A gasp suddenly drew the attention of all the teachers.
All the teachers at the desks looked towards the corner of the split screen.
It was a candidate from the Knight College.
The scene in his camera was completely different from the other candidates.
He wasn't wearing a nobleman's coat. He was left with only a pair of trousers, his muscular figure clearly visible as he stood in the biting cold with his arms folded.
Even though his ash-gray messy hair was covered in snowflakes, he didn't seem cold at all, his deep purple eyes as tough as a lone wolf.
"What is he doing?"
"Wait! Actually, as a nobleman, the clothes on a candidate are worth some money, enough to cover the expenses of a village chief taking in a family for the whole winter, so the little girl would be protected by the village chief."
Ordinary people would never be so ruthless to themselves, seemingly completely disregarding their own life and death.
But indeed, the Shadow World doesn't require the challenger to survive until the end.
To sacrifice oneself, to uphold benevolence and righteousness, might also be an option.
"That's how the boors of the Knight College are, every once in a while there always comes one or two whose brains don't function well."
"But this Knight College candidate named Frey… you say he's stupid, but he seems oddly smart…"
Even though Frey completely went against the purpose of the exam, he indeed fulfilled the requirements with his noble character and exceptional physical fitness.
"Perhaps completely giving up on wisdom and philosophy is a display of wisdom and philosophy?"
"You have to say, he truly embodies many of the virtues of a knight, including honesty, mercy, bravery, sacrifice... it's just that he completely deviated from our original investigation objectives. The Knight College has picked up a gem this year."
Slowly, although the teachers couldn't fully agree with Frey's approach to clearing the level, in the end, they still couldn't help but admire him.
At least as a knight, he was undoubtedly deserving.
"Wait."
The vice dean Ron, who had been leafing through the candidate details with his head bowed, suddenly spoke in a deep voice,
"...I found out that this guy seems to keep losing in gambling until he has only a pair of trousers left, and he's gotten used to pawning his clothes... so he might have formed muscle memory, whenever he's in the Shadow World and doesn't know what to do, he simply sells his clothes to solve the problem first."
"..."
"..."
The room became awkwardly silent after their praises went off track.
After a while.
Vice Dean Ron finally broke the oppressive silence, coughed lightly, tried to steer the meeting back on track.
"Look at the bright side, he's a candidate from the Knight College, let them worry about it."
"Indeed."
"Our students are much more normal."
The teachers nodded in agreement, feeling relieved.
Not long after…
A teacher gradually noticed something else.
On the Sage Academy side.
It seemed there was also a candidate who wasn't quite normal.
In the screen, it was a black-haired, green-eyed youth.
Instead of hurrying with his investigation,
he rushed back to the village chief's house at the first opportunity.
After getting the chief's permission, he found several books on the bookshelf.
Then he leisurely leaned back on the sofa, flipping through the books by the fireside.
He even occasionally took a sip of hot tea, looking particularly content.
Obviously, his unusual behavior had caught the teachers' attention.
"What is this guy doing? He's actually enjoying himself?"
Teachers who noticed Lanci started to ask each other.
Soon, a young teacher chuckled softly, then shook his head and said:
"Students who drop out halfway through usually act like this, staying at a safe location, but I've never seen one that gives up as decisively as he does."
Upon hearing this,
the other teachers all nodded.
Almost fooled by this guy's confident and relaxed demeanor.
"Lanci Welfort...This guy's attribute test results were not ideal. His family is a famous wealthy merchant of the Nanwantian Border, the eldest son of the Welfort family. Is he here for an experiential learning program?"
The Vice Dean found Lanci's enrollment information and sighed helplessly.
After the teachers learned of his situation, they began to lose interest in this lax rich young man.
...
Just when the professors' attention was gradually diverting away from Lanci.
He finally closed the book in his hands.
And taking this book, he decisively went to the burglarized family again with the executioner.
Knock-knock.
Lanci gently knocked on the door.
Then came faint footsteps accompanied by the whistling wind and snow from inside the house.
As soon as the door was opened, he saw the welcoming middle-aged man, shivering with cold.
"Lord, have there been any developments in your investigation?"
The middle-aged man asked with a somewhat expectant worry on his face.
But in his heart, he was already inwardly laughing.
This stupid noble's investigative direction had been completely misled.
All he had to do next was to again trick this shabby lord out of the house and let him continue to wander aimlessly in this snow-and-ice-covered world with his foolish sense of justice.
However.
Lanci just stared sharply at the middle-aged man, as if finally confirming something.
"The investigation has not progressed. But before, and just now, when you saw me, did you not bow?"
Lanci slowly raised his hand, pointing at the middle-aged man in the house and asked.
"Sorry, My Lord, we heard that you were always very kind and never cared about these details, it was our..."
The sudden question made the middle-aged man become sincerely frightened, and he hastily, with his wife, pressed down the little girl's head and bowed to Lanci, whispering.
He didn't understand where he went wrong, that caused this noble to suddenly become stern-faced.
Obviously, this kind lord didn't do any investigation in his house, how could he possibly detect anything suspicious!?
Lanci sneered:
"According to the etiquette of the Northern border territory, you and your wife should have bowed to me, but you have twice failed to show me the respect I'm entitled to. I believe that you treat me with light contempt, which has insulted me."
He opened the Sacred Country Code in his hand and scolded sharply,
"According to the Sacred Country Code, page 719, line 3, for the crime of insulting nobility, I will arrest your whole family. Children under the age of 12 can be exempt from this crime, and according to the provisions on page 134 for custody, this girl will lose her guardians, I will take her back to the town and the church will take care of her, it's all in compliance with the rules."
After speaking, Lanci turned back and gave a look to the executioner, raising the opened book in his hand, showing the executioner the page of the "crime of insulting nobility".
The clause was clearly written on it.
And regarding the etiquette of the Northern border territory, it was something that Lanci had just inquired about in detail with the village head and the executioner.
The executioner was slightly stunned.
After some hesitation, he eventually stepped forward and controlled the bewildered three people.
"You will be temporarily detained in the village head's house. After the storm passes, come back with me to the town. Those who should go to prison should go to prison, and those who should go to the church should go to the church."
Lanci looked at the code, speaking word by word.
Next.
He watched the three people under the guidance of the executioner, set off for the village head's house.
In the snowstorm.
Lanci put his hands in his pockets, took a deep breath, and revealed a satisfied smile.
"Obviously, this test examines the students' legal awareness, in this way, their family can spend a warm winter in jail and church."
...
Outside the field.
"?!"
The professors who inadvertently witnessed Lanci's operation started to twitch at the corners of their eyes.
Even the chief examiner Loren in the examination room was taken aback when he saw all this.