Chapter 258

Chapter 258

“Hmm…”

Sion stared at the test paper, which was still filled with incomprehensible characters.

Ah, the number of characters did indeed seem to have changed slightly.

In the first place, she had crossed things out with strikethroughs and written anew above them.

However, that didn’t seem to be the important part.

Just then, Noeul-ie hopped onto Sion’s desk and stared intently at Nia’s questions.

Miyaa—

“Noeul-ie, you can’t read characters anyway, so get down—”

Nod, nod—

And then, Noeul-ie nodded as if she suddenly understood!

Naturally, there was no way a Sunset Shadow, a divine beast, could recognize human letters, yet Sion felt hurt for no reason.

‘Oh no, it must be a question that everyone knows except me!’

Why had she not been able to study foreign language (?) conversation in her dreams to fall behind like this!

“I’ve solved it all.”

“Oh, as expected, Roan solved it really quickly~”

With Roan submitting his test paper first in the midst of it, her sense of deprivation grew even deeper.

‘What if I’m really expelled from the club…’

Yusina patted Roan on the back and whispered softly.

“Roan, Sion seems to be struggling a bit, so go over to her and give her just a small hint.”

“Is that allowed?”

“Yes, I will permit it with the chairman’s authority.”

Yusina was indeed looking out for the voter who had elected her.

Roan nodded and slid over next to Sion.

‘My, the world has become a better place.’

The skill test of Sanctuary consisted of questions set by randomized examiners like today.

As could be seen from just those three, their individual characteristics were so prominent that failing was natural if one could not adapt.

Since Sion could obtain a hint thanks to having a good friend (?), what an easy life she lived!

“For Senior Nia’s section, writing down the name of the divine or spiritual beast that makes the cry in the question is the correct answer.”

“…Ah?”

Only then did Sion escape from her panic and begin to examine the questions again carefully.

‘U-Uh?’

When she had thought it was a question she simply couldn’t understand, nothing entered her eyes and she was only at a loss.

‘But hearing Roan’s words… for some reason, this seems like the cry of a Rainbow Crane…?’

Questions highly similar to the cries of spiritual beasts commonly seen around began to appear.

Reading them in her mind to the unique rhythm of the spiritual beasts, it sounded even more plausible.

When the agony arising within Sion’s heart subsided, leaving only concentric circles like a single water droplet falling on a quiet lake surface before even that disappeared.

‘To think Senior Nia thought of even this… is this what they mean when they say everything depends on one’s mindset?!’

Sion, surprisingly, attained ‘enlightenment.’

Flash—!

A bright radiance seemed to linger in Sion’s gaze, and her hair also glowed in a bright pink light, rising slightly before settling back down.

It was slight evidence of enlightenment, which signified the rapid manifestation of potential in talent values.

Roan was startled to see that sight.

‘Wh-What on earth did she realize from this kind of exam?’

…No matter how much he thought about it, he could not understand what there was to realize from a test paper filled with spiritual beast cries.

However, by nature, enlightenment also came from new discoveries in daily life.

Roan returned to where the seniors were, watching Sion whose pen movements had become far more confident than earlier.

Of course, the seniors also knew well that Sion’s appearance just now was evidence of enlightenment.

“R-Roan, just what did you say to her…?”

Yusina asked with a dumbfounded expression.

She had told him to give a small hint because it looked a bit difficult, and Roan, the freshman of a storm, came back after abruptly delivering enlightenment!

Naturally, Zorv and Nia were even more clamorous.

“To think you brought her to enlightenment with a single word, you are indeed fully qualified to be the successor of the Dragon Street! No, rather, of the Richmond family itself—”

“Zorv, no matter what, you shouldn’t sell out the family!”

“Ah, right.”

“Indeed, you must return to nature with meeee!!! Of course, along with Bell and Charlotte!”

“…Thank you for the offers, but I must politely decline.”

The seniors were even more curious about what on earth Roan had said than the fact that Sion had attained enlightenment.

Naturally, since Roan did not know either, he could not give them an answer.

“And the enlightenment was likely attained by Sion herself.”

“Wow~ Roan is so cool!”

“As expected, even modesty!!!”

“This is indeed the magnanimity of nature! I recognize you as Bell’s butler!”

Roan simply wore a displeased expression despite the seniors’ interest.

‘I only gave a hint…’

Could she have suddenly become able to understand spiritual beast speech well?

…Even to Roan, who had experienced almost everything in “God & Devil,” that did not seem to be the case.

At any rate, Sion was somewhat strange in this playthrough.

* * *

“I’ve solved it all!”

Having attained unexpected enlightenment, Sion was quickly able to solve the questions in Nia’s section and submit her test paper.

“Yes, yes, good job~”

After the masked Yusina received the test paper, the grading began.

Under normal circumstances, Sion would have felt immense burden and tension at her test paper being graded…

‘But she is unexpectedly serene.’

Perhaps thanks to the enlightenment, Sion’s expression standing next to Roan was calm in the extreme.

“Are you not nervous?”

When Roan asked quietly, Sion nodded.

“I have come to realize that everything depends on one’s mindset. No matter the result of the exam, since I did my best, it does not matter.”

“…Right.”

Roan was surprised by Sion’s rapid growth in that short span of time.

Yet, no matter how he thought about it, it was not an enlightenment one should obtain from a club skill test.

Sion looked at Roan and smiled faintly.

A benevolent smile as if she would break free from the shackles of the secular world and ascend at any moment!

‘…Well, look at her behaving like the Holy Emperor.’

That smile made him feel as if he was looking at Sion’s illustration right before her coronation as Holy Emperor, so Roan was extremely dazed.

Regardless, Sion expressed her gratitude to Roan.

“Thank you, Roan.”

“I only gave a small hint.”

“A hint. Heh, yes. It was a very small hint.”

But for me, it was a colossal step.

Keeping a satisfied smile, Sion omitted the words that followed.

Roan found the suddenly grown Sion highly awkward.

Then, he soon decided to think positively.

‘Indeed, since I even brought her enlightenment, she won’t hunt me down and kill me as a black mage later.’

He would only be at ease if this grateful heart and mature appearance lasted long!

Meanwhile, the seniors graded the test papers of the two new students according to their respective sections.

First was Sion’s.

“Mmh~ As expected of Sion, she solved it well~”

“Although there are some slightly lacking perspectives, this is excellent for a freshman.”

“Contrary to appearances, she even knows the Cloud Whale’s cry. I wasn’t expecting this.”

‘When you didn’t have expectations for humans in the first place…’

All three seniors appeared satisfied with Sion, who had written her answers decently.

At that level, passing the written exam did not seem to be a problem.

Having finished grading, Yusina, the chairman, informed Sion of the results.

“Here, Sion! Good job!”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Are you not curious about the result?”

“If I have made sufficient effort, what follows is solely Lady Hiloa’s will.”

“Y-Yes…”

Yusina also seemed highly awkward with Sion who had suddenly reached a state of liberation.

‘L-Like she became some sort of Saintess… well, she is a Saintess candidate.’

She had liked the cute Sion whose reactions had been massive with just a little teasing.

Yusina returned Sion’s test paper and spoke.

“The result is a pass! 87 points out of 100 in total!”

“Thank you, Saintess.”

“…You are Sion, right?”

“Of course.”

Yusina turned to look at Roan for some reason at the sight of Sion replying with a benevolent smile.

‘I don’t know what you said, but can’t you tell me too?’

Roan also substituted his answer with a shrug of his shoulders.

In any case, as a result of Roan stealing a glance at Sion’s test paper, her Yusina section was a perfect score, her Zorv section had partial deductions on one descriptive question, and most of her lost points indeed came from Nia’s section.

Even so, since the questions were basically at a level of second-year or higher, and the later parts of Nia’s section were deliberately filled with all sorts of rare divine and spiritual beast cries, 87 points was a colossal high score.

“Congratulations, Sion.”

“Thank you.”

When Roan offered his congratulations, Sion nodded with a relaxed smile.

Roan spoke with a frown.

“It is awkward, so just act normal.”

“Even this changed state is part of who I am, though?”

Glare—

“Heeek! I-I’ll act normal!”

Enlightenment or whatever, when Roan glared at her terrifyingly, Sion quickly returned to normal.

Roan and Yusina simultaneously wore comfortable expressions.

‘This is the proper Sion!’

…Before they knew it, the two had caught Nia’s way of speaking.

In any case, next was Roan’s test paper.

The seniors began grading with eyes filled with great anticipation.

Just what would the test paper of a student who could deliver enlightenment with a single word look like?

‘This is naturally correct, this is also correct…’

Yusina, who had been drawing circles, paused in front of question 3.

It was a question about an adventurer trapped in the Evil Serpent-scale Prison, and normally, naming a holy spell that can dismantle the barrier or stating a universal weakness of black magic barriers would be marked correct.

However, Roan’s answer was a masterpiece.

─ The Evil Serpent-scale Prison belongs to barrier magic in its broad classification, but tracing its origin, it stemmed from Borrowed-Power magic that borrows the power of the serpent demon ‘Sreitu.’ Therefore, unlike other barrier dismantlings, the method of exorcism is effective and the safest. This is because if it is dismantled through ordinary methods, one may fall prey to a combination of other offensive means due to the nature of that barrier. Assuming one is trapped in the barrier without any prior preparation, the method to exorcise Sreitu is… ─

‘W-Was that how it was? They didn’t even teach this in class?!’

Yusina was shocked as she read Roan’s answer.

Roan’s answer, marching dozens of steps ahead of the examiner’s intention!

Furthermore, the fact that details known only to a heretic inquisitor specializing in dealing with black magic or a real black mage were written so minutely was somewhat suspicious (?) for some reason.

“What is it, Yusina?”

“Uh… read this for a second.”

As Yusina stopped her hand and was reading the test paper thoroughly, Zorv showed interest.

Soon, Zorv also read Roan’s answer as if possessed and nodded.

“Roan.”

“Yes, Senior Zorv.”

“Could you come over here for a moment.”

Roan looked strangely at Zorv, who called him in the middle of grading.

Was there some problem with the answer?

‘I only wrote what I knew as common sense…’

…Roan was completely unaware that there was a major error in his standard of common sense.

Swish—

In any case, when Roan approached, Zorv rummaged through his wallet and handed him a 10-gold check.

“???”

Roan did not know why Zorv was suddenly giving him money.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“It is a copyright fee.”

Even after hearing the reason, he remained just as clueless.

Zorv pointed to Roan’s answer and spoke.

“I intend to disseminate this content as an official document to the branches tomorrow. For them to use it if they get trapped in a serpent-scale prison.”

“…Is this level not common sense?”

Roan asked dubiously.

He was suspicious that Zorv might be trying to build up favorability just to dump the Dragon Street on him.

To think he would send a briefly written skill test answer as Richmond’s official document.

“Hahahaha!”

At that, Zorv laughed heartily as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“If this level were common sense, all the security advisors in this world would be out of a job!”

Roan’s eyes narrowed slightly.