Vol 8. Chapter 25: The Black-and-White Demon Everywhere!

After Noa left, Leon walked over to Jane and Claire holding the last fifteen-point card. He crouched down, lifted the card in his hand, and said to the two candidates:

“Sorry—she got away with one. Now there’s only this one card left.”

“It’s fine, Uncle Leon. If you hadn’t stepped in to block Noa from fighting us, we would’ve lost way more points,” Claire said.

Leon smiled faintly, then asked:

“So, what are you planning to do with this fifteen-point card? This was the highest card value in the joint trial, and now there’s only one left. But there’s no telling which of you actually earned this card first.

If I give it to one of you, it’ll be unfair to the other.”

“So I’ll let you decide yourselves. You decide who gets it.”

Jane glanced longingly at the card, then quickly turned his head away, folded his arms behind his head and said with a fake, careless air:

“Just give it to Claire. With the strength of a super handsome macho man like me, I don’t need this one.”

Even as he said it, he couldn’t help cracking one eye open to peek at the card again.

Fifteen points! A fifteen-point mission was hard to earn.

But a super handsome macho man had his pride to keep.

Jane sighed inwardly, but then his mind ran away with itself:

Look at me, selflessly sacrificing. Bet you’re falling for me, Claire!

But after a short silence, the little girl said firmly:

“I don’t want it. Give it to Jane. At the start of the trial, he let me have a mission card. This is me giving it back to him.”

Rosvisser watched the two children quietly. Before long, the queen’s lips curved into a faint smile.

Claire wasn’t the type of girl to just lean on others forever. She might be afraid, she might waver, but inside she was independent and strong.

And Jane—he was at the age when boys least want to share anything. Yet he handed over a fifteen-point card, something so important, without a fight.

Different personalities, but dig deep enough and both of them had warmth and goodness shining in their characters.

Maybe that’s what Orion saw in these kids—the future of the Sun—that made her so determined to carry on her teacher’s will, Rosvisser thought.

“Stop shoving it back and forth. Jane, it’s yours. If you keep arguing, I won’t talk to you for a week.”

Jane instantly straightened up and obediently took the card from Leon’s hand.

Leon couldn’t help twitching the corner of his mouth. These kids are already being bossed around by their childhood sweetheart? What are you going to do later? What happens when you marry her? You’ll have no place in your own house!

The general very nearly gave his “super handsome macho man” some advice from an older man’s experience. But the boy was way too young, so he let it slide—

But I’ll remember this. Fifteen years from now, I’ll be collecting your wedding invitation at the Silver Dragon Cathedral, you and this little girl together!

The trial raged on.

Both races’ candidates had already entered the final stage, moving into the high-difficulty mission zone. But there weren’t many of those missions, and so competition grew even fiercer.

And the so-called “pillars of the island” from Azure Dragon Academy each pulled out every trick in the book—within the limits allowed by the academy and the Sun clan leadership—to scam, cheat, and steal as many cards as possible.

By dusk, the joint trial ended. The candidates of both races and their proctors all gathered at the entrance of Biyun Valley to await the results.

Jane’s face was stiff with fatigue. Just to snatch another fifteen-point card that day, he’d sweated blood and tears. Claire and the other candidates were in the same state.

Before the results were announced, Leon and Rosvisser had already started bickering like always.

“The results are about to be announced. You’d better start ordering a new bunny-girl outfit,” Leon said, arms crossed, full of confidence.

Rosvisser gave him a sideways glance, snorted a laugh.

“Who says you’re the winner? If I lose, I put on a shameful uniform and let you run wild for one night. But if you lose... husband—”

She laid her slender hand on Leon’s shoulder, leaned close, breath warm at his ear as she whispered:

“Then you’ll never have another day of peace in your life.”

Like a devil’s whisper—her breath was warm and fragrant, but the words sent chills straight down the general’s back. He even shivered.

He shrugged a little too roughly.

“Who are you trying to scare? Jane and I did plenty of missions today. Just wait, you’ll be ranked behind me.”

“Hmph. We’ll see soon enough.”

Not long after, Claudia arrived with a Sun clan elder at her side.

“Now I’ll announce the final rankings of this joint trial.”

She held a list in her hand.

“The two races’ candidates will be ranked separately. To protect privacy, we will only announce the top five of each side. If you’re not in the top five, you can go to my assistant Samantha at camp to check the full rankings later.”

“All right, beginning with the Sun clan candidates:

Fifth place—Fraser.”

Cheers went up in the crowd.

“Fourth place—Nelson.”

Another cheer.

“Third place—Anton.”

Anton below let out a long sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. Top five! Orion-noona is definitely going to praise me!”

Konstantin grunted a low “hmm.” He couldn’t say he was disappointed with his candidate’s result. But from his long experience—if the names Melkvey didn’t appear in the top ranks, there was only one explanation:

They’d hogged first and second again.

“Oh? Interesting. There’s no second place on the Blazing Sun side.”

Konstantin’s weary heart finally settled down. He could already guess with his dragon horns who had shared first.

“Taking first place together—Jane and Claire. Congratulations.”

Claudia started the applause, the candidates followed suit.

Everyone turned to look at the couple in charge of Jane and Claire, expecting them to be proud and happy. But—

“Why do they both look so disappointed...”

Claudia frowned but turned back to her task.

“Now the dragon-clan candidates. Fifth place—Zorn.”

“If I hadn’t been mugged by Noa-senpai, I’d be first!” came a bratty protest from the crowd.

“Fourth place—Luka.”

“Luka’s higher than me? You stole my points, didn’t you!”

“When I ranked below you, you called me Luka and I said nothing. Now I’m fourth and you’re fifth—what do you call me, Zorn?”

“You little punk!”

The two kids bickered and wandered off on their own.

“Third place—Felicia. Second place—Muse. And first place—Hefei. Congratulations.”

With that, all results were read.

But as everyone was about to head to camp for their detailed scores, Claudia raised her voice again:

“Wait, everyone! Aren’t you curious how many points our Azure Dragon students stole from you?”

The ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) crowd instantly roared.

“I want to know how many that pink-haired dragon girl cheated out of me!”

“How’d she scam you?”

“She said she was hurt, made me carry her, and stole my cards.”

“That’s nothing—she straight up dumped me in a tree!”

“And that black-and-white-haired demon—she was everywhere!”

“Everywhere? What do you mean?”

“I ran into her in the east, then I fled west, and she was there again!”

Claudia’s brow twitched. She coughed.

“Sounds like our students left quite an impression... Ahem. Samantha, hand out the props.”

“Yes.”

Samantha waved, and workers rolled over several carts stacked with... hammers?

To be precise: balloon hammers, each printed with “100T.”

They were handed out to every candidate.

Zorn swung his hammer straight into Luka’s head. Luka swung right back.

Claudia raised her voice again:

“Now for the Youth Division’s haul.

Fifth place—Kristina, 457 points.

Fourth—Ruben, 571 points.

Third—Olmira, 695 points.

Second—Moon, 713 points.”

At that, Aurora’s eyes popped wide.

“Holy crap, Second Sis, how’d you get so many cards?”

Aurora herself hadn’t been idle all day—the “pink hair” on everyone’s lips was proof enough. She thought her six hundred points were impressive. But Second Sis had over seven hundred!

Moon scratched her head.

“I don’t know. By the end, the Blazing Sun candidates just threw me twenty or thirty points and bolted.”

Aurora froze.

“Only the Blazing Sun candidates did that?”

Moon nodded.

“Yeah. Why?”

Aurora covered her face.

“So that’s why they were screaming ‘the black-and-white demon is everywhere’...”

She sighed and explained:

“All of us dragons know you and Big Sis are twins. Big Sis has white hair, you have black, but your faces, your eyes, even your hair features are the same.

The Blazing Sun candidates don’t know that. After Big Sis went on a rampage, they saw you looking exactly the same—of course they panicked and tossed their cards.”

Moon blinked, then said solemnly:

“See, Aurora? I told you I could live off my face forever.”

“That’s not how that works, Second Sis!!”

Meanwhile Claudia announced first place.

“The Youth Division’s top performer—Noa. She seized a total of... 1127 points.”

“Over a thousand?! More than fourth and fifth combined, you monster!”

“The black-and-white-haired demon! I told you she was a demon!”

Claudia raised her voice:

“All right, kids. Look to my left. See those so-called pink hair and black-and-white demon? They’re right there.

Grab your weapons and take your revenge!”

“Don’t stop me! I’ll smash that pink-hair a hundred times! She scammed me so bad!”

“I’ll smash the black-and-white demon three hundred times!!”

“You sure? That little girl’s face says, ‘Cross me and I’ll let you live... maybe.’”

The Youth Division students and the two races’ candidates immediately swarmed together, chaos breaking loose.

The kids wrestled and brawled, a release after a long day of exams.

Watching dragon and sun children playing together, Claudia smiled.

“Looks like our cooperation was a success.”

The Blazing Sun elder nodded.

“Looking forward to the next one.”

Some had joy, some had gloom, but the academy and the Sun side alike were cheerful.

But the couple faced a dilemma.

“A tie for first... so who actually won?” Leon asked.

Rosvisser stroked her chin, frowned in thought, then her eyes lit up.

“Oh, I’ve got it~”

“What?”

She clapped her hands, smiled slyly.

“We can do both wagers at once~”

Leon blinked.

“Both at once...?”

“Exactly.”

The queen leaned in, pressing her ample chest against his, silver eyes gleaming.

“You in a bunny-girl outfit—and we leave each other a fourth dragon-mark on our bodies.”