I Became The Academy’s Narrow-Eyes

Chapter 11: Another Starring Role

The entrance exam for the Academy is open to anyone regardless of their social status.

However, when you look at the final successful candidates, most of them were nobles.

No wonder.

The environment itself was different.

In the case of Drin alone, she’s one of the best swordsmen on the continent, and a member of one of the largest families on the continent, the Lebringer family.

It was similar to how most students attending top prestigious universities on Earth came from middle-class or higher backgrounds.

So I stood out like a sore thumb.

The people in the secondary examination hall now were almost all nobles except for me.

“Nice to meet you, I’m from the east, Queren of-”

“No, what a coincidence, my master is also-”

“Oh wow, then maybe we have some connection with our parents-”

The participants waiting for their turn were actively networking during their spare time.

“Congratulations on passing the first exam.”

Someone even tried to dock with me.

The man flashed me a humanizing smile and offered his congratulations.

“Awww, thanks, man, that’s lucky, you too, congrats on passing the exam.”

“Haha, I got lucky as well. I met an excellent person like my master who taught me everything since childhood. His name is Agon Gern who graduated from Ain Academy. Do you know him? He’s one of the few swordsmen in the East who can match him in the art of swordplay.”

“Oh, I apologize. My knowledge is limited, but a master of your caliber? He must be a great man.”

“Haha, thank you. Oh, excuse me. I apologize for the delay in introducing myself. I am Derun of House Darden.”

Derun extended his hand and stated his name.

“Ah, a pleasure, Lord Derun. My name is Ceylon.”

I gave my name as well, and went to shake his hand, but-

“…”

Derun suddenly frowned and withdrew his hand.

“What? You’re just a commoner.”

He clicked his tongue in disbelief and turned away, leaving me to stare after him.

I took the awkward right hand that was left wandering unattached and scratched the back of my head.

“Haha, how amusing.”

What the hell?

Because of Derun’s actions, I momentarily forgot.

The fact that most of the nobility of this world considered commoners to be nothing more than lowly creatures.

There was no change in the Academy, which is known as a society that strictly values ​​ability. Because social status was also a form of ability.

Now that I’ve had my heart broken by the racism of a guy who isn’t funny at all.

The first person who comes to mind now is Drin, who is the most interesting person to me at this moment.

‘How long has it been since we parted ways? I already miss you. Is this love…?’

In order to comfort my wounded heart with Drin, I immediately went out to find him.

“That woman over there is Drin Lebringer?”

As I listened to Drin’s story…

“I saw that blue light bursting out of the first test site just now. They said it came out when testing Drin Libringer’s mana sensitivity.”

“From what I’ve learned about that golem, it’s mana sensitivity can only be measured up to three stars. Beyond that, it’s impossible to measure because it just, like, randomly emits light.”

“So what you’re saying is that the golem went on a rampage because the mana sensitivity of the Drin Lebringer exceeded the three-star level and was now at the four-star level?”

“Four stars? How does that make sense? At the same age as us?”

Using the people talking about Drynn as signposts, I made my way to the corner of the examination hall and saw Drin standing there.

She was the center of attention before the exam even started.

She’d turned the golem into her biggest fan during the first round of testing and announced her arrival by bathed in a brilliant blue light.

Without a doubt, Drin was the star of this pseudo-social event.

Most participants in the test site were lingering around hoping for an opportunity to talk or mix words with him.

But as if she were a barrier, everyone kept their distance from her.

They couldn’t.

Just as a commoner would not dare to speak to a noble.

Those nobles didn’t dare to speak to Drin either.

There was such a gap between the common noble families and the Great House Lebringers.

“From what I’ve heard, the atmosphere is quite frightening.”

“Yeah… I heard that Drin was here, so I thought I’d try to talk to him, but now that I’ve seen him in person, I’m afraid I can’t.”

Moreover, although I couldn’t fully understand it, there seemed to be an atmosphere around Drin that made it hard for anyone to get close.

If there is someone here who approaches Drin and asks “Can we talk?”, that person must either come from a high-ranking family like Drin or possess extraordinary talent like her.

“…!”

At that moment, our eyes met as Drin noticed me and looked towards me.

“Isn’t it?

But the moment our eyes met was very brief.

It could be considered reasonable to assume that it was just an illusion of eye contact with Drin.

‘What should I do?’

If Drin had noticed me here and pretended to recognize me, I would have had an angle to approach him.

However, no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of Drin noticing me or pretending to recognize me.

This leaves me with no angle to break through the thick wall of nobility to reach Drin.

‘Is this better?’

Come to think of it, if I act all clingy towards Drin here like I just did, it seems like all sorts of trouble will follow.

-What? Who’s approaching Lord Drynn?

-Who?

-It looks like a commoner.

-What? A commoner dares to speak to Drin-ssi without knowing the subject?

-I’m just looking at his face.

-But that bastard is also talking to Drin-ssi, so why not us?

-I see.

-Who knows! Drin-ssi!

-I’m a fan! Give me a hug!

‘Oh, just thinking about it almost killed me.’

It seemed right for me to give up on acting clingy for my own sake and for Drin’s sake as well.

Maybe she was thinking the same thing and pretending not to see me.

That’s when I gave up trying to get to her.

There was a woman walking toward her.

“Move aside.”

The woman pushed her way through the nobles.

Her steps were rough and unforgiving.

“What!? Ah. Ah, yes… Please-”

But instead of protesting, the stiff-necked nobles were overwhelmed by the woman’s aura and willingly gave way, bowing their stiff necks.

A navy blue short hair that gives off a cold feeling.

Eyes as sharp as the tip of a spear.

And that haughty, overbearing aura.

Kasha Hanahan.

Another main character appeared on stage again.

“You must be Drin Lebringer.”

Kasha blurted out as she stood before Drin.

“I am.”

Drin didn’t recoil at the rude greeting, but instead replied nonchalantly, his face unchanged.

Kasha looked Drin up and down, her expression sour.

“Perhaps the rumors were not exaggerated.”

“…”

“I am Kasha. Kasha of House Hanahan. You must have heard my name.”

“Yes, Kasha Hanahan. I am familiar with your reputation.”

“Yeah, I’ve also heard enough about you to get sick of it. Whenever people praised your name, they often used mine as well.”

“These are stories from people who don’t know much about me or you. I don’t think it’s worth listening to.”

“Ha, you’re very generous. Very laid back. Am I, indeed, the Kasha Hanahan of whom you have heard rumors?”

Kasha taunted with a smirk of approval.

“Honestly, I don’t pay much attention to gossip and rumors, so I don’t think I can give you the answer you’re looking for.”

However, Drin casted the virtue of “honesty” without any change in expression.

I was mildly surprised by the exchange.

‘Wow, she’s playing with Kasha, and she’s not losing.’

Even though I only saw it briefly, it was clear enough that Kasha was a character who had a sharp personality and strong presence in Tose, making her the second most feared character in the game.

If I were to have a conversation with Kasha now, I could imitate his arrogant behavior, but that would only be possible because of my own traits.

If I didn’t have that trait, I’d be frozen in place in front of Kasha, unable to do anything.

But Drin had no such trait, and he was able to withstand Kasha’s intensity.

No, no. Not just withstanding.

Drin was clearly gaining the upper hand in the battle of wills with Kasha.

Because of Drin’s determined demeanor, Kasha’s now fierce and wild form looked like a small, noisy dog barking in the face of a large dog.

Like a chihuahua.

It was in this moment that she realized, even indirectly, why people found it so hard to deal with Drin.

“…”

Kasha seemed to have similar thoughts as well as his face twisted with humiliation as he spoke through gritted teeth.

“I have one proposal for you.”

“Please go ahead.”

“If I become the top scorer on this entrance exam, duel me.”

“Even if you don’t make that condition, I’ll be happy to duel you if you want.”

“Hmph. Say whatever you want. Regardless of what happens next, it won’t change the fact that once I become the top scorer, I will defeat you in our duel.”

With those words, Kasha ended the conversation one-sidedly, leaving the path she’d made when she approached Drin untouched and weaving her way through the nobles to make another path.

‘Come to think of it, there was such an event.’

Kasha Hanahan.

She was a genius of bad luck, born in the same generation as monsters like Drin and treated like a second-class citizen.

Kasha wanted to remove Drin’s name that suppressed her. That’s why she openly declared competition against Drin from their first meeting. To defeat Drin and prove herself.

But in the end, Kasha narrowly lost the top scorer position to Drin.

And even lost in the emotionally charged duel that followed.

Since then, Kasha has seen Drin as her own rival-

This is what I learned firsthand by playing the game.

‘Ha…’

If that was all I knew about Kasha, I would have just treated her as a peculiar person and moved on.

But something I had seen and heard somewhere made me feel uneasy about Kasha.

‘What’s going to happen to her…’

Kasha dies.

Very miserably and horribly.

And in a way that causes great harm to the world.

As I contemplated Kasha’s end, I had a gut feeling.

‘Oh, this. It’s coming.’

As expected, my instincts were spot-on.

A spear appeared in front of me, just as the assassin was about to kill Drin.

[Quest – Guidance]

-Guide Kasha Hanahan so she doesn’t go down the wrong path.

The quest occurred.

When I was playing, Kasha was an annoying and irritating character.

For most players, including me.

She was arrogant and demanding of all characters, just like she was with Drin.

If this quest had popped up in the game, I would have scowled and skipped it.

But for me, this quest is different now.

When I saw Kasha giving Drin a hard time in the game, I thought to myself,

Ugh.

What a bunch of annoying characters.

But then I realized.

As I watched Kasha make a scene with Drin, I thought to myself.

Ah.

Isn’t she kind of cute?

Wouldn’t it be fun to tease her?

I don’t know exactly what thought process led me to these conclusions either. It was more of an instinctive feeling similar to when I first met Drin.

That’s how it turned out. For me right now,

For me now, Kasha was a character I didn’t want to let die a miserable death.

She was a character I wanted to set aside and tease.

So, for me, the quest to help Kasha was a good thing.

[Reward – Random Box (Reward maximum grade: Heroic)]

It was a tricky quest with a vague clearance requirement, but that was okay because the reward was huge.

I had a good idea of how to help Kasha.

This test.

Kasha will not miss out on being top by a hair’s breadth.

Not by a hair’s breadth, but by a very large margin.

To me, not to Drin.

Once I made that decision, passing the Academy was no longer my concern.

It was about making sure that my hidden power, which I would inevitably use to win the top spot, was not revealed to others.

“Those of you who have been assigned participant numbers, which I will now call out, please prepare to take the test.”

The supervisor then called out ten participants for the next round of testing.

Among them were myself, Drin, and Kasha.