Episode 55: Overwhelming, Moving, Surpassing Ideals and Perfect

Doggy Kamikam was burning with passion.

There were quite a few people who wondered who exactly he was, but that was quite natural, and he was the kind of person whose position didn’t particularly cause any problems.

Such a person who had never seen the light of day and wasn’t remembered by anyone—what could have driven him to this state?

It was none other than the humiliation he had suffered from Eleanore Anciness, the top student of the nobility course, on that first day of enrollment.

As a result of scheming to curry favor with the brilliant Eleanore and expand his connections, all he received was a sense of intimidation like that of an evil god, and a humiliation as if he had been forced to submit and eat dirt.

Though he was a small-time figure who tried to devote himself to flattery, he was still the son of a prime minister serving the nation.

There was no way he could remain silent after such a disgrace and blunder unbefitting of a noble.

His position in class had become essentially nothing, but perhaps he still harbored a rebellious spirit within—he was burning with fighting spirit toward this periodic examination.

To crush her here and seize the position of top in the grade.

To make everyone know that he surpassed the one who had once made him submit.

The man called Doggy or whatever was putting in more effort toward the test than anyone else.

…And then, several days after the periodic examination ended.

(Heh… I won.)

The man headed toward the hallway where the results were posted with a confident smile and high spirits.

He must have felt that all the countermeasures he had taken in advance went well, resulting in a satisfying performance.

…However, the results did not go according to his ideals.

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7th Place: Doggy Kamikam 498 points

…

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(What the!?)

Doggy’s eyes widened.

Having been so confident, he had only lost two points.

However, his ranking ended up at a mediocre 7th place.

Though it felt like he had gotten a perfect score and first place… could he still not match the top student after all?

While halfway giving up, Doggy looked at those whose names were listed in the higher rankings.

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1st Place Tie: Cathy Becker 500 points

… Torados Nutbaar …

… Leon Roadfin

…

6th Place: Therese Adret 499 points

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An astonishing result with five people having perfect scores.

…However, Eleanore’s name was not among them.

(I… won!!)

The man took a trembling victory pose as if shaking with joy.

Unfortunately it wasn’t a perfect score, and moreover it was surprising that the top student had scored lower than at least seven others, but as a result, he had won.

That alone was enough for him to rejoice.

“Hey hey, look at that.”

“Whoa, what’s that?”

In the afterglow of his emotion, he suddenly noticed the commotion around him.

And around him—or rather, people had cleared away from the bulletin board where the test results were posted, and a crowd had formed a little ways ahead.

Doggy also peeked over there out of curiosity.

There, something about the same size as the results announcement paper was boldly posted—

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0th Place: Eleanore Anciness

500 + Awesome!! Amazing!! Perfect!! points

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“…Huh?”

Seeing that content, he involuntarily let out a deflated voice.

The name of the rival he thought he had defeated was posted there, and with an incomprehensible point display, so it couldn’t be helped.

“Wow, what’s this?”

“0th place… does that mean higher than 1st place?”

“And what’s with these points?”

“Apparently, the art and dance teachers were so moved they gave these points.”

“Weren’t those teachers strict people?”

“To move those people is really something, I’ve never even seen them change their expressions.”

“Is that even allowed?”

“Well, I guess it’s okay? It’s posted after all.”

While in a confused state, the voices around him entered his ears.

(That’s… impossible.)

With his mouth hanging open, Doggy fell to his knees.

Just when he thought he had won, he had been overwhelmingly defeated.

It would be cruel to tell him not to be crushed.

“Ah, it’s Eleanore sama!!”

“Eleanore sama!!”

“Gweh.”

At the same time as high-pitched voices of female students were heard, Doggy was kicked by them.

It was inevitable when taking such a low posture in a crowded place.

As he raised his face with his vision flickering, there was the figure of the black-haired beautiful girl who was his rival.

“To produce such results is amazing!”

“As expected of Eleanore sama!”

“Such overwhelming and moving grades!”

The entourage gathered around her praised her one after another.

Their number… could not possibly be counted on one’s fingers.

Probably dozens of people surrounded Eleanore.

In contrast, Doggy had been kicked and ostracized from the group…

“Thank you everyone. But the topics I happened to be focusing on appeared in the questions, so I was just lucky.”

Eleanore responded with a consistently cheerful smile and humility.

This wasn’t the typical noble’s humble-brag.

It was a truly genuine smile without any malice or impurity.

Seeing that, Doggy Kamikam would taste his second defeat.