Ch.5655. Midterm Exams (9)

# 55. Midterm Exams (9)

“Wow… it’s freaking huge.”

Inside that box lay a single enormous magic stone.

The size of the magic stone was quite remarkable.

Typically, magic stones are used for various purposes, such as extracting magical power to convert into electricity, making potions, or crafting items.

That’s why magic stones are quite valuable, and hunters actually make their living by selling magic stones obtained from monsters.

Chris couldn’t take his eyes off the magic stone as he asked the teacher.

“How much would this be worth?”

“About 200 million?”

“What!? 200 million!?”

While Chris was making a fuss, Raycle and I tried to figure out how to divide this magic stone fairly.

“Rock-paper-scissors for a fair split?”

“Don’t talk nonsense! Let’s just take one-third each.”

“Coward…”

With Chris’s firm rejection, it seemed we had no choice but to divide it equally.

“So that’s 66.66 million won each?”

“What, is your ancestor going to pay the taxes for you?”

“Oh right…”

Chris belatedly realized the existence of taxes and looked disappointed.

Thirty percent of income earned from magic stones must be paid as tax.

“It’s 140 million won, so 46.66 million won each.”

“That leaves 20,000 won.”

“You can have that.”

“Nice!”

Chris might be one of the Empire’s top diamond spoon kids, but he was still delighted over a mere 20,000 won.

“Let’s go eat, I’m hungry.”

“Sure, I’ll keep this and send you the money when it comes in.”

I put the magic stone into a small bag enchanted with storage magic.

Then I followed Raycle, who was already walking toward the cafeteria.

***

We quickly finished lunch and came to the dueling arena where the close combat trials were being held.

“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been to the dueling arena.”

Although the dueling arena existed, we usually conducted practice matches in the training grounds, so this was almost our first time here.

Typically, the dueling arena hosts official matches where something is at stake, rather than just training sessions.

“Raycle, wanna bet 10,000 won?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“We’ll have to fight each other later anyway.”

“Scared?”

Chris’s expression and tone were irritating even to me as an observer, and his provocation seemed quite effective on Raycle.

“Fine, let’s do it. But not 10,000—let’s make it 100,000 won.”

I watched the scene unfold like a spectator watching a fire from across the river.

It’s natural to jump up even from sleep to watch a good fire or a good fight.

The instigator of this spectacle asked me for a favor.

“Albert, be our referee.”

“Alright.”

As Chris requested, I climbed onto the arena to referee their duel.

“I, Albert Veros, will referee the duel between Chris Gabriel and Raycle Caris. The loser will transfer 100,000 won to the winner. Conditions for defeat are falling outside the arena, surrendering, or becoming unable to fight.”

I raised my hand high in the center of the arena.

“Ready… begin!”

With those words, I quickly lowered my hand, and their 100,000 won duel began.

‘But isn’t 100,000 won too little?’

It was a very modest prize for a duel between rich boys.

Still, the level of the duel was not one where I could criticize them with thoughts like ‘Shouldn’t they bet at least a month’s allowance?’

The fierce exchange that followed didn’t seem like a duel between 17-year-olds.

Since both were martial artists who primarily used their fists, the fight was particularly intense.

-Thud! Thwack!-

Raycle’s fists, enhanced by his unique skill [Body Like a Sword], could score meaningful points with just one hit.

However, Chris would not allow that to happen.

“Aren’t you a bit too slow?”

Chris easily deflected those sharp fists coming toward him.

He fought by using his holy power and martial arts to drag out the fight.

His strategy was to endure until Raycle’s magical power was depleted.

Some might call it a petty method, but I liked it.

It showcased Chris’s belief that ‘You do whatever it takes to win.’

“What are those people doing over there?”

I instinctively turned my head at the voice from beside me.

Rachel was standing there, watching their passionate match with apparent boredom.

“Betting 100,000 won.”

“100,000 won? Everyone’s being quite stingy.”

“Well…”

“I heard the Commander came today.”

“He helped me with the exam in place of the teachers.”

Rachel seemed quite surprised by that.

“Eh? Did you meet him?”

“Yeah, briefly. He asked if I wanted to join the Knights Order.”

“And?”

“Obviously I declined.”

It was only after she died and I quit the Special Forces—twenty years later—that I became the Knights Commander.

I had no intention of joining the Knights Order now, though maybe later.

“Why? If you join, you’d have a free pass all the way to Knights Commander.”

“I can do that without joining now, and the Knights Order isn’t where I belong.”

“Then where do you belong?”

When Rachel said that, I thought of her—the one who must be diligently taking her written exam right now.

I looked up at the sky and whispered quietly.

“I miss her…”

“Who?”

Rachel asked me while knowing full well who I was talking about.

“The most beautiful person in the Imperial Academy… no, in the world.”

“Me?”

Rachel is certainly extremely beautiful.

But she chose the wrong opponent.

In front of the diamond that is Elizabeth Michael, everyone else is just a pebble on the street.

Rachel studied my expression and then asked with an incredulous face.

“Wait… did you have to look so serious about it?”

“Yeah, don’t cross the line. You’re plenty beautiful too… but that’s just not it.”

“B-beautiful?”

Rachel blushed at the compliment and turned her head to avoid my gaze.

“You are beautiful, of course.”

“Who’s beautiful? Me?”

“What’s wrong with you all today?”

The owner of that outlandish question was Elin.

Elin spoke while looking at her reflection in a hand mirror.

“Someone like me… is plenty beautiful.”

“You haven’t forgotten what you said to me the night before the entrance ceremony, that you’re inferior compared to me, right?”

“Shut up. Anyway, when does it start? I want to get this over with quickly…”

Elin took out her phone and checked her close combat trial schedule.

“By the way, who are you fighting? It won’t be third-year middle schoolers, right?”

“Of course I’m fighting first-year high schoolers.”

“Who are you up against?”

“Raycle, Chris, Reina, Senior Eve, and that bastard.”

‘That bastard?’

While I was thinking about who Elin would refer to that way, the person who most closely fit the description of ‘that bastard’ in the academy entered the dueling arena.

“Ah…”

Leo had a brief staring contest with Elin, then clicked his tongue and disappeared into the inner part of the dueling arena.

“You two get along so well.”

“Me and him?”

“I think you two match well.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

I instinctively cowered at Elin’s fierce voice.

“Sorry…”

“You’re really talking complete nonsense.”

“But honestly, you two look good together. You even look similar—”

Before I could finish, Elin’s magic hit me.

-Zzzap!-

“Ow!… Wait… that doesn’t hurt much.”

I instinctively made a strange noise when hit by her magic.

But it was surprisingly weak for her.

“I made it weak, that’s why it doesn’t hurt.”

“Why so merciful? Usually I’d be bedridden for half a day.”

“Want me to make it stronger?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

“It’s time now, hurry up and go find your arena.”

Elin looked at her phone and disappeared somewhere, and I also took out my phone.

My phone showed when and where my match would take place, and who the referee would be.

“I should head there now.”

I set off to find the arena number shown on my phone.

***

The teachers supervising Raycle and Chris’s close combat trial observed the strange scene and commented.

“How long are they going to keep this up?”

“It should end soon enough.”

Despite sweating profusely and breathing heavily, neither of them was willing to give up the duel.

As a result, the teachers acting as referees had no choice but to reschedule their other appointments.

Raycle asked his opponent, who was persisting like a cockroach:

“How long… *gasp*… *gasp*… do you plan to keep this up…?”

“This is… *gasp*… an exam now… I absolutely won’t give up.”

Chris charged at the magically depleted Raycle with a devilish smile.

Of course, Raycle didn’t just stand there.

He grabbed the hand coming toward his head and lifted Chris’s entire body.

Then he tried to throw him outside the arena.

“You crazy bastard! Put me down!”

Chris mercilessly struck Raycle’s face while being lifted.

-Thwack! Thwack! Thud!-

Raycle endured well and gradually walked forward, but he lost his grip on Chris when he was just one step away from the edge.

“That was close…”

Chris approached him to put an end to this prolonged fight.

Then he threw a punch with all his might toward Raycle’s face.

The normal Raycle would have easily blocked such a sloppy attack, but now he was too exhausted to even move his body.

Raycle, covered in wounds, looked at Chris’s face as he threw the punch and said:

“You really… win in the dirtiest way…”

Chris’s full-powered punch finally put an end to the mud-slinging fight.

-THUD!!!-