Nera smiled confidently in front of her peers, which made the two girls smile back.
"That's right, Lady Ponterise!" Rosa shouted excitedly, "Prove them wrong!"
"I'm sorry for her enthusiasm..." The blonde sighed.
"It's energizing actually, I'm liking it." Nera chuckled.
"Oh, by the way, my name is Dianne ba Tremin, nice to meet you, Lady Ponterise." Dianne stretched her arm and Nera shook it.
"Nice to meet you too, Lady Tremin." Nera unconsciously glanced at the boys behind her.
"These two with us are Ren ve Youlro and Gerald cu Coulden. They're the same age as you, actually. They missed last year's exam due to an injury too." Dianne explained.
Nera's eyes widened a bit to show her worry, "Are they better now?"
"Yes, they're perfectly fine."
Nera sighed out of relief, and Rosa smiled at this gesture.
"Actually, they're too shy to greet you themselves," Dianne whispered.
"Shy? Why would they be shy?"
Dianne chuckled slowly, "You're a Marquess' daughter, Lady Ponterise."
"Oh, right..." Nera scratched her head. "But you guys can't really tell me that, can you?" She pointed at the color of their hair.
Count, Viscount, and Baron's children as friends. Not unheard of but they seem to be very close based on how they acted.
"We were trained under Count Pentrefila's household. That's how we all met." Dianne explained and Nera nodded.
"And you're the Marquess Ponterise's only daughter! Give yourself some more credit, my lady." Rosa spoke and furrowed her eyebrows.
Nera wasn't aware of how important she is in high society since she had short hair and only had the strength to back her up. Despite those traits being unattractive to suitors, she is still an important figure because of her family name.
"I forgot being a Ponterise is a big deal. I've been too cooped up inside." Nera sighed.
"Now that you mention it, we never see you in noble gatherings," Dianne commented.
Nera nodded. "I'm not a fan of those."
"Me too," Rosa grunted.
"I think we'll get along really well, Lady Pentrefila." Nera chuckled and Rosa beamed at Nera's words.
Nera observed more on Rosa and Dianne's features, silently appreciating how beautiful these two women were in front of her.
Even though Nera already met Jasmine, dubbed as the most beautiful woman in the Empire, she still couldn't help but be amazed at how stunning these two are.
Rosa cu Pentrefila has braided dark blue hair, amber eyes, and freckled bronze skin. These features accompanied by her cheerful grin made every feature of hers shine.
Dianne ba Tremin has ponytailed pale yellow hair, pinkish-red eyes, and ivory-white skin. With a sweet smile, her gentleness comes out.
"Welcome, everyone." A deep voice echoed throughout the room. Mana was used to amplify the voice through devices placed around the hall which could be compared to the microphone and speakers of Jessica's world.
Getting all of their attention, Nera, Rosa, and Dianne properly sat on their chairs and looked in front as they heard the voice.
"This is the 1597th year of the great Quintesse Empire and to honor our ancestors that have fought for our lands..." The silver-haired man announced and continued to speak about the greatness of the Empire. It went on for a few more minutes before he finished, "And with that, we officially start the 1465th Knight's Exam!"
Nera blinked her eyes multiple times to assure it was real.
"That's Uncle Ian, isn't it?" She mumbled then a chuckle followed. "He can actually be serious, huh?" She joked.
Duke Vanderwale, the highest standing man after the Emperor, alongside Duke Alacase, stood in front of the stage, standing in front of the aspiring knights, as the Duke of the great Empire.
After Duke Vanderwale's speech, there followed the Captain of the First Division, Duke Alacase's announcement of the rules.
"As most of you may already know, the pointing system for the exam is easy to understand," Duke Alacase cleared his throat and continued.
"All three tests are over a hundred points, no passing score is required for each test but an examinee must be able to accumulate at least 65% by the end of the three tests to be able to be assigned in the lower section of the Fourth Division."
"No noble wants to be just assigned there," Rosa whispered to Dianne, Ren, and Gerald, and they all nodded back.
"We must aim higher," Gerald replied.
"Well, duh? Isn't that obvious?" Ren sneered and he received an elbow from Gerald.
Nera heard their conversation and agreed with their sentiments, as cruel as it may seem.
The reason why no noble wants to be placed in the Fourth Division was that it is last. The Fourth Division was formed because of how large the Empire was, so they needed to place knights all around it. Hence, the reason this division is the largest of all of them is that it's assigned by the royal family to serve different territories in its land.
Their pride as a noble will be crushed and they will be ridiculed by many from high society if they ended up being placed there. As they call the Fourth Division, the Commoner's Division.
The Third Division, however, is assigned to the capital of the Empire, Quinterro. After being knighted, they can aim for higher ranks soon enough but in a noble's eyes, being knighted and assigned to the Third Division immediately is the bare minimum and soon enough, they should able to climb up at least in the lower Second.
"The higher your score is, the higher the section in a division you will be assigned to. I will enumerate the scores required for each division: 70% for the middle section of the Fourth Division; 75% for the upper section of the Fourth Division; 80% for the lower Third Division; 85% for the upper Third Division; and 90% for the lower Second Division."
Nera raised her eyebrow.
"Why didn't he continue to higher than 90%?"
"Are you silly, Lady Ponterise?" Rosa chuckled, which made Nera tilt her head.
"Rosa!" Dianne slightly shouted at her friend.
"Oh! I'm really sorry, my lady! I didn't mean to insult you!" Rosa bowed her head close to the armrest of the chair.
Nera sighed and waved her hand in front of her. "It's fine, I didn't take it as an insult."
Rosa flushed, cleared her throat, and continued to explain. "Getting 80% alone is difficult enough."
"And while there are exceptions like Young Master Noah mi Ponterise, others can simply dream of getting on the upper Third immediately, especially the lower Second," Dianne added.
"Oh, I see..." Nera slowly nodded. "What score are you guys aiming for?"
"At least higher than 80%!" Rosa replied enthusiastically, "All four of us are."
"Good luck to all of us then..." Nera gave them a smile to hide her nervousness.
She soon covered her mouth and all of them faced front again.
'Am I completely out of touch with everything? I really said I'd get a perfect score on all the tests?!'
Nera then realized that her brothers are really rare gems among the knights in their generation and she just used them as her minimum standard. Nera didn't notice because she was always around these gems and were being trained by them personally.
Nera rubbed her whole face in this shocking revelation.
'Shit... If I lose against Noah's challenge to me, I'll die of embarrassment!'