Strongest Noble's Daughter Uses Water Magic

Written Entrance Exam

Leia led me, Mindy, and the commoner girl to the registration desk without any issues on the way. There were several nobility glancing at us in disdain, but none dared to do anything to us, most likely because of Leia. With this sort of reaction, it could only mean one of two things; one was Leia was the king's daughter, and thus the princess of this kingdom. The other was that Leia was from a high-class, very well-respected family, at least a Marquess family. Personally, I was leaning more towards the latter, for if she was the princess, she would have made a public appearance to the whole capital when she became an adult.

"All right. Here are your entrance passes," the receptionist said, handing each of us what seemed to be a pendant with a clear gem at the center. "These also count as your ID number. It'll show if you pour a bit of your magic in."

"Okay. Thank you," the commoner girl thanked.

"Yeah, thanks," I followed, with Mindy bowing along. I then turned to the redhead noble and said, "And thanks again for the save back there. You even actually kept your word and stuck with us on the way here."

"Well, I can't let anything happen to people I will be working with in the future, or people who I should be protecting. Not only would it look bad for my family name, but it would linger on in my subconscious if I had just stood and did nothing," Leia explained. 

Hearing her reason made me feel all the more relieved and happy with her. "That's great to hear. By the way, I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I'm Levi. This is my friend, Mindy."

"Hello," Mindy bowed in greeting.

Upon hearing our names, the commoner girl turned to us with wide eyes. "Levi and Mindy?" she spoke, bringing our attention to her. "Um... This may sound weird but... Mindy, you're not a crossbreed of any kind, are you? Are you a harpy?"

Her question brought Mindy on guard, as the harpy narrowed her eyes. "And if I am?"

Instantly noticing the cold tone, the girl waved her arms in slight panic. "Oh! No, no! I don't mean it like that. What I mean was... Are you two the same Levi and Mindy who are acquaintances with my uncle? You should know him by his name Pocoro?" Her question surprised us both that time.

"You're Mr. Pocoro's niece?" Mindy asked.

"Yes, that's me! I'm Azalea. I've been really looking forward to meeting you two! Though, I kind of imagined our first meeting quite differently..."

"I doubt anyone could've imagined such a harsh first meeting with someone they were looking forward to seeing," Leia stated.

"You can say that again," I agreed. "And your name is Leia, right?" 

"Yes, that is correct. I would give my family name as well, but I much rather not have you girls feel oblige to treat me based on who my family is. I already have more than enough people treating me that way," she said.

"So... We'll be the first people to be treating you like we would any other?" Azalea asked.

"If you don't mind. I wouldn't have it any other way, really."

A smile formed on our faces at those words. "Sure thing! If anything, you guys will be my first friends here. With Leia being the first nobleman friend I've ever made."

"Not that there is ever a case where a commoner and a noble get friendly with one another," I added. "But, it will be an honor to be friends with you."

"If Lady Levi thinks so, then I also approve to this new friendship," Mindy stated.

As soon as we agreed on this newfound friendship, the four of us shared a friendly laugh.

"Oh! The exam!" Azalea gasped in realization.

"Ah yes! We have to head to the examination room. I heard from my brothers that we will be assigned seats based on our ID number, so we may be separated," Leia informed. "It's kind of a shame... I really wanted to speak to you three some more, too..."

"It can't be helped if that's the case. They probably do this to avoid cheating of any kind," I pointed out. "Well, it's either that or they're just separating us by class. After all, no commoner has much learning experience in reading and writing."

Azalea flinched at that. "I uh... can't argue against that... I mean I know how to do numbers, at the very least. And I know more than enough about plants if you ask me. ... Though, reading the questions is a bit..."

When she said that, I glanced at Mindy for a moment, who glanced back at me with a worried expression. I gave my friend a slight nod, in which she nodded back at me, understanding what I was silently insinuating.

"Well, I'm sure we can figure something out," I told Azalea, putting a hand on her shoulder in comfort. "Besides, it's the practicals that count. Right, Leia?"

"Yeah, she's right. Even if you do fail the written portion, it is really the practicals that determine your stay here," the noble girl confirmed.

The commoner only smiled back with a saddened expression. "I really hope so." Then, in some attempt to forget the upcoming written test, Azalea turned to me. "By the way, are you sure you're allowed to keep your cloak on? No offense, but if what you say about the possibility of cheating is true, I'm not sure if cloaks are allowed."

When she put it that way, it was true. Aside from the possibility that cloaks could conceal any sort of cheating activity, there was not a single student in this academy that had a cloak on. If anything I would be suspicious in keeping my cloak on me. Although... "Yeah, that's true. It's just... I've had this cloak on for so long, I kind of feel n***d going out in public without it," I said.

"Unfortunately, even if there are some reasonable noble professors here who treat everyone as equals, there are some who may be biased towards commoners and crossbreeds. In fact, one professor here, Professor Dullahan, will dismiss any students who show something that is... not etiquette for future students of this academy," Leia warned.

One part of what she said caught my attention, and it was not about the professor. "Crossbreeds? But I thought all crossbreeds are considered as equal in Flammel Kingdom, especially in Flamvel City."

"They are, but sadly, that does not stop some from treating them any less than people, even if the crossbreed is a noble. Once I graduate from this school, I will become a knight and rise in my ranks, to the point where many others will have to obey my every command, starting with giving true equality to crossbreeds, and genuinely helping every person in their area. Even if they are commoners."

Hearing how genuine she sounded in her ambition made me happy to know there was a noble with such sincere intentions. I may be of noble blood, but I have been living life as a commoner for so long. Even if I did live a noble life, I am also a reincarnate; memories of my past life will prevent me from being brainwashed by what biased nobles will say about everyone else.

"In any case, we should get to our seats. I doubt even a high noble will be able to achieve her goal being tardy," I pointed out.

The others agreed with me on that, and we hurried into a classroom where the written exam was to be held.

******

As expected, our assigned seats were separated from each other, with Leia sitting at the very front, and me, Mindy, and Azalea scattered at the back. Once all the seats were taken, a male professor walked into the room. He had smooth black hair cut in a mushroom-style, and he seemed quite... pudgy, to say the least.

"Welcome, dear nobles and disgusting filth. My name is Jerald Heistinberg and I will be your examinee for the written portion of the exam," he greeted, not hiding his dislike towards commoners at all, as he took out a blank piece of paper. "Set in front of you is a piece of paper. Some of you may have already took a look and noticed how blank it is. That is because these papers are special. In order to test out how good future generations are to support our kingdom, we have decided to do some extra testing on their mana capacity. Just pour in your mana onto the paper to have the questions appear, like so." As he said that, an abundance of multiple choice questions with some short answers suddenly appeared on his paper. "Of course, you need to keep pouring your mana into these if you wish to read each and every question, for if you do not pour mana in it, the paper will be blank again, save for whatever answers you have already written." Just as he said those words, the paper went blank once more. "Now then, you have sixty minutes to answer the questions. Be-"

"Wait a second!" came a young male voice in my row, causing all heads to turn to him. "What about those of us with low mana?! This may be easy for nobles like you, but what about the rest of us?! We need to save our mana up for the practicals, don't we?!"

When he said that, I was starting to see the bigger picture of the true intention of this part of the exam. I did not know who it was, but it was possible a biased professor had introduced this new examination method to the principal. Not to test our mana capacity, per say, but more along the lines of weeding out the commoners, making it more impossible for them to be accepted into the academy. It takes time for mana to be recovered normally, after all, and I imagine that it was especially true for commoners.

"Interrupting the exam, are we? As expected from filth such as yourself," Jerald simply claimed. "The academy has no place for disrespectful insects such as yourself. Begone." A brown magic circle appeared before him, and summoned out a rocky, humanoid monster; a golem, to be exact. The golem jumped to our row and grabbed the commoner boy by his collar and dragged him away, as he kicked and screamed to be released.

Some of us was horrified by what we saw, specifically the commoners. This exam was clearly unfair to them, and yet should they speak up against it, they will automatically get disqualified. 

"Now then... Let us try this again. You all have sixty minutes to answer the questions. Begin." At Jerald's command, everyone went on ahead and started the examination, even the commoners.

I placed a finger on my test paper, pouring some mana into it for the questions to appear. From what I was able to skim through, there were questions about magic, monsters, and plants, specifically herbs for the last one. I had spent many time studying up on magic, reading even the most advanced books at a young age. All the questions on here were practically kindergarten level to me. 

... Those based on magic, that is. I was okay with the monster portion, thanks to Mindy. Apparently, aside from magic control, purebreds- or at least harpies- were taught about all sorts of monster and other purebred species at a young age. Some of that natural knowledge differ from the book, though, so I had to teach her about the purebreds from a human perspective, as well as magic. If it weren't for the difference in perspectives, there would be no doubt on my mind that Mindy would answer those questions with ease.

All in all, I believe I did pretty well on the exam. It may be a waste of mana since the written exam did not matter so much, but I had plenty to spare for the next test.

"Time is up! Pens down!" Jerald announced.

The moment he did, while the nobles all confidently placed down their pens, many commoners let out sighs and frustrated groans, no doubt exhausted from either using their brain or their mana so much for this test. Even more so if they could not read.

"Everyone, head to the next examination center. Your practical examinee will be arriving there shortly." With that, he left the room, as did many others.

I, on the other hand, met up with Mindy first, who waited for me at the end of her row. 

"Hey. How did you do?" I asked her.

"Confusing, if I can be honest. I could not remember all of what you taught me about what humans thought of magic, monsters, and purebreds, so I went with what I know for those instead," she answered.

I only gave her a soft smile in response and patted her head. "Well, on the bright side, it's not the written exam we had to worry so much about. Next one is what especially matters."

"Mindy! Levi!" came Azalea's voice, as we turned to see her and Leia approaching us. "How did you two do?"

"We did pretty good," I answered for us. "How about you two? I imagine Leia did well, though."

The noble girl of us four let out a light chuckle at my assumption. "You'd guess right. Though I am surprised you hear you both thought the written exam is okay. You were able to read though and answer them all?"

"Don't think all commoners can't read or write. We can read some. What about you, Azalea?" 

"I could only read my name and letters to my name... That's why I want to thank Mindy!" she said, catching Leia's attention.

"How do you mean?" she asked.

"Mindy used her magic to whisper the questions to me."

Now that baffled the noble girl, as she turned to me and the harpy in shock. "You mean you cheated? With magic?! Do you have any idea what will happen if the examiners find out?" Leia warned in a whisper.

"It's not cheating if I did not share the answers with her. I only read the questions and the choices Azalea. Though I skipped the ones requiring written responses," Mindy corrected.

"I'm glad you did. Though, out of all the other questions, I am only feeling confident about the ones concerning herbs and more common monsters," Azalea said.

Leia still had a worried expression on her face, unsure about our situation. 

"Think of it this way. If he did find out about the cheating, that examiner should've said something in the first place," I pointed out.

The girl did not seem so convinced, but she relented and nodded anyway. "Yeah, I guess so. Still, you could've just chosen to not answer in the first place," she pointed out to the country girl.

"Well, yeah. But I don't want it to look like commoners know nothing about life. There are things we know about, too. Things that can help this kingdom, and I don't just mean growing food," she reasoned.

When Azalea said that, Leia looked down with quite the odd expression on her face. Almost as though she was sad.

"Okay, let's end the conversation here," I said, getting between the pair. "What happens next happens. Right now, we have practicals to worry about."

"As Lady Levi says. We can worry about what will happen later," Mindy agreed.

Upon putting the conversation at its end, the four of us headed to where our next test was to be.