Ch.8484. Midterm Exam Results

# The Morning After a Complex Relationship Establishment

No matter what happened the previous day, a new sun rises and a new day begins.

I thought I would walk the usual path to school today like any other day…

“From today, let’s go together.”

But that wasn’t possible.

The spot beside me, which should have been empty, was now occupied by someone all too familiar.

“I’ve been patient for a long time. Now Ludion knows too, right?”

“Yeah… I know…”

It was because Celia, who usually waited in front of the advanced class building, was today waiting at the path leading out of the dormitory.

I wondered what was happening, but apparently this was her plan from now on…

“Well, do as you please.”

As she said, she had been patient for quite a while.

With her favorability constantly rising, wouldn’t she have thought about doing this before?

She probably had the thought for a while but just hadn’t acted on it.

So honestly… it might be better that she came out like this.

They say if you keep holding things in, they accumulate and come back stronger later.

I wonder if something like that would happen just because of favorability, but if by some chance a “Dark Celia” route were to open, the fate of the world would rest in Celia’s hands, not the Demon King’s.

Thinking about it, I’d rather she not hold back, even if it makes things a bit awkward for me.

Originally, I thought nothing would change if she walked beside me to school…

“Isn’t that the Imperial Princess? Why is she with that commoner?”

“Hey, your voice is too loud.”

I was wrong. Things were changing a lot.

My mind suddenly cleared as I heard conversations that I wouldn’t normally hear on the way to school.

“…It seems more people than I thought don’t know we hang out together every day.”

I thought everyone knew because of all the rumors, but surprisingly, quite a few people didn’t seem to know.

It wasn’t strange. Although we had been together almost every day, it had only been about two months.

That might feel a bit long, but we had only been seen in public places for a few days, so there wouldn’t have been many witnesses.

This was practically the first time we were openly walking together during busy hours.

So the only people who currently knew about our relationship were… probably just the first-year advanced class students.

Thinking about it this way, Celia must have been working hard to restrain herself and hide it, even though it seemed like we were openly hanging out together?

If I had made her keep holding back… well… it seems she’s now decided to throw caution to the wind and stick close. There’s no point thinking about it now.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

I decided to just continue walking to school.

This was my first time walking to school with Celia. Except for the occasional stares from around us, it wasn’t much different.

But then, I noticed a place that was more crowded than usual.

It was in front of the bulletin board where various news and information were posted, so it seemed the midterm results had been announced.

“Seeing everyone gathered like that reminds me of the entrance ceremony day. Do you want to go check?”

“I should take a look.”

“I’ll wait here. Come back when you’re done.”

She still seemed to dislike getting into crowds.

So I pushed through the crowd alone and stood in front of the bulletin board.

As expected, the midterm results were prominently displayed.

Although this path was usually only used by first and second-year students, the results for all years up to fourth year were posted.

They were supposed to have been announced yesterday, but I heard there was a dispute about the second-year top student selection, so the announcement was delayed by a day.

“Who else could be the top student in second year besides that person?”

At this point, the second-year top student is predetermined. It could be changed with some intervention, but I don’t remember doing anything.

Out of curiosity, I glanced at the second-year results first, but since the results hadn’t changed, I couldn’t figure out what the issue had been.

It’s bothering me that something changed when I didn’t do anything.

The only second-year students I’ve interacted with are… the trio including Grain that I met at the student council.

“I’ll have to check separately later.”

Since I wouldn’t get answers by just thinking about it now, I decided to move on.

There was no need to check who the first-year top student was—it was obviously Celia.

She was already overwhelming back then, and she’s grown rapidly recently… To compete with her now, no first-year would stand a chance; at least the current third or fourth-year top students would need to step up.

Speaking of which, the third-year top student was naturally Alkine.

The student council president is known as the strongest in the academy, so overwhelming that she’s still a wall that can’t be overcome, seemingly just a bit stronger than Celia.

Even though Diggers as a demon had lost his will, she was able to cut him down easily… She’s already on a different level from the academy students.

And the fourth-year top student… is definitely strong, but I don’t know much about them.

They’re a character whose name only appears in the game but never actually shows up… I’m curious what kind of person they are, but I’m avoiding getting involved in case something happens.

They’re about to graduate and will cross to another continent afterward, so they’re essentially dummy data with no relevance to the future story. Let’s just move on.

Next is the second-place student…

The name written for first-year second place was Lowell Soulriver.

Lowell Soulriver. The future Sword Master.

For reference, Alkine does have the Sword Master trait, but that’s a bit different.

There’s a difference between having the Sword Master trait and being called a Sword Master by people.

Basically, compared to any strong person with the Sword Master trait, Lowell is the most skilled with a sword.

If you meet him later and explore his abilities, he has dozens of sword-related traits. That’s how obsessed he is with swords.

“Well, it turned out as expected.”

I had actually hoped a little that my name might be there, but it seems my practically forfeiting the practical exam had a big impact.

Perfect score in theory, perfect score in duels, but I couldn’t do that Lich Knight punching machine…

Well, even if I were to do it again, the result would be the same, so there’s nothing to regret.

So Lowell taking second place is natural… wait, come to think of it, didn’t Lilith have better practical scores than him? I think she won when they dueled too.

“She must have messed up the theory exam.”

Considering the theory portion doesn’t weigh that heavily, she must have really bombed it.

She studied so hard, but still did poorly enough to make her practical scores meaningless? At that point, maybe it’s better to give up on studying?

There wasn’t much else to see in the other rankings.

Despite the dispute over the second-year top student, the second place turned out as I expected, and the third-year second place, which changed because Diggers dropped out, was still understandably a student council member.

Plus, the fourth-year second place was also a student council member… so there really wasn’t anything interesting to see.

Having checked everything, I slipped out of the crowd, and found that Lilith had joined Celia.

She seemed full of energy this morning, passionately venting about something…

“Argh!! This is so frustrating! Why didn’t any of the things I studied come up?!”

“That’s because you study sporadically, Lilith. For exams, you need to memorize everything.”

“You don’t understand how I feel. Someone smart like you wouldn’t understand how it feels to memorize something diligently only to forget it all after waking up.”

“Do I need to understand? As you said, I’m smart, so I remember everything even after sleeping.”

“…You’re annoying. If you’re going to tease me, just go away!”

“You approached me first, Lilith. Why are you telling me to go away?”

Listening to them, it seemed she really did mess up the theory exam.

“Hey, you should just give up on studying.”

“What’s with you! I’m telling you, none of the things I memorized came up!!”

I jumped in to tease her a bit before continuing on my way.

Since we were heading in the same direction, it would be awkward to split up, so Lilith stayed with us.

“Ludion. How does it feel to have top students on both sides of you?”

As the three of us were walking… Celia, who had suddenly pressed close to my side, asked such a question.

“What are you talking about? I’m neither first nor second.”

“Don’t worry about it, Lilith. This isn’t about you.”

I wondered why she suddenly brought this up. She’s subtly trying to exclude Lilith.

It was our first time walking to school together, but Lilith suddenly joined in, making it three of us, which seemed to bother her more than I expected.

Before, I might have thought, “No way, Celia wouldn’t be like that,” and just let it slide… but now that I know about the favorability system, I can’t pretend not to notice.

I didn’t have the courage to touch on that part, so I decided to just answer Celia’s question.

“I don’t really think anything of it.”

I wasn’t just saying that; I really didn’t think anything of it.

They were always going to be the top students. On the contrary, if they hadn’t been top students, I would have been concerned, but since everything flowed as expected, I truly had no thoughts on it.

With that in mind, I gave a casual answer, but Celia suddenly started expressing gratitude.

“…Thank you.”

I momentarily didn’t understand what she meant by this sudden thanks, but her following words made it clear.

“It’s thanks to Ludion giving up your spot.”

“…Ah, yes.”

She seemed to think that my forfeiting during the practical exam due to lack of attack means was me giving up the top spot to her.

“I don’t particularly care about being top student or anything, but my mother takes these things very seriously.”

“Parents always want their children to be the best.”

“Yes. Well… my mother is also an extraordinary person. I think she wants me to follow in her footsteps. Honestly, getting the top spot this way feels a bit unsettling…”

Celia kept implying that I should have been the top student.

But Celia… that wasn’t me giving up; that was my best effort.

I couldn’t say that here, so I just let it go.

“I’ll work hard to become someone worthy of Ludion. When that time comes, I’ll be able to hold the title of top student more proudly, right?”

It wasn’t a bad misunderstanding, and explaining wouldn’t lower her already high favorability anyway.

Celia, if you’re happy with it, then I’m satisfied.

“If you two are just going to talk amongst yourselves, should I go ahead?”

“Go ahead, Lilith. I’ll see you in the classroom later.”

“…You’re really telling me to go?”

Despite Celia’s attempts to get rid of Lilith until the end, Lilith stayed with us until we arrived.

Celia, please don’t look at Lilith with that expression. Lilith is an ally…