In three days, Frieren and the others passed the first round of the exam without any trouble.
The first round was both simple and not simple at all.
It was a team-of-three bird-catching test.
There were fewer birds than teams, which meant a lot of groups were guaranteed to be eliminated.
A lot of people stood out in the first round, especially Frieren. Her identity had been completely exposed.
Not just anyone could be the mage who helped defeat the Demon King.
The commotion she caused was absurd too—she directly broke the barrier around the test grounds. Ordinary people couldn't do that.
Not even first-class mages could.
There was no need to say anything more about how strong she was.
Since the exam worked in groups of three and teams were assigned at random, a few people were clearly trying to coast by.
After all, if two mediocre mages got paired with one strong one, they could pass pretty easily.
The first round also allowed teams to steal birds from other teams.
Magic wasn't just about skilled control. It was also about combat.
While watching from Serie's palace, Shichen had even seen one old man win by literally punching another group and stealing their bird.
That was a real man.
Fists were still the hard truth.
After the first round ended, there was a three-day break.
"Shichen-sama! I passed!"
The moment Fern came out of the testing grounds and saw him, she threw herself at him excitedly.
Shichen caught her easily and rubbed the back of her head in praise. "Amazing. That's my Fern."
"Mm-hmm!" Fern nodded happily.
"And me?" Frieren walked over too.
"Fine, you too." Shichen let go of Fern and picked Frieren up.
"You caused way too much of a scene, though."
"They underestimated me," Frieren said, pouting.
"That's exactly how it should be. A little dominance suits you."
"Really? Then I'll try even harder next round."
"Good."
"Shichen, I passed too." Übel also walked up to him with the obvious look of someone waiting to be praised.
Shichen looked at her, thought for a second, then reached out and patted her head too. "Good job."
They were on the same team. They were companions now, and he was the big senior among them, so this was perfectly reasonable.
"Mm~" Übel blinked, the corners of her lips lifting.
It was her first time getting praised with a head pat, and the feeling was unexpectedly nice.
"Shichen-sama!" Fern immediately latched onto his arm and glared at Übel with open hostility.
She didn't mind that Frieren was still in his arms. At worst, that was just the two of them bickering over affection.
But Übel was different.
Right now, she was still an outsider.
Übel just smiled and didn't care at all about Fern's hostility.
They had been teammates in the first round, and honestly, she probably wouldn't have passed so easily without Fern.
Speaking of which, she still couldn't understand how Fern had that strange spell that could catch the bird.
She suspected Shichen had taught it to her on purpose.
Which meant he probably already knew the exam content in advance.
But there was one thing she couldn't figure out: Fern said she'd learned that bird-catching spell a long time ago, but they had only arrived in Äußerst a few days earlier.
Surely it couldn't be that Shichen had known the exam content before they even got here.
Still, once she remembered that he was the so-called Mysterious One and had lived for such a long time, everything somehow felt plausible.
In any case, she was very interested in him.
He seemed like the kind of person with endless secrets to uncover.
"Let's go," Shichen said, still carrying Frieren. "I'll make something good myself to celebrate."
With Fern and Übel flanking him on either side, he headed for the exit.
"Shichen-sama is cooking himself? Great!" Fern said eagerly.
"What? You can cook too?" Übel asked, surprised.
"Of course he can," Fern replied proudly.
"That really is unexpected…" Übel smiled even wider.
"You don't believe me?" Shichen asked.
"It's not that. I just never expected a man to know how to cook."
"Then you can look forward to it."
"I will."
They didn't go straight back. First, they bought a bunch of ingredients, then returned to the inn.
Frieren and the others went to bathe while Shichen started cooking alone.
Fern had wanted Shichen to join her, and ideally help wash her too, and ideally take his time doing it.
But that would've delayed things too much. Lunch would've turned into dinner.
So Shichen refused without hesitation.
Fern was very unhappy and stomped off to bathe with Frieren.
Frieren didn't want to bathe with her at all—too damaging to her self-esteem—but Fern ignored that and dragged her along anyway.
No need to guess what came next. Soon enough, Frieren was the unhappy one.
Pain didn't disappear. It just moved to someone else.
Not long after Shichen started preparing the ingredients, he heard bare footsteps behind him.
He thought it was Fern sneaking back, but when he turned around, it was actually Übel, wrapped in nothing but a bath towel.
Her side ponytail was undone, her hair hanging loose and still damp, smooth with moisture.
The towel covered most of her body, leaving only her collarbone and part of her calves exposed.
Her skin was pale, almost translucent, with a soft glow.
"Übel?" Shichen looked at her questioningly.
"What?" Übel came over and bent down to look at the food he was preparing.
Shichen caught a faint fragrance from her. "What's with you?"
"I just got out of the bath. My hair's still wet, so I can't put on underwear yet," she said casually.
"…Then why are you here?"
Scientifically speaking, women really shouldn't throw their clothes on right away after a bath.
"I came to see how good you really are."
"I see." Shichen glanced at her collarbone—and because she was bent over, the deep curve below it was impossible to miss.
Not as overwhelming as Fern's, but still more than enough.
Deliberate?
"Are you just hungry?"
"Yeah. Three days of exam food was all dry rations. No flavor at all."
"Fair enough. Then don't blame me if you eat too much later."
"You sound very confident in your cooking."
"I am."
"Then I'll be looking forward to it—ah!"
Übel suddenly cried out and collapsed toward him.
Shichen immediately dropped what he was holding and caught her.
"You okay?"
"I lost my balance and twisted a little," Übel said, leaning into his arms.
"Be careful," Shichen told her.
The acting was clumsy, obviously.
But he didn't mind.
"Probably because the three-day exam tired me out."
"Maybe. Want me to heal it?"
"It's fine. Let me just rest a bit."
"Sure."
Übel stayed in his arms, breathing lightly, her scent brushing across his face like she had no idea what she was doing.
Shichen kept the same calm expression, as if he understood nothing.
After a moment, Übel got up on her own and stepped away from him.
"Sorry. Thanks."
"It's nothing. We're teammates. Helping each other is normal."
"True… Then I won't interrupt your cooking anymore. I'll head back first."
With that, she left.
Shichen watched her back until she was gone, then calmly looked away and went back to preparing the ingredients like nothing had happened.
He hadn't expected Übel to take the initiative and try to seduce him. He hadn't even done anything to her.
Unless she'd gotten provoked by Fern?
Still, it wasn't unpleasant.
And back in her room, Übel was humming happily, in a great mood.
The first probe had gotten a clear reaction.
Shichen hadn't rejected her at all.
So he definitely had some interest in her too.
Now she just had to keep at it quietly until the day Fern got the surprise of her life.
How dare that girl underestimate her charm.
No woman could let that slide.
~~~
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