"Your points are Zero,"
"Eh? How come?" Alex's eyes widened in disbelief.
***
Every person present got their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. They were dumbfounded. Silence filled the entire field and nobody uttered a sound. Even though numerous students were gathered, there was no single sound heard. Even the wind was louder than them.
It took a while for everyone to return to their senses.
"What?"
Alicia and Firia were shocked too. After a while, they recovered and returned to their senses. They looked at each other weirdly, and then they said at the same time, "Then, we won, right?"
"Hahahaha!" Suddenly very loud laughter was heard, which sounded very deafening in all of the silence. All of them turned to look at the person who laughed so hard. It was Edward. He laughed so freely and sarcastically said, "Hahaha! Zero point?! As expected of the Legendary Student. You don't need to kill any monsters for this exam. Ha... thank you, I've learned, Senior."
"No... my Prince."
"Why?"
"Teacher, you must have it wrong."
The students, especially the female students, complained to the teacher.
The teacher put his hand forward to stop them and said, "Because of the commotion he created, we decided to retract all his points. The dean already gave his approval. That was written in the memo. Look!" He let them take a look at the memo. It was true that the memo said Alexander's points were retracted by the academy.
"Pfft!"
"No... my Fire Prince. Please..."
"The academy must be wrong!"
"My Prince, let me console your heart!"
Many of them were laughing and many of them were hysterical because of this.
Alex dumbfoundedly got back. He looked at Joshua weirdly. Joshua also looked at him weirdly, he then finally said, "Don't mind that."
Alicia and Firia looked at him while giggling, "Whatever the reason, we won the bet, right? You must stand by your promise."
Alex sighed and nodded weakly, "Sure."
"Wait!" The teacher who announced his score suddenly shouted.
Alex turned back and looked at the teacher curiously.
The teacher took out a second memo. "The dean said that after I announced the first memo, I need to take a look at the second memo."
The teacher then read the second memo with a weird look on his face. He giggled when he read the second memo. The crowd was looking at the teacher who kept giggling, weirdly. They all screamed in their minds, trying very hard to contain their curiosity, 'What is it? Don't keep us waiting!'
"The memo said that the previous announcement was just a joke. It said that it was a payback for the commotion you created a couple of times. Your real score is..."
Everyone gulped, waiting impatiently for the announcement. This teacher liked to make them curious and felt suspense. He finally continued,
"You killed ten Rank 0 monsters, eleven of rank 1 monster, five rank 2 monsters, and twenty of rank 3 monsters"
"Pfft... hahaha!" The crowd couldn't contain their laughter. Edward's laughter was especially the loudest. "As expected of the Legendary Student!" He shouted in a mocking tone.
"Ssshhh! The teacher is not finished yet!"
The crowd started to silent. "You wiped out half of the population of rank 4 monsters, and you killed a total of 733 of rank 4 monsters. With this achievement, we reward you with 1000 points."
"Hiss..."
The crowd was silent. Their eyes widened once again and their jaws dropped to the ground. 'Wipe out half of the rank 4 monsters population?' They looked at the teacher who was still not finished with his announcement. They gulped very hard.
"You wiped out all of the rank 5 monsters in the forest. You killed a total of 51 of rank 5 monsters. For this, the academy rewards you again with 1000 points."
After hearing this statement, all of them were stunned. The female students who cheered on him all the time got the words stuck on their throats. Meanwhile, the students who laughed at him became as pale as a ghost. Edward who mocked him this entire time was no different. His face was blue, his intestine was green, and he would probably faint at any moment.
Before they could recover, the teacher dropped the last nuke bomb.
"You killed the Forest King, a rank 6 ape. For this achievement, the academy rewards you with 2000 points. Therefore, your total score is 24,972 points. Because of the possible commotion due to this extraordinary score, the dean made the previous memo for a payback. That's all."
"Hiss!"
The crowd took the nuke head-on. Especially Edward who fainted on the spot with bubbles in his mouth.
A minute... two minutes... five minutes... the crowd seemed to be in disbelief that they couldn't make any reaction. But then, they got back to their senses with the announcement.
"Woooo!"
"Kyaa!"
"Male God!"
"Fire Prince!"
"Fire Prince! Look at me, I can warm your bed!"
"Male God! Please let me bear your child!"
"Who was it? Who was the one who dared to laugh at my Male God?"
"What do you mean by ' your Male God'? He is mine!"
"Where is the one who mocked him earlier?"
"Look! Edward, who insulted him, collapsed on the ground with bubbles in his mouth!"
"Serves him right!"
Alex who was in the center of this commotion was very embarrassed. He scratched his cheek with his finger and looked at Edward who was no longer conscious. He somehow felt pity for his future and lost all his drive to slap him back for his insult.
He silently walked toward Alicia and Firia. He gave a meaningful smile to them.
They saw the smile on Alex's face and knew what he meant. They pouted.
Seeing them pouting, he giggled and whispered to them, "Let's get out of here first."
They nodded.
Alex grabbed them and used his 'Sky Step' technique. They disappeared from the scene. Of course, if people looked at the sky for a bit, they would see Alexander was carrying Alicia and Firia running in the sky at a fast speed.
"Wait, where is he?"
"Where did my prince go?"
"No... my Prince..."
The crowds were searching for Alex who was nowhere to be seen. In the ranking announcement, there was a name displayed in big letters. "1. Alexander Sirius, 24,972 points."
Joshua, who was among the crowd, shook his head slowly. "As expected of him"
***
Meanwhile, Alex and the rest arrived in front of the school.
"I want to complain to the Teacher for a bit. You guys can go first."
Alicia and Firia answered almost uniformly, "Sure."
Alex went toward the dean's office and forcefully opened the door, which caused a loud bang.
'Bang!'
The dean who was sipping his tea choked.
"Cough... cough... what are you doing!"
"Teacher! That should be my line. What were you trying to do with that first note!"
"Hmph, that was my payback. You made a huge commotion back then."
"Couldn't you hide my scores instead? Lower them a bit probably? I can't go out because of this score now," Alex sighed.
"Hehe... serves you right."
"..." Alex was speechless.
After a moment then the dean sighed. "Well, I managed to gather the ingredients for the Crystal Pill. Come back here tomorrow to take the ingredients."
Alex's eyes brightened, "Thank you, Teacher! You are the best!"
"Hehe... go rest first for today. You've done enough."
"Yes."
Alex then left the dean alone in his office.
***
Alex went back to his room and found that Alicia was already waiting for him there. Firia seemed to go back since he couldn't find her in the room.
"Alicia, I got good news for you."
"Mmm?" Alicia looked at him, blushed.
"I am going to make a pill for you tomorrow."
"I already told you that I don't mind it."
"Then, it is my selfish wish."
Suddenly Alicia stood up and kissed him on the lips. This caught him off guard. His eyes widened. He was too shocked by Alicia's sudden action.
The two lips touched each other. The sweet cherry lips were planted on his lips. The kiss was like opening up your soul, tasting, feeling, and seeing every color of the rainbow. The softness, the sweetness of her lips. The feeling that couldn't be described by words. He felt both of them levitating in the air as if nothing existed in the world except him and Alicia. Sweet cherry lips found in the spring, like fireworks that were glowing and brightened the dark sky.
Alex slowly closed his eyes and was enjoying this feeling of happiness. His hand slowly moved to her back, hugged her. Alicia felt Alex's hand on her back and hugged him back. The two went into their world. They were intoxicated by the sweet kiss they were having.
After a few minutes, they moved away. They slowly opened their eyes in satisfaction.
Alicia's face turned red like a crab. She said in a very low voice. "That... that... was... the... promised... surprise."
Alex took a long breath, his face was also very red. "Umm..."
The two fell silent and the situation turned very awkward as they both were embarrassed.
A minute... two minutes... three minutes... five minutes...
"Umm, Alicia." Alex finally broke the silence.
"What... what is it?" Alicia flustered.
"I love you," he said in his soft and calm voice.
Alicia's eyes widened, then she let out a big smile, "I love you too."
And with that, they fell silent again and the situation turned awkward once again.
"Is... is she..." Alex hesitated.
Alicia knew who was the 'she' that Alex was talking about, "Firia will also do it."
"But... are you okay with that?"
"I will respect your decision."
"..." Alex looked at her, "Even if I reject her?"
Alicia's eyes widened, "What do you mean?"
"Even... even after this long time, I still can't..." Alex finally confessed. But in the end, he started to stutter.
Alicia suddenly stopped him, she hugged him tight. The tears started to fall down her cheeks. "It's okay, you don't need to force yourself."
Alicia looked at Alex, "We... we will tell her. Whatever is going to happen, we... we will face it together."
Alex nodded weakly, "She can beat me or punch me as she likes."
***
They never knew that Firia was in front of their room already, listening in silence.
She sighed, then took a long deep breath. Her eyes filled with determination.
She opened the door.
"Fi-Firia!" Alex and Alicia were shocked.
Without saying anything, Firia walked straight to Alex and made a chop gesture to his head.
"Ouch!" Alex was shocked by Firia's actions.
"I will be waiting for you."
"Eh?" Alex was dumbfounded
"I said, I will be waiting for you! This promised surprise, I owe it to you for now. And when the time comes when you finally love me back, then I will give this surprise for you with a bonus," Firia said with a blushed face.
Alex could only look at her with his mouth open, then he smiled, "Yes, of course."