NOVEL NEXT 2-4 Placement Tests
Stahlia, Ten Years Old, Second Month of 947
Early the next morning, I was awoken by a scream, “AHHH! It’s soooo CUTE!”
Rolling groggily out of bed, I stumbled into the common area of my side house. Elienor, Dominic’s little sister, was grasping Pet’s cheeks firmly between both hands and pinching them together. I see Dominic must have told his family last night when they had dinner, and Elienor came to see her. Come to think of it, I didn’t see much of her this past week, Margeritte must have been keeping her away while Dominic tutored me.
“Elienor, what are you doing…?” She turned to me and grinned happily, still pinching Pet’s cheeks together. For her part, Pet looked terrified.
“Stali, where’d you find such a cute kitten?!” I groaned and started rubbing my forehead, trying to both get rid of the lingering sleep and forestall the oncoming migraine.
“Lord Dominic found her actually, and purchased her for me. Lady Elienor, do you not think what you are currently doing is a little bit… unbecoming?”
“Stali, I was lucky enough to be born a High Noble, I plan on enjoyin’ life without any of that fancy-schmancy etiquette garbage!” Elienor spoke in a completely serious tone. Apparently, she was conscious of her position; she just didn’t care. Turning my attention to Pet, I decided to try and rescue her.
“Lady Elienor, it would seem you are scaring Pet, I understand she is cute but please try and contain yourself. I would like very much if I could avoid traumatizing her.” Elienor gave Pet’s cheeks one final squeeze and released them. Pet ducked away and came to hide behind me, both of her ears pressed flat against her head. If she’s hiding behind me now, does that mean she’s no longer scared of me? I recalled how she had flinched at my hand just the other day. No, she most likely is simply more afraid of Elienor than she is of me.
“Stali, you’re a bit weird yourself, Pet’s a slave ya know?” I nodded.
“I am aware. However, Lord Dominic has entrusted me to care for her the same way I care for Stil and I intend to do so. To that end, I do not mind if you interact with her, but I must ask you to treat her the same way you would Stil; I highly doubt you would pull at Stil’s feathers would you?” It’s kind of hard to talk about a person like an animal but, hopefully, this will help control Elienor.
That settled, I called for Lucy and bid her help me get ready. It was going to be a long day. I dressed in the uniform for the Royal Academy; A fancy blood-red dress with white embroidery depicting my noble crest as well as a white, long-sleeved, shrug. Girls wore this dress while boys wore a similarly styled suit reminiscent of a military dress uniform. Other than the family crest, the clothes were identical for every student. Supposedly, the Academy was a Meritocracy devoid of status, but considering the prominent placement of family crests, I had to wonder how much truth there was to that sentiment. Certainly, the Noble-born students may behave in such a manner towards each other, but the Academy also accepted commoners with exceptional classes on scholarship. Like Giogi; I highly doubted that status played absolutely no role whatsoever.
The first day of the Academy would consist of a series of placement tests taken by all incoming students. Second Year and higher students did not actually have to attend but there was an unwritten rule that they should at least make an appearance. Based on the results of the placement tests, new students would be sorted into classes based on their ability levels. It wasn’t to the effect of skipping grades; rather, new students would be split into three groups. Group A was the “cream of the crop”, students who excelled on their placement tests. Group B students were those with average results, and Group C were the underachievers. My own tests would be a little more unique.
Normally, Special Students would be offered the position at the start of their third year, the eligibility having been determined by their results the previous two years. In my case, my placement tests were being used to gauge my eligibility to enroll as a Special Student from day one effectively skipping two grades. It could be said that the Special Students were in their own group, “Group S”, although such a designation did not officially exist. Once the testing was finished, the second day of school would be a social event with all students present. More or less, it was a welcome party. The third day would see an opening ceremony where the students would finally learn what group they were in and go to their classes for the first time. Actual learning didn’t start until the fourth day.
The trip to the Academy grounds was largely uneventful; the grounds occupied fully one-fourth of the Noble Quarter of the city, with four main entrances. One entrance was built into the wall leading to the Upper City, this one was used by commoner scholarship students who were housed in large apartment complexes serving as dormitories there. Two of the entrances were on either side of the Academy grounds and were used by nobles who lived in the capital’s Noble Quarter.
The last Entrance led into the highest level of the city, the royal place. It was reserved for the exclusive use of the Royal Family, thankfully for my nerves, none of the current royal children were of age to attend. There was also a dormitory building used by nobles whose families did not have a residence in the capital, mostly Barons and the poorest Counts. I would have been living there if not for my engagement qualifying me to use a side building on the Francois Estate.
In any case, my commute was incredibly simple. The Francois family was one of the higher count families in the Kingdom. There were no other Counts with higher social standing than them, and the only ones above were the current four Ducal houses and the Royal Family. As I was commuting with Dominic, I was able to borrow that status to expedite my entrance to the Academy Grounds. I was also technically able to borrow that same status in my dealings with other nobles, but I had no intention of doing so if I could help it. Such a course of action would no doubt cause problems after I broke the engagement off.
As it occupied a full fourth of the entire noble quarter, the academy grounds were massive. They were smaller than the university I had attended back on Earth, but it was close. Once our identities were confirmed, a guide was assigned to me, and they started leading me to the central building. As we went, she explained to me the purpose of each section.
The central building was three stories and held all the classes for first- and second-year students, as well as faculty offices. So it’s the liberal arts building more or less. Behind the central building and out of my sight was the Martial Building. This consisted of large gymnasiums and an outdoor track that ran around the building’s perimeter. The Martial Building was the one in which students taking combat-type courses such as swordplay or riding would have classes.
On the side closest to the palace was the Mage Hall, this was a four-story building built in the shape of a six-pointed star. Each “point” was dedicated to one element of magic: the Red Point for Fire, Blue Point for Water, Green Point for Earth, Yellow Point for Wind, White Point for Light, and Black Point for Dark respectively. Each floor was devoted to a year. The ground floor covered introductory magic or “third year” as it was referred to by the grade level system. The second floor was for the fourth year, the third floor was for the fifth year, and the fourth level was the “master course”. As even boys only spent five years at the academy, getting into the fifth-floor classrooms required skipping grades as a matter of course.
The building closest to the upper city gate was the dormitory, something which held little interest for me as I was living off-campus. The building closest to my own point of entry was the general studies hall and held classes for third and year and above students in fields like mathematics, history, geography, alchemy, and basically any other subject that was not taught in the Martial Building or Mage Hall. Assuming I was able to pass all my tests today, I would likely spend much of my time in the Mage Hall and General Studies Building.
With my partial guided tour now concluded, I was led into the central building and further to a large room with about fifty people, presumably students, therein. I checked with one of the adults and then went to my indicated seat. The seating was split down the middle with boys on the right-hand side and girls on the left, facing the front of the room. In terms of décor, it was spartan, lacking any form of decoration whatsoever. The only object breaking up the uniformity of the walls was a large black slate that, although almost three times the size, resembled the mana-infused iron that had been used in Ris as a blackboard.
I had arrived with a few minutes to spare, which I spent appraising the students around me. True to the creed of the school, we were not seated according to social status. In fact, I could not tell if there was a method to how we had been seated at all; I was near the middle of the room despite being a baron’s daughter. To my right was a duke’s daughter and on my left was a commoner. I could only tell their social positions because of their crests; the commoner didn’t have one and the ducal daughter’s was embroidered with gold thread. My own crest was embroidered with copper. Dominic’s was with silver. Giogi was seated on the far side of the boy’s section, a little back behind where I was, like the girl on my left his uniform had no crest. As Sana was not attending the Royal Academy proper, but rather a specialized course within the central temple, she was not present.
After the bell tolled the hour, one of the adults stood up at the front of the room. “Welcome new students from all walks of life. It is my pleasure to commence this year’s placement exams. As you are no doubt aware, the purpose of these exams is to ascertain the group you are best suited to. Please ensure to do your best, and myself and the other proctors will be watching so do keep your sheets to yourselves. This comes up every year, so I will say it now; you are not expected to be able to answer every question. The exams cover material all the way up to the third year. If you cannot answer a question, simply mark it with a cross and move on. These exams are not factored into your yearend ranking so there is no cause for concern. With that being said, we will now be passing out the exams.” With his long-winded explanation out of the way, he motioned and the other proctors went down the rows handing out the tests.
I accepted my paper and left it facedown waiting for the signal to start. Written on the back of the paper was the subject, this first exam covered geography and history. Based on what I learned at the temple, most students would only be able to answer questions about their local regions, but from what Dominic taught me I can expect this to cover the entire Central Continent. The head proctor gave us the signal to start and I flipped the test over and skimmed the whole document. It was twelve pages long, and most of the questions were of the short answer variety. Based on my previous tutoring, it seemed that the twelve pages were split roughly into three sections, each summarizing the basic knowledge that would be covered in a given year of school.
They’ve condensed an entire year into three pages? Am I really able to test out of two whole years of class from a single twelve-page test? I shrugged to myself and started going through the first section. The first section covered the basic geography of the Drakas Kingdom and was fairly straightforward.
Reading each question, I filled in my answers carefully; pencils didn’t exist so I was doing this in ink with a quill. The first section spent a page on the five major territories of the kingdom. Namely, the four cardinal directions as well as the central district around the capital, with a final question for each page asking me to summarize the given region in a single paragraph. So specific memorized information, followed by a more freeform question to see if you actually understand, or if you were just regurgitating memorized facts. This was similar to a style of testing I was familiar with from Earth. Smiling to myself I read the first question and started writing, taking great care with how I worded the last question of each page.
The Northern Region is largely marshland, bordering the Western Great River to its north and the Central Region to the south. The primary export comes in the form of freshwater fish and foodstuffs that thrive in a wet climate such as rice. Limited river crossings provide some trade with the Northern Alliance, but the political instability of that region necessitates a degree of caution. The Northern region is governed by the Claurence Duke family, who maintain political neutrality.
The Eastern Region is a mountainous forested land, bordering the Ris Mountain range to the east, and the central region to the west. The primary industries revolve around logging and mineral extraction. The lone safe passage through the Ris Mountains allows for some trade with the Trade Confederacy, but due to recent embargoes leveled by the confederacy, this trade is currently in decline. The Eastern Region is governed by the Lawrence Duke Family, who took over from the Despita Duke Family, under the Third Prince’s faction.
The Southern Region is a sparse forest interwoven with rolling hills and large meadows. It lies along the shore of the South Ocean, with most of the population focused in port cities. The primary industry revolves around Ocean fishing and trans-oceanic trade with the Southern Continent, through the spice river trade route. The Southern region is governed by the Lester Duke Family, under the Second Prince's Faction.
The Western Region is a rocky land with no major industry to speak of. Its geography is harsh and unwelcoming, leading the populace towards difficult lives. Due to the terrain and hardy people, the Western Region forms the backbone of Drakas’ military. Though they have a border along the Western Ocean, that Ocean’s large population of sea monsters prevents stable trade routes from forming, leading to little source of economic benefit for the people there. The Western region is governed by the Febligi Duke Family, under the First Prince’s Faction.
The Central Region is a large plain situated in the middle of Drakas. The large amount of Arable land has led to the region becoming the breadbasket of the Drakas Kingdom, with many varieties of grain and produce being grown here before being exported to the other regions. The Central Region is governed directly by the King and can therefore be placed in the King’s Faction.
I looked around the room. Coming up with and writing down my answers had taken me about forty minutes, there was still an hour and a half left in the allotted time. The majority of the other students taking the test seemed to be about halfway through the first section, judging on the position of their writing implements and papers. After only taking a quick glance around the room I returned my attention to my own sheet and flipped over to the second section; I didn’t want the proctors to think I had been cheating.
The second section covered the general geography of the other major regions on the central continent, over the course of six pages. Again, I was asked a series of specific questions, followed by a freeform one at the end of each page. It seemed the second year was more focused on the political ramifications of the geography rather than the geography itself, as the specific questions focused on the political systems and culture of each region, rather than their geography. The first two pages were about the region immediately to the east of Drakas; The Trade Confederacy.
The eastern region opposite the Ris Mountain range from the Kingdom of Drakas is governed by the Trade Confederacy. The region has a variety of climates similar to Drakas, though they are more interspersed than Draka’s monolithic climate regions. The Trade Confederacy that governs this region is a loose confederation of independent city-states controlled by powerful merchant families. Each city is responsible for its own laws and defense, but they will unify under a common defense treaty when threatened by an outside power. This treaty, accompanied by the difficulty of moving large numbers of troops through the mountain pass and by sea, has spared the confederacy from direct integration to the Kingdom. Despite obvious diplomatic tensions, as they can be considered a merchant state, the Confederacy has established economic ties with Drakas. The population is as diverse as the number of climates, and the merchant mindset of the confederacy allows them to exploit this diversity to great effect. Due to the lack of a formalized national military, the plague of monsters and Demi-humans runs rampant in the confederacy, necessitating the outsourcing of labor to mercenaries in the Adventurer’s Guild.
I reviewed my answers, making sure I had written everything I could think of in a coherent manner. In all honesty, the simplicity of the questions was worrying to me; my lessons with Dominic had taken the better part of ten hours a day over a whole week. I had learned a LOT more than what these tests were covering. Still, I couldn’t think of anything to add or change, so I moved on to the next two-page subsection, which was about the region immediately north of Drakas, the Northern Alliance. Unlike the Trade Confederacy, the Northern Alliance was openly hostile to Drakas, having been created as an alliance of small powers specifically to counter Drakian military expansion.
The Regions to the north of the Kingdom of Drakas, across the Western Great River, transition from marshland into a plain, before finally touching the foothills of the Wyrmstooth Mountains. The major political body of this area is known as the Northern Alliance. While the individual nation-states are small, they have a standing international military made specifically in opposition to Drakas. Internal politics are varied, with the various nation-states vying for economic and military supremacy over each other. This unique dynamic has led to the soldiers and diplomats of this region becoming highly skilled at their own roles, which translates into an effective means of self-defense against foreign aggression.
The last two pages of this section were a combo, covering the remaining regions of the central continent, the Spirit Forest, and the Wyrmstooth mountains. These two regions were both countries in their own right, however, they held little contact with the other nations of the central continent. The unique terrain afforded to them allowed them to live in relative isolation. There was also a largely uninhabited region in the center of the continent, a vast desert. However, due to the harsh environment, it had not been very well explored and any records from past expeditions were far too old to glean any meaningful information from. As such, it did not seem the test intended to cover it.
The Wyrmstooth mountains are inhabited by the Mountain Dwarf clans, little is known about the state of their country. What contact the various human powers have with them is limited to trade and not much else; though dwarves are present in the human states, these are by majority Plains Dwarves. The Mountain Dwarves are by nature reclusive and leverage their territory’s inhospitable terrain and fearsome predators to maintain a distance from other groups. The last time any serious dialogue was had, after the fall of the thirteenth, the Mountain Dwarves consisted of twenty-four clans with one clan serving as a ruling body over the others, if this is still the case or not, is unknown.
The Spirit Forest is home to the only elven kingdom on the Central Continent. While not as reclusive as the Mountain Dwarves, The Elves are favored by the spirits who live with them in this forest, existing in symbiosis with them. The spirits turn away outsiders who do not receive their blessing. This has caused the Elven kingdom to become isolated, and the fact that it still exists to this day is known only due to the occasional Dark Elf leaving the forest to journey in the human realms. The forests are vast, much larger than they should be based on their circumference. This phenomenon is believed to stem from the Spirits who call the forest home, and only those of elvish descent are able to accurately navigate the treescape.
Stretching, I glanced around the room again. This page had taken me a bit longer, nearly an hour. At this point, I noticed that several of the students had turned the test over completely, signaling that they had finished. I hadn’t been going slow, these students were likely those who had been unable to answer all of the questions and chosen to turn their tests in incomplete, as per the proctor’s instructions. Surveying the room, it seemed roughly half the students had turned over the test, of those who remained; the great majority were working on the second page. Based on their family crests, those who were continuing seemed to come from Count and Duke families. Makes sense, higher status would lead to better access to learning resources. Still, these questions aren’t exactly hard… I really get the feeling that I must be missing some key detail.
Returning to my own paper, I flipped to the last two pages. These covered the history of the Kingdom of Drakas, with roughly eighty questions; each one in the format of “What major event occurred on this date?” or “What date did this major event happen?”. Answers ranged from the births of important people, the coronation of a specific king, or the resolution of a major war. In total, it spanned from the year zero of the current millennia all the way up to the present day, with the fall from grace of my own house being the final question. I filled out the sheet to the best of my ability in the limited remaining time and turned my paper over. Sitting up, I stealthily stretched my back, and realized with a start that everyone was watching me.
The proctor strode directly over to my desk and picked up my paper. “I believe I told you all that if you did not know the answer to a question you did not have to answer it.” His voice was loud, he was obviously intending for it to carry throughout the room. Ah, that would be why everyone was watching me like that, I must have been the only one who worked all the way up to the bell.
“Well sir, I do recall you saying that. The thing is, I was able to answer all of the questions… Although I must admit I did nearly run out of time.” He fixed me with a glare as a murmur ran through the room. I could hear whispers here and there “No way!” “Who does she think she is? She is only a baron’s daughter” among others. Yea, status has nothing to do with academy life… my ass!
The proctor started scanning through my test on the spot, likely hoping to catch any errors and make an example of me. To tell the truth, I was a bit nervous. The test had seemed far too easy when I was taking it, but I had been taught how to mask my inner thoughts so I managed to sit impassively while I waited for him to finish.
I was rewarded for my patience with the sight of his face screwing up further and further the more he progressed through the test, while the whispering died down as it became apparent he wasn’t about to stop. Finally getting to the last two pages, he tucked my test away into a binder. “…full marks.” His whispered declaration carried through the room in a way that his earlier shouting hadn’t managed, eliciting a new bout of excited murmuring.
“I thank you, sir, for taking the time to grade my test so quickly.” I stood and gave him a proper curtsy as the bell rang and the next proctors began to enter the room. I would later learn that the exam proctors were the actual teachers of each subject, with the A Group teacher taking on the role of the head proctor. This meant that I had been publicly graded, in front of my entire year by the Academy’s foremost authority on history and geography; if I had made even a slight mistake, he would have called me out on it in order to set an example of the attitude expected of students. Likewise, he was also as fair and impartial as his station dictated he should be; I had genuinely achieved a perfect score.
The next placement exam would cover mathematics. Contrary to the underdeveloped sciences of this world due in no small part to the existence of magic, as a field, mathematics was about on par with renaissance era Earth. This was due to that very same magic that had stunted biology and chemistry. As magic produced fantastical phenomena, it had stunted the discovery of periodic elements, leaving the world stuck in the idea of elements of nature. However, those phenomena still followed certain laws, and the laws had been mathematically quantified; leading to advances in geometry, algebra, and physics. When a mage was producing a spell, the amount of mana he had to expend could be calculated in advance, this was compounded by the size of the ritual and the number of mages participating, each with their own mana outputs.
Due to this, the mages could be marked as constants, and an algebraic formula could be established to calculate the amount of magic available versus what was required. Geometry had been likewise developed, as when producing a magical effect to cover an area or fill a volume, you would first need to know the squared space or cubic volume to be affected. Due to spells that altered aspects of the physical world along predictable lines, the laws of physics were well understood, and in a way even better understood than on Earth, due to the second set of laws that governed the behaviors of mana in the physical realm.
The proctor and their assistants for the mathematics exam gave us the same speech about how the test was not counted for our yearend grade and could be handed in incomplete. They then proceeded to pass out the exams. This exam was markedly shorter than the geography cum history cum politics one, clocking in at a mere four pages. The amount of time, however, was the same two hours and ten minutes. Each page had a decreasing amount of questions, with thirty questions on the first, and three on the last. Likewise, the complexity of the questions increased the closer I got to the end. I flipped back to the first page and started working.
The first thirty questions were incredibly easy. Starting with basic addition, it progressed through the four primary operations, increasing the number of terms as it went. By the end, it was asking pseudo algebra; a long-form equation with numbers in the six-digit range that required proper application of the order of operations, though it lacked any unknowns so it was not yet at the point it could be considered true algebra.
The page touched into algebra and began using word problems, requiring me to first pull out the needed values from the question, then build my own equations. While the questions did involve mana calculations and other magic-related aspects, there were also some questions that applied algebra in a more mundane form; things such as economics and distances. The second page was also fairly straightforward for me and I finished it in only a few minutes. The third page introduced Geometry, and was asking questions about the area of various locations, the volumes of certain containers, and how much mana was required to produce a certain effect to fill that region under ideal conditions. I had already learned the necessary laws for mana conversion under ideal conditions, they were quite similar to calculating Force-Newtons or Joules, so this page was likewise very easy.
The last page, with its three questions, was the only one that gave me pause. I read the first question twice to make sure I was getting it correct. “A magic knight riding a wyvern at a constant speed of one hundred kilometers an hour fires a fireball spell with a speed of sixty kilometers an hour. Assuming the fireball’s speed is constant, what is the maximum effective volume the fireball can target within three seconds of having been fired? Assume standard velocity loss ratio over distance traveled, and assume the caster is not in possession of a flare catalyst.” I tried to think, taking several minutes where I was just biting my quill. I knew how I could solve this problem, but I had not ever been taught the method in this life. I briefly considered leaving the last page blank, but gave up on the idea when I remembered my goal to pass all these exams and be excused from the first two years of classes.
There was nothing for it, I would simply have to employ knowledge from my past life and hope I could get away with it. To that end, I decided to show the minimum amount of my work. Well, I already hadn’t been showing much work; on the first page, I had been able to solve almost all of the equations in a single step, only the later ones with more than three numbers I had had to write down some things to keep my train of thought intact. I quickly outlined the known information. The Wyvern was flying in a straight line at a constant speed of 100km/h. I could express its motion as a function of time, where the distance traveled was equal to 100t.
Alright, first convert kilometers an hour into kilometers a second. This calculation I had to do out on my paper since I wound up going into the millions place of decimals. Now, I need to account for the fireball being fired at a ninety-degree angle relative to the Wyvern’s flight. If the fireball is fired at any angle greater than ninety degrees or less than two hundred and seventy it would actually lose distance and still wind up within the range covered by the ninety-degree shot since the fireball has less velocity than the wyvern…
I wrote down my final answer and stretched out my hand, which was cramping up; despite vowing to write down very little of my work I had actually wound up writing a fair amount. This problem had taken me nearly an hour to solve; I had been hampered by the need to avoid writing down much of my work so as to obfuscate my process, in fact, had it not been for my memorization talent, I probably wouldn’t have been able to remember all the details I had calculated in the first place. Looking up from my paper to gauge how far along the rest of the students were, I was startled to see the proctor looking down at me.
He was standing only a foot or so in front of my desk and was looking down at my paper with an expression of disbelief. Looking nervously around the room, I saw that every other student had long since turned in their papers and were once again watching me. Unlike last time, this time there was an excited chattering coming from the majority. Makes sense, after the last proctor I’ll bet they are all really curious as to how this will turn out… I had been so wrapped up in my calculations that I hadn’t noticed the noise, and the proctor was so absorbed watching me that he had apparently neglected to silence them.
“..Excuse me, sir, can I help you?” I gave the proctor a quizzical look. Come on, why are you just standing there? After a long moment, he finally responded.
“This question, you solved it?” He had since recovered some facsimile of dignity and was now staring at me with a calm expression, though there was an uncomfortable glimmer in his eyes.
“…yes, I was able to answer it, although it was not easy to do so, I do not think I will have enough time to finish the other two though…”
“THAT’S QUITE ALRIGHT!” His voice was loud and some spittle flew from his mouth, his excited reaction that dropped all noble pretense caused me to recoil in shock. “You, You’re Stahlia von Ris right?!” Cool it with the spit you old bat! Thankfully, his volume had lowered, but he was still nearly shouting and his mouth juice was flying everywhere, though he was far enough away it was thankfully not hitting me.
“Y-yes, I am…?” He nodded.
“I’ve been instructed to inform you that your participation in the next two exams has been excused; your numerous alchemical inventions have waived the sciences test, and your graduation from a temple school excuses the religious one. I had my doubts when the headmaster told me that, but it seems you really are a genius…” His faculties seemed to be returning to him as he went through his instructions. He must be the kind of person who excites easily but is serious when it counts, how rare for a mathematician. “If you could follow me, the headmaster wishes to speak with you while the other students take the last two tests.”
There was an in no way disguised ripple of excited chatter among the other students now; from the males, I picked up comments along the lines of my marriage prospects. From the girls, I could hear mutterings regarding how lucky I was, though a few of them seemed to be outright hostile in tone and word choice.
“U-um, sir, should you really be the one to guide me to his office…?” If anything, I desperately desired not to be alone with such an easily excitable individual. Not that I was worried about him doing anything; I simply didn’t want to be placed in a position to have to deal with him myself if he went off the rails.
“Well normally yes, I would fetch one of the servants, however, I desperately wish to know exactly how you solved that question.” Oh shit. I really don’t like what parts he chose to emphasize there… I was now getting the sneaking suspicion that the last page was not considered solvable in this world, at the very least it was definitely not something I should have gone and solved. Indeed, back on Earth, some schools, and even some countries, would place “unsolvable” questions on school entrance exams. The idea was to catch any would-be geniuses early so they could be put in an environment that was properly conducive to their growth. Based on my impression of his personality, he seemed like the kind of teacher who would do something like that. I tried one last time to get out of it.
“W-well, I mean, I just sort of… solved it…?” His calm expression wound up into a massive shit-eating grin.
“Then you will have to walk me through your process while I observe it. That question was designed to be unsolvable, several necessary elements were deliberately omitted, yet you arrived at the correct answer.” I knew it. This is really bad, I knew I would stand out in school, but to think it would happen like this!
Without anything else to do, I nodded my head in a noble’s seated half-bow and collected my things. While we walked to the headmaster, he peppered me with dozens of questions regarding my thought process; unfortunately, I couldn’t easily explain a concept like calculus with analytical geometry on the move so I shut him down by telling him I couldn’t think very clearly without the paper in front of me. Even more unfortunate, this only caused him to decide that after I spoke with the headmaster, I would be given the same problem and paper so he could follow along with my process.
Arriving at the headmaster’s office in short order, the math proctor knocked and I heard Duke Percius’s voice calling for us to enter. When we went in, I immediately recognized Count Francois, the Geography proctor, and Duke Percius himself. There was also a man wearing armor I had never seen before, as well as a wispy grey-haired woman in a grey robe. I curtsied and introduced myself following Count Francois’ naming me.
Duke Percius waved for me to sit down and a seat near the center of everyone; they were all seated facing me, while Duke Percius was also facing me although from behind his desk. Percius commenced the purpose of this meeting by speaking with the Math proctor. “Lord Gustav, I take it by the fact that you brought her personally that she exceeded expectations?”
Gustav nodded. “Indeed, not only did she finish all three pages before any of the other students, she went on to solve one of the questions on the last page.” This revelation caused a small stir, with each of the adults glancing around at the others.
Duke Percius raised his hand to silence them and continued. “Indeed, that is quite impressive and most unexpected. Lord Ferdin, you said she got a perfect score on all the questions in your history exam, according to the publicly known information?” So there were some “impossible” questions on that test too… thankfully I only know what Dominic taught me, so I didn’t answer them in a manner that would stand out excessively… I’ll have to ask Jacqueline later on regarding what information would not be “publicly” available.
Ferdin nodded. “Her answers were acceptable and correct within the public understanding. We would be having a different conversation if they were completely correct after all.” The look he shot me sent a shiver down my spine.
Duke Percius nodded. “Saintess, as she was excused from your own examination would you share your thoughts now that you have met her?” The Saintes remained largely impassive, but her eyes snapped to mine with an intensity otherwise unexpressed by her posture. After a moment she gasped.
“She has the touch of winter. It seems the report of her local priest was accurate.” Her impassive face had crumbled, being replaced by one that exhibited a religious fervor I had some experience with through televangelist programs back on Earth. It was disconcerting to be looked at with that kind of intensity.
“And as for Lord Tiber, he is currently proctoring the sciences exam, although he is already more than familiar with your exploits Stahlia, due to the numerous recipes published under your name. It seems you have fulfilled our agreement. As you expressed, I will have you enrolled as a Special Student. With exception of Lord Gustav and myself, you will not be having classes with anyone else in this room, but you are still expected to defer to them as teachers.” Duke Percius’ voice was monotone as he delivered his proclamation, and his gaze didn’t leave Count Francois’ face as he spoke.
“Congratulations, you are the first female to hold the position of Special Student since my own time here.” Wait, it’s that rare? Surely there were plenty of girls before me with talent, maybe not as much talent or the memories of a past life to fall back on, but still, I’m the first in years?
My memory flashed back to the conversation I had had with Count Francois and Dominic about Duke Percius having expected me to decline. Right, they probably were others, but they declined because of the political and social pressure placed on them as daughters. I really hope I can get along with my classmates… it sounds like a boy’s club.
Unfortunately, Duke Percius wasn’t done yet. “Seeing as you will be skipping several years, your current guard will not be able to accompany you during your lessons. As such, arrangements have been made for a replacement. This is Sir Rowell, he will be your guard-knight while you are on academy grounds.” So they won’t let me keep Giogi. Still, I can’t fault them for that. It would be a bit much to have a first-year escorting me around among third-year and above students. If anything happened, I would be in great danger, from their perspective. Of course, I can handle myself, and after classes officially start, I’ll also be allowed to have Stil with me as a tamed monster.
The knight stood up and gave me a half bow with impeccable control despite wearing what looked like incredibly heavy armor. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance Lady Stahlia, I am Rowell. Unfortunately, I am of common birth so I do not have a last name to give.” Several things jumped out at me about his introduction. Firstly, were his movements. Each and every one of them was perfect and under his full control. Despite looking to be only about twenty, he was in full control of his body. Secondly were his manners. He had named himself without naming his father; considering he admitted to being a commoner this could be perceived as a slight towards me.
I gave him a half bow from my seat as was proper and reintroduced myself to him. He then moved quickly, with careful silent footsteps to stand behind me in the proper position for a guard knight. There’s something uncanny about the way he moves, I almost feel like I’ve met him before. After thinking over it for a moment longer, I spoke up to test the water. “I thank you Duke Percius, Sir Rowell seems highly skilled; I will feel most at ease with him in my shadow.” Duke Percius remained completely impassive without reacting at all to my bait, merely inclining his head in a manner that demonstrated his having accepted my praise. From behind me, however, I sensed Rowell tense slightly before relaxing. I knew I recognized those movements, that’s a basic ready stance from Shadow Blade Style. I’ll have to warn Jacqueline that they’ve placed another one in my sphere of influence, it’s possible they might be suspecting her, or at the very least losing confidence.
It seemed the meeting was at an end, as Duke Percius next moved to dismiss me from the room. “Well then Stahlia, this concludes our business for the day. Lord Francois has been made aware of the particulars regarding your new position and will make the necessary arrangements on his end. Lord Gustav, would you be so kind as to show Stahlia around the Mage’s Hall? Including your own Blue Magic, most of her other classes will be there for the first year. She is taking all colors save for White and Black.” Gustav’s eyes widened briefly when he heard I had enrolled in classes for all six schools of magic; most people had an affinity for one or the other and therefore didn’t branch out very far.
As for myself, I had been tested by my previous magic tutor back in Ris after I had learned my first Red Magic spell. Apparently, I didn’t possess any particular affinity; I was equally compatible with all six colors, though I was likewise equally incompatible. In short, I had no particular advantage or disadvantage as far as magic was concerned. It would seem this fact had not made it to the Royal Academy just yet.
So Gustav teaches math and Blue Magic? That would explain why Percius indicated I would still be having classes with him. That means I won’t be able to avoid him, I’ll have to come up with a way to explain calculus… For his part, Gustave was more than happy to take Duke Percius up on his offer, citing that he wished to discuss the test with me in any case, so showing me around the Mage’s Tower would be a good opportunity to talk. With great resignation, I curtsied goodbye and followed Gustav out of the room.