HBWnovel Chapter 226: It's Not Over Until It's Over! (1)
Chapter 226: It's Not Over Until It's Over! (1)
Chapter 226: It's Not Over Until It's Over! (1)
Tywin was greatly surprised. To think Cecily would fail the exam.
‘Well, I had a vague feeling this might happen...’
Cecily preferred playing over studying. She enjoyed noble leisure activities like visiting her friend Melody in the otherworldly duchy of 「Steg Maia」 or roaming hunting grounds with the Thunder Eagle Elizabeth. Though Tywin held daily one-hour lessons with the children at desks and chairs, only Hina listened attentively. Naru was the type to get distracted saying “Spring must be here!” while watching butterflies outside the window, while Cecily was the type to doze off.
“...I’m sorry. I should have made her study harder.”
Tywin bowed her head to the adults. Of course, none of the adults blamed Tywin. Tywin had taught the children diligently.
It was just that Cecily didn’t pay attention in class. Naturally, Cecily’s mother Cariote was quite shocked.
“Cecily failed?”
Cariote grabbed Cecily’s side and lifted her high into the air. Like felines when lifted up, Cecily went limp facing downward. Cariote shook the limp Cecily back and forth. A Roll— Roll— Roll— seemed to come from inside Cecily’s small head.
“I can’t believe Cecily is stupid, worse than Naru...!”
Cariote was deeply shocked. Soon Brigitte, who had been quietly listening, put down her fork with a clang and frowned.
“What’s that supposed to mean? ‘Worse than Naru’? Naru isn’t stupid either. Naru just has... a special perspective on life that’s different from others. Right?” “Naru Style, eating lots of bananas!”
Naru was peeling bananas and stuffing them into her mouth. She looked like a squirrel storing almonds in its cheeks for winter. Brigitte pondered briefly why she ate like that.
‘She seems to have gotten more distracted after falling from the persimmon tree at age 3... Or was it from falling from the orange tree at 4? Or maybe from the ginkgo tree at 5...?’
Naru loved climbing up high places and jumping down. While Brigitte wondered if Naru’s lack of interest in studies was due to the effects of such hobbies and play, she soon stopped thinking about it. To Brigitte, Naru was an adorable and lovable child who could be forgiven for anything.
“Our Naru has such a kind heart. Right? Naru can do whatever she wants!”
Rub— Rub—. As Brigitte hugged Naru and rubbed their cheeks together, Salome spoke up.
“It’s because you two always hug and dote on them that Naru and Cecily don’t study. Sometimes you need to use tough love for children to grow up well. Look at our Hina. See how well-behaved and obedient she is?”
Hina was sitting quietly cutting meat with her knife. She looked incredibly elegant, hard to believe she was nearly 6 years old.
Though Salome spoke of tough love, she had never actually hit Hina. Hina had been a model student since birth, excelling at everything and taking initiative because she loved being praised by her parents. However, Cariote frowned.
“Hina was picky about milk when young so I mostly nursed her. Salome, Cecily’s disobedience must be because there were... rebellious elements in the milk you fed her!” “What? What nonsense is that?”
Salome scowled deeply. It was true that baby Hina had refused to nurse from Salome. She had thought it was just babies being fickle since they couldn’t talk, but now she suddenly became curious. Why had Hina preferred being held by Cariote or Brigitte?
“...H-Hina... doesn’t know.”
Hina, who had been eating well, gently put down her fork and knife. Then saying “Need to prepare for school” she went upstairs.
Anyway. Cecily failing the exam was a great misfortune. At this rate, Cecily would clearly be a year behind children like Naru and Hina when entering school next year. Having children who were close enough to be born on the same day end up in different grades was nothing short of a world-class disaster. As they wondered if there was any solution, Elizabeth spoke up.
“It’s not too late! Actually, I got today’s scores by using my dad’s authority to pre-grade them! The exam papers are still safely sealed on the school desk!”
“Graham Academy was at the center of the 「Great Extinction」. There are many important research materials so thieves often appear. To disable this, we need to operate this trap disabler and solve problems every 5 minutes.”
Swish—. Salome pointed to a strange computer-like device. When she skillfully operated it, text appeared on the flat screen.
「8 + 1 = 97 5 + 5 = 100 4 + 2 = 62 7 + 3 = ?」
What kind of problems are these. Soon Salome wrote the answer.
“104.”
Though I didn’t understand why it was 104, the next problems soon appeared on screen. Salome said.
“Hurry and go. I need to solve the next problems within 5 minutes.”
We ran through the corridor while the laser traps were loosened. Soon we reached the faculty office in the main building. As we were searching through the desks inside, Tywin spoke.
“Usually the head teacher for that year does the grading. The answer sheets are likely on Head Teacher Hegel’s desk.”
At Tywin’s words, we searched Head Teacher Hegel’s desk. We found numerous answer sheets sealed in envelopes and managed to carefully unseal them. Finally we got our hands on the exam paper with Cecily’s name. On Cecily’s exam paper, all answers were uniformly marked as 4. In other words, she had picked one answer for everything.
“Why did you do this?”
When I asked, Cecily said quietly.
“I like the number 4...”
I see. We needed to quickly change the answers.
Boom—. A large vibration was felt. Wondering what happened, I looked toward the faculty office entrance to see a rather large shadow staring at us.
“To think thieves would boldly enter a place I guard. And with quite familiar faces too. Judas, it’s been quite a while hasn’t it?”
It was a woman in black leather clothes. Her build visible under the leather clothes was quite thick. She felt more like a warrior than a woman. In fact, she was a female warrior.
“Queen.”
Queen the Party Destroyer. I thought she had been wandering the world for years, never expected to meet her in a place like this. I said.
“Since we know each other, how about looking the other way?” “That’s not possible. I’m employed at this school for a special mission you see. If you want me to look the other way, fight me!”
That Queen. Still loves fighting as ever. I decided to face Queen.
While I bought time, the children could fix the exam paper. Pop—. Something jumped out beside Queen.
“Master, I’ll handle the kids!”
It was a booming voice. A girl with twin tails wearing an eyepatch over her right eye. She looked to be about 6 years /genesisforsaken