Ch.1111 – The Secret to Passing

<11 – The Secret of Passing>

The next day.

Michael’s eyebrows twitched as he opened the menu as usual.

His eyes swept through the inn with an incredulous expression.

It’s me, me!

I wrote that!!

As I was sending signals earnestly with my eyes, I finally made eye contact with Michael for the first time.

You got it, right?

You shouldn’t mistake it for a menu written by someone else and go to the wrong person, right?

I firmly expressed my intention with intensity in my eyes.

Whether my meaning was conveyed or not.

The corner of Michael’s mouth turned up slightly.

Look at this guy?

That was the emotion in his response.

It was evidence that I had succeeded in drawing Michael’s interest, just as I had with the monkey beastkin.

* *

“This is the last rare dish you’ll receive with your meal voucher.”

“Thank you, Uncle Giselle.”

“You’ve done nothing but training and eating rare dishes for five days with your hand on the menu. Are you really sure this is okay?”

“Of course it’s okay! Today will be the decisive day.”

Since I’ve eaten all the rare dishes.

In the late hours as the sun was setting.

As I was stretching and warming up in the backyard dyed crimson, Senior Examiner Michael showed his precious face at the entrance to the yard.

His red-dyed hair shone quite beautifully, just like his in-game nickname “Young Master Michael.”

If only he weren’t a man, it would have been nice, what a shame.

“Night special menu, a sword duel with Oknodie. How audacious to put up such an impudent menu.”

I was proud of the detail of specifically setting the time at night to avoid catching the eyes of other guests during the day.

“And with the limited condition of a night special menu, you go to sleep early every night after finishing your training in the early evening. How very impertinent.”

“Children need to sleep early to grow taller.”

“This is the first time I’ve had to wait five days for a menu. After making me wait this long, I won’t let you pass easily. Be prepared to fail if you don’t satisfy me.”

The duration is also a key element of this hidden strategy.

Michael, who had hinted at difficulty levels through the ‘period’ until ingredients arrived.

According to his rules, the night special menu that had entered its fifth day had a difficulty level of 5, equivalent to the 5th layer of Mount Shinjeong.

The monkey beastkin.

It’s one level higher than the 4th layer mission he had challenged.

“Even that hairy beastkin stopped at challenging the 4th layer. Don’t you think it was arrogant to reach the fifth day?”

Michael pointed that out as well.

I know.

How someone like me, a small but strong kid, would appear to others.

‘I must look like a glass cannon that could break at any moment.’

That’s why I was especially careful.

I paid attention to managing my body so that I wouldn’t appear weak from exhaustion.

Thanks to that, my condition is perfect.

My body feels particularly light today.

Like a long-term prisoner who has thrown off a metal armor and gained freedom!

“Won’t we know my skill when our swords meet?”

Michael laughed “hoot” at my bold provocation.

It’s too late to regret.

With those words, his sword flashed.

* *

Senior Examiner Michael.

He had been interested in Oknodie and butler Jona from the moment he first saw them.

‘They’re skilled.’

Neither the young lady nor the butler was ordinary.

Especially the butler’s strength was extraordinary, difficult to overlook even for a senior examiner like him.

Footsteps that made no sound at all.

Movements that controlled even the rustling of clothes.

It was like witnessing a professional assassin.

‘Could he be a precious child from a famous assassination family?’

Unlike the butler, the young lady didn’t seem to have trained in professional assassination techniques.

That made it even more strange.

Unless she was a noble lady or a wealthy man’s daughter, she couldn’t employ someone of such skill, but her proper posture and aura suggested she was no ordinary daughter.

Adventurer’s attire.

That outfit, which might look ridiculous on a woman, had an aura that didn’t feel like a joke.

‘Whatever the case, she has talent.’

Such achievement at this age.

He knew as soon as they crossed swords.

Blocking his attack wasn’t something just anyone could do, even with a wooden sword.

Tremendous strength and excellent technique.

Plus analytical skills to understand the principles of the ticket exam and creativity to apply them.

With this alone, she could challenge at least up to the beginning of the 3rd layer.

‘She has all the basics.’

His evaluation rose after seeing her flawless swordsmanship.

The beginning of the 4th layer was also possible.

At the decisive moment, he strongly shook his real sword.

“You pass.”

“Already?”

As Oknodie had guessed, in the conversation between Michael and the innkeeper, the number of days needed for cooking ingredients to arrive hinted at the ‘challenge difficulty level.’

By deliberately dragging it out for 5 days, Oknodie had naturally challenged a 5th layer level difficulty!

“But I haven’t shown enough skill yet.”

Despite Oknodie’s plan to demonstrate 5th layer level capability by bringing out wand magic, Young Master Michael declared her passing after she showed 4th layer level capability.

“I’ve given you passing marks in five areas: strength, technique, analytical skills, creativity, and swordsmanship. Technique, analytical skills, and swordsmanship from this duel. Creativity I knew from the menu.”

“And strength?”

“Arm wrestling. There were rumors about a girl with monstrous strength.”

“Ah.”

“Here’s your reward. I really didn’t think I’d be giving this ticket to a challenger.”

A platinum-colored platinum ticket.

A ticket not usually granted to ordinary challengers.

Swoosh.

Michael raised his arm high, avoiding Oknodie’s hand reaching for the ticket.

He thought her sullen gaze was quite amusing as he spoke.

“I’ll give you a chance before you receive the ticket. The platinum ticket is a ticket that can give you great merit in the entrance exam. Instead, if you give up this ticket, I’ll give you ten gold tickets.”

“!!”

“I can’t tell you the exact difference, but gold tickets also have their advantages. You can dispose of the remaining 9 tickets as you wish. Now, what will you do?”

It was a kind of additional test conducted on Michael’s whim.

The value of a platinum ticket is enormous.

Even greater than ten gold tickets combined.

Still, the temptation would be hard to resist.

Most tickets traded on the market are bronze tickets.

Or even iron tickets, which are even less valuable.

Iron tickets are fake tickets distributed by examiners.

They’re for unqualified youngsters.

If they realize it later and secure another ticket before submission, they might still be able to take the entrance exam, but if they had the ability to figure that out, they could have obtained a ticket on their own in the first place.

‘Of course, this young lady has more than enough skill for that. What’s important is desire.’

10 gold coins. The average market price of a bronze ticket.

100 gold coins. The average market price of a silver ticket.

Bronze ticket holders might have to take an impromptu test before the main exam depending on the number of applicants gathered at the entrance exam site, or they might be immediately disqualified at a certain ratio.

Silver is a ticket that belongs to the “safe zone” that exempts one from such immediate disqualification.

Gold is a ticket that has even greater “advantages.”

Naturally, those who know its value would buy it even if it cost ten times more.

Power holders who want to gain the reputation of having their children or successors admitted to Gift Academy would pay a fortune to buy gold tickets.

However, no one can buy a platinum ticket with money.

Those who are qualified to obtain that ticket do not commit the foolish act of selling their opportunity for mere material greed.

“Obviously the single one.”

“Why? The tickets could be worth money.”

“Do I look like I’m short on money?”

“Not really. Just employing that butler would have easily cost over 100 platinum coins.”

Conversely, examiners are unpaid volunteers.

Such troublesome work that doesn’t even pay is usually not taken on unless one owes a debt to the academy or is eccentric.

Michael is clearly eccentric.

He has a hobby of testing others.

Most of those being tested grind their teeth as they fall for his tricks, but sometimes there are those who pass these difficult tests.

‘And for those who pass the test, there exists a reward as a counterbalance.’

If she had hesitated or deliberated even a little, he would have handed over the ticket he was holding now.

But this child did not.

So she passed the test.

Instead of the platinum ticket in his hand, he handed her another platinum ticket taken from his inner pocket.

“Is there a difference between the same tickets?”

“The one just now was number 143. This one is number 15.”

“!”

“All tickets have assigned numbers. Triple numbers are worth less than double numbers, and double numbers are worth less than single numbers.”

“So it’s an extremely good ticket, right?”

“Hmph. You could say that. The date and location of the entrance exam are written on the ticket.”

“Thank you. It was an interesting test.”

“Wait. Your name?”

“Oknodie. And yours, Examiner?”

“Michael.”

The bold girl went up to her room.

Only the butler remained.

“Don’t you need to go attend to your ‘young lady’?”

“I have something I want to ask.”

“For the young lady’s sake, I’ll answer once.”

“That additional test at the end. It was too easy for a test for a top double-number ticket. Why did you want to give that ticket to the young lady?”

“Hmph. You noticed?”

“Not just that. It seems insufficient to evaluate someone as having strength at a level applicable to the 5th layer based merely on rumors from something like arm wrestling.”

“You’re more perceptive than your young lady.”

“If you have impure intentions…”

“There’s nothing like that.”

The moment the butler sincerely harbored killing intent, the sound of insects filling the mountain ceased.

Birds flew in the sky, and the music from the inn abruptly stopped.

A silence that seemed to reveal the desperate minds of prey trying not to catch the eye of a predator.

“I simply used the female quota system.”

“…”