The Greed of Kronos

The Forest of the Great Dio

Forty-Seven: The Forest of the Great Dio

Come to think of it, it was already Wednesday. Kronos did not have the chance to look at the calendar as he was busy enough with his affairs, but time sure flew so fast.

"Because epitropis are being handed out every Wednesday, consider this day a day without lectures and discussions. You need to focus on your epitropi." Sir Samael continued as they were walking on their way to the board where the Epitropis are posted.

The students and some other faculty staff around them still treated them as an infection and some kind of a curse as they strode their way through the long silver pillars in the hallway. Actually, since the student died after having an encounter with the Exi, the physical bullying stopped, but the eyes were still the same.

However, despite of their bad reputation, Kronos thought of it on the bright side. Since they were treated like they have some contagious disease, life has been easier for them.

For instance, the students would make their way abruptly as they wanted to avoid getting in contact with the Exi class. But what bothers them was that after what happened, the student was wary of the Exi class. Meaning they have become famous around the Academy. Although famous for pretty bad rumors.

"Would it be cleaning another restroom somewhere around the campus?" Inoa asked in her usual frowning face.

The thing was that she eventually gave up with the thought that they would be saving a cat from a tree. And she replaced it with cleaning a dirty restroom instead. Pretty sure that there was no way in the world that an epitropi about saving a cat on the tree would be possible. After all, the Patrician Academy has standards.

Regardless of her worries, Sir Samael shook his head and explained things that he forgot to mention. "No. It's outside. The Entrance Epitropi is quite special since the teachers would check and evaluate your potential. That was why they were held inside the premises."

While it is called as Entrance Epitropi, it lived up to its reputation by having a student's first time at the Academy grounds. That way, they could monitor every move a student would make and then, later on, judge if they're worth it with where they belong at the moment or not.

After the evaluation, the students would be assigned outside together with their familiars to succeed in their Epitropi and would be graded based on their performances. The Weekly Epitropi was also a test to know if a student was still qualified with being in the class that they were currently at. If they had bad grades, then they would be moved to a lower class. And if they happened to have an exceptional grades, they would be moved to a higher class. That alone was the sole reason why every student was eager to try their best not to be placed in the lower class or trying hard to have exceptional grades.

"Then, can we expect for our next epitropis to be done outside?" Mikhail was then the one who asked with an ecstatic expression plastered on his face.

It was indeed a fact that the Patrician Academy was a very vast Academy that was ranked second with the Imperial Palace on the top. However, they could not do anything they wanted if they were to have an Epitropi at the Academy since they were holding back all the time.

A potential was like a water while the body and sense were like a jar. And just how a water flows out after the jar has its limits, it goes as well as them. If they would keep on holding back, they might not be able to control their potential.

Theoretically, the Epitropi was made for the Exi class. The reason why epitropis are done outside after the entrance epitropi was because of the Exi too. But that certain reason was erased by a student in Exi with the potential of memory manipulation because she saw that the grandmasters of the Academy forgot the purpose why the Exi class was made in the first place. They were made not to stand out, but with their deed, they were making them stand out.

However, even if that certain student successfully altered everyone's memory, if someone were to keep records of everyday events, it's still useless. For example, Sir Samael's grandfather.

"Very much so." Sir Samael nodded.

With that being said, everyone's eyes sparkled as they stressed out how cool was it to have their epitropi outside of the premises. "Wow. Do you think it's cool?"

They could not care less if the students were looking at them with ill-intent or just scared. As long as they were not able to harm them, the Exi planned to have a peaceful academy life.

"Now now. Enough with the useless chats, and come with me." Sir Samael replied.

During everyone's exchange, they already arrived at the gigantic board of Epitropis. And even when they were still a meter away from the board, everyone hastily backed out.

It was not a problem. Rather, it helped them to see what their second epitropi would be.

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Exi Class

Teacher: Sir Samael Noe

Second Epitropi: Picking herbs at the ‘Forest of the Great Dio’

Learners under this class are to collect several varieties of herbs at the Forest of the Great Dio in order to help the infirmary with its necessity. The list of herbs is to be given by the teacher in charge. Must you succeed on your epitropi, report to the infirmary immediately.

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Since everyone was aware that their Epitropi would always be a pretext, their face was not filled with anticipation. But instead, it was as if they were deciphering a very hard code right then and there. Their entrance epitropi was to clean a public restroom. And it turns out that the restroom seriously needed a cleaning up because of a corrupted monster lurking inside. The pretext was connected to the real epitropi. And if it's a gathering of herbs, they seem to not get a clue of what their real epitropi was.

"So, what is it this time?" Inoa grunted as soon as she saw the posted epitropi. The people who heard her perked up as quickly as possible.

Their judging radar detected that Inoa was about to say something that was supposed to be a secret. Who would not be suspicious when Inoa was the one who read the text loudly, and then she’ll go with turning head, asking their teacher what their epitropi would be? Therefore, it’s not their epitropi, and something might be strange.

Given that the Exi class, despite being the lowest class, had the student’s being of a powerful and influential family. Why on earth were they gathered on the lowest instead of the highest?

It was a good thing that Aeria abruptly took in charge with Inoa’s carelessness that she nudged Inoa on the side and smiled wickedly. "Ah. You mean, what herbs?"

How dare you expose us!

“Nice save.” Astian chuckled as he whispered to Aeria. The others also silently showed their appreciation towards Aeria. And then, later on, the silence was replied into chaos. Debating in front of everyone on what herbs would be picked up in the forest was a good excuse for the people with a sharp sense of hearing.

Shortly after their discussion, Sir Samael then joined in with their conversation as they were already running late. If they wish to dawdle, they could continue on the way. "Settle down now. Do you want to proceed to the forest or prepare yourselves first?"

But of course, their physical and mental condition should be taken into consideration first. It was solely up to them if they wish to proceed immediately or have a leisure for a day or so before doing the assigned epitropi.

With that being said, the class got silent as they stared at Sir Samael as if the latter said something weird. After a moment of silence, Mikhail chuckled and asked in a warm tone of voice. "Papa, what do you mean?"

Astian seconded with the same tone of voice. "Oh dear~ The moment we got up in our bed is the moment that we prepared ourselves."