“Are you serious?” asked Azazel.

Sebastian just scratched his head,

“Sorry, I don’t think I am aware of the scholarship thing that you were speaking. Could please tell me more about it?” asked Sebastian politely.

Suddenly there was silence in the group as they stared at Sebastian with a confused look.

Jericho breaks the silence,

“Haha. I never knew you had a sense of humor.”

“I seriously don’t know anything. Could you please enlighten me?” asked Sebastian once again.

“If you don’t know then how the hell did you become a candidate in the first place? Did you steal the participant scroll?” asked Francis, the spiky hair with a headband.

“Of course, I never did such a thing. My master, Sir Darian knight handed me that scroll in person. Also, why is everyone jumping to the conclusion, I am some kinda thief.” asked Sebastian as he took a sigh, ‘I had made sure that my smile wouldn’t surface, so now why are they thinking I am some kinda thief. Is it because of the face or clothes?’

Jericho then placed her hand on my shoulder with a serious expression,

“Um. Are you saying an actual high ranking knight took you as an apprentice?”

“Yeah, Sir Darian is an actual Silver class Knight. He himself trained me so that I could participate in this exam.,” replied Sebastian as he unveiled his scroll.

Although Sebastian’s revelations stirred even more confusion,

“But how could a high ranking knight take some commoner as their apprentice? It’s almost unheard of.” said one of the candidates in the group.

Azael became agitated as he pointed his finger at Sebastian,

“Ha! This guy smells totally fishy. For all, we know he could be one of those high-class candidates like the rest of them and he’s trying to gain our trust just so he could use us.”

“I am not from a high class, I come from peasant from Kald village in the north. I really have no such ill intents as you think,” replied Sebastian.

“Ha! I never heard of such a village. Stop lying.” replied Azael with a smug smile.

“Yeah, it’s a small village, so of course not many people know about it.” clarified Sebastian.

“For all we know, you just made up that name yourself to just to get our trust, only to backstab later,” argued Azael with a furious look.

Sebastian’s eyebrows started twitching,

‘How did the situation turned around so much? I had almost thought I finally made some friends but now for some reason, they think I am some high-class candidate and trying to deceive them.’

“Quiet down, Azael. You are being too loud and also disturbing the other candidates,” Jericho interrupts and tries to defuse the situation.

Azael finally backs down and stays quiet with a frowned look.

Soon the other scholarship candidates also started muttering among themselves while glancing at Sebastian. Azael had managed to sow the seeds of doubt among the other candidates.

“But can’t you look at my clothes and tell? If I came from high-class society, would I really wear such worn-out clothes?” asked Sebastian.

“Well, he’s got a point. I mean, he’s clothes are tackier then us scholarship candidates.” stated one of the candidate.

Sebastian took a breath of relief,

‘Finally, someone has a good head on his shoulders.’

Although Azael once again joined in,

“That’s what he wants you to think. This guy is so cunning that he purposely dressed in tatters just so that he could group us with us scholarship candidates. If he really was a peasant, wouldn’t his master at least buy him a few decent clothes for such an auspicious event? Nice try fooling us.”

Sebastian scratched his head,

‘My master is furious, of course, he didn’t buy me anything. He was already mad enough because I pawned away the relic, if I asked for any parting gift, he would surely kill me.’ thought Sebastian.

“I am telling the truth, why can’t you guys just trust me?.” saying so Sebastian let out a sigh.

Every scholarship candidate now was doubtful of Sebastian at this point.

“Guys, maybe Sebastian here, is speaking the truth. Don’t mind Azael, he’s always had problems trusting others anyway. If Sebastian really wanted to deceive us, why would he not be aware of the scholarship system? He would rather have lied about it and made something up, but instead, he told straight out he was a regular candidate.” defended Jericho, then she turned towards Sebastian, “It’s the first time that a peasant has been selected by a regular candidate and we should be happy for him. Let’s just trust him, at least I would.”

‘Jericho must be some kind of Goddess. She’s an angel for sure.’ thought Sebastian to himself.

Soon the other candidates as well started thinking rationally. Jericho’s argument made some valid points.

Although, Azael got upset when he saw Jericho siding with Sebastian.

He bit his lips in jealousy,

“Oh yeah…” Azael stretched his hand and snatched Sebastian’s scroll from his hands,

“Let me see his recommendation letter if you don’t mind.”

“Hey! That’s not nice.” shrieked out Jericho.

Azael opened the scroll and started reading its context.

The candidates seated beside Azael also peeked in the scroll.

“Hey, you shouldn’t read that scroll without his permission… Azael!” shrieked out Jericho.

“It’s alright.” said Sebastian, “I don’t mind it at all.”

“It’s not fine. Recommendation scroll also has details about the candidate and its relic. Such important information shouldn’t be shared with anyone, not even with fellow candidates.” replied Jericho angrily.

“What really? I had no clue,” mumbled Sebastian.

Jericho turned towards Azael,

“Hand it back at once.”

Meanwhile, Azael and the other candidate that was reading the scroll, their face turned pale.

It took about a minute for them to read the scroll but as soon as they did, they didn’t look quite happy.

Azael stood up while glaring at Sebastian angrily,

“Get up.”

Sebastian was confused.

“What’s the matter, Azael?” asked Jericho.

The other two candidates who also read the scroll got up and stood beside Azael while glaring at Sebastian angrily.

“I SAID GET UP, YOU BASTARD!” screamed Azael loudly.

Soon everyone on their floor turned their eyes toward the group.

Sebastian stood up as instructed,

“Wh-What happened? Why are you-”

“Get lost. You fucking Dead player!” shouted Azael out loud.

Suddenly the whole room fell into silence.

“What? Dead player?” asked Sebastian.

Jericho turned to Azael,

“What the hell are you saying?!”

“See for yourself. That bastard is a dead player, no wonder he was trying to befriend us,” saying so Azael handed the scroll to Jericho.

“I uh… don’t know what you’re talking about,” replied confused Sebastian.

Jericho then read the scroll and seemed quite upset.

“Stop acting like a fool already. You know what we are talking about.” shouted one of the angry scholarship candidates.

Sebastian tried to defend,

“I swear, I don’t-”

“Please go away, Sebastian,” said Jericho as she handed back the scroll.

“But what’s the matter-”

“Get out of my sight,” replied Jericho furiously.

“But… I…” although Sebastian was in loss of words to say.

Sebastian got up and moved away to the corner away from their group.

Soon the whole room broke into gossip as they glanced at Sebastian.

The other regular candidates present at their floor started gathering around Sebastian maintaining their distance.

“Is he really the new dead player?” asked one of the candidates.

“He’s pretty cocky that he didn’t even bring his battle gear, no wonder he’s a dead player.” said another one of the candidates.

“Is that guy smiling? Talk about creepy.”

Sebastian's facial muscles were finally tired and his evil smile had resurfaced.

‘Damn it. People are gathering around me for some reason. I don’t even care anymore about my smile, I am so done with it.’ thought Sebastian as he kept his head low trying to rest.

The term ‘Dead Player’ is an infamous name coined among the knight candidates. This title is given to the candidates who participate in the knight examination without any enchanted relics, relying solely on their combat skills and mana abilities alone.

It's pretty rare for candidates to join the exam without any relic but there were some bold candidates that have tried it. Certainly, only a handful of those has ever managed to pass the exam. The rest of the candidates was killed or gravely injured leaving them physically disabled.

It's rumored that regular candidates often target those purposely, going as far as even ganging up on such candidate. But there are no rules that restrict candidates to teaming up, hence the injuries of such candidates are deemed as accidents. Hence, the title 'Dead player' is given to such candidates because they have a high mortality rate then the other candidates. Also, the examination organizers have even added a new rule which needs special permission from their master, if the candidate wanted to appear in the exam without any relic. Anything that happens to the candidate during the examination is his/her own responsibility, the examiners will take no blame whatsoever.

Sebastian glanced it token which had number 113 written on it.

'This is taking a long time. People are gathering around me for some reason. Is it because of my smile?'

He glanced at the crowd and he made eye contact with the muscular candidate with a mohawk.

"What are you looking at?! Huh?!" scowled the guy with Mohawk as he stepped forward.

Sebastian raised his guard while still being seated on the floor, his nervous grin widened as he thought,

'Damn this guy looks like some scary thug. What should I do to avoid any commotion? I don't want to get disqualified right before I could even participate.'

The Mohawk dude suddenly was terrified when he saw Sebastian grinning as he was being glared at.

'What the hell is with that smile? I don't know but for some reason, my instincts are telling me to stay away from this guy.' thought the Mohawk guy as he started sweating profusely.

He couldn't take any more step towards Sebastian as his knees just stopped in fear.

"Look at him smiling there. I told you he was a scumbag, didn't I?" shouted Azael.

The other scholarship candidate agreed with a nod.

Whereas Jericho didn't even once glance at Sebastian.

"Move, give us some space." suddenly a voice appeared amidst the crowd, "Keep your distance, you low class brats."

All heads started turning towards the new voice.

Soon the candidates gathered around moved away and amidst them appeared 5 noble class candidates dressed in flashy armaments. They all stood before Sebastian. One of the noble candidates was that annoying grey hair dude from before as well as the red-haired nobleman that mistook Sebastian for a worker.

They were shooting daggers as they glared at Sebastian with a serious expression.

Sebastian remained seated at the corner seeing the whole scene from his corner seat with his wide grin.

The red-haired nobleman was the first one to step up,

"Oh, so you are one of the so-called 'Dead Player', are you?" he asked.