Three months had passed since the start of the new semester and the school’s first exam results had been posted.

The main purpose of the academy was to allow noble men and women to socialize and make bonds with one another. Apart from that, many noble paid no mind to the gradable courses that they offered and only focused on the non-gradable ones.

As a result, one could imagine that their scores would be bad but to Princess Teresa H. Eleadia they were deplorable.

“What the hell is this?” she asked as she looked at the notice board.

There was listed the scores of every noble in the first year.

In first place was Colin Frederick, followed closely by her. Then Helen Von Hillthorn, Archie Lancaster, Catherin Sealedge Collwood, Aaron O'Brien, George Dragonfire…

“Are you angry because you were not first?” asked Helen 

“Don’t be imprudent. I would never be as petty as to be jealous of somebody’s higher grade.”

“Then what is it?”

“Take a closer look, don’t you see it?”

“Just tell me.” She replied with a sigh.

“Fine. The marks are consistent with everyone scoring above 750 points up to that point then it drops to 450 points.”

“Hmm… I guess that is so”

“And apart from us three, all the other high scores belong to noble knights.”

“Eh…” she replied before taking a closer look. “Your right… To think you would spot such a thing… Guess your obsession with noble knights is paying off…”

“This is no time for jokes. Where is the pride of the upper nobility? How could they let this happen? It is a disgrace.”

“Even if you say that. Upper nobility only cares about the other non-gradable classes. They will just hand over the day-to-day task to their aides anyway. For them, the academy is the place to make bonds with other noble houses.” answered Catherin

“Even so… the difference is too much.”

“Well, I agree with you on that, but don’t you have bigger problems?”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew you would forget about it. Alexander, Anthony, and Leo have been bothering me with the date for the expedition to the labyrinth.”

“Ah… I forgot about that.”

“I knew it. Anyhow, a group of royal knights led by my brother will be ready to follow us any time this week.”

“Is that so? Then let those three jesters know that we will be going tomorrow. The sooner we do this the better.”

“Sure thing.”

“Are you really going to do this?” asked Helen

“I have to at least do it once with them or it will cause trouble. I don’t want to go through another lecture with my mother.”

“Fine…”

“Let’s go and make preparations.”

***

As they left Colin and Aaron arrived. They saw the three of them walk off but there was no reason for them to care about them.

The distance between a noble knight and royalty could not be easily measured.

“Looks like you are first Colin.”

“Hmm… The princess is second I see.”

“Do you by chance have a crush on the princess?”

“Eh… Why would you say such a thing?”

“A hunch.”

For Aaron, who possessed the <Superior Awareness> skill. Telling who among the three Colin was paying close attention to was easy.

“Just don’t forget the difference between reality and fantasy. That my friend is something that is out of reach for noble knights.”

His warning was sound but Colin couldn’t help but glance one more time at the girl he thought was beautiful.

***

“So this is the first floor?” Princess Teresa uttered

It was the following day; she and her two friends, along with the royal knights and her fiancé contenders entered the labyrinth.

“I was expecting it to be a lot more than this,” Leo replied

“You are right Leo. Adventures and explorers often say stuff about how dangerous labyrinths are but from what I can tell, they are just being lazy.” Alexander said

“I agree” Anthony uttered

“Don’t let your guard down. A labyrinth is indeed a dangerous place. One wrong move and it is all over.” 

The person who reprimanded the boys was the royal vice knight commander and Catherin’s older brother. Hans K. Collwood.

“Is the great Hans scared of kobolds, goblins, and slimes? Does he need me to hold his hand?” Anthony mocked before the other two joined him in laughter.

“You bastard,” Catherin shouted before drawing her sword.

“Oi Oi… that is dangerous Catherin. Stick to magic and let the real knights handle the swordplay.”

“Humph… I seem to recall a certain knight losing to me in a duel and then crying like a baby.”

“That doesn’t count… We were kids… and I let you win…”

“Ho? Care to try it again?”

“Enough you two,” Princess Teresa said

“That’s right. Let us not forget the reason we all came here, Anthony.”

“Ah… Sorry, Alexander.”

“Then let’s get started. The knights and I will be a minute behind you. Should anything happen, just call for us.”

“Thanks, brother.”

“No problem sister.” And with those words, Hans and the other knights withdrew.

“Alright then, let’s get into formation.”

“Before that princess, I would like to present you with this…”

“What is that Alexander?”

“A memento for the occasion. It would make me happy if you could wear it.”

“Umm… Sure…” she replied before placing the necklace around her neck.

With her reply, Alexander couldn’t help but think

Got you!