Egg.

Fried egg.

Scrambled egg.

Those were my breakfast for today, and they were all prepared by Petra.

Actually, it wasn’t just me. Amelia and Raun were sitting at the table, too, waiting for Petra to finish with her cooking.

Today wasn’t anything special. Just the entrance exam for Ark. Nothing much at all. At least, to me since I’d received a letter from Ark that said they were happy to have me directly enrolled.

“I still can’t believe you’re directly admitted,” Raun grumbled. “Your Status must be amazing. Why don’t you want to show it?”

“Do you want to know the truth?” I activated my [Authority of Fear]. “Even if it costs your life?”

Instead of being scared, Raun got all rowdy. “Woah! Your eyes! They’re gray again!”

Alright, plan failed. Time to initiate my backup plan. I made my way into the kitchen and picked up the egg-lunch that Petra packed for me.

“I’m going.”

“This early?” Petra asked.

I nodded. And after a quick peck on the cheek, I dashed out of the house.

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Since I was feeling extra giddy today, I called a taxi to get me to the Ark. Ark wasn’t strict with their dress code. So, all I had to do was wear my normal white military attire and make sure that the Insignia that Ark gave me was visible on my clothes.

I stared at the Insignia. Even in the dim light of the taxi’s interior, I could tell that it was blue in color—signifying that I was a first-year. There was a streak of gold right in the middle, screaming that I was someone who was directly admitted. Its design was of a boat riding on violent waves. Apparently, the symbolism was that the graduates would be the Arks that save humanity from the threat of the Evil God.

“We’ve arrived,” the taxi driver said. Then, he glanced at my badge, not my insignia. “And thank you for your service.”

I gave him a salute, stuck the Insignia on my left sleeve, and got out of the taxi. What greeted me was a floating island above the Noble district. It wasn’t so high as to rise above the clouds, so it would still experience rain and all the typical weather patterns that the Capital usually received.

Meanwhile the Noble district was perpetually dry since, you know, a huge ass floating island was above it.

Anyways, island’s cool, but the problems that came with it weren’t. In order to keep it floating, the Headmaster had to always be on the island, inside a small room. And, his abilities were limited to only the concealment of himself. Even a toddler could kill him if it discovered where the Headmaster was hiding by chance. So, despite being SS-ranked, he was actually pretty useless, all things considered.

After showing the Insignia to the Guards, I was allowed inside the Noble district. I tried to ignore every stare the Nobles were giving me and contacted a Space mage affiliated with Ark.

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“Astrape Knovski, is it?”

A Professor was standing in front of me, looking through his paper clips while muttering my name.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Calm down for a bit. This is not the military.”

“Yes, Si— Professor.”

The Professor smiled before handing me a piece of paper.

“Would you like to do a job for me?”

“...It depends.”

“Well, it’s nothing, really. You just need to supervise someone and mark their grade.”

“In the entrance exam?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Yes. We’re actually…short on staff. But I assure you, if you do your job well, you’ll get a pass on my class—Mana Theory. So, what do you say?”

T-This…this was amazing~! Since I’d enlisted when I was just twelve, I actually had no knowledge of anything theoretical. In fact, I was ready to fail every class that wasn’t practical. So, I’d have to be a fool to refuse this.

“I accept.” I shook his hand. “Thanks, Professor…”

“Theodore,” he answered. “Theodore Greyr.”

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The venue for the entrance exam was inside a warehouse right outside the Capital. Since the buses were definitely crowded at this time, I decided to walk instead. As I was making down the streets, however…

-”Little girl, are you all alone?”

-”We’ll give you some candies. Come with us.”

…Yeah, creeps and thugs.

Thankfully, those nasty words weren’t directed at me. Instead, they were meant for a girl inside a dark alleyway. 

I…walked past them and paid them no more attention. Not because I was heartless (although, I was), but because I recognized the girl.

Long raven hair, red eyes, a petite figure, and super underdeveloped boobs. Although some might mistake her for a young child, she was actually a future member of Artoria’s Harem.

‘Lucy Fertilus…I don’t even want to think about her.’

Or rather, her father.

Anyways, if Marcela’s memories served me right, then an event would happen here. I didn’t want any part of it, so I simply walked away. Though, Lyra didn’t have the knowledge that I had.

|Aren’t you going to help her?|

I immediately came up with a plausible-sounding excuse.

(“Nah, it’s probably a scam. Some idiot with a sense of justice would jump in and then the girl will suck the money out of them.”)

|R-Really?| she looked horrified. |T-The Mortal realm has become much…scarier after all these years…|

Anyways, I also wasn’t too worried since Lucy was strong enough to beat all the thugs to death. The only reason why she hadn’t done anything was that the thugs promised her candies.

Yep, a loli that was strong but also gullible enough to fall for obvious tricks… ‘I’m disgusted with whoever wrote this novel.’

After a while, I heard an explosion going off in the direction of the alleyway.

‘Wow, Artoria, think of the property damages you caused, dammit!’

I could rest easy now. This incident had definitely caused Lucy to take an interest in Artoria. Patting myself on the back for making the right decision to escape, I continued making my way to the venue.

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Inside the venue was what anyone would expect. Dusty and filled to the brim with people my age and also a few random wooden boxes. Since this wasn’t a Noble venue, the only people here were Commoners trying their best to get a scholarship. Most of them were sweating because the exam could be anything, ranging from a fighting tournament to a simple written test.

Of course, I already knew what the exam entailed—Monster Hunting. Each participant would get a slip of paper containing instructions on what to hunt and how many. 

“Astrape Gray, right?”

I looked to my side. There, a burly man was crossing his arm and looking at me sternly. Judging by the Insignia that had a boat oar design, he was definitely an examiner.

“That’s right.”

“Where’s your Insignia?”

‘Oops, I forgot.’

I took out the Insignia Professor Grayr gave me and stuck it on my outfit. It had the same design as the burly man’s.

‘Any more Insignias or Badges and I’ll become a pretentious fuck who likes to boast about her achievements.’

That aside, I followed the burly man to a raised wooden platform where several other examiners waited. Since the man was the head examiner, I had to stay behind him when he delivered his speech.

“Alright! Listen here, you maggots!”

‘That’s so fucking loud…’

“Keep quiet and come up when you’re called!”

I glanced to my side and saw the other examiners looking at me with sympathy. Looked like they were also subjected to ear torture every year…

Still, the participants were much more respectful than I was. They all kept quiet and looked at the burly man worriedly.

‘As if that will improve your chances of getting in.’

“Heinz Retar!”

A boy, whom I presumed was Heinz, walked up to the platform and received a piece of paper. 

I tiptoed and tried to see what was on it.

‘Let’ see, a Sandworm…and the number “3”…’

Looked like he would have to hunt three Sandworms.

Heinz returned to his spot and showed his paper to the nearby participant. And, almost immediately, the venue got all rowdy. They must’ve roughly guessed what the exam was about.

“QUIET!”

Of course, the burly man had to ruin my eardrums again.

“From the looks of it, you maggots have figured out what this is about. That’s right, you have to hunt Monsters if you want to get inside this academy! Once you rip your paper, a five-day countdown will start. If you can’t hunt the required number of Monsters within the time limit, you’ll be disqualified. The test will last for a total of one month, so you’ll have time to prepare carefully!”

The speech was met with mixed reactions. Some despaired, while others steeled themselves for what to come. But, all of them were aware that if they had to hunt a strong Monster, their chance of getting in would be close to nil.

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“Saul Badwoman!”

“Yes! Goblins!”

“Kaylin Rtea.”

“What? Golems!?”

Yeah, that was the gist of it. Students were either ecstatic that they got something easy, or outraged that they had to fight something much harder.

“You must be thinking that it’s unfair, right?” An examiner suddenly spoke to me. 

I glanced at her… She was absolutely forgettable. But, wanting to know more, I nodded.

“Yes. I can’t see how this would be fair.”

“Fufu, the team designing this test is cleverer than you might think.”

“...How so?”

“You see, the Monsters are assigned according to the students’ ability. While it may seem random, everything is well-planned.”

“Nobles still get the upper hand, right? Won’t they bribe the examiners or something?”

The examiner bit her lips. The answer was clear, but she didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Okay, got it. Thanks for the information, though.”

“Artoria Kilvillain!”

I nearly jumped in shock at the sudden mention of the name. Artoria? Here? In this venue? To be fair, the novel didn’t mention what venue she attended, but this was just some crazy luck.

Anyways, Artoria walked toward the wooden platform. Pitch black hair, golden eyes, and a lean body. She looked damn well attractive. Couldn’t she spare some of that beauty for me!?

However, unlike me—who was burning with jealousy, everyone in the venue was awestruck. All the girls’ faces had a tinge of red, and their eyes were glued to Artoria.

Meanwhile, the reactions of the boys were more divided. Some admired her beauty, some ogled her, and others took her as a threat to their likelihood of getting a girlfriend.

‘Yeah, this is definitely a Yuri novel, alright.’

I had to physically rein myself from running up to Artoria and pummel the shit out of her for my own satisfaction. It wasn’t as if it was purely out of envy or anything. This bitch spared so many villains just for them to come back stronger and wreak havoc, harming more innocent lives.

To be honest, I couldn’t care less if random people in the streets died, but for Artoria to lament how in Goddess Lumaria’s name could the villains have done such a thing irked me to no end. And the worst part was, she actually innocently believed that letting villains go was a good thing.

‘Kilvillain my ass!’

Anyways, kinda lost myself a bit there. Artoria had just received her paper, so I strained my eyes to see the content.

‘Storm Wyverns, five of them.’

Just like how the novel went…

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When the handing out of targets ended, the examiners all huddled together to discuss what participants they would handle.

Of course, I chose Artoria. She was going to suffer in the upcoming hunt despite being E-ranked, so I had to be there to watch her suffer.

Speaking of her rank…

‘She’s too weak right now.’

By this point, she was supposed to be ranked [D-]. I didn’t know what happened to cause her to be this weak, but it definitely wasn’t something good. So, I decided to monitor her even more closely to see what was wrong.

After registering to monitor Artoria and a few other participants, I left the venue.

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Artoria contacted me via text and said that she planned to start her hunt on the twenty-fifth day. Yes, despite being a pushover, she wasn’t too impulsive.

‘Actually, Marie probably told her to do so. Yeah, that sounds more like her.’

It meant I had time to monitor other participants; one of which was Heinz Retar—the boy whose name was first called.

I arrived at the place where we’d agreed to meet up and found him…along with a dozen Mercenaries. 

“Mr. Retar,” I said with as much formality as I could. “The rules disallow outside help. You’d have to tell the Mercenaries to get out.”

Obviously, Heinz was a Noble since he was able to hire this many people.

“But miss examiner,” Heinz flexed his muscles and winked at me. “Can’t you do me a favor and pretend you didn’t see this?” He even blew some kisses at me.

I smiled.

“Rules are rules.”

Heinz scowled as he rolled his sleeves back down. Reaching into his pocket, he very discreetly slipped fifteen-thousand Lumens into my hands.

“There, happy?”

This bastard…did he really think that I’d sell my dignity for a measly fifteen-thousand Lumens? Did he think that I’d ruin the integrity of the Ark for this money!?

“Eh? Where did all the Mercenaries go? Anyways, I’ll leave finding them to the city Guards. Let’s start the exam, Mr. Retar.”

He was absolutely correct.