Lily Hayth

"Ms. Ross, are you alright?"

Ophelia's assistants came sprinting at her after the exam concluded.

"What happened between you and that other examinee?"

She was still sitting on the ground as she gazed absentmindedly at the sky.

"Announce the end of the exam and tell those who've passed to rest." Ophelia ordered without looking at them and ignoring their questions.

"Y-yes!"

Despite just arriving, they were sent away by Ophelia shortly.

"But before that…"

The assistants were about to go but were stopped by Ophelia.

"Did the other exams finish yet?" she asked.

They looked nervously at each other before they answered.

"Yes… We heard that the instructors of the south, east, and west only let about 10 people pass." a male assistant began to elaborate.

"What about the north?"

Ophelia glanced at him sharply.

He gulped down his saliva.

"O-only one person passed…" he stated sheepishly.

"Heh…" Ophelia snickered.

"So only I, the instructor of the central exam, let 200 people pass?" she said self-deprecating.

As the greatest magic academy in the world, roughly 10000 people would yearly try their luck in the entrance exams. But it was impossible to hold one exam for everyone at the same time and at the same place, so the exam was divided into five different locations across the nation of Loogam.

The north, south, east, west and central.

"But one person, huh…" Ophelia wondered with an indifferent facial expression.

She finally stood up and turned to her assistants.

"They're waiting, you know? Do what I just told you."

The examinees were waiting patiently for them.

"Good job, everyone! Those, who remained conscious, have passed this exam. Tomorrow at the same time, we will hold the written exam here, so go ahead and rest for today!" one of the assistants announced loudly.

Then, one after another, left the place.

Mika was also walking away. He turned his face to the left and then to the right.

Just a few minutes ago, there were about 2000 people standing and chatting normally here. However, now about 200 people were able to exit the academy's gates again while they went past the unconscious dropouts.

He felt somewhat bitter. What if he had stepped up from the beginning? Would more people have passed the exam?

[It's no use to think about it now.]

Mika knew it, too. But he could not help to think about it.

However, his thoughts were overwritten by the trembling earth he sensed coming from behind him.

"Just what are they doing…?" he said to himself confused.

A horde of people were running at him. They waved their hands at Mika while smiling brightly.

[Congratulations on your first fan club.]

"What?"

And in a blink of an eye, Mika was in the center of said crowd.

"Thank you for helping us!"

"Hey, hey, just how did you defeat Ophelia Ross?"

"Thanks to you, my parents will be proud of me!"

"Your abilities will be surely a S rank!"

He was pushed and pulled on, not having even the slightest chance of saying something.

"W-wait…" his voice was drowned.

[So this is what they meant with suffering from success.] the system commented intrigued.

Luckily, Mika could not hear the system due to the commotion getting louder and louder.

Suddenly, he felt someone grabbing his arm as he was dragged outside the crowd.

"Trust me." the mysterious person flustered into his ear.

Naturally, the crowd noticed that.

"Where is he going?"

"Who's there?"

"Please don't go yet!"

After miraculously fighting themselves through the crowd, Mika thought that he could finally take a breather, but it did not end just yet.

The person, who rescued him, stood with the back to him.

Looking at the person's back and blonde hair, which was tied in a ponytail, he remembered again.

"Are you-"

"We have to hurry!"

"Huh?"

With those words, they began to run away.

And while they were running, Mika looked back.

The people were still chasing them. But at their speed, the crowd got smaller and smaller until they completely faded away from the horizon.

"We finally shook them off."

"Yeah…"

The two hid in a nearby park behind some trees and bushes.

As he gasped for air, Mika took a glance at the person – no, the girl who saved him.

She wore a white buttoned shirt with frills on the sleeves. Her black pants paired with black boots stressed her long legs. Furthermore, the more he stared at them, the more he felt enchanted by her sparkling crimson-red eyes.

Just like him, she was also out of breath.

"You're the girl from the exam, right? The one who stood up to Ophelia Ross midways."

"Yes, that's correct. Glad that you remembered me!" she replied with a beaming smile.

In his head, he thought how one could ever forget someone like her.

Mika reached his hand to her.

"Thanks for helping me escape those people. My name is Mika Elbar. Can I know your name, too?"

"Oh, sure! I'm Lily Hayth. Nice to meet you!"

She shook his hand.

Mika returned her smile thinking that this may be the beginning of a friendship.

He attempted to slowly let go of her hand, however, he suddenly felt her soft grip tighten.

"L-Lily…?"

She pulled him towards her.

"Hey, can you tell me how you defeated the instructor?" she asked curiously.

Her intentions were innocent, but she did not realize the pressure she was emitting from her.

Mika smiled awkwardly as he tried to free himself, but it was in vain. Even though he trained his body since he was a child, he was not able to escape the handshake of a girl.

"I…"

"Hmmm?"

His voice pitch got higher.

"I-I dodged her attack luckily…" he stated in pain.

"Reallyyy?"

Lily's face got closer to his. There was still a hint of doubt within her.

She could not believe that someone was able to luckily dodge an attack of such a scale.

"Y-yes! You can go ahead and ask her if you want!" he said in panic.

Then, she let go of him.

"Maybe I will do just that…" she muttered as she was pondering.

Mika sighed in relief after he was freed from her grip.

"Well, I'll go n-"

"But before I ask her, I want to do something else!" she said energetically cutting off Mika.

"…"

He shivered for a moment. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Let's fight!" she declared pointing her finger at him.

"What?"

He tilted his head in utter confusion.

"I want to witness your dodging skills!" she pleaded with excitement in her eyes.

[What's wrong with that kid?]

The system took the words right from Mika's mouth.

He scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry, but I-"

[Do it.]

"What?" he said out loud accidentally.

"What is it, Mika?"

Words appeared in front of Mika.

It was a quest from the system.

"Ehm, could you please wait a moment?" Mika asked politely.

"Oh, sure, I guess…" Lily replied somewhat confused.

Thus, Mika distanced himself from her a bit, and behind a random tree, he let his emotions quietly out.

"Are you kidding me?!" he yelled quietly and enraged.

[No.]

This time it was a side quest.

"Do you think I'm insane enough to do that?!"

The quest stated that Mika must let himself get hit by Lily's attacks for a minute.

[Look at the reward.]

"Hear me out. I'm not so desperate that I would let myself get fried by her for some lousy rewards." he argued with pride.

Nonetheless, he checked out the reward. After all, it could not hurt to know it.

Rewards: 3 gold coins

Punishment: None

"…"

He stared at the floating words blankly.

A few minutes later.

"I-I will leave a healing potion for you here, okay? U-until tomorrow then…" Lily said awkwardly and empathically.

[Are you sure that you are not desperate?]

"Shut up…"

Mika, who was lying on the ground with burn marks on his body, collected the reward from the side quest.