[Translator - Night]
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Chapter 127
The only cadet who hadn’t been caught with a cheat sheet was on the verge of threatening Leon in desperation, but his bravado didn’t last long.
Leon was suddenly standing right in front of him, staring at him intently, as if he had been there the whole ti.
He had been over there just a mont ago…
The chilling gaze from Leon’s sky-blue eyes made the boy collapse in fear.
“Gasp?!”
“When did he get here?!”
“Oh my god…”
The murmurs of the flustered cadets quickly died down.
“You said there’s no proof?”
“Th-That’s right. There’s no evidence that I cheated…”
“Are you looking for this?”
Leon’s hand moved in an instant.
Of course, the cadet couldn’t even react, and when he saw what was now in Leon’s grasp, he gasped sharply.
Leon was holding the monocle the cadet had been wearing.
“T-That’s…?!”
“Do you take for a blind man? A proper investigation will reveal everything. Do you still want to continue?”
Leon’s voice was calm, but his usual formal tone had vanished.
The boy, feeling an overwhelming sense of pressure, broke out in a cold sweat as if he were being crushed.
Then, Leon hooked his finger into the poml of the dagger in his hand, spun it idly, and turned away.
“Get out.”
His cold words made it clear that he wouldn’t entertain any objections.
The others, unwilling to back down just yet, tried to protest but were quickly silenced.
They had caught sight of a silver-haired girl, who had montarily looked up from her exam with an icy gaze.
That was enough to stop them in their tracks.
Eilena Lu Pascalia.
The imperial princess.
Of all people, falling out of favor with a mber of the royal family was a sure way to ruin.
“L-Leon… What’s going on here…?”
Monts later, Professor Roml entered the second exam hall, looking flustered.
“I have expelled a cadet who was caught cheating.”
Leon then unceremoniously tore up the exam papers used by the cheaters.
“Here’s the proof.”
“My word…”
With evidence in hand, there was no reason to argue.
Even so, Roml let out a deep sigh.
“Won’t this disrupt the other cadets’ exams?”
“I see your point. My apologies.”
Leon quietly bowed his head, and Roml gave him a short nod.
“At least you handled it quietly… Carry on.”
As Professor Roml left, the cadets shot uneasy glances at Leon.
Sensing the tension in the air, they swallowed hard.
“My apologies for the disturbance. Please continue your exams.”
The cadets, still wary, hesitated for a mont before refocusing on their tests.
Not long after, in the adjacent third exam hall, where Luna was the proctor, a loud thud echoed.
A mont later, three or four cadets were sent flying, unconscious.
“I warned you your heads would be smashed.”
“Gah… Ugh… You… crazy… witch…”
Wearing her mask, Luna casually tossed the cadets aside like discarded twigs before shouldering her massive hamr and reentering the room.
As Professor Roml made his way back to the first exam hall, he let out a weary sigh.
His eccentric disciple had certainly brought in so… interesting individuals.
In fact, when Isna had persuaded him to allow them, she had assured him:
“They may seem unusual, but they are far from ordinary.”
With that in mind, Roml glanced into the fourth exam hall, where Isna was supervising.
It was eerily silent.
No one was cheating or even thinking of fooling around.
It was obvious why.
Sitting in the proctor’s chair, Isna exuded an air of quiet nace, her scythe resting beside her.
Anyone who had heard of her reputation at the academy knew better than to cause trouble under her watch.
Contrary to Roml’s expectations, the written exams proceeded without any further incidents.
* * *
Once both rounds of exams concluded, rumors quickly spread among the students.
Apparently, Professor Roml had brought in three temporary assistant proctors.
“Did you hear? They’re complete lunatics.”
“I wish I’d seen it myself, haha. So guy next to tried to cheat, and the mont he made a move, the proctor caught him instantly and smashed his head.”
“What? During the test?”
“Yeah. And when he tried to protest… Well, let’s just say he got crushed like a crumpled piece of tal before being kicked out.”
“The second exam hall wasn’t much different. A really handso guy was there. He looked normal at first, but I barely even saw what happened.”
“That guy was good-looking, wasn’t he? There was sothing about his vibe.”
Interestingly, most of the cadets seed to agree that Leon was quite handso.
“Your Highness, you saw it too, didn’t you?”
“…”
The silver-haired girl half-opened her cold eyes, took a brief sip of her drink, and closed them again.
“As a proctor, he simply fulfilled his duty. It’s sothing to be comnded, but also sothing that was expected.”
A short, asured response.
“But what was that sword that Assistant Proctor Leon used? Was it a magic sword? It looked so strange.”
“The way it sliced through the desk like that, it clearly wasn’t ordinary. Plus, it breaks after a single use.”
“It must be so kind of magical artifact.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
As a group of female cadets giggled and chatted excitedly, Princess Eilena Lu Pascalia closed her eyes and recalled the scene.
Indeed, it was hard to believe that what she had witnessed was anything other than magic.
She didn’t consider that Leon might simply possess overwhelming skill.
After all, he didn’t look much older than her—perhaps only a year or two at most.
Most cadets were at the level of Aura Users, and even among graduates, only the older ones tended to reach the level of Expert.
A prodigy capable of reaching Expert rank at his age was incredibly rare.
Moreover, even an Expert-level swordsman shouldn’t have been able to achieve such a feat with an ordinary dagger from that distance.
Not to ntion, true masters exuded an unmistakable aura of power, but Leon had none of that.
Still…
When she first saw him, sothing about him had felt oddly familiar.
“Haaah… I totally failed the exam…”
“Oh dear, Olivia. You barely studied. This is the obvious result. Accept it.”
“So cold, Rachel.”
Eilena, who had been lost in thought, sipped her drink again as the other female students chattered around her.
Although there was so commotion, the exam itself had been manageable.
As long as she perford well in the practical exam, she would be able to et His Majesty’s expectations.
That was all she thought about.
"By the way, have you heard the news? The assistant supervising Exam Room 4, apparently…"
"Oh, I heard. It was Lady Isna from Mielephon, right? I heard she wore another one of those bizarre reaper outfits…"
"At this point, I’m not even surprised by Lady Isna anymore."
After all, wasn't she the one who once breathed fire after eating sothing strange?
Or caused a ghostly uproar by hanging upside down and chanting, 'Those who seek power, co to …'?
To be honest, people ended up laughing so much that they couldn’t completely dislike her.
"It's not very proper to gossip like this when the person isn't even here."
At Eilena’s cold reprimand, the giggling female students imdiately shut their mouths.
"S-Sorry, Your Highness."
"You don’t need to apologize to . Besides, no one can deny that Lady Isna Mielephon excelled in her studies despite everything."
"Well, that’s true…"
At this age, with their curiosity at its peak, young girls devoured any fresh topic like starving hyenas.
Of course, the sa was true for the male students.
"That assistant supervisor from Exam Room 3, you know, the one wearing a mask—I'm telling you, people like that are usually insanely beautiful."
"What are you even saying? If they wore a mask, it ans they weren’t confident in their looks, so they hid them."
"No, no, I heard sothing interesting. Soone apparently saw them take off the mask after the exam, on the way to the waiting room."
"And? What did they look like?"
"They couldn't even put it into words. They just stood there, completely dazed. Their eyes went all glassy, totally out of it."
"Hahaha!"
Even though most of them ca from noble families, when boys and girls of their age gathered, they were all the sa in the end.
* * *
"You did well, Lord Leon."
Through the course of preparations, he had grown comfortable enough with Professor Roml to speak more casually.
"You as well, Professor."
"Thanks to you, I can finally put my worries to rest."
The professor didn't bother hiding his satisfied smile as he expressed his gratitude.
"Honestly, if it weren't for you all, I would have had a real headache. I never imagined soone would go to such lengths just to cheat…"
The students caught cheating were all from prestigious families, but Professor Roml had rcilessly given them the lowest possible scores.
And by 'lowest score,' it was practically a mark of disgrace.
Naturally, the families involved raised complaints, but Roml was not the kind of man to be swayed by such things.
"Now, the most important practical exam remains. Are you holding it in the Black Forest again?"
"That's the plan. The deeper parts are too dangerous, so we’ll be staying within the usual test area."
No matter how much they emphasized real combat, safety always had to co first.
"The Black Forest?"
"Ah, it's a forest the academy has used for years for exams and training. It also houses an active monster ecosystem."
Which ant…
"A demonic realm?"
"That's right, a demonic realm. And isn't the Cascadia family responsible for monitoring such places?"
"Is this really okay? Nothing good has ever co from people wandering in and out of demonic realms."
Demonic realms were feared for a reason, the greatest being the powerful entity that resided in their depths.
Cascadia’s own demonic realm, for instance, housed a king-class monster deep within, though they never ventured that far, only monitoring its activity.
Rumor had it that their realm's king was stronger than those of other demonic realms.
"The Black Forest’s demonic realm is a special case. There’s no king, but it does experience periodic rifts. Most of them open in the center, and the monsters that get pushed out in power struggles eventually settle in the outer regions."
"Hmm."
"Also, once these creatures establish their territories, they rarely leave them. The areas accessible to the academy are relatively safe."
The practical exam had several formats, but this ti, it involved entering the demonic realm, subjugating monsters, and completing a designated objective.
During the process, their actions, judgnt, and teamwork would all be evaluated.
"Here, take this map of the Black Forest. If you're taking on a supervisory role, you should at least be familiar with the terrain."
"Would it be alright if I visited in person?"
"Would you be willing to guide them, Lady Isna?"
"Of course, Professor."
With the professor seeing us off, Luna and I followed Isna toward the Black Forest, not far from the academy.
[Translator - Night]
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