Vol. 8 - Chapter 409 - Faster than front row girls---The un-ordinary senior
Friday—The usual day of the week for me to don the mantle of provisional lecturer. I had just finished my elective class over \'Training Manual\' and the following voices were in response to class ending. Man, I am so blessed to have everyone studying so diligently.
"Alright, this ends our class today. Feel free to ask any question in this short time we have."
"Zephyr-sensei! Today should be the D-rank promotion exam for ‹Eden›, right? Are you sure you have time!?"
Saying that, a second year student, I think she was an ‹Alchemist›, raised her hand. She had left quite an impression on me with her burning spirit for study and I have only seen her taking notes very seriously from the front row.
In fact, While the front row was being mostly occupied by the first-year girls who have been taking my classes since morning, she has been consistently taking the central seat at the front row—the seat directly facing the podium—which has further left me impressed. This wasn\'t something an ordinary could achieve.
"You sure are well informed, eh. But you\'re right. Today\'s my guild D-rank promotion exam. It will start after 5 PM so we have a little bit of time till then, though I won\'t be able to continue for longer like usual, so I hope I have your understanding."
A series of \'Woahh\' shrill and \'Nooo—\' lamentation filled voices echoed in the auditorium when I apologetically conveyed my time constraint to them.
A majority of \'Woah\' sound was apparently them showing surprise at how we are already going to take the D-rank exam despite being the first-year guild. As for the \'Nooo—\' voice......the source was mainly second year students. To summarize, they were lamenting that a first year guild would soon be overtaking them.
But it\'s alright, everyone. You still have the ultimate combo of ‹Training Manual› and ‹Job Transfer› to make a strong comeback.
As the auditorium was stirred by the shock and screaming voices, the second year ‹Alchemist› from the podium-front seat called out, seemingly paying no heed to the ruckus.
"In that case, I have a question! I am a bit confused about this part, Zephyr-sensei."
"Darn! I lost! Senpai stole the head start!"
"Kuh, I was slow!"
"I can\'t believe I let it happen!"
Huh? Well, I didn\'t quite get what headstart they were talking about, the ruckus around instantly died down as soon as ‹Alchemist› threw in her question.
No way, don\'t tell me she had taken all that into consideration and that\'s why she followed to ask a question? That\'s really a huge help though, time was already a crunch here, so I didn\'t want to waste anymore time. Sure enough, she really was not an ordinary person.
Anyhow, the effort (?) of second year ‹Alchemist› put a leash on the situation and I was able to answer everyone’s question one by one, which I put an end to at 4 pm. It was an abrupt ending, but I think it went quite well. A huge part was due to ‹Alchemist› who kept throwing one question after another at every opening and everyone—as they didn\'t want to miss my explanation—quiet down to listen.
"Thank you...Err..."
"Ah-w-w-w-Yes, sir! Pleasure is mine! Ah, and my name is Selma! It would be my pleasure if you remember it."
"So it\'s Selma-senpai, I remember it. Once again, thank you really. I honestly wasn\'t expecting things to proceed so smoothly honestly."
"Haaa, is that heaven?"
"Alright, everyone. I will be taking my leave now for the promotion exam. Till next week!"
Before taking my leave, I asked second year ‹Alchemist› her name to express my gratitude. So it\'s Selma-senpai. Somehow, she suddenly had such a blissful expression as if she was being invited to heaven for no reason. She\'s alright, right? With that question in the corner of my mind, I said my goodbye to students.
"Ah, Zephyr-sensei! I will be watching your promotion exam!"
"I am sure it\'s going to be a good reference! I also want to see the gallant appearance of Sensei!"
"Me too!"
"I will be there to root for you!"
The girls in the front row excitedly talked about their plans.
"Ah, I don\'t think you need to. It\'s just a D-rank promotion exam, you know? I am delighted to see your support though."
Promotion exam was like a guild battle, but at the end of the day, it wasn\'t the guild battle. The presence of a wager among guilds which create a suspenseful tension that they can\'t absolutely lose there was what made guild battle popular.
However, the promotion exam we were going to face was free from any such restriction. It doesn\'t matter if we lose; if anything, D-rank exams were as uneventful as E-rank. Not that they would make everything a cakewalk for us, but generally, rules were just lenient here.
I mean, the fingers would be raised at examiners instead if they decided to go out and crush the below-rank guild in it. There was hardly anything interesting to watch.
On the other hand, We are going to refrain from using ‹Precise Time Attack›, ‹Carriage› and ‹Dragon\'s Miniature Garden› so it really makes for a very boring guild battle to watch.
I tried to persuade them, but they had already made up their mind it seems.
"We\'re talking about Zephyr-sensei after all, the promotion is basically in the bag!"
"Rather than winning, losing will cause literal chaos."
"Don\'t mind us, Zephyr-sensei! We are just going to see how you do guild battle!"
"Correct! If you ask my heart, I also just want to cheer for Zephyr-sensei though!"
"In fact, we have specifically created this banner to cheer on."
"When did you make that?"
Not only the front row girls announced they were coming to watch the promotion exam, the three of them even showed the banner. The girl standing beside reflexively retorted. I also had the same question. When did they even make it? And it wasn\'t even about ‹Eden›, only \'Zephyr-sensei\' was written on it. Seriously, just when?
On general note, I was pretty delighted for everyone\'s support. So I expressed my gratitude.
"Thank you, everyone. Since we\'re going to have a bit of a cheer team, we will definitely give our double."
Squeals arose from among the group. There was even one girl who needed the support of another to not fall down. Was she alright? I wonder if there was anyone with ‹Recovery›.
"Your time is running out, Zephyr-sensei! Celestine-san over there is also urging you."
"He is? Ah, thank you, Selma-senpai. See ya later."
I nearly lost my time amidst the giggle and chatter of others. I didn\'t realize it was already past 4 PM until Selma-senpai pointed it out. I immediately left the auditorium behind and made way for the No.6 Arena accompanied by other members of ‹Eden›, who were there taking class, and Celestine.