Chapter 77: The Admission Test Begins
Adrian floated in the sky, thanks to two large wings behind him, with a grin on his face as he looked at the forest below before muttering, "you truly are a genius, Alvíss."
***
Two days after Professor Leon’s instructions on how they’ll help the professors during the first year’s admission test, it officially began.
There were only a few professors around, namely professor Leon, their combat instructor Tess, a long haired professor with glasses, and a few others.
But they didn’t number over five.
Not that it mattered much, after all, three of the five were the strongest professors in the academy.
Besides, it wasn’t as if anything would go wrong in one of the safest places in the royal capital, second only to the royal palace.
Right?
The second year students had each been assigned their roles, well almost all save for Renelle.
Turns out, Grand Duke Ardent was in the royal capital with his now recovered wife since the previous day for a discussion about the cancelled engagement.
But first, they wanted to see their daughter.
And thus, Renelle had been exempted from this by the headmistress herself.
Normally, Adrian, her butler, was supposed to be with her, but Renelle had refused for two reasons.
One, they still suspected that the cult was planning on making a move today, even though their piece, Isla, was safely in Adrian’s hand.
Another reason is due to the fact that she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of him, after all, she wasn’t sure of how she’d react after meeting the parents she lost in a previous timeline.
So her decision was final, Adrian would stay at the academy, whilst she met with her family and they visited the Royal Palace.
Hence, the reason why his aura seemed a lot darker than usual as a single thought replayed in his mind over and over again,
I want to see my lady.
It hadn’t even been a few hours since she left, but he already wanted to return to her side again.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden voice in his ear.
"Remember," Professor Leon’s voice was heard faintly through the communication magic tool each student carried, "you are observers first. Interference is restricted unless a life-threatening situation occurs."
He took a small pause before adding,
"Or... unless I say otherwise."
Darius had a grin on his face, not really listening to whatever professor Leon had just said.
All he knew was that he had been granted permission to act whenever he spotted someone interesting enough.
Adrian sighed as he looked at him rushing towards the forest that had been projected by a magic tool.
He truly was still an idiot.
"Watching over weak first years sounds too much like a chore," the bored student, Caius, muttered from behind.
"We’re also ensuring that nothing happens to them," the girl in glasses replied causing Caius to turn towards her.
"And you are?" He asked in confusion, in his perspective, this stranger had suddenly spoken to him for no reason.
"Lisa," she answered with twitching brows, "I sit just across you."
"I see," Caius nodded but said nothing else, instead, he turned towards the prince who was silently looking at Adrian.
The butler was letting off an aura that made him completely unapproachable, no unapproachable was putting it lightly.
It felt as if he would kill anyone that tried talking to him right now, a behavior which was familiar to the Prince for some reason.
But he didn’t have to think about it for long as Noelle suddenly asked, "do you think he’s like that because he’s not by Lady Renelle’s side?"
That’s right, the prince finally recalled where he had seen an aura like that, it was when he refused to acknowledge Renelle’s presence.
Speaking of which, he still couldn’t believe her sudden change.
At first, he thought of it as another trick of hers but after almost a week at the academy without her even acknowledging his presence, he started to think otherwise.
Normally, he’d be relieved, after all this was all he ever wanted... But a tiny, egoistical part of him was unsatisfied by the sudden change.
Just a tiny part though.
"Likely," Lucian responded as he looked at Noelle, "after all, a personal butler is trained to be by their master’s side at all times."
"I see," Noelle nodded, looking at Adrian’s back.
Truthfully, the man before her scared her, especially the look he had in his eyes when looking at anyone that wasn’t Lady Renelle.
It almost feels like he was looking at objects rather than people.
But despite that, she was also a bit curious about him, well more specifically she wanted to know how he was so strong even though he was a year or two younger than them.
There was also the fact that both her contracted spirits and the spirits around her seemed scared of both him and his spirit, the one currently laying on his head.
But it wasn’t as if she had the courage to walk up to him and ask, so she’d leave her curiosity as is.
They silently stood there for a while before a sound suddenly interrupted the silence.
Yawn!!
"Wake me up when all this is done," the student, that always seemed sleepy, said and he walked away from them.
He was completely uninterested in helping out, preferring to sleep instead, which he was going to do right now.
«Your aura is scaring your classmates.»
Meanwhile, Noctis laying on Adrian head informed but he gave no reply, instead he looked up to the sky and asked.
"How much of my mana would it take to fly?" He said, unbothered by whether or not his classmates were affected by his aura or not.
«Since we’re still limited to shadow manipulation,» the cat started, «quite a bit.»
"I see," Adrian nodded.
During his last breakthrough, his mana levels had increased so he should be able to maintain a skill that would at least let him float.
To his classmate’s surprise, Adrian suddenly grew wings made from complete darkness using [Shadow Manipulation].
Without saying anything, he lifted off, stopping only when he was directly above the forest.
From this height, everything was visible.
He had both hands in his pocket as he looked down at the first year candidates standing at the entrance of the forest.
The next second, an announcement resounded all around,
"Let the admission test begin!"