After firing the arrow, I noticed the person senior Nadine had called Miss Alisha was walking towards us. She then approached us.

  "Nadine, what are you talking about with him? Hmm, you're Rid Archie, the one who beat Amelia in the daily match," senior Alisha said.

  "Yes, senior. Nice to meet you, and I'm honored to be remembered," I said.

  "No need to exaggerate. It's natural that I remember you, since I also came to watch your match with Amelia. It was an interesting match," senior Alisha said.

  "Thank you, senior," I said.

  "So, what's your business here?" senior Alisha asked.

  "Nothing special. I was just checking out this special training area. Besides, I haven't seen this training area since I first arrived at the academy. And when I arrived on this floor, I saw senior Nadine training. Nadine noticed me, so she approached me, and we ended up chatting," I said.

  "What were you two talking about earlier?" asked Senior Alisha.

  "Sorry, Miss Alisha, if I was rude. Earlier, Rid was discussing the strongest female student in this academy, so I mentioned your name and talked about you with Rid," said Senior Nadine.

  "I see, well, it's fine. I felt like you were talking about me, so I just wanted to know what you were talking about. Turns out it was just that," said Senior Alisha.

  "Yes, Miss," said Senior Nadine.

  "But you're quite close with Rid, aren't you, Nadine? Is it because Rid's current partner is your cousin? But I don't mind whatever your reason, I'm happy to see senior and junior getting along like this," said Senior Alisha with a smile.

  "Then, I'd like to continue practicing. You guys continue your conversation," Senior Alisha continued.

  Then she left us both to return to the training grounds.

  "Senior Alisha seems like a nice person, huh," I said.

  "Of course, you could say Miss Alisha and Miss Gretta are the stars of this academy. Besides being beautiful and strong, they're both very kind to each other," said Senior Nadine.

  "By the way, Senior Nadine, aren't you busy at Elevrad to be able to train like this?" I asked.

  "I don't have any assignments right now, but usually the leader or Miss Gretta comes here in person to inform me if there's a sudden assignment, since the Elevrad room is only one floor away from this training ground,"

  "By the way, would you like to check out the 7th floor as well? It has the main Elevrad room and other rooms for private use by Elevrad members. Right now, you can only explore up to the 7th floor, as floors 8 through 10 are reserved for academy tournaments, so you can't see them right now," said Senior Nadine.

  "I see. I don't know if I'll check out the 7th floor as well, because I just want to see the special training area today. If I go to the 7th floor and meet Senior Vyn, I'll be assumed to want to join Elevrad," I said.

  "Okay, whatever," said Senior Nadine.

  "Hmm, so you're here, Rid," said Senior Gretta, who had just come up from the 5th floor.

  "Senior Gretta," I said.

  "I didn't see you in the library today, so you're here," said Senior Gretta.

  "Well, I didn't go to the library today because I wanted to see the special training area in this building. I've been at this academy for quite some time, but I've never seen any of this place. What are you doing here, Senior Gretta?" I asked.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  "I'm going to the Elevrad room because I have business with the leader," said Senior Gretta.

  "I see," I said.

  "Do you want to go with Rid to the Elevrad room? You said you've never been here before, right? Surely you haven't been either," said Senior Gretta.

  "I don't think so, I'll visit later," I said.

  "Okay then," said Senior Gretta.

  "Anyway, I'll take my leave now. I'm going back to my dorm. See you, Senior Nadine and Senior Gretta," I said.

  "Yeah, see you too," said Senior Gretta.

  "See you, Rid," said Senior Nadine.

  Then I left the two of them and went down the stairs.

  "Rid's gone, huh?" said Senior Alisha.

  "Wow, you just surprised me, Alisha," said Senior Gretta.

  "What are you doing here, Gretta?" asked Senior Alisha.

  "I was going to the Elevrad room and happened to see Rid here, so I chatted with him for a bit. By the way, you happen to be here, so come with me to the Elevrad room. There's something important we need to discuss," said Senior Gretta.

  "Okay," said Senior Alisha.

  "Nadine, you stay here. This meeting is just for the three of us," said Senior Gretta.

  "Okay, miss," said Senior Nadine.

  Then Senior Gretta and Senior Alisha climbed the stairs and headed to the Elevrad room.

  -

  Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was already the first week of December. This meant we would be taking our second exam at the academy in a week. Meanwhile, today we were practicing on the training grounds.

  "It's already December," said Noa.

  "You're right, and we'll be facing our second exam soon," I said.

  "Okay, today's lesson is over," said Mr. Alan.

  "But the clock hasn't shown it's time to go home yet, Mr. Alan. Why is it over already?" said one of the students.

  "Because I'll use the remaining time to explain the second exam next week," said Mr. Alan.

  The students seemed ready to listen to Mr. Alan's explanation.

  "As I said before, this second exam is a battle between students. It may sound like a daily match, but it's not the same. While a daily match is a one-on-one test, in this second exam, you will be paired with a partner and facing your partner," said Mr. Alan.

  "Pairs?"

  "That sounds fun."

  "But wouldn't that be bad? If this exam were a pairing test, and Rid were paired with the Ice Princess, wouldn't they be an unbeatable pair in this exam?" the students said, chatting among themselves.

  "Calm down, everyone. Even though this is a pairing test, your partners weren't chosen by you, but by me. Even though it's random, there's a chance that the worst pairings you can imagine will actually happen. The pairs formed in this exam are normally made up of a boy and a girl. However, there are usually classes with an imbalance of boys and girls, so sometimes there are boys paired with boys and girls paired with girls. But whether by chance or not, the number of boys and girls in this class is balanced, with 20 people in each. So let's decide your pairs now so you can practice with your partners this week," said Mr. Alan.

  Then Mr. Alan prepared two containers, each with a piece of paper.

  "The container to my left contains papers for boys to pick, and the one to my right contains papers for girls to pick. You must pick a paper from that container, and it has numbers 1 through 20 on it. If a boy gets number 6 and a girl gets number 6, they will be paired up for this exam because they have the same number," said Mr. Alan.

  The students seemed to understand Mr. Alan's explanation.

  "Okay, starting with the first two, please step forward, Rid and Irene. Take one of the available papers," said Mr. Alan.

  Then Irene and I stepped forward and took one paper.

  After taking the papers, we both opened them.

  I got number 5, while Irene got number 8, which means we are not paired up because our numbers are different.

  "That was close,"

  "Thank goodness they aren't paired up," said the other students.

  "Looks like we won't be paired up, Irene," I said.

  "Yeah, that's a shame. But I won't hold back if we meet as opponents," said Irene.

  "I won't hold back either," I said.

  "Next, Charles and Chloe," said Mr. Alan.

  Charles and Chloe stepped forward and took their papers. They unfolded the papers, revealing Charles's number 4, while Chloe's number 11.

  "Luckily, Princess Chloe didn't get the same number as Rid,"

  "Hopefully, I'll be paired with Rid,"

  "No, hopefully me," said the girls.

  It seemed like the girls were eager to pair up with me.

  "Then, Enzo and Noa, please step forward," said Mr. Alan.

  They both stepped forward and took their papers. Enzo got number 1, while Noa got number 8, meaning Noa was paired with Irene.

  "I-I'm paired with the ice princess?" Noa said, surprised.

  Irene, realizing that her partner had arrived, approached Noa.

  "Please help me," Irene said.

  "M-me too, p-please help me," Noa said.

  It looked like this was going to be difficult for Noa.

  -

  The other students continued to take turns drawing the paper. Now it was Leandra's turn to draw the paper. She got number 15. However, a student suddenly protested after Leandra got number 15.

  "What the hell is this? I got the same number as that disgusting Elf. I don't accept this, I don't want to be paired with him. I demand a redraw," the student said.

  -To be continued