The Headmaster turned to look at the person who had been sitting next to Norfen and said, “You. Dulia. You’re first.”

A red-haired girl in the front row stepped up and approached the Headmaster and Norfen. The Headmaster instructed Norfen to begin after making sure they were both ready.

Norfen flipped the coin and looked at it. He then looked at the list before speaking, “Heads.”

Truth.

“Lie,” Dulia answered.

What?

“He was telling the truth,” The Headmaster said, shaking his head, “Dulia, you lose ten points. Norfen, you gain one point.”

Norfen smiled brilliantly and his back seemed straighter all of a sudden. Dulia returned to her seat with a frustrated expression as the next student in line approached Norfen to make her guess.

This continued for several minutes before it was finally Sell’s turn. Adion had been surprised by how many of his classmates actually dared take a guess. Even if Norfen wasn’t anything much in Adion’s eyes, he still had somewhat of an aura control.

Even if most of the people who guess, guess correctly, I would have thought that there would be some fear of losing so many points. So far five students have made that mistake, it’s not an easy position to catch up from.

Sell approached Norfen, and Adion followed a few steps behind as it would be his turn next.

Norfen flipped his coin and said, “Tails.”

“Truth,” Sell immediately stated.

“Correct,” The Headmaster nodded.

Sell didn’t seem especially happy with the result, as it was expected.

Adion headed up next and focused his attention on Norfen’s aura. It would be extremely embarrassing if he guessed incorrectly just because he was overconfident.

“Tails,” Norfen said with a straight face. He couldn’t hide his aura fluctuations from Adion, though. He knew exactly what to look for in an aura when someone was lying.

“Lie,” Adion said.

“Correct,” The Headmaster nodded without any expression.

Adion returned to his seat next to Sell and continued observing his classmates.

As time went on, Adion noticed that a few of his classmates were a lot better in aura control than he expected. Even he wasn’t 100 percent sure all of the time.

As expected of Nobles, they must have had a very good education in aura control from a young age.

I can tell when someone is lying, but it is harder to tell when someone is telling the truth. It’s very hard to differentiate between someone telling the truth and someone hiding their lies well.

When about half of the class had had their turn to lie in front of everyone, a girl with short black hair named Sota stepped up next to the Headmaster. Norfen was the first one to step up and make his guess.

“Tails,” Sota said.

Lie.

“Lie,” Norfen said.

“Incorrect,” The Headmaster said with a small grin.

What?

Adion looked at Sell only to see that she was also confused.

“Did you also think she was lying?” Adion asked.

“I did,” Sell reluctantly admitted.

“She even managed to fool you? How?” Adion asked.

“She somehow made her aura appear as if she was lying when she was telling the truth. I didn’t know you could do that,” Sell said in a low voice, “But we are far away from her. When it’s my turn, I’ll be able to figure it out.”

Student after student approached Sota, but when it was Sell’s turn, only one student had managed to guess correctly so far. The previous ten students hadn’t even bothered guessing.

Adion focused his full attention on Sota’s aura when Sell stepped up.

Sota flipped the coin and spoke, “Heads.”

That felt like a lie, but…

Sell looked at Sota for a moment before smiling, “Lie.”

Sota smiled in response.

“Correct,” The Headmaster said.

So it was a lie. Damn, I need to really focus this time.

Adion stepped up after Sell was done. Sota flipped the coin and said, “Heads.”

I can’t feel her aura fluctuate at all. Surely she can’t hide her intentions that well?

But what if she can? She seems to be incredibly apt in this particular aura control.

“Truth,” Adion said, trusting his gut.

“Correct,” The Headmaster nodded.

Sota seemed a little disappointed when Adion looked at her face.

Did she count on me gambling that she was bluffing?

“What’s going on exactly?” Adion asked Sell as he returned to his seat.

Sell smiled and explained, “She probably thought you wouldn’t be confident enough to guess if she didn’t do anything. She had to tell the truth, but by now, most of us have realized that she can fake telling a lie. Since she knows you are apt in aura sense, she probably thought she had to try something else on you.”

“That might be it,” Adion nodded, “How about you? What was she trying to do?”

“She tried making her lie come off as a fake lie,” Sell said, “I managed to see through it, but she is very good.”

“I didn’t know we had such a monster in our class,” Adion said, thoroughly impressed by Sota’s abilities.

“She is from the Sorria family,” Sell said, “That’s a powerful Noble family on Meloria. She must have been practicing this sort of thing since she was a kid and received a lot of support. She might even have gotten the chance to eat a Merrillian Soul Peach. Still, I doubt many in the same circumstances could live up to the same results.”

That’s right. Sell’s sister had also recieved a Merrillian Soul Peach. I shouldn’t assume I’m the only one with lucky opportunities.

Not long after Sota had her go, it was Sell’s turn to fool their classmates. She didn’t have Sota’s weird abilities, but she was leagues above most other students. Still, a few people managed to guess correctly. Adion suspected those people couldn't see through Sell. They simply got lucky.

It was a recurring thing, some of the students had gotten so far behind that they seemed to have given up on receiving any reward, so they took a gamble and guessed every single time, even if they had no idea.

As Adion stepped up, he was curious what the results would be. He didn’t feel much pressure, he was fine with guessing wrong if Sell was his opponent. But he would still prefer to beat her, of course.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He knew that when taking the Merrillian Soul Peaches, Sell had focused on her aura sense, while Adion had focused on his aura control. He could hide his aura better than her, but Sell could see through other people’s aura better than him.

Now that he would use his aura sense against her aura control and they would both try to fight each other, he was curious about the result.

Sell flipped the coin and said, “Heads.”

Adion was a little stumped. He had focused on her aura, but he didn’t need to use his aura sense to tell that Sell was telling the truth. It was somehow obvious to Adion. He didn’t know if it was her body language, facial expression, or something else. He just felt that she was telling the truth.

Is this what it feels like for Sell all the time when she is with me? What a strange ability.

“Truth,” Adion said with a smile.

Sell seemed a little displeased as Adion guessed correctly. She muttered, “Lucky.”

Adion shook his head with a smile and returned to his seat. He didn’t stay seated for long, however, as it was his turn right after Sell.

Let’s see if anyone is capable of seeing through me.

Adion couldn’t imagine anyone besides Sell having the aura sense to see through him. But Sota had already given him quite a shock, so he didn’t dare be too cocky. He didn’t focus nearly as much attention on this part of his aura as his element and strength, after all.

As Adion arrived next to the Headmaster and looked out over his classmates, he was faced with many determined faces.

It seems like quite a few people here want to see me beat. I can imagine some of them will be guessing.

Adion looked at the list he had been given by the Headmaster and memorized the first few lies and truths before turning to Norfen, who was already walking toward him. Adion flipped the coin and looked down to see that it had landed on heads.

“Heads,” Adion said truthfully. He made Atao appear at the back of his mind in order to not have his expression give anything away.

“Truth,” Norfen said.

“Correct,” The Headmaster said.

What? No way he saw through me. He must have guessed.

And that seemed to be the case, as the next three students didn’t dare make a guess, earning Adion 3 points. But right after that, a student successfully guessed that he was telling the truth once again.

Hmm. It could definitely be a coincidence. But I don’t like this.

Wait. Since I’m telling the truth, my aura doesn’t reveal anything. Even though most people know I have an excellent aura control, they might not believe I can hide a lie that well.

As more students stepped up, Adion noticed a pattern. Most students didn’t dare guess, but everyone who did, guessed that Adion was telling the truth. That meant that he caught some of them with his lies, but a few also managed to get away with a guess. That didn’t sit right with Adion.

They can’t tell whether I’m lying or telling the truth; they just can’t notice any lies and, therefore, make a guess. Is there anything I can do?

Adion thought about it for a while, and he decided to try to start having some fun.

As the next student stepped up Adion had to truthfully say that his coin flip turned out tails. But instead of simply telling the truth, he tried replicating the trick he had seen Sota use.

He focused on the part of his aura that revealed his lies. But unfortunately, he couldn’t wrap his head around how he could make that part of his aura reveal a lie when he was telling the truth.

Is it even possible? You can’t make your aura show anything false. That’s what Fellion told me. And the Headmaster has confirmed it. But if that’s the case, how did Sota do it?

Adion had to say something, so he said, “Heads.”

“I decline to guess,” His classmate said, shaking his head.

Lucky.

Adion tried thinking of a solution as the next student stepped up.

If I can’t make my aura reveal anything that is not truth…I’ll just have to muddy the waters.

Adion once again had to tell the truth, so he flipped his coin and said, “Tails.”

But just as he spoke, he thought about Termeth Hesfym. If there was anything that made Adion’s blood boil, it was that guy and Heavenly Light.

“Er, lie,” The girl in front of him guessed.

“Incorrect,” The Headmaster said with a small smile.

It worked? Is that how Sota did it?

As more students made their guesses and Adion thought about it some more though, he realized it couldn’t be that simple. Perhaps he managed to fool some of his classmates with his little trick, but he knew a lot of them saw through it too.

I would definitely have noticed if Sota just was angry and not lying. She did something else.

Adion continued trying to make his aura do different things. Controlling it and experimenting with it as he told the results of the coin flips. But he wasn’t able to figure anything out.

When Sell finally stepped up to go against him, Adion had reverted back to simply controlling his aura as best he could.

Adion flipped the coin and saw that it was tails. He had to lie about the result. That had worked on all of his classmates so far, but against Sell, he didn’t have much confidence.

She has that weird eye-thing. Should I close my eyes?

No. It’s nothing important anyway.

“Heads,” Adion said.

“Lie,” Sell immediately replied with a smile.

“Correct,” The Headmaster nodded.

The class all looked up at Sell with interest. She was the first person to catch Adion in a lie, after all.

Adion could only accept that he wouldn’t be able to hide anything from her.

Somehow I feel like it wouldn’t have mattered even if I closed my eyes.

Adion continued flipping his coin for a while longer, and at the end of it, he was okay with his result.

At the beginning of the class, I wouldn’t have thought that anyone could get a point against me. But with wild guesses involved, I suppose this is as good as a result anyone can really get.

The class continued on for a while longer. When the last student finished and stepped away from the Headmaster, he clapped his hand and addressed the class.

“Well, that was interesting,” The Headmaster said with a light smile, “Most of you performed well. I’m sure a lot of you have noticed that this exercise wasn’t solely about the ability to get away with lying. But also getting away with telling the truth. Sota,”

The Headmaster turned to look at the black-haired girl, “I didn’t expect to see such an impressive performance that illustrated this ability to such a degree. 500 credits on top of the rewards from the competition.”

All the students opened their mouths in shock. 500 credits were an enormous amount to receive in a single class. Sota got up on her feet and bowed to the Headmaster in thanks.

I must admit though, it sure was the most impressive thing I’ve seen a student do so far.

“As for the results of the competition, the winner is Sota Sorria, followed closely by Adion Remori and Sellitha Amyss. Well done to you. I have the rest of the results written down here. I don’t have the time to read it out loud, so you will have to look at it yourselves when class is finished. But as for the reward, that is simple. You will receive 10 credits for every point you’ve earned.” The Headmaster announced as he put a piece of paper on the blackboard.

“That much,” Relmon muttered from beside him.

“The Headmaster sure is generous with credits,” Sell said.

I guess he is different from the other professors. He probably has a lot of room in how he gives away credits.

Adion knew that the Headmaster couldn’t give them out completely unchecked. Such as giving Adion 100,000 credits for being his disciple. It would make Adion’s journey to Head of the Scrolls easier, but it would tear down the trust in credits in the Academy. The Headmaster probably wouldn’t do that even if the Council had supported him with it.

“Of course, if you’re in the negative, the same rule applies,” The Headmaster continued as he looked out over the students.

This got quite a few students to almost drop on the floor.

“Headmaster,” A blonde boy hesitantly raised his hand.

“What?” The Headmaster asked gruffly.

“Do you mean that for every negative point, 10 credits will be deducted? Headmaster never mentioned something like that,” The boy said in a shaky voice.

“Of course, that’s how it works,” The Headmaster said with a shrug, “I didn’t make the rules haphazardly. There is always some uncertainty in life, so I thought guessing should still be a part of the competition to make things a little interesting. But if you gamble, there have to be stakes. Are you new to the Academy? Professors take away credits all the time if your performance is disappointing. What made you think that you could get an end result in the negatives and get away scot-free?”

The student who had asked the question sank down in his seat, an embarrassed and dejected look on his face.

“Well, we will continue on this topic next week as well. Continue practicing as you have. That’s it for today,” The Headmaster said, dismissing the class.

Adion didn’t care too much about the credits, even if it was a nice bonus. He was more interested in understanding how Sota had fooled him. He turned to Sell and asked, “Did you figure out how Sota managed to fake lying?”

“No,” Sell said, shaking her head, “No matter how I think about it. It shouldn’t be possible.”

“I’ll ask the Headmaster about it. I’ll tell you about it later,” Adion said.

“Thanks,” Sell smiled.

Adion would have his private lesson with the Headmaster after the class, so he stayed behind while everyone else left.

Once it was only Adion and the Headmaster left in the classroom, Adion remained in his seat, staring at the Headmaster intently.

The Headmaster was silent for a while before chuckling, “Alright, alright. I guess I’ll tell you a bit about Sota's ability. I can’t have you embarrass me in the future, after all. Let’s go to my office.”

Adion smiled and ran after the Headmaster.

Being a disciple to the Headmaster sure has a lot of benefits.