Scarlet

The recognition in the old man’s eyes goes away just as quickly as it had appeared, making me briefly wonder if I was just seeing things.

If I had to guess, then I’d say this is the vice-headmaster that the registrar was going to get. But surprisingly, that lady isn’t here anymore. Even after he walks in. And judging by Allen’s face, he doesn’t seem very surprised by that fact.

Maybe she was scolded for how she initially treated me or something? From what I understand, that’s normal. Since even Class II former orphan Guardians tend to get treated a little questionably, much less a brand new one. It isn’t until one reaches Class III that the people somehow seem to forget you were an orphan.

Although I get the feeling this university’s registrar was even harsher than most other universities would be. Which makes me wonder if she lost someone in a Fracture once? Since there are a lot of people who just straight up push the blame for that on orphans subconsciously, seeing as orphans make a clear visual representation of the consequences of the Demonic Assaults.

“Good morning Cipher, and a wonderful morning to you as well, Scarlet Wolf,” the old man says, making me frown at his term of address towards me. And I can’t help but hear Allen laugh at it.

Seriously? Even other Guardians are starting to use the title the internet came up with for me?

Where is the originality in that title? It’s literally just tacking on Wolf to my name!

Although, from what I’ve been able to gather, someone’s been hiding my name from the public. Or at least censoring it wherever it appears, so most people don’t know my actual name.

Which probably makes it worse since they don’t know how ridiculous the title is without knowing my first name.

My title aside, the old man is wearing some sort of magi-tech infused business suit. One that looks kind of like regular formal wear but with lines of glowing blue running throughout it, along with two feline tails sticking out of his backside, and glowing blue eyes.

I can’t help but glance at the tails as they slowly sway behind the man before I focus on him to find him simply staring at me without any real expression on his face. Then we stare at each other for who knows how long.

This is awkward.

Eventually, an elderly smile stretches across his face, and he says, “I think she’ll do nicely.” Then he turns around and adds, “Follow me to the examination room, young miss Asger.”

I glance at Allen, only to find him mouthing, ‘Only you.’

Guess Allen’s not coming then.

I turn around and begin following after the old man. And as we walk through the fancy halls of the university, I notice that not a single student is actually wearing their uniforms. Which is odd.

We continue walking for several minutes until we end up in a large room that I can only assume is meant for examinations testing a large number of people. Right now, though, there’s only a single desk despite the size of the room, with several papers on the desk and some writing utensils.

The man walks up to the front of the room next to a whiteboard and turns around while finally introducing himself, “My name is Alfred Raynsford, and I am the vice-headmaster currently overseeing the university in the headmaster’s absence.” He then pauses to indicate the desk. “You will now take your entrance exam into Lion’s Heart Guardians University. But don’t worry as regardless of what your result is, I’m sure we can manage something.”

He says that last part with a smirk.

Guess Allen was right about that.

I sit down to take the exam, which ends up taking nearly an hour. Throughout it are various questions over different subjects, such as mathematics, history, a little bit of science, and a lot of combat knowledge and Guardian Laws. And while I feel incredibly good about the mathematics, history, and science portions, I’m quite lacking in the combat knowledge, and a little lacking in the Guardian Laws.

All of which is confirmed when the old man looks over my exam right after I finish it and basically says the same thing. But he does look a little surprised as he’s talking about my mathematics, history, and science portions of the exam. And in the end, he raises his head and says, “You did a lot better than I was expecting. In fact, your scores in mathematics, history, and science were top notch, brought down only a little by your lack of combat training or teachings in Guardian Laws.”

I can’t help the proud smile that stretches across my face.

Looks like I passed even without the cheating they had planned.

And I can’t help but feel like my value in the old man’s eyes just rose thanks to that. Maybe he was mentally preparing to have a country bum educated properly or something and didn’t expect me to actually be smart?

Either way, he gathers up the papers and puts them into a manila envelope before smiling at me and saying, “Welcome to Lion’s Heart Guardians University, young miss Asger! May you enjoy your stay here and make pleasant memories along your path to power!”

“Thank you, sir,” I answer, feeling like the words are necessary right now.

Alfred nods his head in approval before motioning me with his finger to follow him again. We then move through the halls some more before ending up back at the room where we find Allen lounging on the sofa.

He immediately sits up at our unexpected entrance and asks, “So how did it go?”

I give him a smile, making him relax ever so slightly.

Guess he was worried about how I’d do even knowing that they’d cheat my score. Which makes sense, as it’ll likely affect how I’m treated. In fact, I think it already has since the old man started talking a little bit while we walked unlike when we were going to that examination room in the first place.

“She did extraordinarily well for someone raised in a Tier 3 city,” the old man immediately begins before asking, “Could that be because of your influence?”

Allen just shakes his head and answers, “Unfortunately not. She was influenced mostly by the people around her who would always treat her rather poorly for being an orphan. It seems to have led to her developing a bit of a complex towards overworking herself to prove those sorts of people wrong.”

I glare at him for trying to psychoanalyze me.

The man just ignores my glare as he continues, “She did ask for a lot of research and study material from my daughter though.”

“Oh really?” Alfred mutters while turning a curious glance towards me. “Very interesting.”