As the door opened, all the eyes in the hall turned to him.
"Well...."
Alexia looked his way.
"....as I was saying, I hope we can all get along."
She completed.
Arthur made his way over to his seat and sat down.
He took a quick look at the hall.
'Everyone here seems to believe that she isn't half-bad.'
He thought.
Art would have believed so too; she had come into the class in a good mood, seemed friendly, and to top it all off, she was beautiful.
He would have believed it too if he didn't know about her other nature.
—She doesn't look strict at all.
One of the boys next to him whispered.
—You know, maybe it won't be so bad after all.
A girl chimed in.
—I— I wouldn't be too sure about that.
One of the applicants behind them said hesitantly.
—Shut up, this is why no one likes you.
Arthur listened to their conversation absent-mindedly, his eyes fixated on the door.
'Any moment now.'
Alexia had already started handing in the papers.
That was when the door creaked open.
A girl stepped inside, her long blue hair rippling like water, with her eyes being the same shade. She carried herself with elegance but wasted no time in apologizing.
"My apologies for arriving late, professor."
She said.
"Vivian Sevyn, don't worry about it, just take your seat."
The examiner waved it off and directed her to the only available seat.
Vivian bowed her head slightly, then went towards the seat.
Arthur noted the subtle shift in the atmosphere—her beauty, coupled with her striking hair, made her the victim of many gazes.
—How can you be late to an exam like this?
—Don't ask me, I have no idea.
If an applicant came after the entrance exam had started, they would begin their exam.
'Finally, a member of the main cast.'
Arthur thought, staring at her.
'Better than seeing plain-old Lucien day-in and day-out.'
Someone lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
It was Alexia.
"Mr. Kurobane."
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I'd advise you kept your head out of the gutter, after all, you don't plan on writing that on your script, do you?"
She said as she slipped the parchment onto his desk, moving towards the next applicant.
'Head out the gutter?'
Arthur shook his head, keeping his words to himself.
He waited until she had shared every single one.
"You all two hours for the exams, good luck."
She said.
There was no need for further words, the exams had officially started.
He flipped the paper over....
—If a Tier-2 fire spell is compressed with a wind vector and rotated at forty-five degrees, calculate the resulting trajectory curve and the additional mana strain on the caster.
—Given a base essence pool of 320 units, derive the maximum sustainable duration of a Tier-3 barrier without external reinforcement. Show your calculations.
—When applying lightning essence to a water medium, describe the four possible reactions that could occur, including their failure rates at each rank.
And then grinned widely.
This was exactly what he had studied.
Around him, pens scratched furiously against paper.
Some people bit their lips, others looked close to tears, and a few grinned widely as if the questions were too easy to be true.
'They don't really get it, is there any need to rush when you can take this slowly.'
At least, that was what Arthur wanted to do. He wanted to be the last person to submit if it was possible.
He leisurely brought out a pen and began answering the questions.
Slowly, at his own pace. He wasn't the least worried that the answers he had crammed into his head would vanish.
The scratching of pens on paper was the only sound that could be heard in the room, that and the occasional sigh.
"Mr. Rothsfield."
The words sliced through the silence like a sharpened blade.
Several heads rose to face the direction of the speaker.
"I— I wasn't cheating, ma'am."
"But I didn't ask if you if you were cheating."
Alexia flashed that same smile she gave when she had stepped in the first time, the difference was that it didn't seem as friendly as it did before.
The boy—Rothsfield, froze, terror flashing across his face.
"Please come forward."
She said.
The boy sat frozen for a few more seconds, then he reluctantly stood up and went to the front.
"Now, if you don't want to the kicked out of this hall, strip and explain to the class how you were cheating."
"Huh? Excuse me?"
"I said that unless you want to leave, strip and explain to the class on how you cheated."
Alexia repeated calmly.
"...."
The applicants watched expectantly.
But nothing happened.
Alexia let out a sigh.
"If you don't want to do it, you can return to your seat...."
A flicker of hope flashed on his face as she said those words.
"Tha—"
"....So you can take your pen before leaving."
Only for his hope to be diminished in an instant.
"Mr. Rothsfield, I won't repeat myself."
She warned.
The threat behind her words were clear.
"...."
The boy slowly unbuttoned his shirt.
"No, just take off your trousers."
He stopped and looked at her pleadingly, then slowly unzipped his trousers, and began pulling them down.
On his thighs were several questions with their respective answers.
'Don't laugh.'
"Now, explain."
Alexia prompted.
"....My Soul Skill allows me to see through things.... I used it to cheat."
He was on the verge of tears as the gazes of dozens of applicants pierced through his thighs.
He had even wore his tight whites under so he would have more space.
"But?"
"....But none of the questions I wrote came out."
'Don't laugh.'
Arthur repeated.
Laughing at a fellow applicant would be disrespectful.
His grin stretched out.
"Mr. Kurobane."
Alexia called out to him.
It nearly burst out.
"Why are you trying not to laugh, that's not very polite."
Arthur couldn't reply, he just kept it in.
Truth be told, he wasn't the only one holding back his laughter.
He was just the only one doing it so disrespectfully.
"As I saw saying, Mr. Rothsfield, don't cheat again or I won't be so lenient to you."
Alexia warned him.
The boy drew his trouser up and walked back to his seat.
"Everyone, please continue, you don't have much time left."
This same scene had happened in the game.
It was the start of Alexia's reputation as the most short-tempered character in the game.
In fact, this very scene wasn't over yet....
'Again, these are too easy.'
Arthur thought.
He wanted to glance towards Vivianne, but his gut instincts told him it wasn't a good idea. No, it warned him was more accurate.
If Art had to guess, Vivianne was already done.
He focused back on the exams, so he could finish quickly and lounge around as he waited for others to submit.
Just like that, twenty minutes passed.
"Mr. Rothsfield."
Alexia's voice cut through the air once more.
"No, I didn't-"
The boy quickly defended himself, but Alexia was quicker.
Something else cut through the air, except this was much faster.
Her hand flicked in a blur of motion, the only thing the people around her could catch was her sheathing her sword.
-Shhk!
A limb fell to the ground.
And blood sprayed onto the girl adjacent to him.