“Reveal the result.”
At the head seat, Artemis’s voice remained ethereal and indifferent.
As her words fell, dozens of evaluation scrolls written by the tutors all soared up at once.
They fluttered like moths to a flame, plunging into the dark fireball suspended at the center of the hall, and in an instant, turned to ash.
The flames surged, finally condensing into a number in the air.
【4】
Four points.
“Oh?”
Dean Artemis’s eyelids drooped slightly, her slender finger tapping gently on an ancient scroll.
“For a team that captured the king and made a successful full retreat, this average score… does indeed break the century-old record at our school.”
Her tone revealed no joy or anger, and she didn’t seem to care at all.
“This is an unqualified score, you know.”
How could this happen?!
Ibuki Mio’s knuckles turned white from clenching her fists.
This score was brimming with undisguised malice and prejudice—a downright insult to the blood and sweat they’d poured into the fight!
And this was the average score from all the professors!
Just how many people gave them a zero?!
“Please permit me to object, Dean.”
A cold aura spread from Karenina as she stepped forward, straightening her back to shield her teammates behind her.
“As the victors of the trial, we should not be subjected to such unjust treatment.”
“Oh?”
Artemis finally withdrew her gaze from the void, landing it for the first time on the student who dared question her.
She was not angered; she simply looked on calmly.
At that moment, a female tutor in a luxurious mage’s robe stood up from the seats, a false smile plastered on her face.
“No need to get agitated, Miss Kafnir. This is how the Academy’s rules have always been. An unqualified average score doesn’t mean you’ve lost all opportunity.”
Karenina narrowed her eyes, her gaze flicking to Romu at her side.
No anger, no resentment, not even a trace of surprise.
“What a mess.”
Romu grumbled inwardly.
He had long anticipated the prejudice in this matriarchal world.
But to be this blatant—it was honestly beyond his expectations.
Still, this score only decided class placement order and how desirable their team was to the tutors.
There was never any danger of expulsion.
As long as he could stay in school, wasn’t that enough?
Which class, which department—it didn’t matter to a player like him who just wanted to reap the rewards.
“That same look again!”
Karenina, whose heart had just been in turmoil, instantly calmed down.
Somehow, even when facing the Dean, she could remain neither servile nor overbearing. As long as Romu was unfazed, there was nothing for her to fear.
Because this usually meant… he had already foreseen this, maybe even walked into this trap willingly!
All for the sake of seeing how she, as “captain,” would choose when facing suppression from the Academy’s authority and potential division within the team!
This was the true, final trial of the beginner’s tutorial!
He truly deserved to be the examiner!
Karenina took a deep breath, her heart now completely at ease. Her voice became steady and resolute.
“I’m listening.”
“It’s very simple.”
The female tutor’s voice carried a sharp note of schadenfreude.
“According to the Academy’s ancient ‘Elite Clause,’ when a team’s overall score is unqualified, the team may internally vote to expel the member with the lowest individual score.”
“As long as you kick out that ‘deadweight’ holding the team back, the remaining members’ average will automatically pass!”
As she spoke, her staff tapped the ground, and a giant magical screen unfolded before everyone.
On it was each person’s individual score.
The tutor’s gaze swept across the screen, finally pausing at the end with a trace of cruel pleasure.
“As for who scored the lowest on your team… Here, look!”
【Romu: 25 points】
“No way!!”
Ibuki Mio gasped, completely stunned!
Leaving aside the Dean, there were forty-three professors present.
Even if each only gave one point, the baseline should be forty-three!
How much malice did it take to give such a ridiculous score?!
This wasn’t just prejudice anymore.
It was naked humiliation!
“Huh, it’s a bit higher than I expected!”
Romu didn’t take it to heart at all.
“A self-delivered ‘kick-out-the-team-member’ drama? What a sweet deal?!”
Romu stifled a laugh.
Kicked out of the team?
If Kafnir was the type to do that, he would’ve been played to death long ago!
Besides, if he really did get kicked out, it would only prove the guy had been pretending all along, and wasn’t worth Romu’s trust!
Right now, those 200 credits were already in the bag!
He had money, he could afford to be willful!
Let’s see if you’ll choose a fake future, or a brother with a guidebook in hand!
“I refuse!”
Almost the next moment, Karenina’s response rang through the entire hall.
“As Rosso Guyan once said, ‘To choose a companion is to choose a destiny.’”
“I have chosen my destiny. If a price must be paid for it, then so be it!”
“Let it be carved into the school history as a disgrace, or let us be sent to the most overlooked class—do your worst!”
Dominant!
So domineering!
Romu’s eyes truly shone!
What a… what a manly—no, womanly—air!
“Oh?”
Artemis’s eyes finally stopped wandering and focused on “Kafnir.”
How many years had it been?
How long since she last heard such firm, decisive words, unhesitating in defending a companion?
Was it a split-second decision, or a path she’d long seen ahead, or… perhaps guided by wise friends at her side?
Changing her focus, Artemis’s gaze landed on Romu for the very first time.
“Ara…”
She let out a soft sigh.
Even with a hundred years of experience and having seen millions of young talents, the boy before her was truly something special!
He seemed to carry a bit of an assassin’s subtlety and a merchant’s shrewdness, mixed with an ineffable air of mystery—as if he’d stepped right out of an ancient elven tale.
His composed manner, tall and upright posture—
And that unwavering trust in his captain, not uttering a word of protest even when his own fate hung in the balance.
Seeing these qualities, Artemis smiled faintly.
No wonder he could enchant Ankatt. What remarkable charisma.
“But with just four points, it’ll be hard for any tutor to—”
Bang!
Before the female mage could finish, a loud slap resounded from the teachers’ seats!
“I’ll take him!”
Ankatt’s figure had never looked so imposing.
To crush the entire hall with her momentum, her one-meter-fifty stature seemed to “grow” instantly!
At least… by however high her chair was above the floor!
“You all have something to say, huh? I gave him full marks! None of you better have the nerve to fight me for him now!”
“Huh??”
Now Ibuki Mio was utterly lost.
Where did this tiny teacher come from?!
Going against forty other colleagues for a student, and even openly admitting to giving a perfect score—wasn’t that a slap to everyone else’s face?!
“Would the Dean really allow—”
“Ah, youth.” Artemis put her hands together, looking very satisfied. “In that case, I’ll leave this team to you, Teacher Ankatt.”
“Dean!?”
Hearing this, several teachers instantly looked grim!
True, they didn’t much like the composition of this team, but… this was the team that had truly captured the king!
Part of the reason they’d marked them down was the two boys, but there was another reason: each class had a total point quota. The points used by all students in a class depended on things like chess pieces, teacher evaluations, etc.
If the chess pieces were weak and the team’s score low, they used fewer points.
If the chess pieces were strong and the team scored high, they used more points.
This system ensured each class was made up of a small elite team and several average teams, and the weaker teams would be gradually replaced.
But now?!
Alchemy had swooped in and snatched them away?!
“If Ankatt the drunkard can raise a team properly, I’ll write my name backwards!”
A teacher grumbled from the seats, face anything but dignified.
Romu caught it in his ear.
“Does she even need to?”
“I’M the true team-building master!”
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