NOVPUBDing, ding, ding.
The chime marking the end of the test rang throughout the room.
“It’s over. Everyone, put your pens down. If anyone’s caught trying anything now, it’ll be considered cheating, and you’ll get a zero.”
Ludger’s warning was effective.
All students, without exception, immediately stopped writing.
Ludger was the kind of person who would truly tear up your test on the spot and fail you without a second thought.
“Assistant Sedina.”
“Yes!”
As soon as Ludger called her name, Sedina jumped up and quickly began collecting the students’ test sheets one by one.
Once the papers had fully left their hands, the students finally seemed to realize that the exam was truly over, and let out a collective groan as if the world were ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ ending.
“Ugh. I should’ve studied harder...”
“Argh! I knew this one! Damn it, the formula was right, but I messed up the final answer!”
“Damn it. Was my formula right? Hey—what did you put down for this one?”
“Ugh, I shouldn’t have changed my answer. It was right the first time!”
“How does it still make no sense even after checking the book?”
Students huddled together, doing quick and unofficial grading between themselves—but whatever they had already written down wouldn’t change now.
Having collected all 80 test papers, Sedina neatly stacked and organized them before bringing them to Ludger.
“Well done.”
Ludger took the collected exams in hand.
“Everyone, good work on your first test. The First Testing Phase still has two days left. Don’t overdo it—keep yourselves in top condition.”
Of course, even with that advice, there would still be students who would cram last-minute anyway.
Still, as a teacher, he felt it necessary to offer that much.
With those words, Ludger exited the lecture hall.
“Whew...”
The first test since entering Seorn.
It was only the beginning—just one test had ended—but Rine felt like she had crossed a major wall, and a sense of relief washed over her.
‘No—hold on. There are still more exams to go. Let’s not slack off yet.’
Even so, she was able to think so positively because, honestly, she felt like she’d done pretty well.
Out of the twenty problems, there wasn’t a single one she’d left blank.
That was thanks to her consistent reviewing and preparation.
When she had first seen the test questions, she’d been struck by how difficult they seemed—but as she worked through them carefully, she realized they weren’t all like that.
Once she got into the rhythm, she entered a kind of flow—and before she knew it, the three hours had flown by.
‘Thank goodness. At least I didn’t run out of time.’
Feeling a bit relieved, Rine turned to her side.
She’d been thinking of asking Erendir how she did on the test.
‘But she’s the princess, and my senior. She probably did better than me, right?’
Unlike herself, who had panicked at the start, Erendir had jumped right into solving the problems.
A senior and royalty at that—surely this test was no big deal for someone like her.
But just as she opened her mouth to ask, Rine paused.
“Senior?”
“Ah—yes? W-What is it?”
“Um, no, it’s just... you looked really flustered...”
“W-What? I-I did?”
Just as Rine said, the calm composure Erendir had shown before the test had vanished, and now she was clearly unsettled.
Her legs were bouncing, and her words stammered.
That reaction... was unmistakably someone who had just bombed a test...
‘No way. There’s no way she did poorly, right?’
Rine tried to shake off the creeping doubt and asked hesitantly.
“Did you do well on the test, Senior? Honestly, Professor Ludger kept his word—all the questions came straight from what he taught!”
“R-Really?”
Really?
The moment Rine heard Erendir repeat the question, she felt the corner of her mouth twitch involuntarily.
Her anxious suspicions were starting to look a lot like reality.
“Senior... Um... I’m not sure if I should ask this, but...”
“Oh? N-No, it’s fine. You can ask me anything if you’re curious.”
“Did you... maybe mess up the test?”
“......”
The confident way Erendir had been speaking vanished as she sealed her lips tightly.
“...Senior?”
“......”
She even turned her head away and refused to meet Rine’s gaze.
Through the golden strands of her hair, Rine could just barely make out the bright red flush spreading to her ears.
Erendir... was embarrassed.
“Wait—senior, no way...”
Even thinking this felt like an insult to her, but Rine couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“Did you really bomb the test?”
Flinch!
Erendir’s shoulders jerked at the question.
Ah.
That reaction confirmed it beyond any doubt.
Erendir—once considered the untouchable idol of the academy, the Third Princess of the Empire—
Had completely tanked the exam.
“Wait, seriously? No way! You were just in bad condition today, right? Maybe you’ve had too much on your mind lately? Like... worrying about the future of the nation or something? That’s it, right?”
In truth, she hadn’t looked unwell at all.
If anything, she’d seemed more focused than anyone else during the test.
But Rine clung to that explanation because the truth was just too hard to accept.
In her mind, the princess was a perfect, brilliant person—someone who always ranked near the top, no matter the field.
“Ahem. Rine, my dear junior?”
Having gathered herself somewhat, Erendir cleared her throat and began to speak in a composed tone.
“You see, people all have different strengths. Where you excel, you may also falter elsewhere. The point is—no one is good at everything. Understand?”
“Uhh... So you’re saying it wasn’t just a matter of being in bad shape, or being unusually tired today... You just... genuinely didn’t do well?”
“Rine. Let’s not say I ‘didn’t do well.’ Let’s just say I didn’t do as well as usual.”
“...Senior, sorry if this is a weird question, but what was your ranking last year?”
From what Rine remembered, Seorn Academy had over 800 students per grade level.
Of course, in upper years, that number dropped due to dropouts or transfers.
Still, each year brought in about the same number of new students.
And Erendir was in her second year.
So her first-year ranking would’ve been based on around 800 students.
“Why are you asking about rankings? Rine... You’re not the type to judge people based on numbers... are you?”
“You weren’t like, ranked in the five hundreds... were you?”
“......!”
The way Erendir’s eyes widened as she turned toward her said it all.
Rine was stunned.
She’d just thrown that number out as a joke—
But the model student everyone assumed Erendir to be... was actually terrible when it came to theory?!
It was a total shock.
The Third Princess, whom even other nobles hesitated to approach due to her overwhelming presence...
The one who seemed like the very picture of a perfect student...
Was barely mid-to-low rank in theory classes.
“B-But! In practical classes, I rank really high!”
Erendir blurted out in a desperate attempt to defend herself.
And it wasn’t a lie.
While her written theory rank was somewhere in the 500s out of 800 students, she ranked within the top 30 for practical training.
That was largely thanks to her noble birth—she had far more mana than the average student—and also because she had received rigorous early education in combat before even enrolling at Seorn.
But Erendir looked like she might start crying if Rine didn’t accept her explanation—so Rine nodded quickly and offered an enthusiastic reply.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Ah, well, I mean... that’s totally possible! Besides, these days, people value practical skills more than theory anyway, right?”
“Y-Yes, exactly! Ahem. Of course, I admit I still lack in theoretical and academic areas—but even so, as a mage, I take great pride in my abilities.”
Though Rine was sweating nervously, she still nodded along to Erendir’s words.
Inside, however, she let out a small sigh of disbelief.
‘Yeah... never judge someone by how they look.’
That noble, flawless image of the imperial princess she had held in her head—was slowly but surely crumbling. And no, that was not her imagination.
* * *
At the highest floor of Seorn’s main building—the Headmaster’s Office.
There, Headmaster Elisa stood at the window, looking down at the campus below.
“The first test has finally begun,” she murmured.
Wilford, who had just brought in a tray of tea and sweets, nodded politely at her comment.
“I hope all the students perform well.”
“If they’ve worked hard, I’m sure they will.”
“You think so?”
Each semester included four rounds of testing.
And with two semesters in a year, students at Seorn had to take a staggering eight major tests annually.
The curriculum was rigorous enough that not just students but also the teachers creating the exams had their hands full.
And more than anything, Seorn trained elite mages—so the exams could get intense, even brutal.
It was for that reason that dropouts were especially common in the higher years.
The first test of the semester.
Many students who believed themselves to be geniuses would, for the first time, encounter others just as gifted.
And it was then they’d realize how small their world had been.
Some had already sensed it during classes—but there was a huge difference between vague suspicion and a hard-ranking number on a results sheet.
Those whose resolve crumbled often left Seorn right after this very test.
“I really do hope more students manage to hold out this time.”
“Which is why you asked for the first test to be kept light, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Of course, even then, there will still be students who drop off.”
And that was what Elisa found regrettable.
She didn’t oppose competition itself. But she genuinely hoped that competition wouldn’t lead to students breaking under pressure.
As Headmaster of Seorn, what she wanted above all was for the greatest number of students to receive a proper education and fully develop their talents.
“By the way, how are the new instructors faring? This was their first time writing test questions, after all. I wonder if they were nervous.”
“Would you like to see for yourself?”
Wilford pulled out the stack of prepared test papers and handed them to the Headmaster.
Since Elisa had the authority to review exam materials herself, this was permitted.
Among the new instructors who had written theoretical tests were Brino from the Golem Studies department, and both Chris Bennimore and Ludger Cherish from the Manifestation Branch.
In fact, this test had become something of a hot topic among faculty—since two polar-opposite new instructors were giving theory exams in the same field.
“Hmm. Professor Brino’s questions are about the mana circuits used to operate golems and the structural mechanics that make for stable operation. Seems like a reasonable difficulty level.”
“Yes. He’s deeply passionate about golems, so I think it’s balanced.”
Elisa skimmed Brino’s test and gave a satisfied nod.
It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was well-designed, appropriate to the level, and raised no issues.
“Next up—this must be from Professors Chris Bennimore and Ludger Cherish.”
“Will you compare the two?”
“Honestly, it’s impossible not to.”
Wilford gave a bitter smile and nodded knowingly.
Elisa turned her attention to Chris’s exam first, quickly scanning through the questions.
“Hmmm. Professor Chris clearly focused on <Mana Emission> and <Elemental Manifestation>.”
“Yes. And that’s...”
“The exact same field Professor Ludger covered.”
Even if they taught different year levels, to choose the same subject matter so deliberately—it was as good as a formal declaration of war from Chris to Ludger.
“He must still be sore about losing that duel.”
“Ever since that day, the Hugo Burteg faction had no choice but to keep their heads down for a whole week.”
“Right. I’ll admit, I found their silence quite refreshing. It’s just unfortunate they seem to be regaining their old confidence again.”
Elisa smirked faintly as she reviewed Chris’s exam.
“It looks like this test is meant as his own little form of payback. Well, maybe not so little—he seems to have put a lot of thought into it.”
As a result, Chris Bennimore’s test was filled to the brim with difficult terminology and heavy jargon—a labyrinth of complex theoretical problems.
“Oh my. Is this a test or just an excuse to flaunt his knowledge?”
Clicking her tongue, Elisa shook her head.
Chris’s excessive competitiveness and obsession with showing off had led him to create an exam with absurd difficulty.
Could the students even solve any of this?
Even worse, the test was so needlessly difficult that its ability to properly assess skill—its discriminatory value—was poor.
“I specifically said to keep the first test basic. And yet here we are. Especially this part—this theory’s meant to be taught in the third year.”
To be fair, there were some students who would already know this material.
The upper-class nobles.
They likely received early education long before coming to Seorn.
But the commoners? They would have had no such opportunity.
The exam was blatantly biased—only solvable by a specific social class.
A test that favored the noble students.
“Haah... honestly.”
Elisa massaged her temple, already feeling the headache set in.
Still, she couldn’t outright reprimand Chris Bennimore.
Test content was considered the domain of the instructor, and as Headmaster, it wouldn’t look good if she micromanaged every little detail.
Even she, as Headmaster of Seorn, couldn’t act as she pleased in all things.
“Well then, let’s see how Professor Ludger designed his test.”
If she had to go off the impression Ludger usually gave, he might have gone even further than Chris.
Or perhaps the questions would be unbearably dry and rigid, matching his stoic demeanor.
Thinking that, Elisa glanced at Ludger’s test.
“...Oh?”
Her eyes widened with genuine surprise.
