15. Entrance Exam
15. Entrance Exam
Meanwhile.
Several senior professors and special professors had gathered in the academy dean's office.
It was unusual for them to assemble like this.
However, there was a matter that could not be decided unless the leading professors of each field gathered, so they had been unavoidably summoned.
"Good day. I am Wivir Arkand, serving as a senior professor. I will get straight to the point. Please look at this."
The blue-haired woman.
Wivir Arkand, who had been Eli's exam proctor, placed a single exam sheet on the table and drew the professors' attention.
"This is the answer sheet of Lady Eliarnes Eustetia, the duke's daughter."
It was not just one sheet.
They were all the written exam papers written over six hours, covering everything from history to demonology.
The answer sheets contained the hidden history of the Empire from 400 years ago, deeds carried out in secret, the academy's Forbidden Archive, and anecdotes that sounded like something out of a novel.
And the methods for dealing with Monsters?
Only methods faithful to practical combat, not theory, were described. It even detailed subjugation methods that considered the characteristics and problems of Monster habitats.
Some who saw the answers groaned, some admired them, and others wore enigmatic smiles.
Among them, Sedil Mershdoff, the dean of Karelai Academy and one of those admiring them, spoke.
"Explain, Senior Professor Wivir."
Of course, no explanation was needed.
Those gathered here had only to skim the answers to realize what the problem was.
But it was a necessary procedure for the meeting to proceed.
So Wivir decided to skip the useless talk and get straight to the important point.
"The conclusion was that these answers are difficult for the ordinary faculty to evaluate, so I brought them here."
The professors shut their mouths.
It was not that they had nothing to say.
They were already forming assessments of the answers in their heads.
At the end of that brief silence.
A bald professor with a prominent nose and thin glasses opened his mouth.
"Was there really any need to hold a meeting? This is simply an impossible method. Ha, a manticore's weakness is its testicles? So the answer says the weakness of every male Monster is its testicles? Then why go to the trouble of climbing onto an ogre's head to bring it down? You could just smash its balls the same way."
Silence followed.
Interpreting that silence as agreement, the bald professor continued.
"If one has the skill and agility to climb onto an ogre's head and swing a sword, there is no need to go that far. You would simply slit the thing's ankles, sever its tendons, and subjugate it safely."
Murmuring spread around the round table.
"A method like this might be worth attempting for the great figures recorded in 400-year-old histories, or for highest-grade knights active on the front lines of the Demon World, Archwizards, or masters. But even they would not bother attempting it. They would simply cut down an ogre with ease. If anyone did adopt this crude method, yes, it would be fools who have just reached Tier 5 and are drunk on their own power."
Professors who agreed with the bald professor nodded and began offering various points that lent weight to his argument.
"Therefore, this answer is nothing but the delusion of a still-young, immature duke's daughter who heard tales of valor from her family's knights and copied them down. A method absolutely impossible in reality."
Eventually, just as the mood was tilting toward the answer being wrong.
Emelicus Sattler, the Special Professor of the Combat Department who had kept his mouth shut until now, spoke.
"It is possible."
At that voice, cold as a frozen blade, the mouths of the professors who had been chattering shut.
"In the past, when I was still at Tier 2, I accomplished it by the same method."
At the rebuttal from Emelicus, renowned as the academy's most taciturn, both the professors and even Sedil widened their eyes.
In contrast, the bald professor narrowed his eyes.
"And since it was possible, is that not precisely why Senior Professor Emelicus now sits in that seat?"
Emelicus's sharp gaze fixed on the bald professor.
"Do you not think Lady Eliarnes Eustetia, the duke's daughter, might also sit in that seat one day?"
"...That is a vague conjecture."
"Saying it cannot be done is also a vague conjecture."
Emelicus's gaze swept over the professors who had agreed with the bald professor.
"This answer is a method that could only come from real combat. A method that people steeped in peace and ignorant of real combat could never even imagine."
Emelicus scoffed at the faculty members who averted their gazes, uncomfortable under that stare, and quietly muttered.
"The Cherry Blossom of Eustetia seems to bloom beautifully even amid storms."
With those words, Emelicus fell silent.
For someone who normally did not speak much, Emelicus's rebuttal was short, out of place in a meeting.
But the weight contained in those words was heavier than any opinion from the faculty.
Because Emelicus Sattler was the very person who had raised one of the Six Pillars of the Empire, the strongest figures in the Empire.
In the uncomfortable silence that followed.
A professor who had agreed with the bald professor.
The snake-eyed professor from the ducal House Dormu opened his mouth.
"Then how are we supposed to take these history questions? During the Human-Demon War, the near cause of war between the Empire and the Holy Kingdom was Luna Sacred Pnasensia's... renunciation. Ha! Not renunciation—this was running away from home. How exactly are we supposed to take an answer that reads like a vulgar novel you would only find in the back alleys of the Empire?"
The snake-eyed professor swept his gaze over the faculty.
"Of course, it is written here wrapped up in all manner of fancy words. But if you dig into its substance, this is what it says. That Luna Sacred Pnasensia wanted to gamble with the Hero Party and so was absent for fifteen days, and that this nearly became the cause of a war."
A profanity burst from the mouth of a Divine Department professor.
The History Department professor did likewise.
But those profanities contained nothing that could refute the snake-eyed professor's words.
The atmosphere was growing increasingly heated.
Now, with only profanities flying back and forth.
"Huh? What the—! I've seen that in the Forbidden Archive!"
said the Vice Dean, her ears pricking up on top of her head as she climbed onto the round table.
Swish, swish—her tail swayed.
A shiver ran through that tail.
"What? This is real? Every single answer written here—I saw all of them in the Forbidden Archive."
"...V-Vice Dean? What in the world are you saying...?"
"You know how I got caught going into the Forbidden Archive the other day? Back then I saw something that rambled on and on about stories from 400 years ago. But... this is all exactly—no, not exactly—similar—no, exactly the same?"
The snake-eyed professor's face twisted strangely.
Sedil's face was clouded with anger and consternation.
Still, Sedil kept his composure as best he could and spoke.
"Vice Dean Megenberta. That story is not one to bring up here... And what the Vice Dean saw was already, 300 years ago—"
"What? Sedil, you actually believe that? You're older than me, but you have a naive side, huh?"
"Vice Dean Megenberta? There are many young professors present, so please be quiet. And aren't I younger than you?"
Sedil's words came out as if chewed and spat.
At the same time, an intangible force yanked the Vice Dean's tail—snap!—and dragged her down from the round table.
"Don't grab my tail!! And why are you the younger one? You should count by human age, not Beastkin age!"
"For heaven's sake, shut up."
Clearing his throat, partly to change the atmosphere, Sedil maintained his earlier expression and nodded.
It was a gesture as if to continue the meeting.
But the professors who had heard the Vice Dean's shocking words did not dare open their mouths.
They felt dizzy at the thought that the contents of these exam answers were identical to the history books in the Forbidden Archive.
The Forbidden Archive was, as the name suggested, a forbidden archive.
It was an archive containing material that must never be known to the world. Yet the history hidden there was right before their eyes.
The professors' eyes began darting about busily.
In particular, the History Department professor and the Divine Department professor rose from their seats and began poring over the answers.
There was no time to verify the truth of the Vice Dean's words.
If they were not true, they could simply forget them; if they were true, they could quietly keep them in mind.
After the brief confusion subsided.
Just as the meeting was about to begin again.
The woman who had been sitting with an enigmatic expression all along.
A special professor of the academy and a Black Wizard.
Adelia Baros gave a bewitching smile and spoke.
"But,"
At her voice, like a clear bead rolling, the murmuring among the professors died down.
"Is there any point in our making a racket here? Before debating what is possible or impossible, I think we should judge after seeing the practical exam that follows."
"...I agree as well. If Lady Eliarnes Eustetia, the duke's daughter, fulfills the conditions for the 'special admission' in the practical exam, the truth of these answers will be determined."
Wivir Arkand, who had regarded Adelia the Black Wizard with disfavor, agreed with Adelia's words, and many professors slowly began to nod.
On the other hand, the bald professor's faction sprayed spittle as they offered various opinions.
The most representative opposing opinion among them.
came from the snake-eyed professor of the ducal house.
"Lady Eliarnes Eustetia, the duke's daughter—I understand that her specialty is martial arts. Hahaha! A Martial Artist. A Martial Artist, indeed. Do you truly believe that a Martial Artist can satisfy the special admission requirements?"
The argument was that, because Eliarnes was a Martial Artist, it was absolutely impossible.
But that opinion was squashed by a single word from the Vice Dean.
"Huh? Hey, Snake Eyes. Did you forget I'm a Martial Artist?"
"S-Snake Eyes... ahem. No. I have not forgotten. The Vice Dean has a different body from the rest of us, does she not...? Ha, haha! The difference between Beastkin and us humans is clear, so—"
"Oh? Species discrimination? Sedil! Can I rip that bastard's tongue out? There are plenty of other professors who could fill that seat, right?"
"Eek!"
As the atmosphere fell apart yet again.
Sedil, his face hardening grimly, quietly spoke.
"The immediate policy has been decided as such. The meeting to discuss the credibility of the answer will resume after the practical exam. I will personally interview Lady Eliarnes, so you may disperse now. And Vice Dean. You stay behind."
"If I stay here, I think I'll end up ripping that snake bastard's tongue out later."
"...Then get out."
"Okay!"
One by one, they began to file out, and when the Dean's office was finally empty, Sedil sighed to himself in relief.
Because Sedil had felt indescribable talent in Eliarnes's answers, and he thought letting her go would be absurd.
But whether she could fulfill the special admission requirements was still unknown.
It had been 348 years since the academy's founding.
Because in all that long time, only six people had fulfilled the special admission requirements.
And those six were currently called the Six Pillars of the Empire.
Beings who had been extraordinary from birth.
Beings who had revealed the existence of the heavens beyond the heavens.
Could that small girl stand shoulder to shoulder with such transcendent beings?
"Haah..."
Thinking it nearly impossible, Sedil clutched his throbbing head and summoned Eliarnes.