The Unranked Exception
Even though all the professors had gone home and the dead of night had settled over the academy, with every light in the main building switched off, a single room still glowed in defiance.
"Haah... I only approved her enrollment because Wilhelm recommended it, but she's nothing but a headache..."
The old man seated in the headmaster's office—the one room where the lights never went out—let out a heavy sigh as he stared at a student's file. The name on the document was Plea. She had been a test subject at the research institute Wilhelm directed, only released into the world because of some contract. Up to that point there had been no real issue. As someone who held a portion of Helline's authority, the headmaster roughly understood the girl's circumstances and felt a measure of sympathy. When he'd first received the report that she had escaped, he'd even felt a flicker of admiration.
But...
"Hoo... These specs are simply impossible."
After reading her detailed records, the headmaster's face hardened. Wilhelm's report was simply too outrageous to accept at face value. Unmeasurable mana capacity since the age of seven? Defeating Dana—the third seat of the 5 Greats—during her very first spar at eighteen? When he'd first read those lines he'd assumed Wilhelm was playing some cruel joke. If the report was accurate, the girl named Plea could join the 5 Greats of Helline immediately without raising a single eyebrow.
And that was precisely the problem.
"How in the world am I supposed to handle her aptitude evaluation..."
The entrance ceremony ranked students according to their basic qualities as heroes, while the aptitude evaluation examined their shortcomings and recommended the most suitable classes. This year's evaluation, however, was a tournament. The plan had been to observe one-on-one duels and identify each student's weaknesses through combat.
Unfortunately, a walking disruption named Plea had appeared in the middle of it. A monster who had utterly crushed Dana of the Sacred Fire before even enrolling was now stepping into the playground of fledglings who were only just beginning to test their wings. If the evaluation proceeded normally, a few unlucky students would be forced to face an opponent on the level of the 5 Greats. And the headmaster could not guarantee those students would survive the encounter.
Most academy professors were active heroes ranked A to B, with the highest barely reaching S-class. The 5 Greats, however, stood near the absolute peak even among S-class heroes. If any professor at their level tried to casually block her attacks, blood would certainly be spilled.
"Hoo... If she were simply one of the 5 Greats, I could tell myself she'd control her strength and let it pass..."
The line in Wilhelm's report that read 'Ability control is not precise' refused to leave his mind. He didn't want to imagine the scale of destruction that would follow if someone with her power made even the tiniest error in control.
Yet he could not simply remove her from the tournament. The headmaster sat with his head in his hands, pondering how to run the event. By the time a decent solution finally occurred to him, the morning larks had already begun to sing.
2. Siwoo (Full Scholarship)
3. Hameln (Full Scholarship)
4. Camilla (7,000,000)
5. ...
99. Torri (600,000)
Unranked — Plea (Full Scholarship)
Yes! Full scholarship!
I take back every word I just said. Money is supreme. Semi-special meal? Don't make me laugh. With money you can eat real special meals three times a day, so why settle for the academy's standard bread and jam? I can't understand it at all.
Judging by the full scholarship, being listed as unranked must be better than I thought. Skipping the actual entrance evaluation by heading straight to the second floor of the auditorium had been a first for me, so I'd honestly expected to end up dead last. This unexpected windfall made me snort with satisfaction.
Just as I was about to leave in a good mood, a sarcastic voice slithered into my ears.
"What's with Plea getting full scholarship with some weird unranked status when she didn't even take the entrance exam or the evaluation?"
"No idea. Now that you mention it, only three of the kids who charged the illusory demon got full scholarships. What did she do back then?"
"Is there actually some corruption involved?"
I whipped my head around in surprise, but the crowd was too thick to identify the speaker. I bit my lip lightly and strode away.
It wasn't as if I felt particularly wronged. They didn't know me, so of course they could badmouth me behind my back. Besides... it wasn't exactly a false accusation.
I left the area and tried to cool my burning cheeks.
"Ugh... I thought I'd been caught..."
Like how a thief's feet go numb? The saying didn't seem entirely wrong. The instant I heard the word "corruption," a guilty jolt shot through me even though I knew they were just talking nonsense.
Looking at how I'd enrolled, I had used the director's connections to pass the entrance exam. The unranked status felt a little unfair, but receiving full scholarship while lazing around was definitely freeloading.
"Still... it's kind of pissing me off...?"
Even so, did I really have to listen to trash talk about corruption from some nobody outside the top ten? For a second I considered hunting the guy down and smacking him, but finding him would be difficult, and I needed to behave if I wanted a beautiful school life.
Besides, once aptitude evaluation season arrived, the current rankings would be overturned anyway.
"Until then, maybe I'll just follow Siwoo around?"
I stretched lazily and muttered to myself.
...
Siwoo felt like today was going to be unusually good. He had woken up at exactly 7:30, and the moment he stretched, birdsong eased his mind. When he put on his uniform and left the dormitory, a refreshing breeze ruffled his hair pleasantly. Just as he had predicted, everything went smoothly.
When he reached the signboard displaying the entrance evaluation results, several students were whispering things like "Is that Siwoo?" "He's the one who charged the demon first, right?" and "He's handsome." Praise could make even a whale dance, and no one in the world disliked compliments. The finishing touch on his happiness was his own ranking.
"Second place...!"
And with full scholarship, too. A full scholarship at the academy carried a very different weight than one at an ordinary university. Only a tiny number of students received it, and it functioned like an unrestricted black card. The academy would cover every single expense incurred inside its walls. Of course, excessive luxury would result in penalty points on student evaluations. Still, as long as he didn't live like a billionaire, he wouldn't have to worry about money. Siwoo welcomed it with open arms.
While he headed to class in high spirits, he sensed someone behind him.
"Who... You're that girl from before...!"
When he turned around, the girl he had briefly met before smiled brightly and waved.
"...Why are you here?"
Siwoo spoke grumpily, but the girl acted as though she hadn't noticed his tone.
"Just..."
"You don't have anything to say, do you?"
"Nope."
Since she had nothing to say to him, he figured she would leave if he went his own way. Thinking that, Siwoo walked toward his classroom. The red-haired girl followed right behind him with steady steps.
If he left her like this, she looked ready to trail him all the way into his room. Siwoo turned to face her.
"You said you had nothing to say, so why are you following me?"
"Just."
A cross-shaped vein throbbed on Siwoo's forehead. The way she had watched their fight from the second floor with a big grin, and now this—she was a girl he simply could not warm up to.
"Haah... What's your name?"
He asked with the intention of reporting her to a professor, but the girl gave an unexpected answer.
"Plea."
"Plea... That girl who got the free pass into the entrance exam?"
At those words, the girl's brows furrowed.