*Ding dong ding dong*
"Ah! It looks like we need to get going, Lady Florence. Or else, we'll both be unable to take the test"
"Yes, let us get going, Sir Edward"
At the sound of the Academy's bell clanging side to side, Edward and Florence were both back to their main objective here today, to take the entrance test to the Royal Academy, so with that, they both began making their way to the main building as they walked and talked before they stopped at the signboard filled with papers with the name of today's participants and to which classroom they would be taking their test on.
"Did you find your name, Lady Florence?"
"Yes, I did. And what about you, Lord Edward?"
"I also found my name already, though it appears that we will both have to take our tests in different classrooms"
"That is certainly a misfortune since I wanted to keep talking to you, Lord Edward"
"I am happy to hear, that Lady Florence. And I also wanted to keep talking to you as well… Hmm… Ah! Then how about we meet up after we finish our tests?"
"Sounds good to me, then whichever of us finishes first, shall wait for the other at the school entrance, is that okay for you Lord Edward?"
"Yes, it is, Lady Florence"
"Fufun! Then it's settled! Lord Edward, I hope that you look forward to my guide of the royal capital"
"Yes, I am really looking forward to having a walk around the capital with you, since I do not get that many opportunities to come here, Lady Florence"
"Then see you later, Lord Edward"
"See you later, Lady Florence"
And with that, the two walked in opposite directions as they made their way to the assigned classrooms.
.
.
.
After a few minutes, Edward arrived at the assigned classroom. Inside, he found the typical assortment of participants: various noble heirs (mostly sons and daughters from count or baron families), a good number of rich merchant family heirs, and the occasional odd commoner who showed academic potential. All in all, this was the average academy classroom in this game's world.
Stepping inside the classroom, no one batted an eye at Edward as he was entering the classroom alongside several other people, all of which, Edward included, had the so-called average appearance (for an otome game).
Edward walked for a short while inside the classroom, searching for the right spot to sit down. He found one in the middle row on the right side of the classroom, and just as he had sat down, the seat left to him was also occupied.
The person who had sat down right next to Edward's left side was a brown-haired girl with short curled twin tails, with a fairly average appearance as well, and for the way that she handled herself, it was easy to see that she was from a count family, most likely as the 4th or 5th children. And something that Edward could just feel since he was also the son of a count.
"…"
But Edward also noticed how that girl was… Looking overly confident, almost as if she already knew all of the answers.
"… You look pretty confident, today. Did you make any preparations for today, miss?"
"Kukuku… I was born ready!"
At Edward's curious question, the girl answered with a lot of vigor as she looked unfazed at his somewhat concerned expression.
"If you say so, then good luck on your test"
"Huhuhu, thank you, and good luck to you too"
"… *Nods*"
Edward nodded with a somewhat troubled expression at how overly confident and optimistic the girl was, as she also appeared to not have studied enough for the test as well.
Before long, a teacher entered the classroom, causing everyone to go silent as they all sat down in their chosen spots, followed right after by the teacher handing each of the participants a sheet of paper, and once he returned to his table at the front of the classroom, he looked at the clock on the wall.
"… You all may now flip the papers and start the test, conversing is prohibited, and anyone caught cheating will be disqualified. Good luck on your tests"
And with that, the teacher sat down and began reading a book as the participants all began their tests.
.
.
.
The brown-haired girl who was sitting right next to Edward was in fact, a reincarnated person, who thanks to her past life memories, and bias from too much anime and manga, came to this test without studying properly, and now her overconfident demeanor had completely evaporated, as she began sweating buckets as she repeatedly read the questions on the test in the vain hope that they would magically change to something easier.
As for Edward, he had already started his test and was already answering the first few questions, which all had some form of math calculation to do, but as he wrote down his answers, he felt a gaze coming from his left side.
"?" *Looks to his left*
"…" *Fakes it by looking at nothing as she moves her head away from Edward"
"…" *Goes back to his test*
"…!" *Goes back on trying to copy Edward's answers*
The brown-haired girl, would keep trying to copy Edward's answers, but after some time…
"…" *Gets up*
"!?"
Edward got up as he took his test with him, which surprised the girl as she had now lost her cheating tool, before walking towards the teacher.
"I finished it, teacher"
"Hm? Already? Oh… It has been this long already… This book is good… Anyways, leave the test here, and then make your way to the sports field, you should get there by just turning to your left once you leave the classroom"
"… *Nods*"
And with that, Edward made his way out of the classroom, as the girl could only be left despairing as most of her test was either blank or the questions were only partially answered, because she wasn't fast enough to copy Edward's answers, so of course… She began copying the answers from someone else.
.
.
.
At the sports field
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
"Sir Edward"
"Lady Florence"
"It appears that we both finished our tests at roughly the same time, isn't it?"
"It appears to be so, yes"
Edward and Florence had both met up as they arrived at the sports field, which already had other students doing the magic aptitude test, which was mostly for seeing how good they were at controlling their magic.
"So, how well do you think you were at the test, Sir Edward?"
"So-so, if I had to say. And what about you, Lady Florence?"
"So-so, as well. Lord Edward"
"I see… Oh, it appears that we will be next"
"Indeed, then let's continue talking later, Sir Edward"
"Okay, Lady Florence"
And so, the two walked towards different teachers who were conducting the magical aptitude test.
"Please put your hand here to have your mana measured"
"… *Nods*"
Following the teacher's instructions, Edward and Florence both began measuring their manas.
"… … … Mana a bit below average, huh. Average score is… Hm?"
While Edward's results were pretty average, Florence's result was very different, as the device measuring her mana began shining very brightly, enough to catch the attention of the teacher who was handling Edward's mana measures, before the light began fading away as she stopped touching the device.
"That's some impressive amount of mana *Checks papers* Hm? Lady Florence, according to your profile given to the academy, it says here you are afflicted with corrupted mana, is that true?"
"Unfortunately it is, teacher"
"I see, then you may skip the elemental measure test, and go straight for the magic control test"
"Understood, teacher" *Turns towards Edward* "Fufun, it appears that I will be finishing first, Sir Edward"
"Then I will try to make sure to not leave you waiting for too long, Lady Florence"
"Fufu" *Nods*
As the two continued on with their aptitude tests, more participants continued to arrive as more and more people finished the written test, including a certain brown-haired girl who was able to finish her test In time, with only a few minutes remaining, and no one close to her for her to copy their answers from, so she had to answer the last remaining questions by just using her guts.
Just as she was about to start her magic aptitude test, she noticed Edward and Florence walking away as they talked, and she couldn't help but get the feeling of deja vu.
"…Hm?"
"Amanda Faerber, please step ahead"
"Wah! Ah! Y-Yes!"
"We will now measure your mana, please put your hands here and here"
"Alright!"
Following the teacher's instructions, the Brown Haired girl, Amanda, put her hands on the measuring device and then!… Nothing happened.
"Huh? Weird, is this machine working?" *Hits the measuring device* "Still nothing…" *Hits the machine again* "Oh, now there's something"
After hitting the machine twice, the measuring tool revealed!… A dim light that could be easily missed if one wasn't paying attention.
"… … … Huh?"
At seeing what was an almost non-existent pool of mana, Amanda couldn't help but make a stupid face, due to the surprise that she, in fact, was worse than the average person in that department.
"Shall, we move to the elemental aptitude test?"
"Ah, yes…"
Thanks to the shock of the results, Amanda's previous bravado was now gone as she had turned completely depressed from not being in an isekai power fantasy situation. As for her results, she got an aptitude for Earth magic, the most common one, and as for her magic control… Just have a look at her reaction.
"…"
"For the magic control test, you need to solve this chant, and have it functional"
"Okay…" Mostly thanks to the devs never bothering to explain how magic worked, and forgetting to remove spreadsheet files from the game files that they used to calculate magic damage, Amanda's embarrassing future was narrowly avoided, as she was able to quickly finish that test, and narrowly get herself enough points to not fail the entrance exam. . . . As for Edward's and Florence's results, Edward showed an aptitude for fire and water magic, two pretty common aptitudes, and showed a fairly average magic control score, while Florence, due to her corrupted mana, cannot use any of the elements associated with magic, but she showed a fairly good control of magic, with the use of specialized tools for her deficiency. And talking about the two of them… "Say Sir Edward, do you want to go eat something, as a little commemoration for us finishing our tests?" "I would love to, Lady Florence. Do you have someplace in mind already to do?" "I do! And that place, is one of the best cafes in the capital, in my opinion" "Oooh! Then shall we get going?" "Yes, now, please follow my lead, Sir Edward!" "Of course"