Chapter 35

In the next two days, Estelle completely ignored Vince. No matter what he told her, she would flat out ignore him. That didn't stop him from carrying his duties as her attendant, though.

Thus, after a few tries, Vince stopped trying.

'No point in trying. She'll eventually start talking to me again by herself.'

The rankings were to be confirmed in just a few minutes now. Almost the whole student body had gathered in front of the arena to witness the final rank adjustments.

There was a massive wall where the full rankings were listed. The top ten had their names written bigger than anyone else, then came the top one hundred, then everyone else. Right now, the wall was covered with a veil.

The headmaster soon arrived to confirm the rankings.

"Hello everyone! I'm happy to see so many people here to see the rankings. Even if you got a low ranking this time, don't worry! There's still room for improvement. I'm not going to tell you anyone can reach the top ten, as that would be a straight-out lie. But all of you can go up the rankings as long as you work hard. Now, let's move on. Remove the veil!"

Two teachers pulled on the veil that was covering the rankings, showing everyone the rankings.

1st place: Estelle von Sideria - 901 points

2nd place: Andre von Rais - 861 points

3rd place: Theo von Macht - 854 points

4th place: Rick Flossen - 846 points

…

14th place: Vince von Sideria - 785 points

'I ended up fourteenth, huh. The prince was also surpassed by two more people because of his fail when fighting a goblin. The competition is fiercer than I thought.'

"Congratulations to Estelle von Sideria for taking first place with a whopping forty points lead! Now come on the stage and make a speech in front of everyone."

At the end of every placement test, it was a custom that the first ranker would be their year's valedictorian —until he got dethroned, of course.

From right beside Vince, a girl walked out from the crowd, stepping onto the stage. Her golden hair was shining under the warm sun of an autumn's day.

Once she was in front of the podium, she gazed from left to right, looking in the eyes of everyone. Then, after she had stared at everyone for a few seconds, she opened her mouth and calmly started talking.

"Thank you, headmaster. I'm sure this year will prove itself to be a trial for everybody here. There will be a lot of competition across the board for the rankings, and no one has their rank secured. But I shouldn't be the one making this speech. There's at least one person here who probably would have deserved my rank more. But I won't be one to be discouraged from this much. Even if everyone thinks I shouldn't be the one holding onto this spot, I wouldn't care. I'll fight to keep it as hard as I can. So, come and try me if you can!"

'I think everyone will misunderstand something here… but whatever. It works fine for me this way.'

Leaving everyone flabbergasted because of her taunting speech, she stepped down from the stage.

As she returned, a certain boy stepped out of the crowd.

'Here we go again.'

"I accept your challenge! I shall show everyone what this prince is capable of!"

After looking at him with a slightly puzzled look, she feigned ignorance and kept going on her way.

But the other party seemed to interpret it more as a sign of agreement.

'Poor guy… If he knew Estelle's real cultivation, he'd probably faint. Well, most people here would, probably. The old geezers from the von Sideria made a good decision.'

The headmaster once again started speaking.

"Now, next thing. The classes will be created according to your rank. That's only at first, though. Over time the classes will be rearranged according to your rank in that discipline, not the overall rank. It would make no sense to put a first ranker who only uses a bow in the top sword class, right?"

"Then, the accommodation. The top ten have their dedicated building, while everyone else goes in another building. Among the top three, there are some differences in the suites, but nothing major. Then rank four to ten all have the same room type. Then rank eleven to thirty, and finally rank thirty-one to one hundred. After rank one hundred, there are no differences in the rooms."

"As you all know, in cultivation, mana stones are fundamental to develop one's control over mana. Those will be assigned according to not only rank but also how many points you scored. I'll not explain now the way it's computed how many you get. If you are interested, go ask in the reward centre."

"Then there's the food. In the canteen, the top ten and the top one hundred have their reserved sections. Better food will also be served to them. How much better? A lot. While the average meal here is comparable to one served to officials in the army, a meal served to someone in the top one hundred is comparable to a general's meal. As for the top ten? It's equal to the average meal a royal or a duke eats."

"The final difference is in the number of attendants. Those outside the top one hundred have one attendant per five people. Ranks one hundred to thirty-one have one each, thirty to eleven have two each, top ten have five each, and top three have five more compared to top ten."

"There are still some minor differences, but that's up to you to find them. So, if you want to have an easier life, work hard! That said, I'm done with explaining everything."

After the headmaster flew away, leaving everyone staring at the sky, the crowd soon started dispersing.

'Poor Estelle, she'll take a good while to leave this place. Look at all those people trying to curry favour with her. There's even the prince trying to talk to her… oh well. It's almost time for lunch. Let's go to the canteen.'

As he started walking away, Estelle looked at him as if asking for help.

'Fine, let's give her a hand. I'd feel bad leaving her there, after what I did…'

Vince walked up to the small group gathered around Estelle and spoke up.

"Excuse us, but it's almost time for lunch. Let's go, milady."

The prince turned his way aggressively, but after realising Vince was the one who scored perfect in theory, he calmed down.

Since it was a reasonable excuse, no one complained. As for the prince, he probably realised he would sit at the same table, so it wasn't a bad thing for him.

Everyone then went their way. Then, only Estelle and Vince remained, walking side by side towards the canteen.

"Milady…"

"Humpf."

When he tried talking to her, she snorted and went her way, leaving Vince alone.

'As expected… Oh well, let's leave her alone for a while.'

This time, the tables were prepared how they should—the higher up the table, the higher the ranking.

While Estelle sat as the head of the highest table, Vince was a few steps below.

Those in the top one hundred could freely pick their table. There were a total of nine tables, all with ten seats each.

Vince sat down at one table randomly. Not long after, the table had filled up. All of the kids were silent, but at some point, a kid abruptly started speaking. He had black hair and pupils so dark it was hard to tell their colour.

"I think we should introduce ourselves. In the next six months at least we'll probably see each other a lot. I'll start; I'm Zack Lipsgold. I ranked sixteenth in this exam. I'll be in your care."

Next, a girl spoke. Her hair and eyes were a matching crimson colour, giving her an energetic appearance.

"I'm Nichole Ware, ranked twenty-first."

Seeing no one speak up anymore, Vince decided to speak.

"I'm Vince von Sideria. Ranked fourteenth. I'll be in your care as well."

"Oh! You're mister perfect score guy!"

The crimson-haired girl, Nichole, recognised him immediately.

"Yes, right. Well, I ended up this low because I'm not that good on the practical side…"

"Don't worry! I had the same problem. This test is very unfair to those who aim at becoming wizards or any magic-based fighter. Things will change in two or three years, after the majority of students will have reached the Flowing Realm and will be capable of casting spells. The current ranking will probably be flipped upside down. It happens almost every year, or so I was told."

'Right. Once one reaches the Flowing Realm, he will cast real magic, not just enhance his body. Once magic is added to the basic subjects, the rankings will probably change dramatically.'

The rest also introduced themselves, but none caught Vince's attention. Most were people who ranked outside of the top thirty. And Vince knew well how leagues worked. Those outside the top thirty were far below his league, and interacting with them wasn't of any help in achieving his goals.

But that didn't mean he saw them as inferior beings. He wasn't looking down on them. He just knew that it would bring him no benefit to interact with them at this point in time. But if they climbed a few leagues, he could give it a thought. Such was his mentality.

Why would one interact with every passerby? Most people would not. They would simply walk by and ignore most people around them. So did Vince. He saw most people here as passersby, whom he had no business with. At least for now, that is.

As lunchtime was coming to an end, the whole canteen gasped. Why? The prince had just run away from the table crying! But what could have happened?