10 – Exam #010 (5)
“First of all, let’s introduce ourselves lightly before the interview. I am the pride of the vice-president of this academy.”
After Pride, the man sitting in the middle, finished introducing himself, Vivian and the small woman sitting on either side tried to introduce themselves too….
“I… !”
“Bo….”
The two of them tried to name each other almost at the same time, as if they had come together in a dictionary.
There was a close battle between the two without concession, but when Pride cleared his throat a little, the blonde side gestured as if to go first.
“I saw Vivian briefly in the second exam yesterday, right? I shouldn’t say things like this, but I’m counting on you!”
Vivien smiled as she said that. He seemed to like me for some reason, even though he was like that when I came to the room a little while ago.
After Vivian’s introduction, the small woman sitting next to her caught her breath and opened her mouth.
“My original daughter is Marianne Edelstein. She doesn’t have to remember. She has come this far, but she doesn’t know yet whether you will be able to pass.”
If Vivian was strangely friendly to me, she was strangely hostile to me.
Are you a noble from the East? No, it seemed that the object of hatred was Vivian, not me, that the interest was focused on Vivian rather than me.
‘I think I know roughly what the relationship is. In short, did it spark?’
If you see that she’s not interested in me, it’s more likely that I just didn’t like her than because I really didn’t like her.
And the fact that the vice-president, who had not participated in the other interviews, came forward himself, probably because opinions were divided at the meeting, so I set up a separate meeting like this.
In that case, can we say that Vivian is in favor, Pride is neutral, and Marianne is against.
Perhaps even Pride, who is presumed to be the mediator, can’t be against it, so it would be the government’s duty to somehow turn Pride’s mind to the favor side.
“Then now that I have finished introducing myself, let’s begin. Neither John nor the test taker will be particularly burdened, so feel free to answer.”
“…… Yes.”
I’m the only one who calls for an interview, but if it’s like you, can I be comfortable….
Holding back what I wanted to say, I raised my head and waited for the first question to come out of Pride’s mouth.
“Then, is your name John right?”
“… Yes? Oh, that’s right.”
I asked such an obvious question and answered without thinking. And immediately regretted it.
It was a very subtle movement, but Marianne’s eyebrows quivered slightly at the moment she answered. Vivian too, the corner of her mouth twitched for a moment. There must have been something.
‘… I made a mistake.’
She should have expected this might be the case since she had a woman who looked like a wizard and not a prosecutor.
No, even if Marianne didn’t show up, she should have noticed when she was full of mana while waiting.
The atmosphere was thick like fog, and it didn’t come out naturally, or it wasn’t intentionally developed to shrink me.
This was a smoke screen to hide any magic installed in this room.
I’m not sure, but considering that this is an interview, it’s probably a magic to discern the truth.
“Then the next question. Can you briefly tell us what your life was like before entering the academy?”
“… I trained under my father.”
“Um… And who is the father?”
“He passed away recently. So I thought about what to do and came to this academy.”
“Oops….”
Without time to correct the lie, the questions continued, and each time I tried my best to tell the truth.
“Then, what was your motivation for wanting to join the academy?”
But even if I tried to tell the truth, I was speechless at the question I would have answered lightly if I had been another test student.
What motivated you to aspire? It is to prevent the resurrection of the ancient Demon God sleeping in this academy.
But how the hell do you say that?
“Why? Was it a difficult question to answer?”
“Oh, no, that… My father often talked about the academy.”
I thought about what to do, and what I chose was the truth, but not the answer to the question.
My father often talked about the academy. This was not strictly the motivation for aspiring to the academy.
But it was the truth.
I just said that my father often talked about the academy.
Even if I think about it, it was a forced statement, but the three people’s expressions didn’t move at all.
“I see. A diploma from the academy is useful everywhere, so my father may have mentioned it often. I’m sorry for bringing back painful memories.”
Even Pride thought that I was hesitant because I missed my father.
After that, I asked a few trivial questions, but somehow I got over it and Pride asked me when the last question was approaching.
“Have you ever lied during this interview?”
“… ….”
Why did you ask such a question, because you wanted to give me one last chance? Or what trap?
Why do you bother asking such a question when you can tell the truth from lies in the first place?
“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. If you don’t have anything to say, let’s end the interview here.”
“…… There is.”
When I had no time to even think about it, I responded with a reflexive yes, just like I did the first time.
The eyes of the three are focused on me. Receiving stares of hostility or curiosity, I spoke calmly, maintaining as calm a posture as possible.
“I cheated on the name. John Doe is not my name.”
“Why did you lie about your name? Could it be that he has some ulterior motive?”
It wasn’t Pride who had asked the question until now, but Marianne, who had been silent all along.
Her remarks didn’t seem to be banned, but Pride didn’t stop and watched her.
“That is not my intention. I just wanted to protect myself.”
“… Protection?”
“Yes, my real name is not a formal name here. Either way, it’s closer to Mongo.”
Of course, it was not from Mongo, but from a more eastern style, but strictly speaking, it was not a lie.
“I have been discriminated against because of my appearance. It was a daily occurrence to be ignored by ordinary merchants and receive a raise. But what if I use a name closer to Mongo?”
“Does that mean that I used a pseudonym to avoid being hostile to current students?”
“It is not just current students. I don’t mean to insult the professors, but if I had a brother, he might discriminate against me for no reason and treat me unreasonably.”
Even if that’s evidence, I mentioned that the interview was conducted separately.
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“If you dare to guess, isn’t it because there was an argument over whether I was admitted or not, so you treated me differently?”
“I’m afraid there will be a misunderstanding, but it’s true that there was an argument, but John didn’t discriminate against the test takers. He just had to be careful.”
“…… In any case, there was a reason for my pseudonym. I apologize for the somewhat rude language a little while ago when my emotions were running high.”
“Pu-sup… !”
For a moment, I heard a laugh that I assumed was Vivian’s. Perhaps he saw through to the lie that he was sorry.
“…… Then, since the misunderstanding seems to have been resolved, let’s end the interview now. John Do, please wait outside for a while. It won’t be long before we decide whether or not you passed.”
“…… Yes.”
I did everything I could. All that was left was to leave it up to heaven. I hoped that heaven would be on my side, and when I got up, Vivian called me to my feet.
“Wait, can I ask you one last question?”
She asked Pride for permission, and Pride nodded her head in agreement.
“Why did you use a weapon you are not familiar with during the test?”
“…… Yes?”
Why are you suddenly asking this question? I thought she was kind to me, but didn’t she?
“… I don’t know the intent of your question.”
“No, there was nothing more to see at that time, so she said that both of you should not be embarrassed and go down. There’s no way you’ve learned the swordsmanship, right? Even if you learned it, if you have a good mind, there is no way you can use it in Dalian.”
“Choosing? What are you talking about?”
“There is such a thing, so don’t worry about it. So why did you hide your favorite weapon? Was there any reason to hide something?”
The flames of doubt between the two, which had been softened a little by the question, which was asked as if it were nothing, started to flare up again.
“…… It’s just that I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You mean you weren’t careful?”
I immediately opened my mouth to quell the flames of doubt as quickly as possible.
And he calmly answered the question without telling a single lie.
“I feel sorry for that senpai, but he was able to take it down with his bare hands without even using a sword.”
“Yes, I know, you can see that he is good at martial arts by looking at his body and posture.”
“So I didn’t want to show my all in a space where my potential enemies might be. The more secrets, the better.”
“…… I see Don’t you plan to just tell my sister what kind of weapon you use?”
“Are you old enough to be called nuna?”
“What? Do you want to die?”
“Whoops… Certainly not wrong.”
Feeling that the atmosphere had softened a little, I stood up. And just before she opened her door and left, she said to her:
“I will teach you when I get to know you better. Enough….”
And as soon as I got out of the room, I thought everything was over and I sat down as my legs gave out.
‘… I’m more nervous than when I was thrown into the dungeon with my f*cking bare hands.’
I will never do interviews again.