After Lamia was done collecting the tests, the class reconvened in the classroom, leaving the armory with their weapons in hand.

To Endra’s relief, nothing as spontaneous seemed to follow.

“So what’s it say!?”

Well, nothing spontaneous from their instructor. As the silver-haired girl shuffled out of the building she was joined by Miieie and her entourage. It had been only two days and the girl who bumped into her was already being a problem. When Endra had applied to the academy she had hoped it would be a quiet three years where she could focus on her end goal with no distractions, but she was still forced to settle for two girls who didn’t know the definition of quiet.

Rel looked to her green-haired roommate, “What does what say?”

“Oh, Endra dug through the tras–”

Endra turned around and immediately pressed her palm against the girl’s mouth.

Between Lamia breaking rank with how things were done and Miieie being Miieie, she was just about done with this whole day. Her eyes jotted around them, making sure nobody heard what Miieie had just blabbed about. Fortunately, it seemed only their two other roommates had heard. It was still embarrassing, but not as panic inducing as her impulses thought.

“Mmph mph!” Miieie mouthed, as Endra glared at her coldly before removing her hand from her big, stupid mouth.

“Don’t you thi–”

“You dug through the trash for those dumb papers?”

“Shhhh!” Endra turned to the taller girl, “Not so loud!”

Rel rolled her eyes.

“Ah. So that is why you took so long.” Iris commented, “Though, I admit I am a bit curious…”

The results. Of course they wanted to see the results. Admittedly, she hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at the piece of paper since she clawed into the garbage to retrieve them. Sure, she could’ve taken a peak on the way to the armory, but she had been pretty embarrassed. Not to mention, Miieie was giggling at her the whole way, poking fun at the idea that someone like her would dare sink to such lows! Why couldn’t she have been assigned to the dormroom with Alurane? At least with her she knew exactly what to expect.

These roommates? Miieie was unpredictable and a brazen fool who was already starting to get into fights. Rel was… well, her reputation was what it was and that made her nervous. And Iris? The girl with the glasses? She had no idea what her deal was outside of the fact that the way she looked at her chipped away any confidence she had. If she was perceived as cold, Iris was a blizzard. Everything she had planned for her life was premeditated and these three made it very hard for her to predict or plan for anything.

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“Y-Yes.” She cleared her throat, “I found it unacceptable that all of our hard work was thrown away.”

Yes. That was right. She was the heroine–the person responsible for bringing justice to light. That was why she did it. It wasn’t at all about reaffirming all of the work she had done to get here and to be acknowledged for that hard work.

Rel rolled her eyes, “And?”

Miieie grinned, “What’s it say? How’d we do?”

“I…I haven’t read it yet.”

“So read it, then!”

She nodded as the four of them ducked around a corner and she smiled as she shuffled through her things until she found the crumbled, folded up piece of paper.

The entrance exams were purely scholastic. They were questions that quizzed your methodology and ambition as much as they quizzed your memorization and understanding of world history. Endra had studied over a year as she dealt with the ins and outs of the school she attended before Minerva’s. She was the top of the class in her school. Top of the regional records.

However, despite all of those accolades; all of that hard work. When she opened the piece of paper her smile dropped.

The list had her in the top three.

Two students were placed above her. One of them was Iris, her roommate, at #2. A commoner with no resources had ranked above her. So much for preparing her whole life for this moment! So much for being the smartest person in the room! So much for being a great strategist!

She felt deflated.

But Iris wasn’t the top of the class. The name of the person who was, was one she recognized but knew nothing about. Kasara Dane.

“Oh wow! Iris, you beat Endra!”

Miieie snatched the paper from her hands. She offered no resistance.

“...Third Place? I…”

She pushed against the wall behind her as her eyes went blank.

Did she not try hard enough? Where did she go wrong? She had swore to be the best of the best, the smartest, the most ready. Yet, she had failed to best not one, but two people. Bested by two commoners. She had questions about what pushed them over the edge, but she knew if she asked them to her instructor she would be confronted with the fact she had dug through the trash and undermined her decision.

Miieie laughed about something, but she couldn’t hear her. In the moment, she felt one thing. Disappointment.