Chapter 6:
A Poor Noble’s Gotta Eat
WE HAD ABOUT THIRTY MINUTES until the second half of the exam. The moment the break started, our team got rushed from all sides by the rest of the prospective student body.
“Lady Lenore! How did you find that dead reaper? It’s absolutely incredible that you defeated it without so much as a scratch!”
“Oh no, I…”
I bailed before anyone could turn to me and retreated all the way to an abandoned corner of the campus. Emma followed on my heels and offered me a lunch box. Even back in prep school, she’d always made me lunch.
“Thanks again,” I said.
“Oh, it’s no big deal. I, um, I have to know, though, did you really defeat that dead reaper, Noir?”
“I did, but I can’t tell you anything more.”
“Hm. I thought so. You’ve been getting strong really fast lately. Does it have something to do with your Great Sage skill?”
“Nope. I just happened to find a good mentor.”
“Is…this mentor a woman?”
“Yup. Why?”
“Hmph. I knew you were being cold.”
Emma pouted and stole one of my sides. I tripped over myself trying to explain that there was nothing going on, but Emma remained put out. Before I could clarify the situation (not that easy without admitting to the whole weirdness factor), the second half of the exam began.
For this stage, we had to demonstrate our skills and get scored on our performance. There were several proctors scattered about the field, standing by to judge us.
“Next, Noir Stardia.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I see you were on the first-place team. What are you going to do?”
“Good question, actually.”
I really shouldn’t have been surprised that I’d attracted a lot of attention. There were far more people surrounding the members of our team than the others. Honestly though, at this point I didn’t really have to try for a high score. The exam results were based on your total from the first and second halves. I could totally half-ass it and still make S-Class.
“I’ll fire a Stone Bullet,” I decided.
“Gimme your best shot.”
I shot off a stone bullet at a dummy that looked like a scarecrow. I at least made sure it hit.
“W-wait, wasn’t that stone a little too small?!”
“Maybe my magic’s a little weak, sadly. I can’t make a very powerful one.”
“I thought Stone Bullet had a fixed size… Huh.”
The president was at a loss for words as he scribbled my score down. The spell may have been nonstandard, but I figured it wouldn’t get me any unnecessary extra points. At any rate, the second half of the exam was now over, at least for me. The rest was out of my hands.
A few hours later, we gathered on the field, waiting for academy badges to be distributed to those who’d passed. To no surprise, Emma, Lenore, and myself all got one.
“Third place: Noir Stardia. Second place: Emma Brightness. First place: Lenore Bludon!”
I was right, we really did over-perform in the first half. My instincts to half-ass it in the second part were bang on. I really, really didn’t want to attract any more attention than I already had.
As if on cue, Ms. Number One, Lenore, descended on me. “Noir! Were you the one who defeated that dead reaper?”
“Honestly, I have the memory of a gnat. I can barely remember what happened to me three minutes ago.”
“Did you steal that line from your grandpa?” Emma muttered.
“Regardless,” I said, and held out my hand. “You got the top spot, Ms. Lenore. Congratulations. I know we got off to a rocky start, but we’re going to be in the same class, so personally, I’d like to get along. Not that you should force yourself.”
“I need do nothing of the sort. But I really ought to apologize for my rudeness earlier. I underestimated you because of your status, and I cannot deny that.”
I was surprised by her honesty. She even shook my hand, and happily agreed to take credit for slaying the dead reaper when I asked her to.
“In terms of raw ability, I could have defeated it anyway, so I will do you this favor.”
“My thanks.”
What I was really grateful for was that Lenore was a bit of a braggart. All in all, I was in a pretty good mood. At least, I was until I got to the Academy’s front desk.
“Congratulations on passing the entrance exam. Please be sure to have your tuition of 300,000 rels ready before the entrance ceremony next week.”
“That…sure is a lot of money.”
“Given the additional special curriculum for our S-Class students, their costs are higher. But as a member of the aristocracy, surely money isn’t—”
“Y-yeah, of course. It won’t be a problem…”
“Once your tuition is paid, the materials you gathered for the test will be returned.”
I trudged home in a deep depression. I knew my parents would scrounge up the money if only I asked, but I dreaded being any more of a burden. Three hundred grand was cheap, even super cheap, to most noble families, but not ours.
If I told my father the new price tag of my education, he’d try to play it cool at first, but pretty quickly he’d start getting nervous. Then my mother would chime in, offering to cut into our already meager food budget and apologizing to my little sister because we’d have to scrimp. To top it all off, my father said he was going somewhere on business this month, so he’d definitely have to figure out more ways to avoid additional expenses.
“What if my family lends you the money?” Emma asked. She was an angel, as always, and she knew all about the Stardia family’s financial situation.
I shook my head. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I want to pay my own way.”
I had some ideas already, though I was pretty sure I’d cause a bit of an uproar if I just started selling golden slimes, so I’d have to find another way.
+ 400 LP
Wait, why did my LP increase? Was it because my desire to pass the exam was fulfilled? Newly invigorated by my success, I started to ponder which adventurer’s guild I should join.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ultimately, I decided to drop in on the biggest guild, Odin. They had a lot of highly skilled adventurers, so the scope of their activities was quite broad. They did everything from harvesting botanicals to culling monsters and exploring dungeons.
I opted for adventuring mostly because it was the fastest route to make money—you got paid immediately after completing a request. Plus, it couldn’t hurt to do some networking. That could lead to jobs or favors to cash in later. I had to be on the lookout for that kind of thing now. At any rate, there was an abundance of reception desks inside the guild hall. I headed to one and asked about applying.
“We do have an entrance exam, if you’re interested?” said the receptionist.
“I am.”
“Follow me, please.”
“Wow, you guys don’t waste any time, do you?”
“You would have to take the exam regardless, so there really isn’t much point in delaying. Sorry, but this is all part of the audition process.”
“Do what you have to.”
We moved out into the backyard, where the guild kept an outdoor training camp. That was pretty typical of places like this on the outskirts of town.
“Mr. Gamon, we have an applicant.”
“Bring ’im over.” Gamon was a man in his thirties with long wavy locks and a stylish beard. He spun a long polearm around his fingers and slammed the end into the ground with a mighty thunk. “You a noble’s kid?”
“I’m the son of Baronet Stardia, sir.”
“I appreciate the courtesy and all, but we don’t much care about social standing around here. If you don’t got a basic level of problem-solving, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”
“Understood. I hope I don’t disappoint, sir.”
“I like the cut of your jib, kid. You’ve got three minutes to force a sound outta me.”
Make a sound? I cocked my head to the side, puzzled.
“If it comes outta my throat, it counts—could be a scream, a moan, or a laugh. Anything.”
“So, I’m not just supposed to fight you?”
“That’s what most people do, but the other day this kid told me this hilarious story and I burst out laughin’.”
I never would’ve thought of that. They must’ve been exceptionally clever. My best idea was nailing him in the stomach. Adventurers didn’t just need to be strong, sometimes they needed smarts more than anything. That was the point of this exercise—there’s never just one right answer.
“Let’s get this going then. Start!”
Gamon gave the signal before I was truly ready. I hastily drew my sword and collected some data on him.
Name: Gamon Chocotiff
Age: 32
Species: Human
Level: 82
Occupation: Adventurer; Brothel Bouncer
Skills: Polearms (Grade B); Lunge; Soil Shield
Oh, did I just spot his weakness?!