Veronica’s first round opponent is a freshman.
The reaction of the attendees gathered in the hall was divided.
Most were reassured
Some were even more nervous,
one was begging.
‘Please me, please me, please me… … .’
Regina glanced around at the students and clicked her tongue.
“It is a joke. If you are a student of Nightray, you should be aiming for the top, but they are relieved that you are not yourself.”
At the same time, the nameplate he showed me had the name of a top ranker in the third year written on it.
The fact that the name he chose was a freshman was a lie to see the reaction from the beginning.
“Am I the only one who was hoping for his name to come out?”
Regina looked down at Noah and said.
Naturally, the eyes of others also focused on Noah.
A person who declares that he will not refuse the ranking battle that comes his way, and does not avoid fighting the strong.
Participants realized that they were looking at Noah wrong.
‘Is it a difference in mindset… … .’
‘This isn’t just a mindless idiot.’
‘The principal wanted us to know this.’
After being in Nightray for several years, it’s taken for granted that a student from the 8th family is strong.
‘They are different from me.’
‘It is natural that there is a difference in skill.’
‘There’s no way I can win.’
Though these thoughts were shallow, they spread widely and caught the students’ ankles.
But Noah was different.
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This freshman did not consider factors such as origin or ranking when pursuing swordsmanship.
If Noah, who was born as an apostle, could not blame them for having received a much more systematic education, they could not be blamed.
Among the finalists, the way they see Noah has changed.
Even though I didn’t really care about it at all.
‘Ah, Mr. Isn’t it me?’
Regina then proceeded to draw quickly, and before long the brackets were full.
“The selection schedule will proceed as written in the bracket. more.”
The school principal left, but the students stayed at the ceremony for a while after the lottery was over to check the draw.
Some were transcribing, others were discussing.
It was the same with the freshman group.
“Did the first round fall apart? It’s practically the best matchup.”
Miho confirmed that her match was not bad and liked it without hesitation.
Good is good, although Regina had just taught him not to be afraid of defeat and to have a fighting spirit.
Besides, the reason Miho was in a good mood wasn’t just because of her match.
“Is Felix number 4? Even if I win in the round of 32, I will meet Veronica-sama in the round of 16. I will suffer.”
“Whether I win or lose, I just do my best.”
“Still, if we lose in the round of 16, there is still a chance for the losers’ revival… … .”
Tiu gave Miho a glare to stop teasing Felix, but Felix didn’t seem to care.
No matter what the group did or not, Noah was dissatisfied with his match.
“Sheesh. I have to go all the way to the finals to compete with Veronica.”
* * *
The preliminary round was held over 10 days with a day of rest between each match.
In other words, the class was still going on in the meantime.
“This semester is coming to an end soon. For the final, there will be a written test as scheduled, so make sure to review the class content.”
After finishing the liberal arts class, Noah briefly reviewed the contents of the class while remaining in the classroom while everyone left.
It seemed that failure could be avoided because of the achievements of hard work.
“Still, I can’t be vigilant until the end.”
“it’s over?”
“Oh, Tiu. did you wait?”
“don’t mind. Because I’ve been repeating this too. Thanks to you, I feel like I’m working hard, so I’m rather grateful.”
Tiu stayed in the same dormitory and shared the same classes with Noah the whole time.
Thanks to that, whenever Noah was studying, she would naturally study additionally.
“Are you okay with the test?”
“of course.”
Nightray divided the year into four semesters.
Classes were set for the first semester, but from then on, students were free to choose classes.
In addition, since they receive new students every semester, their next term was scheduled to enter after the final exams were over.
As a result, the concept of grade was blurred, and only the year or ranking was considered.
“Here, it is difficult to be treated as a senior if your ranking is low. After taking the test, I have to slowly raise my ranking… … .”
“Twu, if it’s you, you’ll go up soon.”
Tiu was determined and aimed only at a few people, preparing a pin-point strategy.
There was nothing to worry about because her move meant she was sure of victory.
Besides, she has not yet used the nomination rights she received with Noah.
If Tiu goes to the ranking match, he will immediately take the top ranker position.
“Anyway, I looked up things about our first round opponents as shown in the bracket… … Look at this.”
Tiu laid out the materials he had been researching.
There, information about Noah’s opponent in the first round was written.
“Sif Bezerif. Are you an apostolic student? Number 2,112?”
It was not a high ranking.
Rather, it ranks lower than Noah.
However, considering Mia’s words that ranking is not everything, she couldn’t be careless.
“The important thing is not the ranking right now. Look at this guy’s ranking match record.”
“The opponent ranked 8,848, 9,562, 5,840? what. Why did you fight against an opponent with such a low rank?”
In the case of the lower ranker ranking match, the rating system is operated differently from the upper rankers.
Because of this, even if you beat an opponent with a lower ranking than yourself, you had an advantage.
Of course, in that case, there were not many matches where the rankings were so extreme as the gains were also small.
“It’s a rookie hunter.”
“A rookie hunter?”
“In response to the Jeongdo students persecuting the apostle students, some powerful apostles hunted the new students. Call that a rookie hunter.”
Sif was a person who deliberately did not raise the rankings and maintained a lower rank in order to beat the freshmen.
“… … 43 consecutive wins until the most recent ranking match. Didn’t the direct descendant of the 8th family also lose? Even if I deliberately tried to lower my ranking, did I end up in 2,112th place because of my winning streak?”
“that’s right. Of course, his actual skill must be 2,112th or higher.”
“He is a boring person.”
It was something that Noah didn’t like.
Even if you look for the strong, you’re not enough, so you’re nasty and harassing the weak?
Even if the students did not do it first, it was quite difficult to understand.
However, as long as the method complied with the rules of the night ray, I didn’t think of what to do.
“Why did this kind of person not touch freshmen like this?”
“Probably because of Felix.”
“You fought well with the direct descendents of the other 8 families?”
“Rather than fearing retaliation, I wanted to aim for Felix, but I didn’t have a chance.”
“Well, he was the type to hang out with kids who knew ranking matches until Hell Week.”
In fact, it was not important to Noah, the apostle, that he was a rookie hunter aiming for high school students.
Why would you want to do that, but the opponents who accepted the ranking match must have agreed.
What bothered me more was the opponent’s winning streak.
“How did you get so many wins?”
There are fights that cannot be retreated even if you lose.
However, in the case of Nightray’s ranking match, it was generally done in a state where each other thought, ‘If it’s that guy, I can win’.
Even if he tried to fake his skills, he had no choice but to be caught if his winning streak continued.
As ranking battles increase, swordsmanship is also analyzed.
It was not possible to apply for a private match for lower ranking matches.
“It was said that Jeongdo students have a stable win rate, and Apostle students start with a high win rate, but it goes down as they progress through the ranking matches.”
“The level of swordsmanship is already known, but the swordsmanship of an apostle is different for each individual.”
“If you are strong, you can win a streak, but isn’t 43 consecutive wins too much?”
At that time, it was clear that he would have been taken as a person of interest and analyzed for his swordsmanship.
Even after seeing that, the opponent must have accepted the ranking match because he thought he could win.
43 consecutive wins meant that he still beat 43 people.
“I’m not an idiot, and there’s no way 43 people in a row would suffer like that? How did you do it?”
“that’s right. Seeing that they weren’t sanctioned, I don’t think they broke any rules. There must be a reason for this streak.”
Whether it was to advance to the selection round or to fight Veronica, his goal was to win.
Knowing that the opponent had something and not looking into it wasn’t being fair, it was not trying to win.
“Thank you Tiu. Since it’s my opponent, I’ll find out on my own from now on.”
“Oh, wait. Noah you can’t… … .”
“Let’s meet in the semifinals.”
* * *
The place where Noah ran after breaking up with Thiu was none other than Veronica’s office.
Instead of gaining strong authority, the 15 immovable members had to share school work, such as supervising the freshman entrance exam.
As the office was indispensable for such a job, it was a place granted separately from authority.
“… … So you’re looking for information on a man named Sif?”
“huh.”
“But why are you asking me that?”
Veronica is at a loss as to what to do with this unexpected guest.
“Exactly, I want to ask Mia, not you.”
“Mia?”
“Looking at it before, it seemed like they did a lot of detailed research on the other students. I wondered if there might be information about Sif.”
“When did you become friends with Mia?”
After the preliminaries for the preliminary round, Noah met Mia a few times.
Most of the time, it was Mia who came to Noah first.
“How long has it been? It’s just that I’ve been introduced to restaurants near the school a few times lately, or I’ve been taking walks.”
Even that became rare after he started studying swordsmanship with Ophelia in earnest.
However, Veronica seemed to be surprised enough by that alone and called Mia right away.
“missing child! I know you’re listening, so come out quickly.”
“Yes, Mia is here.”
“Sit down.”
At Veronica’s words, Mia sat down next to Noah with both hands together and wide.
Seeing this, Veronica inwardly widened her eyes.
‘if… … ?’
“Mia, explain.”
“As the identity of the person is unknown, it was necessary to confirm whether the princess would be a good person to be close to.”
“So?”
“If it’s Noah-sama, I think you can trust him.”
‘also… … !’
Mia’s words turned Veronica’s doubts into certainty.
‘Mia, who said she couldn’t trust anyone other than the imperial family, even the direct line of the 8th family, is reacting like this. It must be that she has a crush on this man!’
Logic unimaginable to the other two bloomed in Veronica’s head.
‘Even if she is a strictly educated maid, Mia is also a girl in her prime. They say that nothing can stop a man and a woman from falling in love!’
For Veronica, who lived only in the imperial palace since childhood, love was something that only came out of love stories.
For Veronica, who learned to love through novels, the current situation was perfect for adding delusions.
‘Mia is my closest aide. It’s only natural for a superior to help a subordinate in a relationship!’
Veronica looked Noah up and down.
His intention was to figure out every detail of whether or not he was the right person for Mia.
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While Veronica blossomed in her head, Mia had similar thoughts.
‘As expected, Veronica-sama must be in love with Noah-sama!’
Mia looked at Veronica’s gaze at Noah.
As if he was trying to engrave it in his head, it was as if honey would fall from his eyes as he inspected every detail.
‘You’re jealous because I said I was with Noah-nim! Aah, I was just giving you the recommended course so that Noah-nim could naturally invite you on a date… … !’
If they had looked into each other’s heads, they would have been frightened, but no one here noticed the misunderstanding.
“Why are you two here?”
In the end, Noah, who was caught in the middle, was able to get to the main point after a long time.