Simon ran to a spot where he could get a clear view of Meirin’s screen, the roar of the crowd right beside him.
On the screen, Meirin was facing the old Priest alone. Cleverly, she laid down a path of ice to create a physical obstacle while she herself rode the ice, gliding forward to shake off her pursuer.
Her expression alone made it clear she was utterly exhausted. Looking thoroughly furious, she finally entered the Kizen campus, panting for breath.
The announcer shouted, "They don’t call it the Ivory Tower for nothing! Let’s give a big round of applause for the ninth student to pass, Meirin Villenne—!"
"Hey, you crazy Kizen bastards!" she shrieked the moment she appeared.
Her unaided voice was slightly drowned out by the cheers, but she huffed and shouted again. "Are you guys even human?! Huh? You’re trying to kill a student! Just you try telling me this was a performance evaluation! I’ll immediately—!"
Meirin abruptly stopped as mana cameras flashed from all directions. Reporters swarmed her, and behind them, scouts dispatched from various organizations could be seen. There was even someone from the Ivory Tower.
’Ugh.’
Only now did Meirin grasp the situation.
"Student Meirin! Please share your thoughts on passing the test in the top ranks!" a reporter shouted, holding up a mana camera. The reporters crowded closer, and the audience chanted her name.
After a brief, dazed moment, Meirin smoothed her messy, sky-blue hair with her fingertips, neatly arranged her legs, straightened her clothes, and then clasped her hands politely and smiled brightly.
"Hello... I’m Meirin Villenne from the first-year Class A."
At her voice, which was as gentle as a spring breeze, Simon let out a hollow laugh. She was spouting a completely different story from how she had just been trashing Kizen, going on about how hard she’d worked and how it was all thanks to the magic she’d learned at the school. The way she waved at the mana cameras with a practiced smile was almost professional.
Finally, after a brief interview with the announcer, she came down from the stage, sighing heavily. "Ah, damn. How annoying..."
"Congratulations, Meirin," Simon said, applauding as he greeted her.
Noticing him late, Meirin blushed in embarrassment and gave a slight wave. "As expected, you were already here. What place did you get?"
"First."
"Wow, you’re really..." She let out another hollow laugh before her voice filled with excitement. "Hey! By the way, didn’t you lose your mind when you first saw that holy monster made of Prima Materia? Isn’t that just too much?!"
Simon grinned in agreement. "Yeah. It was vicious."
"Right, right! Those vicious bastards! Doing this on the first day of school is crossing the line!"
Only after pouring out a torrent of complaints did she turn to look at the screen with a much more relieved expression. "What about Kami and that commoner riffraff?"
"I don’t think you need to worry too much," Simon briefed her. "They’re both in large parties. They’re both core members, and Dick is even acting as the leader."
"He loves showing off, anyway," Meirin chuckled. "Don’t you think he gets some kind of catharsis from ordering nobles around as a commoner?"
"I don’t know about that." Simon shook his head. "When forming a team, Dick always starts at a disadvantage because of the wall of social status. But in the end, everyone comes to trust and follow him. Isn’t that his real strength?"
Meirin blinked. "You’re really sugarcoating it. Did you get something from that sly fox?"
"No, I really think so."
"Hmph, taking his side just because you’re always hanging out together." She snorted and looked at another screen. "No need to even mention our Kami."
Even Dick had initially said that Kamibarez didn’t seem like she’d last long at Kizen because of her poor reflexes and soft heart, but now she was performing admirably as a Kizen student. They say you can tell when someone is just pretending to be nice, but a genuinely good person is eventually recognized. It was admirable to see people rallying around her.
Simon and Meirin chatted as they arrived at the student waiting room. The seats were spacious, as it seemed everyone had gone to wash up. Hector wasn’t there, and neither was Chatel, Special Admission Number Three.
They sat down and cheered for Dick and Kamibarez while talking quietly.
"The person who planned this test is a real monster," Meirin grumbled, watching Kamibarez dodge the Priests’ attacks. She gritted her teeth, still fuming.
"Students from sixty-eighth to seventy-fifth place are coming in!" the announcer called out as the rankings filled up quickly.
Kamibarez’s final rank was 347th. Dick’s was 420th.
Unlike the top-tier students like Simon, Meirin, and Hector, who had passed with overwhelming individual skill, their ranks were a bit lower because they had both been active in large teams. Still, it was a stable mid-tier ranking.
"Simoooon! Meirin!" Kamibarez cried, running toward them, covered in dirt from head to toe. Simon and Meirin praised her, comforting her and patting her head.
"Kami! Thanks so much for today!"
"See you in Rochest later!"
Her teammates, with whom she had grown close after fighting together for a short time, waved at her. Kamibarez waved back, then turned to Simon and Meirin. "I’m so happy I can continue my school life with you all!" she said, smiling brightly.
"Gosh, why are you smiling so foolishly? It breaks my heart, it really does." Meirin crouched in front of Kamibarez, examining the wounds on her knees and feet. The battle must have been fierce; one of her shoes was missing, and blood was pooling at the elbow of her uniform. "Let’s go get you treated quickly before your skin scars."
"Okay!"
Meirin took Kamibarez’s hand and led her to the medical station.
A little later, a surprisingly unscathed-looking Dick was approaching Simon from afar, waving his arms. His leisurely swagger and smug smile were full of his characteristic mischievousness.
"Good job today, Dick."
"That’s the basics, my friend."
The two boys bumped fists, celebrating their victory.
"Phew," Dick grunted, stretching as he belatedly looked around. "Where are the girls?"
"At the medical station. Don’t you need to go?"
"It’s just a scratch that’ll heal if I spit on it." Rather than treatment, Dick demanded an explanation of the situation. Simon told him everything he had heard from the assistant teacher.
"Huh, so they called in all the reporters and put on a show, huh? So Kizen-like."
"You don’t seem very surprised."
"Of course I expected it! Honestly, adults all think the same way. In any situation, they act with their interests and reputation in mind. They’re actually simpler than kids."
A short while later, the last of the lower-ranking students came in, and the opening exam came to an end. It was announced that the final score would be calculated based on the order of arrival, crisis management, mental fortitude, long-distance transportation, and, most importantly, the ability to deal with divinity and Priests.
As an aside, the Nether Whale was apparently safe. The dead whale and the sea of red blood were all a large-scale illusion created with the help of the Crows. Since many students had a mental breakdown seeing it, it was a huge success from a directorial standpoint.
The students who had safely finished the exam were given one hour of free time before the opening ceremony. The public bathhouse was crowded. After washing up, a new Kizen uniform was prepared for them. There were no significant changes to the design. Dick, who was always interested in magic items, read the instruction manual first and said that the resistance to divinity seemed to have been slightly enhanced.
The students, changed into their crisp, nice-smelling new uniforms, now headed to the grand auditorium. It seemed they would meet Meirin and Kamibarez, who were coming from the girls’ dormitory, at the auditorium.
Simon and Dick were also walking amidst the crowd, chatting, when it happened.
"Are you really telling us to leave just like this? Are you kidding?"
"Where’s the sense in doing this on the first day of school!"
On the way to the grand auditorium, a commotion broke out near the back door leading to the teleportation magic circle. Dick looked puzzled. "Huh, why are they over there? There’s a kid from our class, too."
The students gathered at the back door were all wearing loose, light green clothes, similar to pajamas, rather than uniforms.
’Ah.’
Simon immediately grasped the situation, his expression turning to one of pity. They were the fifty dropouts who had failed the opening exam.
"Outsiders are not allowed inside," a minion said, sweating profusely as he blocked the students trying to enter.
"Outsider? Did you just call me an outsider, you bastard? I’m a student here too!"
"What kind of school takes away your uniform on the first day of school!"
At the unusual spectacle, a few students stopped to watch. Most ignored them and went on their way or watched from a distance, but some went up just to mock them.
"Ugh, so pathetic."
"Just leave on good terms. Why do they have to crawl all the way here?"
They were mostly students who held a grudge against the expelled.
"Isn’t that Rikon from Class B?"
"He acted so high and mighty. Hurry up and teleport them away."
The winners jeered, and the losers cried out in tearful rage.
"Are you guys even human!"
"Commoners should get lost. You still think you’re on the same level."
"You couldn’t even make a peep in class...!"
Just as the insults were escalating, someone used Spiritualization to slip past the minions who were blocking the way.
"It’s Spiritualization!"
A dropout, a Necrology aspirant, ran toward the Kizen campus at a terrifying speed.
But a woman, also maintaining a blurry Spiritualization state, instantly subdued him and threw him to the ground.
"This is not acceptable."
Of course, Kizen had personnel in place who could counter Spiritualization. She grabbed the male student by the scruff of his neck and dragged him back outside.
"...Assistant Teacher Arita?"
At that one word, her steps came to a halt.
"Th-that’s you, isn’t it? It’s me, Rikon! The Rikon you used to favor, TA! The Rikon who got a ninety in Necrology!" the male student shouted pleadingly, grabbing her pant leg.
"Please call Professor Umbra! There must be some mistake! I’m in the top squad for the duel evaluation, and my grades are in the top one hundred, and you’re kicking me out? After breaking a person’s spirit with such a dirty method? You know, TA! I almost died during the Saintess incident! And that happened because I was protecting the kids who were running away!" He continued.
The TA bit her lip slightly. "You are no longer a part of Kizen. I will escort you outside."
Rikon’s expression twisted frighteningly at being betrayed by her as well. He used Spiritualization again to break free from her hand.
"Rikon!"
"Hey! You guys!!" Rikon, back to his normal self, shouted at the students. "What are you laughing at! You think you’re safe? Are you all in the top squad to be laughing at me!"
The gathered students booed and gave him a thumbs-down.
"Boo! Get lost, Rikon, you’re pathetic!"
"You are the heir of a Count, so what if you can’t become a necromancer?"
The moment Rikon’s eyes flashed and he tried to draw up his Jet-black—
"What is all this commotion?"
A man’s voice, neither too soft nor too loud, spread out, overwhelming the crowd. The students parted. A man dressed in a white suit from head to toe, with a white fedora pulled down low, was walking over.
In an instant, a silence so deep you couldn’t even hear breathing fell. He took his hand out of his pocket, lightly grasped the brim of his hat, and lifted it, revealing the eyes hidden in the shadow.
It was Bahil, one of Kizen’s star professors. He had just left the execution headquarters and arrived at the auditorium.
"I asked what was going on."

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