Physical Exam

".....Fuck."

I was laying on my bed at the inn I had paid a week in advance for. I had an incredible headache and it wasn't going away no matter what I did so I decided to just stay in bed for the day. It was the day prior to the exams for the Military Academy and I had taken the opportunity that the Guild Master gave me since it seemed to be the right choice at the moment.

Apparently the entire basic course was around the same duration as the Arcane's Academy so it worked pretty well with my plans concerning Anna. This would work pretty well with me, but the problem was that I wasn't sure if the academy worked with the same dorms system as the Arcane counterpart so I was having some trouble figuring out where I could get income from if they didn't.

I dismissed heavy thoughts and decided to sleep until the headache, but then a notification window appeared in front of me as it had done so before a couple times already.

[ Siegfried, the God of War, has sent you a gift. Assimilation of knowledge complete. ]

I was confused for a few moments until the headache seemed to magically dissapear, leaving what I could tell was some new and completely necessary knowledge inside my head. Tactics, History, Common Sense...Everything. Basically it was much more in-depth than those picture books back at Anna's house, and it was clearly a lot more than I expected to receive.

A short explanation came a few seconds later as well. Siegfried had decided to give me some general knowledge that he thought would be useful for me during my stay at the Military Academy. Apparently, he wasn't lying when he said he was going to look over me huh? I couldn't help but smile and look upwards to the ceiling, smiling a little to show him that I was grateful.

With the headache gone, I went downstairs and grabbed the evening's meal before going to bed again. It took me a while to fall asleep, but eventually, I did.

I woke up as dawn arrived and I prepared myself for the exams. I oppened my briefcase and took out my formal clothes; a pair of black pants and a white blouse. They weren't much, but they were what you could expect from a regular citizen of Aard. I wasn't sure if I had to take my sword with me or not, so I decided to do so. I placed the scabbard and the blade in my belt and I proceeded downstairs.

Breakfast was simple again. Some roasted pieces of meat that I could guess was some sort of pork? Probably some kind of boiled sausage, served in between two pieces of soft bread and sprinkled with some salty sauce that seemed pretty familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I finished my meal and moved out of the Inn, walking to the Military Academy.

The little detail of Anna not telling me about it was still bothering me a little bit, but I was already on my way to participate in the entry exams so it was a little too late to worry about such things. I arrived at the location and I could very much tell that the building itself had a different feeling to the rest of the city or even the other academy.

It was a incredibly tall stablishment. It seemed to be made primarily from marble and stone, alongside other golden details with different kinds of paint and even some gold ornaments. It felt...Menacing. I felt like a kid standing in front of the dentist's office about to be called in, but instead of waiting for something that wouldn't happen, I made my way alongside the many others that had arrived as well.

I was pretty much an odd one amongst the group. Everyone was wearing fancy clothes and carrying beautiful weapons. I pretty much saw one of everything. From bows, to swords, to axes, and even what I could identify as a musket. The weird thing is that it had some sort of blue lining alongside the barrel and the man carrying it didn't seemed to be carrying any kind of gunpowder or ammunition around. I also noticed a few rare ones that were carrying books instead, probably mages.

By far, the most common weapons were spears and swords. It didn't surprise me much since they were amongst the most popular within my world as well so I continued my walk. And when we arrived at the exams location, I could tell why I was feeling odd as well. Everyone else was either a noble-born or the child of a filthy rich person.

It was a barren circular arena of around 30 meters in diameter. It very much ressembled the arena inside the Guild's testing room, so this felt very familiar to me. A familiar face was also amongst the staff on the other side of the arena. He was a large man, wearing basically the most casual of clothings, and he was carrying a very familiar longsword in his waist. He was...

"The Guild Master?"

A few students looked at me in surprise, as if they were shocked that someone as plain as me knew such an important man as him. The man in question looked my way and gave me another wide and cheerful smile as greeted me with a wave.

I awkwardly responded in kind. I never liked being the center of attention, and now many of the other rich people around me were analyzing my from head to toe. It took a bit before the attention was gathered elsewhere, as the Guild Master stepped forward and saluted towards the group.

Everybody saluted as well, so I followed them as to not break any kind of weird protocol that was supossed to be happening right now. After a few seconds, he spoke in a cold and serious way, much different from the cheerful and kind one I had seen before. And, not going to lie, he looked very cool as he did so.

"Welcome, everyone. I am Arthur Lionheart. The teacher in charge of directing the exams during this opportunity. Many of you would probably know me as the Director of the Military Academy, and a few ones...May know me as the Guild Master."

He looked straight towards me after the faint pause, and he changed from the serious and cold tone to his usual cheerful one as he did so. Many other students glared at me and I was hoping the earth would swallow me whole right now. I didn't need this much attention even before the first day of school.

Arthur continued to explain how the general physical exams would work. The exams were divided onto two different activities. For the physical exam, we would have to choose a partner amongst the group and line in front of the arena. We would spear with our partner using practice wooden equipment, and depending on the results, Arthur would choose himself those who pass and those who fail.

Then, for the less brutal one, we would have a series of tests focusing on history, general knowledge and logic in order to identify those who differ from simple savages. Only those who pass both exams are allowed to enter the academy, but even those who fail can try again next year.

This meant that Siegfried efectively saved me from failing the second exam, and that I would have to simply focus on the physical one. I was starting to feel a little excited, but just as Arthur gave the order to look around for a partner, a student pointed at me with a cocky smile on his face.

"You. I choose you."

"....Alright."

I simply accepted it since he seemed very confident on himself, and also because his face was irritating me, but that was a secondary thought. We were the first to line in front of the arena, and Arthur seemed very interested on what I would do once I stepped on the circle, you could tell on his glistening eyes.

I was a little nervous since many other students were watching me closely as well, but I waited in silence while the guy that chose me as his partner wouldn't stop talking about boring stuff and how much money his spear cost him. I could very much tell that either he was stupid, or a spoiled child...Probably both.

Once the line was complete, Arthur gave the order for the first pair to step into the arena and so we did. We had to choose a wooden weapon to evade serious injuries, and the guy wouldn't stop complaining until Arthur actually gave him permission to use his spear.

"Wait....Isn't that unfair?"

Many of the other young people waiting for their turn seemed to agree, but Arthur only shrugged and smiled before getting ready to now give the order to start the fight. This was a dangerous situation, so my instincts kicked in one more time.

"Ready.....Fight!"

I saw the guy approaching me with a full sprint, holding his spear with both hands and very sure of himself. His footwork wasn't bad, but it was mediocre at best, so it was fairly easy to notice quite a few oppenings on his attack. As he thrusted his weapon towards me, I evaded to the side and grabbed his weapon. I turned around and used his own speed and strength against him, as I threw his spear to the side, lifting my right hand, gently hitting the tip of the wooden sword against his throat.

"Helena wins. Ludwig loses. Next pair."

The guy didn't said a single word after that, and I just stood aside watching the rest of the fights unfold. It seemed the glares I was receiving before ended before I noticed, and the rest of the physical exam continued as well.

And once it was finished, the remaining tests were needed. I put my complete trust in Siegfried's knowledge, and it would certainly not fail me.