Everybody had gathered once more in the field and lined up in tight rows to face the podium. The instructors had set up five small pedestals that each housed a blue crystal. They thrummed faintly with magical energy.
I took a spot near the back after spotting Lloyd and Rose standing close to the front.
Coincidentally, I found myself next to Felicia again. We exchanged a quick nod and faced the front.
The same man who I saw sitting with Ada earlier took centre stage and stepped forward.
“Greetings to all of you. I am Professor Kuhn, head of magical analysis for this campus. In place of the principal who could not make it today, I will be announcing the results. First of all, congratulations to all of you for making it this far. Unfortunately, not everybody has met the standards of the Imperial Military Academy.”
He produced a crystal similar to the ones stationed behind him.
“If you see your name, please collect your belongings and vacate the area. You may try again next year.”
The crystal shone and projected a large screen of names.
From a glance, it must have been at least 40% of the total applicants listed up there.
Sure enough, close to half the people gathered began walking away dejected.
“To the rest of you, we will be displaying your class. When you see your name, gather in front of the appropriate screen. The instructors behind me represent the heads of each class and will be guiding you this day forth. Your names will be numbered from the highest performer to the lowest and will remain visible throughout your time here. Of course, ranks and class are subject to change, so work hard to raise your positions.”
The Black Crown Empire strongly encouraged publically rewarding the achievements of their subjects. Of course, they also discouraged laziness and poor performance, thus we should expect to be shamed should we not meet the standards here.
I was still surprised they would go with this method for the branch campus, considering the point of its formation was to foster relations with people from outside the Empire. This was why so many people from The Soleo Kingdom were present.
“First, we will display the support class.”
The pedestal on my far left activated, and another screen appeared. Sure enough, I could see Rose’s name there. She was at rank 7 of 136. She did pretty well, although I’m not really sure how the support class ranking worked.
There weren’t many names I was on the lookout for, and sure enough, Rose was the only one there I cared about.
“Supporters, please move to your area now.”
Another chunk of the crowd separated, and the rest of us automatically moved to fill in the gaps.
“See ya later, Lloyd.”
“Yeah, good luck.”
Rose waved him off and walked away. I kept my head down but watched her from beneath my hood.
They seem to have become friends at some point… Doesn’t seem like there’s anything more to it though. That’s a relief.
There wasn’t anyone of note in bronze class either, but it was the largest by far with 374 students.
The crowd had shrunk considerably now.
Silver class was announced next, and I saw the next familiar name. In first place no less.
“...Damnit.”
Felicia muttered, the anger clear to see in her expression.
She hung her head with a sigh and scratched at her short messy hair.
“Hold on a second.”
She glared at me and stomped off to the screen, immediately pressing her name to bring up the detailed results.
“Ah! No, how do I go back!?”
She tried desperately to go to the previous screen, but it was too late.
“...”
I was lost for words.
Her physical score was fantastic, as anyone could have guessed. Her marks would easily make her worthy of the gold class.
But her theory scores were abysmal. She was lucky she hadn't been rejected completely.
There were some snickers scattered around among the onlookers, but a ferocious glare from Felicia shut them up immediately.
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Our eyes met for a moment and she mouthed the words “I’ll catch up”, then stood with the other 102 silver class students.
I guess this meant I would be next. To be honest, I was feeling pretty good about reaching gold class.
However, out of the 20 gold class students, my name was nowhere to be seen.
With the gold class moving off, I could easily count the people remaining. There were just 12 of us there, and each of us were struggling to hide our smiles. Some were just genuinely pleased with themselves, others were smugly basking in the attention and envy of the other classes.
The results hadn’t been announced yet of course, but by process of elimination we had already figured out where we stood.
“Next we have the diamond class.”
Professor Kuhn continued, his expression and tone had remained the same this entire time, almost like he didn’t really care about this.
The screen popped up, this one had a fancy border and a unique font for the names.
- Zachariah Sol Proudmane
- Lloyd of Redwater
- Isolde Langenberg
“You three can stand over here.”
Professor Kuhn gestured to the area in front of the final pedestal.
They looked around at us in confusion, but did as they were told.
“Finally, for those who remain, welcome. The nine of you will be under my personal care in the Chamite class.”
For the first time since he began speaking, his face lit up and his voice was showing some emotion.
“I very much look forward to working with you.”
***
“Chamite class? What the hell is that supposed to be?”
“Who knows, but if the Benedikt Kuhn is in charge of it then it has to be special right?”
“No way! That little failure Oliver is there, that kid was meant to be in support!”
“Yeah but Axel Lionheart is there too. There’s no way it’s just a class for rejects.”
The other classes did little to hide their speculations from us as we stood awkwardly in place.
There was no screen or waiting area outlined for this “Chamite” class, so we were kind of just standing there aimlessly.
“Haha! How fun!”
A short girl with black hair and deep purple eyes burst out into laughter in front of me.
“So who have we got huh? The King’s rebellious nephew, some kid who looks like he couldn’t lift a sword to save his life, and is that an elf!?”
The hyperactive girl hopped and spun as she looked at each of us with undisguised glee. She stopped at one tall girl with a slender frame. Like me, she had her head down and covered with a cloak. If not for her… feminine figure, I wouldn’t have known her gender.
“I can see your ears y’know? Why hide them? They aren’t that different from mine after all!”
The short girl was peering up at her from below with a wide grin. She pulled at her own ears as she spoke and sure enough, they did look a little sharper than normal.
“Not talking eh? Okay, I’ll ask someone else.”
She drifted backwards and spun to face me.
“Cat guy!”
I waited for her to say more, but apparently that was all she thought of me as she immediately moved on.
“And who have we here? Gasp! No way, is that our very own little pri- oof!”
She had stepped up to a blonde girl in regal clothing and promptly taken a hit to the stomach.The blonde girl had drawn a rapier and struck the annoying girl with the hilt.
“Shut your mouth.”
I shifted my attention away from them and back towards Professor Kuhn, who had been directing everybody where to go.
“The dorms for bronze, silver, and gold ranks can be found inside the main building. Head over there and follow the head instructors. As for supporters, your dorm is by the workshop, it is outfitted to accommodate your special needs. Diamond and chamite class, follow me.”
Professor Kuhn clapped twice to signal the end of the entrance exams and wasted no time coming over to us.
Confused, the three diamond ranks looked at their own instructor, who just shrugged and motioned for them to follow as well.
“Bridgit, stop hitting your classmate. Lily, quit being obnoxious.”
Professor Kuhn lifted the annoying girl —Lily I suppose her name was— to her feet and walked straight past us.
The person who stood out the most in our group was the first to follow along. The huge guy with the undercut and fierce gaze: Axel Lionheart. I had wanted to check his scores the most out of anyone here.
I walked alongside him, keeping my back to Lloyd who was trailing near the rear with the other two diamond ranks.
“Hey.”
Axel spoke to me first, but didn’t turn his head to face me.
“Is it just the cat you can do that transforming thing with?”
“Nope.”
“Heh. Cool.”
Do… Do I keep talking?
Apparently that was all Axel wanted to say, and I didn’t have anything in particular to follow up with anyway.
We followed Kuhn to a separate two-story building near the edge of the campus. There, I could see the stone wall that surrounded the town that this academy was situated inside of. If I had my bearings right, this should be where the other side of the forest I once got attacked in was.
The Verdant Divide, that was the name. It was so called because it stood right between The Black Crown Empire and the Soleo Kingdom. I’m not sure exactly how large that place is, but it would take three days on foot to get from my location to Redwater if one were to navigate through in a straight line without getting lost. Realistically, it was more like five if you wanted to avoid the various dangers.
The dorm building looked like it used to be some rich person’s home that had later been converted into a share-house.
“Normally, this building would be for the exclusive use of diamond class. It has gone unused for five years now. It’s impressive that we went so long without a single diamond rank, only to get three in one year.”
The other instructor, the one who had been standing with the diamond class originally, gave a quick rundown of the place.
It included 10 bedrooms in total, a central garden, a training room, two bathing areas, a kitchen/dining area, a lounge, and a sizable yard. We were told the unused outdoor space could be built upon as needed upon request.
This place was to be home for the foreseeable future.