The next day, Gregor left the town together with some merchants.
Since he had enough money, he decided that it would be safer to be traveling with others than alone.
Anyway, he wanted to explore the outside world, but he didn't have any specific idea about where to go, so anywhere was fine.
The merchants' boss was a middle-aged man who was very welcoming when Gregor asked to go with them.
"With a bit of new blood, everything will be funnier in our travels."
That was what he said after accepting Gregor on their group.
Despite looking like a middle-aged man, he was already Rank 4, so he was far older than what he seemed.
The same could be told of the other people of the group. There were at most Rank 3, but that was enough for their true ages being far higher than the apparent ones.
There weren't any guards with them. They were already strong enough to deal with everything. If they couldn't deal with something, it would mean that they would at least require a Rank 4 guard, which was far too expensive. They wouldn't have any benefits if they used it all to hire the guard.
Thus, it wasn't usual that the merchants were quite strong themselves. Even those who decided to hire guards hired only a few to increase their numbers rather than hire someone far stronger than them.
Most wouldn't easily accept a kid like Gregor, but that group took a liking for him, so they decided to accept him.
Gregor still paid a fee, but it was just a formality. Given the protection he would obtain traveling with those merchants, that fee was insignificant.
While Gregor left with the merchants, Shiba and Eini were crossing the doors of the academy.
"Stop right there!"
A guard rushed towards them and blocked their way.
"Identify yourselves or scram!"
The guard was quite more aggressive than he should be due to his own personal reasons. Mostly, his girlfriend had just dumped him, and seeing Shiba and Eini together made him so jealous that he couldn't avoid but want to cut them down.
However, he didn't dare to do anything else until confirming Shiba and Eini's identities. If he were to harm someone with a great background, he would be doomed.
"We have been invited here by the grandfather of the principal."
Eini showed the envelop she received from that elder after speaking, and then Shiba did the same.
Seeing the seal on the envelopes, the guard's face changed.
"Go ahead."
No matter how bad mood he had, he didn't have the guts to touch a single hair of someone who had an envelope with the seal of the principal's grandfather. Even if it were from the principal himself, he wouldn't dare, let alone that powerful grandfather.
That elder gave the enveloped without too much enthusiasm, but to anyone on the academy, just the fact that the principal's grandfather gave that to them was enough to not dare to do anything stupid.
Eini and Shiba were weak by the academy standards, but they were also young. Those stronger than them, usually, were also far older than them.
Soon they reached the place where potential new students were tested.
It wasn't a recruitment season, but for great geniuses and those with enough background, it didn't matter.
Having a recommendation of the principal's grandfather could also let them test themselves at any moment.
Still, everyone needed to test themselves.
"Thirteen and on the verge of advancing to Rank 1. It seems that you can advance as long as you don't suppress yourself. Definitely, you reached the genius grade. No more tests required. With your status getting some items to hasten your growth shouldn't be difficult, so I recommend you soliciting for assistance to breakthrough as soon as you can."
The woman in charge of testing the strength was extremely pleased with Eini.
Seeing Eini's state, she thought that Eini had been restraining herself for more than a year, but that she didn't want to advance due to the lack of support to do it and the issue of growth.
That was enough to show her talent, and that was a talent that the academy definitely wanted.
"As for you. Recently advanced to level 8, fourteen years old. Not bad, but barely reaching average grade. You can show your prowess if you don't like this qualification."
The woman was completely looking down at Shiba.
Although he could be considered barely to be average among those of his age on the academy, she didn't consider that it was enough for a recommendation of the principal's grandfather.
Usually, given his age, he wouldn't be accepted since he would be considered to have a bad foundation compared to those of the same age and level who had been on the academy for years. It wasn't like the academy lacked people of the average grade. Of course, if he showed enough talent in other areas, it would be another case.
The woman didn't have any expectations of Shiba. She believed that since Eini looked quite attached to Shiba, the principal's grandfather also gave him a recommendation letter to ensure that Eini would join.
"Shiba, show everything to her! Don't worry about anything!"
Eini was quite angry that Shiba was looked down like that.
The normal assumption was that Shiba had trained since he was a kid, so his speed wasn't that great, but the truth was that he barely trained for a year, so the truth was that his speed had been incredible. She believed that if the academy tried to harm Shiba, as long as she tried to act as his shield, her sister would interfere.
Showing everything was definitely a bad idea, but Shiba could understand Eini's anger.
Since she said that he shouldn't worry, he decided to do as she said, but only until that woman was convinced that she had been wrong on her assumptions.
After all, he really didn't like the feeling of exposing everything to people he didn't know.
On the other hand, he felt that being looked down on was the same as looking down on his master, which he couldn't tolerate.
The first Shiba did was taking of a sword and display his expert stage swordsmanship and martial arts.
"Oh, so you reached the expert stage on those two. Not bad. Maybe you can reach superior grade, but not by much."
The woman was impressed by Shiba, but merely comparing it to her previous impression. It was great that he reached the expert stage twice, but it wasn't anything that others on the academy couldn't do.
On the other hand, it was obvious that Eini had restrained her level for long. It was hard to restrain the advance to higher levels, but even more had the resolution to do it since most kids were too eager to advance, so she was a very strange case.
She could guess that Eini's strength would skyrocket once her impediments were solved.
After Shiba heard that he barely reached superior grade with what he had shown, he decided to take a risk to show something that he shouldn't be able to do.
However, that was better than showing his skills. The skills could save him from danger while the other was shocking, but not that important even if it were known by an opponent in a battle.
Shiba took out a bow and shot several arrows.
What he did seemed simple, but the woman was speechless after seeing him.
"Impossible. This is impossible..."
She couldn't believe what she had just seen.
It was common knowledge that reaching the apprentice stage on archery was impossible before Rank1, but Shiba did it.
Although he barely reached it and was far from the peak, just having to reach it was a complete abnormality.
"Then, how qualified am I?"
Shiba smiled while asking. The apprentice stage on archery was mostly useless for him on a real battle compared to swordsmanship and martial arts on the expert stage, but the fact that it shouldn't be possible for him to reach it was something that Shiba thought it would be good for a test like that.
After hearing Shiba's question, the woman evaluating him finally calmed down.
"I understand why that person gave you the recommendation letter. No doubt, genius grade."
She guessed that Shiba's abnormal prowess on archery for his level was what caught the attention of the principal's grandfather. That was enough for her to give him that grade.
"I knew you could do it!"
Eini jumped to hug Shiba.
"But you still restrained yourself too much. Well, you got the genius grade, so it should be enough."
Eini barely muttered that last sentence, but the woman evaluating them was at Rank 4, so there was no way she didn't hear her.
"Still restrained?"
She couldn't avoid muttering those words, but she decided to stop thinking about it. After all, it was normal to not reveal everything if you could get the highest grade without doing it. Eini didn't even show anything at all, just her level had been enough.
The woman just reaffirmed on her mind how awesome the principal's grandfather was. She never spoke to him, only the principal had that right, but everyone in the academy admired him anyway.
"You two as genius grade students have the right to live in a shared room for two people. You will need to go together. Any issue?"
Although it was true that genius grade students lived in rooms for two, usually, boys and girls were separated, but she saw them so close that she decided to do them a favor.
Students with lower grades needed to share space with far more people and their personal areas were also far smaller.
It was obvious that the difference in treatment between genius grade and everyone else was just too high.
As for individual rooms, one needed to accumulate merits to purchase one.