active duty, the influence of a first-class noble was immense. Perhaps for that reason, numerous parents approached him to offer their greetings.
Shirone brought his friends over to Shakora. He waited for a moment when no other nobles were around before offering his greetings.
“Hello.”
“Ah, Shirone. Have you been well?”
“Yes, thanks to you.”
Isis approached, her face crestfallen.
“Shirone, how is our Amy? Huh? Do you think she can pass?”
“How would Shirone know? Stop bothering the poor boy and be patient.”
At Shakora's scolding, Isis's lower lip jutted out in a pout.
“Haha! It's alright. I saw her yesterday, and she seemed to be in good condition.”
“Hmm, that's a relief.”
A look of relief crossed Shakora's face. A father's love for his daughter, it seemed. Despite pretending otherwise, he was quite nervous. Even a first-class noble was just a parent when it came to their child.
Iruki and Nade, standing behind Shirone, also offered their greetings. Shakora showed particular interest when he heard the surname Mercodine.
“So, you're Iruki. Is your father well?”
“Yes. Well… he still exists.”
It was an audacious thing to say in such a setting, but Shakora simply laughed it off.
Honestly, Iruki was on the mild side. Especially compared to his father, who was the epitome of eccentricity.
“Shirone, you should bring your friends over to our house sometime.”
“Yes. I'll be sure to do that.”
After their greetings, Shakora and Isis headed for the entrance designated for parents. Shirone also entered the coliseum through the student-only gate.
His juniors and classmates shot him resentful looks, but he didn't feel particularly lonely. That was because the kids who were crazy about magic, uninterested in things like social status, were gathering around him one by one. After all, if you wanted to discuss the matches, you needed to be on the same level, right?
Led by Dante, Klotzer and Sabina walked over. On the other side, Canis and Arin were visible, followed by Boyle and Pandora. Finally, Mark, who certainly knew how to use his senior connections, confidently strode to the best seats with Maria in tow.
Excluding Mark and Maria, the ten students who were practically guaranteed to be the next graduating class had gathered in one place. Their classmates scowled just seeing them together, likely thinking it would be impossible to knock any of them out to take their place in the final class.
Dante asked, the corner of his mouth lifting.
“So, how does it feel to send your lover off to the battlefield?”
Shirone looked down at the arena.
“I don't know yet. What do you think?”
Dante then turned toward the arena as well and said,
“There seems to be a bit of a skill gap between the participants. Based on objective stats alone, she should easily make it into the top ten. But because of that, the test subject will be a major variable. Unforeseen situations tend to arise from an asymmetry of power.”
As Dante's major was information processing, Shirone couldn't argue with his assessment.
While the two were talking, Sabina raised a hand to Nade.
“Hi?”
“Oh, hi.”
They weren't close enough to exchange special greetings, so Nade's response was perfunctory.
Sabina stood there for a while as if waiting for him to say more, but when Nade showed no interest, she sullenly sat down next to Dante. Pandora could be heard snorting.
“Seniors, it's starting.”
The 30 students participating in the graduation exam stood in a line at the center of the coliseum. All of them were wearing Etherion bracelets.
However, the audience could watch without any issues, even without the bracelets. By national regulation, the venue for the graduation exam was designed with the highest grade of Etherion. The entire coliseum was essentially one giant Image Zone.
Arin clasped her hands and prayed for Amy to pass. Canis frowned and said,
“Does that really help? If you could pass just by praying, anyone could become a mage. Besides, you don't even believe in gods, do you?”
“Hmph! Still, I'm nervous. Don't you want Amy to pass, Canis?”
“Why should I care who passes? It's not my exam.”
Arin glared at Canis, her feelings hurt. But his gaze was far from indifferent. As he watched the arena with his chin propped on his hand, his eyes landed on Amy. Seeing her fired up and ready for battle, he let a small smile grace his lips.
‘Do your best, pumpkin.’
The faculty, centered around Alpheas and Olivia, took their seats. To the left sat the parents, and to the right, the scouts and special correspondents.
After Alpheas's opening address, Olivia explained the exam evaluation criteria.
The exam was divided into a first and second round, with two of six categories to be chosen by a roulette wheel. Since they didn't know which would be selected, the students had no choice but to train evenly in all categories.
This rule was established to ensure fairness for non-combat mages, and it was a consideration from the Magic Association to give a slight advantage to students retaking the exam.
The preliminary ceremony concluded with the students taking an oath to compete fairly.
As the 30 participants stood in a circle along the coliseum wall, Thadd, the proctor, shouted from the podium.
“The Alpheas Magic Academy graduation exam will now begin!”
A giant circular hologram appeared in the sky above the coliseum. Six categories were divided into equal sections, and a pointer in the center began to spin rapidly.
The participants clenched their fists and performed their sequence formulas.
The moment the pointer stopped, Etherion would activate. They would have to judge and move simultaneously.
Finally, the pointer indicated the category for the first round of the exam.
“Woooooaaaaah!”
The roar of the crowd filled the coliseum.
***
Night had fallen.
People poured out of the coliseum's exits, all with flushed faces. Shirone's group also remained silent until they were outside.
At the coliseum exit, Nade turned to Shirone.
“What are you going to do, Shirone? Iruki and I are hungry, so we're going to get something to eat.”
“Okay. You guys go ahead. I'll go with Amy.”
“Alright, then. See you tomorrow.”
After seeing his friends off, Shirone blew out a white breath, warming his chilled insides. A light from the coliseum caught his eye, and he turned to look. The names of the successful candidates appeared on the display board. From first to tenth place. A total of ten students would become mages and venture out into the world.
1st: Olt Amira
2nd: Ludwig Akonel
3rd: Connie Cale
4th: Tanto Selena.
5th: Ekins Sanuel
6th: Aretha Defoe
7th: Fortress Seriel
8th: Lara Koryl
9th: Andres Raul
10th: Dolin Rixston
Amy's name wasn't there.
She had been the third person to be eliminated, right after the first exam began.
The first evaluation category was combat proficiency. As it favored combat mages, the students focused their attacks on Amy. No, it was no exaggeration to call it a one-sided lynching. Before Seriel could even do anything, Amy's mental energy gauge hit zero.
It was a result that defied expert analysis, but this too was a variable of the graduation exam. Amy must have anticipated it and prepared thoroughly.
That's what made it feel so unsettling.
Collusion could be understood as a natural part of battle. When one side becomes too powerful, the weaker ones are bound to team up. But was it just his imagination that it felt like the strong ones had colluded?
At first, it was a free-for-all. Amy wasn't the only one aspiring to be a combat mage, and with 30 participants, the firepower was bound to be dispersed.
But when Fermi's group started to move, the tide of battle shifted dramatically.
They targeted only Amy. And they did so while evading all the other students' attacks.
After about a minute of this, even the students who hadn't noticed at first began to realize that siding with Fermi's group would make things easier.
In the end, everyone except Seriel attacked Amy, and in that situation, even the great Amy stood no chance. It was a tactic that would have been impossible unless Fermi's group's combat power surpassed that of all the other participants combined.
Could this truly be called natural collusion?
The truly strange part was that no one from Fermi's group had passed the exam. In fact, when they clashed with Sanuel, it even felt like they were intentionally losing.
‘Sanuel.’
Most of the students had sensed it, but there were several instances during the first exam where it seemed like Fermi's group was supporting Sanuel. However, the feeling was so subtle that it was difficult to make a definitive judgment.
The brutality of the graduation exam? There were too many strange things to just dismiss it as that. Above all, it was unsettling that at the center of all these suspicions was Fermi, who hadn't lost the top spot in six years.
‘Maybe I'm mistaken. There's no guarantee something like this wouldn't happen on a battlefield. No, even if I'm not mistaken, would anything change?’
Simply put, the side with the greater combat power won the combat proficiency test. Even if it was the result of artificial collusion, that couldn't be a different standard for evaluating the category.
‘Unless they were personally compensated, that is.’
It was possible there was some kind of secret agreement between Fermi and Sanuel.
But Shirone quickly dismissed the thought. If he was wrong, it would be a great discourtesy to Sanuel. Besides, if something like that had happened, the faculty would have already started an investigation.
‘Right, no matter how much I think about it, there's nothing I can do.’
Right now, he was just worried about Amy.
Having been eliminated early, her mental energy would have recovered by now. But his heart grew heavy thinking about how she must have felt, having to watch the rest of the exam from the waiting room for so long.
Amy's parents emerged from the exit for parents. Shirone approached them, unsure what kind of expression to make.
“Shirone…”
Isis greeted Shirone with moist eyes. Not only Shakora of the Red Eyes, but Isis too was a famous dancer; there was no way they wouldn't have noticed something strange about the battle.
“Shirone, how could this happen? Amy, eliminated... This is like…”
“Dear, watch your words. How do you think Amy would feel hearing you say that?”
Shakora silenced his wife.
Even he thought there were grounds for suspicion. But it wasn't strange enough to be outside the realm of normalcy.
Except for the fact that Fermi's entire group had been eliminated, the flow of the battle had been logical and rational. Furthermore, since the second exam was a non-combat category, one couldn't argue that their elimination was unnatural.
Shirone watched the eliminated students come out and swallowed dryly. When he saw Amy emerging from the middle of the group, his mind went blank.
Amy glanced at Shirone once, then walked over to her parents. She smiled with her eyes and stuck out her tongue playfully.
“Hehe, Dad, Mom. Sorry. I failed spectacularly.”
“It was an exam, these things happen. You did your best. So don't be too heartbroken.”
“Heartbroken? Pfft. Ahh, I think I just made a bad call. I'll just have to aim for next year.”
Shirone was relieved by Amy's cheerful demeanor, but at the same time, he was worried.
There was no way she felt fine. She was putting her family's feelings first.
This time, the successful candidates came out. Seriel approached Amy, bawling her eyes out.
“Amy, Amy…”
Amy was genuinely happy for her friend's success.
How could she not be? Today, Seriel had graduated from the magic academy and taken her first step as a mage.
“Congratulations, Seriel. Do your best for the both of us. I'll catch up soon.”
Seriel shook her head.
Why her and not Amy? Anyone could see that Amy should have been the one to pass.
She should have noticed sooner. If she had quickly sided with Amy when Fermi's group launched their assault, the flow of the battle might have been different.
“Amy… I…”
Amy grabbed Seriel's shoulders.
“Seriel, get a grip. You passed the exam. Do you understand? You took your graduation exam, and I took mine. And you passed. Nothing else matters.”
Seriel forced back her tears.
She couldn't cry. How could she cry when Amy wasn't?