Evaluation

It is the day of the test and everyone seems ready for it, briming with energy and the determination to complete the course

well there was one outlier though, Airen Parriera, who had been training since before the test which wasn't a good as you would have less energy for the evaluation leading to a worse score

"What a dummy! if it was an evaluation that involved opponents he would be dead instantly" one of Brett's gang said to him

Brett continues to look at Irene before he looks at Judith and thinks "Judith has also been working too hard these past few days. she's obviously in a worse condition' he then smirks 'As long as I don't let my guard down, third place is pretty much mine'

"It is currently 8:55AM. I shall explain the rules of the midterm exam one last time! there are for stages to this course. There will be an instructor in each stage. Once you have exceeded the target goal points, you can move onto the next location accordingly. Once again, this test is an absolute evaluation. Do not be swayed by your surroundings and only show us how much you have grown" 

"Alright, Ready!" Everyone tenses upon hearing this but get ready nonetheless 

"BEGIN!!"

The first stage was a push press 'They're really fast' Brett thought as he looked and Ilya and Licht 'I don't think I'll be able to catch up with them no matter how much I train. But besides that I'm fine'

"Wha? how in the world?" Brett heard from his right then looks at Airen who is doing very well 

"Licht Bach, stage one pass" he hears and sees Licht walking past him to the nest stage 'how already, I'm barely halfway done, and that bastard is trying to die of exhaustion' he thought while looking at Airen then tries much harder to catch up to him

"Ilya Lindsay, stage one pass" he hears it and sees Ilya walk to the next obstacle 

"Airen Parriera, stage one pass" he hears from beside him again to look toward a steaming Irene 'how? even him? no way' as Airen makes his way to the next obstacle 

At the front of the pack we see Licht at the box jumps when Ilya appears with Irene just behind her

Then you hear "Licht Bach, stage two pass" everyone looks at the completely calm Licht who starts to run off

Judith gets a massive burst of energy and stars going faster working harder and harder

"Judith, stage one pass" is heard as Judith makes her way to the box jumps starts

not long after you hear "Ilya Lindsay, stage two pass" and she starts to run off then "Airen Parriera, stage two pass" as he starts running off as well

the third stage was a long distance run, Licht's strong suit and was moving at a speed almost invisible to the human eye as he arrived at the last stage, the long distance swim, he immediately dives in and starts swimming to the other side

A little later Licht is seen getting out of the water while Judith, Ilya and Airen dive into the water, unfortunately Judith got a cramp a little bit into the swim which caused her to drown

But before she sunk to the bottom an arm came, grabbed her and started swimming with her to the surface and dragged her on land while making sure she was ok

"Leave it to me from here onwards and go quickly!" an instructor yells at Airen who sees Brett and a few others diving into the water, while all this was happening Licht had finished and was waiting at the finish line with the red haired instructor 

"you finished extremely quickly, even quicker than we thought you were going to finish" he said to the boy who didn't even seem out of breath

"well you told us at the start to show you how much we had improved, so that was what I did" the boy responds in kind to the statement as he walks off to sit down

A few minutes later another person can be seen headed towards the finish, this was Ilya Lindsay

After her was Brett Lloyd who came just a few minutes behind her, then some random irrelevant character was 4th and 5th was someone he knew, Lance Peterson, one of Brett's friends, and of course out of the 35 people who qualified, the one in 34th place after saving a fellow student was Airen Parriera

Brett looked at Airen with a sharp gaze 'the performance that guy showed at the mid-term evaluation, it wasn't a level I could catch up to. If Judith hadn't got burned out, I would have come 5th. I admit it. It was my total defeat'

...

It was the next day and you could see Irene running around the field before he stops and kneels down until "Why did you do that?" he looked to the side to see Ilya standing there

"What?" he questions

She looks him dead in the eye "You know what I mean, don't you?"

"Are you talking about me rescuing Judith?" he brings himself up from his knees and to her eye level

"Yes, why would you do that?" she asks once again

"I just... I just felt like I had to do it"

"Do you know that what you're saying makes no sense? if you hadn't done that, one of the instructors on standby at hat stage could have still saved her. Why would you give up on a reward from the continents greatest swordsman all because of a reason like that. Not just that. The mouths that mocked you all this while and the gazes that looked down on you will continue to be able to strike against you. You know that, don't you?" she looks him in the eye

"You're asking if I know I get called a deadbeat noble? for quite a long time , I felt like I was stuck in a swamp. it's not without excuses, nut considering that, it's been a long time. I didn't try to get out of that swamp either. That pathetic me, got dragged out of that swamp by a loving family. And I who was able to get up due to the help of several people, didn't think it would be right to not save the person drowning right in front of me and pretend like nothing happened. That's why I did that yesterday, that's the only reason" he says while smiling towards Ilya

She then walks off while saying that sword training will be starting soon and there is a big difference between physical power and endurance compared to skill with the sword and that skill is much more important when it comes to the sword and as she was walking off she hears him ask "Why did you help me in the first place?" she comes to a stop

"I'm not sure, I guess I just disliked people who talked about others without having a clue about them" she says as she walks off while Airen continues to look at her

...

"I shall now announce the results of the mid-term evaluation" an instructor shouts "from the 35 candidates who passed the first evaluation and the 78 candidates who passed the second evaluation, the total number of successful candidates here are 113. The top 5 preliminary trainees from the first evaluation will receive a reward after a private meeting with the swordsmaster"

"Wait, wait aren't you leaving someone out?" Ian looks toward the instructor

"Preliminary trainee NO.311 come up to the podium" the instructor yells

before an uproar started Ian says "Competition is quite a fun thing. As you chase after someone, and struggle in hopes of not getting overtaken by the ones who take after you, you begin to accomplish a lot of tremendous and surprising achievements. But if you get too invested in it, unable to decipher your surroundings, you could miss the important things right in front of you" Ian says trying to impart an important lesson on the youngsters

"But trainee Airen Parriera didn't do that. he sacrificed himself in a situation where he could have fallen into the abyss, and because of that, he was able to save a drowning classmate. you might all think differently, but the swordsmasters and all the instructors agree that this is an act worth of praise. This is why this trainee has been brought up to the podium"

after the explanation all the people in the hall start to clap for the revelation the the swordsmaster had told everyone, and they understood why he was being rewarded

...

Brett Lloyd was currently in the swordsmasters office "I see. I understand now. It seems that I have been too narrow-minded thus far" Brett says to Ian

"There's no need to undermine yourself like that. A narrow-minded person wouldn't admit their mistakes right away" he responds to the young man

But Brett remains headstrong "No. Until now I've arrogantly persisted on following my own methods. Just as you have advised, from now on if there is something I need to learn from someone, I will learn it" he says resolutely before getting up and walking to the door before tuning around and bowing "I shall leave now" before walking out the door

While in Ian's mind 'He has great talent. He acknowledges the situation, and shows active commitment to overcoming his shortcomings. He even has the ability to lead those around him. He does have the stubbornness and pride of a high rank noble, but it's not that bad, if he was in a different year he would have gotten first place. But unfortunately he's not' he then opens his eyes with Ilya sitting where Brett just was

"As a prize I dare to ask for your guidance" she says to the swordmaster

"Very daring" he says as he looks her in the eyes "let me give you a piece of advice, don't be swayed by others anymore and live your own life. Don't waste your time here tied to your own obsession, go back to your family and learn the way of their sword. That would be much more helpful" he says trying to help Ilya off her current path of destruction

"I want you to guide me, Swordmaster" she states to the man once again

"right, it was a mistake on my part to think you would listen" he sighs "since this office is quite large you wouldn't mind training here, would you?" 

"Thank you" she says as she walks out of the office

'That girl really is a tough one to handle, she has an amazing amount of talent but actively chooses to not bother anyone else apart from that Irene kid. She is also too focused on other people and too worried about other people to have a clear head when the moment comes' he thinks to himself before the door opens again

The person he has been most anticipating, a white haired young male sits down in front him 

"Licht Bach, what do you want to ask me?"