❈ ❈ ❈

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

Chloe apologised over and over again as Cordelia rested with heavy breaths. She had just finished wrapping bandages around her torso and managed to treat the possible infection with basic herbal medicine that she had scrounged up from the forest on their way to shelter.

      Seeing the glint of tears in the girl’s eyes, she wiped them off with her finger.

“Don’t cry. I need to protect you.”

It was true that Cordelia could’ve avoided the injury on her back had she not been protecting Chloe but the swordswoman didn’t regret it one bit. It was either this or Chloe’s health; she picked the former without hesitation.

      “You really cry a lot, don’t you?”

“Because you always give me a reason to cry! Why…”

The girl began softly punching the other’s shoulder in frustration, her complaints echoing resoundingly in the makeshift shelter made of earth. It was of lower quality than Mareike’s as Cordelia wasn’t as versed in Elemental Magic.

      “Big Sister says that I cry a lot but Big Sister also faints a lot too!”

Cordelia had fainted and fallen unconscious countless times in the past, mostly from training too hard. It was no stranger to her, but to Chloe, it shaved off years of her life every time. 

      Sighing, Cordelia ignored the dull pain in her back as she set up their shelter, placing traps, laying out the beds and lighting the fire. Luckily, there was still some meat in her backpack which she roasted for their lunch and eventual dinner.

      Finishing all of her tasks, she sat on her bed, not wanting to inflame her wound by lying down, and reviewed her situation. During the fight, she had broken her katana, wounded herself and lost the majority of her supplies, including some of her cores. It definitely didn’t look very optimistic right now. But to Cordelia, none of that mattered. This is nothing. I’ve worked my way through worse.

      As she mentally reminded herself of that, she didn’t realise that there wasn’t the same conviction in her words, nor the fact that she had hesitantly looked over to the sleeping Chloe, her eyes slightly uncertain and anxious. 

      Her head full of doubt, Cordelia rested for the remainder of the day, believing that she could cover the rest of the distance in the last 2 days.

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27th of March, the Year 1202
8:37
Laeon Federation, Unknown

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“She’s quite good, hm?”

Lyon remarked as he watched the pair of girls scamper from the area with two eagles flying above, 1 of which was injured quite severely. To be able to fight off Marble Eagles in that fashion spoke volumes about her power and expertise, although she spoiled the performance at the end. Even so, Lyon was quite impressed.

      Those series of moves that she had just executed were very familiar to him. His former friend had used those same exact moves hundreds if not thousands of times on the battlefield, lopping off heads and ending lives left and right. Of course, his proficiency with the skill was on another level than his daughter’s but nonetheless, Lyon could tell that it was far above than what was expected for her age.

      Conrad just huffed, also inwardly stirred by the girl’s display of technique. It was clean, near-flawless and built on a solid foundation. Just from those seconds alone, he knew that she had trained endlessly on that small sequence of steps and slashes for years and years. It didn’t have the inexperience of a genius who had learnt a new skill, nor the fumbling of an incompetent brat. 

      Satisfied with Cordelia, he kept tabs on the girl and took notice of her excellent survival skills, feeling a stab in his heart. That man also trained himself in the wild, his body and mind honed with the savagery and ideology of ’survival of the fittest’. Despite the polite and handsome facade he had, under all of that was a beast.

      “Anyways, have you found who that other girl is?”

Lyon questioned one of the operators who shook his head, scratching it in the process. For some reason, the girl who accompanied Cordelia did not give off a signal like all the other examinees. There were a few explanations for this. One, they are not wearing the armour but they would not be able to enter without going through the lie detector at the entrance. Two, they modified the armour’s seals, but firstly, the Runemasters of Cheiss Academy were the real deal and secondly, the lie detector would’ve been able to catch that out. 

      Frowning, Lyon turned to Conrad who was equally perplexed as he was. Usually, entrance exams were heavily isolated from the outside world to prevent intruders from interfering with the procession. This included scanners at the entrance which could detect the seals on the armour. However, this year, they had to make concessions with the Laeon Federation’s new president who was paranoid about outside threats. A limited amount of supplies, tech and personnel were given to the academy with fear of them smuggling in illegal artefacts and goods.

      Of course, the academy was highly offended by this gesture but followed along anyway as the Federation were good trading partners. The scanner and many other things usually included for entrance exams were excluded. At this, Conrad came to a conclusion.

      “The only way to bypass the lie detector would be Mental Magic or a magic tool.”

Neither Lyon nor Conrad wanted to doubt their former friend’s daughter but the seed of suspicion had already been planted. Yet, they didn’t act on it; they had learnt their lesson from the past. Alexander Auster had been cast out in the past in this exact way and this time may not be any different. Trusting in the upbringing of the Auster House and the girl’s integrity, Cordelia and Chloe were left alone.

❈ ❈ ❈

28th of March, the Year 1202
4:28
Laeon Federation, Horn Mountain Range

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She was famished. Mareike’s stomach rumbled incessantly even when her 2 best friends gave her some of their share of food. Rationing it wasn’t a foolproof method and sooner or later, they would run out. It might not be so bad as the exam was ending tomorrow but the 3 wanted to make it to the end which was hard with an empty stomach.

      Their legs felt as heavy as lead and they backs were hunched, cautiously manoeuvring around the magical beasts that patrolled the area. Not only that, but they avoided any other group of examinees like the plague. Their run-in with that group at the beginning of the exam had taught them a lesson but even so, it made their progress slower. At this point, Eldrich was questioning their success.

      Leaving the Alemann Republic with high hopes and dreams, the trio now found themselves in a dire situation. None of them was as experienced in survival as Cordelia as they had been raised with a silver spoon in their mouths and their strength was, while amazing for their age, was severely limited by their starvation.

      “Wait for them to pass.”

Both Mareike and Abelard nodded wearily to their leader as they crawled into the bushes, hearing the footsteps of a dozen people go past them. Sadly, their luck wasn’t with them today. By chance, this small group had a competent Diviner who was constantly using passive spells to scan the area around them and found their faint mana signals.

      “Wait.”

They tensed, ready to escape, even with their weak bodies.

“You 3 can come out. I know you’re there. If you escape, we can just chase you.”

Mareike and Abelard instinctively looked to Eldrich for his response, who reluctantly nodded before he stood up, followed by his 2 friends. He made discreet hand signals behind his back, conveying his message to his 2 friends.

Stall.

      “Give us all of your things and you can leave.”

Unlike the previous one, this team was more disciplined. They only robbed to further their place in the exam and not any other nefarious purposes, as evident from their steely eyes and voice.

      As Eldrich’s mind cycled through several possibilities of escape, Mareike and Abelard stepped forward to make small talk with the group. 

      However, this could only last so long.

“I’m so tired of this, let’s just take it from them by force.”

One of the examinees began walking forward, his appearance highlighted by his hulking frame and intimidating height. Eldrich had seen him at the back of the group before but now that he took a look at him, he realised how powerful the boy, or rather ‘man’, really was. 

      Is this guy really under 15?! Flexing his arms, the bulky examinee grinned, ready to pummel his new opponents into the ground. But then Eldrich widened his eyes upon noticing something. All 10 of them were wearing large cloaks of animal fur, concealing their figure. Even so, that didn’t hide their gait and movement. It was slow, weak… uncertain. And then it hit him.

      They were weak just like them! In order to obtain food, they needed to steal from him and his friends. Suddenly, a burst of confidence filled his body, gambling it all on this assumption. Besides, if he was wrong, there was no way for them to escape anyways. 

      He was going to roll the dice and hope for the best.