The determination we had claimed at the forest’s edge began to sink away with each punishing step.

I thought hadn’t underestimated the path before me, fully prepared to grit my teeth through those thorny bushes and jagged rocks. But no, things were easier said than done.

I thanked god that I was wearing long, heavy pants, or else I would’ve scratched my legs and died by a thousand cuts. My hands were hurting from climbing and pushing past several rocks to get to more even surfaces. And the raging river? We wouldn’t even dare to step close to it.

Thankfully, we did come across a few flags on our journey. Just a few whites and greens. Each time we encountered one, our faces would light up, but then dim down shortly after.

In total, we held nine points. Attila held all the flags in her deep back pocket. Things were going more smoothly than before, but nowhere near an ideal pace.

They really don’t want us to pass, don’t they?

Our pace, which had started with such resolve, had slowly crawled its way back into the hole it came from. We were already a minute into the search, and we were still nowhere close to reaching our goal of at least fifteen points each.

What was worse was the fact that I could hear several voices deeper inside, voices belonging to the standardized track examinees like us. Their voices were of celebration for some reason. Could they have better luck than us?

Then there was also the fact that Attila, and maybe the others, were seeing me as their leader or something. If this whole operation failed, my earlier speech wouldn’t just be for nothing; it would be a powerful, cringy sting of a memory for me.

As a result, I felt even more pressured.

It was clear I wasn’t cut out for this leader stuff… Well, not on this side at least.

—

“Lady Carine,” Phil-man said, holding a bundle of flags in one hand, a seemingly sturdy vine in the other. “I found some vines we can use to tie the flags together. Should I?”

Oh, that’s a good idea.

Phil-man here had been carrying our flags ever since we entered the deeper parts of the western forest. Sometimes he changed shifts with Kryo, but I was still worried some of the flags might fall off when we moved around.

Not to mention, there was still a possibility of being attacked by another examinee. Tying them together should help us keep it safe.

“Sure,” I nodded. I walked to his side. “Want me to help you?”

His face lit up slightly, but I could tell he was trying to keep his composure.

“N-No need, Lady Carine!” he said, flustered. “I’ve been trained to do this since I was young, leave it to me!”

He quickly turned from me and began his work while sitting on a fallen log.

He got flustered pretty quickly there. I wondered if this was the effect of a heiress approaching you.

Currently, there was only me and Phil-man in the small clearing. The other three were grabbing the flags that I had spotted from here. While we were on our flag-hunting spree, I decided that it would be better if we split up into two groups every so often to maximize our efficiency and also security.

The first group would gather the flags based on where I pointed and return to the second group, which both held and guarded the flags. I had proposed that I should be in the second group no matter what, considering the only things I was good at were spotting things and my sword skills. Everyone agreed without question, so here I was.

It wasn’t like I made this plan so I could be lazy or anything, but after seeing what the others could do, the plan materialized on its own.

They had appointed me as their leader, and if I wanted to reach my goal, I needed to lead them well. I wouldn’t say that I was being a great leader, though, but things here were smooth sailing compared to my role as a leader on the other side.

I nearly let out a sigh of exasperation, out of pity for my other self. I glanced at the bundle of flags Phil-man was handling, and it was numerous.

Once Feyt’s group neared the center of the forest, I should head there as Carine quickly too.

And speaking of which.

—

“Up you go—!” Attila grunted, pulling one of our members up a steep rise.

With him landing on his feet, all six of us were finally past the rocky lower grounds. Though that isn’t to say things were going to get easier.

At least we’re getting closer to the center.

Though I still had a plan of my own, I wondered what the others would do. It wasn’t like I had enough flags as Carine to share with them all.

We all stopped to catch our breath for a few seconds. Our clothes were scuffed from the thorns and rocks.

While the others were still catching their breath, my eyes scanned the horizon before us. It was another set of obstacles we needed to push through. But then, as I moved my eyes, I spotted a flash of red.

It took a moment for my brain to register it. Then, my eyes widened in surprise.

“T-There!” I yelled. I pointed forward to a distant tree. “Look! On that dead tree! There’s a red flag there!”

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The effect was instant. The group surged to my side, following my gaze up onto the top of a dead tree. The sight of the valuable flag in the distance served as a wake-up call to everyone.

“You’re right! Can’t believe we found one!”

“Were we the first ones here?”

Before the excitement could even settle, a voice cried out from our left. One of our own pointed in another direction entirely. “Over here! I see a green and a red there!”

What a lucky find.

I heard several chatters from around us, echoes of others’ voices. They, too, were searching for flags. I quickly reacted and turned to my group.

“Hurry! Split up and gather the flags! We’ll meet…” I scanned for anything in front of us that could serve as a waypoint. A small clearing came into my view. I pointed at it and continued, “There!”

Attila and the others nodded. Without any other words, we split into two to gather the flags we saw.

They were, obviously, in hard-to-reach spots. The group I followed consisted of Attila, me, and a young, fit woman. The flag I had spotted was indeed on the top of the tree. The tree itself was dead; that was the sole reason I could see the flag, but when I looked at the base of the tree, I cringed.

It was covered with what seemed to be poisonous plants all around, the type to make your skin itch and burn for a week or more.

Attila was about to walk on through, so I had to pull her by the shoulders.

“Wait! I think those plants are poisonous!” I said. “How can we get past those?”

“Let me,” the young woman said. “I have [Poison Resistance] and [Enhanced Endurance], so it shouldn’t itch too bad…”

“That sounds like a risk,” Attila said. She then shook her head and made her way to the edge of the poisonous plants, spreading her legs, and leaned forward while cupping her hands. “Run up to me, I’ll at least help you jump over to the tree!”

That sounds even more risky!

Instead of shooting down Attila’s idea, she nodded instead, already aiming her steps towards Attila’s hands.

Before I could stop them, she sprinted and launched a powerful kick onto Attila’s hands. She flew across the plants, and with bated breath, I watched her catch a grip onto the tree. I let out a sigh of relief.

She made her way up the tree and eventually grabbed the red flag.

“Got it!” she said. She slowly slid down the tree and landed on one of the large branches.

“Be careful!” I yelled.

She didn’t seem to hear me, as she immediately sped up and jumped from it.

Wait, are we supposed to catch her?!

I rushed over to catch her, but she landed on her feet with a loud thud, creating a small crater on the dirt below her.

“H-Hey?! Are your legs okay?!”

She didn’t respond and just stepped out of the crater she created, brushing off the dirt. Then, with a confident smile, she presented us with a red flag.

“G-Good work!”

I was surprised she was that bold, jumping off a high tree that easily, but her legs being totally fine caught me even more off guard. I guess with [Enhanced Endurance], you can afford to be a little careless.

I grabbed the flag she had presented; its red cloth was soft in my hands.

Just this one flag already netted us five points. But I had no time to waste.

“Come on,” I said, gripping the flag as tightly as my sword. “Let’s get to the clearing and meet with the others!”

…

When we reached the clearing, the other group managed to grab their share of the flags. A green and a red. Before we could tally up our points, they told me that they spotted a few more red flags.

We quickly continued on our journey, and slowly but surely, the hope that was there before was rearing its head back in.

“There! I see another red!”

“Oh, there’s a bunch of green ones under there!”

The six of us were energetic, shouting over one another as we either reported a new flag or asked for help with one. Things went from sour to sweet in a matter of minutes.

Then, it clicked for me.

The voices I heard before cheering, they weren’t the lucky ones. Perhaps the deeper we go in the forest, the more points there are to find?

The answer to that theory lay on the other side of the forest.

—

Together with my party, they had gathered precisely thirty-one points in flags. It easily triumphed over my other selves’ points, and I was grateful for their help. But one thing still bothered me.

The bundle of flags Eveliana was holding… they consisted only of white and green flags. I hadn’t spotted a single red flag from this side, despite already pushing quite deep into the forest. The landscape had remained stubbornly, almost insultingly, manageable. Gentle slopes, clear streams, wide paths…

It was more of a pleasant stroll, a cakewalk even.

A cold suspicion trickled down my back. My mind echoed the instructor’s words during the briefing of the exam, particularly one sentence.

“The higher the yield, the harder the flag will be to obtain.”

I had assumed she meant that the higher value flags would be rarer. But what if she meant it in the most literal sense possible? The higher the yield, the harsher the challenge. And in a way, that meant the western side of the forest was simply too easy.

The red flags, and certainly the yellows, weren’t just hidden over here; they were probably never here in the first place. This place lacked the challenge to warrant a high-yielding flag.

The realization hit me like a slap. To truly excel in this exam, it was clear I couldn’t stay here.

I had to get to the east.

I stood up, facing the bored, sitting Eveliana.

She turned to me with slightly wide eyes. “What is it, Lady Carine?”

“Call everyone back here,” I said.

“What? But they haven’t finished with their—”

“We don’t have time, be quick.”

She blinked for a few moments, then quickly stood up. “Right away, Lady Carine!”

Eveliana quickly called over the other three back to the clearing. They all approached me with a confused but expectant look on their faces.

“Listen, have any of you noticed how few points we were getting lately?”

Clarissa, our marksman, nodded. “Y-Yes, we’ve spotted fewer and fewer flags as we go deeper.”

I nodded, crossing my arms. “It’s clear we can’t afford to stay here any longer.” I turned to face east. “This way leads us deeper to the center, right?”

“Yes, it is,” Phil-man responded.

“Good. Then our target is clear. We must head towards the eastern side of the forest.”

The group looked at me, confused.

“May I ask why, Lady Carine?” Kryo asked.

“Isn’t that where the standardized track examinees are? Why are we heading there?”

I didn’t know how to respond. But staying here was a waste of time.

“It’s a hunch,” I said confidently.

“A hunch?”

“There’s no time. Keep a good hold of the flags and let’s go!”

I broke into a sprint, ignoring the winding clear path but cutting a direct line through the trees. The sound of startled gasps and hurried footsteps behind me confirmed they were following.

Around thirty minutes must’ve already passed at this moment. I briefly wondered if I would even make it in time to get those high-point flags. But before I could dwell on it, a blur of motion shot at me from the trees.

I stopped in my tracks, kicking up dead leaves in the wind. My hand snapped forward out of instinct, catching the projectile. It was a blunt, wooden training dagger.

Another examinee? They’re attacking now?

I had spotted several other examinees here, but whenever we passed by, they took a look at my group and just moved on, not wanting to bother with us.

Who would be brave enough to go against the five of us at once?

I got my answer a second later.

A figure dropped from the trees, landing with a force that seemed to defy weight, kicking up a small storm of dead leaves and debris. Her long coat settled around her as she straightened up, and a pair of sharp, piercing eyes locked directly onto me.

My hair stood on end. It was a familiar feeling.

“So, you’re Carine Sareid,” she said, her fingers resting casually on the hilt of another wooden dagger at her hip.

That was when I realized… she was that same instructor who gave us the briefing. The same one who chewed me out.

Instructor Cornellia.

But my eyes barely registered her glare. Instead, my eyes were glued to what was strapped to her shoulders.

Yellow flags.

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