The Unavoidable Flag

Lily grumbled as she scurried to keep up with Ensi, who continued moving forward without a care in the world.

Ensi spoke up as soon as he felt her presence right beside him.

“Does the rumor bother you that much?”

“I want to ignore it, but how can I? Instead of dying down, it feels like it’s getting more intense as time goes on. Wasn’t it famous that I’m completely devoted to Nocturne? Why is this ridiculous rumor getting bigger?”

“It is famous… but maybe people just find a love triangle more stimulating.”

“……I see. If that’s the criteria, I guess my pure devotion might lose out.”

When her serious agreement followed his offhanded comment, Ensi wore a reluctant expression, momentarily forgetting what he had even said.

In his opinion, Lily’s devotion was stimulating enough not to lose to any love triangle.

After all, to date Nocturne, Lily waited in front of his dormitory gates every single morning holding a bouquet of flowers.

Not only that, but every time Nocturne’s lectures ended, she would seek him out and drop to one knee to explain in detail the benefits of dating her or how she would act if they were in a relationship.

It went without saying that she gave him gifts the moment she discovered any of his preferences.

To Ensi, it was the absolute height of being burdensome.

In a way, she seemed even more intense than the current Agniele.

The only difference was that Nocturne didn’t seem as burdened by it as Ensi was.

In fact, he said he fell for the way she acted so confidently even under the gaze of others.

To Ensi, they were a couple he could never truly understand, no matter how much he thought about it.

“Anyway, the rumors are getting more absurd by the day. Originally, it was about us fighting over Agniele, right? But do you know what they’re saying now? Ensi, they say we’re fighting over you.”

The beautiful Young Lord of the Alemir family, who looks like the stars of the night sky incarnate, has captured not only Lasias but Florence as well!

Lily mimicked the gossips using exaggerated tones and gestures.

She didn’t forget to perform passionately as if she were the protagonist under a spotlight.

It was a fairly impressive imitation, but Ensi didn’t pay it any mind; he quickly moved away from her to avoid looking like he was with the person suddenly thrusting her right arm toward the sky.

“……Aren’t you being a bit much?”

Only after finishing her passionate reenactment did Lily realize Ensi was no longer nearby, and she turned halfway to look at him.

Ensi simply shrugged nonchalantly despite the silent reproach in Lily’s eyes.

“The professor will be here soon.”

In other words, he was telling her to hurry up.

Lily pouted but moved her feet quickly to follow Ensi.

“Anyway, Ensi, there’s even a rumor going around that I’m like an octopus with my legs in multiple places because I can’t give up on either you or Nocturne!”

“Right, how sorrowful for you.”

Ensi nodded, half-listening to Lily’s unending grievances.

Perhaps because they had dawdled, the training hall was already packed with people.

As the crowd around them grew, Lily swallowed her words with a light sigh.

When there are many ears listening, one has to be careful with their mouth, or else another rumor might start.

Ensi led the now-silent Lily and joined the group standing in organized rows.

Since they were somewhat late, they were at the very edge, far from the podium.

“Fortunately, it looks like the professor hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Seems so.”

Ensi nodded in agreement with her relieved whisper.

Soon after, the professor appeared carrying a stack of papers.

No matter how one looked at it, those papers contained the practical exam teams, and a stir went through the crowd.

Thump! The commotion died down as the assistant instructor stamped his foot heavily, but the anticipation on the students’ faces did not vanish.

One could see the excitement of leaving the Academy during the semester and the tension of their first practical exam.

However, Ensi still wore a disinterested look.

Since it was said they would finish class right after the team announcements today, his only desire was to return to the greenhouse as soon as possible.

While he was half-listening to most of the words in a somewhat slouched posture, the professor began to speak.

“For your information, the difficulty of the practical exam varies by team. We have organized the members accordingly, so I will not accept any complaints.”

“The difficulty is different?”

In small details like this, he often felt the difference between his past life and his current life.

Different difficulty levels for each team—did that even make sense?

Lily let out a sound like an impressed sigh and focused on the professor’s following words.

Regardless of the students’ reactions, the professor began calling out the teams organized by their practical locations.

She tapped Ensi’s arm as he remained disinterested.

Even at her signal to focus at least a little bit, Ensi just gave a nod.

Lily decided that she would listen properly on behalf of the seemingly indifferent Ensi.

By the time more than half the names had been called, Lily’s head tilted to the side.

“……That’s strange.”

“What is?”

“No, our names haven’t been called yet.”

Even Agniele hadn’t been called.

From what she remembered, there were about 30 classmates in the faculty.

And more than half had been called already.

During that time, what were the odds that not a single one of the three of them would be named?

“That can happen.”

Of course, the odds were higher than one might think. That was likely why Ensi dismissed it so easily.

However, Lily began to have an ominous feeling as her name still wasn’t called, even though it felt like twenty people had passed.

“I’m starting to think of the worst-case scenario.”

Ensi unconsciously frowned at the grim opening of her sentence.

He shook his head and tapped Lily’s forearm to stop her from speaking further.

“Don’t just say things. You were the one who blindly believed in ‘flags’ anyway.”

Why was such a person suddenly trying to set up a flag?

Lily had no choice but to shut her mouth at Ensi’s pointing out.

True, doing so wouldn’t change the fixed result, and there was no need to add to the ominous feeling for no reason.

Lily let out a quiet sigh and bit her thumbnail.

Her nail, chewed on every time a name was called, quickly became weak.

Finally, when her nail could no longer hold out and began to crack, Lily felt her fate.

“Ensi, I think we’re definitely doomed.”

“Lastly, Mount Lakes. Agniele Lasias, Lily Florence, Ensius Alemir. Total of three.”

“Khuk—!”

At the words that drove the final nail in, she buried her face in both hands.

She had suspected it, but to think it was actually true!

More than anything, the fact that her team only had three members unlike the other teams was even more despairing.

Even if they were on the same team, she thought there would be at least five members, but only three!

“This makes no sense.”

The idea that she alone had to suffer between Agniele and Ensi—how could that make sense?

Belatedly gathering her senses, Lily ran straight toward the assistant instructor.

While she was in denial of reality, the professor had already left the training hall, so the assistant was the only one she could protest to regarding the team assignments.

She successfully reached the front of the assistant instructor, breaking through the crowd that had scattered despite having been in rows earlier, and suddenly shouted.

“Why did you only assign three people to our team! This is unfair!”

“Three people…… ah, Mount Lakes? That place is dangerous, so it would be difficult to conduct the practical unless it’s you three.”

“No, common sense says if it’s dangerous, you should add more people!”

“No, we made the decision based on common sense, which is why we only put you three. If other students were added, that would actually be a restriction for you, wouldn’t it? It’s too much for them to keep up with your movements. Above all, the monsters of Mount Lakes are not opponents you can subjugate while leading unnecessary personnel.”

This was the first practical exam conducted by the Academy.

This meant that even if they had trained together, this was the first time students were properly coordinating with one another.

It also meant the faculty didn’t just put their heads together to form teams for no reason.

They had to figure out everything from whether the swordsmanship levels were similar, whether the relationships were mutually complementary, and even whether they could avoid tripping over each other.

Not only that, they had to consider the relationships between the students and adjust the difficulty of the practical to fit the formed teams.

“That’s—!”

“Besides, you each said you had prior practical experience, right? That’s also why the three of you were grouped together. The terrain of Mount Lakes is rugged.”

In short, it was a place too difficult for students without practical experience to go.

To be pushed into such a worst-case location—did someone among the faculty dislike them?

Lily became more dumbfounded the more she heard the assistant’s explanation, but the assistant calmly continued.

“Above all, it’s hard to separate you three. If you were put into different teams, you would be the ones stepping up to face the monsters, and then the practical wouldn’t serve its purpose for the others.”

At worst, it could end up taking away the opportunity for other students to face monsters directly.

If they prepared monsters to match the level of those three, it was obvious other students wouldn’t be able to handle them; if they lowered the level, the practical would feel like a joke to those three.

“The team assignments were decided after the professors considered many things. Even if you tell me it’s unfair, it’s hard to change it unless there’s a very significant reason.”

Lily was left speechless as the other person emphasized the fact that he was merely an assistant instructor.

Somehow, the stories of pitiful graduate students that circulated in her past life came to mind, making it harder for her to assert her opinion any more strongly.

When Lily appeared to have given up, the assistant instructor patted her shoulder.

“The professors are paying special attention to Mount Lakes. It’s a practical site they put a lot of thought into to match your level, so do your best.”

The assistant, having successfully concluded the sole protest, left the training hall with light steps.

When Ensi belatedly approached Lily, who was standing there in despair, he spoke.

“Did you fail?”

“……It was a spectacular failure. Damn it, everything he said was right, so I couldn’t even argue back. Seriously, Ensi, why are you even good at using a sword!”

When the arrow was turned toward him for no reason, Ensi let out a sigh and whispered quietly.

“It’s not that I’m good; it’s that our classmates are bad.”

When Ensi also mentioned the fact that once they left the Academy, the world was full of people better than him, Lily shut her mouth tight.

Right, to the nobles, this was just a place for socializing.

Thanks to that, even in the Knight Faculty, the number of people who truly wanted to become knights didn’t even exceed one-third.

Perhaps Agniele, Lily, and Ensi belonged to the exceptional cases.

“……I guess I shouldn’t have come to the Knight Faculty.”

“Console yourself with the fact that it helped you avoid the engagement.”

Lily pouted at Ensi’s somewhat blunt consolation.