During the Royal Festival, a competition is held at the Academy.

It’s called the Grade Tournament. Simply put, it’s a tournament held for each grade level.

As I am currently a first-year student, I will be competing against other first-year students.

Of course, there are hardly any wizards or priests participating, but that’s because, except for Skaya, it’s impossible for first-year students to immediately manifest magic abilities.

As I walked, thinking about the Grade Tournament, I arrived at the competition venue.

I approached a staff member at the venue.

“Excuse me, I’m a participant. Where should I go?”

“Oh! May I have your name?”

“David Von Kane.”

The staff member looked through the application form and nodded, pointing to the participant’s waiting room in a businesslike tone.

“Go in that direction and wait in the participant waiting room.”

“Okay, thank you.”

With that, I entered the participant waiting room.

***

As I entered the waiting room, I realized that there were none other than the top performers from the first year, such as Kim Soo-yong, Skaya or Eileen.

Okay. Then winning shouldn’t be too hard.

I sat quietly in the corner like a school nerd, thinking to myself that I’d just freeload.

Just then, someone came in.

The person who opened the door and entered was none other than Jenny.

She looked around, turning her head quickly to see if she knew anyone in the waiting room.

Then her eyes met mine.

“Oh? Kane! What are you doing here?”

“Why not? I’m here for the competition too. So, I’m here.”

“You? I thought you weren’t interested in stuff like this.”

I’m not really interested, but I get points for doing so.

“Well, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try it out once.”

“Haha…then you could be up against me?”

“Um…”

Come to think of it, yeah, that might happen.

I hadn’t even considered the fact that Jenny, Eileen’s friend, would be here.

Well, is she a named character too?

‘Oh man, I might be in trouble freeload-hunting.’

Though Jenny is weaker than top-class students, that doesn’t mean her skills are bad.

She showed great insight by finding a surveillance bead in the last training evaluation.

She has some tricks up her sleeve and handles aura pretty well.

If I wasn’t here, Jenny would have had a high chance of winning.

She’s not just hanging around with Eileen for no reason.

As they say, birds of a feather flock together.

There’s a reason why Eileen and Jenny are together.

As I was momentarily disappointed, Jenny showed a similar reaction next to me.

“I came out to earn some pocket money since I spent them all. Hehe.”

“Oh? Then if we meet in the finals, will you let me win? I’ll give you a prize.”

“Wow… Kane, you’re really something.”

At my offer, Jenny shakes her head.

Am I too shameless after all?

Honestly, I said it as a joke, but since I suggested that we stage a fraud during the festival, it’s only natural for Jenny to react that way.

“I knew you had a bad personality, but I never thought it would show in the grade tournament.”

“Huh?”

Although she says that, Jenny extends her hand to me.

“Your words may be deceptive, but your actions are honest?” -Kane

“Of course. That’s how life works.” -Jenny

That’s right, the prize money was too big to refuse.

We shook hands and formed an alliance.

“Hey, listen. What kind of scheme are you planning?”

A tough-looking guy approaches us and intimidates us.

Because, I’ve been quiet lately, so guys like Ogtin can’t seem to get their act together and keep creeping out.

“What, a scheme? Do you have any evidence?”

“….”

He can’t say anything in response to my question, just frowns.

I ignore his reaction and continue talking.

“Accusations without proof? Haha. I said it as joke. Do you take that seriously?”

“What?! It was a joke?”

Jenny, who was listening alongside me at my quick change of attitude, widens her eyes and stares at me in disbelief.

Did you take that seriously too?

Well, honestly, I’d like to cheat too, but something feels fishy, from the points disappearing to the quest in progress.

So it’s better to do it legitimately.

The system can be quite unfriendly in this regard.

Even though I called Kim Soo-yong as a representative and won against Ogtin in the last duel. It didn’t give me any points.

Well, leaving that aside from the start.

“We would be caught cheating by the professors with our skills.”

“Oh. right, that makes sense.”

Jenny nods her head at my words.

I immediately turned to the guy with the tough-looking demeanor.

“Did you hear that? It’s obviously a joke. Are you really taking it seriously? If you had just stayed quiet, half of the trouble would’ve been avoided.”

He trembles at my words. He’s just…extra, everything about him screams extra.

“Hey, stop trembling here and get the hell out of here. You’re making me sick.”

“Tsk! We’ll see about that later.”

He spits out those words and turns around as if he’s someone important, returning to his original spot.

Even his way of speaking is just extra.

I really want to beat him.

As I was thinking for a moment, then, a seemingly mild-mannered man approaches us.

“Um, excuse me…”

“Why? Do you have a problem with me like he did?”

I ask, and the man shakes his head.

“No, it’s not that. I heard a rumor that Dylan is involved with a bad group. Is it okay?”

“Who’s Dylan?”

I ask, and Jenny looks at me with a face that says , as if I really don’t know him.

“The guy who just fought with you earlier, that’s Dylan.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Wow…You didn’t even know his name?”

“There’s no reason for me to know the name of a guy like that, do I?”

I say that and turn to the guy who looks mild-mannered.

“Okay. Well, thanks for letting me know. By the way, what’s your name?”

“I’m Franchi.”

Franchi? That’s a unique name.

Well, since this is a game world, it’s not really that strange to have a name like that. Sᴇaʀᴄh the NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

I think to myself that there’s even a Korean name like Kim Soo-yong in the game.

With that thought in mind, we waited for the competition to begin while chatting with each other.

Sᴇarch the Nʘvᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

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