Mistress Of The Evil Forest

October of 1834.

It's the beginning of the cold season, the temperature is rapidly decreasing, and autumn leaves are beginning to fall off from the trees planted around the academy ground. Despite that, the atmosphere seems to be only getting warmer as more and more students come to this place.

rustle

rustle

And here I am, sweeping the dead leaves near the main entrance of the academy.

It's usually not my job to do this, even though one might think that it is natural. Officially, I am known as Chloe's exclusive maid, so my job is to take care of her needs. 

Now, I don't do that, partly because I'm not actually her maid, and I won't take care of her needs either. 

But the point is, the maids who usually do this job all got a cold simultaneously, so I volunteered to replace them for today. It's a nice change of pace for me, doing mundane tasks like this.

''Whoa... An owl-kin.''

''Her feathers look so smooth... What, level 20...?!''

''As expected of the Astra Academy, they even have maids like them...''

There is one thing I discovered over the last three weeks—beast-kin people like me are extremely rare. I only know another one besides Nydia.

So because of that, we got quite a lot of attention from the students and the staff, even now as we're sweeping leaves. We, because Nydia is here with me.

''It's quite cold now, huh...'' Nydia wraps herself with her wings and says.

''Yeah, and I heard it's going to get even colder?'' I reply.

''According to the forecast, yes.''

''That's unfortunate, and I think we're done with this part, let's go sit somewhere and take a break.''

''Alright.''

So we walk to a bench nearby and sit down side to side, watching the students passing by.

I've become quite friendly with Nydia now, although she still gets flustered when interacting with me occasionally, I wonder why.

''It's cold...!'' Nydia's body shudders. ''I'm going to light a fire, come closer.''

''Mhm.''

As I sit myself closer to her, shoulder touches shoulder, Nydia conjures a simple fire from the palm of her hand, warming the atmosphere around us. We both spread out our wings and form a circle, my left wing hugging her waist, her right wing hugging mine, trying to trap the heat inside.

''Hah... This is bliss.'' She says, her face a little red.

''Let's stay like this for a bit.''

''Yeah.''

'''' ... ''''

I'm looking forward to seeing what the academy has for the evaluation test tomorrow. I went ahead and applied for a supervisor position, and they accepted me, so I should be able to observe the test.

---

The day passed quickly, and I am now present at the evaluation site. This very test will be the one determining class placements, well, most of them.

The reason why I say that is because there are two separate parts to the evaluation test—a written exam and a practical exam, with the latter making up 80% of the overall score. The written test was held right after the admission a few months ago, so there's only this one left.

Right now, I and the professors in charge, as well as the staff members are sitting on the spectator seats of Nivone Hall—the site for practical lessons and sparring, anything related to moving your body in general.

It is shaped similarly to a football field, capable of holding four classes at the same time, and even then, there would be lots of empty space. Truly big.

Either way, standing before us is exactly a hundred students in white uniform, standing in lines and looking very nervous. Nervous, because if they don't perform well they can be placed at the bottom classes, or worse, be expelled.

To start with, there are a total of four classes: A, B, C, and D.

The last three will each hold twenty-five students, while class A only receives students with a level higher than 30—an extremely high-level requirement for 18-year-old kids. So normally, class A only has three to five students. The A class members for this year have their power tested before this already, so they are not even present at this test site.

In conclusion, twenty-five of these students will be disqualified.

Claire is pretty confident, huh. Look at her in the front row and all.

''We will begin the practical segment of the evaluation test right now.'' A female professor announces through the speaker, startling a few students. ''Please step inside the barrier when I call your designated number.''

Following that, a staff member in a dark blue uniform descends the stairs and positions himself near the ground intended for students to demonstrate their skills.

His role, as well as my role today, is to supervise the students so that no unfortunate accidents occur, with him in charge of the first fifty students, and I'm in charge of the rest.

''Number one.''

''Yes!''

A female student steps up.

''Let's see... [Fire Magic] and [Spearmanship]. Please show us how you utilize these two skills together.''

''Understood!''

With that, the girl goes to the weapon stand and grabs a spear before coming back.

Well, let's observe for now.

---

''Number forty-nine.''

Each student has about ninety seconds to demonstrate their skills, and so far, it's going pretty smoothly. For the students who are pursuing the knight route, they often focus on their weapon-handling skills and occasionally have magic skills. On the contrary, the students aiming for the position of a mage often have two elements ready, some of them have a less proficient weapon skill as well.

Their levels range from fifteen to twenty-seven, but having a higher level doesn't always equate to better performance. I know because I can see how the professors rate the students.

Claire got a pretty good score, by the way. I'm glad.

''Number fifty-one.''

Regardless, it's my job from now on.

I stand up and start to descend the stairs while my colleague comes back.

''Good job.'' I say, passing by him.

''Eh, ah, thank you?''

Why a question?

Oh, Claire is waving to me, let's wave back, maybe smile at her too.

''Number fifty-one, Please begin.'' The professor says after I got into position.

'''' ... ''''

''Number fifty-one?''

''Ah, excuse me!'' The female student finally stops staring at me and starts her performance.

Well, aside from that, there is something I have to do here as well.

According to Chloe, Maria Oriana - the haughty noble that bullied Claire a few weeks ago will target her again today. The reason I'll get into later, but we first have to stop her.

''Number fifty-six.''

''Yes.''

There she is.

Now, Maria is a mage, and her primary element is water. If it goes according to the scenario, she will 'accidentally' send a spell toward poor Claire with the intention of injuring her, thus having her transported to the infirmary.

I just need to prevent the spell.

''O Mighty Water, grant me the power to destroy my enemies—!'' Maria shouts. ''Waterfall!''

Instantly, a vortex appears above the practice dummy, then, an obscene amount of water erupts from it, crushing the dummy squarely. The water on the ground disappears right after that.

But her time is not up yet. She conjures several water lances and aims them at the remaining dummies.

''Kyah—!!''

Right when she is about to launch them, a bolt of red lightning bursts out from one of the dummies, disabling the barrier altogether and making Maria lose control of her lances—or at least that's what it seems like.

Her lances shoot out in virtually every direction, and I see at least three of them heading toward the confused students. One of them is flying straight at Claire.

I activate [Acceleration] and swiftly run in front of the students, then cast a simple ice wall to block the lances. A moderately thick wall in the shape of a half-circle erupts from the ground.

CRACK—!!

CRACK—!!

My proficiency in this body is quite low, so the wall cracks right away, but that managed to stop the attack.

I cancel my ice wall, turning it into sparkles of light, and together with that revealing the panicking staff above and the culprit herself below. She is now sitting on the ground, glaring at me with a rather displeased expression.

''You...'' I hear she mutter.

Now then, it's time to take care of this girl.