I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 20
* * *
But Olivia’s practical exam was far from smooth sailing from the start.
“Group B! Bennett Sanchez, Olivia Kishier, Sirius Arl, Daisy Wiffer, Gilleon Failene. All of you, step forward.”
“We’re in the same group again!”
The heavens were truly indifferent. To be paired with Bennett again.
Olivia gazed upward with a sigh. She’d hoped for a peaceful, quiet exam, but it seemed that had been too much to ask.
Bennett, by contrast, looked thoroughly pleased with the assignment. He bounced over with an excited voice and tapped Olivia lightly on the shoulder.
“I wonder what the other three are like?”
Since the Final Practical Exam was the academy’s largest event, the Knight Department and Magic Department conducted it jointly.
This meant their team would include not only fellow Knight Department students they saw regularly, but also Magic Department students they’d never coordinated with before.
And worse—Olivia’s group had three Magic Department students. It was deeply unfortunate.
“This is going to be a headache.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure about one of them, but two of them definitely have character issues.”
“Huh?”
From where she stood below the platform, Olivia could see two figures advancing with unhurried, leisurely strides. She could also see exactly how the other students were reacting to them.
The Magic Department students naturally parted to make way for them, and the two took it entirely for granted. Her head was already starting to throb.
Soon the two approached Olivia, offering her greetings with exaggerated courtesy.
“Kishier’s Young Lady. It has been quite some time.”
“You’ve been through so much hardship, I trust? However did you end up in such a place…?”
Should I kill them?
Olivia’s thought patterns had become decidedly more violent from her training.
The Olivia from months ago, the one who’d said people shouldn’t be killed, was long dead.
Olivia had killed her herself. There was no other way to survive an instructor’s madness.
“Don’t worry yourself. We shall handle everything!”
“Protecting a lady is our greatest honor.”
Smack.
With a quick flourish, Sirius planted a brief kiss on the back of Olivia’s hand.
“Ugh.”
Bennett made a small gagging sound beside her. His eyes were full of thoughts like ‘You really are nobility!’ Olivia felt a flare of irritation.
“That isn’t necessary.”
“Impossible! This frail arm wielding a sword?”
Olivia’s arm was not frail. These fools—who’d never lifted anything heavier than a Magic Staff and course materials—were spouting nonsense. She replied with clear annoyance.
“Are you saying a sword doesn’t suit me?”
“Young Lady, you are beautiful in any form, but… there is no need for you to engage in such work.”
“Insane. These people are absolutely insane.”
Bennett now had his mouth hanging open as he listened to the three of them. The female student—presumably Daisy Wiffer—stood beside him, watching this spectacle with fascination.
Sirius crossed his arms and offered what he seemed to think was a dashing smile as he spoke.
“Now we shall protect you, Young Lady.”
Was this drivel in season…?
Olivia truly despised nobles who couldn’t read the room.
“…Olivia, what are you thinking about now?”
“Something people shouldn’t know.”
“R-right! There are times when a person needs private thoughts!”
Bennett promptly accepted this and withdrew.
Olivia exhaled a long breath.
How could she break these fools down?
Since entering the Knight Department, all Olivia had done was break people down.
Of course, the Knight Department had none quite this pathetic, so physically humbling her peers was all she’d accomplished, but…
“Bennett.”
“Mm?”
“Would it be possible to request a duel with the Magic Department students?”
“…Duels between departments are forbidden, technically.”
A tragedy. Olivia sighed once more, contemplating the grueling exam ahead. Life truly was never easy.
* * *
After the team assignments came the Field lottery.
Of course, there was one matter to handle first.
“Now that we’re teammates, why don’t we all speak casually to one another?”
“Pardon?”
“Within the academy, status has no meaning. What do you say? Does it bother you?”
“Ah, no! I’m fine with it!”
She even duly considered the opinions of the idiot brothers.
They’d been quite insistent about it—status being important. Olivia respected their views thoroughly. She was sincere about it.
“Sirius, Gilleon. You two agree with me, right?”
“That is—”
“Our fathers—I mean, the Kishier Marquis and the Oblivion Duke both told us that’s how it should be at the academy.”
“……”
“Unless you have a different opinion?”
“N-no, not at all.”
Bennett gave her a thumbs-up for such exemplary noble conduct—worthy of a textbook. Olivia felt oddly satisfied.
She turned her attention back to the platform with a lighter heart. The lottery would begin soon.
“Each team will send one representative to the stage, please.”
Bennett dashed up the platform in response to the Dean’s call.
“I wonder what Fields will come up this time.”
Veritas maintained various Fields for student training. They were inhabited by all manner of monsters, and the difficulty and objectives varied depending on which Field your team drew.
This was determined purely by luck, so all you could do was hope your representative was blessed by fortune. Watching Bennett on the platform, Olivia murmured.
“I hope he draws a good terrain.”
“Ah, indoor terrain would be best, wouldn’t it? More places to hide, less weather interference,” Daisy offered.
Olivia merely smiled without answering.
Easy terrain? Comfortable terrain? None of that mattered. What Olivia wanted was terrain where they could make the most impact.
More monsters, dangerous conditions—that was fine.
That might actually make it easier to control these fools. Their pride always crumbled quickly in the face of mortal danger.
Olivia prayed fervently. Please, please…
“A good Field. Please.”
“Group B will enter the ‘Forest Cradle’ Field.”
Thank the heavens!
A sharp intake of breath escaped Olivia, her eyes widening. Then, just as quickly, a radiant smile spread across her face.
It was an expression utterly unlike those of Bennett on the platform or her other teammates below.
“No! You’re lying! You forged this because Olivia’s in our group, didn’t you? Right?”
“Yeah, yeah, so happy about it? Figures. Next, Group C!”
“No, this is a lie! There’s clearly some sinister conspiracy—oof, oof!”
“Bennett, you’re embarrassing yourself. Please be quiet and come down.”
Bennett’s face was clouded with gloom. As his teammates dragged him down from the platform, he muttered in a daze.
“Why, why did we have to draw a forest terrain?”
“Why? Because that’s what you drew, Bennett.”
“There are five Fields and we picked second!”
“One of five teams has to draw each one. It just happened to be us. Don’t be too disheartened.”
“…Olivia. Whose side are you even on?”
Mine. Just mine.
Olivia found this outcome quite satisfactory.
The Forest Field was one of the highest-difficulty areas in Veritas, a notoriously brutal place that had caused many students to forfeit.
A complex exam where you had to eliminate monsters to accumulate points while strengthening team unity and surviving in diverse environments.
So much to manage already, and now a difficult Field too!
But that also meant they’d shine brighter in the examiners’ eyes.
The realization made Olivia’s face begin to glow with a subtle sheen.
“Even if we had to draw something…”
“Luck is a complicated thing, isn’t it? Don’t you think, Gilleon?”
“…Y-yes, it is.”
Gilleon, about to display his mediocre character, immediately shut his mouth upon hearing Olivia’s words.
Among her gloomy teammates, Olivia alone was radiant.
Clap!
“Now it’s time to think about the next step.”
“Next step?”
“We enter the Field in two days. Before then, we need to grow familiar with each other’s abilities and prepare and submit our equipment for inspection.”
One Backpack. Apart from weapons, that was the only thing students could bring into the Field—a single standardized Backpack.
Efficiently packing what they deemed necessary into identical containers. That itself was the true beginning of the exam.
Olivia intended to leave nothing to chance. Her green eyes swept across each teammate, gleaming with focus.
“I believe we can do this.”
Then what could possibly stop us?
Olivia had learned lessons carved into her bones from months of rolling and falling. That lesson was—
“With determination and effort, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”
“…Instructor?”
“Yes, that was what the instructor taught us.”
Behind Olivia, the phantom of Aiden seemed to shimmer.
But Gilleon and Sirius blinked blankly, clearly not understanding what she meant, and simply smiled foolishly.
“Ha, just trust me.”
“Yes, Olivia. Trust only us. We’ll protect you no matter what!”
Perfect mutual misunderstanding.
And some distance away, Bennett hugged his knees and sat dejected—
“Those guys must have nine lives or something…”
—watching the fools who were about to march straight into hell, shaking his head.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Huh? Well, that your name was… Daisy, was it? What do you mean by that?”
“Nine lives? Oh, are you talking about the Kishier Marquisate?”
What sort of question was this?
It wasn’t the Kishier Marquisate that was the problem. It was Olivia who was the problem. Bennett would’ve bet his lunch tomorrow that those two would be thoroughly beaten down by her before leaving the Field.
“Not the Kishier Marquisate—I’m talking about Olivia. You have no idea how terrifying her sword technique is.”
If you got hit wrong, you’d briefly get to pay your respects to your ancestors. Truly terrifying.
“Olivia is really that impressive?”
“What? Look at this guy.”
Bennett preferred Daisy to those two idiots. Whether she was noble or commoner, he didn’t know, but at least she treated him like a person.
So he decided to bestow some wisdom.
“Listen well, Daisy.”
“Mm?”
“Not a single person has ever defied Olivia and walked away unscathed.”
“Really?”
“Not one.”
And that included Bennett in the statistics.
Bennett shuddered, rubbing his arms, remembering that time years ago when he’d disrespected Olivia and gotten thoroughly thrashed on a rainy day.
“Just you wait. See what happens to those two.”
Everyone said she was docile and kind. Just as long as you didn’t cross her line.
His eyes swept rapidly across the three of them.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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