1-12: One Last Test

This was it. The last day. Technically the last day. But, all they had was one large test based on world knowledge and what it means to be an adventurer. Shouldn't be too hard.

Veronica was still a tad foggy from the dream she had, but she kept snapping herself out her thoughts to focus on remembering what she truly needed to.

Everyone was split up, back into their generalized roles, warrior, rogue, mage, and non-combat. Which meant that Veroncia was all by herself again. For five hours. On a single test. In a very, very quiet room.

After giving Aviris and Cassidy a goodbye kiss, as they begged for, the three split, and headed towards their respective classrooms.

"This test is around 500 questions. We don't expect you to finish all the questions. Almost. You can't just leave the whole test blank and expect to pass. We do expect effort. Testing starts now. If you manage to finish before time's up, you can do whatever you want as long as you don't disturb anyone else who's testing."

Everyone opened their test booklets and began.

The questions started off easy enough, like "Who is the current ruler?" Queen Svana Felrosa dey Montague, easy to remember. Especially considering that Veronica made out with her youngest daughter.

But, the questions started to get into some pretty tricky territory. "In 1245 A.K.H, who was the first person to discover the seven dungeons?" Trick question, the first person to discover was a man named Sigismund Vagobrod, however, he died in one of the dungeons before he was able to tell anyone about them, and the credit was given to Halsey Skyhall, only two months after Sigismund's initial disappearance.

Veronica felt quite lucky, already having this information ingrained into her brain from a young age. At least, until she checked what question she was on, and how much time she had left. She was only 218 questions in, and three hours had already passed.

It didn't help that many of these questions were nearly impossible to answer unless one was present during the event.

She decided to skip those questions for now, and moved onto the adventurer questions. These were surprisingly easy. Basic questions, like "What are the four recommended roles in all parties?" Veronica was glad she paid attention in her classes, which then made her worry for Cassidy, who wasn't nearly as focused in her studies as she should be.

402 questions answered and they all ran out of time. Veronica had to repeat in her mind that they weren't expecting a single person to finish the entire test to sooth her nervous mind.

"Tests down. Your results will be announced tomorrow afternoon. Publicly. Prepare yourselves for that. You're all free to go."

Not a single student wanted to stay in there any longer, and they all rushed out.

Veronica sat down on a bench with a sigh, and when someone say down next to her, she made the bare minimum to see who it was. T'was Eleanora, who had come by surprise.

"Y-Your High- Eleanora! What are you uh... doing here?"

"I saw you looking into the void, and so I came by to check on you. Was the test hard for you?"

"I wouldn't say hard... But many of the questions were very tricky, as they had multiple answers to it. Like who-"

"Discovered the dungeons first? That was a bit tough, because I couldn't tell if they wanted the actual first person, or the person who was credited with the discovery."

"Exactly! Do they want us to answer with the officially correct answers or the technically correct answers?"

"It's nice to see that you calmed down toward me quickly. It's like I have an actual friend now!"

"An actual friend?"

"Well, both my mother and elder sister are fairly overprotective of me, so I only really went out on my own when I was about sixteen."

All of a sudden, a very clean woman in a butler's outfit came by and leaned over to Eleanora.

"Your Highness, I'm sorry to interrupt you and your compatriot here, but your fitting is soon."

"Is it? Alright. I'll be right there. Please give me a moment."

"Of course, mistress."

The butler quickly left and Eleanora sighed.

"I guess that's my cue to leave. I'll see you tomorrow then. Farewell."

Before Veronica could respond, Eleanora quickly pressed her lips to Veronica's, leaving her speechless until the princess left.

Why? Why do they all kiss me? I'm not complaining, but why? I haven't done anything. Charm isn't still active, is it? I don't think it is. Whatever. That's a problem for future me to figure out.

And it was indeed up to future Veronica to deal with. Current Veroncia, however decided to take the rest of the day to laze about with Cassidy and Aviris.

"I think I only got to question... 143? I wasn't really paying attention."

"Maybe you should've paid attention in class." Veroncia responded.

"She must've been too busy looking at girls."

"How did you know!?" Cassidy sarcastically asked. "I mean, it's true. And it was one girl. Singular."

"And she is? Another victim in your machinations?" Veronica scoffed.

"No! Not at all! Plus, it's someone I already knew."

"Already knew?"

"I'm not saying anything more!"

The girls chatted the day up, until it was time to sleep.

And the following afternoon came quickly with great tension. All the applicants stood outside, as Headmaster Beatrice took the stage.

"I will now announce every student who passed. Any one who's name I didn't call, well, you obviously didn't make it. And, if you truly want to come to this school, you'll have to try again next year."

The were whispers of worry, after all, no one wanted to go home a failure, nor did they want to live like that for a year before coming back. So, everyone had their fingers crossed.

"I'll start with the warriors first. W-02, pass. W-13, pass. W-17, pass. W-29, pass."

Veronica's palms grew sweaty as she nervously awaited her number, her eyes shut tight.

"W-33, pass. W-36, pass. W-37, pass."

She did it! She officially got into the academy! She didn't care about the other numbers in the warrior section, as she was glad that she got through it. But now, she has to hope for her friends too.

"M-01, pass. M-25, pass. M-44, Pass."

Cassidy was M-25, which means she somehow passed with all that density. All that was left was Aviris, and hopefully Eleanora. Except she didn't know Eleanora's number.

"R-04, pass. R-11, pass. R-32, pass. R-72, pass."

R-11, Aviris passed! Hopefully they get to enjoy school-life together instead of apart.

Veronica had listened to all the numbers called, and it seems like, out of the near a thousand here, less than fifty made it in.

"Congragulations to everyone who passed!  From today, onwards, you are officially students at this academy. And, as students, your first duty is to create a team. All teams need to have a minimum of four members. When you have your team, one of our staff members will be assigned to you as a field trainer. A team of upperclassmen may also take you under their wing, however, unlike our staff, they are not assigned randomly. You and your team have to impress them. You have one week from tomorrow. Please make your time here count."

Make a team of four in a week. Should be easy enough. Assuming Veronica can be with who she's thinking of. But, better yet, she's a student at Hardin's Academy for Mercenaries.

Wait... doesn't that spell...