I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The postponed entrance exam assignment was announced early the next morning.

“Disabling artifacts?”

Rosette asked back. I nodded.

“Yeah. It says here. There are four difficulty levels of artifacts: basic, intermediate, advanced, and supreme, and the points you can receive for disabling each one are different.”

“Artifacts are those things, right? Magical tools.”

Janet shook her head at Verain’s words.

“They’re similar, but they’ll be a bit different from ordinary magical tools. I heard they’re like some kind of traps…”

“Traps?”

Janet nodded.

“Yes. I heard that artifacts operate on much more complex principles than magical tools. Moreover, all the artifacts used in the exam will be ones that Professor Sadina developed herself…”

“I see, then they definitely won’t be simple magical tools.”

Rosette was right.

Professor Sadina was a genius at developing magical tools.

Her abilities aside, her knowledge of magical studies and magical engineering couldn’t be ignored either.

This fact could be seen just by looking at what subjects she taught while serving as vice-principal at the Academy.

“If disabling artifacts is the assignment, there’s one thing we should make clear.”

My classmates looked at me.

“Since there are four artifact grades total, it’ll be important to move with the most efficient route within the time limit.”

Verain hesitantly interjected.

“But we haven’t even seen what kind of artifacts will appear yet, have we? How can we plan our route in this situation…”

I shook my head.

“As I said earlier, artifacts aren’t simple magical tools.”

“Then what?”

“They’re closer to ‘machines’ packed with engineering design.”

Everyone looked at me with tense expressions.

“And machines always move according to certain rules.”

Verain blinked. Janet, who had been frozen, half-opened her mouth and muttered.

“So what you’re saying, Lady Seleneae, is that we should approach by first understanding the operating principles? And find weaknesses after that.”

“That’s right, exactly.”

Rosette asked hesitantly.

“But how do you know so much about artifacts? Magical machines and all that – I thought they wouldn’t be much different from ordinary magical tools.”

After hesitating, I answered awkwardly.

“Oh, I just read some things related to artifacts.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Even after obtaining the relic and being able to borrow Adam’s ability, I had been in danger several times.

But Adam’s ability didn’t last long each time and was incomplete.

Moreover, until I met Amon, I didn’t have any proper offensive abilities I could use.

‘So I looked into various magical tools.’

If I couldn’t protect myself with abilities, I needed to carry magical tools at least.

And I learned.

There were dozens, thousands of types of magical tools, and among them, those using particularly complex manufacturing formulas were classified as ‘artifacts’.

‘I was actually thinking of ordering some small artifacts with good reputations to carry around.’

Artifact disabling appearing as an exam assignment was an unexpected situation.

But it wasn’t bad.

‘Since I already roughly know what kinds of artifacts exist.’

Artifacts were close to traps, as Janet had said.

Most were types that would attack when movement was detected, or deploy barriers.

‘But if it’s Professor Sadina, she might have created some unusual artifacts.’

I muttered while looking at the large official notice on the wall.

“It says here that a total of thirty-four artifacts will be released in the underground exam hall.”

Specifically, the numbers varied by grade.

Points were distributed in descending order starting from supreme grade.

Supreme (1) – 1000 points

Advanced (3) – 300 points

Intermediate (10) – 80 points

Basic (20) – 50 points

Rosette said from beside me.

“The supreme grade looks like it’ll be difficult to disable just from looking at it.”

Estelin nodded.

“Also, since two groups enter the exam hall per turn, this will be a competitive format again.”

“Will they decide the passing line by points?”

Verain, who found the bracket at the bottom of the notice, exclaimed.

“Seems like it! It’s detailed here!”

We all looked in that direction.

The notice contained the bracket along with detailed explanations of how the assignment would be evaluated.

“They’ll decide the passing line by points, but the examiners will evaluate various aspects of each group’s strategy and abilities…”

“More importantly, it looks like our group will be competing against Ellison Baycal’s group.”

My eyes widened.

Ellison Baycal was a student I’d occasionally encountered while staying in the dormitory over the past few days.

I didn’t know exactly what abilities his group members had, but they were definitely manageable opponents overall.

A smile spread across my lips.

“Not bad! If we just do as we discussed earlier…”

That’s when it happened.

“Hey there, Lady Seleneae.”

A familiar voice came from right behind me. All my group members, including myself, turned to look.

“Let’s switch brackets so we can enter the exam hall together with our group.”

With a somewhat tense expression and a twisted smile on her lips, it was none other than Anita Solb.

I froze in place for a moment. Anita definitely had a smiling face.

However, something unknown was burning fiercely in her eyes.

Hanod approached quickly from behind and grabbed Anita.

“…Anita. What are you trying to do again…”

He glanced at me, then grabbed his forehead as if troubled. Then he said in a sighing voice.

“…Anita. Isn’t this enough now? Stop it.”

But Anita looked back at Hanod with a bizarre smile on her face.

“What’s wrong, Hanod? What did I do? Lady Seleneae will like it too.”

Then she shifted her gaze to me.

“Right, Lady Seleneae? You want to properly compete with me too, don’t you?”

Rosette let out an incredulous laugh from behind.

Verain and Janet exchanged glances while half-covering their mouths.

I looked at Anita silently, then slowly raised the corners of my mouth in a smile.

“Of course.”

Anita’s eyes widened slightly.

She held her breath briefly, then nodded with an elegant voice.

“…You made a good decision. Then let’s meet at the exam hall tomorrow.”

And with a much more satisfied expression, she turned and walked away.

Hanod remained standing there alone, watching Anita.

But soon he let out a deep sigh and followed after her.

As soon as they left, Verain made a fuss.

“Th-that young lady, why is she acting like that? Did you see her eyes?”

“I, I saw them. She had a completely strange expression…”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Just leave her be. It would be stranger if she wasn’t acting like that.”

Everyone fell silent and stared at me.

I hadn’t entirely failed to anticipate this kind of situation.

Anita Solb was a girl who lived for her own sense of superiority. She thought she was incredibly smart and clever.

‘So she must be even more twisted inside.’

Since arriving in Rishion, she hadn’t won against me in a single thing.

At first, she tried to show off her friendship with Duke Hallen to everyone. But Duke Hallen trusted me more.

‘With Rubel in between, it’s only natural, but…’

There was no way she could know that.

She also exposed the relic’s effects by questioning them, but with just one word from me, she became someone who went crazy and spouted nonsense.

‘She even went as far as stealing the relic in a dangerous move, but the results were disastrous, so she must be furious.’

And as a result of all these incidents, Anita Solb was currently nothing more or less than a short-sighted and rude person among the prospective students.

Meanwhile, I had become the hero who cleared the Sacred Sprites’ grievances…

“She seems to have some strange competitive psychology toward you.”

Rosette muttered.

“Hasn’t this become too troublesome? It’s obvious what Anita Solb has been up to.”

Then she looked around as if troubled and whispered quietly.

“Of course, I know there’s no other way to make her shut up about the relic you have. But it’s still concerning to just watch and do nothing.”

“I won’t just watch and do nothing.”

Rosette’s eyes widened. I continued while staring at the distant Anita.

“Since she’s throwing around reckless moves on her own like that, we should take advantage of it too.”

“How?”

I looked around at my group members, then briefly recalled in my mind the report I had received from Walter before coming here.

And I brought up the words I had thought of in advance.

Everyone listening to the story widened their eyes.

Early the next morning. The exam began.

This exam had groups fixed at 6 members.

So groups like ours that were short on members had current students assigned to them.

After the first four groups had entered the examination hall, while we were waiting our turn in the waiting room.

The current student assigned to our group opened the waiting room door and entered.

“Rosette! Selene!”

I widened my eyes in surprise at the face that appeared before me.

Rosette also half-rose from her seat and froze in bewilderment.

“Martina…?”

That’s right. The current student assigned to our group was none other than Martina.

The girl with the gloomy atmosphere who had been standing beside Rosette the day I first met her.

She had been adopted by the Grimaldi couple and lived with Rosette at the manor, then successfully entered Rishion a year ago and came to the Academy.

But to meet her here.

While I was frozen with a bewildered face, Martina smiled brightly and spoke to us.

“It’s so nice to see you after so long! How have you been?!”

Rosette, who had been staring wide-eyed, stammered.

“How are you…”

“How did I get assigned to this group?”

Martina smiled cheerfully while touching her shortened purple hair. Then she whispered energetically.

“Actually, I rigged the lottery…! I saw a familiar name on the group leader list.”

Rosette and I widened our eyes and looked at each other. Then Martina laughed sheepishly.

“The thing is, I’m currently in the student council.”

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