He presented his examination ticket at the entrance of the school building and received permission to enter the venue.
He entered the classroom assigned to his examination number and took his seat.
The Royal Academy entrance exam. Commoner division.
The first thing held was the written exam.
The gathered examinees had been divided into ten classrooms, each seated at their respective desks.
Even though it was still thirty minutes before the exam began, half the seats in the classroom were already filled.
(Each classroom holds about thirty people. So the total number of examinees is roughly three hundred…)
According to the information he had heard beforehand… the number of passes in the commoner quota varied from year to year.
The noble-division exams were held first, and all nobles who met a certain standard passed automatically.
Then, the remaining slots determined how many commoner students could be admitted.
(Three hundred commoner examinees — same as usual. They said about a hundred would pass…)
All of them were commoner examinees who had received recommendations and hoped to take the entrance exam, but it seemed the majority would end up failing.
The reason for the low pass rate was that minor nobles would bring along retainers to the academy, so they handed out recommendation letters to young servants left and right and had them sit for the exam.
High-ranking nobles could afford to send servants of high quality who would reliably pass, but minor nobles couldn't be so selective — so they just threw everyone at the wall and hoped something stuck.
Rest took out his writing implements, including spares, and set them on his desk, then took several deep breaths to calm his nerves.
As he waited, the door at the front of the classroom eventually opened and a woman in robes appeared.
Probably to prevent cheating. A man who looked like a teaching instructor also appeared at the back of the classroom.
"We will now begin the Royal Academy entrance exam, commoner division."
It seemed the exam was about to start.
Rest straightened his back, tension still running through him.
"First up is the written examination. The written exam is common to all departments; you will have three hours. Any cheating will result in immediate disqualification, no exceptions."
Answer sheets were handed out to everyone, face down.
On his desk were the writing utensils he had brought from the manor. He was fully prepared.
"Then, let the exam begin. Please turn your answer sheets to the front and start writing."
The examinees turned their answer sheets over in unison.
Rest picked up his writing utensils and began working through the problems.
(Starting with history, I see... "List the names of the five generals who contributed to the founding of the Kingdom of Aiwood.") He had studied this. He filled in the answers right away.
Every question lined up on the answer sheet was something he could solve using the knowledge he had acquired while studying with the Rosemary sisters.
(I really have Viola and Primula to thank for this... Oh, over here it's a magic question. "Among the twelve sages serving on the Council of Sages, name all individuals who have held their position for over a hundred years." The answer is Van Worley, Nuada Kedis, and Kanehira Ichijō — three people.)
This was right in his wheelhouse.
They were reasonably difficult problems, but he wrote down the answers at a brisk pace.
By the time two hours had passed since the start of the exam, he had managed to solve about ninety percent of the questions — not a perfect score, but close.
(The passing benchmark for the written exam was sixty percent correct, wasn't it? At this rate, passing is practically guaranteed.)
『Rest! Make sure you review everything properly when you're done!』
『Rest, please double-check that your answers aren't shifted out of their boxes too. Never let your guard down!』
He flashed back to what Viola and Primula had told him yesterday.
With a wry smile, Rest murmured "Got it" under his breath and began his review.
He used the remaining time to go over his entire answer sheet carefully, making sure there were no mistakes in his name or examination number either.
This was no different from the tests in his past life.
The moment you're confident you've passed is exactly when you need to verify carefully.
"That's time. The exam is over."
Eventually, time ran out, and Rest let out a deep sigh.
The proctor immediately began collecting the answer sheets.
"W-wait! Just a little more, just a little more...!"
"Come on, hand it in already!"
Even here, there were people who stubbornly kept scribbling on their answer sheets until the very end—just like in the tests of his past life.
Some candidates were even being berated by proctors with shouts of "Submit it now, or you'll fail!"
(Feels good... I did everything I could...)
"No! I forgot to write my name! Wa... give me back my answer sheeeeeeeeeet!"
A pitiful scream echoed from the corner of the classroom, but Rest simply closed his eyes as though it were none of his business.
—————————— Thank you always for supporting this work.
I've posted two new novels, so if you're interested, please check them out as well.
The Cursed Swordfighter Carried with the misfortunes of an entire nation and cast out to sea—but he doesn't care about revenge. He aims to become the strongest instead, because nothing else matters.
The Monkey King's Tale He reincarnated as a monkey, so he builds a harem and lives life entirely on his own terms.