(⊙⊙) Serie's Interest
Next up was the sixth candidate: Lawine!
She was Kanne's childhood friend. They'd attended the same magic school, and she specialized in ice magic. In terms of strength, she was about on par with Kanne. Both were third-class mages, and they'd teamed up for the first two rounds of the exam, advancing together with no trouble.
They'd had Annie and Elaina to thank for making it through the second round, of course, but they'd been lucky enough to pass together.
That didn't matter, though. What did matter was that when Lawine entered the flower hall, Serie finally broke her silence. Somewhat surprised, she lifted her head and fixed her sharp gaze on Lawine, who looked nervous but was trying hard to stay composed.
Then Serie spoke first. It was the first time she'd asked a question of her own during the interviews that day.
"How strange..."
Her voice was tinged with unmistakable confusion and curiosity. Sitting by the pool, she turned to look at Lawine.
"I've noticed that you, along with those three who just passed..."
"Kanne, Laufen, and that girl named Ehre..."
"You all have a certain..."
"Similar air about you?"
As she spoke, she leaned forward slightly, her bare feet swaying gently in the water and sending ripples across the pool.
"To be frank, by my standards, all of you are weak. Very weak."
"Under normal circumstances, I should have rejected you all outright, just like I did those bearded men earlier."
"But!"
"What's interesting is that you all have something in common. You... don't seem afraid of me at all?"
"Can you tell me why?"
As she asked, her gaze sharpened like a blade, as if she wanted to split open Lawine's mind and soul right then and there to see what was inside.