<h4>Chapter 90</h4>


    In the general exams, I ranked 784th, but I was ranked first in the Royal ss’s internal overall rankings.


    The reason for it was simple. To put it simply, I had received an A+ in all privately-instructed subjects in the midterm evaluations.


    In both swordsmanship theory and practical swordsmanship, thanks to my sparring with Ellen, my skills had improved significantly, so I won all the matches in the students’ tournament until I faced Ellen.


    Was my Pseudo-Swordsmanship better than all of the other guys? Or perhaps there were strict standards in order to be considered to have the Swordsmanship skill?


    Moreover, except when fighting with Ellen, I didn’t even use my supernatural powers. Of course, when I faced Ellen, I was defeated as usual in less than five seconds.


    Anyway, Ellen also received an A+ in Swordsmanship, and I, who had shown considerable improvement, got an A+ as well. At first, the guys from the regr sses who took Swordsmanship with us despised us, thinking that there was nothing special about us besides being in the Royal ss. But when they saw my skills skyrocket after just a few months, they began to whisper that I was indeed of Royal ss caliber.


    My initial horse-riding skills weren’t great either, but now I had be more skilled in handling a horse than the other kids, so I received an A+ in Equestrian ss as well.


    In Mana Attunement training, where the evaluation was based on the total amount of mana increase, the yoga master teacher said my mana had increased at an oddly fast rate. Thus, I ced second, just behind Kaier Vioden, who was known for his vast mana pool, and received another A+.


    For Supernatural Power Control, my control was so extraordinary that I naturally had to receive the highest score.


    In Meditation, I also got the highest score because my ability to concentrate was deemed to be extremely strong, although it was just that I had good patience.


    As for the subjects of Theology and Alchemy, which required memorization, I studied separately for those and achieved the highest score in both. Forprehensive physical training, I had the assistance of my supernatural powers, which allowed me to clear all the physical training tests and receive the highest score.


    As a result, in the privately instructed subjects, only Ellen and I received the highest scores in all subjects.


    However, Ellen had gotten two questions wrong in the general exam.


    That was how I ended up being in 1st ce. I had initially aimed to be in the top 10 of the general exam, but had ironically achieved 1st ce in an unexpected area.


    “...”


    Every student, even Vertus, was looking at me in bewilderment.


    “<i>What in the world is this guy?</i>”


    Their expressions were aplex mix of astonishment and confusion.


    ***


    Regardless of my results, Vertus had effectively emerged victorious in hispetition with Charlotte this time. Charlotte’s overall ranking was sixth out of twenty-two. It was expected, since she had done well on the written exam but was still physically weak and therefore could not participate in the physical education examinations, thus missing out on those grades.


    “What the... How are you first? That doesn’t even make sense!” Harriet asked me with a stunned look, seemingly unable toprehend how such a thing could have happened.


    “Whether it makes sense or not, it happened, and it’s real.”


    “Lies! I can’t believe it!”


    “Yeah, well done oning in eighth.”


    Harriet had ranked 8th, and my taunting made Harriet’s face turn bright red with anger.


    “I-It’s because I’m a magic major, so I only studied magic! There was no need for me to do well in the general exam!”


    Of course, Harriet was only interested in magic, so her performance in the non-magic subjects had been average.


    “Oh, so what? You still lost to me.”


    My use of the word “lost” made her face turn beet red. All my ssmates were watching the spectacle. I stood up from my seat and lightly tapped Harriet’s shoulder.


    “Hey, 8th ce. You know, maybe you deserved to be 8th. Just ept it.”


    “Wh-What did you say?!”


    “Why? Are you jealous? Jealous of me for living the life of someone in first ce? Hahahahahahaha!”


    My mockingughter, filled with vindictive joy, made Harriet’s face go from red to purple. Vertus was covering his mouth with his hand, trying not tough at the scene, while the others seemed to be experiencing some form of cognitive dissonance when they saw me tantly teasing Harriet like this.


    They had probably expected me to bug Harriet, but certainly not to this extent.


    “You, you! You!!! How dare you, you lowlife!”


    Harriet’s taunt, as degrading as it was meant to be, wasn’t the slightest bit painful to me.


    “A nobledy who has been defeated by a lowlife... Oh, wait, not just defeated, but crushed in 8th ce! Hahahahahaha! How truly magnificent and sublime, Your Grace.”


    “Aaaah! You! You! I’ll kill youuuuu!”


    Harriet, seemingly unable to take it anymore, rushed at me, and I promptly opened the ssroom door and made my escape.


    “Hey!!! Stop right there!”


    “Try to catch me if you can! With your 8th-ced speed!”


    “Why you little!!”


    Though I had unintentionallye in in 1st ce, I still couldn’t help but feel great.


    ***


    During lunchtime, Vertus sat next to me.


    “Wow, nice job, Reinhart.”


    “To be honest, it just somehow turned out like that.”


    Vertus was fine, as long as he beat Charlotte. In the original work, even though Ellen consistently scored higher than he did, he didn’t really care. In fact, he was the type to consider those who performed well as superior talents, and therefore more necessary to him.


    Of course, I didn’t really know whether he felt belittled by myments about living the life of someone in first ce, but he probably didn’t care much.


    “I knew you were working hard, but to think you’re adept in both literary andbat skills is quite unexpected.”


    It seemed that Vertus had decided to reevaluate his opinion of me, and now regarded me more highly.


    Vertus nced over at Ellen, who was quietly eating her meal across from us.


    “It’s strange, isn’t it? I thought the top student of the Royal ss being friends with the ss troublemaker was unusual, but it turns out that you were actually the one on top.”


    “Isn’t that a bit of a harsh thing to say?”


    “Well, isn’t it the truth?”


    “I guess you’re right... I can’t really deny it.”


    It appeared that Vertus had previously believed that Ellen was the undisputed top student in the ss.


    But in reality, I was the one who had ended up in first ce, not Ellen, and Vertus seemed to find that quite amusing.


    Ellen did not show much reaction to Vertus’sments. She was the type who wouldn’t care even if she had ced at the top of the ss.


    As I continued with my meal, someone passed by the ss A dining hall and raised their hand in a quick greeting to me.


    “Reinhart! I saw that you got 1st ce. Congrats!”


    He was the guy who almost always scored A+ in the various physical activities, but was perpetuallyst-ced in written exams because he was the worst at studying.


    “Oh, yeah. Thanks.”


    It was Ludwig, who had inevitably ended up inst ce again. Charlotte also passed by me and gave me a slight smile. I understood what she meant without her needing to say anything.


    Every time she smiled at me, my heart felt like it was going to stop—it was aplex emotion of pleasure tinged with a bit of guilt.


    Wasn’t she bothered that Vertus had eclipsed her this time?


    “Anyway, Reinhart, it seems like you’ve gotten quite friendly with my half-sister.”


    Thatment sent a chill down my spine. I wasn’t sure if he only knew about the friendship I had with Charlotte, or if he knew something more. It wasmon knowledge among the ss B students that Charlotte and I were on fairly good terms.


    “Uh, yeah... it just happened.”


    “Good. Don’t be too nervous.”


    Vertus told me that he didn’t particrly care about it and that I shouldn’t feel ufortable around him. If it had been anyone else, I might have believed it, but when it came from Vertus, I couldn’t trust him no matter how much I tried.


    Him telling me not to be nervous just made me more nervous.


    “With midterms over, it looks like the group missions will be starting soon.”


    Vertus’sment made me realize that the next event was drawing closer.


    “Is it going to start as scheduled?”


    “Since there haven’t been any big issues since the demon incident, the exit restrictions will be lifted soon, and it won’t be much of a concern.”


    The group mission. A test disguised as a field trip... was drawing near.


    ***


    As May approached, it began to grow warmer.


    There was quite an uproar when the monthly physical scan revealed that I had awakened a new talent for Mana Attunement. It was surprising enough when they found I had infinite aptitude, but to discover that I now had two distinct talents was clearly shocking.


    The buzz it generated was so significant that I decided to postpone awakening a third talent forter. If I kept awakening abilities one after another, it would be suspicious in its own way.


    There was no reason to hurry.


    As Vertus said, after Monday’smon ss, Mr. Effenhauser made the announcement. Even though it was called a mission, it essentially amounted to a test.


    “At the Temple, from high school onwards, each ss will be assigned one group mission per semester.


    “The group mission is apetition between ss A and ss B, and while it ispetitive, it is also an earnest test of the students’ teamwork, unity, and cooperative spirit. Keep in mind that those who show exceptional teamwork or contribute significantly to the group will receive extra points during the evaluation.


    “The grades earned in the group mission will be reflected in your semester’s total grades. Naturally, the victorious ss will receive a higher score.


    “The group mission can be conducted either inside the Temple or outside.


    “This is not any regr ss—this is the Royal ss. Therefore, we will be assigned more difficult tasks than the regr sses. Be aware that you may find yourselves in situations that may be quite dangerous. In fact, there have been many cases in which students have suffered injury or harm.


    “Of course, it is up to the individual to choose to participate in the group mission or not. If someone decides not to participate, they will automatically fail that portion of the mission.”


    This was the biggest reason why Vertus needed capable ssmates, and had discouraged the others from taking a leave of absence.


    The group mission that took ce once a semester was a very importantponent of a student’s grades, and a team being short even one member could be a great disadvantage.


    Although Vertus had surpassed Charlotte in the midterm exams, if ss B were to emerge victorious in the group mission, Vertus could actually fall behind Charlotte in overall grades.


    I had forced this setting into the novel to ensure that there was a real sense ofpetition between ss A and B.


    Anyway, since it was a school event, I had set up the story so that the mission was going to happen during a school field trip. I figured that it wouldn’t be fun if there was nothing for students topete over, and if they simply spent the time enjoying the field trip. Without any big challenges, there wouldn’t be any conflicts between the characters, and nothing special would end up happening over the course of the field trip.


    Of course, like any such event, these missions didn’t always go as nned by the teachers. There could be unexpected idents,pletely bizarre urrences, and real threats or crises that might arise.


    The most convenient plot event for narrative progression was group missions.


    Now that I thought about it, it did seem rather absurd to have these precious students put through such dangerous ordeals. But what could I do? This was how the story had been written, and this was the direction that it was going.


    If you want toin,in to my past self, because I’d like toin now as well!


    Anyway, the first group mission was...


    “The theme of this group mission is ‘Survival’.”


    We were going to a deserted ind.


    The reason for the deserted ind was very trivial; I had been watching the show “Survivor” around the time I wrote this part.


    ***


    While the clue to the group mission was survival, Mr. Effenhauser didn’t tell us that we were going to a deserted ind. The mission’s theme was revealed beforehand, but details were only provided upon arrival at the site.


    Of course, I knew exactly where we were headed. I had been wondering if the recent terror incident might lead to a cancetion, but that didn’t seem to be the case.


    It was only natural for everyone to be perplexed by the sudden mention of survival.


    The good news was that the restrictions on leaving campus had finally been lifted.


    The group mission would span five days, from Monday to Friday the following week. Since the other high school sses would be on their missions during the same period, all lectures would be on hold.


    ***


    “Have there been any signs of you being monitored or anythingtely?”


    “I’ve been more attentive recently, but it seems to be clear at the moment, Your Highness.”


    “Looks like Vertus is certain that there’s no point following this lead further... It seems he might not have had the intention to search this area in the first ce.”


    Taking advantage of the lifting of restrictions, I had immediately left the Temple and headed for Eleris’s shop. I could technically visit the shop as Reinhart, but there was no need to take unnecessary risks, so I went out of my way to take a roundabout path and changed my appearance before seeking out the shop.


    As always, Eleris and I were speaking upstairs.


    “Anyway, do you think it’s really okay to leave things as they are? Even if Charlotte has be an ally, the fact that you’ve been exposed could be dangerous.”


    “I’ve given it a lot of thought as well, Your Highness, but if a crisis arises, I’ll be able to extract myself from the situation. It seems both Sarkegar and Loyar have decided that it’s better for them to keep watch too.”


    Eleris had already discussed matters with the other two.


    “By the way, weren’t you away from the shop at that time?”


    Certainly, Eleris had closed up the shop. But when Charlotte had entered, she had suddenly appeared from upstairs.


    “I did not weave a protection spell over the door, but I did set an rm spell. I hurried back when it detected that the door had been destroyed.”


    Up until that point, Eleris had been with Airi in the Edina Inds. But upon detecting that the rm on the door had been triggered, she had immediately teleported back. It had been a remarkably quick piece of improvisation from her.


    If she hadn’t returned in the nick of time, Charlotte could have remained unaware of the truth, but in return, Eleris would have risked losing the shop entirely, since there were indeed several things that were suspicious about the ce.


    “How’s Airi doing?”


    “She’s settled down in Rajak, the main port city of Edina. Things are progressing without much issue, and I’ve been checking in with them. There’s nothing for you to worry about, Your Highness.”


    Eleris could check in on Airi’s group at any time with a teleportation spell, and it was reassuring to know that everything was under her control.


    We decided to maintain the status quo for the moment. If any problems arose, Eleris could extract herself from the situation. Until then, maintaining this rtionship with Charlotte would be beneficial for us too.


    “Speaking of which,” I mentioned casually.


    “Yes, Your Highness?”


    I shared something that might have seemed a little childish to boast about.


    “I came in first ce.”


    “... Pardon me?”


    “I said, I got first ce in the exams.”


    If it had been Sarkegar, he probably would have squealed “Is that trueeee?!” and reacted in an overly-dramatic fashion, but Eleris’s response was quite different.


    “That is impressive, Your Highness.”


    She only gave me a slight smile and a small word of praise, but that in itself felt quite rewarding.