The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 20
EP.20 Reunion? (1)
There was always a reason why mock exams were difficult.
Even though they were just mock exams, the style of the questions and the difficulty level were quite different from the actual entrance exams. The balance of difficulty was often off, with some questions being too easy and others too hard. Overall, the difficulty level was generally high.
This wasn’t limited to the academy entrance exams. In the world I came from, most mock exams were somewhat or excessively harder than the actual tests.
The reason was simple. The companies creating these tests want to boast about how students who use their mock exams end up passing the real thing.
Even though students knew mock exams were not the real deal and had almost no official credibility, they still rode an emotional rollercoaster while taking them. Humans were naturally wired to seek rewards. Once we feel we’ve achieved a certain goal, we tend to relax.
That was why they deliberately made the mock exams tough. If the real test turned out to be difficult, students wouldn’t be caught off guard, and it ensured they remained tense and focused on their studies.
Alice and I had taken such exams multiple times before.
Alice, with her brilliant mind, always studied hard and scored high—
—I, on the other hand, used my unique abilities, repeatedly reviewing the material until I memorized and understood everything.
Honestly, it was incredibly tedious. Even though my body followed my mind, and when I reset the time, my physical state reset, my memory didn’t. I accumulated experience rather than perceiving it as time being reset.
In other words, no matter how many times I reset, it always felt like I was reliving the same moment over and over again.
…Did that make sense?
Well, anyway.
Because of this, I made sure to carve out moments to rest or nap during all those chances I had. Sometimes, I’d skip class and wander outside the capital. Other times, I’d lock my door and sleep the whole day away.
I didn’t care what people thought. After all, that time was essentially being wasted anyway. By minimizing mental exhaustion and resetting, I could go back to how things originally were.
Although human memory had its limits, seeing and reviewing the same things repeatedly inevitably led to memorization. Whether it was because my brain had a larger capacity than normal or I had some untapped talent all along, I wasn’t sure.
Thinking back to how I used to save and load different game files to replay over and over… wondering what potential the old me might’ve had didn’t really matter anymore. After all, I was now Sylvia Fangriffon, a character who never even existed in the original story.
“How did the test go?”
Even as a princess, I was required to take the entrance exam at the designated location.
The Empire was large. Even with the most advanced trains, it took hours, if not half a day or more, to travel to Runedarium from the provinces. And if you push yourself too hard the day before, it inevitably affects your performance during the exam.
It was understandable that commoners from the provinces had to deal with these inconveniences, but when it happened repeatedly, even the nobles began to express their complaints. After all, no matter the time or place, the education of one’s children has always been a serious matter—except for those struggling just to make a living day by day.
That’s why designated exam centers are set up in the provinces as well. There are, of course, those who still can’t make it to the test centers, but people in that situation probably wouldn’t even know if they had the talent for it. They’d likely live in places without access to any educational opportunities in the first place.
Anyway, that was how Alice and I ended up taking the exam at the Imperial Runedarium Academy, right in the capital.
Honestly, for someone living in the capital, taking the academy exam was considered lucky. It meant you get the chance to visit the academy in person. Whether you passed or failed, entering that well-built institution was a worthwhile experience. Since the school wasn’t open to the public outside of the festival period, most people never get to see it in its studious, academic atmosphere.
“The exam was easier than the mock tests.”
“As expected, right?”
Alice responded.
Of course, even though we took the exam at the Academy, we didn’t receive exactly the same treatment as other students. There were issues with security, and besides, having us in the same classroom would be incredibly distracting to the other students. That distraction could end up affecting their scores.
Many nobles were extremely sensitive when it came to their children’s grades. It would’ve been one thing if they directed their frustrations at their own kids, but there were always those who blame the exam location instead.
The Emperor, of course, ignores such complaints. Those trivial matters rarely make it to his ears.
But the Academy’s staff can’t dismiss them so easily, and neither can the high-ranking officials who manage the Empire’s education system. When families from a count or duke’s house start to raise complaints, those officials find themselves pulling their hair out in frustration.
To avoid such issues, we were given the privilege of taking the exam in a separate classroom.
As we stepped out of the classroom, I glanced at Alice. Her expression wasn’t bad—looks like the exam was easy for her.
It was the same for me. After all, I had studied the material to the point of exhaustion. My score would likely surpass my mock test results, not fall short. Of course, I did intentionally make a few mistakes here and there.
“Let’s go and do a quick check on the answers, no need to go through everything. You should remember some of the trickier questions, right? Just going over those will give us a rough estimate of our scores.”
I nodded in agreement.
Alice was already certain she’d be admitted into the Academy.
And why wouldn’t she be? In the original storyline, Alice was a student at the Academy.
While the building was currently filled with student candidates, we took the exam individually with guards present. However, by the beginning of the semester, any undesirable elements among the admitted students would have been removed. Inside the academy, we would be equals, speaking informally to each other.
Of course, as time passed, the unspoken hierarchies would inevitably form, as they always did. But Alice was so well-known that she wouldn’t need any introduction. Everyone already knew her face.
As we walked, we heard a commotion up ahead.
Students were pouring out of the classrooms. It wasn’t just us who had finished the exam.
We paused for a moment. There were certainly ways we could clear a path through the crowd of students, but there was no need to rush. One of the knights guarding us stepped forward and took a position in front of us, signaling for the students to keep their distance.
Some students glanced our way, but most were too intimidated to approach, deterred by the imposing presence of the knights. Besides, Alice was never one to form close relationships with anyone from a young age, so even children from prominent noble families found it awkward to strike up a conversation with her. They didn’t know how to approach someone like Alice, who wasn’t just a princess but also aspired to become the emperor. While others attended balls, she’d choose to spend her time reading or practicing swordsmanship. It was no surprise that she had no acquaintances among the nobles.
“How many of these kids do you think will make it into the Academy?”
“Probably very few.”
I replied.
In the original story, the Academy admitted only 30 nobles and 60 commoners per year. But the actual named characters were far fewer than that. Compared to the sea of students passing by, those numbers felt like a mere handful.
We stood there, waiting as the students filed past, watching them from a distance.
“……”
And then suddenly, I almost gasped.
A girl with striking blue hair walked by in the distance.
It wasn’t the same look I remembered. Not from the game, and certainly not from the last time I’d seen her in that filthy, disheveled state. She had grown significantly, her long blue hair neatly tied back in a classic ponytail. There was none of the bold makeup she sported in the game, and her uniform wasn’t modified in any way to show off her body.
She simply looked like the perfect, upstanding student. Honestly, she could easily pass for a class president. She wasn’t wearing glasses, but it was unmistakable.
It was Claire.
Claire was walking alongside a handsome boy, talking and laughing with him. That must be the son of the Grace family—the protagonist of the game.
“……”
“What’s wrong? Do you know someone?”
“Yes. I see some children from noble families.”
I answered, choosing my words carefully. It seemed better to give a vague excuse than to deny it outright. Alice simply hummed in response.
“Is there anyone we need to be cautious of?”
“There is, but this isn’t the place to discuss it.”
Not Claire, though. It was better that Claire remained unaware of me for now.
But even so, there were certainly people to be cautious about.
The daughter of Count Crowfield, whom I had killed, was also supposed to be attending this school. She was one of the heroines in the original story.
“…Alright, then let me know when we get back. It wouldn’t hurt for me to be cautious as well.”
“Understood.”
I replied, noting the immediate shift to seriousness in Alice’s expression.
In the original story, Alice and Claire had a very strained relationship, and Alice wouldn’t have received such information. However, since I wasn’t Claire, and Claire’s image had changed significantly from the original, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to share this much information.
*
“…Huh?”
Claire suddenly stopped walking and looked back. Leo, who was walking with Claire, asked.
“Why? Did you see something?”
“Well, it’s just…”
Claire stared blankly behind her for a moment. Leo thought she might have seen someone standing at the corner up ahead. One person had striking golden hair, and the other had short black hair. Leo could guess who the golden-haired person was. It was said that the princess would be attending the Academy this year, so the presence of the two knights in front of them made sense. As for the other person, Leo wasn’t sure.
“Do you know them? Should we go and meet them?”
Leo tried to backtrack with a suggestion, but stopped awkwardly as he received disapproving glances from the other students.
“No, never mind. It’s not worth it.”
Claire said, shaking off her thoughts. She finally gathered herself and spoke again.
“Maybe… maybe I just saw wrong. It could have just been someone who looked similar.”
“…Really?”
Though Claire’s behavior seemed odd, Leo decided to let it go.
He knew Claire had been searching for her sister. She had mentioned it several times since childhood. However, even if that sister existed, she wouldn’t be here. To take the exam here, one’s identity had to be verified first.
Unfortunately, according to Claire’s story—though Claire never believed it—her sister, who had been a lost child, had an extremely low chance of surviving and growing up to take the entrance exam at the Empire’s top academy. Moreover, taking the exam next to the princess was even less likely. She didn’t seem like a maid either. If she were a real maid, she would have taken the exam mixed in with the other students, like Leo and Claire.
Moreover, Claire seemed to have mostly given up on finding her sister. Although the chance wasn’t zero, it was extremely low.
“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s probably just… a feeling. Just like last time.”
Claire had been someone who, as a child, would approach anyone with black, long hair to check their face. Having verified several times that they weren’t her sister, she must have learned to lower her expectations.
After all, there were plenty of students with long black hair passing by.
“…Let’s go.”
Leo followed Claire, who started walking again, with a slightly bitter expression.