The Greed of Kronos

D-Day

Sixty-two: D-Day

The petals and leaves were leaving the trees as they danced together with the wind. The cats and dogs that were freely running at the Academy were surprisingly on good terms on that particular day. 

Even Sir Samael had cold pillows both left and right the night before, and when he woke, he was earlier than the corpse that would usually serve as his alarm clock. 

It was another yet peaceful day for everyone except for Sir Samael, who was doubting the weather. For sure, something would happen if it's that good day. 

He continued to doubt himself until he reached the classroom. And then, when a student passed by outside the classroom with notes on his hand and seemed to memorize something. 

It immediately hit him. IT WAS THE EXAMINATION DAY, AND HE FORGOT. 

That was how Sir Samael rushed towards the faculty and got the test papers even before the kids could come. If they were to know that he forgot something, The kids would sure tease him over and over again until he could not keep up his sanity and snap. 

Hence, when Asisi opened the door, he saw the gloomy teacher on the desk with a pile of papers. And with that, he greeted as usual with a smile. "Good Morning, Papa!"

"Morning." Sir Samael replied while he was hiding the fact that he was catching his breath. 

It was then Yohan who entered together with Ajax who greeted. "Good Morning, Papa!" 

"Yeah. Morning." Sir Samael mumbled.

While he was greeting back to the kids, his mind was elsewhere. He certainly knew that something was going to happen. Of course, being peaceful and all does not suit the Academy. He could be so sure that a misfortune awaits after a small pinch of rainbow show. 

When it was Kronos and Astian who entered the room, Astian greeted him like the usual, and Sir Samael greeted back, ignoring Kronos, who would also ignore him as always.

However, on that particular morning, Kronos halted and looked at Sir Samael before mumbling. "Morning.."

"Huh?" That's all Sir Samael could say as he was left dumbfounded. Since when did this punk know how to greet someone other than Astian?

Shortly after a long pause, Kronos finally continued with his first-ever morning greeting towards his teacher. "Papa…"

Hearing this, the others looked in their way and perked their ears up to listen to their conversation. Of course, they would be curious. Up until the first day of class, Kronos never called Sir Samael' Papa'. It would be either a silent approach if ever Kronos needed something, or Astian would help Kronos approach, Sir Samael. In the end, no one ever heard Kronos mumble the word, Papa.

So when he finally said that particular word, the others felt like they just witnessed something that would occur once in a lifetime. "What?"

Because of the sudden attention, Kronos felt flustered and then dizzily ended his greeting before going to his seat with a blank expression. "...Noe."

With that being said, Sir Samael was agape. However, he still managed to greet Kronos back. "Ah? Morning, Kronos."

The others, on the other hand, were fascinated by how Kronos called Sir Samael. Take Asisi, who was holding his stomach while laughing, for example. "Papa Noe? That's what we call semi-formal HAHAHA."

Since Sir Samael's surname was Noe and his pet name was Papa, it would appear to be semi-formal. But if one were to comment, Papa Noe was such a cute pet name for a teacher. 

"Look at that Kronos, you made papa dumbfounded." Mikhail also laughed as he finally saw another side of Sir Samael, who would always work him to the bones just because he's the Mayor of the class.

Kronos, who was the center of attention, merely showed off a smug smile as he settled down on his seat. It was never his intention to call his teacher Papa Noe. More accurately, he was about to address the good sir, 'Papa Samael,' because it suddenly came into his mind that he never called Sir Samael in that way. 

"Is your mood that good?" Astian asked him as he leaned closer towards Kronos. 

Plus, he was in a good mood. 

With that being said, Kronos showed off a smile as he patted Astian on the head and replied. "Yeah."

"Well, it can't be helped. Today is 'that' day, and we are very well prepared. Everyone's in a very good mood." Astian shrugged with a smile as he enjoyed the feeling of head pats.

It was true. Everyone was very obvious to the point that it was written on their faces that they were ready to take the exam and confident that they would get good scores. 

Shortly after, Sir Samael stood up and announced in front of the class. "Alright, settle down."

It was then followed by a silence. Hence, Sir Samael continued. "You may not know, but today's the monthly examination day. It is to evaluate the knowledge that the student gained."

"We know!" The others replied in unison with a proud tone of voice. 

Hearing this, Sir Samael replied with a bitter face. "Oh really?"

How was it that he never even mentioned the monthly exam to them, but they knew, and he was instead the one who forgot?

"Yeah! We can even give you a perfect score!" Asisi smiled widely as he looked at Sir Samael.

Of course, that was a bluff coming from him. But at least he could give Sir Samael a good score. 

And it seemed like Sir Samael was not interested in their scores either. "Well, that's good, but I do not need your score."

With that being said, everyone looked at Sir Samael and replied in unison. "What?!"

Seeming to be unaware that only he knew about one particular fact because he did not mention it to them, Sir Samael scowled. "It's because you all are exempted in every exam."

How could they forget? (Actually, he forgot to tell them.)

"How come? We should take the test and get good scores, right?" Mikhail titled his head out of confusion. Sir Samael never mentioned something like that, even to him as the Mayor. 

With that being said, Sir Samael looked at Mikhail and raised a brow. "Why? For your names to be on the top of the bulletin board and gain attention?"

Silence enveloped the whole classroom.

They could not admit it, but what Sir Samael was right. 

Because no one dared to respond to him, Sir Samael continued. "Students will suspect you. Why are they in the lowest class if they are good at studying?"

That was true. They just did not think of it because they were so engrossed by the fact that Sir Samael told them to be normal students. They forgot that they were masters of the masters. They forgot that they were in hiding. They forgot that their sole existence was a target to the church. 

"That's why every exam, I am going to hand you the papers like how a teacher should do. However, it is up to the students if they would answer the paper or leave it blank." Sir Samael then ended his morning lecture as he passed down the test papers. 

With just the thought of their group study going to waste, Asisi could not help but to cry. "No way… We studied for nothing!"

And because one of them started to cry, the others cried as well. "After all the efforts…."

Of course, except for Kronos and Ajax, who only looked like dejected dogs.

Seeing this scenario right in front of his face, Sir Samael could not help but to get frustrated. "Haah."

Their age might be older than his grandmother's, but their brains were still akin to kids who were still in the early stage of puberty. 

Hence, he was left with no choice but to appease them. "Then let's do it this way. I am going to ask for other copies from the faculty and answer these test papers seriously afterward. I am going to post the top students who get the highest score after I'm done checking."

Hearing this, everyone stopped crying for a whole minute. And then they started wailing because they were touched. "UWAAAAHHHH PAPA, YOU ARE SERIOUSLY THE BEST!"

"My word. Answer it now and waste no time! I am going out to get another copy." Sir Samael heaved a loud sigh. He thought that the kids would stop crying, but it got worse.

"Yes, Papa!" They replied in unison. 

The whole examination time went smoothly. After leaving the classroom without bringing anything, Sir Samael got back to the classroom with a pile of another test papers so that they could answer to their heart's content. 

The classroom was in silence the whole time, and one could only hear the flapping of papers and scribbling. Sir Samael could say that everyone was really focused on answering the test papers. Seriously, instead of celebrating because they were exempted, they cried because they studied for nothing. Who does that?

Shortly after, one by one, the class comes in the front to submit their test papers. And when Sir Samael noticed that everyone had already handed in their test papers, he then dismissed the class. "If everyone already submitted their test papers, then you may leave the classroom." 

"Bye, Papa!" Artem waved goodbye together with his floral background. 

"Yeah, bye." Even Sir Samael could not get used to seeing the beauty of Artem and Sarlienne. 

When Kronos passed by Sir Samael to leave the room, Sir Samael looked at him with his usual expression and seemed to be waiting for something. And when they met eyes, Kronos also stared at him as if asking if he wanted something. 

But then, shortly after that, Sir Samael broke their eye contact and shook his head. "Leave now."

Seriously, what was he thinking that Kronos would bid goodbye and call him Papa Noe again?

When everyone was walking together to go back to the dorm, they had a lot to say about what happened in the class earlier. 

Hence, the walk was shorter because of the talk along the way. "Can you believe that? Everything that we studied was on the test papers! I was bewildered and felt like I could ace the test because I knew everything!" Asisi laughed as he remembered how lax he was when answering the subject that he hated the most. 

With that being said, Naouii then smiled and nodded as she remembered sleeping half of the examination time and completely forgetting that she still had some questions that she forgot to answer. "Yeah. We may be exempted, but Papa still gave in to our whines and made us take the test seriously."

And yes, she was answering seriously at that moment. Whatever could she do? It was just that for someone who's old enough to know everything in the world, she had already lost interest in examinations. 

Shortly after that, Astian then looked at the other kids as he asked and smiled warmly towards them. "Although our scores would be posted on our blackboard only, it would still be a sight to see, right?"

"Yeah!" They replied in unison.

The location of the post does not matter for them anymore. The important thing was that Sir Samael gave them a favor and a huge one at that. They could not help but to get excited with their scores, of course. 

And excitement comes along with playful thoughts. Hence, Luca grabbed Asisi and smiled sheepishly as he asked. "Hey, wanna bet on something?"

"What?" Asisi raised his eyebrow. 

With that being said, the others also looked at them as if they wanted to hear more about betting. That was why Luca, instead of talking only to Asisi, looked at everyone and asked confidently. "Whose score is bigger, the bulletin board or the exi's blackboard?"

"Hmm. Is that so? Then, I'll bet my allowance for a year on exi's blackboard!" Naouii placed her bet with so much confidence as if she was sure that she could win. 

The others took Naouii's confidence as a way of supporting the exi class. Which was why the others also placed their bets with the same amount on the line. "Count me in!!"

"Me too!!" 

If anything, the cheapest placed bet was a summer house on a private island. That being said, Kronos gambled his title as the future heir of their mansion, while Astian gambled the crown that was bestowed upon him by the Emperor. He was, after all, a prince of the Empire since he came from a ducal family. 

After placing their bets, everyone parted ways to kill time while waiting for the next day to arrive. Since the sun was still yet to set when they came back to the dorm, Kronos decided to take Astian to the ocean again. And when they got back to the dorms, it was already past curfew. That was why they were very sneaky when they went inside their rooms. 

However, it seems like the two of them were excited enough about the result because, just like the day before the exam, they could not sleep a wink. 

Coincidentally, the others too were going to the class without proper sleep because they were excited. Of course, the post on the bulletin board was already up early in the morning, so there were a bunch of students looking forward to their standings. 

Since they do have the energy to move around, Kallen used her potential to look at the results and informed the others that the highest was ninety-nine. 

So in order for those who placed their bets on the blackboard to win, the exi's first place should score one hundred.

It was a pressure, and the ones who placed their bets on the bulletin board felt like they had the chance to win.

Thus, while they were waiting for Sir Samael to post the results, everyone was walking on eggshells. 

"Here are the results that all of you have been waiting for." Sir Samael announced that made everyone to flinch. 

Shortly after that, they gathered around the blackboard and immediately set their eyes on the first placer with their mouth agape. The test result was better than they were expecting for it to be.

 "Woah…"

It was the first time to see that the first place did not belong to only one person. But there was a tie instead, so the title is for two. "What is that?! There are some ties!!"

General Average Score Test Results Standings

1st: Azvameth, Kronos - 100

       Mathenus, Kallen - 100

2nd: Patton, Mikhail - 99

3rd: Dyclour, Astian - 98

        Polcera, Aeria - 98

4th: Kilpatrik, Sarlienne - 97

5th: Acevedo, Asisi - 96

        Muir, Luca - 96

6th: Aviles, Yohan - 95

7th: Breaux, Ajax - 94

8th: Viera, Artem - 92

9th: Louis, Naouii - 91

10th: Farias, Inoa - 90