The Exams Begin

All that commotion suppressed my excitement for the entrance exams. We still had some time so we sat in my room. Mom was clinging and talking to Natalia like she is her daughter and I am just a nobody. Dunno why but I think, I just think that my dad is becoming jealous of me. I mostly look like dad and yet he was only able to do arrange marriage in the end where as I got a girl way out of my league.

Oh also, rito is still standing outside in shock, even if my plans are ruined, watching rito and dad being all that jealous of me makes me feel like I have achieved something great that most people can't.

"We should get going now" I said

"Natalia-chan, you are also coming with us." mom said to natalia

"Of course she will be coming mom, she is also giving the exams" I told her

"Really, she is also gonna join Ult with you, I couldn't be any more happier" mom is in her own world

By the time, we went outside the room rito was already gone, seems like he overcame the shock after all. I wonder how he would react the next time we meet.

"Should I go look for a cart or you guys would be fine walking" dad asked

My mom got all angry and said

"Dear, how can you say that, do you want our daughter in-law to walk with that black gown under the sun, what if her delicate skin gets harmed"

[Would you stop calling her daughter in-law already] I could only say in mind

"Don't worry you guys, we don't need cart. Natalia will take us there." I said

"Natalia, do it already" I ordered

"Yes, mast-, Peiji-kun"

Then Natalia use her blood which came out from her fingers [I don't know she do that] to make what appears to be a small boat enough to hold 4 people. We boarded the boat and it started flying towards Ult.

"Wow, Natalia-chan, you can do something like this" my impressed mom said

"She has the power to manipulate her blood however she like" I answered

During our training at inn, I trained natalia on how she can use her power to the fullest. If she can manipulate the blood freely, then she won't have any problem in flying it.

"That's indeed an interesting skill" my dad said

"It's just one of the many things that Peiji-kun taught me. The credit goes to him" Natalia said

As we were talking, we had already reached Ult.

That damn big building never ceases to surprise me. I am so gonna pass the exams.

We landed near a huge crowd of people. Everywhere I look at, the place is full of people in all directions no matter how far I see. There were people from all the 8 kingdoms of the Eastern Empire. There were elves, vampires, demi-humans, dwarves and even demons from different kingdoms of the empire. I noticed that most of them were looking at us

"Hey, did you see that, they just got off from a boat made of blood" a person in the crowd called in a surprised tone

"Yeah, one of them must be having a cool skill. Look, that vampire girl absorbed all the blood back in her hands. She must be stronger" another person in crowd said

"Forget about being strong, she is so beautiful that even calling her a goddess would be shame"

"She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my entire life"

A sudden chaos appeared in the crowd talking about us, most of them were enticed by Natalia's incredible skill and looks. Male candidates even started approaching her with sweet talk but she remained close to me and handled them nicely.

My mom got angry and tried to interfere but I stopped her as it would be too embarrassing if she just announce that Natalia is her daughter in-law. But then, things never happen the way I want, so this happened

A boy about my age wearing a knight armor not the official one got down on his knees

"Miss vampire, My name is krudo, I am the son of the knight who serves the king under his direct command, I am strongest out of all the candidates and will surely rank 1 in the exams. I am really touched by your skills and beauty. Will you go out with me" he said while lifting his right hand towards her

 Wait, I think I have seen this guy somewhere before, he said his name is krudo, son of a knight. Oh, he is that guy from the day of ceremony who received the ability to control chains that can nullify enemy's skills.**consider chapter 1**

At that moment, I don't know what Natalia was thinking but I think my bad luck just got multiplied and she said this

"I am sorry, but I love someone else."

She cling to me 

"I am the girlfriend of Peiji-kun" she said with a big smile. She is really enjoying this whole girlfriend act.

The whole crowd went silent with a shock, I am having a deja vu of when this happened with dad and rito.

"What, that lame guy is-" was all they could say or think of

My student life is completely doomed now, I can tell that by the scary glances they are giving me.

That krudo guy came close to me and stared straight into my eyes

"Hmm, you doesn't seem to have anything special. Maybe you are strong enough for her to like you. What is your name" he said

"It's Itoshi Peiji"

 "I krudo challenge you Itoshi, if I get a better rank than you at the end of exams. You would leave miss vampire" he said proudly while pointing his finger at my face.

"What's in for me" I asked

"I will give you 1000 gold coins if you win"

Hell yeaah, finance would be a big hurdle in my ideal student life, I will be able to hang out as much as I want with that much money.

"I accept the challenge"

"Hahaha, did you see that miss vampire, he just put you on stake for the sake of money." he said to Natalia while laughing

"Would you stop calling me Natalia already, I have a name Natalia, which is given to me by the most special person in my life." She said with an annoyed expression 

"Sorry Natalia-san, I didn't knew your name. I didn't mean to offend you" he apologized

We got interrupted by a sudden announcement 

"May I have your attention please"

A man with brown hairs and beard holding a big microphone was speaking standing on a high spot so he was visible and can be heard from far away.

"First of all, I would like all the parents or guardians to leave the place. They would be welcomed as the audience, so please head to the green area. From there you would be guided towards the seats. Only candidates should remain here."

We were standing out in the ground, there were buildings on both sides with green doors. That must be what they call green area, all people other than candidates started going towards them.

"Good luck Peiji, Natalia-chan" mom and dad wished us and went with the other parents

After some time, there were only candidates remaining but the crowd was still really big.

"Now then I shall explain, on this year a total of 12,387 candidates have registered for the exams. We have only 500 seats at Ult, so top 500 ranking candidates would successfully be admitted after the exams."

Oh boy, that's one hell of a competition, this will be tough. I hope that olivia and natalia gets admission with me. Also, come to think of it but I haven't seen olivia here, don't tell me she got lost because I didn't help her and just leave everything to figure out herself. I started looking for her where elves were standing but they didn't let me through because they don't treat humans as equal. Humans are looked down upon by all other species because we don't have anything special like them, they are here only because Ult is here in human kingdom, Alastar.

"Now let me explain the rules for your first exam. To be precise, it's a race, you have to run 1 complete round around the perimeter of Ult which is 23 kilometers. The first 5000 candidates will succeed to the next round."

So, more than 7000 will fail just on the first, what should I do to be fast, I would have to take help from Natalia. Then some coordinates gave a band to each of us, it was a black band labelled with a white number, mine was number 3.

"Natalia what's yours"

"Mine is number 1, master-sama"

Oh crap, I have a bad feeling about this.

"As it's impossible to race more than 12000 candidates at the same time. You will be grouped by the number on your band starting from 1 to 10, so that each session will have around 1200 people out of which 500 would be selected."

And there goes my plan to take Natalia's aid to pass the first round. I am so damned.

But still coming 500th in a race of 1200 people shouldn't be that much hard I will think of something.

After that, they sorted the candidates with band no.1 and lead them to the racing area. Other candidates were allowed to see them race from the audience seats section made for just candidates, they did this so that candidates won't mix again with the other people and the process won't slow down.

The racing court was made in such a way that it encircled the whole academy. Also, it was 100 m wide so that 1200 people could go together. It almost seemed like a marathon.

Natalia wasn't with me as she was supposed to be on race course. I could see Natalia from here and waved at her but someone oppressed my cheering by theirs

"Natalia-chan, good luck, I am sure you will come first" it was mom

"I am also rooting for you natalia-san"

"me too" other male candidates beside me also started cheering as soon as they learnt her name, I was being completely ignored

Then the same person who was announcing earlier was in the commentary box now which was at the top of the audience seats said in his microphone

"Now then, let the 255th year Ult's entrance exam begin"

"All candidates on the starting line. Get Set go"

With the sound of a bell, race began.