Chapter 67
10. Prone Position
The day of the entrance exam for the training institute.
The capital was crowded with people, forming a sea of humanity.
Among them, most of those on the streets were commoner or lowly children, with faces so tense that they looked like they would collapse with a poke, groaning.
That was understandable, since the entrance exam for the training institute itself was extremely nerve-wracking, and the gazes felt from nearby were unusual.
Most people living in the capital were nobles or quasi-nobles, so from their perspective, it seemed unpleasant to see these lowly commoner and lowly children wandering around the capital.
So, each of them was scanning the children with sharp gazes, and the children were intimidated by those gazes, only looking at the ground.
“Ugh…….”
Among them, Bunny, who came from a mountain village whose name is now forgotten, was even more severely tense.
He was trembling so much that it was visible from afar, and judging by the cold sweat pouring down, he looked like he might faint at any moment.
“Ah, I’m gonna throw up…… Urgh!”
In the end, Bunny approached the nearby bushes and vomited. After dry heaving several times until stomach acid came out, he wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffled.
It was then.
“Smells bad, so go throw up over there.”
A voice from someone he didn’t even know was there was heard. Bunny was startled and raised his eyes wide like a rabbit.
“W-who are you?”
When he turned his head, a girl sitting leaning against the base of a tree was visible.
She looked about the same age as Bunny, with lustrous silver hair well-maintained, and the clothes and shoes she was wearing looked expensive at a glance, so Bunny instinctively shrank back.
“Ah, are you also an applicant…?”
He realized she was an applicant thanks to
the exam information sheet the girl was holding. Bunny decided to muster a bit more courage.
“N-nice to meet you. I’m Bunny….”
Bunny swallowed dryly and greeted the girl. Then the child’s eyes narrowed.
“Why are you shaking like that?”
Bunny rolled his eyes again.
He thought it wasn’t good to chatter about details with someone he just met, but since he also wanted to vent his frustration somewhere, he unknowingly plopped down beside the girl.
“My mom was against it, but I ran away from home to come here…. So if I fail, I won’t have the face to see my mom, that’s why I’m even more tense.”
The girl tilted her head to one side and looked at Bunny.
“No confidence?”
The girl’s gaze landed on Bunny’s hands full of calluses.
“Looks like you’ve held a sword before.”
“That…… y-yeah. But it’s different…. The capital kids are said to be really flying and jumping around.”
“At best, they’re just kids. No need to be scared.”
The girl smirked and shook her head. Kids? Bunny’s pupils shook again at the unexpected rough language, but the girl ignored it and continued.
“What you should be scared of is…… yeah. That rascal, I suppose.”
“Rascal?”
“What. You don’t know the Grand Duke’s rascal?”
“Uh…… no. I haven’t been in the capital long.”
The girl snorted and said indifferently.
“There is one. A kid with a dirty temper and like a crazy person. Just avoid that one. Except for that one, they’re all pushovers.”
“…….”
From kids to pushovers. Capital people really swear well. Should I not lose either? Bunny was confused.
“Well, maybe won’t come. I heard it as a rumor that that one is coming.”
Whether knowing Bunny’s feelings or not, the girl continued speaking.
“But, well. Even if comes, doesn’t matter. I’m going to be first in the exam. Can’t yield to such a rascal.”
The girl, Cilia, muttered as if repeating to herself and looked down at her body.
The leather clothes still felt stiff. It was a gift that her uncles, who live by begging every day, saved up bit by bit to give her. To meet her uncles’ expectations, Cilia had to be first no matter what.
“You too.”
Cilia glared sharply at Bunny and said.
“If you eye my spot, you’re dead.”
“…….”
I don’t have such intentions though…….
Bunny hiccuped and slyly avoided Cilia’s gaze.
It was then.
Ding, ding, ding-
The bell rang out. It was time for the exam approaching.
Cilia stretched big and stood up. And she glanced at Bunny, who was still trembling with a pale face.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
“Think of them all as pushovers. Then it’s easy.”
“…….”
Although it had swearing in it, it seemed like encouragement in its own way. Is this the kindness of capital people……?
So Bunny clenched his trembling hands tightly and muttered. They’re all pushovers, pushovers…….
***
‘Ah. Annoying.’
Rache crossed the Guardian training institute yard with eyes hollow from lack of sleep.
‘My life legend of returning from the subjugation squad and immediately being called to the training institute to roll like a dog.’
Rache, thinking that the position of assistant instructor seemed more fitting as slave, sighed and checked the documents he was holding.
‘Total 284 youths who came for the entrance exam…….’
Rache’s eyes suddenly narrowed while checking the documents.
[Daphne Akion]
Because he saw a familiar name.
“Why is this one here again…… Ah…… I want to jump off…….”
Rache bowed her head deeply and gripped the documents tightly.
He knew that the Grand Duke’s family had to send a child too. But Rache naturally thought the competitive Arius would come.
Vipera was holed up in her room and not coming out, and Daphne…… well, he thought naturally wouldn’t come to such a place.
“But why did you apply. Why.”
Rache let out a long sigh and clutched his dizzy head.
“No…… She’ll fail the exam…… No way she’ll pass…….”
Rache, who roughly knew the exam content, chanted that wish.
‘But…….’
Rache’s eyes were covered with anxiety.
“What if she passes?”
Then have to stick together for 8 weeks? With that Daphne?
-It was a really great oregano.
Ah, why does that come to mind at a time like this!
Rache chewed his lips while erasing Daphne’s words that suddenly popped into her head.
“No, no. She’ll really fail. No way that one with such a temper will pass this kind of exam.”
Rache desperately wished for Daphne to fail, and as soon as he heard the sound of the exam starting, he turned his steps toward the exam site.
In the spacious exam site, children were standing densely.
There were children with extremely tense faces, some standing calmly, and some looking around and getting annoyed. Just glancing around, the reactions were so extreme that one could guess their statuses.
‘But in this exam, status is rather poison.’
Rache recalled the words of Kenric, the exam setter.
-Exam? Well, just do to them what we experienced at first? Then more than half will fail.
What we experienced at first.
As soon as Rache chanted those words, his shoulders trembled.
The Guardian organization looks very stylish from the outside and seems great enough to be a wannabe, but looking inside, it’s not like that at all.
‘Really rolled every day.’
Since those who entered Guardian were all outstanding talents without exception, intense training was needed to lead them.
Physical training, swordsmanship training, and even mental training.
Rache recalled the past days when she had to stick her head into animal carcasses and hold his breath, and trembled his shoulders once more.
‘Most might fail.’
Daphne, fail too. Please.
Rache, who clasped her hands like that, looked at the exam site from afar.
Kenric, standing on the platform of the exam site, glanced at Rache far away, then looked down at the prospective trainees again.
He couldn’t know what thoughts these very young children each had. But he could make them unable to think at all.
The corners of Kenric’s mouth curved up into an arc. He brought the voice amplifier to his mouth.
“{Thank you for gathering like this. Then, we will start the entrance exam from now. Those who pass the exam will immediately enter the dormitory, and those who fail can go back. Pretty easy, right?}”
Kenric said with a bright smile, and since his tone was somehow joking, there were children who chuckled along.
“{Now, then.}”
Kenric flashed his eyes toward the hundreds of children.
And he recalls.
The training he did when he first became a probationary Guardian.
“{Get down.}”
Stick your head into the bare ground.
“{Roll left. Roll right.}”
And roll mercilessly in that state.
Just doing this, there were quite a few who rebelled due to that ‘noble’ pride. There were also those who couldn’t understand properly because they hadn’t experienced it.
Look now too.
There are those who can’t even move properly. Most of those are noble family children.
“{Those who didn’t move now are all eliminated. Roll left twice. Prone position.}”
The children rolling and gritting their teeth were mostly commoners, lowlies.
‘Not bad.’
In Kenric’s eyes, some children with quick movements were visible.
Kenric turned his eyes while imprinting their appearances in his mind, and at that time, a very familiar face caught in Kenric’s view.
‘……Daphne?’
Kenric raised his eyes wide.
No matter how he looked, it was definitely Daphne Achion.
But…….
“What. Why is she so good at it.”
Daphne was rolling mercilessly on the ground. And very well at that.
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By Anna 💓
