Ch.59Midterm Exam – 2

“Aria, you…”

I trailed off, feeling an inexplicable chill. Even I wasn’t sure what I had just witnessed.

Could Aria really make such a smile? It didn’t match her usual image at all.

“Yes? What is it, Mira?”

Before I knew it, Aria was back to her usual self—impossibly bright, innocent, and kind-hearted—tilting her head with a purely curious expression.

For a moment, I almost thought I had imagined it. The current Aria looked extremely pure.

‘…But I’m certain it wasn’t my imagination.’

Yet I had clearly seen it. That chilling smile on her innocent face. The corners of her mouth stretched wide and her eyes curved like inverted crescents. That viscous emotion oozing from her entire being.

That appearance just now was definitely not an illusion—

“Mira, are you okay? You look pale. Are you feeling unwell?”

At that moment, Aria suddenly thrust her face close to mine. Our lips nearly touched. I stepped back slightly, feeling her unique scent mixed in her exhaled breath.

Without exaggeration, if she had moved just one more knuckle of her pinky finger closer, our lips would have met. That’s how close we just were.

“…No, I’m fine. It’s nothing. I think I just imagined something. Sorry if I worried you.”

“Hehe, oh Mira. You’re not nervous, are you? You seemed perfectly fine until just now.”

As she chuckled lightly, there wasn’t a trace of that eeriness in Aria’s demeanor. Only the purity and beauty befitting the protagonist of a novel remained.

‘…Did I see wrong?’

Perhaps I really had, I thought.

It happened in such a brief moment. Before the chill I felt could even fade, she had returned to her normal self. Maybe the light had hit strangely for an instant, making her smile appear distorted.

Aria was the ideal protagonist, so kind that both Priscilla and Rosaria would call her a pushover, far exceeding mere kindness. That smile wasn’t something someone with her personality could make. I deliberately pushed away the sense of dissonance.

“You know you’re making a really interesting expression right now, Mira?”

Aria poked my cheek repeatedly and giggled brightly. Her laugh was as radiant as the midday sun.

“So, I still haven’t heard your answer! The bet, what do you say? Will you do it?”

“…I could. So I have to bet on Brunhild winning, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“You two aren’t conspiring to trick me or anything, are you?”

“Leona can be mischievous, but she wouldn’t do that in this situation. Despite appearances, she’s quite competitive.”

Aria stated confidently. I was uncertain but decided to accept it. When I agreed to the bet, Aria clenched her fists cutely and burned with enthusiasm, saying I’d see and that she absolutely wouldn’t lose.

“I’m back! I won first place!”

Brunhild returned after easily defeating her opponent, just as her calm demeanor had suggested. As expected, she was a cheat character like me, excluded from the betting odds.

Next was Aria’s match, which came somewhere in the middle of the order. Her fighting style was textbook but effective. She surrounded herself with defensive magic, kept her opponent at bay with light spells, laid down area effects to restrict movement, and finished with one big attack.

It’s called textbook, but properly executing this in a real battle is quite difficult. Especially when facing another mage who has similar ideas, with counters flying back and forth.

But Aria, the very embodiment of a model student, pulled it off effortlessly. Her opponent was completely overwhelmed, unable to match her in spell power, range, casting speed, or defensive durability.

“…Aria suggested that bet?”

While waiting for Aria, I told Brunhild about the bet. I’d heard advice that telling her might actually fire up her fighting spirit even more.

“Sorry. Just for today, I’m giving up being your childhood friend, Aria.”

Aria’s prediction was spot on. Brunhild’s eyes blazed with determination as she declared she would set aside their friendship just for today.

“Hmm… shall we make a bet too?”

As expected, Aria made another bet with Brunhild. Unlike the vaguely described prize for our bet, which she claimed was fair for both parties, their bet was for dessert.

A limited edition muffin that only sells 100 per day.

‘Those don’t even taste good.’

Beatrice bought some before and I tried a bite, but they were too sweet. Beatrice ended up eating them all herself, wondering why I wouldn’t eat something so delicious.

“As a teacher, I’m deeply embarrassed to say this… but could you please hold back a little? We need to evaluate your opponent too.”

“Understood.”

And then it was my turn, last in the order. As soon as the starting whistle blew, I knocked down my opponent in 0.1 seconds and received that request directly from Professor Jake.

When I returned to the waiting area, Aria and Brunhild were looking at me as if I were some kind of demon. The surrounding gazes were the same.

The number of students continued to dwindle. Once the tournament bracket became small enough to proceed with one match at a time, some students began to show fatigue from consecutive matches, unable to perform at their best.

Even that was part of the evaluation criteria. How well do you know your own strength, and how intelligently can you distribute that power throughout a fight?

Going all out now might give your next opponent an easy win, but conversely, trying to conserve too much energy might cause you to lose to a weaker opponent.

Of course, the professors said they would factor in those who obviously stalled with a defensive strategy, so good judgment was essential. All of this was part of the psychological warfare.

“We’re fine, but Aria, you look surprisingly energetic too?”

Brunhild and I were naturally in good shape, but what was unexpected was how strong Aria was in close combat.

As the number of participants decreased, she sometimes faced opponents with advantageous matchups against her, but she overcame them all with skill.

“I entered the academy with the second highest score on the entrance exam, remember? The entrance exam doesn’t have majors. To score high, you need to be good at everything.”

Come to think of it, in the original story, Aria always held the top position. I had momentarily forgotten because of her quiet personality.

“I’ll give you all a short break now! The real competition starts after this!”

Finally, with only four people left in the bracket, a brief rest was granted. As everyone had predicted, it was Aria, Brunhild, myself, and some other woman.

In the audience, people were settling their bets during this break. There was obvious joy and disappointment, but the professors paid no attention.

“Break’s over! Next contestants, to the arena!”

I faced the woman standing before me, hearing the booming announcement. Though we’d never met since she was from a different class, I’d heard about her from Priscilla.

Miser or money ghost. A woman who had earned every nickname related to obsession with money: “Io Brante.”

Her talent and skills were exceptional, but she frequently skipped lectures to focus on making money, so she wasn’t well-regarded among professors.

The reason for her obsession with money was that her parents had died at the hands of monsters, leaving her to support her younger siblings alone.

“Ah, hello! Nice to meet you!”

“Sure.”

Though she appeared timid on the surface, it was actually an act. Even her pretense of shyness was a strategy to fully utilize her pretty appearance.

I drew Eternity and charged at the signal. Deliberately clashing blades, I created a binding and engaged the crossguard, pretending to struggle in a test of strength.

“Nngh…!”

While I was only pretending, she was exerting considerable force, and I could see Io gritting her teeth as she maintained her center of gravity. Moving my lips as little as possible, I asked:

“I heard you’ll do anything for money. Is that true?”

“Anything… is! Not quite, ugh…!”

As Io answered, she pushed me back with difficulty. I pretended to be pushed back, then quickly grabbed her wrist holding the sword and pulled her in, twisting her elbow inward.

When her own sword was about to be pressed against her neck, Io quickly dropped it. Then she drew a dagger from her waist with her other hand, aiming for my neck. I caught her dagger hand and twisted it.

Our bodies naturally drew closer. At the same time, Io’s dagger moved closer to her own neck.

“Not anything, you said?”

“Not… indecent things…!”

Io answered consistently even as she struggled to break free. I had no intention of asking for such things anyway, so that was fine.

“Good. Then would you take a job from me later?”

“Nnnngh…! What… kind of job…?”

Finally, the blade touched her neck. Numbers indicating damage taken began to rise slowly.

“Killing bad guys.”

“M-murder is quite expensive…!”

She’s not refusing outright, even in this situation. I applied more pressure. The numbers rose much faster. It must be because the blade was touching her neck.

“Two platinum coins as advance payment. The same amount upon completion. Plus fifty gold coins for each bad guy’s head.”

“…!!!!!!”

As Io’s eyes widened at the enormous sum and she was about to say something, the damage reached its limit. With a warning sound, the distance between us was forcibly widened.

As I heard the victory declaration, I calmly said:

“If you’re interested, come to my club room after the exam. I’ll explain the details.”

That concluded the match. Rosaria approached and led away Io, who was still standing dazed in place. Though she hadn’t shown much, that was for the professors to evaluate.

“Next! Leona Brunhild and Aria April!”

Aria and Brunhild entered the arena. Brunhild pointed her holy sword and took a confident stance.

“You really thought you could beat me, Aria?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Aria smiled brightly as she took her stance and pointed her staff. A blue magic circle appeared at the tip of her staff. Seeing this, Brunhild snorted.

“Is that what you prepared? You know sleep magic doesn’t work on me.”

But the smile on her face remained.

“You know what, Leona?”

“What suddenly?”

“The holy sword protects its hero. That protection includes complete immunity to various mental attacks.”

“Of course I know. So what?”

During their conversation, the magic circle was completed. Aria raised her staff with an incredibly pure and beautiful smile.

“But it can’t block mental attacks that contain not even a trace of malice toward the user.”

“Huh…? What?”

At the same moment, Brunhild’s knees gave way. With a thud, she collapsed onto the arena floor. The audience erupted in commotion.

“Sleep well, Leona. Sweet dreams. Whether they’re about me, or about Mira.”

“You… that’s unfair…”

Brunhild couldn’t finish her sentence before her eyes closed.

Soon, very even breathing could be heard. Jake declared the winner in confusion, and the audience’s commotion grew incomparably louder.

“See? I kept my promise, Mira.”

Aria beamed a radiant smile.

“Now it’s just us left.”