Chapter 40 - Entrance Exam (1)

I laid in bed.

Sleep wouldn't come. My thoughts kept racing against my will, giving me no rest.

This Sion kid seemed to have a personality where she'd pounce on anyone she thought could be her match.

Maybe that brief moment our eyes met at Fillin's forge was because she saw me as potential prey.

The mansion was still quiet. That quietness tormented me even more.

Finally, I gave up on trying to sleep and got up to leave the room. At the end of the dark hallway, a faint light seeped out from the living room.

Who could it be?

By the wall in the living room, in front of the fireplace where the embers were dying, was Liria.

Even though there was a comfortable armchair right next to her, she was crouched in an uncomfortable position, nodding off.

Why is she in such a pitiful state?

"What are you doing here?"

Liria turned to me, startled. She quickly tried to tidy her disheveled hair.

"Oh? It's nothing."

"What do you mean nothing?"

"No, I mean, this is comfortable for me."

"...?"

It seemed like there was some circumstance behind this.

I pressed Liria for the reason.

After deflecting a few times, she finally gave in to my insistence and spilled everything, "Well... the room is too cramped."

She explained that the two rooms assigned to the servants were divided between men and women, but there were too many female servants, so the room was overcrowded. She couldn't go to the male servants' room, so she ended up coming to the living room.

Looking at Liria, I felt a mix of pity and sympathy. Maybe I felt more for her because we came from similar backgrounds.

I sighed and said, "I'll stay here, so go sleep in my room."

"What? No, I can’t."

She waved her hands, refusing.

"I can't sleep anyway. The room will be empty until morning."

I practically pushed the hesitant Liria into my room. Returning to the living room, I sat in the armchair by the fireplace and threw some logs on to stoke the embers.

Sitting quietly for several minutes listening to the crackling fire, I, too, started to nod off.

Just as I was falling into a deep sleep, maybe a few hours later, I heard an unfamiliar woman's voice from somewhere.

"Who are you?"

Realizing this wasn't a dream, I woke up and turned my head towards the voice.

In the dark entrance of the living room, someone was staring at me with a face full of wariness.

In the firelight, I could see long blonde hair.

I remembered who it was. Luna.

Had I taken her spot?

"Ah, sorry. It just looked comfortable."

I immediately got up from my seat.

She took two steps back, seemingly startled by my movement.

Luna was extremely wary of me as if she had encountered some unknown creature.

She slowly opened her mouth. Her voice was somewhat agitated as if she had encountered something unpleasant.

"The children... they get quiet when they go near you. They're scared."

"...?"

"At first, I thought it was because of the professor... but it wasn't."

"What?"

"I thought it was strange, but it's because of you."

"...What are you talking about?"

"You, what... what did you do?"

I can’t understand what she’s trying to tell me. Children getting quiet? There aren't even any children here, and this mansion has been nothing but quiet.

Does this woman see dead people?

When I took a step forward, she took two steps back again.

I tried to calm her down by speaking calmly.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding. I haven't done anything."

She showed no signs of believing me at all.

"..."

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could gradually make out Luna's face.

She glared at me for a moment, biting her lip, then suddenly turned and disappeared into the dark hallway.

I stood there, dumbfounded. 

What on earth is the problem?

She was so wary of me that we couldn't even have a proper conversation.

Whatever the case, it seemed like becoming friends with that girl was out of the question.

***

The carriage was quickly leaving Rigbed.

Until we boarded the carriage to depart for Eternia in the morning, I hadn't seen Luna once.

After hearing my story, Silveryn said, "It's because she's a spirit summoner."

"Are all spirit summoners like that?"

"No, Luna is a bit special. She once had a hard time because not only did spirits flock to her, but strange things got involved too."

So those noisy “children” she mentioned were all spirits. I never imagined there could be so many spirits in that mansion.

"She seems like quite an odd girl."

"Yes, she has a lot of baggage."

Judging by her personality, she might have even more baggage than me.

She continued, "Don't make her dislike you too much. Strictly speaking, spirit summoners are your natural enemy. Think about it. How would you deal with an opponent you can't even see?"

That's true. 

I would be helpless against a spirit summoner, only able to take hits.

Come to think of it, Luna had said the spirits didn't like me, so maybe I was already disliked.

"Is there no way for me to deal with spirits?"

"You need to gradually increase your spirit affinity. And get a spirit realm artifact quickly."

"The homework never ends, does it?"

Don't mess with spirit summoners. I'll remember that.

***

A river spread out like a lake along the foot of the mountain. On the sandy riverbank, five or six young men and women were frolicking.

Judging by their age, they seemed to be students from Eternia. There were no ordinary villages or houses visible in the area.

As we got closer to Eternia, I became more aware of each person we encountered. It was a strange feeling, knowing we might meet again as seniors or classmates.

Silveryn looked out the window, twirling her hair with one hand.

She seemed lost in thought for a moment. It looked like something was on her mind.

After a while, she finally spoke, "By the way..."

"Yes?"

"Why did that little alchemist come out of your room this morning?"

"...?"

Silveryn glanced at my expression, rolling only her eyes, and said, "Well, if it's nothing, forget it..."

Silveryn hastily changed the subject.

"This place is beautiful. Sometimes griffins, pegasi, and unicorns come to rest for a while on this riverbank."

What's this? Didn't she want to hear about Liria?

I went along with Silveryn's change of topic without much thought.

"Aren't those magic creatures dangerous?"

"They're gentle, and they don't attack humans. I'll show you later."

I wasn’t too keen on seeing magic creatures up close. I was currently extracting griffin blood to make potions. Seeing magic creatures being friendly with humans might make me uncomfortable when making potions.

"I'll pass on the griffins. Other magic creatures are fine."

"Alright."

I dozed off while admiring the scenery. It was because I hadn't slept well the night before.

The carriage continued on its way.

When I opened my eyes, the carriage had stopped in front of Silveryn's mansion.

The place we finally arrived at was a small castle in the forest.

According to Silveryn, it wasn't far from Eternia's faculty building.

Compared to the mansion in Wiesel, this one seemed more gloomy, which suited a vampire much better.

We hurriedly unpacked and cleaned the castle that had been empty for a while. The interior was full of cobwebs and mouse droppings.

Silveryn went around the corridors and rooms, drawing magic circles with chalk. When she chanted a spell, hundreds of mice with their tails on fire fled in terror out of the castle gates.

As I watched in shock, Silveryn said, "It's an annual event, so get used to it."

After finishing the cleaning and room assignments, the schedule was mostly complete.

Once I entered Eternia, I planned to alternate between here and the dormitory for training for a while.

However, with only three days left until the entrance exam, we decided to rest instead of doing separate training.

It wasn't all play, though. I received lessons from Silveryn about the geography of Mount Grace, where the entrance exam would take place. She also told me how the entrance exam would be conducted and what would be evaluated.

I wondered if it was okay for an academy official to directly provide this information. It seemed unfair to the competition if I knew this.

"Most of the kids taking the exam already know these things. Moreover, we need to plan your movements in advance because your face shouldn't be recognized."

Well, what can I do? If the professor says so, I have no choice but to follow.

***

The three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the day of the entrance exam arrived.

Silveryn and I took a carriage to Eternia.

The mountain path leading there was already so crowded with dozens of carriages that it was nearly blocked.

I was so distracted by the distant view of Eternia that I didn't feel impatient even though our carriage was moving at a snail's pace.

Eternia looked more like a huge palace than an academy. Even just looking at the exterior, I could feel the reputation of the continent's best academy.

As we continued and reached the main gate, Planteras greeted us.

They were lined up on both sides of the gate, holding steel swords as tall as a person. The shadows of the giant Planteras made it feel like we were passing through a tunnel.

The grounds were so vast and the structure so complex that we had to go a bit further even after entering the main gate.

Through the windows, I could see many entrance exam applicants.

Not a single one of them was alone. Kids around my age were each accompanied by dozens of soldiers, vassals, or private tutors, warming up or chatting.

The emblems on their shoulders or chests were all antique-looking as if they came from families with some influence.

Silveryn's toes fidgeted and tapped my shin.

Sitting across from me, Silveryn was also looking in the same direction, with her legs crossed and chin resting on her hand.

I felt a bit nervous seeing the other applicants' confident demeanor, but her face was completely calm.

Right, what do I have to worry about? I may not have a family, status, or wealth, but in terms of ability, I'm not inferior to them.

As the carriage passed by, there was a group of men gathered in one place.

Something was happening there, and it was quite noisy.

A fight had broken out.

A man with his hair cut short to the length of a fingernail was beating someone up like a dog.

The sound of flesh being hit echoed, and the person being beaten had a swollen face. The surroundings were covered in blood.

Fighting at the entrance exam site? They must be out of their minds.

The people who seemed to be his companions were clapping and laughing gleefully. Judging by their appearance, they looked like thieves or mercenaries.

And Silveryn's words that followed were even more shocking.

She reacted as if she was glad to see this brutal scene.

"Oh, it's him. The boy I mentioned before."

"Who?"

"Gale Varianne. The boy who got in with a recommendation letter."

"Which one?"

"Of course, the one doing the beating. There must be some problem. We'll go say hello later, not now."

Why is Silveryn so nonchalant about this? He’s beating someone up indiscriminately.

Just from this first impression, I didn't want to greet him at all.

"He doesn't seem like an appealing character."

"He's from the North, so he's a bit rough, but he's not a bad kid. He probably already knows about you too."

"..."

Honestly, I'd prefer if he didn't know about me at all. This went beyond rough and seemed utterly insane. There were so many people watching here, what was he thinking?

First Luna, and now this. Somehow, these kids who got in with recommendation letters seemed a bit off.

I just hope the rest I hadn't met yet were normal.

The carriage finally stopped at Eternia's station. Since I couldn't stick with Silveryn from now on, I had to go alone.

Thanks to Gale drawing attention, I could get off the carriage with the Eternia emblem without attracting notice.

Silveryn looked at me intently.

"Are you nervous?"

I was nervous but not shaking. Just the right level of tension.

Somehow, I felt like expressing my nervousness would only make me more nervous, so I wanted to refrain from saying it.

I silently finished preparing to get off. As I fixed the mask on my face, Silveryn said, "We won't see each other for a week... Want a hug?"

The entrance exam would last for a week.

Since meeting Silveryn, had there ever been a time when we were apart for more than a week? I couldn't recall.

I wonder how Teacher's feeling right now. Does she feel a bit empty?

Without any particular reaction, I opened the carriage door, got off, and said, "I'll be back."

Seeing my reaction, Silveryn's lips pouted, looking a bit hurt.