Chapter 118

 “Did you study a lot?”

“I think I studied enough.”

I nodded at Lisa’s question.

Today was Sunday.

Final exams would start tomorrow.

“If you studied enough, how much is that? Enough to get first place in the grade?”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit difficult? I might manage the practical exam, but the written one seems hard.”

“Really? Which subject and which part is hard? I’ll teach you.”

“No, it’s fine.”

I closed my textbook and smiled faintly.

Inside the Disciplinary Committee Room.

Just like before the midterms, I had been studying with Lisa until evening the day before the exams.

“I think I’ll stop studying here. I don’t want to do any more.”

“Will you really be okay?”

“At this level, maybe not top tier, but high tier? Even if I do badly, I’m confident I’ll get upper-middle tier.”

“With grades like that, it’s more than enough to become a knight. Hmm… but don’t you want to study a bit more? I want to see you get first place.”

“I’ll aim for it next semester. And to do well on a test, more than studying……”

I got up from my seat and approached behind Lisa.

Then I pulled her into a tight hug from behind, and Lisa flinched a little.

“I want to get some energy from you, Noona.”

“…Really?”

“I think I’ll do better on tomorrow’s exam that way.”

With those words, I lightly bit the nape of Lisa’s neck.

While holding her tightly like that, I felt her body heat.

Lisa looked at me and said nothing for a moment.

But after a short pause, she stood up.

“Noona?”

“I think I need to get some energy from you too.”

Lisa made me sit on the sofa in the Disciplinary Committee Room.

Then she faced me and climbed onto my lap.

“Like you said, more than studying… I think getting energy like this will help more with the test.”

Lisa smiled softly and kissed me.

It was longer and rougher than usual.

This time, I was the one who jolted in surprise.

But soon I closed my eyes and accepted Lisa.

Smooch―

“Haa… Gideon.”

“Noona, you’re getting bolder each day, aren’t you?”

“So what? You’re mine anyway.”

“What are you going to do if one day you don’t have me?”

“I wouldn’t live……. Yeah, I think I wouldn’t be able to live without you.”

Lisa hugged me tightly.

I chuckled quietly and stroked her back.

“Haaah, huuuh. Seriously… just like you said, I think doing this might actually help more with the exam.”

“I said it for a reason.”

I touched her waist and glanced at her eyes.

And I let out a small snort.

“Noona, are you thirsty?”

“…Can I drink? It’s the day before the exam……”

“It’s fine. Drink. You can’t mess up the test because of thirst. But don’t drink too much. Okay?”

“Thank you. But… would you like to drink a little too?”

“I’ll ask for that on Thursday evening, the night before the practical exam.”

“Ah, that’s true. That makes more sense.”

She responded vaguely, then suddenly continued as if remembering something.

“Come to think of it, you’re fighting Instructor Luke this time, right? I heard it from Sara.”

“Yeah, apparently that’s my final exam.”

“Wow… that’s a difficult exam to prepare for. Even in the whole Empire, there aren’t many people who can beat that instructor.”

“He’s incredibly strong, Instructor Luke is.”

Lisa nodded as if she agreed.

“He’s a genius swordsman. His combat ability alone is comparable to the heads of ducal families.”

“I’ve heard before. If he had wanted to……”

“He could have become a noble with immense influence. But Instructor Luke hates things like power, politics… that kind of stuff.”

“He was a former Knight Commander, right?”

Lisa nodded at my question.

“Yeah, before becoming Knight Commander, when he was just a knight, he fought alongside my mom and achieved huge feats. He single-handedly stopped nomads and made a name for himself in the Empire. Because of that, he was promoted to Knight Commander, but……”

“He quit after half a year.”

“Right. He got tired of noble politics and power struggles, so he left the Imperial Palace and started over as an academy instructor. And I heard before that he likes being a teacher much more.”

“Instructor Luke really is a great person.”

Of course, I added inside a bitter laugh.

“No matter how I think about it, this final exam feels absurd.”

“Well, there probably isn’t a single academy student who could beat Instructor Luke.”

“Maybe the instructor knows that too, because he didn’t tell me to win.”

Lisa looked at me with a faint smile.

“But you still want to win deep down, don’t you?”

“…I want to try, at least once.”

Me beating Luke was practically impossible.

But maybe—just maybe.

‘Luke agreed to fight while barely using aura. He’ll still be strong, but still……’

I recalled my past memories.

Luke, the one I fought in the game.

There were strategies related to him, and among those, the one I could use right now was……

“Gideon, do you know why Instructor Luke is strong?”

“His powerful aura?”

“Aura is part of it, but the instructor studied countless sword techniques and mastered them completely. He’s a genius who handles various sword styles freely and appropriately for the situation.”

“Right. That’s one reason.”

I nodded.

In this world, most swordsmen usually focused on a single sword technique, digging deep into one style.

That method was definitely efficient and allowed them to grow steadily.

“Because he uses diverse sword techniques, he always takes the advantage in the compatibility between styles—that’s what I heard.”

“Right. It’s inevitable. Most swordsmen learn at most two sword styles. And that level is something the instructor always counters.”

“At most two, huh…….”

At Lisa’s words, I stroked my chin.

The swordsmanship I had learned so far was……

“So, it’s not that you have absolutely no chance of winning, Gideon.”

As if reading my thoughts, Lisa nodded and continued.

“You’ve learned a lot of different things.”

“That’s true, but still far less than Instructor Luke.”

“No, you’ve learned quite a lot. I’m not just talking about swordsmanship—you have a wide variety of abilities.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I do plan to use all of them, but… I still can’t picture myself winning.”

Luke’s strategies that I had seen before.

I’d drawn up several plans based on them… but I wasn’t sure if any of them would actually work.

Watching me think it over, Lisa smiled faintly.

“Gideon. You know you’re surprisingly competitive, right?”

“…I’ve been realizing that myself lately.”

“Hehe. I really love that side of you too. Seriously.”

Lisa expressed her affection by lightly biting my neck.

“And don’t overthink it too much. Just do your best so you won’t regret it, and let’s finish this semester strong.”

“Alright. Anyway, it’s almost vacation, huh?”

“Yeah. We should start thinking about what we’ll do during the break.”

“Well, that’s… let’s think about it after the exams. We’ll still have time then.”

“Okay. We’ll talk about it later. For now……”

Lisa bit my nape hard and began to drink my blood.

The written exams were held over two days, just like the midterms.

After focusing hard from Monday to Tuesday, the practical exams began on Wednesday.

Wednesday was for third-years, Thursday for second-years, and Friday for first-years.

Just like before.

‘Finally, the last practical exam of the semester.’

Time felt like it had both flown by and dragged on at the same time.

Anyway… the practical exams began.

First, on Wednesday, I watched Nia and Lisa take their magic exams.

And on Thursday, I watched Lisa take hers……

Bang! Bang! Bang!

‘…Still the same as ever.’

Lisa’s exam was similar to before—a monster subjugation.

But this time, she wasn’t alone. She had a team.

In short, it was an exam to demonstrate teamwork.

Lisa’s team showed that teamwork with a strategy that was simple yet highly efficient.

‘Looks like a “support Lisa” strategy.’

The strength of Lisa’s swordsmanship lay in her powerful strikes.

The weakness was that her attacks were relatively slow, making it difficult to land those strikes precisely.

So her teammates set things up to make it easy for her to connect that one decisive blow.

They herded the monsters together and immobilized them.

Thanks to that, Lisa was able to unleash her devastating strikes freely.

And so, Lisa and her teammates finished the exam overwhelmingly.

After the second-year exams ended, in the Disciplinary Committee Room.

“Ahm, mm, haaa, ah.”

“Drink slowly, Noona. Were you really that thirsty?”

“Mmm, yeah. I used up a lot of Blood Energy during the exam.”

I nodded, recalling Lisa’s performance during the exam earlier.

“You really seemed to be fighting hard.”

“I had to. My teammates put in so much effort for me… of course I had to give it my all.”

“It was impressive. And… ow. Noona, gently. And don’t drink too much. I’ve got my exam tomorrow.”

“Ah, sorry.”

Lisa wore her usual blank expression, but her eyes showed genuine apology.

“I was just too thirsty… Come to think of it, you said you’d drink my blood tonight too, right?”

“Yeah. Since my exam’s tomorrow.”

“Are you planning to use Blood Energy in your exam?”

“I’ll have to if I want any chance of winning.”

I gave a dry laugh as I spoke.

I’d made all sorts of preparations to defeat Luke.

The question was whether they would actually work.

“I’ll definitely come watch tomorrow. But don’t overdo it, okay? Your safety comes before your grades. Got it?”

“Got it, Noona. Thanks for worrying about me.”

“It’s nothing.”

Lisa glanced around for a moment, then picked up my Mistcatcher that was nearby.

With its blade, she lightly cut her own palm.

“Anyway, Gideon. For tomorrow… you should drink too, right?”

“Yeah, thanks. Ahm.”

I began to drink the blood flowing from Lisa’s palm.

With that, the preparations for the final exam of the semester were complete.

The next day.

The gymnasium where swordsmanship classes were usually held.

There, all the first-years had gathered.

On the second-floor gallery sat students from other years who had come to watch the final practical exam.

Among them were Lisa and Nia as well.

“Looks like everyone’s here.”

At the center of the gymnasium.

Luke looked over the students he had taught all semester and nodded.

“Alright, let’s begin the final exam of the semester. The order is… hmm, wait. I had it written somewhere… Ah, anyway—Gideon.”

“Yes?”

“You’re going last, just so you know.”

“I’m last?”

I tilted my head, and Luke grinned slyly.

“Yeah, because… I like saving the tastiest dish for last.”

“…That’s a strange metaphor, but I get what you mean.”

“As long as you get it.”

Luke spoke with his usual mischievous smile.

I let out a dry chuckle and slowly loosened up my body.

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