While the Trials went on, the students pushed themselves to their best. Every hour, they were being evaluated by the academy.
Skills, kills, dexterity, teamwork, survival, and many other factors were being recorded.
The academy used this information to give students points and rank them on the leaderboard. It wasn’t only about who killed the most monsters. A student who showed better teamwork or survived a dangerous situation could also earn more points.
The academy was able to do all of this with the help of the Confederacy.
The Confederacy had the technology needed to monitor the students, which was why one of its embassies had come to the academy for the Joint Term.
The embassy was led by the Superintendent who had addressed the students during the induction. She brought some colleagues along to work hand in hand with the academy. Principal Claris, the Vice Principal, and the Deans. Everyone was involved.
With so many eyes watching the Trials, a student’s performance couldn’t go unnoticed.
Apart from the leaderboard, the embassy also had its own list of students they paid close attention to.
For example, Student A could discover something important or help his party in a way that wasn’t flamboyant. But Student B could kill a hundred monsters and gain more recognition from the academy.
The problem was that Student A’s contribution could be more important to the Confederacy.
Anyone could kill a hundred monsters if they were strong enough. But discovering something new, finding useful information, or making an important decision could be harder to replace.
That was what the embassy was watching for.
At the top of that list was Rake Cooper. After him came some other versatile students like Mizuki.
Rake was almost on every list, including the overall best students, where he ranked #1.
His party of Borg, Tabitha, and Toby wasn’t the strongest group in the Trials, but they were still very good. The reason was that he was a good leader.
As the saying goes, an army led by a lion will always fight like a lion.
Their party started the Trials by entering neighborhoods built on lands owned by the Cooper family.
Borg was against the idea at first as he argued that they should just start slaying monsters right away. But Rake knew helping civilians could also earn points, even if many students preferred to find monster zones and start spilling blood immediately.
So for their first hour, Rake’s party helped the neighborhood with mere chores and tasks. They carried things, helped people, fixed some small problems, and did whatever they could.
The neighbourhood became happy with them since Rake was the son and heir to their Lordship.
Because of that trust, people started giving them information.
"We saw some goblins near the subway!"
"My nephew saw monsters around the old arcade!"
"There were strange creatures near the abandoned road too!"
One family after another said something important.
At the end, Rake’s party discovered seven monster zones that weren’t even on the map.
These were the attributes the Confederacy wanted in hunters, and Rake Cooper had almost all of them.
The embassy praised his leadership, intelligence, and ability to think beyond simple monster hunting.
They also criticised students like Derek Cole, who was focused on nothing but killing as many monsters as possible.
********
Principal Claris arrived at the academy. The past two hours of the Joint Term Trials needed to be reviewed, and it was her turn to check what had happened.
Click, click! Her heels made a rhythm as she walked to her office. She was in a hurry, but even her hurried steps looked elegant, her hips swaying while her hands rowed a boat.
"Principal Claris!"
"Good afternoon, Principal!"
The staff greeted her as she passed, and Claris waved or nodded at them.
She was respected. Loved. And also feared.
By far, she was the best Principal the academy had ever had.
Claris opened her door and started talking immediately, because she expected the Superintendent to be waiting inside for her.
"What’s the update on Matthew Lookman’s group? Did they escape the Silver-rank party that tried to rob them, or did they get the dungeon?"
"Principal Claris, welcome...
... Principal Claris? What’s wrong? Are you bothered by the Warden’s presence?"
What a ridiculous question. Warden Silas was literally 7’1" tall, and Principal Claris was 6’0"!
He was also the last person she expected to find inside her office. This meeting was supposed to be between her and the Superintendent alone.
Silas stayed silent for now. Beside the Superintendent, he was like a bear forced into a uniform.
"And what is the Warden of the city doing here?" Claris asked sarcastically. "I must remind you that the Bureau has no business with academy matters unless a student has committed a crime. Is that the case here?"
"No—"
"Then please leave."
"Principal Claris, where is your courtesy?!" the Superintendent raised her voice.
Claris walked over to her desk and stopped.
"Courtesy, huh? Why wasn’t I informed about this meeting beforehand? Why was the Warden brought into my office without my knowledge?
I will ask you again—did any of my students commit, is committing, or is about to commit a crime?"
Her words were sharp as a blade and demanding like a monarch’s call for banners. Warden Silas had met his match. He had been forced to prepare a reply and swallow three times.
Meanwhile, Principal Claris stared into his eyes, telling him without filter that she could smell everything he was trying to do.
What business could the Bureau have with the Joint Term besides giving a speech about good behaviour at the induction?
Claris’s best guess was that they were trying to manipulate something.
Just look at the Warden. Silas was the Duke’s best friend. And the Duke was Luke’s father, a man who disdained his son.
"Principal, you don’t have to worry," Silas finally said. "I’m here on legitimate authority, designated by the Duchess of the city."
"The Duchess of the city?" Principal Claris really started laughing!
It was so predictable; it was amusing.
Silas continued despite her mockery. "The Duchess understands that the students are exploring dangerous places and putting themselves in danger. She just wants to put out more safety measures because of past experiences with high student mortality rates."
Claris just shook her head, chuckling to herself like someone who already knew the script.
"And what did the Duchess delegate to you?"
The Warden looked at the Superintendent, expecting her to iterate better than he could.
"Duchess Roselyn has asked that the Bureau also be involved in reviewing the Trials. The academy will continue its own evaluation, but the Bureau will look for patterns of behaviour that could lead to problems later."
"Patterns?"
"Things the academy might miss," the Superintendent explained. "A student repeatedly taking unnecessary risks, unusual behaviour around certain zones, students making decisions that could become dangerous if repeated, or anything else that might become a bigger problem in the future."
When the Superintendent finished, Claris still stared at her as if she was expecting more. Because why not? There was definitely more underneath all that political balderdash.
"So you’re telling me I should have my students’ battles become public, have their abilities seen, and basically give the Bureau everything they can do? Their fighting methods, their skills, their habits, everything?"
"Not public," the Superintendent corrected. "Only to the Bureau."
"Ah, yes. The Bureau. Haha," the Principal laughed again. "Because I’m sure your security is like a locked vault."
Silas tried to advance and say that this was a matter of importance and security, but Claris turned her back away from him to attend to some files.
BANG!
She shut a drawer so loud, his sentences came in lowercase.
"Principal Claris, your behavior will NOT be tolerated!" the Superintendent yelled with frustration, but Principal Claris couldn’t care less.
"I am the Principal of this academy, and I refuse everything you just said until due process is followed. An arranged meeting. A memorandum. Word from the Confederacy. Do those things first. And even then, I might still refuse. Have a good day, Mr. Silas."
Silence managed to have a seat in the office after so much back and forth.
Principal Claris’s refusal to comply was legit because Silas could’ve come in here with a lie as far as she’s concerned.
But what if he wasn’t lying? That means she was disobeying the Duchess.
All three adults had their blood running high, but Silas took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm.
"As you say," he said. "You’ll be hearing from the Duchess."
"I’d love to," Claris replied coldly as he turned and left her office.
***********
That evening, Roselyn Kingsley arrived at the academy, the Duchess of New Florence.
A convoy of seven cars entered the academy before a woman in a blue gown disembarked. She was beautiful, with silver hair braided so long it reached her heels. Her skin was as white as paint, while her eyes were blue ice.
Principal Claris was working overtime in her office when Roselyn arrived unannounced. Her secretary had even been forced not to inform her.
Roselyn’s presence was like a curtain as she walked through the same hallways that had raised her when she was a teenager. She knew these halls, and she knew the academy. She knew her way to the same office that had belonged to dozens of Principals since the institution was established.
Then she opened the door without knocking, of course.
Principal Claris was never too busy to look up at someone who believed they were above the rules.
Who she saw shocked her. It was someone she hadn’t seen in over a decade, back from when they were both students in the academy.