episode_0089

“Finish the grading first, then you can discuss that among yourselves later.”

Gedra interrupted the young professors, saying.

Idra, who had been claiming Clara and Loki had ‘something going on,’ puffed out her cheeks and glared at Gedra when her words were cut off.

“Professor Gedra, you’re so old-fashioned, that’s why you’re not popular with the other students!”

“I’m not interested in that, just finish grading quickly. The students are waiting for their results.”

For your information, in the secret professor popularity poll conducted among students, Gedra was first, and Idra was twenty-eighth.

First, the professors checked the points students earned in the forest, excluding evaluation scores.

“As expected, Loki had an overwhelming lead in the points earned from the forest.”

“And Clara was second.”

“Honestly, the forest is so vast, we thought the exam would end when the time limit ran out, but we never expected it to end with only one person remaining…”

When the exam ended, there were 2 hours and 33 minutes remaining, but the professors didn’t think they had given too much time.

The reason the exam ended early was because Loki used screams to make the students keep fighting.

“Now, all that’s left is the evaluation scores.”

The evaluation scores had already been partially graded by the professors as they observed the students’ actions during the exam, so there wasn’t much left to do.

“First and second place were decided, but the problem was deciding who would be third…”

The professors were deliberating on who to make third.

Both candidates for third place had utilized their abilities well, but both had also made mistakes during the exam.

“Let’s decide by a show of hands whose mistake was bigger, and that person will be fourth.”

The professors voted to decide who would be third.

“Then, this student will be third.”

“By the way, Loki is also first in the evaluation scores.”

“Honestly, he handled his abilities the best. To an extent we couldn’t even imagine.”

The criterion for evaluation scores was how well one utilized their abilities.

Loki utilized his abilities in such diverse ways that he surpassed all the professors’ predictions.

Just as the professors finished all the grading and were about to leave the situation room to announce the results to the students.

“But will the other students accept Loki’s evaluation scores?”

“””…………….”””

All the other professors fell silent at the words uttered by one of them.

Loki’s actions were a little, no, very peculiar for other students to accept.

Surely, a protesting student would appear.

Of course, they had no intention of revising the scores because of student protests.

“What should we say to make the other students accept Loki’s score?”

As the professors pondered how they could convince the other students.

“Ah! A good idea just came to me.”

Idra, as if she had thought of something amusing, explained her idea in a cackling voice.

* * *

Clara and I, who had been sitting on chairs, drinking tea and talking, arrived at the gathering place for eliminated students, guided by the professors.

For some reason, the professors’ expressions when they looked at me were different from before.

I can’t quite explain it myself, but.

Before, it was a look of ‘that crazy guy,’ but now it feels more like ‘that amazing guy’?

Clara had rested by sitting on a chair and drinking tea, so she was now able to move.

“Ms. Clara, ‘second place’ who was defeated by me, shall we go to where the special class students are gathered, guided by ‘first place’ me?”

“…………………..”

Clara didn’t say anything, but it seemed ‘second place’ Clara was touched by how ‘first place’ me spoke to her so kindly.

Finding the place where the special class students gathered wasn’t difficult.

You could tell just by looking at where most of the students’ gazes were directed.

-Stomp stomp.

The gazes that had been directed towards the special class quickly shifted to us the moment Clara and I appeared.

Clara and I ignored their gazes and walked towards where the special class students were gathered.

“””Who won?”””

Perhaps the exam results hadn’t been announced yet, as the special class students approached me and asked.

“I am ‘first place,’ and our Ms. Clara, regrettably, finished as ‘second place’ after being pushed by ‘first place’ me. Well, ‘second place’ is still good, you know. ‘Second place’ Ms. Clara. So don’t be too discouraged by being ‘second place.’”

When I emphasized the important parts of my speech, the expressions of the other special class students changed strangely.

“””””………….”””””

-Thwack!

Clara, who was next to me, elbowed me in the side.

“Ouch! What was that, ‘second place’ Ms. Clara? You’re not taking out your frustration about being ‘second place’ like this, are you?”

“Be quiet. If you emphasize strange parts like that one more time, an elbow won’t be the end of it.”

Clara showed me the ball of flame in her hand and said.

Just as I was thinking she’d really hit me if I teased her anymore, Lucas spoke to me.

“Oh, right! I heard everything from Gashurin. He said your elimination broadcast earlier was fake, right? So where were you all this time, pretending to be eliminated?”

Come to think of it, I never once encountered Lucas during the exam.

Not just Lucas, but I didn’t meet most of the other students either.

“I met him briefly earlier. Though someone immediately ran away.”

“Ahaha, I had something urgent to do back then…”

I listened to Sepia’s words and laughed awkwardly.

For some reason, Sepia’s expression wasn’t good, it seemed she was bothered by losing to Lucas in their fight.

“As for where I was………..”

Since the exam was already over and it wasn’t really a secret, I was about to say I was in the situation room, when suddenly.

[Silence! I will now announce the exam results.]

The professor’s voice echoed loudly, interrupting my words.

As soon as they heard the announcement of the exam results, the chattering students immediately quieted down.

[First, I will announce the points you earned in the forest.]

The professors floated a large sheet of paper with the students’ scores written on it into the air for everyone to see.

Students kept moving their eyes to check their scores.

All the special class students were in the upper ranks, and of course, I was first.

“Why is that guy first? Didn’t he get eliminated earlier?”

“Right? He was eliminated midway, so that score makes no sense…”

“He even has more points than Clara-nim, so he must have taken Clara-nim down, right?”

“He was eliminated much faster than Clara-nim, do you think that makes sense?”

The special class students already knew my elimination broadcast was fake because Gashurin had told them, but the other first-year students seemed unaware and began murmuring when they saw my score.

[Silence]

[Now I will announce the evaluation scores. I will first tell you from third place to first place, and then explain why they received those scores.]

[Third place is Sepia Lyvaiden, with 83 points.]

This was a bit unexpected. Since Lucas had defeated Clara, I naturally thought Lucas would be third.

“Ahaha. Well, I made quite a few small mistakes.”

When I looked at Lucas, he laughed awkwardly, as if he had some idea why.

The Lucas I’d seen so far wasn’t the type to get nervous just because it was an exam.

“Is something bothering you?”

“Well, you see. Haa… No, I’ll tell you later.”

Just as I was about to say something to Lucas, a screen, larger than the one I saw in the situation room earlier, suddenly appeared.

As the students were flustered, wondering what it was, the screen turned on and began showing Sepia’s actions during the exam.

Sepia used earth and wind spirits to locate artificial beasts or students, and then used fire and water spirits to eliminate them.

[Using the ability to control four spirits at once to gain points was extremely efficient.]

Students admired Sepia’s ability to control four spirits at once, but Sepia’s expression remained dark.

[The regrettable point is that she fought at the end, even though she didn’t need to. Understanding one’s current physical condition and fleeing is also one of the excellent choices.]

The screen showing Sepia’s actions turned off, then a moment later, it turned back on. This time, it began showing Clara’s actions.

[Second place is Clara Adelien, with 94 points.]

Clara flying through the sky with flight magic, dispatching students or artificial beasts with her spells, was so one-sided it looked more like hunting than fighting.

[Her strategy of utilizing her strengths to use many situation-appropriate spells without conserving mana was excellent.]

Then the screen changed again, showing a scene where Sepia was holding the black ball of flame she had thrown to the ground at the very end, with both hands.

“What in the world kind of magic is that? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”

“Isn’t that a fireball?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? A fireball couldn’t possibly be that huge. And the color is different.”

“Well, yeah, but the magic circle structure is similar to a fireball…”

[Indeed, I was surprised by her judgment to throw a spell at the ground in a situation where she needed to buy time.]

The screen showing Clara turned off. The students, excited at the thought that first place would now be shown, began to murmur.

“Who could be first place?”

“The Crown Prince-nim hasn’t been shown yet, so it must be the Crown Prince-nim, of course.”

[First place is Loki, with 100 points.]

“””……………”””

The reason for the students’ silence might be that I got first place and 100 points, but the biggest reason was probably my appearance on the screen.

Unlike Sepia and Clara, who were shown coolly catching monsters or eliminating students, the screen showing me displayed:

[Oh dear! You shouldn’t do it like that there. You should do it this way, this way. Ah! You don’t know this? How frustrating. I could run better than that myself.]

My figure was seen half-reclined in a chair, drinking a beverage and giving unsolicited advice to the students.

Unlike when Sepia and Clara were shown, sound was even coming out.