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n「E-Eek!」

n「Someone call the medic!」

nEveryone started moving the moment the staff member collapsed.

n「Yo, is this real? The demon just lost!」

n「Did you see what happened? I couldn’t quite catch it.」

n「He disappeared, I tell you. That guy actually disappeared!」

n「So anyway, is the exam over?」

n「Eek…」

nHikaru approached other staff members, but they were terrified of him.

n「Whoa. You’re the ones who made me take this ridiculous exam. Why are you backing away?」

n「I-I-I’m sorry! We don’t have the authority to approve your enrollment!」

n「What? She said I could enroll if I passed the exam and you all agreed to that implicitly.」

n「Please don’t be mad! I beg you!」

n「Or do I really have to kill Mikhail after all?」

n「Please don’t!」

nThe medic attending to Mikhail shrieked as they rose to their feet, dropping Mikhail’s head on the ground with a thud. Poor guy – getting dragged in all this.

n「Can I enroll or not?」

n「O-Of course you can!」the staff member said, teary-eyed. Hikaru wasn’t completely satisfied, but his enrollment was accepted.

n「Hikaru, what about me?」Lavia asked.

n「Oh, right. About Lavia’s exam…」

n「There’s no need for that! She’s in as well!」

n「There you have it.」

n「Oh, thank goodness. Unlike you, I don’t think I can hold back and not kill my opponent.」

nLavia’s words instilled fear in the staff members even more.

n「…So, how did it end up like this?」

nAfter the exam, Hikaru and Lavia were summoned by the principal directly. Upon entering the room, a woman past her prime greeted them with a smile, though her eyes were dead serious. Beside her were four armed professors.

n「I’ve heard about what happened. What do you want?」she asked.

n「Enrollment.」

n「You can drop the act. Please give it to me straight. You brought up Ponsonia’s name, a country at war, injured one of our professors, and caused turmoil among the admin staff. Are you trying to sully the reputation of this academy from the inside? Your methods are rough, I must say.」

n「………」

nHikaru was starting to have a headache. Why can’t they just let me enroll? I have the money. Tuition for two years was 500,000 gilans for each student.

n「So this is because of my guild card saying I’m from Ponsonia?」

n「We should be wary of suspicious people. Don’t you agree? And you’re plenty suspicious.」

n「Let me ask you, then. How do I get you to trust me?」

n「Who knows? That’s for you to think about.」

nOh, I know this one. The devil’s proof. She really has no intention of trusting me ever again, Hikaru thought. Good grief. What now?

nHe glanced to the side to see Lavia staring at the principal scornfully. Hikaru drew a deep breath.

n「Hey, Lavia! Calm down! I can feel the disgust oozing from your eyes!」he whispered.

n「I can’t help it, okay? This distrustful brain-dead hag actually has the guts to call herself the principal.」she muttered back.

n「I know, Ma’am. How about this?」

nAll of a sudden one of the armed professors spoke. He looked creepy with his excessively long forelocks reaching his eyes. He was carrying a short spear, but his stats were nothing special, with only two points on Short Spear. He didn’t even have the Strength that Mikhail had.

nWhat really irked Hikaru the most though was the guy had been staring at Lavia ever since they stepped into the office.

n「We ask him to fetch leaves of the drakon kidney flower.」the guy said.

n「That’s…」

n「You need it, plus he’ll be saving a life. It’s just the right assignment for a student of the academy.」

n「…No. It’s too dangerous.」

n「Please think about this carefully. A Ponsonian is wreaking havoc. We have to at least make him do this.」

n「These are two completely different matters.」

n「Excuse me.」Hikaru interjected. If he just let them be, who knew what they would make him do? 「Sorry to interrupt, but the admin staff in charge with enrollment asked me to take an exam which I passed. Yet my enrollment is still not accepted. And now you want me to do something for you?」

nHikaru was starting to get annoyed. So I’ll be paying high fees for these lots’ salaries? I might as well pay for an adventurer who’s an expert in Stealth for private lessons.

n「The examination is within the academy’s regulations. If an enrollee’s aptitude is unknown, a professor will judge him.」

n「So about my aptitude…」

n「Hikaru.」Lavia, who was quiet the whole time, finally spoke, drawing the principal’s eyes towards her. 「Let’s just go. Even if all these people gang up on you, they’ll never win. What can you possibly learn in this place?」

n「Wha—」

nEveryone present, even the principal, was speechless. All of a sudden, the door burst open.

n「Principal! Oh, you’re here!」

nMikhail. He was very much fine. Probably the work of healing magic.

n「We have to let this boy in. He made me realize something. It doesn’t matter if it’s a student or someone younger – you just can’t underestimate anyone. That should be obvious, but I’d completely forgotten about it. If we let someone like him into the academy, it should provide motivation for everyone.」

n「What are you saying, Mikhail? You just got hit by a surprise attack. That’s all.」one professor said.

n「Shut your mouth!!」Mikhail shouted.

n「You lot can’t even defeat me in a fight! It doesn’t matter if it was a surprise attack. This boy managed to—」

n「This boy. That boy. I have a name and it’s Hikaru.」

n「O-Oh…Hikaru here knocked me out cold in a split second. There wasn’t even any time to think about dying. His strength is unknown. I’d even like to learn from him.」

nEvery professor present held their breath.

n「He’s that good?」the principal said.

n「That’s right. And he didn’t kill me, despite me saying I was prepared to die. If he really was an assassin from Ponsonia, he would’ve ended me right then and there.」

n「You have a point.」the principal said, deep in thought. 「Very well. I will approve his enrollment.」

n「What?!」the professors shrieked.

n「Great news, huh, Hikaru?」Mikhail said, patting Hikaru’s back.

n「…Ouch. Actually, the patronizing attitude is kinda pissing me off. “I will approve his enrollment”. I feel like changing my mind.」

n「Come on, don’t say that! Ma’am, please accept Hikaru as a scholarship student. It should be possible with a professor’s recommendation.」

n「Hey, Mikhail!」the professors interjected.

n「…Okay.」The principal accepted Mikhail’s proposal.

nFor a moment, Hikaru found it strange how she changed her mind so fast, but he disregarded the thought, knowing it wasn’t any of his business.

n「Hmm… In that case, I’ll enroll. I can just leave if I end up not liking the place anyway. How does that sound, Lavia?」

n「…If that’s what you want, I’m fine with it.」

nLavia was not completely satisfied, but she reluctantly agreed.

nMikhail followed them out of the principal’s office.

n「I’m really sorry about that. Looked like they gave you quite a hard time.」

n「I didn’t know people here were so allergic to Ponsonia.」

n「Your country’s to blame. They shouldn’t wage wars in the first place.」

n「I agree. Anyway, I’m surprised you pushed for my enrollment when I knocked you out cold. Don’t tell me you like being beaten up?」

n「Hell no!」

n「You want to fight me again but with your sword ready this time? You think you can win then?」

n「Haha. I’d very much love to try that, but that’s not why I pushed for your enrollment. It’s exactly like I said. The academy’s research has been stagnating lately. I wanted motivation. The principal is… actually a person of character. If you weren’t from Ponsonia, she would have treated you well.」

n「Does she have a grudge against Ponsonia or something?」

n「Her nephew got caught in the skirmish between Quinbland and Ponsonia. And then…」

n「He got killed?」

n「Don’t write him off like that. He’s still alive. He got hit by a stray arrow laced with a special kind of poison.」

nAccording to him, the poison caused high fever and slowed the healing of wounds. Removing it required a special kind of medicine. Magic hardly worked.

n「And for that the leaves of a drakon kidney flower is needed?」

n「How’d you know?」

n「That creepy professor with the short spear suggested I go and pick some.」

n「Professor Kilnenko… To put it mildly, he’s a piece of **.」Mikhail declared bluntly.

nHikaru burst out laughing.

n「I think so too.」

nHe really didn’t like how the guy was staring at Lavia.

n「We have so much in common!」Mikhail said.

n「Just that part, actually.」

n「So when will you come to Great Sword lectures? There’s one tomorrow!」

n「What? Great Sword?」

n「Of course. We’re going to deepen our friendship…」

n「No can do.」Lavia stepped in between the two. 「You’re acting too friendly with Hikaru. He doesn’t even use a great sword. Why would he attend lectures about it?」

n「Whaaat?! You’re not going to study the great sword style that’s been lost long ago with me?」

n「No. You’re actually quite the egghead, huh?」

n「I’m an expert in fighting! Which lessons are you going to attend, then?」

n「Short sword for now, I guess. So anyway, see you around.」

nHikaru ended their conversation. He had an inkling that Lavia felt jealous – even though he was talking to a man, and a muscular one at that.

n「What?! Short sword?! That means your instructor will be…」Mikhail muttered, dumbfounded.

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