Chapter 39: - End-of-Semester Evaluation (3)

༺ End-of-Semester Evaluation (3)༻

Kaya garnered her second Fell Card by eliminating a Class-B male student and as a result of this, she discovered something new about the end-of-semester evaluation.

It was that if she had a Fell Card, it would be listed as in her possession, even if she put it somewhere else.

She was able to discover this when her Fell Card telekinetically flew away in the wrong direction after she had eliminated the male student. In other words, as long as she made physical contact with the card, it didn’t matter even if she hid elsewhere.

Of course, it didn’t mean anything. If you could just defeat them, the card would come to you anyway.

‘In any case...’

Kaya looked up at the scoreboard floating in the sky.

...A female student was raising her score at an alarming rate.

Fell

[1st Place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Fell Card +4]

[2nd Place (Green) Kaya Astrean Fell Card +2]

[3rd Place (Red) Mateo Jordana Fell Card +1]

[4th Place (Yellow) Tristan Humphrey Fell Card +1]

[5th Place (Blue) Luce Eltania Fell Card +1]

Eliminations

[1st Place (Blue) Luce Eltania Eliminations +53]

[2nd Place (Yellow) Tristan Humphrey Eliminations +4]

[3rd Place (Green) Kaya Astrean Eliminations +4]

[4th Place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Eliminations +3]

Ciel Carnedas. After she found her first Fell Card, she found 3 more cards in a mere 30 minutes.

Her speed was unbelievable.

“.......”

However, upon careful consideration, it made sense. During the class placement evaluation, Ciel took a leisurely nap and had a late start, yet she still managed to secure third place. She was faster than Luce and Kaya in terms of scoring speed alone.

Even though she was always sleepy eyed and slept whenever she had a chance, Ciel firmly held on to the 3rd place rank in Class A. She didn’t even realize that she was a dark horse in this semester’s end-of-term evaluation.

‘I have to do better.’

She vowed to beat Luce Eltania, but what if she fell down to third place?

Kaya continued to move her feet without rest in search of Fell Cards.

✦✧✦✧

The sunset colors were slowly spreading across the sky. It had been two hours since the end-of-semester evaluation began.

Kaya blankly stared at the scoreboard floating in the sky, her mouth hanging open.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand Ciel’s performance.

Fell

[1st Place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Fell Card +7]

[2nd Place (Green) Kaya Astrean Fell Card +2]

[3rd Place (Blue) Luce Eltania Fell Card +2]

[4th Place (Black) Keridna Whiteclark Fell Card +2]

[5th Place (Red) Mateo Jordana Fell Card +1]

Eliminations

[1st Place (Blue) Luce Eltania Eliminations +62]

[2nd place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Eliminations +12]

[3rd Place (Green) Kaya Astrean Eliminations +8]

[4th Place (Black) Keridna Whiteclark Eliminations +6]

[5th place (Yellow) Tristan Humphrey Eliminations +5]

‘Why 7 Fell Cards...?’

Perhaps other students were perplexed by this as well.

The end-of-semester evaluation would be over once you had collected 5 Fell Cards. Even if you collected more than 5 Fell Cards, there were no bonus points, so Professor Fernando advised against doing anything unnecessary.

Once you had collected 5 Fell Cards, the designated location for submission would automatically appear, so Ciel must have already figured out her submission location.

In other words, it was meaningless for her to scrape up that many Fell cards.

[1st Place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Fell Card +8]

[1st Place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Fell Card +9]

But it didn’t stop. Ciel’s Fell Card ranking was increasing at a terrifying rate.

Ciel Carnedas, was she actually a genius beyond Luce? What a ridiculous mana perception ability...!

It was as if she were showing the students who were taking the end-of-semester evaluations, “This is who I am,” with those high numbers.

“What are you thinking, Ciel Carnedas...?”

Kaya took care of her complex thoughts and selected ‘Fell’ on her bracelet, looking at the map of the old Märchen Academy grounds. The purple mana grain, which represented Ciel Carnedas, was in a place that could be reached within 20 minutes by running from where Kaya currently was.

...I have no choice but to go and see myself.

Kaya conjured wind magic at her feet and started moving towards the place where Ciel was.

Whatever Ciel’s intentions were, she wanted to get five Fell Cards as soon as possible, so she could turn the tables on her. Kaya’s goal was to rank first in the end-of-semester evaluation.

The mana grains engraved in the sky began to move in a frenzy. Luce and Kaya maintained their combat stances while facing one another, then glanced up to check the scoreboard.

Fell

[1st Place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Fell Card +9]

[2nd Place (Green) Kaya Astrean Fell Card +2]

[3rd Place (Blue) Luce Eltania Fell Card +2]

[4th Place (Black) Keridna Whiteclark Fell Card +2]

[5th Place (Red) Mateo Jordana Fell Card +1]

.

.

.

Fell

[1st Place (White) Isaac Fell Card +5]

[2nd place (Purple) Ciel Carnedas Fell Card +4]

[3rd Place (Green) Kaya Astrean Fell Card +2]

[4th Place (Blue) Luce Eltania Fell Card +2]

[5th Place (Black) Keridna Whiteclark Fell Card +2]

“Uh, uh...?”

Luce and Kaya stopped dead in their tracks. They weren’t the only ones.

Within the grounds of the old Märchen Academy, every student who was taking the end-of-semester evaluation stopped.

The students who were fighting ceased combat.

All of the students who had been looking for their Fell Cards came to a halt, their mouths wide open.

They looked as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

They stared in disbelief at the Fell Card holder, who was ranked 1st.

Isaac.

He’d beaten all the top students and rose to first place in an instant.

✦✧✦✧

Shortly after the start of the end-of-semester evaluation.

My plan was simple.

I was going to find a strong person and stick to that person.

I remembered most, if not all, of the locations of the Fell Cards. It was game knowledge I had gained from countless hours of playing ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱. I had even written my own game strategy walkthroughs and posted them in internet cafés.

Therefore, all I had to do was find a suitable trading partner, tell them where the Fell Cards were, and in exchange receive a promise of protection and my share of Fell cards. Of course, the trading partner should be someone who follows the principle of good faith and the duty of a righteous administrator.

Kaya, who followed me without question, would be the best candidate. The problem was that time was running out, and I had no idea where she could be.

However, because the carriage carrying me arrived in front of the Seiran Hall, I was able to visit one of the candidates I had in mind ahead of time. She was a sleepyhead who would be holed up in a small forest until halfway through the end-of-semester evaluation. She wasn’t far from Seiran Hall.

When I arrived at a forest lake with clean water and fresh air, a pretty girl with wavy blue short hair caught my eye.

She was sound asleep, her back against a tree. Her profile reflected in my eyes was absolutely gorgeous.

The scenery around the lake was beautiful, with pure white sunlight filtering through the cracks in the leaves. She completely integrated into nature’s landscape, as if she were in a painting, to the point where the title “Sleeping Beauty” 1T/N: In Korean, 잠자는 숲속의 공주 means Princess Sleeping in a Forest, which is what is widely known as Sleeping Beauty. This small line used to describe Ciel was ‘숲속의 공주’, which is just ‘Princess in a Forest’, but that probably wouldn’t make sense to most people. Just a reminder that this story will have a lot of references to fairy tales. came to mind.

“Kreureung...”

Her distinctive snores were the only thing that disturbed her elegant atmosphere.

She was Ciel Carnedas, a freshman of the Magic Department.

[Ciel Carnedas] Lv: 92

Race: Human

Elements: Fire, Water

Danger: X

Psychology: [Kreureung...]

In ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, you could find Ciel Carnedas sleeping in this forest until midway through the end-of-semester evaluation.

She awakened in the second half and joined the end-of-semester evaluation. From then on, the difficulty of the test drastically spiked.

‘If it’s Ciel, she fits my plan.’

She was the type of person who strictly kept her promises. After all, she was the one who was trying to keep the promise that had been passed down through the Carnedas family, ‘If you find the Child of Light, bring them to the Divine Realm.’

She’s trustworthy... right?

All right, let’s go.

“Ciel Carnedas, I’ve come to make a deal!”

I strode up to Ciel with confidence.

At that moment.

「Fireball (Fire Element, ★3)」

Suddenly, a spherical flame the size of a yoga ball formed in the air, and flew towards me at the speed of a pitcher throwing a baseball.

...Please save me.

Footnotes:

1T/N: In Korean, 잠자는 숲속의 공주 means Princess Sleeping in a Forest, which is what is widely known as Sleeping Beauty. This small line used to describe Ciel was ‘숲속의 공주’, which is just ‘Princess in a Forest’, but that probably wouldn’t make sense to most people. Just a reminder that this story will have a lot of references to fairy tales.