Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the final round of the exam began.
It almost got delayed, though.
Because Serie had practically vanished for two days, the Magic Association staff had been searching everywhere for her.
They had nearly announced a postponement.
After breakfast, Shichen headed to the Magic Association together with Frieren and the others.
Stark didn't come. He'd already gone out to the outskirts to keep training.
He had finally managed to break one puppet's horn. Once he broke the other three as well, his great mission would be complete.
The nightmare of the demons was about to be born.
Shichen didn't really care whether Stark became the demons' nightmare or not. Everyone had their own path. As long as he was happy, that was enough.
Still, his little brother had definitely gone off course.
When they arrived at the Magic Association, Frieren and the others stayed to wait for the exam to begin, while Shichen went straight to find Serie.
She had already changed into the formal outfit of this world—a white dress that looked like it had been pieced together from strips of cloth.
This was her usual attire here.
Seeing her like that reminded Shichen of the first time Flamme had brought him to meet her.
Back then, she'd been wearing the same clothes, sitting arrogantly on a stone seat with one leg folded up.
She had once been the strongest being in this world, the one most worthy of reverence.
And now she was his bratty little girl.
Sometimes, all it really took was nerve.
If you had enough nerve, nothing was impossible.
"What are you doing here?" Serie's expression turned serious the moment she saw him.
"Can't I come?" Shichen walked over and picked her up without asking.
"Don't mess around. There's serious business today," Serie reminded him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she went along with it.
"Relax, I know." Shichen patted her small, firm backside.
"Good." Serie secretly let out a sigh of relief.
She was genuinely afraid he'd get in the mood again.
If that happened, there definitely wouldn't be enough time, and the exam might as well be postponed.
Thanks to the lesson he gave her last time, she had slept for two whole days. When she finally woke up, she was told the final round of the exam was only a day away.
Luckily, she didn't need to prepare anything, or it would've been terribly awkward.
With her status, she absolutely couldn't afford to make a mistake.
Thankfully, because of that same status, she didn't need to explain anything either. A simple order to continue as planned had been enough.
"Heh. So you do know how to be scared," Shichen said smugly.
"I'm not scared. You're overthinking it." Serie forced a cold smile.
"Really?" Shichen stroked her little backside, staring at her.
The look made her panic inside. "Fine, fine, I'm scared, alright?"
Nothing could go wrong today.
Her dignity mattered a lot.
"That's better." Shichen nodded in satisfaction, though his hand still didn't move away.
Maybe because Serie was so petite, her little butt had an especially nice bounce to it.
It felt so good he couldn't stop touching it.
Serie had already gotten used to that and didn't bother stopping him. As long as it didn't interfere with the important stuff, she didn't care.
And once the important stuff was over, she wouldn't need to worry about anything anyway. She could disappear on the spot if she wanted.
If everything still depended on her, then what was the point of the Magic Association even existing?
Before, she'd still been willing to involve herself a little. But now that Shichen was around, there was no chance of that anymore. Nothing and no one was allowed to waste her time.
That wouldn't change in the future either.
She had no intention of staying behind in this world anymore.
She was going to leave with Shichen.
As far as she was concerned, she had already done just about everything she needed to do here.
The future of humanity could be left to humanity.
Even though most of her time with Shichen had involved fainting and crying, she didn't actually dislike it.
That kind of thing was… unexpectedly nice.
She was practically adapting to dehydration by now.
Shichen carried Serie into the flower garden courtyard, and the final round officially began.
The content of the exam was simple.
Each person entered one at a time, and Serie decided whether they passed.
The standard was whatever Serie said it was.
No one knew her criteria. Even the people in the Magic Association didn't know. If Serie decided you passed, you passed. If she didn't, you didn't.
There was no room for negotiation.
The examinees didn't even know Serie herself was handling the final round.
So when the first person came in, before she could say a word, she heard Serie's flat voice:
"Failed."
"Huh?"
"Leave."
"Yes." The girl didn't even dare ask why. She turned and ran out in a panic.
"Sigh. I really don't know how that one made it through the first two rounds," Serie said, shaking her head.
"You know perfectly well the first two rounds had room for error," Shichen said with a smile, pulling her a little tighter into his arms.
He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, and Serie fit perfectly in his lap.
Serie didn't resist. Sitting there, she sighed again. "If this is the level of mages these days, how many of them are actually unqualified…"
"That's why they have you in the end." Shichen patted her head.
"And what if one day I'm not here anymore?"
"The people after you can deal with their own fate. No need to worry."
"That's true. Then I'll just let them fend for themselves."
"Um…"
While the two of them were chatting, another examinee came in. This one was a man.
Serie didn't even glance at him.
"Failed."
"Uh…" The man left in confusion.
Next came a girl who looked like a noble lady.
"Failed."
Then a short twin-tailed girl with orange hair.
"Failed."
Then a dull-looking man with glasses.
"Hm? Quite bold. Using a clone to come see me? Passed."
"Thank you." He bowed and left.
Then an old man.
"Passed."
One after another, bewildered, firm, peculiar—people kept coming in.
More passed than expected.
Then came a woman who looked like an older-sister type.
"What are you thinking?" Serie asked her.
"You're so cute. I kind of want to hug you," the woman admitted sheepishly.
"Hmph. Passed." Serie snorted.
After that woman left, Frieren finally came in.
Unlike the others, she didn't enter timidly or stand there stiffly. She walked straight over.
"Serie, get off Shichen."
"Hmph. Not happening." Serie didn't move.
"Then I won't hold back!" Frieren climbed right up and squeezed herself onto Shichen's lap too.
The two of them pressed against each other, bumping and shoving, refusing to give way.
Shichen didn't look even slightly bothered. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying it. They were both so small, and the way they kept shifting against him felt weirdly pleasant.
"You two, stop it. There's still an exam going on." Shichen wrapped an arm around each of them, keeping them from fighting.
"Hmph. Frieren, you fail," Serie declared immediately.
"I knew it. You petty little thing. I don't care," Frieren said, looking completely unconcerned.
"If you failed, why are you still here?" Serie glared at her.
"Because I want to be."
"And who are you to stay here?"
"I'm Shichen's partner. Who are you?" Frieren shot back.
"You…!" Serie was speechless for a moment.
"Heh. You'd better be nicer to me, or I won't let you come with us," Frieren threatened smugly.
"That's not your decision to make." Serie dismissed her.
"Really? Then I'll just hog Shichen and never let him spend time with you. And even if he does, I'll come too. You'll never get any time alone together."
"Frieren, don't push it too far! I'm still your grandmaster!"
"So what?"
"Heh…" Serie let out a cold laugh, clearly on the verge of starting a fight.
"Shichen doesn't like it when we fight," Frieren reminded her.
"..."
"Now hurry up and let the next examinee in, little sister Serie~"