章 32: Chapter 32 - Brain and Brawn, My Friend!
The day of the exam has come. It's not only going to be a battle of wits for Zio but also endurance, as Gissel told him that the exam might take place for the whole day. There's no place to display any weakness, both of the body and mind.
"Are you ready? " Gissel is standing before her carriage, waiting for Zio to finish packing up his things. Pencil, quill, ink, and three little pieces of iron. He’s ready.
" Let's get this over with. "
Albert is helping Gissel by opening up the carriage’s door, as he's also the one who's going to be the coachman. As Zio was about to do the same, Gissel suddenly kicks his face with her soles repeatedly.
" Don't. You. Dare. "
" Ow ow ow! W-What are you doing, you-?! "
" Walk. I don't want to be seen with someone like you. You filthy peasant. "
Zio couldn’t believe the girl. ‘How can I walk on my own when she casually sits in that lavish carriage of her?!’ He grumbled to himself.
" Tsk. Whatever. Let's go already. "
They finally set out to where the exam takes place, to the Academy itself. Even though Zio has lived in Tel'Almus for almost two years now, He has never really explored the capital city due to his workload and his responsibility to teach and taking care of his sister.
As they are getting near the center of the capital, the road is starting to full of two things. Red flowers and youngsters. This is the first time Zio has seen such an occasion. He must have missed it last year, otherwise, he would surely take Ana to see such a marvelous sight.
" What's the deal with these flowers? " Zio asked Gissel who has been reading a book ever since they left the mansion.
" Oh. The queen greatly values wisdom and knowledge. That's why she wanted us to treat the matriculants as grand as war heroes every time an entrance exam is being held. "
Queen Helen II. Now that Zio thinks of it, He has never seen her even once. He only heard about her remarkable feats from the streets. Including the word that she had successfully inherited her mother's throne with minimum disputes among the successors. Surely, she's someone with outstanding accomplishments with the way the citizens are talking about her.
" What kind of a woman is she? "
" You haven't seen Her Majesty? "
" No. "
" Well, you will see for yourself. "
The way Gissel chooses her words makes Zio thinks that as if they will meet the queen in a corner of a street somewhere. Just as Zio was losing in his thoughts of the queen, suddenly he bumped into a man.
* Dhug *
" Ah. I'm sorry. " The man who bumped into Zio is a tall and big dark-skinned man wearing a turban and a scarf. He also wears long clothing that covered his entire body down to his toe, just like a women's gown.
" Wow wow, stop right there, buddy! " Zio immediately pulled his scarf, to hang his hand on his shoulders.
" Y-Yes, brother? What can I help you with? "
" You're not possibly stealing something from me, right? "
" What?! There's no way I would do something like that! "
Zio pulled him closer, squinting his eyes. Telling him that he is suspicious of him.
" I'm a man of virtue, brother! You can see for yourself! Feel free to turn me to the guards if you find me stealing! " The big man easily break-free of Zio’s pinching before opened his arms wide, letting Zio inspect his body.
Zio was surprised by how he was playing weak. He would certainly be in big trouble had someone with this strength were to fight back.
" Hey! What are you doing? We're going to be late! " Gissel shouted from the carriage as Zio doing a body search on the man before him.
" O-Okay, you seem to be not lying. Sorry for troubling you. "
" It's okay, brother. Oh, and by the way, are you perhaps participating in the High Academy exam today? "
" Huh? Ah, yes. Yes, I am. "
" Woah! As I thought, you got the face of an intellectual! What a coincidence! I'm also one of the participants. "
Zio is a little bit flattered by his words. And by the way the big man act and talk, he doesn't seem like a bad guy to Zio. Because he knows the smell of a bad guy even before they opened their mouth.
" Ahaha, don’t flatter me out of nowhere you fool. But too bad dude, I got to go. It was nice seeing you. "
" Ah sure sure. I'm sorry for stalling you. Best of luck to you brother! May we meet again on a better occasion! "
" Sure. I see you around. "
That was a weird and overly friendly guy to Zio. But now that he thinks of it, there are various kinds of people in the street. Therefore, he believes it's natural and inevitable for him to come across a stranger like the one he had just met.
After he cleared up his head, Zio quickly runs to catch up to the carriage.
" Hey, Gissell. Why there are so many people here? Some even didn't look like locals to me. "
" Eh? Don't say that. You're an illegal immigrant yourself. "
" W-Wha! Sssh! Watch your mouth, stupid! " Zio immediately shushed her in fear of someone listening. Because one can never know which tree it is, where the snake lies within.
" Well, Her Majesty's way of thinking goes beyond those of the lower minds... Be it noble or commoners, nothing matters as long as they are useful for the development of the land. She doesn't mind anyone's background... But her subordinates do though. "
Who you are doesn't matter as long as you are useful. Zio thinks that he might like this queen. He had always thought that the one who sits upon the throne must be someone with the most arrogance. But that doesn't seem to be the case on this one.
The carriage stops before a big gate along with the other carriages. Zio guessed that those who came in a carriage must be aristocrats just like Gissel. While those on foot must be a commoner just like him.
" Listen, Zio. For now, you have to act like you don't know me. There's a role that I must uphold, I know you understand. " Gissel warned him before stepping out of the carriage.
The second she's outside, they are completely a stranger to each other. And also, on that very second, people's attention is pulled towards her.
" It's Lady Fransesca.... "
" Graceful as always, isn't she? "
Zio is dumbfounded with all the sudden wild praises and jealous talks, and also by the way they call her Fransesca instead of Gissel as he did. But however, Zio has zero intention to hear all of these admirations, so he just walked inside the gate ahead of her.
Zio keeps walking until he finally stops before a grand stair that leads towards the main hall of the academy.
" Damn man. They must've invested a lot of gold and effort to build this place. "
" Of course, they are! " Suddenly, a girl's voice replied to his monologue out of nowhere.
Zio turned his head to his right and there she stands. A girl with deep-copper colored short hair and a pair of marble-grey eyes. After her swift reply, she also looked back at him and smiled warmly.
" Your eyes... looks like those roses in the streets. "
" ...Are you sure that's the right choice of words? "
" Eh? What do you mean? "
" Well, I mean I wonder if you mispronounced some words. Because the others said my eyes look more like The Atashka. "
People who saw Zio’s eyes often said that he looked like the infamous red-eyed giant white serpent that resides within The Forbidden Forest of Ouraderas. Although no one has ever actually seen it, the illustration drawn by the famous artist Vinca Claude on the reference of The Journey of Marco Ridfelt is known throughout the land.
" Pfft. Ahaha! You are pretty gloomy, aren't you? That's a waste for such an attractive face. "
Zio couldn’t believe by how slimy the girl is being. ‘Trying to pick up a guy with a cheesy line in a broad daylight in a crowd? Seriously?’ Zio sighed and smile a little.
" Attention to all participants. The exam will begin shortly. " Suddenly the owl statues on the tip of the stair handle are enveloped in greenish light. Its eyes are flickering as its voiced the exam announcement.
" Hey. What's your name? " The girl stepped closer to Zio with her hands behind her waist.
" Hm. Pass the test and I'll tell you. ".
After Zio coldly brushed her off indifferently just like that, He left the weird girl on her own and proceed to enter the main hall.
They gathered the participants inside a very big room. There are roughly five thousand participants inside the room, waiting for the next agenda. But the thing that confuses Zio is that there's no table nor chair in the room. ‘Are we supposed to take the exam while standing? That’s pretty cheap for such a glamorous place’ Zio thought to himself.
Suddenly the door on the other side of the room opened. There are a couple of people bringing a pile of papers with them. They are, without a doubt, must be the examiners. Zio can see that every five papers are clamped into a file. ‘That must be the question set that we've to work on.’.
They put the bulk of papers in front of the participants. But there’s something more to it. Zio can feel that there's something off.
" The time limit is twenty minutes. "
" Now then, the exam... Begin! " One of the examiners announced the beginning of the exam.
It was at this moment that Zio realized what the examiners are trying to pull. There are not enough files for everyone. This is a rumble, where one can only survive by stepping over the others.
When the others are still in confusion, whispering to each other. Zio quickly reshaped his irons and stick one of them on the door before throwing another one in front of the examiners. Then, he immediately jumped towards the bulk of papers, dashing with his magic.
" Speed always wins! " Zio accidentally blurted out a line. Yet, unexpectedly, one of the examiners smiled.
'There's no mistaking it!' Zio confidently yelled to himself. After fetching his exam papers, Zio rushed through the exit door right away, pulling himself with his magic once again.
A few seconds after he ran out the door. He can hear a great commotion inside the room. He almost pissed himself upon hearing all the trouble. Who knows what will happen if he was a few seconds too late?
" Haha, lucky! " Zio laughed to himself.
He quickly searches for a place to hide. At first, he wanted to get out of the gate, but there's some kind of barrier in the air that clearly would prevent him from doing so. 'No one leaves the arena' it seems.
Therefore, he pulled himself upwards and begin to fill the papers on the roof. After around 3 minutes, finally, someone came out of the room. And it was none other than Gissel.
" Oh? She made it after all. Though no longer graceful with all those bruises. "
When Zio focused on filling in the blanks of his paper, suddenly people are coming out after another. It seems things are slowly settled inside. He might need to go somewhere more secluded, who knows what they are going to do if they see him chilling out up there.
Zio moved into the other side of the building, working on the question. It's been 16 minutes, and his progress on the exam papers is roughly around 90% since they were all simple questions.
*Fwoosh* *Crack*
A hilt of a knife is being swung on him. Luckily, he can dodge it. And the hit misses his head, knocking on the pillar beside him instead.
" Eh? How can you dodge that, mister red eyes? "
" Heh. This is why I don't trust women. "
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