Chapter 87
The Entrance Exam (1)
Eighteen years old this year.
Johan, who had only about a year left until graduating from the military academy, was Josef’s son.
After Josef died in an unexpected accident, Johan inherited everything from him.
Everything except his rank, that was.
“Johan, I’m truly sorry about what happened to your father.”
“Your father must have wanted to see you graduate too…”
“If you ever run into trouble, come to me.”
Josef’s classmates from the military academy all felt sorry for Johan, whom he had left behind, and hurried to promise that they would take his father’s place from now on.
Since nearly every influential person in the district was trying to look after him somehow, Johan didn’t find his father’s death particularly regrettable.
‘Sooner or later, he would have had to retire anyway. Perhaps it’s actually better for me that this happened before I graduated.’
Josef had never been an affectionate father.
He had always prioritized the Commander over his own son, and after Haydam appeared, he became so occupied with matters concerning Haydam that he probably hadn’t even realized Johan had entered his graduating year.
‘Even right before he died, he was busy handling the Bones Senior incident for that illegitimate child. It’s obvious.’
Still, Johan didn’t resent him too much for it.
After all, that devotion was probably what had allowed his father to rise to such a high position.
Thus, the anger Johan was currently suppressing had nothing to do with his indifferent father.
“What do you think Lord Haydam prepared for the entrance exam?”
“I’m sure it’ll be something incredible again.”
“Ah, I wish he’d conduct a training simulation with us too…”
Every time the classmates assigned alongside him as entrance exam proctors spoke about Haydam, Johan ground his teeth inwardly.
‘My father dedicated himself to this district until the very moment he died. Yet Haydam didn’t even show up at his funeral. A slum-born bastard child like him…’
The entrance exam Haydam had supposedly prepared seemed ridiculous as well.
As far as Johan was concerned, the recommendation system and an examination system weren’t particularly different.
‘Does he think the officers recommend just anyone? They carefully select only children worth sponsoring and send them to the military academy. He dismissed all that effort and spoke as if the officers were committing corruption.’
Of course, Johan himself wasn’t exactly a carefully selected talent.
He had been recommended and admitted to the military academy simply because he was Josef’s son.
Even so, he was an elite who had received systematic education under Josef from a young age.
Therefore, it was only natural for him to enter the military academy, and he disliked seeing former child soldiers and orphans swarm the institution that had once admitted only “chosen” children.
They called it an entrance exam, but not even half of those orphans would pass.
‘You need to have learned something before you can even take an exam.’
As proof, the sponsored children quickly recognized him as Josef’s son and approached first to greet him respectfully.
Meanwhile, the former child soldiers didn’t even know who he was and were too busy whispering among themselves.
‘Senior Plato may have been the first to propose the entrance exam, and the other graduating cadets may have agreed… but this is wrong.’
Not every enrolled cadet had agreed.
Johan certainly hadn’t.
He knew that several of the other classmates serving as proctors today shared his dissatisfaction.
Just then, the gazes of the child soldiers, who had been noisily talking among themselves, all turned in the same direction.
Johan looked over without thinking and saw a child who resembled the Commander to a frightening degree entering the examination hall with a gait far too composed for his age.
“Good morning, Lord Haydam!”
“You’ve arrived, Lord Haydam?”
“Lord Haydam, are you feeling better?”
The children who had barely acknowledged Johan suddenly surged to their feet the moment Haydam appeared, their eyes filled with what seemed like genuine respect.
Johan frowned at the sight.
He was well aware that Haydam held a charity party for children his age every month.
If they understood the favor they had received, their reaction was only natural.
However—
‘Buying their affection with food. That’s exactly the sort of idea a slum-born bastard would have.’
As Johan glared at Haydam in displeasure, his eyes met the boy’s dark, deep gaze.
Without realizing it, Johan hurriedly lowered his head.
Only after the fact did he realize he had looked away, leaving him considerably flustered.
‘W-What? Why did I avoid his gaze?’
Johan himself couldn’t understand why he had done so.
As he tried to calm his pounding heart, Haydam’s small dress shoes came into view, crossing through the children surrounding him and approaching Johan.
For a moment, Johan grew tense, unable to understand why Haydam was coming toward him.
Then he remembered that he was standing on the platform and raised his head with a deliberately composed expression.
Haydam had already turned his back to him and was looking down at the children below the platform.
Then unexpected words came from him.
“The entrance exam will be held on the snowfield.”
“Pardon?”
The contents of the exam had been kept confidential, so no one yet knew how it would be conducted.
Johan had vaguely assumed they would hand out test papers and grade them.
Yet now Haydam was talking about the snowfield.
“The snowfield? Are you saying you intend to take these children outside the district?”
Haydam gave Johan, who had abruptly interrupted him, a brief once-over before answering shortly.
“Yes.”
‘He’s speaking informally to me?’
But this wasn’t the time to criticize Haydam’s manner of speech.
“W-What kind of entrance exam requires leaving the district?”
Haydam glanced at Johan, then turned his gaze back toward the children.
“The entrance exam will be a hunt.”
“A hunt?”
“You’ll spend one night on the snowfield and hunt a monster.”
The cadets serving as proctors began murmuring among themselves, but the children didn’t seem to understand what that meant at all.
‘He’s saying they’ll go outside the district and kill a monster themselves. How is that a hunt? That’s a subjugation! He intends to take eleven-year-old children on a subjugation mission? As an entrance exam?’
Stunned by the absurd declaration, Johan stood frozen for a moment before hurrying in front of Haydam.
“That’s impossible!”
“What exactly is impossible, Cadet Johan?”
Johan faltered for a moment upon realizing Haydam knew who he was.
He cleared his throat twice before speaking in a slightly more respectful tone.
“It’s too sudden… and isn’t it unfair?”
“Unfair?”
“Some of the child soldiers may have already participated in subjugation missions, while the sponsored children have never even gone beyond the snowfield—”
“Can that truly be called unfair?”
An intrigued smile appeared on Haydam’s lips.
“Suppose I gave them an exam on military strategy. Which side would be disadvantaged then?”
“Th-That…”
Until moments ago, Johan had been thinking that the sponsored children would have the advantage because they had already received an education.
Unable to refute Haydam decisively, he trailed off.
Haydam stared at him for a moment before smiling with his eyes.
“I understand what you’re worried about, Cadet Johan. You’re concerned that the children might get hurt during the hunt.”
“Pardon?”
“Is that not it? Surely you aren’t worried that the child soldiers might pass the entrance exam.”
Johan flinched at Haydam’s words and hurriedly denied it.
“N-No. I truly was worried that the children might get hurt.”
“Right. I don’t want any children injured because of the entrance exam either.”
“Then…?”
“The hunt will begin the day after tomorrow. Everyone will prepare individually and gather at the district entrance. You proctors should come prepared to camp as well. You may actively help the children so they don’t get hurt.”
They were to prepare the necessary hunting supplies themselves?
And the proctors were allowed to help the children?
‘Then the sponsored children will have an overwhelming advantage.’
Unlike the former child soldiers, who had no sponsors at all, the sponsored children could prepare plenty of equipment for the hunt and learn the knowledge required for a subjugation mission in the meantime.
Furthermore, under the pretext of preventing injuries, the proctors could assist whichever candidates they supported.
‘Wasn’t he opposed to the children of high-ranking officers entering the academy? What is he thinking?’
Haydam, the very person who had filled Johan’s mind with confusion, merely looked at the children with an inscrutable smile.
“Then I’ll see you all the day after tomorrow. Don’t be late.”
***
“Meursault, what is the meaning of this?”
On the day the contents of the entrance exam were announced, the Commander learned the truth from someone else because Meursault and Haydam had kept it secret until the end.
He immediately summoned Meursault and demanded an explanation.
“The entrance exam is a hunt? If they’re going outside the district, then calling it a hunt is misleading. Isn’t it a subjugation mission?”
“They will be leaving the district, but it isn’t a subjugation—”
“We’ve already had an accident because of the abnormal weather! How could you even consider sending children outside the district?”
Only a few weeks had passed since Josef was struck by lightning and killed.
Moreover, as far as the Commander knew, Josef’s son was among the proctors for this entrance exam.
If Josef’s son, Johan, were injured during this subjugation mission, public opinion would undoubtedly turn against Haydam for recklessly forcing the entrance exam through.
There was no way Meursault could have been unaware of that.
The Commander looked at him in incomprehension.
“What are you going to do about Johan? If that boy harbors ill will and deliberately sabotages the entrance exam…”
“Not every child in the world is like Lord Haydam, Your Excellency.”
The Commander frowned.
“You said you didn’t want my son as your son-in-law, and now you’re openly insulting him in front of me?”
“No, how did the conversation turn in that direction?”
Meursault sighed inwardly.
‘He acted completely indifferent when divorcing Lady Daphne, but the moment I said I didn’t want Lord Haydam as my son-in-law, he began harassing me about it at every opportunity.’
“In any case, even if a child who hasn’t yet graduated from the military academy tries to scheme, he’ll still be in Lord Haydam’s palm. You know that as well, don’t you, Your Excellency?”
“Hmm…”
The Commander seemed to soften slightly, perhaps finding the argument reasonable.
Even so, he shook his head as though this still wasn’t acceptable.
“Even so, I oppose sending children outside the district by themselves.”
“There are former child soldiers among them, and most importantly, Lord Haydam will—”
“I’m worried that a situation may arise in which Haydam must take responsibility for everything.”
“That won’t happen. Several proctors will accompany them, and in the first place, this subjugation—”
“The proctors are still merely cadets themselves. Aren’t they children too?”
After being interrupted repeatedly, Meursault closed his mouth.
The Commander anxiously tapped his office desk with his fingers.
“The last subjugation mission already turned into a disaster when large-class monsters launched a surprise attack. And now Haydam wants them to hunt monsters? What on earth is he thinking…?”
“That is precisely what I’ve been trying to explain this entire time.”
Afraid the Commander would interrupt him yet again, Meursault spoke hurriedly.
“The children won’t be facing a real monster.”
“…What does that mean? Are they supposed to hunt a fake monster?”
“The target of the subjugation is Lord Haydam.”
For a moment, the Commander stared at Meursault with a speechless expression.
“…He’s my son, but I truly have no idea what goes on in his head.”
“In any case, that is how it has been arranged, so you needn’t worry about the children—”
“What are you talking about, Meursault?”
The Commander spoke with a grave expression.
“I’d be less worried if they were hunting a real monster.”
‘You think that yourself, yet you still told me to take him as my son-in-law?’
Meursault desperately swallowed the words rising to his throat.