13. Entrance Exam
13. Entrance Exam
"Sara."
"Yes, my lady."
"On a day like today, do you really have to tie my hair like this?"
I glared at Sara as she tied my hair into twin tails.
"That's exactly why it should be tied like this today."
Sara answered firmly, just as she always did.
"Why?"
"Because you, Lady Eli, are the most c—... most magnificent in this hairstyle."
"Heh. So if I wore my hair all down, it wouldn't suit me?"
"Not at all. It's simply that this hairstyle is even more magnificent. Every other hairstyle suits you as well. What wouldn't suit the Lady who is the Cherry Blossom of Eustetia? If anyone disparages your appearance, that person would surely need to wash their eyes with salt water."
I'd talked back just because I felt like it, and it came back with words even more bizarre and cringeworthy.
No matter how I look at it, she's doing it on purpose.
"Still, don't you think you're overdoing it today? You could just use the hair tie my mother gave me. Why use the one with the ribbon and all?"
"Is this hair tie not also a gift from the Duke?"
"True, but the ribbon is too big."
"If you're worried that the ribbon will overshadow your appearance, you need not be. That will never happen. And... heh heh."
Sara, who had been tying my hair with far more force than usual, laughed quietly.
"After all, today is the day many people and scions of noble families gather for the exam. I don't imagine for a moment that you'll be lost among them, Lady Eli, but I do have a small, selfish wish to see you shine even more brightly. So please forgive the inconvenience."
"That's right! On a day like today, you have to go all prettied up. You're always pretty, of course!"
Eurasia, who had been putting on makeup beside me, also agreed with Sara and smiled brightly.
Speaking of which, Eurasia... I didn't know she even knew how to do makeup.
I feel like I'm watching a daughter grow up—no, a little sister.
"While you're at it, why don't you try makeup too, my lady? I think you'd be really pretty. No, you'd definitely be pretty. The prettiest at the Academy!"
"Are you crazy?"
"Hehe... I know you're pretty even without it, but still, I'll get to see it someday, right?"
"Dream on."
I'd die before I did it.
Even when my father begged, pleaded, and implored, I only ever wore pants. Would I really put on makeup?
If I had my way, I'd even like to take a leak standing up, but that seems absolutely impossible, so I gave up.
Anyway.
"I'm never wearing makeup."
"Aww..."
Eurasia, glum after my firm declaration, pouted and went back to doing her makeup.
Sara, who had been showing disappointment as well, adjusted my clothes with a strangely darkened expression.
Well, if the Demon King made my wearing makeup a condition for him killing himself, maybe then I'd at least think about it.
Otherwise, absolutely never.
*****
"You'll surely do well, my lady, but if I may be so presumptuous... I think it would be best to review your answer sheet once before submitting it."
"Alright. Thanks."
"Then I will wait with confidence."
"Yeah. Since you've got a rare break, don't just work—lie down and rest properly. Eat something you want, and don't come out to meet me for no reason. I'll be coming back with Eurasia."
"Serving you has never once been difficult, but yes, I will rest well. Still, I will come to escort you when it is time for you to finish."
Even if I told her not to come, she'd grit her teeth and come anyway, so I just nodded half-heartedly, thinking there was no point in trying to stop her.
"Eurasia, don't be nervous. Do your best."
"Yes! Thank you! Take care on your way back!"
"Take care, Sara. See you later."
"Yes. May the protection of Arisa Eustetia be with you, always and wherever you may be."
If the chimp's blessing is with you, you'd fail an exam you'd otherwise pass—ugh, shit.
After hearing that creepy curse, I shook out my shoulders and spat—ptui, ptui.
Eurasia saw that and clumsily imitated my movement.
Meanwhile, Sara, perhaps considering it a sort of routine, simply smiled with satisfaction.
After that, the entrance inspection proceeded.
Eurasia surrendered the black-steel sword I'd given her, one ordinary sword, three daggers, an awl hidden in her shoe, and two more concealed in her sleeves, then trembled as if her body felt empty.
The academy official conducting the entrance inspection went pale at the sight of Eurasia's gear, and I quietly turned my head away.
"Wow! You were waiting for us?"
"Where are you going, to war?"
"Ah... I just packed like I usually do... hehe."
Wait. You carry all that around even normally?
Eurasia really has promise.
I should teach her a few more things that are easy to carry around.
"My lady, I'm definitely going to enter as the top student."
"Impressive."
"I'll get a scholarship too!"
"Yeah. Good luck."
I answered half-heartedly while thinking about blades that would be easy for Eurasia to hide on her person, and her lips poked out in a pout.
"...Could you say that with a little more sincerity?"
I chuckled at her, stood on my tiptoes, and patted her head.
"Don't be too nervous, just do your best. You can do it without me saying so, right?"
"Heheh. Yes! I can do it!"
She's so tall yet acts this adorably clingy—she really is like a big dog.
I had moments like that too.
...Did I? Well, I probably did.
"Here, have one of these too."
I handed a piece of candy to Eurasia, who looked unusually happy while looking at my face.
"Eck..."
Her face crumpled.
"Why? One's not enough? Want more? Here."
"Ugh... I don't really like peppermint candy..."
"Well, well."
Peppermint candy is so damn good, and she won't eat it?
Back in my day, we'd have eaten it if we could get any.
Kids these days don't know how precious sugar is, honestly.
Good grief, tsk, tsk.
"Also... they said we're not allowed to eat anything during the exam."
"Fine, then don't eat it."
I shot her a look and popped the peppermint candy into my mouth with a flick.
Slurp, slurp—
I savored the peppermint aroma spreading through my mouth and looked around at the kids filling the academy.
There were kids so nervous their walking looked awkward, kids walking while reading books, kids still not awake, and kids full of confidence.
And then there were kids outright crying, or kneeling at the fountain tossing in coins and praying.
There were all kinds.
Among them were lively kids like Eurasia.
And occasionally there were kids like me who looked completely unconcerned.
How fresh.
The atmosphere itself is different from four hundred years ago.
"Mm, this is what kids should be like."
"Wow. My lady, you just sounded like my grandma. You even smelled like peppermint, so even more so."
"Hey, shit. You keep saying I'm like your grandma?"
And if I had to put it that way, I wasn't a grandma—I was more like a grandpa. No, a middle-aged guy...?
I died at thirty-four, came back to life, and lived another seventeen years, so it'd be shameless to think of myself as some older brother figure.
If anything, I was more like a middle-aged guy.
Grandma my ass.
Anyway.
"Eurasia, where are you going?"
"Huh?"
"The exam room."
Eurasia cocked her head.
"Didn't you get a paper when we came in earlier?"
"I did!"
Flutter, flutter—
"If you got one, you should at least read it."
"Oh. I was so flustered from having all my weapons taken away..."
Eurasia gave a bitter smile as she read the printed notice, and her expression darkened.
"...Oh, then, my lady, are you—"
"I'm on the fourth floor. Room B."
"I'm on the second floor, Room G..."
As expected, Eurasia and I were in different exam rooms.
Apparently, twenty examinees were assigned to each exam room, ten to the vanguard and ten to the rearguard.
Once the written part was over, it led into the practical.
The assignment for the practical exam was a Labyrinth exploration conducted in pairs of examinees from the same exam room.
The Labyrinth was personally created by the Green Magic Tower Master using illusion and summoning magic, so there would be absolutely no risk of death or injury—at least, according to the paper.
"Ugh... If I were in the same group as you, I'd for sure get a perfect score on the practical..."
"Don't be dramatic. You do just fine on your own."
Eurasia was, after all, an active-duty knight.
I didn't know the level of the entrance exam, but since it was a Labyrinth meant for kids, I was certain an active-duty knight like Eurasia wouldn't fail.
"Of course I would, but it would be more fun to do it with you... Well, since we've been split up, we can compete by clear time, right?"
"Yeah. That'd be nice."
"Heheh, yes! Good luck to you too, my lady! Eat lunch with me later! I'll come to your classroom!"
Eurasia moved away with a bright smile, waving until I was completely out of sight.
Her thick golden hair followed after her and melted into the scenery.
"Compete my ass. You'll get wrecked."
It was pretty cute how she kept stubbornly coming at me, trying to beat me at least once.
Cheeky brat.
Giggling, I started walking too.
The peppermint scent mixed into my breath felt especially refreshing today.
Maybe it was because the weather was so nice.
*****
Scratch, scratch—
An exam room filled with the ceaseless scratch of desperate studying.
The examinees, who had come in an hour before the exam, were still writing something without putting down their pens even now, five minutes before the start.
But that sound—
Screech—bang!
—vanished entirely at the sound of the door opening a little loudly.
Sera, now on her fourth attempt, looked with irritable eyes at the person who had opened the door and entered.
At the same time, the annoyance that had settled sharply on her eyelids vanished completely.
Because the person she saw was someone she could never be angry at.
A white coat, as if midwinter snow had piled up softly.
Above it, two sprays of cherry blossoms bloomed.
Those two sprays of cherry blossoms flowed down over her slender shoulders exposed beyond the coat, and at their ends, shyly extended fingertips shimmered.
Her cheeks, hidden among the cherry blossoms, were flushed with a ticklish warmth, and she kept a girl's heart while not losing the dignity of a noble.
Her slightly parted lips were like blooming cherry blossom petals.
Between the lovely closed petals, shut to hide the stamen, a white canine tooth was visible. It became the only proof that she was a human like them, making her appearance all the more vivid.
Within her half-lowered eyelids, as if hiding herself, there was spring. A brilliance that seemed to have carried all the spring in the world radiated mystery.
A spring that bloomed inside the bleak lecture room.
A faint breeze followed after her. Cherry blossoms scattered.
The girl, who moved silently, fleetingly, quietly to find her place, carried the scent of the sky.
What had originally been the scent of mint mingled with her elegant fragrance and transformed into a breathtaking scent that could not be found in this world.
At last, the cherry blossom settled in a spot filled with sunlight.
She shed the snowflakes. Her form was revealed. She was exquisite. No one could easily approach her. If anyone touched her carelessly, it felt as though she might crack and shatter.
No glasswork or pottery in the world seemed as fragile and pitiful as she did.
Therefore.
Everyone in this place—
—far from showing annoyance, even took care with their breathing.
She was.
The Spring of the Empire and the Cherry Blossom of Eustetia.
Because she was Eliarnes Eustetia.
Meanwhile.
The person in question, Eli, was—
—scowling hard and muttering quietly so no one could hear.
"Ugh, shit. Why the hell is the academy so fucking huge? They could at least put up signs for where the bathrooms are. If I'd been any more desperate, I would've had an accident."
She crunched the peppermint candy that Eurasia had said made her seem like a grandma.
"Hss... I was afraid I'd be late, so I couldn't even wash my hands. Ugh, damn. Do I have any wet wipes in my pocket?"