After that day, Ethel said no more and left the dormitory. She knew that it wasn't exactly right to leave him, but it was kind of amusing to see him deep in thought with his emotions like an open book. In any case, after a few days, she had not seen him nor heard from him, even with Vyron often by her side.

More importantly, the day had come for Baron Kapfemto choose the ten people participating at the heart of the empire, the capital city of Solasta. While the others continuously fretted over the prospective candidates, she use the spare time to venture outside the castle and goof around with the townspeople. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of rumors around and nothing expect for Mars interestingly happened in the empire. Though she supposed that the Crown Prince signing up for Mars did somewhat pique her interest.

Fate might play a cruel joke on her so there was that to worry about. She hadn't managed to miss the baron's weird insistence on changing her partners every single class. It was similar to how a mother fretted over her children. It wasn't a good sign and out of annoyance, she intentionally kept holding back and making mistakes.

At the arena, Ethel stood at the back and saw some noticeable famous faces, with the majority being sons and daughters of nobility. Wain, who was easily the best swordsmen in their year, Fein, a talented archer; and some others whose name she had long forgotten.

Ethel was deep in her thoughts until the voice of Baron Kapfem resounded in the field. She set her sights on him, dressed in robes worthy of hi titles, the cravat wrapped around his neck looked tight enough to choke him. She even thought it was a bit ridiculous to dress up for such a small occasion.

How she wished the ceremony was over. The sun overlooking them glared so brightly it was annoying. If it was not because of their vitalis to protect them, then she would've already escaped from the sea of people and their sweaty figures. It was already summer and all she wanted to do was get this over with and eat outside the castle.

If this was in the past, then she wouldn't mind even if she took forever under the sun, but Fleur had pointed out that her pale skin had turned to a healthy shade of tan, much to the dismay of Fleur. It was only skin, what was there to be worked up about? Alas, she would never understand Fleur's distress over her figure. That girl liked to fuss over her appearance much more than her own, which Ethel found annoying.

"Greetings warriors. Today marks the day I will choose whom I will bring to the heart of the empire, Solasta." Baron Kapfem stood tall and proud, speaking in a loud voice that could hardly be ignored. "I want you all to know that regardless of who gets chosen, that does not make any of you any less worthy."

Ethel begged to differ. Nobody wanted that. It was complete bullshit because if they were worthy, then they would've been chosen. An easy path to the highest point was hard to come by, who on Earth would be stupid enough to refuse that? Even she herself was tempted to be picked. Unfortunately getting picked meant being the center of attention. Attention that could very well spell the end of her life.

Scrutinized by the public, she wouldn't be surprised if someone found out she was in disguise. After all, whose to say there wasn't magic that uncovers illusions?

“Let us begin.”

Barely scraping by the assessments, acting lethargic during practices, and purposely making mistakes on sparring matches, Ethel did everything she could to place in the middle ranks of the batch. She was confident that she would not be chosen. No matter how much the baron cared for her skills, there was no way he was going to pick her out of other more talented warriors than her.

Albright and Fleur had already made their way to her while the others compressed at the front. He looked at Ethel with a knowing smirk and said, "You're going to get picked."

"Oh?" Ethel raised a brow. "Want to bet on it?"

"Sure, what are the stakes?"

He was also confident that Ethel would get picked. After all, based on flexibility, if Ethel claimed to be second, then no one would dare claim first.

"If I get chosen, then I will cover your all of your meals at the capital for three days straight."

Not to mention Albright's huge appetite, there was a huge disparity in the quality of food in the cold north and the central region. If anything, the prices were way above the spending capacity of a normal student like them.

"And if you don't?"

"Then give me the polearm you bought from that traveling merchant."

Recently during the academy’s week off, the two of them went to town to buy weapons and supplies. By chance, a wandering merchant stopped by and sold a lot of exotic goods. One of them was a polearm that had a beautiful black metal sheen with Uverf wood as the handle, a type of wood that can only be harvested at the eastern edge of the continent. The merchant didn’t know it’s true value and ended up selling it to Albright at a cheap cost, beating Ethel to the punch while she bought bandages.

Albright frowned. He was already very lucky that he bought it and planned to sell it at the capital for big bucks. If she took it, then he won't have enough money to spend.

"Why the polearm?"

Not wanting to divulge, Ethel smiled. “No reason.”

“...”

“So? Is it a deal or not?”

With gritted teeth Albright shook hands. “Fine!”

“You guys are acting like children.”

“Shut up, spear freak,” Albright muttered. His confidence had dwindled down by the time it got to the 2nd candidate. Fleur kicked his shin and walked away, earning an ouch.

“Stupid.”

Ethel rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Baron Kapfem.

“Carys.”

“Albright.”

“Fleur.”

“Phisle.”

“Deon.”

“Quince.”

“Glade.”

“And finally.”

She could feel the subtle glances at her in the corner of her eyes. Everyone would expect her to pass. Or so to speak, a lot of them believed she would pass. It would bring nothing but benefits if someone like her could participate in the competition and bring honor to them.

“Kelsh.”

An outbreak of murmur spread to the crowd. They couldn't believe it. Baron Kapfem met eyes with Ethel with a look of understanding. Without minding the crowd, Ethel turned around and left the arena in an uproar.

In the Great Hall, Albright stumped on the stool as he murmured, "What the hell..."

Fleur also couldn't hide the confused look on her face. She knew very well that Ethel could come off as a humble warrior despite her great talents but why was she not chosen? Had she missed something? Something that could make the baron skip her entirely?

Ethel sat down. “You’re biting your nails again.”

"That's not important right now. Tell me, did you know that the baron wouldn't choose you?"

Silence. Ethel didn't think that it was anything important and shrugged her shoulders.

"So you did."

Then, the doors slammed open and in came Porte with a look of urgency. He approached the table and slammed his hands down. "Is it true?"

"is what true?"

"Yes, it is," Fleur interjected.

This tiime it was Porte's turn to slump on the stool. As for Albright, he was too busy dwelling on his lost polearm that he hadn't noticed his arrival.

"How could this happen? You're the best warrior i've ever seen!"

Porte couldn't believe it. Or rather, he didn't want to believe. All this time she was the person who looked after him and helped him train. As for the others, he could care less about them. Ethel sighed and patted him on the head.

"It's not a big deal. And there are a lot more stronger warriors than me." She shook her head. "Wielding different weapons doesn't make me the strongest. I'm not an aberrant being. I'm just a poor girl from the slums who got lucky."

"My polearm..." Albright murmured, to which the rest promptly ignored. The original price of the polearm should've easily been around 50,000 gold, but he got it for a measly 2,000. There was no way Ethel was going to pass up the opportunity for such a high quality weapon.

“What do you mean? There are a lot of stronger warriors than me. I had about a 1:6 chance of winning, and that’s being optimistic!”

Grumbling under his breath, Albright stood up and walked away with heavy footsteps.

“Be careful! That weapon is now my property!” Ethel yelled until he disappeared from view. “See, I told you guys I wouldn’t get picked.”

“Yes, but why exactly?"

"Are you sick?"

Porte checked her temperature, cool to the touch. "Don't tell me... you faked your own ranking, didn't you?"

Ethel nodded. She didn't tell anyone about her plan, knowing that the rest would take it upon themselves to prevent such an outcome. No one knew except her and the baron.

"You purposely didn't do well on the final assessment, which means you have to have placed somewhere in the middle, making it impossible for the baron to choose you." Fleur replied. She had to admit, her friend was really stubborn, for better or worse.