Avoid Former Co-Workers

16 – 16. End of Semester Assessment (4)

Climbing the rock wall. End of Semester Assessment. A test that includes scores that count towards class placement for the following semester.

A test with hidden provisions, but in fact even the professor’s evaluation criteria are unclear.

It’s a purpose. There must be many such things as class assignment or self-satisfaction, and there are bound to be students who want to test themselves like me.

Yes. This does not deviate from the line of evaluation.

But why did they react so differently?

‘Why?’

After being told to give up and leave, Rhenias recklessly climbed the rock face without a word and in an unstable position eventually fell.

When asked why she pushed herself so hard, she replied that she would go up with an evil voice.

Something else made my eyes moist as if something had happened in this short amount of time.

I couldn’t figure it out. Right now, I’m just looking at the posture from the side.

“Get your balance back! I told you not to strain your lower back!”

“Suck…!”

“Okay. Start with your right foot again.”

The reason why he asked me to teach him strongly while getting angry like now.

The reason why people suddenly changed.

The reason why I was holding back tears at the end.

It was best to nag the girl who was afraid of falling from a height so that she wouldn’t get hurt.

***

No one has given up on a challenge in the first step, rock climbing.

But there are still people left. Two of them, a 2nd year male student and a 1st year female student who formed a pair.

One side is an honor student who walks around the battlefield a lot and is counted as an object of envy, and the other side is an inferior student who everyone wants to avoid and is most persecuted.

Two students with conflicting grades and strength managed to climb almost all the way up the rock wall without breaking their pair.

─aaa…!! Whoops… Whoops…

It’s only 8m long, and it’s much gentler than the original terrain, but isn’t it the first time? It’s also not easy because it’s a bare body climb.

The girl who only practiced her magic had a valuable experience of crossing a terrain with her body, and she did not give up and succeeded in her climb at the end.

The boy, who was sympathetic to his enthusiastic partner, also pointed out and cheered, watching the girl complete the race.

And in the end, the two look smiling.

─Good job. Good job.

The white cheeks that used to be pretty have turned bright yellow with the dirt on them, and the pretty silver hair is covered with dirt and is a mess.

Even so, this dirt on the hair tied up to one side is not brushed off right away, as if it is valuable.

This soil was a trace that was tantamount to proof that she had done it herself.

─Now, drink.

I was handed over the two canteens provided in the second stage exam, and the male student approached the extended junior and opened the lid and gave it to me.

Then, after opening the lid on the other one, the female student tapped the bottle she was holding with both hands.

—Huh? What is it?

─Cheers.

At the same time, when the water in the canteen wets your throat. It must have tasted sweeter than ever.

“Whoops, cheers.”

From far away, Professor Jake was happily watching Junon and Rhenias Fair.

“Well, that’s confusing.”

“That’s why I couldn’t not call the professor.”

“Oh… Meuniher just said that… Is that why?”

“Yes. That’s right. We’re not sure whether to consider this correct…”

Even though the supervisor who was grading Junon and Rhenias called the instructor and discussed it, he was still thinking about how to score.

It was because the two of them showed very disparate moves, and Professor Meuniher was able to get points in the special category with a snort, saying that there would be no such person in this academy.

He called in Professor Jake because he was at a loss as to how to rate Junon Fair’s behavior.

“I’ll tell you I saw it myself, so check it out.”

“…Really? No, there’s no way you’re going to playfully answer something like this…”

“Rhenias only goes to the battlefield, so it’s not listed. She’s my friend’s daughter, so I know she has a fear of heights. But, Junon overcame that. I’m sure. .”

Professor Meuniher would say that if he saw this, he would say that it was a biased judgment, but he was already convinced.

“There’s no way you won’t get deductions on the next exam, so keep going. It’s only the first level, so what are you so worried about?”

“Okay. So, what should I write for the specifics?”

Looking at Rhenias, who was drenched in ecstasy with a sip of water, and Junon, who induced him to overcome even fear, the director wrote a line in the section where none of the first and second year students received a score, as Professor Jake mentioned.

[ Specifics ]

[ Rhenias – Overcome Fear (Acrophobia) ]

[ Junon – Talented center position. ]

A talent that Junon had in the past. Professor Jake was the first to recognize the commander’s talent.

It was a quality that only the person who recognized Junon closest to him, who was doing everything and had accidents, could know it, and the future did not change this time either.

***

Meanwhile, a pair in the second phase of the exam is going quite differently.

“Um… Senpai… Is this really the right way…?”

Doubt about your partner.

“What kind of river do you cross like this… I’m dying of cold…!”

Failure to comply with agreements.

“I’ll go back now and freeze the water, so can’t we just cross like that? Who crosses in such a stupid way?”

There may be many other things, but the complaints never stop.

The partner of the complaining student is an 18-year-old international student with a large body of nearly 2m and a strong body built through constant training.

“You said you’d do as I said.”

“If I had known that it was such an ignorant method, I would have opposed it right away!! And you actually opposed it!! Does Hardia teach like this?!”

“There’s nothing like this easy in Hardia. They secretly compare, but don’t be like that.”

For Goden, who came as an international student from the Artena Empire, the second stage exam at the end of the semester was too simple.

It’s enough just to cross this river, but Goden made another proposal to his partner.

“And I guess that’s what the test is all about. Why would it be a test to just use a spell and just cross it?”

“It could be right! The water in the river is so cold, you must use magic all the more!”

“…Oh, Duya.”

If it’s a little unusual, actually Utulum Mountain is an alpine area, so if you cross the river in winter, it gets quite cold.

In the first stage test, it was limited to just climbing a wall, but from the second stage test, the season was designated.

Thus, crossing the winter river is the ostensible purpose of the second stage test, but Goden judged that there must be a plot in the test here.

“They said that they couldn’t cross it because there was a waterfall going upstream, but when they went down a little further, the director said that it wasn’t a test site. Then what could it be? You’re saying that you have to limit your power to cross the lower reaches of the river here? .”

So, the two of them took off their tops and tied the floating leaves with a rope instead of floating objects to cross.

At the top of the floating body, I placed a non-wet top and a pocket full of necessary tools while carrying it so that it would not get wet.

Taking the temperature of this cold river, Goden’s partner trembled and complained.

But the problem is that I can’t communicate.

“…Whether it’s upstream or downstream, can’t we just use magic? It’s too cold. Why do we have to get wet while moving? It’s the same as before. Why use hooks and ropes to rock climb?”

“If you rely on magic for everything like that, what will you do when your magic power runs out?”

“What’s the point of that? Say something that makes sense!”

In spite of Goden’s rebuttal, which sighed deeply, he insisted on avoiding this test immediately.

‘What the hell is this academy…’

What did you teach?

I don’t know if he makes a plausible argument, but I can only see his intention to avoid hardships right now.

This is the last time. If we don’t get along this time, we have no choice but to part with that guy.

“What if this was a battlefield?”

I stopped crossing the river and turned completely around to give some serious advice.

The answer to the question of what would you do in a battlefield?

“In the first place, I wouldn’t come to the battlefield! How can I, a student in Class C, go to the battlefield?! They say that I have to be at least Class B!”

Is it me?

That’s not wrong. However, that is incorrect.

Isn’t Lebrand Academy an institution that will serve as the greatest strength of the Principality of Ardelion in case of emergency?

It wouldn’t be strange if a situation could arise where demonic beasts could attack and turn the principality upside down at any moment.

‘This is the problem that Ophelia and Archduke Ardelion talked about.’

The area around the barrier of Artena’s empire is always full of demonic beasts.

To stop it, you must not let down your guard even for a moment, and if even one enters, the powerless will die soon.

I don’t care that those who have raised their senses all over their bodies and raised their vigilance to the limit are protecting the border.

Those who don’t even have the slightest sense of alertness.

Students who do not even take the proper education course, let alone the intention of the test.

Idiots full of groundless conviction that others will take care of their lives from the infested demon beasts.

This student was the result of the aristocrats and professors taking control of the academy.

‘I think I understand the reason why the principality is reeling.’

If we don’t make a change, one day everyone here will fall prey to the demons who are licking their lips.

This guy has no will to learn.

If you are not one to listen and do not know what kind of education you have received, you must find out later.

Will things change after being subjected to Professor Meuniher’s test? No, I’m not sure what that would be either.

“Ac. I just followed you for no reason! I’m just going to act alone. I heard that you’re an international student from Hardia… You’re no different from the avant-gardes of Levant!”

This was his last complaint, and Goden let out a low exclamation as if he was dumbfounded.

Goden decided to watch him do something.

I turned right back and went out of the water, and I was slowly freezing the water in my pants and removing the cold ice with my hands.

Goden immediately shouted.

“Hey! Taking it off like that will hurt you!”

It’s a good idea to freeze and blow off the moisture, but you shouldn’t remove it with your bare hands like that.

“Never mind, I’ll take care of it!”

Shortly thereafter, a first-year boy gave a groan, and his hand was cut by the sharp ice, and blood flowed out.

Then he starts getting nervous.

“Mistress… You followed that human into the water for no reason…!”

Tsk tsk. She wouldn’t have been hurt if she had at least taken off her pants, dried them out, and then froze them and spread them out with sand.

He doesn’t seem to know that his warm hands can tear his flesh when he meets cold ice. If only it hadn’t gone into the water…

‘You know that magic is a kind of nature, providence, and means to twist everything.’

Besides, even if you can use magic, the way you apply it is so low that you’re stupid.

No matter how much magic it is, it doesn’t twist the providence, so you have to keep the basics, but they don’t have basic knowledge.

Goden let out a deep sigh when he saw that he was blaming others for going into the water.

“I’m crazy, to believe in the avant-garde!”

The reason for being put in a group of two is cut off here, and by relying on magic in an extremely easy test, it is expected that that student will probably drop at least two classes.

He then froze the water to make his ice bridge and went on his way.

“Tsk. It’s gotten colder for no reason.”

It was because of the frozen legs in a straight line.

Still, I have to break this. Considering the students following behind, there is no guarantee that they will not be harmed.

Goden’s right hand lingered in a subtle whitish-white magic power, and soon it completely shattered only the ice bridge.

“He was a guy who never lost his pride.”

Is it reasonable that such people are placed in the average class C of the academy?

-‘I’m crazy, to believe in the avant-garde!”

As Ophelia mentioned, conflict between positions exists, so it can be said to be a total impasse.

Goden was firmly convinced that they would not change, and that they would never prepare for it.

Unless there is a representative case to prove that they are wrong.

“I have no choice but to make a case.”