“Ah-choo!”
Just as she stepped onto the arena, Sevitis couldn’t help letting out another loud sneeze.
‘What’s going on today? Someone keeps thinking about me, but it doesn’t feel like a bad thing this time.’
‘Whatever. Never mind that. The exam is what matters now.’
Sevitis rubbed her nose, then reached into her storage space and pulled out a Fine Steel Longsword. She nodded to the female teacher below the arena, signaling that she was ready.
“Let me repeat the rules one last time: Your score will be based on the rank of the magical beasts you defeat and your combat performance. As long as you win, you may continue to challenge stronger beasts. Using any combat-type scrolls, magical tools, or magical devices is strictly forbidden. If caught, you will be permanently disqualified from the exam!” Kennisi said sternly.
Sevitis nodded speechlessly.
‘Didn’t she just recite that before I came up? Was a second time really necessary? Just how badly does this woman want to catch me slipping?’
Satisfied that the little girl had truly listened, Kennisi announced the start of the exam.
“Very well. Make your choice. What rank of magical beast would you like as your first opponent?”
Sevitis raised a finger and answered without hesitation.
“I challenge…”
…
In the stands, the group of examinees who had been gossiping earlier craned their necks to look down.
“So what kind of beast did she pick?”
“No idea. It’s too far away. Can’t hear a thing.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t see either, but she did raise a finger just now.”
“Wait, look at the examiner’s face… Doesn’t that seem off? Looks like she’s confirming something with her?”
“Holy crap, no way? Is she picking a high-rank beast to save face for the Duke’s family? That’s suicide!”
Under their nervous gazes, the underground gate at the edge of the arena slowly rose.
Amid the heavy clanking of chains, a clawed beast stepped out from the shadows.
But when they saw the creature’s true appearance, the group was stunned.
After a brief moment of shock, they burst into unrestrained laughter.
“Hahaha! Am I seeing this right? Is she serious?”
“No wonder the examiner had to double-check. So she picked a first-rank beast after all?”
“And here I thought she was hiding some deep skill. Turns out she’s just playing it safe?”
“This is way too safe. It’s like she’s just here to go through the motions.”
“Come on, stop making fun of the noble lady. What if she can’t even beat a first-rank and starts crying on stage? Hahaha!”
Listening to the increasingly arrogant jeers, even Angelina, who usually disapproved of such behavior, couldn’t find a way to refute them.
After all, a third-rank Duke Heir challenging a first-rank beast at the Empire’s top academy was just too absurd.
“Um, Your Highness, what is she doing?” Angelina asked, her expression conflicted.
Eulalia seemed equally surprised by Sevitis’s move. She blinked her large, clear eyes, propped her chin on her hand, and thought for a moment.
Then she suddenly clapped her hands in realization.
“I get it! It’s called ‘pretending to be weak.’ She first gives those beasts the impression that she’s easy to bully, then strikes when they least expect it.”
Angelina pinched the bridge of her nose, looking at Eulalia like she was an idiot. She really hoped the girl in front of her was the one pretending to be weak.
‘Please don’t tell me Her Highness is actually stupid.’
“Oh, I don’t know either. Why think so much? We’ll find out soon enough. She won’t disappoint us.”
Having no other choice, Angelina sighed and continued watching quietly with Eulalia.
She just hoped that black-haired girl wouldn’t let Her Highness down.
Otherwise, the bet she had made with Her Highness would be won, and the bet Her Highness had made with that girl long ago would also be won.
Even though Angelina knew that wasn’t the result Her Highness wanted.
…
Back on the arena, Sevitis gripped her longsword with both hands and assumed a serious stance against the seemingly harmless first-rank magical beast in front of her.
Ever since that female vampire had tricked her and turned her into this mess, she had learned a profound lesson—never underestimate any enemy, even if it’s just a first-rank beast.
Of course, playing it safe was only the surface reason. Her choice to start from the first rank had another purpose.
Sevitis closed her eyes, held her breath, and focused her magic toward her back. The air around her warped slightly as her mana surged.
When she opened her eyes again, her pupils had changed into vertical slits, glowing with an eerie light.
She activated her Soul Vein.
After rapidly scanning the weakness information panel that appeared before her, Sevitis moved.
A flash of cold light. The first-rank beast collapsed instantly, not even having time to scream.
No incantation, no flashy moves. Just a single, clean killing blow.
“Do you wish to continue?” Kennisi walked over expressionlessly, looking at the beast lying in a pool of blood.
Sevitis nodded, her tone calm.
“Continue. Next, I challenge a second-rank beast.”
This time, Kennisi didn’t double-check.
In truth, she was also confused by the girl’s decision.
Given that she had once broken through the academy’s main gate with her head without taking any damage, her physical condition was clearly extraordinary.
In Kennisi’s eyes, the girl could have gone straight to challenging a third-rank beast without issue, and even a fourth-rank wasn’t out of the question. But she had started with a first-rank and now went to a second-rank instead of skipping ahead.
The other examiners whispered among themselves.
“Doesn’t she know this wastes stamina and mana?”
“Who knows? Anyway, we’re just examiners. We don’t have the right to interfere with a candidate’s choices. As long as she doesn’t break the rules, let her do what she wants.”
“But I’m curious how this girl offended the chief examiner. Otherwise, why would she come to our exam hall out of all the others?”
“Enough chatting. Hurry up and release the next beast for her.”
Prompted by Kennisi, they quickly ended the discussion and raised the second gate.
When the ferocious second-rank beast roared onto the arena, the examinees in the stands were again left stunned.
This time, it wasn’t because the girl chose to fight a second-rank, but because the beast had barely even extended its claws before the black-haired girl executed a clean slide, stabbed straight into a vital point, and killed it with one strike again.
“Whoa, no way! That’s intense?”
“Even I can’t one-shot a second-rank that easily.”
“Wait, everyone, calm down!”
The noble youth, Bauer, who had been the loudest earlier, wiped his cold sweat and forced an explanation.
“Maybe she just got lucky and knew this beast’s weakness. I guarantee she won’t be so lucky next time!”
“Good point! Let’s keep watching. Maybe she’ll be carried off in ten seconds when she fights a third-rank!”
Clutching at that straw of hope, they kept their eyes glued to the black-haired girl in the center of the arena, eagerly expecting her to get crushed by the beast.
Unfortunately, their hopes were destined to be dashed.
Standing before the beast’s corpse, Sevitis casually twirled her sword, flicked off the blood, and turned to look at Kennisi, who hadn’t yet come over.
Her tone remained flat.
“Continue. Next, a third-rank beast.”
Kennisi gave her a deep look, nodded silently, and waved to the other examiners to release the third-rank beast.
With a harsh scraping sound, the third gate slowly rose. A wave of savage aura swept across the arena.
A beast covered in fur that stood up like steel needles stepped out from the shadows with heavy footsteps.
“It’s a third-rank Steelbristle Wolf! Even magic can’t break through its hide. Let’s see how that magicless loser fights now!” The noble youth in the stands shouted gleefully.
Sevitis ignored the noise above. Her mana surged once more.
“Awoooo!”
The Steelbristle Wolf let out a chilling howl.
Its thick hind legs shattered the stone floor, and it transformed into a gray gale, rushing straight at Sevitis’s face with its jaws wide open.
It moved so fast that afterimages lingered in the air.
But just as the wolf was about to bite her head off, Sevitis moved.
She lowered her center of gravity, leaned back, and sidestepped to the right in a tight motion.
The massive wolf brushed past her nose.
In the instant they crossed paths—
A cold glint flashed in Sevitis’s eyes. She stabbed upward with her sword.
“Shlunk!”
The sound of flesh tearing was dull but clear.
The longsword precisely pierced the soft spot under the wolf’s front leg, a palm-sized gap in its armor.
Using the beast’s own forward momentum, the blade sliced open its heart.
“Boom!”
The huge wolf crashed another dozen meters forward before slamming heavily into the magic barrier at the edge of the arena.
It twitched twice and then went still.
The fight ended. Exactly ten seconds.
Only it wasn’t Sevitis who got carried off in ten seconds—it was the now-dead wolf.
The entire stand fell into dead silence.
The noble youths who had been shouting just moments before looked like someone had choked them. Their mouths hung open, unable to make a sound.
A cold wind swept across the empty arena.
Sevitis unhurriedly walked up, grabbed the sword’s hilt, and slowly pulled it out.
Bright red blood spurted from the wound, splattering onto her pitch-black hair.
She casually flicked the blood off the blade and turned back toward the center of the arena.
A drop of warm blood slid from the tip of her hair to her lips.
Sevitis extended her pink tongue and lightly licked the blood into her mouth.
The light in her eyes deepened. Deep within those blue-violet pupils, a dangerous red glow flickered.
The girl’s clear voice echoed through the arena, carrying a suffocating pressure.
“Next. Fourth-rank.”