The next day.
Vikir attended the announcement ceremony for the rankings of the first round.
It was a remarkable feat for the freshmen of Colosseo Academy to beat out the sophomores and seniors of other schools to make it into the top 30.
And six of them – Vikir, Sinclair, Highbro, Midbro, Lowbro, and Grenouille – made it to the top 10.
Now, if the top 10 can successfully complete the second round of individual tasks, one per person, they will be rewarded with a rare artifact from a treasure trove jointly managed by the four schools.
The Talking Spear, the Time Stopping Hourglass, the Money Eating Hat, the Love Shield, the Sanity Orb, the Arrow with Eyeballs, and more... are all treasures of the century that could not be bought for a thousand gold coins, and they are all sleeping in the treasure trove, waiting for their owners.
The top ten Rankers who have completed their assigned tasks will be able to enter the treasure trove and choose an artifact, and they too must be chosen by the artifacts.
'But first, I have a quest to complete.'
Vikir thought as he walked to the stage of the awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, cheers erupted from below as the #7 ranked Vikir appeared.
"Aaaah- it's Vikir!"
"Brother, please take a look here!"
"I love you!"
The cheers came from the side of the Themiscyra Women's Academy.
There were no such cheers when Lovegood, the second-ranked student and student council president of Themiscyra, came out.
... But Lovegood didn't express any disappointment for Themiscyra students.
Because.
"Oh my God, Vikir-nim. To see you up close like this... I must be a saint."
Because she's a self-described "successful nerd.
Lovegood smiled, even though she was right next to Vikir on the podium.
The professor's speeches would soon be over, and then the students would be called up to the stage to receive their awards.
In the midst of all the excitement, Lovegood turned to Vikir.
"By the way, Vikir. I started a fan club for you yesterday."
"?"
"The name of the fan club is 'Le'… aka Re."
"??"
"Because... Vikir's hotness has passed the 'Do' mark and is about to hit the 'Mi' mark!"
"????"
Vikir was a little taken aback by this young lady's bravado.
But Lovegood looks at Vikir with love in her eyes, as if she's just dying to look at him.
The fact that her eyes were heart-shaped made it even more so.
Then a shout came from behind them. it was the female students of Themiscyra who started booing.
"Woo-woo- down with the president's monopoly!"
"We condemn the dictator!"
"Share Vikir!"
"Shouldn't the president prioritize the public interest over self-interest?"
"Pay the price, you old lady!"
"Impeach her, impeach her!"
Then Lovegood frowned arrogantly, looked back at her supporters(?), and spoke.
"Shut up, bitches, let me have some love. Don't you feel sorry for your sister?"
"Wooooooooo, you're the only one who can't get a relationship, it's hard for us too, we're a women's academy, if you're going to do this, make it a coeducational school!"
Lovegood's non-explanation only added fuel to the fire.
Eventually, Lovegood sighed and turned to Vikir.
"I... Vikir nim, do you think you'd like to dating after this league? With Colosseo and Themiscyra."
Dating refers to selecting candidates from each university department and having them meet men and women, but this was not an area of interest for Vikir in the first place.
..., but it was apparently a topic of interest to everyone else but Vikir.
"I am Vikir's right-hand man!"
Tudor was the first to raise his hand.
"Then the left arm is me!"
And Sancho, too.
"And the left leg is me!"
Piggy raised his hand, too.
The other boys followed suit, crowding around Vikir.
"Vikir's right leg is me!"
"Then Vikir's left eye is me!"
"I'll be the right eye!"
"I'm the left ear!"
"Is there any right ear left?"
"I am Vikir's heart!"
"I am the stomach!"
"I am the lungs!"
"I am the spine!"
"I am Vikir's stomach!"
"I am the chest!"
"I am the waist!"
"Then I am the ass!"
"I can't tell you which part I am, but it's the most important part we can all agree on!"
Vikir was being dismantled and shattered in real time.
Then.
"Enough of that. After the professors' speeches, it's time for the awards ceremony. I have to go on stage, so I'll forbid any more disturbances."
Dolores appeared and waved the crowd back.
As the students of Colosseo retreated, so did those of Themiscyra.
But?
jjilis-
Lovegood was somehow casting a checking gaze towards Dolores.
Dolores, who had never been on bad terms with her, looked puzzled, then Lovegood spoke.
"I can give you the number one ranking in the University League, but I can't give you Vikir, so don't let your guard down just because you go to the same school."
"...?"
Dolores shook her head, and Lovegood shouted.
"Don't be silly, I heard everything you said on the terrace yesterday!"
Dolores is at a loss for words.
Lovegood then recited a series of lines that Dolores had said to Vikir yesterday.
"You are special. Otherwise, there is no way you would catch my eye like that anytime, anywhere."
"?"
"You're the only thing I see everywhere these days."
"??"
"Open up to me!"
"????"
Dolores's face turns white. Did she really say those words yesterday?
'... I think I did.'
But I didn't mean it in that nuance. I think you're misunderstanding something....
Dolores turned quickly, and the eyes of the Colosseo students narrowed.
Dolores stammered, embarrassed.
"Oh, it's a misunderstanding. That's only a small part of the conversation, you have to look at the whole context, not just that line...."
However, timing didn't help her. Professor Banshee's stern voice came through.
"There, noisy winners, come forward."
The professors finished their speeches and the awards ceremony began.
* * *
The ten students with the highest scores in the University League this year came up to the podium.
1st place Dolores L Quovadis, 2nd place Merlini Lovegood, 3rd place Juragio Bakiraga, 4th place Highbro Le Baskerville, 5th place Midbro Le Baskerville, 6th place Lowbro Le Baskerville, 7th place Vikir, 8th place Sinclair, 9th place Grenouille, and 10th place Hohenheim.
The deans were represented by Professor Banshee from Colosseo Academy, who had the highest ranking.
Despite the outstanding performance of Colosseo's students, Professor Banshee was not in a good mood for some reason.
"... Congratulations, and now it's time for individualized assignments."
Professor Banshee's congratulatory speech was extremely dry and short.
But it was a good thing for the students.
Then, it was time to choose their assignments.
The apprenticeship system of the Seven Great Houses and Academy, trains talented individuals with the capabilities needed to enter the employment of this massive group.
The University League was an extension of this process.
Several scrolls were placed in front of the ten students.
They had to choose different tasks, and Vikir too reached for the scrolls in front of him.
'This brings us one step closer to the 7th Corpse Decarabia.'
Now all they had to do was go to the houses listed on the scrolls and fulfill the quests they were requested to do.
The ten students opened the scrolls.
Sinclair, ranked eighth, chose House of Quovadis, as previously mentioned.
On the outside of the scroll, the name of the House and the difficulty level of the quest are listed to help students make their choice.
Three and a half stars of difficulty.
Upon opening the scroll, Sinclair found a brief description of the task.
House of Faithful Quovadis / Difficulty [★★★☆]
The Empire is currently groaning under the weight of a growing number of heresies and cults.
Put yourself in the role of the Quovadis Inquisition and suggest ways to eradicate these cults and raise the prestige of the Rune Order.
Tasks related to the 'Inquisition' of the Quovadis family. There is a high possibility that Sinclair will work under the Archbishop and Inquisitor Mozgus L. Quovadis.
Now all Sinclair has to do is travel to the Quovadis household to fulfill the request.
"I knew this would come up."
Sinclair smiled, as if she had a good trick up her sleeve.
It seemed to be a very complicated plan, as Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, Bianca, etc. were curious and asked questions, but she said it would be too long to answer in words.
Meanwhile. Dolores, the 1st ranked student, also picked up a scroll.
Four-star difficulty.
Dolores knew this was going to be a tough task even before she opened the scroll.
Tycoon Family / Difficulty [★★★★]
The Mint has recently issued high-denomination banknotes and has been suffering from the increasing number of counterfeit banknotes.
From the perspective of Bourgeois family, choose a product that would benefit from a currency reform and suggest a new product or an improvement to an existing product.
Count Bourgeois Damien is the director of the Imperial Mint.
It was a task that required the use of the head rather than the body.
In addition to that, everyone opened the scroll with the task written on it.
In the case of Highbro, the task was related to the national maritime domain of Don Quixote, a spearman, called "Slaying a sea monster".
The difficulty level was ★★★, an easy task that required slaughtering a large number of monsters.
Midbro was given a rather brutal task of "Chase down escaped experimental monsters" by the extremely poisonous Leviathan family.
The difficulty was ★★★☆, which can be quite a challenge if you have poison resistance.
In Lowbro's case, the Imperial Guard was assigned the arduous task of helping the Usher family with their 'civil works to prevent the mansion from flooding'.
The difficulty was ★★☆, a somewhat easy but very time-consuming and tedious difficulty.
There were also several multiple tasks assigned by the imperial family, which were evenly distributed among everyone.
In the first place, the number of scrolls was more than 10, so everyone was able to choose the task they liked.
... but.
There was one incident that shocked everyone.
…Tud!
A hand rose above the dark red scroll.
Without hesitation, Vikir reached for the scroll in the farthest corner.
It was.
Iron-Blooded Swordsman / Difficulty [★★★★★]
Ironblooded Baskerville.
It was the worst House, the worst difficulty, the worst quest that everyone avoided.
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t/n : '도' '레' '미' Do Re Mi : in Korean Re sounds like Le