Chapter 15
Meanwhile…
In the headmaster’s office of the Academy, several top professors and special appointees had gathered.
It was quite an event for them to meet like this.
However, it was unavoidable as a matter could not be decided without the best professors from each field.
“Greetings. I am Wivir Arkand, the top professor. Let’s get right to the point. Please look at this.”
A woman with blue hair, Wivir Arkand—Ellie’s exam supervisor—placed an exam paper on the table, drawing the attention of the professors.
“This is the answer sheet of Lady Eliaernes Eustetia, Duke’s daughter.”
It wasn’t just one sheet.
It was the answer sheets from all written exams over a span of six hours, ranging from history to demonology.
The answer sheets included the hidden history of the Empire from 400 years ago, events that took place in secret, the Academy’s Forbidden Library, and anecdotes you’d expect to see in novels.
What about the methods for dealing with monsters, you ask?
Only practical and hands-on methods, not theory, were described. In fact, the paper detailed the characteristics and issues of the monsters’ habitats, along with precise extermination methods.
Some of the professors gasped, some admired, and others wore enigmatic smiles.
Among those who were in awe, the headmaster of Karela Academy, Sedil Mershdoff, spoke up.
“Please explain, Wivir.”
Of course, an explanation wasn’t really necessary.
The people gathered here had already formed their own evaluations of the answer just by skimming through it.
But for the sake of procedure, Wivir decided to skip the fluff and hit the important point first.
“The conclusion we reached is that the content of this answer is difficult for the general faculty to judge, which is why I brought it here.”
The professors fell silent.
They weren’t silent because they had nothing to say. Each was already wrestling with their own assessments of the response in their heads.
After a brief silence, a bald professor with a thin pair of glasses, who had a rather prominent nose, spoke up.
“Was it really necessary to hold a meeting for this? This is just an impossible method. Ha, saying the weakness of a manticore is its ‘testicles’? Shouldn’t the weakness of all male monsters be that? Then why does it take a whole ogre to flip it over? You could simply crush the testicles instead!”
Silence persisted.
Taking that as a sign of agreement, the bald professor continued.
“If you had the skills and agility to leap on an ogre’s head and swing a sword, you wouldn’t need to go that far. Just slice its ankles, sever its tendons, and you could safely take it down.”
Murmurs filled the round table.
“This method is something only heroes from the chronicles of 400 years ago, top-tier knights on the frontlines of the Demon Realm, grand sorcerers, or masters would attempt! Even they wouldn’t bother to try. They’d simply cut down an ogre with ease. Only fools, intoxicated by their newfound power at the 5th Rank, would choose such primitive methods.”
Professors nodding in agreement added various supporting points to the bald professor’s arguments.
“Thus, this answer is simply the delusions of a young and naïve duke’s daughter, merely transcribing the tales she heard from her family’s knights. A method that is absolutely impossible in reality.”
Just as the evaluation was leaning towards deeming the answer incorrect, the special appointed professor from the Combat Department, Emelicus Settler, who had remained quiet until now, spoke up.
“It is possible.”
The professors, who had been animatedly discussing, suddenly fell silent as if frozen.
“In the past, during my days at the 2nd Rank, I accomplished the same feat.”
Emelicus, known for his quiet demeanor in the Academy, had astonished even Sedil with his rebuttal.
Meanwhile, the bald professor narrowed his eyes.
“If that’s possible, then isn’t Emelicus Settler sitting here right now?”
Emelicus’s sharp gaze bore into the bald professor.
“Don’t you think it’s possible that Lady Eliaernes Eustetia could also take that seat?”
“…That’s a vague assumption.”
“The idea that she can’t is also a vague guess.”
Emelicus gestured towards the professors who had agreed with the bald professor and proceeded.
“This answer can only emerge from real combat experience. A method not even humans, mired in peace, would conceive.”
As Emelicus scoffed at the professors squirming uncomfortably under his gaze, he quietly murmured, “The cherry blossoms of Eustetia seem to bloom beautifully even in the storm.”
With that, Emelicus fell silent.
Though his rebuttal was unusually brief for a meeting, the weight of his words was heavier than any of the professors’ opinions.
After all, Emelicus Settler was the one who had personally nurtured one of the strongest pillars of the Empire.
As an uncomfortable silence settled in, one of the professors, who had been in agreement with the bald professor, spoke up.
“The discussion on this historical issue…what should we think of it? During the Great Human-Demon War, the moment that almost sparked a war between the Empire and the Holy Kingdom was the… departure of Lady Luna Sacred Pranecia. Ha! Calling it a departure is an understatement; it was essentially a runaway. This answer reads like something you’d find in a cheap novel from the back alleys of the Empire!”
The snake-eyed professor surveyed the faculty.
“Sure, it’s cloaked in fancy words here. But digging deeper, it suggests that Lady Luna Sacred Pranecia wanted to play poker with a hero party and was absent for half a month—this was the catalyst for war?”
Profanity erupted from the professors of the Sacred Studies Department.
The professors from the History Department were equally outraged.
But their curses held no content that rebuked the snake-eyed professor’s words.
Tensions were rising.
Now they were just exchanging insults among themselves when suddenly…
“Huh? What’s this?! I think I’ve seen this in the Forbidden Library!”
The Vice Headmaster exclaimed, perking up his ears above his head as he leaned over the round table.
Swaying—swaying—his tail shimmered.
ZAP!
“What? Is this for real? All the answers written here match what I saw in the Forbidden Library!”
“…V-Vice Headmaster? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Remember when I got caught sneaking into the Forbidden Library? I saw accounts of stories from 400 years ago written down. But… this is exactly the same, or at least very similar, no, it’s exactly the same!”
The snake-eyed professor’s face twisted grotesquely.
Sedil’s face revealed a mix of anger and confusion.
But Sedil maintained his composure and spoke.
“Meigenberta, Vice Headmaster. That’s not a topic for discussion right now… And what you saw was from over 300 years ago—”
“What? Sedil, do you really think I believe that? You’re older than me, yet you still have your naive moments?”
“Meigenberta? There are still young professors here, so please be quiet. And I am not younger than back then!”
Sedil’s words spilled out as if he couldn’t hold back.
At the same time, an intangible force yanked the Vice Headmaster’s tail, pulling him down under the round table.
“Don’t grab my tail!! And why are you younger? We should count by human years!”
“Please, shut up.”
Clearing his throat to change the atmosphere, Sedil nodded while maintaining the same expression.
It was a gesture to continue the meeting.
However, the professors, having just heard the shocking words from the Vice Headmaster, hesitated to speak.
They were dizzy at the thought that the contents of this answer matched historical documents in the Forbidden Library.
The Forbidden Library was literally a Forbidden Library.
It housed content never meant to be disclosed to the world. And yet, the history concealed there was now before their eyes.
The professors’ eyes started darting around busily.
In particular, the professors from the History and Sacred Studies Departments stood up to eagerly peruse the papers.
There was no time to argue about the truth of the Vice Headmaster’s claim.
If it wasn’t true, they could just forget it; if it was, they could quietly store it away in their minds.
Just as the temporary chaos began to settle down and the meeting was about to restart…
A woman, who had been quietly sitting with a mysterious expression until now, spoke up.
Adelia Baros, a special appointee professor and dark mage, flashed a captivating smile.
“By the way.”
A voice like rolling clear orbs quieted the professors’ murmurs.
“Is there any point in us dawdling here? Before we decide on possibility or impossibility, I think we should judge after witnessing the practical exam that follows, don’t you think?”
“…I agree. If Lady Eliaernes Eustetia achieves the conditions for the ‘special admission’ during the practical exam, the validity of this answer will be determined.”
As Wivir Arkand, who had been skeptical of the dark mage, agreed with Adelia’s statement, many professors began to nod slowly.
On the other hand, the bald professor and his group spat opinions vehemently.
One particularly notable dissent came from the snake-eyed professor.
“I believe Lady Eliaernes Eustetia is known for her expertise in martial arts. Haha! A martial artist. Do you truly believe that martial artists can meet the conditions for special admission?”
The existing belief that Eliaernes, a martial artist, could never meet the requirements echoed.
However, that opinion was crushed by a single remark from the Vice Headmaster.
“Hm? Hey, snake eyes. Did you forget I’m a martial artist?”
“B-Bald-headed… Ahem! No, I didn’t forget. But Vice Headmaster, don’t you have a different body than us…? Ha, haha! The differences between a beastman and us humans are clear—”
“Whoa? Species discrimination? Sedil! Can I rip out this guy’s tongue? There are plenty of other professors who can fill his spot!”
“Eek!”
In the collapsing atmosphere once more.
With a grim expression, Sedil quietly spoke.
“The decision on the current course is set, so discussion of the validity of this answer will continue after the practical exam. I will personally meet with the Lady Eustetia, so it’s fine to adjourn for now. And you, Vice Headmaster, stay a moment longer.”
“If I stay here, I might actually rip out that snake’s tongue.”
“…In that case, you can leave.”
“Okay!”
As people began to leave, Sedil sighed in relief in the now empty headmaster’s office.
He felt grateful; he thought it would be nonsense to lose an individual in whom he sensed indescribable talent from Eliaernes’s answer.
But whether she could meet the conditions for special admission was still uncertain.
It had been 348 years since the Academy was founded.
In that long time, only six had successfully met the special admission criteria.
And those six were the very pillars of the Empire known today.
Beings who were extraordinary from birth.
Beings who showcased abilities beyond the ordinary.
Could that small girl stand shoulder to shoulder with these transcendent beings?
“Hah…”
As he pondered the impossibility of it all, Sedil clasped his head and called for Eliaernes.