Chapter 87 October 3, 2022
Chapter 87 – Daily Life After Exams (1)
For students, exams were often considered an annoying event.
With the extreme tension, competition among peers was ignited.
It was bound to be mentally and physically exhausting.
However, just as the rain at the end of the drought was sweet, the sense of liberation that came when the three-day exam period was completely over was indescribable.
“Whoa! It’s finally over!”
“Aargh. I really thought I was going to die.”
The first people to feel happy and free as if they could fly were the freshmen of Sören who’d entered the academy that year.
It was the first exam period they’d gone through, and it was their first sense of freedom.
It was quite meaningful for the freshmen.
However, even if the seniors were not calm in that kind of situation, the sense of freedom after the exams was a common denominator for all students.
“Hey. How were the exams this time?”
“Don’t even talk about it. I think I completely screwed it up.”
“Please, I hope my ranking will be at least in the middle.”
“Middle, my ass. It’s going to be close to the bottom.”
Of course, the main interest of the students who gathered throughout the academy and chatted was the exam results.
They talked about the exams, who did well in them, and which professor’s exam was the easiest and most comfortable in the end.
If they knew which professor’s exam was reasonable, they would aim to complete the professor’s class in the next semester.
“Curses and dispelling is not my cup of tea.”
“I think I’m more suited for mana release.”
“Next time, I should focus on alchemy.”
The students must have been able to tell after going through those first exams…
Whether they chose a bad class or a good class.
Of course, there were professors whose names were mentioned.
“Professor Merilda’s exam was good this time. It was a theoretical part of drug manufacturing, but it was detailed and good.”
“Professor Selena’s exam was very simple. If you sign a contract through communication with the spirits, you’ll get a pass.”
“Hey. There’s a limited number of students who meet the basic requirement for taking Spiritology class. People with low affinity can’t do it. I’ll just do Golem Studies.”
“I heard that a certain fanatic group is so good at Golem Studies that it’s hard to get to the top, though?”
“Don’t even talk about it. There are so many people who mumble while wearing glasses and touching machine parts.”
“What about Magic Numbers?”
“Isn’t that solely for the talented?”
Just like that, there was a hot topic that emerged among students who were talking about which tests were good and bad and chattering about each of their own stories.
“Did you hear the rumor about Professor Ludger Chelysie’s exam?”
“Yeah. I heard he gave a difficult one?”
“It’s not just difficult, I heard they couldn’t solve it properly even though the exam was an open book test.”
“Whoa. Then they must have talked behind his back a lot.”
“No. I heard that’s not the case. It’s indeed difficult, but it’s somewhat good? Reasonable? Anyway, it felt like that, and he gave the questions about exactly what he’d taught them.”
“Professor Ludger was in the Spellcasting class, right?”
“Yes. It overlaps with Professor Chris Benimore.”
Chris Benimore, who was in charge of the first year, and Ludger Chelysie, who was in charge of the second year, would usually not be compared with each other.
However, Ludger’s acceptance of the first-year students coming from his first class made it impossible for the two people to avoid being compared.
“How was Professor Chris’s exam?”
“Don’t even talk about it. He gave us an exam question that he didn’t even teach us.”
“Really? How hard was it?”
“I heard they were lessons that we could learn only if we’re in the third year or higher. And he just made it difficult thoughtlessly. It’s ridiculous, really.”
“Whoa. Crazy.”
“Don’t even talk about it. The exam papers were full of jargon that I’ve never seen before. In order to get a partial score, I should at least be able to write something if I wanted to write the answer. Phew. I really regret it. I should’ve just taken Professor Ludger’s class as well. You took Professor Ludger’s class, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I was really lucky. Someone complimented him a lot on the Akashic Records, so I chose it half-doubtfully, but it was awesome.”
“Hey. I heard that Professor Ludger will teach you the Source Code spell if you’re in the top ranks?”
“I don’t know that yet, but I think so? If we consistently get in the top five, I heard we’ll learn the complete Source Code spell.”
“I’m jealous, hey. Still, you guys have that kind of motivational award. We don’t even have something like that. Phew. What should we, the commoners, do?”
Chris Benimore’s class, an authoritarian professor who disregarded commoners and belittled them, was not very popular among the students.
With the exception of a certain few students who benefited from him, Chris’s class was a dirty, difficult, and irritating class.
For students who took the class to aim for high grades, they had no choice but to sigh day after day in the class that was completely different from what they’d imagined.
“I’ll definitely take Ludger’s class next semester.”
“It’ll be hard, though?”
“Why?”
“There are a lot of competitors. People are going to line up to take Professor Ludger’s class. Moreover, unlike any other professor, he also rarely hires assistants.”
“Ah, really. I have to take a Spellcasting class next semester, too. What should I do, really?”
“You should take care of it by yourself.”
***
It was a spacious professor’s room that was decorated with glamorous decorations.
Its owner, Chris Benimore, checked the questionnaire in his hand, and he soon let out a fierce grimace.
“Ludger Chelysie…”
The name that he muttered in a hateful voice belonged to the annoying human that came to his mind many times in his dreams.
Chris Benimore did not know how to cool off the simmering anger in his mind when he saw the exam questions that Ludger had given.
-Professor Chris. Thank you for your hard work on the exam questions. Now, here!
The exam paper that Elisa Willow, the principal who appeared out of nowhere, handed to him…
Even before asking what it was, Elisa smiled at him brightly.
-You’re in charge of the Spellcasting classes too, aren’t you? So I’m giving it to you because I think it’ll help you with the next exam. You don’t have to thank me.
Chris Benimore immediately recognized what the exam the principal handed over to him was, or to be exact, who had created it.
Ludger Chelysie…
They were the questions that the detestable man gave for the first exam.
Rather than wondering why the principal had given it to him, it was faster for his eyes to scan the contents.
Chris Benimore was also a wizard who researched for the truth.
It was natural for him to wonder what questions a professor other than him had presented.
Chris Benimore, who looked through all 20 questions in 10 minutes, had no choice but to wrinkle the exam paper with his hands.
“Damn it!”
He realized why the principal had handed him the exam paper.
‘Does she want me to emulate the exam questions that Ludger Chelysie submitted?’
How could he not know the intentions behind the principal’s words?
It was an exam paper that she had openly handed over to him so he would ‘refer’ to it.
The simple fact was that it was the exam paper that belonged to a new professor who was newly appointed along with him, not an exam paper that was made by the professor who had been teaching since a few years ago.
It was the principal’s insidious intention to blatantly hold him in check for favoring the aristocratic students.
‘Damn it! Why should I, the eldest son of the Benimore family, suffer this misery?’
Grriit.
Chris couldn’t resist his anger and gritted his teeth.
He’d grown up as a nobleman, learned magic, and had been raised as an elite of the empire.
He even became a professor at Sören Academy, the best educational institution that fostered wizards who were responsible for the future of the continent.
He had the support of his family that made it possible, but he wouldn’t have gone there if his skill wasn’t good enough.
Chris was proud of his life.
He was convinced that he was a talented person who was in charge of one of the pillars of the generation.
But…
An explicit comparison of him with someone else was simply an unbearable act for him, whose ego had skyrocketed.
No. It was okay to compare, but he was just upset that the result concluded that he was extremely lacking.
‘He’s not even a great opponent, they’re comparing me with a mere fallen aristocrat?’
Even the principal’s way of talking made it seem like he was clearly below Ludger.
Had she not been a higher-level wizard than him, Chris would have been blatantly quibbling over it.
But most of all, what angered Chris Benimore was the content of Ludger’s exam questions.
He didn’t want to acknowledge it, but the standard of the questions that Ludger created was so high that he had no choice but to acknowledge it.
‘This is an exam created by a mere fallen aristocrat?’
It was for another reason that he was really mad.
When he saw Ludger Chelysie’s questions, whom he had been disregarded and looked down on, he acknowledged it by himself inwardly without realizing it.
The fact that he, and not anyone else, had acknowledged the person who should be under his feet, left a big scar on Chris’s pride.
It was something that shouldn’t have happened.
“Ludger… Chelysie…!”
Chris Benimore chanted his name as if he was about to devour him.
He didn’t like Ludger from the first time he’d met that person.
Since Chris had received a hard blow after betting on a student match, he had come to hate Ludger more than anyone else in the world.
‘I’m staying still right now, but I’ll definitely make you pay back for this humiliation. Multiple times over compared the humiliation that I suffered, too!’
Chris was thinking about the day when the Magic Festival would open.
At that time when outsiders came, he intended to give him a horrible sense of defeat in front of everyone.
In order to do so, he had to find Ludger’s weakness… Or any other information would be good as well.
Chris Benimore communicated to his family with a magic crystal ball.
“It’s me.”
***
Lynne walked down the street with a lunch box.
Originally, she had planned to eat with Elendil after the exam, but Elendil, who had particularly bombed the exam, became depressed and distanced herself, so she ate alone.
‘I hope she will return to her original self soon.’
Still, Lynne was worried about Elendil because she had such a good personality.
She stopped at her spot after walking with a light step, thinking she could relax a little.
It was because she’d encountered the aristocratic gang that she didn’t want to meet right in front of her nose.
“So that’s why there, I… Oh?”
Moreover, the other person immediately recognized her and grinned.
Two men and one woman…
Among them, an ugly-looking man with dull blonde hair at the forefront was not very welcoming to her.
Santoni Oatmouth.
Santoni was a nobleman who came from a count’s family and had been holding grudges toward her since he was dumped after confessing to her a while ago.
“Hiya. Who is this? She’s a commoner who lives in a very haughty and noble way.”
“…”
“Oh, what? You’re not accepting my greeting? It’s upsetting.”
Instead of answering, Lynne tried to avoid the gang, but Santoni wouldn’t let Lynne go.
Santoni giggled and blatantly blocked Lynne’s path.
“…Please move away.”
“Whaat? I can’t hear it?”
“Are you still holding grudges because I refused your confession last time? You’re so narrow-minded to the point that it’s a shame for you to hold the title of aristocracy.”
Lynne also responded strongly because the opponent was blatantly triggering a dispute.
In the first place, she wasn’t the type to force herself to bow down when someone told her to do it.
She’d had a quarrel with Dynema Romley at the training ground because of what she had to say, too.
“You, you…!”
Santoni grimly distorted his expression as Lynne revealed his ugly past.
He glanced at his surroundings. The place was near a deserted artificial park where only a few people came and went.
There was soon a sadistic grin on his face.
“Follow me.”
“Wh-what?! Let me go!”
Santoni grabbed Lynne by the wrist and dragged her into the park.
Lynne desperately resisted, but the difference in their power was apparent.
In addition, other students with Santoni laughed as they saw her in pain while thinking that it was fun, maybe because they had usually been looking at Lynne with loathing.
“Isn’t it the job of an aristocrat to educate an arrogant commoner bitch?”
“Wh-what? Kyaa!”
Santoni, who’d dragged Lynne to a place where no one else would come, pushed her to the ground as if he was throwing her.
Lynne collapsed helplessly on the ground, and the lunch box in her hand rolled on the ground.
Her lunch, which she had been keeping in her embrace, spilled on the ground.
Lynne sharply raised her eyes toward Santoni.
“…Do you know what you’re doing now?”
“Hiya. Look at your eyes. You still don’t understand what situation you’re in right now?”
“…”
Santoni expected Lynne to shiver and beg in front of him, saying she was sorry.
Contrary to his expectations, however, Lynne stared at him fiercely instead.
Facing her unshakable eyes, Santoni felt as if he had become a douchebag.
He suddenly remembered when he’d confessed to her because he was entranced by her appearance and that he was turned away afterward.
“How dare you raise your eyes to me?”
A dirty commoner…
He had been kinder to her because he thought she was good-looking, but she was acting up?
“This is why commoners need education.”
Santoni pulled a wand from his waist and aimed it at Lynne.
There were no witnesses. There was no need for anyone else to visit that place.
It was the moment when Santoni gathered mana on his wand…
“What are you doing?”
Santoni turned his head hastily to a sudden voice.
There was a man leaning his shoulders obliquely against a tree in the garden with his arms crossed.
He had pale skin, sharp eyes, and dark blue hair.
Santoni, an aristocrat, immediately recognized who he was.
“S-sir Freuden Wolfsburg?”
He was a sophomore in Sören, but he was also the head of an aristocratic faction, a subject of awe and a symbol of fear at the same time.
He was staring sharply at Santoni.
“Wh-why on earth are you here?”
“Weird. I asked the question first, and I haven’t heard the answer yet.”
Freuden’s eyes went back and forth between Lynne, who’d fallen on the ground, and Santoni, who was aiming his wand at Lynne.
“I’ll ask you one more time: What are you doing?”
His voice was as cold as ever.
Comment