The entrance exam for the Academy is open to anyone regardless of their social status.
However, when you look at the final successful candidates, most of them were nobles.
No wonder.
The environnt itself was different.
In the case of Drin alone, she’s one of the best swordsn on the continent, and a mber of one of the largest families on the continent, the Lebringer family.
It was similar to how most students attending top prestigious universities on Earth ca from middle-class or higher backgrounds.
So I stood out like a sore thumb.
The people in the secondary examination hall now were almost all nobles except for .
“Nice to et you, I’m from the east, Queren of-”
“No, what a coincidence, my master is also-”
“Oh wow, then maybe we have so connection with our parents-”
The participants waiting for their turn were actively networking during their spare ti.
“Congratulations on passing the first exam.”
Soone even tried to dock with .
The man flashed a humanizing smile and offered his congratulations.
“Awww, thanks, man, that’s lucky, you too, congrats on passing the exam.”
“Haha, I got lucky as well. I t an excellent person like my master who taught everything since childhood. His na is Agon Gern who graduated from Ain Academy. Do you know him? He’s one of the few swordsn in the East who can match him in the art of swordplay.”
“Oh, I apologize. My knowledge is limited, but a master of your caliber? He must be a great man.”
“Haha, thank you. Oh, excuse . I apologize for the delay in introducing myself. I am Derun of House Darden.”
Derun extended his hand and stated his na.
“Ah, a pleasure, Lord Derun. My na is Ceylon.”
I gave my na as well, and went to shake his hand, but-
“…”
Derun suddenly frowned and withdrew his hand.
“What? You’re just a commoner.”
He clicked his tongue in disbelief and turned away, leaving to stare after him.
I took the awkward right hand that was left wandering unattached and scratched the back of my head.
“Haha, how amusing.”
What the hell?
Because of Derun’s actions, I montarily forgot.
The fact that most of the nobility of this world considered commoners to be nothing more than lowly creatures.
There was no change in the Academy, which is known as a society that strictly values ability. Because social status was also a form of ability.
Now that I’ve had my heart broken by the racism of a guy who isn’t funny at all.
The first person who cos to mind now is Drin, who is the most interesting person to at this mont.
‘How long has it been since we parted ways? I already miss you. Is this love…?’
In order to comfort my wounded heart with Drin, I imdiately went out to find him.
“That woman over there is Drin Lebringer?”
As I listened to Drin’s story…
“I saw that blue light bursting out of the first test site just now. They said it ca out when testing Drin Libringer’s mana sensitivity.”
“From what I’ve learned about that golem, it’s mana sensitivity can only be asured up to three stars. Beyond that, it’s impossible to asure because it just, like, randomly emits light.”
“So what you’re saying is that the golem went on a rampage because the mana sensitivity of the Drin Lebringer exceeded the three-star level and was now at the four-star level?”
“Four stars? How does that make sense? At the sa age as us?”
Using the people talking about Drynn as signposts, I made my way to the corner of the examination hall and saw Drin standing there.
She was the center of attention before the exam even started.
She’d turned the golem into her biggest fan during the first round of testing and announced her arrival by bathed in a brilliant blue light.
Without a doubt, Drin was the star of this pseudo-social event.
Most participants in the test site were lingering around hoping for an opportunity to talk or mix words with him.
But as if she were a barrier, everyone kept their distance from her.
They couldn’t.
Just as a commoner would not dare to speak to a noble.
Those nobles didn’t dare to speak to Drin either.
There was such a gap between the common noble families and the Great House Lebringers.
“From what I’ve heard, the atmosphere is quite frightening.”
“Yeah… I heard that Drin was here, so I thought I’d try to talk to him, but now that I’ve seen him in person, I’m afraid I can’t.”
Moreover, although I couldn’t fully understand it, there seed to be an atmosphere around Drin that made it hard for anyone to get close.
If there is soone here who approaches Drin and asks “Can we talk?”, that person must either co from a high-ranking family like Drin or possess extraordinary talent like her.
“…!”
At that mont, our eyes t as Drin noticed and looked towards .
“Isn’t it?
But the mont our eyes t was very brief.
It could be considered reasonable to assu that it was just an illusion of eye contact with Drin.
‘What should I do?’
If Drin had noticed here and pretended to recognize , I would have had an angle to approach him.
However, no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of Drin noticing or pretending to recognize .
This leaves with no angle to break through the thick wall of nobility to reach Drin.
‘Is this better?’
Co to think of it, if I act all clingy towards Drin here like I just did, it seems like all sorts of trouble will follow.
-What? Who’s approaching Lord Drynn?
-Who?
-It looks like a commoner.
-What? A commoner dares to speak to Drin-ssi without knowing the subject?
-I’m just looking at his face.
-But that bastard is also talking to Drin-ssi, so why not us?
-I see.
-Who knows! Drin-ssi!
-I’m a fan! Give a hug!
‘Oh, just thinking about it almost killed .’
It seed right for to give up on acting clingy for my own sake and for Drin’s sake as well.
Maybe she was thinking the sa thing and pretending not to see .
That’s when I gave up trying to get to her.
There was a woman walking toward her.
“Move aside.”
The woman pushed her way through the nobles.
Her steps were rough and unforgiving.
“What!? Ah. Ah, yes… Please-”
But instead of protesting, the stiff-necked nobles were overwheld by the woman’s aura and willingly gave way, bowing their stiff necks.
A navy blue short hair that gives off a cold feeling.
Eyes as sharp as the tip of a spear.
And that haughty, overbearing aura.
Kasha Hanahan.
Another main character appeared on stage again.
“You must be Drin Lebringer.”
Kasha blurted out as she stood before Drin.
“I am.”
Drin didn’t recoil at the rude greeting, but instead replied nonchalantly, his face unchanged.
Kasha looked Drin up and down, her expression sour.
“Perhaps the rumors were not exaggerated.”
“…”
“I am Kasha. Kasha of House Hanahan. You must have heard my na.”
“Yes, Kasha Hanahan. I am familiar with your reputation.”
“Yeah, I’ve also heard enough about you to get sick of it. Whenever people praised your na, they often used mine as well.”
“These are stories from people who don’t know much about or you. I don’t think it’s worth listening to.”
“Ha, you’re very generous. Very laid back. Am I, indeed, the Kasha Hanahan of whom you have heard rumors?”
Kasha taunted with a smirk of approval.
“Honestly, I don’t pay much attention to gossip and rumors, so I don’t think I can give you the answer you’re looking for.”
However, Drin casted the virtue of “honesty” without any change in expression.
I was mildly surprised by the exchange.
‘Wow, she’s playing with Kasha, and she’s not losing.’
Even though I only saw it briefly, it was clear enough that Kasha was a character who had a sharp personality and strong presence in Tose, making her the second most feared character in the ga.
If I were to have a conversation with Kasha now, I could imitate his arrogant behavior, but that would only be possible because of my own traits.
If I didn’t have that trait, I’d be frozen in place in front of Kasha, unable to do anything.
But Drin had no such trait, and he was able to withstand Kasha’s intensity.
No, no. Not just withstanding.
Drin was clearly gaining the upper hand in the battle of wills with Kasha.
Because of Drin’s determined deanor, Kasha’s now fierce and wild form looked like a small, noisy dog barking in the face of a large dog.
Like a chihuahua.
It was in this mont that she realized, even indirectly, why people found it so hard to deal with Drin.
“…”
Kasha seed to have similar thoughts as well as his face twisted with humiliation as he spoke through gritted teeth.
“I have one proposal for you.”
“Please go ahead.”
“If I beco the top scorer on this entrance exam, duel .”
“Even if you don’t make that condition, I’ll be happy to duel you if you want.”
“Hmph. Say whatever you want. Regardless of what happens next, it won’t change the fact that once I beco the top scorer, I will defeat you in our duel.”
With those words, Kasha ended the conversation one-sidedly, leaving the path she’d made when she approached Drin untouched and weaving her way through the nobles to make another path.
‘Co to think of it, there was such an event.’
Kasha Hanahan.
She was a genius of bad luck, born in the sa generation as monsters like Drin and treated like a second-class citizen.
Kasha wanted to remove Drin’s na that suppressed her. That’s why she openly declared competition against Drin from their first eting. To defeat Drin and prove herself.
But in the end, Kasha narrowly lost the top scorer position to Drin.
And even lost in the emotionally charged duel that followed.
Since then, Kasha has seen Drin as her own rival-
This is what I learned firsthand by playing the ga.
‘Ha…’
If that was all I knew about Kasha, I would have just treated her as a peculiar person and moved on.
But sothing I had seen and heard sowhere made feel uneasy about Kasha.
‘What’s going to happen to her…’
Kasha dies.
Very miserably and horribly.
And in a way that causes great harm to the world.
As I contemplated Kasha’s end, I had a gut feeling.
‘Oh, this. It’s coming.’
As expected, my instincts were spot-on.
A spear appeared in front of , just as the assassin was about to kill Drin.
[Quest – Guidance]
-Guide Kasha Hanahan so she doesn’t go down the wrong path.
The quest occurred.
When I was playing, Kasha was an annoying and irritating character.
For most players, including .
She was arrogant and demanding of all characters, just like she was with Drin.
If this quest had popped up in the ga, I would have scowled and skipped it.
But for , this quest is different now.
When I saw Kasha giving Drin a hard ti in the ga, I thought to myself,
Ugh.
What a bunch of annoying characters.
But then I realized.
As I watched Kasha make a scene with Drin, I thought to myself.
Ah.
Isn’t she kind of cute?
Wouldn’t it be fun to tease her?
I don’t know exactly what thought process led to these conclusions either. It was more of an instinctive feeling similar to when I first t Drin.
That’s how it turned out. For right now,
For now, Kasha was a character I didn’t want to let die a miserable death.
She was a character I wanted to set aside and tease.
So, for , the quest to help Kasha was a good thing.
[Reward – Random Box (Reward maximum grade: Heroic)]
It was a tricky quest with a vague clearance requirent, but that was okay because the reward was huge.
I had a good idea of how to help Kasha.
This test.
Kasha will not miss out on being top by a hair’s breadth.
Not by a hair’s breadth, but by a very large margin.
To , not to Drin.
Once I made that decision, passing the Academy was no longer my concern.
It was about making sure that my hidden power, which I would inevitably use to win the top spot, was not revealed to others.
“Those of you who have been assigned participant numbers, which I will now call out, please prepare to take the test.”
The supervisor then called out ten participants for the next round of testing.
Among them were myself, Drin, and Kasha.
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