Chapter 251: An Unexpected Supervisor

Chapter 251: An Unexpected Supervisor

"A favor?"

Iris’s fork paused above her plate. Her gaze, which had softened only a few seconds earlier, settled on me again.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

I pushed my coffee cup a little farther aside.

"You know about tomorrow’s dungeon-clearing exam, right?"

"I do."

"I want you to make some changes to a few of the teams."

Iris frowned.

She slowly set her fork down. The care she took with that movement was enough to tell me I wouldn’t like her answer.

"Are you trying to do something strange again?"

"I’m not sure I’d call it strange."

"Cass, what did I tell you?"

She rested a hand on the table and leaned toward me. She hadn’t raised her voice, but I could barely hear the conversations at the nearby tables anymore.

"Can’t you do it?" I asked.

Iris went quiet for a moment.

Then her eyes narrowed slightly.

"The question isn’t whether I can. It’s what you’re trying to do."

I shrugged.

"There’s a crazy prince on my team who wants to kill me. Do you really want me to stay on the same team as him?"

Iris’s expression didn’t change.

That hadn’t been as good an opening as I’d hoped.

"Cass," she said coldly, "don’t try to manipulate me."

I looked into her eyes for a moment.

She’d noticed.

Then again, considering how obvious I’d been, it would have been more surprising if she hadn’t.

"Then how about doing what I asked?"

"Not without you telling me why—"

"Iris, please."

She stopped mid-sentence.

Her fingers shifted slightly against the table. She looked at my face, then at the desserts in front of her. I waited for her gaze to return to me as she pressed her lips together.

She sighed.

"This isn’t fair."

She hadn’t said it angrily. She looked more like someone who knew she was about to give an answer she didn’t want to give.

For a moment, I considered taking back my request.

I knew Iris would help me. That was the problem. I was relying on her trust in me over something I wasn’t willing to explain.

Still, I didn’t want tomorrow’s exam to begin with the teams as they were.

"Will you do it?" I asked.

Iris lowered her head slightly.

"Yes... But it isn’t as easy as you think. Being on the council doesn’t mean I can change the professors’ lists however I want."

"Pharsa?"

"I’ll have to speak to her. We’ll also need a valid reason."

I sat a little straighter.

"How about this? The crazy prince on my team is obsessed with killing me, and the balance of power in our team is way off."

Iris stared at me for a few seconds.

"I’m not phrasing the first part like that."

"You can keep the gist."

"Cass."

"We don’t get along. Isn’t that a serious enough problem for an exam where we’ll be assessed as a team?"

This time, she didn’t answer right away.

She turned her plate slightly with a finger against its edge. She seemed to be trying to pick out the useful part of what I’d said.

"The imbalance in strength is a better argument," she said at last. "I’ll talk to Pharsa. I can’t promise she’ll agree, but I’ll try."

"So, who do you want to switch places with?"

"Felix."

I’d said his name without thinking.

One of Iris’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"Felix..."

She tilted her head as she tried to remember.

"The boy you beat up during the entrance exam?"

"Yes."

She fell silent for a while.

Then she put a hand to her forehead again.

"That answer was supposed to reassure me, wasn’t it?"

"I’m not going to fight him. In fact, the whole point is for us to be on different teams."

"Are we sure you aren’t trying to get him into trouble this time?"

"He’ll take my place in the exam. That’s all we’re doing."

Iris lowered her hand.

"And you’ll join his team."

"Yes."

"Do you know his teammates?"

"Not really."

"Then you don’t even know whether they’ll want you on their team."

I wasn’t sure that detail mattered. No one had been asked who they wanted to team up with during the draw, either.

Iris read my expression and sighed.

"Fine. I get it. I’ll bring that up too."

"Thank you."

Her gaze lingered on my face for a moment.

Then it shifted to the cake on her plate.

"Now I know why seeing all these desserts gave me a bad feeling."

"Nothing bad has happened yet."

"Just more work for me."

I didn’t have a good answer to that.

Iris took another small bite of cake. This time, I waited without speaking. She’d agreed to help, but I didn’t think her mood had fully recovered.

After a few more bites, she put down her fork.

"I should get back to the student council. If I can’t find Pharsa, I can at least check the exam lists and see what I can do."

As she stood, I got up to hold her chair.

Her expression softened a little when she noticed.

"You don’t need to walk me back to the academy. Stay here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Besides..." She looked at the plates on the table. "Don’t leave all of this here. Have it packed up."

I nodded.

She picked up her bag and walked a few steps away. Then she stopped and turned back to me.

"Cass."

"Yes?"

"Next time you want something like this, just ask me directly. You don’t need to order a dozen desserts first."

She turned away before I could answer.

I watched her leave the restaurant.

Then I looked at the table.

There were almost as many untouched desserts left as when they’d first arrived. Apparently, I’d miscalculated how much cake it took to ask for a favor.

---

The next morning, the academy’s wide open grounds were full of students.

Some adjusted their weapon belts, others argued with their teammates, and a few checked whether the person beside them had overpacked. Several students had their attention fixed on the portals farther ahead.

Thirty portals.

They stood above large mana circles carved into the stone ground. Runes around their edges flashed at intervals, and the light across their surfaces rippled when viewed from different angles.

Each led to a different artificial dungeon.

Teams had already gathered in front of some of them. The third-year students in charge checked their lists, scanning the crowd for anyone missing.

A few professors stood at the edge of the grounds as well.

Professor Soren was inspecting a student’s weapon. Aemon had found somewhere to sit and pulled his hat down over his eyes. Two students with questions about the exam were waiting in front of him.

I wasn’t sure whether he was listening to them.

I turned my attention to the three people standing before me.

My new team.

Iris had taken care of it.

Felix and I weren’t the only ones whose places had changed on the updated list. Several other students had been moved to different teams as well. Pharsa must have found the argument about balancing the teams convincing enough.

I was happy with the result.

I didn’t know two of my new teammates. One was a broad-shouldered boy with short black hair. He was checking the fastenings on his light armor, occasionally adjusting the sword at his waist.

The other had a bow on his back. After testing the string with his fingers, he began counting his arrows.

Neither held my gaze for long when they looked at me.

The only person I recognized was the girl standing beside them.

She was one of Celine’s supporters. I’d seen her during the entrance exam and in the classes we shared. She was usually quiet and shy. She hadn’t played much of a role in the game’s story, either. All I knew was that she had feelings for Knight Boy.

Her green hair was tied back at the nape of her neck. She held her staff close to her chest and watched the crowd around her carefully.

When I caught her looking at me, her eyes widened slightly.

"Hello," she said shyly.

"Hello."

Her lips parted as though she wanted to say something else. Then she changed her mind and lowered her gaze to her staff.

That was the extent of our conversation.

A few meters away, Felix was talking to Alicia.

Alicia was showing him the exam sheet in her hand, and Felix listened with his head slightly bowed. After he said something, they both smiled.

They were already getting along, and they hadn’t even entered the dungeon.

Just as I wanted.

Fish Boy stood beside them, watching his surroundings with his arms crossed. He frowned when our eyes met.

I gave him a small smile.

We weren’t on the same team anymore. That was reason enough to celebrate.

I didn’t need to do anything more about him for now. Having him with Felix and Alicia was enough.

I looked toward the other side of the crowd.

Lunox was waiting with his team as well.

The demon girl stood right beside him. As Lunox talked, she leaned her head toward him and listened closely. Her occasional brief replies seemed enough to keep him talking.

They’d ended up on the same team.

I didn’t watch their group for long.

When I found Celine, I realized I didn’t recognize any of the people with her.

Judging by her expression, she wasn’t as reluctant as I was to get to know her teammates.

The supervisors moving between the portals began directing students to their positions. As the crowd slowly split into more orderly groups, I checked the number above our portal.

Then I sensed familiar mana approaching.

I turned my head.

Charlotte was walking toward us.

Her long black hair fell over the shoulders of her council uniform. The sword at her waist shifted slightly with her steps, and students moved out of her way as soon as they noticed her.

What was this girl doing here?

Of course, student council members could be among the exam’s supervisors.

The problem was that she was heading straight for our group.

Charlotte stopped in front of us.

She didn’t look at me.

Her gaze went first to the armored boy, then to the one carrying the bow, and finally to the girl with the staff.

"I’ll be in charge of your group today."

The girl beside me immediately straightened.

The other two students also stopped what they were doing to listen.

"I’ll accompany you into the dungeon. Throughout the exam, I’ll assess your teamwork and performance. I’ll intervene if you encounter serious danger or wish to withdraw."

She briefly checked the list in her hand as she spoke.

All four names should have been there.

Including mine.

"You’re expected to work as a team. Having your supervisor nearby is no reason to go off on your own. If you encounter something you don’t understand, let the others know first."

The girl with the staff nodded.

"Understood, President."

Charlotte folded the paper and put it away.

She still hadn’t looked at me.

Being ignored so deliberately was just as obvious as being watched closely.

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

There were thirty teams and plenty of upperclassmen who could be assigned to them. The council president showing up to supervise my new group specifically didn’t seem like something I could put down to chance.

She was suspicious of me.

That sense of familiarity she’d felt when we met in the council room clearly hadn’t left her mind. Still, I hadn’t expected her to come after me so quickly.

Apparently, she wasn’t going to leave me alone.

And she’d found a very convenient assignment for keeping an eye on me.

Professor Soren’s voice rose from the other side of the grounds.

"Teams, take your places in front of your assigned portals!"

The conversations quieted.

As the supervisors checked their lists one last time, the runes around the portal circles began to glow more brightly. The mana gathering in the air stirred the sleeves of my uniform.

Charlotte stepped aside to clear the way.

"Get ready."

My teammates checked their weapons. The girl adjusted her grip on her staff, while the boy carrying the bow tightened the strap over his shoulder.

I took my hands out of my pockets.

I glanced toward Felix one last time.

Alicia was standing beside him.

For now, everything was where I wanted it.

The first teams began disappearing into the light.

The surface of the portal in front of us rippled as the armored boy passed through. The boy with the bow followed him. After taking a quick breath, the girl with the staff stepped in as well.

Charlotte was waiting for me to go through.

I looked at her.

Her red eyes finally met mine.

Her calm expression gave me no clue what she was thinking.

With a small sigh, I stepped up to the portal.

The cold mana coming from its surface touched my skin. As I took one step, the noise from the grounds grew muffled. With the second, it disappeared completely.

The light cleared from my vision, and my feet settled on a stone floor.

My teammates stood a few steps ahead.

I sensed Charlotte’s mana behind me.

As the hum from the entrance faded, our footsteps echoed between the stone walls.