Chapter 127
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Proctoring the Exam
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The one cadet who hadn't been caught with his cheat sheet spat fire at Leon with the ferocity of a threat, but it didn't last long.
Leon was suddenly standing right in front of him, staring him down intently as if he'd been there the whole time.
He was just up there a moment ago...
Leon's sky-blue eyes were so chilling that the boy collapsed in terror, as if he'd seen a ghost.
“Gasp?!”
“When did he get here?!”
“Oh my god...”
The flustered murmurs were quickly drowned out.
“No evidence?”
“T-That's right. There's no proof I cheated...”
“Looking for this?”
Leon's hand shot out in an instant.
The cadet naturally couldn't react, and he drew in a sharp breath upon seeing what Leon now held.
In Leon's hand was the monocle the cadet had been using.
“T-That's...?!”
“Who do you think I am, blind? They'll find everything if they investigate. Want to keep going?”
The boy's body felt crushed under the weight of Leon's calm voice, now stripped of any formality, cold sweat pouring down like rain.
Leon then slipped a finger through the hilt of the dagger in his hand, spinning it idly as he turned away.
“Out.”
His icy command left no room for argument.
Those who couldn't just slink away tried to protest again but froze in place.
From the corner of the room, a silver-haired girl proctoring her section turned her head, her cold gaze pinning them down. They couldn't thrash about any longer.
Eirena Lu Pascaelia.
The Imperial Princess.
Incurring the wrath of royalty was never a good idea.
“Le... Young Master Leon. What happened here...?”
Professor Rommel entered Exam Room 2 next, his face etched with confusion.
“I've removed the cadet who cheated.”
With that, he tore their exam papers to shreds without a second thought.
“Evidence is right here.”
“Oh my...”
With proof in hand, there was no need for reprimands. Even so, Rommel let out a sigh.
“This isn't disturbing the other cadets' exams?”
“You're right. My apologies.”
Leon bowed his head quietly, and Rommel gave a short nod.
“Handled quietly, so that's fine...”
“Thank you for your efforts.”
Once Professor Rommel departed, the cadets shot nervous glances at Leon, their faces stiff with tension.
The palpable intimidation made everyone swallow hard.
“Sorry for the commotion. Please continue your exams.”
The cadets eyed Leon warily before refocusing on their papers.
Not long after, a muffled thud echoed from Exam Room 3, overseen by Luna. Three or four cadets came flying out, unconscious.
“Warned you your heads would crack.”
“Guh... guh... crazy... bitch...”
The masked Luna tossed them aside like broken twigs, hoisted her massive hammer over her shoulder, and strode back inside.
Professor Rommel, en route to Exam Room 1, let out a weary sigh.
His lunatic disciple had brought some seriously unhinged company, that much was clear.
In fact, that's exactly what Isna had told him when convincing him to let them help.
They weren't just any random nobodies.
Curious if the same held for Exam Room 4 where Isna was proctoring, he peeked inside and shook his head.
No one dared cheat or slack off.
How could they? With Isna seated at the proctor's desk, her eerie scythe gleaming coldly enough to make anyone's legs go weak.
And considering the infamous reputation she'd built at the academy, it was only natural.
The written exam proceeded even more smoothly than Professor Rommel had anticipated.
After the two written rounds concluded, rumors began swirling among the students.
Professor Rommel had brought in three temporary teaching assistants.
“Heard about it? They're total psychos.”
“Wish I'd seen it. The guy next to me was up to something, but the second he tried cheating, she sniffed it out like a ghost and smashed his skull.”
“During the exam?”
“Yeah. When he protested afterward...”
They said he'd been crumpled like scrap metal and dragged out.
“Room 2 was no different. This ridiculously handsome guy showed up. Looked totally ordinary at first, but I didn't even see what happened.”
“He was handsome, yeah. Had this weird vibe to him.”
Surprisingly, the cadets were buzzing most about how good-looking Leon was.
“Your Highness, you saw it too, right?”
“...”
The silver-haired girl cracked one eye open coldly, took a quick sip of her drink, and closed them again.
“Just fulfilling his duty as a proctor. Something worthy of praise, and exactly what he should have done.”
A curt reply.
“That sword the TA Leon used—what was it? A magic sword? Looked amazing.”
“Desk sliced clean like that? Definitely not ordinary. And it broke after one swing.”
“Must be a magic artifact.”
Watching the female cadets giggle and chatter, Princess Eirena Lu Pascaelia closed her eyes and recalled the moment.
It was indeed a scene that defied explanation without a magic sword.
She didn't suspect immense skill on his part. Leon looked no older than one or two years her senior, at most.
Most cadets were Aura User level; even among graduates, only the older ones might scrape into Sword Expert territory. Geniuses entering Expert at that age were exceedingly rare.
Besides, even entry-level Experts couldn't pull that off with a standard sword—let alone a dagger—from that distance.
And if he were truly strong, she'd have sensed his aura fluctuations, but she felt none from Leon.
Of course, there was that too—but the first time she laid eyes on him, she'd felt a faint sense of familiarity, like he resembled someone.
“Uwaaa... I totally bombed the exam...”
“Aw, Olivia. You always slack on studying. Take it in stride.”
“So harsh, Rachel.”
Pulled from her reverie by the chattering female cadets, Eirena took another sip of her drink.
There had been a disturbance, but the exam questions themselves were straightforward.
If the practical went smoothly, they'd meet His Majesty's expectations.
That was all.
“Speaking of, heard the news? The TA in Room 4...”
“Oh yeah, Lady Isna Mielephon, right? Showed up in that freaky reaper getup again...”
“I'm not even surprised by Lady Isna anymore.”
Spitting fire from her mouth like she'd eaten something weird... or hanging upside down chanting nonsense like “Those who seek power, come to me...” and causing a ghost panic...
In truth, it had made plenty of people burst out laughing, so she wasn't as hated as one might think.
“Gossiping behind her back isn't becoming.”
The princess's cold reprimand silenced the giggling girls.
“Sorry, Your Highness.”
“No need to apologize to me. And no one can deny that Lady Isna Mielephon's academics were outstanding, despite her antics.”
“Well, true...”
The girls, at that curious age hungry for fresh gossip, tore into the new topic like starved hyenas.
The male cadets were no different.
“That Room 3 TA—she was wearing a mask, right? But my gut says people like that are always drop-dead gorgeous.”
“What? If she's masked, she's probably insecure about her looks.”
“Nah, overheard this: someone caught her taking it off on the way to the lounge after the exam.”
“And?”
“Dude couldn't even speak. Said he was completely entranced, eyes all glassy.”
“Hahaha!”
For all their noble pedigrees, teenage boys and girls were all the same when they got together.
“Good work out there, Young Master Leon.”
Through the preparations, he'd built enough rapport with Professor Rommel to speak casually.
“You too, Professor.”
“Thanks to you, I can breathe easy now.”
He didn't hide his satisfied smile as he expressed his gratitude.
“Not to jinx it now, but... without you all, it would've been a disaster. Never imagined they'd prepare that thoroughly just to cheat.”
The caught cheaters were all from prominent families, but Rommel bulldozed through and gave them all zero scores.
Zero or not, it was tantamount to a black mark on their records.
Unsurprisingly, backlash was inevitable, but Rommel was the type who couldn't care less.
“Now for the real test: the practical. Black Forest again?”
“That's the plan. Too dangerous deeper in, so no venturing beyond the usual exam grounds.”
Safety always came first, no matter how “realistic” they made it.
“Black Forest?”
“Ah, the forest the academy's used for exams and drills for ages. It's got a stable monster ecosystem too.”
In other words...
“Demon Realm?”
“Exactly. And House Cascadia monitors it, don't they?”
“Is that really safe? No good comes from poking around Demon Realms.”
Demon Realms earned their name for various reasons, but the biggest was the colossal entity lurking at their core.
Cascadia's own Demon Realm had a king-class beast deep inside, so they never ventured that far—just kept watch on the fringes.
Rumors even swirled that its king was stronger than most.
“Black Forest is a special case. No king—just periodic rifts popping open, mostly at the center. The monsters that lose the power struggles get pushed to the outskirts.”
“Hmm.”
“Once they settle, they rarely leave their territories. The academy-accessible zones aren't overly dangerous.”
The practical had various formats, but this one involved entering the Demon Realm, slaying monsters, and achieving a specific goal.
They'd be scored on behavior, judgment, teamwork, and the like.
“Here's a map of the Black Forest. As supervisors, you should familiarize yourselves with the terrain.”
“Mind if I take a look myself?”
“Will you guide him, Miss Isna?”
“Of course, Professor.”
With the professor's farewell behind us, Luna and I followed Isna toward the Black Forest, not far from the academy.