Ch.6Class Placement Exam (1)

# Practical Magic Head Professor

Lepen Chaser began his speech with his back to the vast meadow.

“Was the past month enjoyable, or was it miserable? Either way, you’ve spent this month preparing for today. And the test results will vary depending on how you used this fair time.”

The First Emperor Persotian wished that, if nowhere else, at least within this educational institution called the ‘Academy,’ social status would disappear.

That’s why the placement exam was held after a one-month grace period. It was meant to accommodate children who had no prior learning opportunities.

When Persotian was alive, this system worked reasonably well. Back then, magic wasn’t systematized, so there was no such thing as ‘early education’—

And since magic absolutely depended on talent, that one month could somewhat bridge the gap.

“Now, before we begin the class placement exam that will determine your year, I’ll give you one task.”

But times change.

Magic became highly systematized and continuously evolved through various formulas and magical materials.

The gap between nobles and commoners grew day by day, and the one-month period became a social arena for trying to befriend those with prestigious names rather than a time for pursuing knowledge.

Because—

“It doesn’t matter who or how many people. Form a party and report to me. You have 30 minutes.”

The content of the placement exam was practically telling students to build connections during that one month.

As soon as Lepen finished speaking, some students went to find members they had already arranged. Others kept looking around nervously.

‘How boring.’

Hersy observed with her arms crossed. She thought it was boring either way.

Was it skill to grovel before the powerful for a month just for this exam? That was just a cheap trick.

Building relationships with people had nothing to do with magical ability.

While Hersy was proud of the Imperial Academy, she couldn’t understand this placement exam.

“Lady Minerva!”

Just then, a girl approached Hersy. It was Sophia, with whom she had frequent interactions since childhood.

“Would you like to join our party? Oh!”

Sophia covered her mouth and smiled softly.

“I made a mistake. Would you accept us? Hersy.”

Sophia extended her hand. It was perfect etiquette with no flaws.

However, Hersy was troubled.

‘…Though there’s no limit on the number of people.’

Most parties consisted of 4-5 people. Any more could cause various problems, from food issues to factional conflicts.

But she wondered if Ruide would approve.

‘I heard he dislikes being around many people.’

Ruide had promised to help with the exam. That meant he would join her party.

From what Hersy had learned over the past week, the indolent young lord Ruide extremely avoided interactions with people.

‘I should reject until Ruide arrives. But still.’

Hersy was honestly getting anxious.

‘Why isn’t he here yet?’

Class had already started, but there was no sign of Ruide.

Still, they had made an appointment. A noble of his status wouldn’t disregard a promise.

Hersy decided to decline Sophia’s offer.

“I’m sorry, Sophia.”

“What?”

“I… already have a prior engagement.”

Sophia opened her eyes wide.

“A prior engagement?”

“Yes.”

“With whom?”

It would normally be an unpleasant situation, but since Sophia and Hersy were quite close, they didn’t mind such things.

She was simply curious. The proud Hersy forming a party with someone else?

“…With the young lord of House Windsor. Um, Ruide Christopher.”

Hersy twisted her hair slightly out of embarrassment.

“What? Ruide? That indolent young lord?”

“Yes.”

Sophia seemed surprised. She looked around quickly and whispered.

“That’s amazing, Hersy. You always said you weren’t interested in engagement, but you sneakily made the first move?”

Hersy also lowered her voice.

“Oh, sneaky? It’s not like that!”

“Anyway, good luck, Hersy! I’ll step aside for now.”

Hersy was about to quickly refute but stopped when Sophia straightened her back and gave a sweet business smile.

“It’s a shame, but we’ll work together another time. I’ll be going now.”

Hersy reached out with trembling lips, but Sophia had already turned away.

She sighed and looked around.

‘Hurry up. Hurry.’

Now that she had told Sophia, there was no turning back. She had to form a party with Ruide.

To get Ruide’s consent and recruit other party members, he needed to arrive at least 10 minutes before the exam started.

But Ruide was nowhere to be seen.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“Three minutes left.”

Hersy was staring at the ground with a desperate expression.

She couldn’t think of anything.

Ruide still hadn’t arrived.

And the fact that he hadn’t shown up yet meant he had no intention of coming at all.

‘Stupid. How could I believe that? As if Ruide Christopher would form a party with someone like me.’

She was the only one who hadn’t formed a party yet.

She could still approach Sophia and ask to join her party…

…but her pride absolutely wouldn’t allow it.

After all, she had already declared that she would form a party with that ‘indolent Ruide.’

‘How foolish. You’re so foolish, Hersy.’

Self-reproach was too late now.

Beyond the exam…

Hersy was…

“Hersy Minerva.”

“…!”

“You still haven’t formed a party.”

People’s gazes were embarrassing.

-Look at Lady Minerva, still alone.

-I heard she’s been waiting because she said she’d form a party with Lord Ruide.

-Really? No way. That ‘indolent Ruide’ doesn’t even attend classes.

It felt as if they were whispering exactly that while looking at her.

“Hersy.”

“…Yes.”

“Since time is up, we have no choice but to proceed with the exam as is. But let me ask once more. Do you intend to take the exam alone?”

At this point, she had no choice but to act as if she had planned to be alone from the beginning.

Hersy was about to nod with half-dead eyes when—

“Huh?”

“Look over there.”

“A person?”

At the murmuring sounds, she looked up at the sky.

It was Ruide.

Floating gracefully through the air and landing lightly on the meadow, he walked toward Hersy.

Though he seemed aware that he was late, his steps were incredibly confident.

Hersy’s expression brightened. But then she glared at Ruide with sharp eyes.

“Hersy.”

“You’re late…! Aren’t you?”

Hersy, who was about to get angry, lowered her voice when she realized there were many eyes on them.

‘Thank goodness! Thank goodness! Thank goodness!’

Her mind was filled with such thoughts.

“Did you register my name?”

“How could I when you weren’t here…!”

“You should have the sense to take care of such things in advance.”

Hersy was dumbfounded, but she didn’t care.

‘…I’m really relieved.’

She was so relieved that her legs almost gave out. Hersy stood before Professor Lepen with confident steps.

“Hersy Minerva. Ruide Christopher Windsor – these two are a party.”

Lepen nodded and wrote down their names with a magical pen.

Then he went back up to the platform.

Students looked at Lepen with tense faces.

“Before we begin the actual exam, let me introduce the brief rules. From now on, you must survive for one week in this ‘Ancient Plateau.'”

The Academy students swallowed dry saliva nervously.

“A survival where you kill each other— I assume there are no fools who think that, of course?”

The students burst into laughter at Lepen’s joke.

The tense atmosphere eased a bit. Lepen raised the corner of his mouth with a smirk and held something in his hand.

“Take one of the armbands placed on the table. Anyone whose armband is removed is eliminated. Obviously, those who are eliminated early will be placed in the ‘Low’ class.”

Lepen warned sternly.

“Although I doubt the brilliant Imperial Academy students would do this, bloodshed is strictly prohibited. If you have questions, raise your hand. I’ll answer for the next 10 minutes.”

Someone raised their hand.

Lepen nodded.

A male student with many freckles asked.

“What’s the standard for bloodshed? If violence is prohibited, how do we take armbands?”

“Good question.”

It was something all nobles already knew, but Lepen kindly explained without showing it.

“It depends on what both parties agree to. You can play chess, have a running competition. Of course, no one would be that stupid. Most typically decide through magical duels. There are no restrictions. If you’re confident you won’t cause injury, you can take it directly. For example, yes, even when someone is sleeping.”

The male student nodded as if he understood.

Lepen, seeing no more questions, raised his staff.

“Since there seem to be no more questions.”

Blue light erupted from his staff.

“Let’s begin the exam.”

Then, a massive magic circle engulfed the students.

**

Ruide stared blankly at his surroundings.

All those students had disappeared, and they were now in a dense forest.

“Let’s have a talk, Lord Ruide?”

A cold voice came from beside him. It was Hersy. She was pouting with her arms crossed.

“Don’t you think you were too late?”

Honestly, even Ruide felt a bit guilty.

-Oh my, Rui!

If Amelia hadn’t come to wake him up, he would have truly been late.

But shamelessness is a virtue of the unemployed.

“I wasn’t late. I arrived right on time.”

“Sigh, that’s true, but…”

Hersy let out a deep sigh.

“Fine. At least you came. But if something like this happens again, please come early. Do you know how anxious I was?”

“I’m sorry about that.”

When Ruide properly apologized, Hersy felt better and cleared her throat, placing her hands on her waist.

“Ask me if there’s anything you don’t know. You probably didn’t research any of this, right?”

Hersy spoke as if it was obvious, but in fact, Ruide knew everything in detail. Even future events that Hersy couldn’t possibly know.

But having decided to maintain his character setting, Ruide pretended not to know.

“I need to know something to ask about it.”

“Hmm. Now that you mention it, that’s true. Anyway, we have plenty of time, so I’ll explain slowly. First, let’s decide on our shelter.”

To briefly describe the class placement exam, it was a ‘general audience battle royale.’

They had to survive in this forest for a week. There were events in between, but the essence was either to eliminate other groups or to simply endure—one of the two.

‘Since I’m here, I should aim for first place. And if possible, avoid running into the protagonist’s group.’

Ruide’s plan was simple.

Get first place while avoiding entanglement with the protagonist.

It was obvious they would fight upon meeting.

His irritation level was already high from being late, and meeting the protagonist here could make things worse than in the original story.

Getting first place was easy as pie.

Avoiding the protagonist was also simple.

After all, Ruide knew exactly where in this vast forest the protagonist had been dropped.

“First, it’s important to set up a base camp near a river. Water is an essential resource.”

The protagonist was at a location with a waterfall and two large rocks in front.

“Wow, we’re lucky. I can already hear water. Let’s go that way!”

And a place with plenty of food sources like fruit trees and mushrooms…

-Whoosh.

“My goodness, there’s fruit! And a waterfall right in front.”

“?”

“Such luck…! This makes the difficulty level so much easier.”

…exactly the place they were looking at right now.

That is, the protagonist’s shelter that Ruide knew about.

“I don’t like it.”

“What?”

“The waterfall is too noisy for me to sleep. Let’s find somewhere farther away.”

Ruide started being unreasonable.

‘We need to get away from this unlucky place quickly.’

It was fortunate they found it so quickly; otherwise, they would have run into the protagonist.

“What kind of nonsense is that! I assure you, there’s no better location in the Ancient Plateau than here.”

He knew that. After all, the reason the protagonist quickly gets eliminated in the beginning is because they secured such an excellent position.

“Well, stop arguing and…”

The best strategy was to leave this place immediately. So he tried to drag her away forcibly.

-Rustle.

“……”

There was a presence nearby.

Ruide twitched his eyebrows.

Hersy quickly pulled out her staff.

“Get ready, Ruide.”

Ruide hoped it wasn’t. Surely, surely not the protagonist?

But bad premonitions always come true.

“Huh? Sophia?”

“Hersy?”

He didn’t need to hear the main heroine’s name to recognize that clueless-looking man at the back.

It was indeed the protagonist’s group.

Ruide smacked his forehead.

‘We’re screwed.’