Chapter 136: Final Evaluation (1)

The inside of the stone chamber was filled with darkness, except for the area illuminated by the candle on the table.

It was a gloomy place.

The flame, gently swaying by someone’s breath, added to the eeriness, and the occasional sound of the wind sounded like a ghost’s laughter.

In that place, two men were staring at each other.

“So you failed in the end?”

He was a man with a cold impression.

The one who had spoken, then raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, but because of the scar that ran from his cheek to his ear, that smile looked truly bizarre.

The man’s name was Lutus Zaemon.

“He’s a lucky fellow.”

The man across from him stared blankly at his smile and replied.

The abundant white hair that fell from under his fedora and his dignified gestures and way of speaking suggested that he was of a certain age.

But unlike that, his skin was as firm as that of a young person.

His name was Cristiano Valan.

They were bishops of the Beltus Cult and the supreme commanders of the operation, ‘Raid the Academy’.

“Heh heh. Lucky, you say. That’s an excuse unlike you.”

“Hmm.”

A low moan escaped from Bishop Cristiano.

Having failed a plan he was confident was perfect, he had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths.

The lucky fellow the two bishops were talking about was, of course, the 888th class cadet of the Academy, Gerard.

The two had alternately devised their own schemes to kill Gerard, but all of them had failed.

Especially Bishop Cristiano had put a lot of time and effort into this plan, and perhaps because of that, he had been full of confidence.

But since the result was this, his disappointment could only be greater.

Honestly, it was absurd.

Because he was a guy they hadn’t even paid attention to, like a pebble on the side of the road.

They had a file that they had created when they first planned ‘Raid the Academy’.

It was a list of key figures affiliated with the Academy who could become obstacles to the plan, organized by their power and influence.

However, Gerard was nowhere on it.

No matter how far down they scrolled, his name did not appear.

In other words, he was on the level of dust that had accumulated on a shelf and would blow away with a puff of air.

No, honestly, they had judged him to be even less than that.

‘For a guy like that to block our events at every turn. Does this make sense.’

It was to the point of being absurd, and having been beaten like this, now his pride was scratched as well.

What was even more annoying was that his rival, Bishop Lutus, who was right in front of him, had noticed this.

“……Half-hearted methods like setting a trap or devising a scheme don’t work on him. It would be more effective to cut his throat with a sure method, even if it’s troublesome.”

Bishop Lutus did not answer.

He just smiled, twirling.

Bishop Cristiano found that sight extremely annoying, but he suppressed it.

For now, he needed to humor Bishop Lutus to some extent.

That would make it easier to persuade him.

“There’s no need to drag it out. We need to send a weapon that he can’t handle.”

At that, Bishop Lutus, who had only been smiling, tilted his head.

“A weapon he can’t handle? What is that? Don’t tell me you’re planning to move yourself?”

“No.”

“Then? He won’t be able to be dealt with unless it’s us bishops.”

The two already knew that sending a few High Priests was useless.

Gerard’s skill was as good as proven by the fact that he had broken through the killing net of the Darkness Council’s High Clerics and even captured Bishop Papamus.

To catch him for sure, either the cult’s executioners had to move, or they had to move themselves.

But the cult’s executioners were the Archpontiff’s swords, who did not move even at their orders.

In the end, there was only one option left.

If he moved himself, there would be nothing more certain, but he was not very keen on it.

“Or are you telling me to go?”

“No. I didn’t say that. Besides you, doesn’t the Darkness Council have another weapon as powerful as you?”

“A powerful weapon? Ah.”

Bishop Lutus’s brow furrowed.

“Hey, Cristiano. That’s……”

“I know well. That Archpontiff Sran will be displeased. But didn’t you say last time? That you would infiltrate her into the Academy. While you’re at it, if we get rid of Gerard, won’t we be getting a double benefit?”

Bishop Lutus was lost in thought.

The hero that Bishop Cristiano was talking about, that is, the powerful weapon that would kill Gerard, was the demon, Lilith’s seed, who had awakened just a short while ago.

Right.

Her intelligence was a bit low due to the demonic aura, but if it was her, she would be able to finish Gerard off without difficulty.

Since she followed Bishop Lutus to the point of calling him father, if he said the word, she would immediately charge into the Academy and take Gerard’s head.

The problem was Archpontiff Sran of the Darkness Council.

He had heard that he was paying special attention to her, who had returned alive from the Hell Pit and was even thinking of using her to increase the standing of the Darkness Council within the cult.

“Still, you’re the only one she listens to, Lutus, aren’t you? And killing Gerard has no effect on our plan either. In any case, it’s something that benefits ‘Destroy the Academy’, isn’t it.”

“Heh heh. You don’t have to try so hard to persuade me, Cristiano. I know everything.”

Bishop Cristiano flinched at the words that hit the mark, but he quickly suppressed his agitation and said.

“If you already knew, then it’ll be easy to talk. What will you do?”

“I will persuade the Archpontiff.”

Bishop Cristiano’s expression brightened.

“Then……”

“But there’s a condition.”

“A condition, you say?”

“Don’t be so anxious. It’s a promise rather than a condition. You remember, right?”

I remembered.

In exchange for using her, he had said to abandon Shadow.

“Abandon Shadow. For our Darkness Council.”

“……”

“Now our Darkness Council will become the shadow of your Death Council.”

Hehehe, as Lutus’s laughter followed, the candle in the stone chamber flickered violently.

***

After finishing the report, I stared blankly at Luis’s retreating back.

To get straight to the point, there was no request.

Luis just gave a basic regular report and left.

Then it’s not the first day?

Then the second day?

Or is it, after all, the last day?

‘In the first place, is it right to give the request this late?’

I scratched my frowning eyebrow with my hand.

‘He usually gave it at least two days in advance.’

The final evaluation is tomorrow, but he hasn’t given the request until today?

In that case, there are two possible meanings.

The first is that there is really no request at all.

The second is that it’s an urgent request.

‘Hmm.’

I continued to think, but in the end, I couldn’t come to a definite conclusion.

I tried to change fate to eliminate the death flag, and as various events disappeared and were created, it’s been a long time since I used the word ‘mainstream’.

The fate of this place was now flowing completely differently, only sharing the setting with ‘Heroes of Frey’ and it had reached a point where no case could be easily predicted.

‘In other words, I’ll only know when the time comes.’

If I survive this death flag, countless more branching points will be created.

The future will change in a completely unpredictable way.

Well, I don’t really care that much.

Because it’s the situation I wanted in the first place.

Knowing the future is a great power, but on the other hand, it can also be a poison.

Because you can see what’s coming and you can see the destination and the end.

There’s a saying that satisfaction is a poison.

Just like that, when you can see things, you unknowingly feel relieved, and relief eventually leads to laziness and stagnation.

While thinking, ‘This much should be enough.’

‘If it were just me, it would be fine.’

However, the fate of the Shadow members also rests on my shoulders.

So it’s better not to see.

I have to be on high alert, maintain that tension, and continue to prepare and develop.

And for development, there was a need to break the world surrounding me and go outside.

‘……It’s about time to become independent.’

From the shadow of the cult.

Now, to the outside.

Shadow was ready.

Ready to stand on its own, free from their support, and ready enough to fully withstand the threats that would follow.

Of course.

I can’t just be nervously mindful of the two forces forever.

The existence of Shadow, due to its nature, is not welcomed by anyone.

Not by the cult that threatens the continent.

Nor is it welcomed by the Frey Empire.

It was like that in the past, and it is like that now.

It will probably be the same in the future.

So, to survive, we had to grow.

This is my goal after the death flag.

To restore the lost glory of Shadow and take over the night of Icata.

And eventually, the world.

Only by becoming that much, can we survive.

***

The final evaluation began.

The first day was a written exam.

Just like taking the college entrance exam, divided into literature, foreign language, mathematics, and inquiry sections.

I took written exams on the theories I had learned throughout the first semester, such as survival, treatment, tactics, magical beasts, and liberal arts, divided by time.

I had studied in between, just in case the questions had changed from the original work, but it seems it was a needless worry.

The questions were the same, and I was able to finish the exam the fastest, just like in the mid-term evaluation.

And so, the last exam ended.

“Senior! You finished the fastest this time too! Did you do well!?”

Yuria, who had finished the exam around the same time as me, submitted her test paper and immediately followed me out.

I nodded my head.

“Yeah. How about you, Yuria? Did you do well?”

“Yes! Thanks to you, senior.”

Yuria smiled brightly.

Her expression, with the worries gone, was extremely bright, as if she had been worried a lot because of the written exam.

“What’s with these dark circles? Did you stay up all night?”

Yuria hurriedly turned her head.

“Ah. No?”

“What do you mean, no. I can see them all.”

I chuckled.

Because I was grateful.

Yuria had prepared extremely hard for this final evaluation and it was because of the promise she had made with me.

The promise to get a high score on the mentor evaluation and definitely give me bonus points.

Therefore, this final evaluation was extremely important to her.

The mentor evaluation wasn’t a separate exam.

The evaluation was judged by two criteria, and one of them was to compare the semester scores, which were the sum of the entrance exam scores before entering, the mid-term evaluation, and the final evaluation scores.

From there, the person with the highest increase in scores is selected and given bonus points.

What Yuria was aiming for was this bonus point.

“To do that, you’ll have to do well on the remaining exams……”

I thought of the exam tasks for the second and last days.

“Tomorrow is collecting Ferdon feathers, right?”

“Yes.”

Ferdon was a lowest-grade magical beast belonging to grade 4, with an appearance like a mixture of a cheetah and an ostrich.

A single feather grows on its head and the exam tomorrow was to divide the scores according to the number of feathers collected.

The problem is that these guys are incredibly fast and hard to catch.

But as for Yuria, she had magic like [Freeze] and was a user of High-Speed Swordsmanship, so her eyes were fast, and I wasn’t worried about her from the beginning.

“Don’t be nervous and just do as you’ve always done. Then you’ll get good results.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yeah. I think you’ll probably get 3rd place? Or so.”

Well, as long as there’s no interference from the cult.

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey. There’s Karina and Gwyn, you know. And Ivan too……”

She trails off, but unlike her words of denial, her expression is quite full of confidence.

She was feeling it herself.

She didn’t know about Ivan, but she was confident she could catch up to Karina and Gwyn, who she had mentioned before.

“Karina is slow and Gwyn is faster than Karina, but since his swordsmanship is focused on power, he’s not a good match for the Ferdon.”

As expected, she nods her head.

Then, as if she was suddenly curious, she looks at me and asks.

“Then who do you think will be 1st place, senior?”

I don’t know why she’s asking something like this.

“Of course, it’s me.”

It was so obvious that I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

And.

“……Do you really think so?”

At the voice from behind, I turned my head and looked in that direction.

Ivan, who had finished the exam at some point, was standing tall and staring straight at me.

It was a very challenging gaze.

So.

“Yeah.”

I even nodded my head to confirm it properly.

“I’m 1st place. That’s unchangeable. It will never change.”

At that moment, I could see a flame flare up in Ivan’s eyes.

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