The sun hung low, painting the fading snow of the Grand Square in a heavy shade of red. The crowd that had surrounded every tile of the ground before had dissipated hours ago, leaving behind a rather small, calm gathering of people.
And I was among them.
The week had passed more slowly than I had expected.
I hadn’t been waiting to see my results. Though I was curious, as long as I passed, I was fine with anything. But when the word of the results being posted publicly reached … I had to see it for myself.
I had arrived late, the sun was already setting, and the people were already scattering. I didn’t need to rush, after all, and it gave so room to breathe in as I approached the line of boards before , the nas written with black ink were illuminated by warm Luminite lanterns.
Now, standing before them, my eyes found the na I was looking for instantly. It was the first na in sight, at the very top of the list.
Ranked 1st: Carine Sareid [Written: 48, Practical: 31, Total: 79]
A slow breath of relief escaped .
She made it. No, not just made it, she reached the top of the scoreboard. After everything that the instructor had put her through, she rightfully earned that spot. Seeing her na up there felt like a victory. It seed our work had not been in vain.
And speaking of which, I drifted my eyes across the board. After a mont of scanning any nas that started with the letter ‘V’, I finally found my na.
Villius Torenkeid [Written: 28, Practical: 0, Total: 28]
A small chuckle ca out of .
The practical score was naturally zero; I had attributed every single flag I held to Carine’s na, after all. I was a little worried that the instructor might have misunderstood sothing and attributed it to instead, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
The written score, however, was a surprise. I scored better than I thought. I still rember the silent dread that had washed over when I took a look at the questions for the first ti. The questions were brutal; they all required a deep understanding of obscure laws, obscure mathematics, and niche histories.
The ti limit imposed on us was barely enough to answer all of them.
That only made Lady Carine’s forty-eight points not just impressive, but terrifying.
Forty-eight points, with twenty-five questions worth two points each, it ant she had answered every single question perfectly, save for one. In that grueling exam, under that imnse pressure and ti limit, she had been nearly flawless.
She outshone everyone. I was sure there were many hoping she were more na than rit. I could only imagine their reactions when their eyes naturally gravitated to her rightful spot above everyone.
My eyes scanned the board once more, hoping to find the nas of the others who had helped in supporting Lady Carine.
But that was when I noticed sothing rather… strange.
The scores of the Standardized Track examinees… were high.
Their written exam scores were clustered in a solid, respectable range. However, I did wonder how they managed such scores.
27...
24...
31...
I had heard the exam questions were more nurous for them than it was for us, but to score pretty well even then seed abnormal.
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But nothing was as abnormal as their practical scores.
Many, and I do an many, of them had their practical scores sit, at the very minimum, of fifteen. Though only a few managed to scratch twenty points, the number of them who earned fifteen or more points was… astounding.
Couple that with their respectable written exam scores… they dominated the upper and middle tiers of the ranking.
How?
How did so many of them gather so many points in the practical exam? When I heard of their minimum points requirent, I figured only a few would’ve passed that threshold…
Then it clicked. This exam was a matter of survival for them. Even if they scored well in the written exam, it would all an nothing if they didn’t et the minimum point requirent. But still, how did so many of them gather that many points?
Then I rembered Lady Carine’s words. Her last command before we were ambushed by Instructor Cornellia. She was heading for the eastern side of the forest for seemingly no reason…
Could it be that the eastern side had way more points? If true, that would surely explain the point distribution among the standardized track examinees. But why? Why would the eastern side have more flags for grabs?
And more than that, how did Lady Carine sense that?
Was there so logic I missed?
In contrast, many of the gilded track examinees had their practical scores sitting at… a rather disappointing range. More than half of us sit at around the single dozen range. And what was worse was how there was a concerning amount of those who had their total sit at single digits as well.
So many of my peers had simply… not tried. They had entered the forest for a stroll, collected a flag or two for appearances, and left. So, I believe, never entered the forest at all.
Sure, they would pass regardless of their scores, and entering Honors was really the only tangible goal for scoring high, which many considered a hassle.
But I was sure they never imagined their complacency would be displayed in the Grand Square like this.
In the end, the evidence was right here, right in front of everyone’s eyes. Nearly half of the spots in the better part of the ranking were occupied by Standardized examinees. They had outperford a significant portion of the Gilded track examinees.
This slls troubling…
In any case, my main curiosity was solved. But before I could leave, my eyes were drawn back to the board, snagging on one na in particular. The one who sat in the sixth place.
Ranked 6th: Feyt [Written: 42, Practical: 20, Total: 62]
Forty-two points in written points. Far higher than mine. He’d almost caught up to Lady Carine herself even.
I hadn’t expected that, at all. I guessed that he would do well in the exam, considering he was the chosen student by Instructor Sareid… But it seed like he was more capable than he lets on.
But to score this well...?
He was, easily, the top scorer among the Standardized examinee.
On top of that, he held twenty points in practical, thanks to Lady Carine.
I had seen Lady Carine gifted the two yellow flags from Instructor Cornellia to him. She had given it to him without saying a single word, without a single gesture. It felt less like a gift, and more like it was sothing she determined that was already his.
My mind fell onto the sight of him fighting with Carine against Instructor Cornellia. It was a sight that had stayed with far more vividly than I liked to admit
The way they moved was beyond effective; it was srizing. Lady Carine fought with grace and no wasted motion. Feyt followed closely, nearly mirroring her every step. Not even I could follow her movents, let alone match them in step and response. It was as if they were each other’s shadow.
Watching them then, I had wondered how long they must have trained together to move like that. Now, seeing their nas so close on the board, it was clear. The trust she showed him wasn’t sothing you built in a day… Perhaps not even in a year.
And perhaps… that’s why it stung a little.
It wasn’t jealousy, maybe. It was more like a quiet pain of realizing that the path I’d imagined walking beside her… had already been taken by soone else.
I exhaled softly, eyes still fixed on that na.
“I never really had a chance, did I?”
My chest ached with a dull pain as I finally realized Lady Carine had chosen where to put her attention and trust, and it wasn’t with .
I let out a small chuckle and shook my head, nearly laughing at myself. How foolish I was, thinking I could ever catch the attention of soone like her just by talking to her… even when her light had already fallen upon soone else.
But even as that thought settled deeper within , another began to take place.
Determination.
If Feyt was the one she had chosen to trust… if that was the caliber of person Lady Carine aligned herself with, then that was the caliber I needed to reach, or perhaps, surpass.
I looked once more at his na on the board. With a cool focus, I had decided. My goal was no longer just to pass or to be noticed. It was to beco better than the one who walked the path I could only dream.
This scoreboard wasn’t the end. It never was. Rather, it had simply revealed my true opponent.
The one I had to surpass.
After one final look of the nas, I turned from the square.
With firm steps, I made my way back.
"I'll see you in the academy, Feyt."
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