Placing First

Thus, half a year passed since Kyle's enrollment into the Royal Academy of Erugenia. While he had been a spectacle at first and was often picked on, the other

students gradually lost their interest in him.

They got bored.

It would've been more interesting for them if their taunts had been met with

fury and rebellion, but Kyle never said anything in return. He always kept his

head down, and only ever replied with polite remarks. There were still students

who tried to provoke him anyway, but their insults were repetitive and had

completely lost their effect.

The students became indifferent to Kyle's existence, making his presence in

the classroom near-invisible, while Kyle himself had never wished to connect

with the other students, either. Thanks to that, he'd spent his days focusing on

his studies and training, He'd sit through his classes during the day, then head

to the library after school to study. Once he returned to his dorm, he would

swing his sword to keep his movements from dulling. Sometimes he would sneak out and pratice magic. The more he pratice the more he found that his magic is very different from explanation given by William.

Every day was a repeat of that schedule, with the unchanging days passing by.

Thanks to that, Kyle was able to gradually improve himself, and as a result, the

day came for that improvement to manifest itself.

The Royal Academy of Erugenia used a two-semester system with an exam at

the end of each season. The first day of the second semester was the day the

results of the end-of-semester exams were announced. Grades were usually

notified to the students individually, but the top ten students and their scores

were posted on the bulletin board.

A large crowd of students had gathered before the bulletin board of the firstyear corridor, and they were all murmuring restlessly in obvious confusion and

shock.

"What a joke! That disgusting commoner topped our year?!"

James Rodan— the second son of Marquess Rodan — trembled in fury as he yelled. He was

looking at the bulletin board where the end-of-semester results were posted.

There, Kyle had placed first ,Annora was second, Collete was third place, while

James's name was in sixth place.

In other words, every first year other than had lost to Kyle.

A lowlife orphan with no family name. An inferior student that couldn't even

read half a year ago. The one everyone had looked down on as a joke. An insect

no one had even considered.

The humiliation was hard to bear, and it was enough reason to question the

validity of the results.

"This is some kind of mistake! He must have cheated!" James yelled loudly.

"That's right!" his friends around him cheered in agreement.

James was one of the chosen ones — since infancy, he had been studying

to pass the entrance examination into the Royal Academy of Erugenia. The

thought of him losing to an inferior, lowlife orphan who couldn't even read

mere months ago was intolerable — and impossible. That was why James came to the conclusion that there had to be a mistake with the exam results —

that Kyle had to have cheated.

Meanwhile, two small girls looked on as James and the others made a

ruckus. They were Annora and Collette , but their expressions were vastly different

from the other students. Annora was glaring at the bulletin board with her

usual sulky expression, while Collete had fallen completely speechless in shock.

I'm... third? I knew I was no match for Princess Annora, but to lose to a child

that couldn't even read?

Collette was certain she'd come second. She'd had absolute confidence in

that, considering her own talents and how hard she had worked until now.

But when she'd opened her eyes, she was third.

The Royal Academy of Erugenia was the kingdom's greatest education

institute — considering how there were over a hundred students in the first

year, third was definitely not a bad result. It was a rank to be proud of.

And yet...

You're not worthy of being in this school — Roanna suddenly remembered the

words she had spoken to Kyle half a year ago. Exasperated at the presence of

someone who couldn't even read, she had said those words out of a sense of duty and superiority.

as both a noble guiding the commoner and a class

representative protecting the academy.

The unworthy one was me!

Collette felt her face flush with embarrassment. The words she had uttered

because of her doubtless belief of being better had returned to her like a

boomerang.

It was unbearably embarrassing.

"You!" A loud voice suddenly echoed from around her. Collette flinched and

turned to look at the origin of the voice. There, James and several other

students had surrounded Kyle.

"Speak! What cheats did you use?" James grabbed Kyle by the collar and

drew him closer.

"None. I just took the exam normally," Kyle answered calmly.

"Lies! There's no way you'd get a rank like that without cheating!"

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're trying to say..." Kyle replied in

exasperation to the one-sided accusations.

Red in the face, James glared at Kyle.

"You either bribed the grading officer or you cheated!"

"I don't think that's something that I could accomplish..."

"Is that so? Well, you definitely used some sort of dirty trick!"

"I was told not to hold everyone else back, so I applied my best efforts."

"Impossible!"

Kyle sighed at Jame's absolute refusal to listen. After repeatedly telling Kyle

not to hold him back, this was how he behaved once Kyle scored higher than

him.

Maybe I should've taken it easy instead..

"Mr James, I have one piece of advice for you"

"What"

"Mr Jammes, you should know that by challenging the results here ,you are not just accusing me but the royal accademy, that means you are challenging the royal authority. So please restain your words otherwise your words might cause your downfall.