Chapter 77 - 20 - The Ranking (part 1)
A few minutes later, the lady and her attendant were walking through the hallway, going for the noticeboard in the entrance hall of the Academy building.
There was a great group of students gathered around it already, so it was obvious that the results were already announced.
As soon as the students noticed the dark-haired duo they fearfully made wade for them without a word.
|Convenient.|
Thought Miriette.
|Oh, dear, they hate us so much...|
Zoemi wasn't bothered by the negative feelings towards him, but he needed the opinion of his master to be the best possible to prevent at least some of the condemnation events!
|Ah...!|
Though just as he was having rather grim thoughts, he noticed two students who trained with him in the evening discreetly waving to him as a greeting, which made him feel a lot better.
And even though the majority seem to fear him, it indeed was convenient to not have to push his way through the crowd.
...as the two of them were approaching the noticeboard, Zoemi flinched, and as he noticed some platinum-haired child that looked like she wore her older-sister uniform, that honestly didn't look like she belong in the Academy...
...the odd young girl was very obviously staring at the scarred attendant from the other side of the corridor – normally, seeing someone standing out from the crowd like her would bother Zoemi greatly, but for some unknown reason instead of getting worried and anxious, he felt a lot calmer...
"...?"
When he furrowed his brows, looking down trying to recall whether there was some platinum-haired character in the game – but could not remember anyone like her – and looked back up, the girl was already gone.
"...huh...?"
The black-haired boy muttered to himself in confusion, but then shook his head immediately – he had more important things to worry about than strange children!
"..."
As both Miriette and Zoemi got to the noticeboard and looked at the list with the names of the all the students, the black-haired attendant realized something very important that he never paid attention to...
|What was the heroine's name?|
He blinked a few times realizing that he never once heard anyone calling out to the blond girl by name as everyone would always address her as a commoner, student, or just miss.
It may seem awkward but he never bothered to ask for the name of the blond girl...
...because it most definitely was awkward...
In the game, the player would always input their own chosen name – but, Zoemi was sure that the girl had a canon name...
...it was just that he didn't like her at all, so he never looked it up in his former world...
Mostly, because after his initial playthrough he started inserting rather unbecoming and mean names as her name, so the other characters would basically badmouth her whenever it showed up.
Doormat, annoying woman, Fugly – just to name a few.
In his last playthrough right before he died, he even went and got a little bit creative to get around the censor that the game apparently had.
|Pffft... Oh dear, imagine how funny it would be if the heroine in this world was actually called...|
He giggled to himself while looking up at the names – or rather, he was laughing until he got to the top three spots...
1. Miriette Lisea Espine; Horeo Marets Bellcephora
2. Burushiitto
3. Zoemi Auequas
"...huh...?"
Zoemi was so shocked that he could only let out a shocked gasp, staring dumbfounded at the very name that he had chosen for the heroine back in his previous life.
"...hmph...!"
"!!!"
But then his shock was pushed aside by the wild joy – his maser – despite letting out a clearly displeased scoff – wasn't bested by the blond heroine!
She was in the first place! Together with prince no less!
|Wait... If two people are in the first place then shouldn't there be no one in the second and just one in the third...?|
The black-haired boy wondered, but a passing thought about a minor detail was nothing in comparison to the euphory that he felt.
|If Miriette is first, she doesn't have a reason to start bullying the heroine!|
He felt like dancing! So amazing!
"My lady! Congratulations!"
Zoemi turned to his master and almost hugged her but thankfully – or not, depending on the point of view - he stopped himself in time.
"...!"
Miriette whose eyes shone with anticipation for just a fraction of a second sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, what did you expect? How long did we all sat together figuring out the best spells we could create back in teacher Valto's class? I'm actually surprised that you haven't scored higher than some healer."
The dark-haired girl shrugged her shoulders and waved her hand dismissively.
"Eh? Zoemi is only third? That is so not fair!"
"...!"
Suddenly Horeo appeared out of nowhere with Teo and Veo by his side – making his fiancee flinch.
"If they would take the mana cost of the spell to its power ratio into consideration, you should easily be first!"
Without any shame, the first prince rested his arm on his best friend's shoulders and declared pointing at the list..
"What did you do to lose points? Don't tell me! You revealed what would happen if your mana ran out while you were using shadow gate, did you!?"
Horeo acted like he had such an amazing intuition even though he simply personally witnessed everything.
"How did you know, my prince!? No, wait! If the amount of mana had anything to do with the grade then I should be dead last!"
But Zoemi didn't know that and gasped in shock at the first prince's insight.
"..."
"..."
Horeo and Miriette exchanged tired looks and sighed at the same time.
In their opinion, Zoemi just constantly underestimated himself.
Zoemi was positively surprised by the situation but his plans didn't change too much - the event that he planned to be something to make Miriette forget about losing to the commoner girl would just turn into a celebration and would still serve to raise hers and Horeo's affection towards each other!
"My prince, congratulations on taking the first place together with your fiance! You're truly a magnificent couple!"
Zoemi shyly raised his hand and Horeo high-fived him without hesitation.
"My prince, the thing that we talked about before..."
Zoemi whispered to Horeo stealthily.
"Huh? Oh..! The date thingy...?"
Horeo asked to confirm and Zoemi nodded.
"I talked with her about it this morning - if you ask her now, my master will agree for sure!"
The black-haired attendant declared happily.
|I wonder if he realizes that if he asked Miriette to jump off a cliff, she would have asked him which one exactly?|
Horeo sighed internally but it looked like Zoemi already confirmed everything, and if so, Miriette will follow his instruction no matter what.
|I bet she will spend that whole date boasting about what she did together with Zoemi, the lucky cunning fox. If only Zoemi was my attendant..!|
Was what the gold-haired prince thought but what he said was slightly different.
"Alright, wish me luck!"
Horeo declared with a bright smile and let go of Zoemi before walking towards Miriette.
"Huh...?!"
Zoemi wanted to go and talk with Teo and Veo about the date of their masters in two days' time since he wanted everything to go perfect, but someone got in his way and completely out of nowhere grabbed his hands!
"Sir Zoemi! Congratulations on taking third place! You must have worked so hard!"
It was the blond heroine cheering out with a flushed face.