“Hey, I almost slept on the road. Tiuya, thank you so much.”
“I didn’t even book an accommodation and just came here. It’s not even a walk around town… … .”
“I came from home only to hear that I had to take a test. I didn’t even know what school I was in until I came.”
After passing the entrance exam, Noah soon realized that he had nowhere to go.
Hearing that there was a dormitory in the school, it was Noah who recognized it at first.
However, in Nightray, even the right to enter the dormitory is granted according to ranking.
“Even if I passed, I couldn’t use the dormitory because there was no ranking until the entrance ceremony. Tiu, it’s a relief that there’s room left at the inn you were staying at.
There were many wealthy families in Nightray, and among them, there were many who could not enter the dormitory due to their poor ranking.
As a result, accommodation facilities around the area have also developed, and the proportion of students who live nearby and commute to school is also significant.
Tiu had arrived here before the entrance exam and booked an inn.
Noah, who had nowhere to go, stayed here at Thiu’s recommendation.
“Actually, it would have been fine even if it wasn’t here. If I had passed the entrance exam, I would have been able to find a place to sleep with just that.”
“That much?”
“Being a student of Night Ray means you are someone who will become a knight in the future, right? There are many people who want to erase their debt. Loans are good too.”
In particular, people from the common people, such as Tiu and Noah, always lacked money until they became official knights.
As a result, even a scholarship project that formally supports tuition was prosperous.
“Huh. It must be a really big school.”
“That’s natural. The management is independent, but the ownership of the school is clearly owned by His Majesty the Emperor. All of the students here are nationally recognized talents.”
Even Noah knew what kind of person the emperor was.
The master of the empire and the strongest knight of this era.
The one called the strongest of mankind was the emperor.
“Didn’t I say that the girl who was the examiner today was the princess?”
“that’s right. 7th Princess Veronica. It is also currently ranked 11th in the Night Ray ranking.”
“Is 11th place too high? Exactly how strong are you?”
“You really don’t know anything?”
Tiu thought for a moment about where to start explaining, then continued.
“Night Ray has an average of 10,000 students. In other words, it means that the ranking is up to 10,000th. Ten thousand people with the most outstanding talent in the empire.”
“Among them, I was ranked 11th… … .”
“The higher the ranking, the better the treatment, and the higher the authority in the school. If you are in the top 100, you have the right to intervene in school management.”
“Students involved in running the school?”
“Teachers are hired by the imperial family, but rankers within the top 100 receive sponsorship directly from the imperial family. Since the imperial family gives strength, the school has no choice but to follow suit.”
“If you’re in 11th place, that means there are 10 more people above that. Isn’t the princess standing at the top of the school?”
Tiu shook his head at Noah’s words.
“Veronica-sama stopped competing in the rankings after reaching 11th place.”
“What is it. Surely you didn’t even take the test? If you were going to drop everything except you and me anyway, it would have been nice if you treated me more sincerely.”
It was Noah who came down the mountain to meet more swordsmanship.
There was no reason for me to come down if I was going to sway without strength.
“No matter how great you are, Noah, you wouldn’t have lasted that long.”
“well… … ?”
It’s true that Veronica was drained, but Noah wasn’t full force.
‘Honestly, my first impression of this school wasn’t very good because of what the guys who gathered as test takers said.’
Despite having been told earlier that it was a great school, the level of the guys who came to take the test was below expectations.
After all, school is school. It was Veronica who appeared at the moment when I thought that the guys who went there were only at the level of students.
‘But there were also guys who were strong enough.’
The test takers were free to take the test anyway, even if their level was low.
However, the skills of the actual students were definitely strong.
Hearing that there were many talented people similar to Veronica, he wanted to taste their swordsmanship, and his body was itching.
“hehehe, as soon as we enter, we should fight the guy who is number one.”
“That is impossible.”
“why?”
“The higher the ranking, the more benefits there are, so why don’t you all bet on the first place in a ranking match? That’s why there are rules in ranking matches.”
Tiu explained some rules for ranking matches.
“Once you play a ranked match, you can refuse another ranked match for a while, or a lower ranker can’t skip thousands of places and face a higher ranker.”
“hahahaha, if 10,000 people attack us every day, we won’t even have time to eat. Then, when the hell can we fight for first place?”
“I can get to 1001st place quickly if I have the skills. It will take a long time though.”
“Sheesh.”
Until Noah and Tiu went to bed, they talked about their hometown and other small talk.
“Haam.”
“It is already time. I’ll go back to my room good night.”
“Noah, you too.”
When I came out, the moon was already up.
Unlike the mountain valley, the night in the city was bright with lights.
“It’s fortunate that there are good guys like Tiu. If only there were a lot of guys I saw at the test site… … Uh.”
I was living in a foreign country, but if there were only such people around me, it was clear that I would get neurosis in a few months.
In that sense, I was lucky to meet Thiu.
The owner of the inn said that the room was vacant anyway, so he decided to let Noah sleep for free, and said that he could stay here while he was in school if he wanted.
“As an inn, it may be simple to attract customers, but it is also true that you almost slept on the road. Considering the cost, I should go to the dormitory after all, right?”
Not only to taste the swordsmanship of strong guys, but also to enter the dormitory.
In the end, there was only one thing to do.
“good. The goal is to be number one in the rankings.”
* * *
“Hey, did you hear? The freshmen on the second floor passed the place where the princess was the test tube.”
“There are rumors that you didn’t just pass through, but rather defeated the princess?”
“Ah, that would be an exaggeration. No matter how much the high ranker who came out as an examiner puts a limit, if he beats it, will this inn be this quiet?”
“That too.”
As the opening ceremony approached along with the entrance ceremony, the students who had left Nightray during the vacation returned one by one.
The empty inn quickly became noisy.
From noble mtl dot com.
Due to the ranking system, most of Nightray’s students knew each other’s faces, and new faces were of interest to them.
“Everyone who sees it says that. Are you doing that on purpose while taking turns?”
“Ugh… … Aren’t you tired?”
Unlike the exhilarating Noah, Tiu was completely groaning.
“What, are you tired from morning practice?”
“It’s strange that I haven’t gotten tired after eating and sparring for almost a month since the entrance exam!”
Noah, who was sitting in the boarding house, repeated sparring with Tiu in the gaps between earning living expenses with part-time jobs.
Tiu’s swordsmanship also had interesting features that Veronica’s had.
Certainly, Tiu had a lot more gaps than Veronica.
However, it was difficult to knock it down easily even if it was aimed at an opening.
“But your swordsmanship is very interesting. It would be better if it came out more aggressively.”
“If you want to keep up with your stamina, you can’t turn it into an offensive attack.”
“It’s nice to be a hunter looking for an opportunity. You say you lose a lot because you keep coming out passively.”
Tiu hurriedly turned away, thinking that he would be called out to practice again.
“By the way, do you have anything to say to the princess? You showed a lot of interest in you.”
“at all. Since I was interested in it in the first place, I still haven’t bought the practice sword that I said I would buy for you.”
No contact after that.
It seems to have been taken away.
“You will find out naturally as you go. Let’s go when we’re done.”
“Yeah, wait.”
Today is the opening ceremony for the new semester of Nightray.
And it was the day of the entrance ceremony an hour before that.
After breakfast, the two headed straight to the entrance ceremony.
“On the day of the test, I didn’t even know it was this wide, so I came right in and was almost late.”
“Come to think of it, did you come out of the forest? I thought it was some kind of wild boar then.”
There were many things that caught my eye as I walked around the campus with a leisurely pace.
“What else is that? There are even cliffs and waterfalls inside the school.”
“They said they have implemented all the various environments that can be encountered in actual combat on campus. I heard they buried a super-large kiln in the basement and even made a desert?”
“Oh, what is that? It’s gonna be fun.”
After hearing the story, I understood that the site was wide.
“Aside from that, there are people who go missing every year, and if you get lost and wander around, you’ll find buildings that aren’t even on the map.”
“Hey, where is that? Isn’t that nonsense?”
After a rough story about ghost stories, the two arrived at their destination.
“Are you the freshmen of class 899? The ceremony will be held soon. Please go to your assigned seat.”
The dining room was already about 70% occupied.
“I am E-1, you are E-2. Did you put them in the order you took the test?”
“what? Noah. this… … .”
The seats for the freshmen were lined up from the front in the order of 1, 2, 3, and 4 after grouping them in the order of A, B, C, and D.
And in group E, to which the two belonged, there was no one except the two.
“Hey, hey, look over there. The exam passer has arrived.”
“Was it true that there were only two of them?”
The admitted students were divided into groups by test site and stood according to the results ranked by grade.
“If it’s E-1, does that mean I’m number one among the guys who took the test for the princess? look. Tiu You are also in second place. Can you be confident?”
“Noah, I don’t think that’s important right now.”
Tiu pointed behind him to Noah, who was puzzled.
“There are no seats from E-3?”
A group of 31 passers-by.
29 people who passed Group B.
41 people who passed Group C.
24 people who passed Group D.
And only 2 people who passed group E.
When everyone else was standing around, it was only natural that the two of them were standing here, so their eyes were focused.
“Yeah. You and I will have to stick together in the future. Please take good care of me again.”
“I was still worried that I would be ostracized because of my background, but they nailed it.”
“don’t mind. In the wild, there’s nothing to be afraid of if a few guys come around weaker than me.”
Noah comforted Thiu who was depressed.
From the time he entered the entrance ceremony, Noah’s eyes were on other students, not the same freshmen.
“what?”
“It seems that there are students who came to watch the entrance ceremony prior to the opening ceremony. Look around. The Aura is well taken care of, but there are guys with different momentum.”
From the moment I entered this place, the sense of the wild was ringing the alarm bell.
Even when he got lost in the mountains during a blizzard at the age of 7 and encountered a pack of wolves, it was not this order.
I feel like I want to jump out right now and compete with my skills.
But that feeling was cut off like a lie by a sudden sound.
right!
“Young people these days are full of blood.”
Appearing on the podium without any sign, she released her presence by stamping her scabbard on the floor.
Shorter than Noah when he was growing up.
But despite her small size, no one could look down on her.
Someone’s voice flowed into the hall amidst the pressure that was hard to even say.
“Regina Di Spada… … .”
Headmaster of Nightray.
The Emperor’s First Knight.
Queen of Swords.
The hero of the Witchbeast War 20 years ago.
Her hair, which had been turned white due to her fight with the Witchbeast, was the trace of her bravery that had come back alive after going through many battlefields.
‘Is that the person who stands at the pinnacle of knights?’
“Let’s keep the entrance ceremony short. A long one is enough for a graduation ceremony. I am only interested in those who will graduate and become knights, not the rest who will fall away.”
Even though it was a harsh word, no one here dared to speak against Regina’s words.
However, Regina sensed discontent spreading among the students.
“Am I different? then tell me where But it seems that no one has the guts to say it.”
It wasn’t just a matter of grit.
Immediately after her appearance, Regina spread her aura throughout the entrance ceremony and physically subdued the freshmen.
It wasn’t just out of respect for the hero that everyone shut up at the same time.
“Ugh… … !”
“Kuk!”
One by one, the freshmen could not stand the pressure and were kneeling or sitting down.
In this situation, no one could resist the aura and deny Regina’s words.
“Did you carry the name of your family on your back? Didn’t you think you were already a high-ranking knight while looking down on the average knights just because you entered Nightray? That’s after graduation. Until then, you guys are nothing.”
Noah’s hand reflexively traced his waist.
‘Chit.’
It was Noah who couldn’t find a new sword after blowing his sword in the entrance exam.
I borrowed Tiu’s spare sword for practice, but it was a pity that I didn’t have a sword to rely on at times like now.
match!
Noah, who had no sword, took off the pressure by slapping himself on the cheek instead.
As everyone collapsed in silence, the sound resonated clearly.
“Hoo? I’m ignorant of the method, but I’ve relieved the pressure. Still, there are some good guys out there. What is your name?”
“My name is Noah! He is the one who will knock you down one day!”
An even quieter silence came to the originally quiet entrance ceremony.
Squeezing out the words under pressure, it became a strange sound even for Noah to think.
‘Oops.’
I tried to relieve the pressure, but the words came out in vain.
It was fortunate that it wasn’t swearing, but that alone was enough to sound strange.
It’s not strange even if you get angry at what kind of foolishness you are.
“Pu-huh!”
However, Regina, who was always serious, burst into laughter at Noah’s words.
“Puhahahahaha! Right. Were you that guy? good night. I like it. If you ask for sparring, I’ll accept it anytime.”
“principal!”
At that, the faculty members were surprised and stopped her.
Regina was called the first knight of the emperor and was second only to the emperor.
Naturally, Regina’s coaching sparring was a valuable thing that could not be received even for a thousand gold.
Regina like that would accept sparring at any time!
“But my time is far more valuable than yours. He would accept sparring at any time, but if he disappoints me, he will be expelled immediately. So make your application carefully.”
“It’s moderately tense and just right.”
After hearing the answer, Regina announced that the entrance ceremony was over and left.
Noah stood there receiving the gazes of the people left behind and suddenly opened his mouth.
“Oh right. Now that the entrance ceremony is over, can we have a ranking match?”