Ch.15Mock Exam (3)

The four-hour mock exam had finally ended.

“Oh my goodness.”

Taking an exam after so long really drains my energy.

It seems research, which I can do at my own pace, suits me better than entrance exam studying.

As I was stretching my back to loosen my stiff body…

“How did you do?”

Silver-white hair danced before my eyes.

“I don’t think there were any problems I couldn’t solve.”

Zernya von und zu Trisha Adelbein, the next head of the Adelbein family, stood before me with her arms crossed, smiling leisurely.

Showing off about a mock exam, really.

“When you talk like that, you really sound like an imaginary number.”

“Hmm, I’ll acknowledge that comment if you get better grades than me.”

Zernya twisted her lips tightly.

This is how Zernya picks fights with everyone she meets.

A villainous young lady who thinks she’s the best in the world. She has a fierce pride, and unfortunately, she has the skills to back it up, which makes her all the more annoying.

Eventually, Zernya will betray humanity. Her reason being that she wasn’t meant to be contained within humanity.

She becomes an apostle of the outer gods, antagonizes the protagonist, and after the Federation’s destruction, she meets a heroic end when the outer god she served betrays her.

But that’s still a distant story. Right now, she’s neither a villain nor anything else—just an ill-mannered kid.

“Remember what I asked you to step on earlier?”

“What, you want me to actually do it?”

Zernya approached with a sly smile, poised to press her foot down on mine. I didn’t move away.

Squish.

“How does it feel to get your wish?”

“Feels nice.”

With her small frame, her pressure just tickles more than anything.

Seeing me unfazed, Zernya seemed displeased and shifted her weight as if about to climb on top of me.

“Nice massage.”

“…You’re insane.”

Of course, this is an act. I’m not crazy. What kind of pervert would get excited about being stepped on? I just concluded it was better to act crazy when dealing with Zernya.

I leaned in close and said:

“Hello there.”

Zernya jumped back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She brushed her arm and caught her breath. I continued speaking while gathering my bag.

“You can step on me all you want, but don’t touch my sister.”

***

“Don’t touch my sister.”

Those words stuck in Seti’s mind.

‘What is he babbling about?’

She couldn’t understand Eidel’s sudden behavior. Seti had hidden herself and overheard their conversation.

Zernya had needled Eidel just as she had done to Seti. Yet Eidel hadn’t even flinched. Instead, he had calmly extracted himself from the situation.

The conversation naturally ended.

Seti blinked. She crammed her remaining test papers haphazardly into her bag and sought out Edward.

“Assistant, you said you tutored Eidel for his interview, right?”

“Huh? Yes. But…”

“Did he do anything strange to you during those two weeks?”

“Not at all?”

Edward tilted his head after examining Seti’s expression. He smiled as if understanding her intention and spoke.

“Your brother is quite different from how he appears in the media. He’s actually very intelligent. And good-natured too. Of course, I could be wrong… but at least that’s what I think as an outsider.”

Though Edward was from the border region, he was quite forthright with his opinions. Seti believed his words weren’t just empty talk.

In fact, it was the same with Rustila.

Rustila had described Eidel as “more pitiful than he appears” and “someone who needs help.” That was also her first meeting with Eidel.

If it had been just one person’s assessment, she might have dismissed it, but when two trustworthy people gave the same evaluation, it warranted consideration.

Thus, she could reach this conclusion:

‘Either he’s changed as a person.’

Or.

‘He has specific timing for his terrible behavior.’

Seti hadn’t lived with Eidel for long either. Even living in the same house, they rarely crossed paths and never ate together. Eidel always lived as if confined to his room.

So perhaps their relationship was even worse than that of strangers.

“Despite how he seems, he appears to worry a lot about his sister.”

“Him?”

Seti waved her hand dismissively.

“He’s the one who cursed at me and hit me whenever he got the chance. There’s no way…”

“All men with younger sisters are like that. The degree varies, but it’s their way of expressing affection.”

“If that’s affection, it’s disgusting.”

“He’ll change when he matures.”

Edward joked as he looked into the distance where Eidel and Zernya were talking. Zernya snorted and then packed her clutch bag and left.

Having finished his conversation, Eidel approached.

“Sister, let’s go home.”

Seti’s eyes narrowed.

***

The mock exam results came in.

“Hey, what rank did you get?”

No sooner had the notification arrived than my sister burst into my room.

“This is unusual. You actually coming into my room.”

“Cut the chatter and show me your mock exam results.”

I silently handed over my grade report. Seti snatched it, quickly scanned it, and her mouth fell open.

“You forged this, didn’t you?”

“I’m the one who should be exasperated.”

I sighed deeply, rubbing my forehead. No matter what, being accused of forging exam results by my sister seemed too much.

Seti’s eyes trembled. She breathed heavily, her chest heaving as if she’d just run a marathon.

“There’s no way you could get these scores without cheating…”

“Didn’t I tell you before? Show and prove.”

Swish!

Seti threw the test paper at my face.

[Overall Rank: 1(2)/4565]

[* The number in parentheses indicates tied rankings.]

“You were a blockhead who couldn’t even do fraction calculations. You were an idiot. And now you get this score in less than four months? What a load of crap!”

“Sister, aren’t you being too harsh?”

“Harsh? You’ve been…!”

Seti’s lips suddenly clamped shut.

“A-anyway, show me your test paper.”

After saying that, she rummaged through my bag herself. Half-solved practice books spilled onto the floor. She finally found my torn mock exam paper and opened it.

“Ah!”

Since even a mock exam is still an exam, I needed to double-check my work. The test paper was quite messy from that process. Seti scanned through my solutions and exclaimed:

“Hey, th-this is proxy testing.”

“……”

“I-if it’s not proxy testing, there’s no explanation.”

She’s not normal.

“What rank did you get?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“I showed you mine, why won’t you show me yours?”

“Why should I have to show you?”

I said with a smirk.

“Let me guess your rank. Third.”

“…Why do you think that?”

“That Zernya girl probably studies better than you, and she’s tied with me.”

It was a reasonable deduction, and there was really no need to check.

***

Stellarium was located in the southern part of the barred spiral galaxy that made up the Federation. Because of this, Zernya, who had lived in the northern part of the galaxy, had purchased a station in the south a month ago and was using it like a hotel.

As time passed, she naturally received her mock exam results. Originally, she hadn’t even planned to take the mock exam, but due to family pressure suggesting she should pay attention just in case, she reluctantly participated.

The test results were mundane. She had casually solved it and still claimed first place. Zernya judged that the test had been made easier to manage the mental state of the students before the actual exam.

However.

“Hah.”

There was someone tied with her.

“…Who is this person?”

Zernya’s temper flared for the first time in a while. Until now, no one had ever been superior to her.

Although they were merely tied, even that was enough to irritate her.

The direct line of Adelbein must always stand at the top. That was the family motto and Zernya’s self-imposed principle. Even having someone beside her was unacceptable.

And now she had suffered such an indignity from an unexpected quarter.

Her stomach churned even before taking the written exam.

“Petcha, hack into the academy’s network if you have to and find out who’s tied with me. I at least need to know their name.”

The Adelbein family’s information network was as sturdy as a well-woven spider web. In fact, within minutes of Zernya’s command, she was able to learn the identity of the student who had tied with her.

“I contacted the director. The name is Eidel von Rheinland.”

“Eidel…”

If you search that name on the internet, dozens of articles appear. Most are negative stories. He was a boy who had committed atrocities that would make anyone cringe just by looking at them.

There was no mention of this boy being bad at studying. She only learned that he had been suspended several times for his disastrous school behavior.

“Was he always that good at studying?”

“They say academic ability and character are separate matters.”

Zernya tapped the paulownia wood desk: tok, tok. She pondered deeply about what to do with this boy named Eidel.

She wouldn’t resort to childish acts like dunking him just because he might be superior to her. That wouldn’t be elegant. The Adelbein always crushed their family’s enemies in sophisticated ways.

“Rheinland…”

Though not as powerful as the Adelbein, their influence was certainly formidable. The southern part of the Federation hadn’t fallen to the monsters largely because the renowned doctors from their family had treated soldiers with miraculous medical techniques.

“Interesting.”

Zernya realized what had been omitted after Eidel’s words that time.

– Step on me.

“…If you can.”

This was just a practice game anyway.

The real thing is next week.

Zernya checked the calendar with a giggle.

One week to go. The Stellarium written exam was approaching.