Chapter 92: Melusine's Trump Card
[Afternoon of May 30th]
[The second round of midterm exams — with the ultra-powerful proctor duo of the dragon-slaying hero Siegfried and Grand Caster Merlin.]
[You, now marked with the dragon trait, begin sweating buckets.]
[You temporarily give up on cheating, obediently focusing on your test paper.]
Inside the exam hall, the constant scratching of pens on paper filled the air.
Most examinees were concentrating on their work, seriously lowering their heads to write their answers.
Even those who had initially planned to cheat abandoned the thought in the presence of such "scum" proctors.
Still, there were a few who hadn't given up entirely, secretly waiting for the right opportunity to make their move.
For example — Mochizuki Eikou and Oberon.
"..."
Eikou's eyes occasionally darted toward the two proctors.
"One side's a Saber with double-layered special attack bonuses, the other is a Caster possessing Clairvoyance that can see through the present...
"If I have to pass at least four very-hard Magic Resistance checks under conditions this extreme, do I really stand a chance of successfully cheating?"
More importantly — he had already used up all his dice rolls in the previous exam round.
In other words, this time there was zero margin for error; even a single failure would mean getting caught on the spot!
"Damn it, this is basically a Dark Souls boss fight..."
Eikou could hear his own tense heartbeat pounding violently.
Thump, thump — the rapid beating sounded as if it would burst right out of his chest.
Cheating truly demanded nerves of steel.
Eikou glanced toward Oberon sitting not far away — and coincidentally, Oberon turned his head at the same time to look back at him.
Oberon's eyes seemed to say: "Help me, Eikou! There's only half an hour left before we have to hand in our papers, do we really still have time?!"
Eikou: "Don't panic."
Oberon: "How can I not panic! I absolutely refuse to get caught and have to retake the exam with Scáthach-sensei, especially without pay! I'd rather take a part-time job during vacation than be stuck in the Shadow Land!"
Eikou: "Don't panic."
Oberon: "I'm counting everything on you, Eikou! On your shoulders isn't just your own future — it's my life too!"
It's not that serious, man… just how deep in debt are you already?
Then another pleading gaze turned toward him.
It was Roland — the "Mad Knight" of France.
Roland: "I'm begging you, Eikou, give me a cheat sheet! I can still guess multiple-choice questions by luck, but for the fill-in-the-blank section, I can't even write a single line!"
Goddammit, now you too?!
Everyone wanted to rely on him, yet he could barely save himself — how the hell was he supposed to cheat under these circumstances?!
"Phew..."
In stark contrast to the panicked boys,
Melusine was… sleeping in the exam hall.
The beautiful dragon-blooded lady lay on her desk, softly snoring, her long lashes resting gently on her cheeks — looking like she was having a pleasant dream.
Her test paper was perfectly spotless, not even her name written on it.
"???"
Eikou screamed internally — She's not planning to take the test?! Didn't she say she'd give it her all to reclaim the seat beside me? I don't see any effort here! She's still just as lazy as ever!
Could it be… this dragon girl plans to sleep through the entire exam and hand in a blank sheet?!
[All the male students cast desperate looks toward you.]
[However, you still haven't found a suitable chance to cheat. Forget helping them — you can't even handle your own situation.]
[Another ten minutes pass — only twenty minutes remain before the exam ends.]
[At that moment, Melusine suddenly wakes up...]
"Yawn~..."
Melusine lazily yawned.
She slowly straightened up, stretching like a cat in her characteristic languid manner.
"So you finally woke up?" Eikou asked quietly.
"Haa, good morning…"
She rubbed her sleepy eyes, greeting him in a relaxed tone, completely unbothered.
"Eikou, if you'd give me a good morning kiss, I'd be really happy!"
"Kiss your damn head! Do you even know where we are right now? Were you planning to just sleep until you failed the subject?!"
In Eikou's eyes, half of his expression was helplessness, the other half worry.
"It's fine, it's fine,"
Melusine smiled confidently, utterly at ease.
"Don't worry. After all, I'm the strongest and fastest Fairy Knight of the Fairy Kingdom, the remnant of the dragon Albion, the representative of Morgan-sama — there's no way I'd fall at a place like this."
"You…"
Seeing her so certain, Eikou was momentarily stunned by her confidence.
Could it be that Melusine was planning to rely on her superior intellect, her hard-earned study results, and her dragonborn abilities to complete the entire test in twenty minutes?
No — it seemed her real plan was something else — precisely…
"That's right, as long as you want to..."
Melusine suddenly narrowed her eyes tightly,
"Cheating or whatever, it's as easy as flipping my hand!"
"???"
As expected! I knew it!
She really is a sly and lazy dragoness, she never intended to take this exam seriously from the very start! Don't even mention being the "representative of Morgan-sama," she should be called the disgrace of the entire Fairy Kingdom instead!
"Calm down, Melusine,"
Eikou hurriedly advised,
"Leaving Merlin aside, first you have to think about how to deal with Siegfried. He's both a Saber and has a natural advantage against dragons — in terms of compatibility, you're completely at a disadvantage, it's almost impossible for you to succeed!"
"Hmph hmph..."
Melusine smiled mysteriously, gently unbuttoning the first button at the collar of her uniform.
Her golden eyes curved in a playful grin as she looked at Eikou, then lightly tugged her collar down, revealing the outfit underneath.
"??"
Eikou froze.
In his head, he thought: What is she trying to do? Why is she suddenly unbuttoning her shirt? Don't tell me she's planning to play some seductive high-level trick in the middle of the exam room, or is she intending to charm Siegfried with her looks?!
"Wait..."
"What you're wearing underneath is..."
When Eikou saw clearly the outfit she was wearing inside, his eyes went wide.
That... that's...
Underneath Melusine's uniform, she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit?!
What the hell is this?! Why is she wearing a swimsuit to take such a sacred exam? Could it be that both the proctors and the candidates in this exam room are part of her bizarre fetish?!
Eikou only felt his head throbbing more and more — the "performance art" behavior of these Servants was truly more headache-inducing than the exam itself.
"Ha ha, this is my greatest trump card—"
Her golden eyes gleamed with confident light.
"Meluko right now, is Swimsuit Spirit Origin!"
...