Chapter 261 - What? He's stronger than ME!?
"Sorry, sorry. The situation was just too interesting. I couldn't help but tease you a little."
Kurono finally let her composed facade slip, her expression shifting into one of pure amusement as she explained with a suppressed smile. "Hagun Academy utilizes double-occupancy dormitories, and Room 109 is assigned precisely to you and Roy. Neither of you is in the wrong room."
Roy's eyes were calm.
He had already anticipated this outcome, having Stella as a roommate was an unexpected but manageable twist of fate.
Stella, however, looked as if her entire world was collapsing. She stared at Kurono with a look that screamed, 'Are you completely insane?' At this moment, a world where only Stella Vermillion suffered had been successfully achieved.
"Chairwoman, what are you talking about?! What exactly does this mean?!" Stella finally snapped out of her shock, her voice rising furiously.
"Why would I be assigned as roommates with a boy?! I have never heard of any respectable school that forces men and women to share the exact same room!"
"Stella Vermillion, you should be aware of the core teaching policy of our Hagun Academy, correct?" Kurono restrained her laughter, her tone suddenly becoming serious and authoritative.
Seeing the Chairwoman's shift in demeanor, Stella had no choice but to compose herself. "Absolute strength. Complete focus on practical combat readiness."
"That's right. And you chose Hagun Academy specifically because of this, didn't you?" Kurono pressed.
Stella nodded, admitting it.
As a Mage Knight possessing perhaps the highest mana capacity in human history, Stella would have received the ultimate VIP treatment no matter which school she attended.
Among the Seven Mage Knight Academies in Japan, the highest ranked was not Hagun, but Bukyoku Academy. Stella had bypassed Bukyoku entirely, choosing Hagun largely because its brutal, combat oriented teaching policy suited her tastes and offered the best environment to temper her strength.
"Exactly. And this is my new policy," Kurono stated earnestly.
"Hagun Academy was once regarded as the pinnacle of the Seven Academies. But in recent years, we have fallen completely behind the other six. In the recent Seven Star Sword Art Festivals, Hagun has suffered repeated, humiliating defeats."
"We still require rigorous entrance exams, and our students are carefully selected, yet our tournament results grow worse every single year." Kurono paused for a moment, letting the weight of the academy's failure sink in.
"I was brought in as Chairwoman by the board of directors for one specific reason: to revive Hagun Academy."
Saying so, Kurono took a slow puff of her cigarette and continued.
"The first step in this revitalization is the dormitory allocation. In order for students to learn from each other and grow, we have discarded assignments based on seat numbers or gender."
"As long as two students are of comparable strength, they will be arranged to live in the same dormitory."
"Only by having someone of equal caliber breathing down your neck can we naturally stimulate a student's competitive drive. I deliberately instituted this distribution method to forge rivalries."
"Therefore, from now on, the two of you will be roommates. You will spend your days at Hagun Academy sharpening each other."
Kurono looked extremely satisfied with her own arrangement, a hint of smugness lacing her words.
"That is still completely absurd!"
Hearing Kurono's explanation, Stella stormed up to the desk and slammed her hands down on the wood. "Even if the goal is to arouse a competitive spirit, it is absolutely unnecessary to put a boy and a girl together! From an ethical standpoint, you should just pair people of the same sex who have similar strength!"
"You're right," Kurono looked directly into Stella's eyes. "But tell me, among the incoming female students, do you honestly think there is anyone who even comes close to your level?"
"Isn't that something you should consider as the Chairwoman?!" Stella argued vigorously.
"Then I will tell you clearly: the only girl in the entirety of Hagun Academy who can match or suppress you in terms of strength is the Student Council President, Touka Toudo, who just escorted you here," Kurono said lightly. "Do you want me to assign her as your roommate? It's a pity, but she has been rooming with her current partner for two years. I am not going to force her to abandon her roommate just to accommodate you."
Stella was speechless.
She knew her own strength perfectly well. Even without an official license, she was leaps and bounds stronger than most student knights.
For an A-Rank knight, fighting a standard student was essentially a dimensional beatdown. Even the champion of the last Seven Star Sword Art Festival had only been a B-Rank.
In terms of talent, aptitude, and raw power, Stella was a freak of nature. That was why her enrollment had caused such a massive sensation.
"Obviously, Touka wouldn't agree to it, and I wouldn't allow it," Kurono continued without hesitation. "And among the incoming freshmen, other than Roy, I couldn't find a single person who could rival you."
"Him? Rival me in strength?"
Hearing this, Stella whipped her head around to look at Roy in pure disbelief, as if she had just heard the punchline to a terrible joke.
When she took her entrance exam, her scores had shattered the school's historical records. With an evaluation of four A's and two B's across the six Mage Knight parameters, she was virtually unrivaled. Even among graduated, professional Mage Knights, few could boast such a terrifying stat spread. She didn't believe for a second that anyone in her year could surpass her.
"The school's official website just updated the rankings for this year's incoming class. You can log on and check for yourself," Kurono said with a smirk. "Roy is ranked First. You are Second."
Stella's jaw dropped.
She had traveled all the way to Japan to take the entrance exam, learned she had scored the highest in Hagun's history, and returned to the Vermillion Empire feeling triumphant.
Who could have predicted that, in the short time before she returned for the semester, some unknown guy would show up and violently squeeze her out of the top spot?
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