Chapter 82: The Night Before the Exam
[From your friends' words, you learned about an important unspoken rule in Servant exams.]
[This exam allows candidates to cheat — humans have dreams, and everything depends on one's own ability. However, the proctors also have the right to end your cheating at any time.]
[Although cheating will be discovered by the proctors, it does not violate the rules — the only consequence is that your exam score will be nullified.]
[But if you really intend to cheat, your chances of success might be even lower than simply studying hard, because all the proctors are boss-class Servants from the Singularities and Lostbelts — to cheat in front of them, you probably wouldn't survive even a single second.]
[Whether to cheat or not — that's something you'll have to think about very carefully.]
"Qin Shi Huang, King Hassan, Moriarty…"
Just hearing that list made Eikou's spine turn cold.
With his current level, trying to cheat in front of those terrifying teacher-class Servants was no different from digging his own grave.
However, after thinking about it, Eikou realized it might not matter anyway.
He couldn't make it into the top 10 no matter what—so why not take a gamble? At worst, he'd just get dragged back to the Shadow Land by Scathach.
"No, if I cheat and get caught, my score will be deleted, my course credits will drop sharply, and then I might not even have enough mana to maintain my skills…"
Eikou looked a little dejected.
"It's fine, we'll help you when that happens!"
Gawain laughed heartily.
"As long as we're assigned to the same exam room, there's nothing to worry about. We'll think of a way to help you. It'd be such a waste to skip a good vacation like this. No matter what, we've got to make sure everyone passes, then go have fun together afterward."
"Ha ha, if we really get assigned to the same exam room, I can lend a hand too," Oberon said with a grin. "I'm quite skilled at sneaky little tricks like that."
"Without Sir Eikou, it'd be like a married woman club without any married women," Tristan nodded in agreement.
Eikou thought to himself that it wasn't that big a deal—besides, that so-called "married woman club" of theirs didn't even have a single actual married woman in it—just a bunch of perverts obsessed with other people's wives.
But seeing everyone seriously discuss ways to help him cheat, Eikou felt a faint warmth stir in his heart.
However, in the end, he still shook his head and put down his pen. "Forget it, I won't cheat."
"Why not?" The others looked at him in surprise.
"Because all of you are my friends. I don't want you to take the risk of getting caught cheating just because of me. It's not worth it. At worst, I'll just get dragged back to the Shadow Land for a few days." Eikou replied.
"Ha ha, if we all got caught together, it wouldn't be so bad. Getting dragged back to the Shadow Land by Scathach-sensei to train could count as team building," Gawain said with a laugh.
"It's fine,"
Eikou continued,
"It's only June right now. We still have plenty of time to hang out together. There's still summer vacation and winter break after this—we can play to our hearts' content then."
"I see," Gawain nodded lightly. "Alright, I'll respect your decision."
"Ahaha, don't be so gloomy. Who knows, maybe I'll have a sudden burst of inspiration and end up taking first place in the whole grade."
Everyone sighed in unison: "Haiz…"
"Sure, it's tough, but don't act so cold about it! Do I really look that dumb to you guys?!" Eikou said angrily.
"How sad," Tristan sighed dramatically. "Just like the last outdoor class, looks like this vacation's going to be missing something again…"
"I haven't even taken the test yet—don't jinx it so soon!"
"Or rather, every time we go out with Sir Eikou, something unexpected does happen, doesn't it?"
The group burst into hearty laughter.
Artoria: "..."
Eikou glanced at Artoria Caster beside him and suddenly picked up on her emotions.
She was laughing along with everyone else, but somehow, it felt a little different.
"...It's alright,"
He gently patted Artoria's shoulder and said softly:
"Even if you don't feel much about these stories right now, that's fine. We can still hang out more often in the future. If we don't have many shared memories now, then we'll just make more together later."
"Um, it's… not that big of a deal…"
Feeling as if he had seen right through her, Artoria looked a bit flustered.
Eikou smiled. "When I first transferred here, I used to hear them talk about the Round Table—Gaheris this, Kay that… I couldn't join in either, since I didn't have any related memories. So I understand how you feel."
"Umu..."
She nodded softly and smiled from the bottom of her heart, as if the stone weighing on her chest had finally been set down.
At that moment, Eikou's phone suddenly rang.
"Ah, the bubble tea I ordered finally arrived."
"You even ordered bubble tea delivery? You must be rich or something," Oberon said.
"Ahahaha,"
Eikou put his hands on his hips and laughed smugly,
"Now I'm a rich man, you know! I ordered one for each of you, so be grateful and accept this gift from your sugar daddy!"
Artoria said excitedly, "Thank you!!!"
"Sir Eikou, you've been spending a bit recklessly lately," Gawain said with concern. "Buying games, treating others to meals—if you don't learn how to manage your finances, your savings will run dry very soon. If Sir Kay and Sir Bedivere were here, leaving the money management to them would probably be better."
Eikou's gaze suddenly turned sharp: "No need. Money exists to be spent!"
"Someone like this will definitely become one of those 'end-of-the-month broke guys' once they enter society," Tristan sighed.
"How rude. I only wanted to buy bubble tea to replenish the sugar in your brains."
Eikou laughed, then suddenly thought of something.
"Now that I think about it, they don't announce the test scores right on the same day, do they?"
"They come out the next day. Why?"
"In that case, after the exams are over and before the results are out, let's go to KTV and throw a celebration party! No matter what, we should celebrate first—just treat it as my farewell party."
"Sounds great!!!"
[Everyone discussed and watched over each other, pouring their hearts into the final review session before the exam, savoring that moment when a math problem was finally solved, and feeling the fullness of time flowing by...]
[Everyone studied together until late at night, only deciding to return when the dorm curfew time approached.]
[...]
[Everyone experienced an irreplaceable period of time.]
[You obtained an Encouragement Dice. You now possess five dice.]
[And tomorrow, what awaits everyone is the grueling midterm exam!]