A week had passed since I ate the Seed of the Demon King.

During that time, various changes occurred in my body, but the most noticeable one was related to hunger.

I hadn’t eaten for the past week.

It was because I didn’t particularly feel hungry.

The Seed of the Demon King I ate that day contained considerable energy, so I felt full even though I ate a small piece.

If I could last a week after eating a human, I could last even longer after eating the fragment.

This was quite a remarkable discovery.

If I had enough Seeds, there would be no need to eat humans.

However, the Seeds of the Demon King weren’t something easily obtainable.

That’s why I felt more compelled to go to the underground of the Empire.

Of course not right now.

As a week passed, the written exams at the academy finally ended.

In the academy, there was a line of students looking relieved, temporarily freed from the shackles of exams.

The grades were calculated immediately, and the students’ expressions varied slightly according to the results.

While some were sighing with relief at good results, others had desperate expressions.

Among them, I was closer to the latter.

I stopped on the spot, looking at the shockingly poor report card.

“……”

I received good scores for the three subjects recognized by the external practicum.

Despite some deduction factors, the practicum report itself was evaluated as excellent.

But the rest was the problem.

It was covered with shocking scores that barely avoided failing.

I’m sure I didn’t neglect the classes.

It seemed that my inability to read and write language was a major hindrance.

“Iria! Did you do well on the exam?”

“No.”

I answered immediately to Rena’s fresh-as-usual question.

I really didn’t do well.

Even though I got good scores for the external practicum, I couldn’t even reach the average grade.

Rena sighed as if she had expected this.

She, who was always by my side, knew how terrible my basic level was.

Just look at what I showed during the external practicum.

While I seemed somewhat capable of reading as much as reading had become a habit, I couldn’t write.

There was no way I could get a good score on a written exam that required the ability to write out spell formulas in sentences.

“Well, you are weak in language. I actually expected this to some extent.”

The reason I could overwhelmingly take the top spot in the entrance exam was because the entrance exam consisted only of practical tests.

So, I thought this time I would lose the top spot.

“Now I’ll come down from the top spot.”

Now my school life might become a bit easier.

Although my grades were ruined, I felt somewhat relieved.

I had finally become free.

But I couldn’t feel that sense of freedom for long.

There was a troublemaker who shattered that feeling in an instant.

“Huh? What are you talking about? We still have the practical exam left.”

“……Ah.”

My ordeal was just beginning.

***

The Empire’s academy is thoroughly meritocratic, so the weight of the practical exam is overwhelmingly higher than the written exam.

It’s also called the ranking match because it determines the rankings in a one-on-one duel format, and it was held today.

The rules are as follows:

Students have ten duels with randomly selected opponents, and regardless of win or loss, they receive one mana potion each time a duel ends.

No items or potions other than the provided potions can be used, and the received potions cannot be transferred to others.

It’s a simple rule, but that’s what makes it difficult.

It’s entirely up to the individual how to distribute and use the given potions, and how to conserve mana.

As multiple duels had to be fought in a day, it was important to maximize the use of the given mana.

Even the strongest students could lose to weaker ones in later duels if they wasted mana in the early stages.

Since mana is a substance that consumes more when caught up in unnecessary emotions, it tests judgment on how calmly and rationally one can respond in actual combat.

I checked the match table from the spectator seats.

My turn was a bit late.

So I decided to sit in a good spot and watch.

I had a lemonade in my hand, and for some reason, Albert was next to me.

I took a sip of the drink in my hand, then glanced to the side.

“We meet often these days.”

Surprisingly, this time, I spoke first.

Perhaps because of the conversation I had with Leonard before.

I was a bit concerned about Albert.

Didn’t Leonard say Albert sealed and imprisoned a Seed of the Demon King alone?

I’m not sure if it’s true, but I thought I should be careful.

Albert pushed up his glasses with his finger and answered without turning his head.

“I think it’s because we have similar tastes in choosing places.”

“You seem to dislike sunlight.”

“I don’t like noisy places either.”

Indeed, there were commonalities in the places where I encountered Albert.

The shaded bench in the park had a characteristically similar atmosphere to this place.

I preferred adequately quiet places without sunlight coming in.

Albert seemed similar.

“Meeting so often, it’s like you’re a stalker.”

“I’m always the one sitting in the seat first, though.”

“Then am I the stalker?”

“Judging by your reaction, it doesn’t seem so. Let’s call it a coincidence.”

The frequency was a bit too high to call it a coincidence, but Albert didn’t seem to care.

He was indifferent to the world and generally cold, somewhat similar to me.

I glanced at him briefly, then looked away again.

The interest that had briefly risen faded away.

Albert wasn’t an interesting human after all.

Just before another heavy silence could fall, I suddenly felt curious.

“Come to think of it, I had something I was curious about.”

Albert turned only his gaze to meet my eyes without turning his head.

It was a silent signal that he would answer within possible limits.

I asked.

“Didn’t you say before you had other concurrent work besides being an academy professor?”

“That’s right, for now.”

“What kind of work do you do, Professor Albert?”

“Are you curious about that?”

I nodded.

It was to confirm.

Whether he would be an obstacle when I eventually break into the Empire’s headquarters.

Or if he was just an ordinary professor.

It would be convenient if I could read memories at times like this, but I still couldn’t penetrate Albert’s mental defense.

“There are various jobs, but the main one is subjugating monsters. Is this answer sufficient?”

“……”

As expected, he was an enemy.

I decided not to get close to him.

“Are you leaving?”

“It’s almost my turn.”

I got up from my seat and left without looking back.

Objectively, Albert wasn’t a bad person, but I was a bad monster.

A person whose main job is monster subjugation and a monster can’t be together, can they?

In that respect, we were opposites, so I left first.

***

After the long wait, it was finally my turn.

Holding the wooden sword for dueling, I stepped onto the dueling ground with my characteristic blank expression.

It’s quite a bothered reaction.

I didn’t particularly like practical exams because I was unsure how to respond at the student level.

For me, who was used to battles of slaughter, subduing an opponent without killing was quite difficult.

I couldn’t deliberately lose either.

Anyway, my first opponent was a student from the Combat Magic department.

I don’t know the name, but I think I’ve seen the face once or twice during classes.

“If I beat you, I’ll be the top student-!”

As soon as the duel started, he immediately chanted a spell.

High-level spells would take a lot of time to chant, so these were all low-level magic.

Several bolts of lightning flew towards me.

The lightning was fast at the student level, but vision was relative, so it wasn’t for me.

I lightly moved my body to avoid it and leaped towards him.

He couldn’t follow my movement with his eyes until the end.

By the time he came to his senses, I was already right in front of his eyes.

“Wh-What?!”

He reflexively shrank back in surprise, but I ignored it and grabbed his clothes with my hand.

“Huh, huh?”

Most students in the Combat Magic department have insignificant physical abilities.

The student caught in my hand now was the same.

He struggled with all his might, but there was no way he could resist.

Being dragged across the arena floor like trash, he was suddenly thrown somewhere.

My expression remained constant from start to finish.

After throwing the student somewhere, I opened my mouth.

“You’re out of bounds.”

“Ah.”

Going out of the arena during a duel results in disqualification due to being out of bounds.

I thought this was a fairly humane victory.

I won easily.