Ch.3636. Seniors, and Juniors (2)

# [Sylvia Cutelli: Class 3-C]

‘How strange…’

Sylvia was puzzled by the fact that her grades had turned out surprisingly well.

This was because students who had been in the same Class C last semester had all dropped to Classes D and E, or in severe cases, plummeted to the newly established Class F.

As a result, students who couldn’t accept their test results had flocked here in droves.

“How is this possible?! I finished in the top 10 in the final evaluation, so how am I in Class F?!”

“Same here. How on earth did they grade this…”

“Hey, didn’t you finish around the same time as me? Are you in F too?”

“I’m in F as well. Doesn’t seem to make much difference.”

“I think the test maker should disclose their criteria. This must be some kind of corruption!”

For the most part, students hadn’t complained about the beginning-of-semester evaluation since it was a joint practical exercise, an upgraded version of the mock battles they were used to.

However, something had been discovered while investigating the beginning-of-semester evaluation, which primarily used joint practical exercises as its criterion.

Professor Muniher announced that upon investigation, someone had deliberately sabotaged the test by releasing wastewater containing large amounts of magical beast blood into the underground waterway.

Therefore, the beginning-of-semester evaluation, which had been tampered with, was declared meaningless and everyone received zero points.

This was actually to cover up Charlotte’s magical power outburst, but this decision channeled all complaints about class assignments in one direction.

The final evaluation scores became the sole determinant for class placement, and the scores of what Professor Muniher called “the dregs” were utterly miserable.

‘Why am I in Class C?’

That’s why Sylvia couldn’t help but wonder.

She had expected to score at the bottom in the final evaluation, but no matter how she tried to figure out why she remained in Class C, she couldn’t come up with a plausible reason.

While she was pondering her grades without knowing the full story, it seemed she could no longer remain lost in thought as students began gathering around the posted grade sheets.

“Noel? How are you in Class C? Did they switch us by mistake?!”

“Wait, John is in Class C too? You, spit it out! What did you do?”

“I-I don’t know! I just worked hard, that’s all!”

“That aside, why are you taking it out on us? It must be because you did something wrong!”

Their behavior didn’t look good in Sylvia’s eyes, so she was prepared to step in if necessary.

“The test is already over anyway. Why not just accept it?”

“Ha, these lowly creatures just keep crawling up.”

“Aren’t you in a lower class than those ‘lowly’ people? It felt good looking down on others before, but now it seems you’ll have to look up to me?”

“You… how dare you…!”

“You’d better stop. If you cause a scene here, the faculty will come and deduct points themselves.”

Sylvia advised the classmate who had grabbed Noel’s collar, someone who had been in the same class as her until last semester.

She had no intention of repeating the same mistakes as before.

Though she simply told him to let go, Sylvia’s words didn’t sound like a joke, yet these students still glared and lashed out.

“Sylvia, who are you to protect those guys? What, have you forgotten your noble duties now that you’ve been hanging around with that bastard lately?”

“That bastard? Who are you talking about?”

“Didn’t you know? That Sylvia bitch has been hanging around with that Junon guy she used to manage! I thought she was dragging him around like a slave, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case!”

“Sigh…”

I wonder if these idiots realize they’re breaking school rules right now.

Sylvia just sighed at the thought.

She was angry enough to beat them up for insulting Junon, but if the conflict intensified, it would lead to a physical fight.

Sylvia knew this too, so she was just enduring it for now.

The situation was explosive.

One group had come to see the placement chart with confidence but couldn’t accept the unbelievable results.

The other group no longer needed to bow their heads under oppression.

The two factions were completely divided and on the verge of breaking into a fight.

“What’s going on? Why is the atmosphere like this?”

“I’m not sure…? It wasn’t like this when I arrived earlier.”

Two people who had arrived to register for courses were watching the situation from an inconspicuous spot.

An ironic combination: a boy who had been at the bottom as “the weakest vanguard” and “the dunce of Class E,” and a girl who was the academy’s idol, a jewel bathed in light at the very top.

***

When they mentioned the name Junon, whom Sylvia had been spending time with recently, their attention naturally shifted to the score received by the weakest vanguard.

By now, it was hard to tell who had become the inferior students, and those who wanted to avoid the mess, including Sylvia, had already started to leave.

Nevertheless, those with too much pride to admit defeat and wrongdoing refused to leave.

“Hey, don’t tell me that Junon guy is also…?”

“I’ll check!”

With Junon being mentioned, the so-called dregs turned their eyes back to the bulletin board with the class assignments.

And the result was.

“It says Class A…”

“A-are you sure? Is that guy really in Class A?”

No matter how many times they rubbed their eyes and looked again, the letter inscribed remained unmistakably A.

Junon, who had been merely a subject of gossip and entertainment for them, now occupied a spot in the highest class.

So what happened next?

“How can the weakest vanguard be promoted to Class A? That doesn’t make sense!”

“The test was clearly flawed. There must have been biased judgment!”

“Right, how could a dunce like him be in Class A?!”

Their reactions became much more intense, with heightened emotions suddenly pouring toward one person.

‘This is bad.’

Around this time, hadn’t the noble alliance been looking for an opportunity to bring down Professor Muniher?

If this situation escalated, he would surely be made the scapegoat.

No matter how renowned he might be, his influence was still lacking.

‘Right. I shouldn’t step in now.’

Knowing that intervening would only worsen the situation, Junon decided to just observe.

For now, calming down his junior beside him was the priority.

“Lenias, saying such things won’t bother me… Huh?”

Where did she go????

No matter how much he looked around, Lenias was nowhere to be seen.

No way.

Junon swallowed hard as his gaze turned in one direction.

“Oh no.”

With a voice too small for anyone to hear, Junon lamented as his eyes squeezed shut, and then a hand was placed on the back of his neck.

“Then why am I in Class A?”

“Another idiot whining about getting into Class A because of some weird test criteria, I see.”

“H-hey… behind you…”

“What are you so scared of? It’s probably just another useless vanguard.”

“You crazy bastard… look behind you before you speak…”

“What is it already! Who’s there that you’re so scared of… uh…?”

The student who had been viciously disparaging Junon and Class A finally turned around.

It didn’t even take a second for his nonchalant expression to freeze like stone.

His gaping mouth could no longer spout anything related to the test.

“So I guess I’m also just a top student who got placed through biased judgment, since I’m in Class A with Senior Junon?”

Lenias’s chilling tone settled more frigidly than winter’s cold.

Everyone closed their mouths at the coldness that seemed like it could freeze ice somewhere.

Though they habitually belittled and disparaged others, none of them could deny Lenias’s authority.

Therefore, insulting Junon, who was also in Class A, directly translated to disrespecting Lenias.

That’s why they could only stand frozen with their mouths agape.

But disgustingly, they wouldn’t yield their stance.

After all, they could never lower the superiority and pride they had built up with power and authority.

“If Lady Lenias vouched for Junon’s grades, that would make sense.”

“What did you say…?”

“Isn’t it entirely possible for a Class A student to bring along someone from Class E? Especially if it’s Lady Lenias.”

“Don’t speak so carelessly. At the very least, I know best as his partner in the final evaluation. Do you need to bring down Senior Junon so badly by blaming others?”

They flinched momentarily at her warning, but they were already in the same boat.

“Isn’t that right? From the beginning, the pairs were set up as if to help the vanguards.”

“Some people even arrived late because of their partners. Yet they’re in Class F? The evaluation was clearly flawed!”

“I believe a test with rules that weren’t even properly established cannot be justified!”

“Couldn’t abandoning one’s partner be considered a judgment call? If it’s part of the test, it should be applied.”

One by one, they gathered, and rather than insulting Junon, they soon began defending themselves.

They rationalized and justified their actions, subtly suggesting that they had done nothing wrong and that the test was flawed.

Even Lenias couldn’t definitively judge this.

Since the test regulations hadn’t been clearly stated, she couldn’t conclusively say their actions were wrong.

Despite having Lenias as a strong supporter, their pride remained unbroken, and the protest continued.

─Professor Muniher, responsible for the final evaluation, must resign!─

─Fire Professor Muniher who forced a flawed class placement test!─

─Apologize to the students who suffered from biased judgment in the test!─

As they began to hang banners and make unreasonable demands, Professor Muniher appeared with a face that suggested he couldn’t tolerate this anymore.

“These dregs. Not knowing their own faults and still crawling up like this…?”

‘Tsk, they shouldn’t have protested.’

Junon had seen that expression on Professor Muniher’s face before.

“Fine. I’ll tell you the criteria for this test as you wish.”

His expression said: go ahead and throw your tantrum all you want.

***

‘These impudent brats need to be put in their place.’

Professor Muniher tends to leave generous advice for students who recognize their mistakes.

But for those who don’t know their place and try to climb up like now, he delivers merciless factual blows without hesitation.

Whirr-

“What’s this…?”

Two sets of grade sheets and magical power indicators are magnified by a magical tool for them to see.

Though the indicators don’t show much difference, one person plummeted while the other grew impressively.

In other words, these two pieces of information alone proved that there was no issue with the indicators.

“Now I’ll tell you the test criteria you’re so eager to know.”

Professor Muniher’s test criteria were based on actual battlefield scenarios.

Though there wasn’t a single magical beast in the field, he provided evidence for each item, effectively shutting the mouths of the students who had arrogantly tried to climb up.

“Humans are intelligent beings who know how to use tools. If you’re given tools, shouldn’t you know how to use them? Do you need magic for something this simple?”

“If this test was so easy, shouldn’t you have wondered if something was off? Your heads are so full of magic that you can’t see anything else.”

“If there’s no clear objective for the test, shouldn’t you have the capacity to figure it out? I see none of the perseverance that’s supposed to be a virtue of our empire’s citizens.”

“Is working in pairs just for show? How can you expect to move as a team when you can’t even cooperate with one partner?”

“The fact that you left the test site after only looking at what was given shows that you’re incapable of making judgments.”

“Vigilance is the most necessary thing on an actual battlefield. Those who received an E in this category would be nothing but baggage in battle.”

Under this barrage of incredible rebukes, the students’ complaints didn’t last long.

Professor Muniher openly compared the battlefield to the test site and dismantled the losers’ unreasonable arguments with logical and valid evidence.

As he compared the two test papers and pointed out each student’s actions, their frequency of making excuses visibly decreased.

If that place had been an actual battlefield and magical beasts had appeared, they would have become corpses.

‘Tsk. Now they finally shut up.’

With nothing left to refute, they tucked their tails and just watched cautiously.

Among the students who had become mute, someone stepped forward.

“Your exaggeration is excessive, Professor Muniher.”

“What business do you have, Professor Nevel?”

“I came because I heard there was a commotion. I also heard that many are dissatisfied with the class placement test.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

Professor Muniher was pointing out why he had interfered here and now.

The intruding man maintained a shameless face as he answered.

“The students will have a hard time accepting this anyway, so how about this?”

***

From my perspective watching this, I could guess what had happened in the past.

─Professor…!

─Sob… Professor Nevel…!

─Professor, was it our fault as that person said…?

“It’s not your fault, everyone. This test had many exceptional circumstances.”

The students assigned to Class F pleaded to the professor for help.

And this human called Professor Nevel was acting like a kind professor, but in reality, he was openly taking the side of certain students.

What nonsense. That crazy professor.

“The reevaluation will be a duel, so you can prove yourselves properly this time.”

Now I understand why the beginning-of-semester evaluation for the subjugation course, which was supposed to be a practical subject, was stopped and replaced with a duel.

It was because of them.