Author's Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting

"No, that's not quite true. You can lie to the others but not to me."

I heard him saying that from behind.

So he is really going to do it, ha.

I wanted to avoid this outcome but if that's what you want then you will just get that.

'I just want to live a peaceful life here. Can't I even have that much? Is it too much to ask? Am I not allowed to experience a bit of happiness in a "normal" way? I don't want to go back to being my old self, if not necessary, but the people keep forcing me to do so.'

Sigh! No use thinking over it now, it is what it is.

Immediately after, I sensed the presence of something behind me. 'He is trying to launch a surprise attack to see how I'll reach so that he can guess my true potential. Hmm, you're not bad…but this is too generic of an approach.'

The presence closed the distance in an instant, was it him? No, the presence I'm sensing is too small to be of a human, he must've thrown his sword at me.

If that's the case then…

I moved like flowing water, smoothly, any movement I made was not wasted. Then, with the sword that I was done heating with my elemental magic already, I swung it without even looking at my target.

I trusted my instincts and moved purely based on that, and I must say I was not disappointed. The thing that was headed toward me was in fact the sword he held a few moments ago.

And then, when his sword entered my range and was about to pierce through my neck, my sword cut through his sword like a heated knife on butter—slicing the blade of the other sword into two pieces.

It was because I had heated my sword with elemental magic—fire element, though this was not meant to be a counter for this sword.

Even if he had come to get me himself, the result wouldn't have varied much.

I took a look at his face and it was pale, a mixture of surprise, confusion, and amusement could be seen.

But what I wanted to see the most was not there, despair. He had sweat all over his face and body but he was not terrified of me.

Thus, I decided to push it a bit further.

"Forget about what happened here otherwise the world will forget about you. And give me the marks according to how I performed, not based on what you thought I will perform like...understand?" I said, in a cold, expressionless voice.

I also indirectly added that if he told anyone about me or what happened here, he will lose his life.

It was an important thing to do, after all, if word got out then the normal, peaceful life I dream of will be turned to dust. And I can go to any extent to keep that from happening.

He didn't reply to me, in fact, he didn't say anything. I went to the desk and placed the sword back on it, afterwards, I left the room and headed to where the fourth exam was supposed to be.

On my way there, I realized that I probably still have "that" look on my face. Therefore, I stopped and put my hand on my chest, touching where my heart was.

'Calm down, calm down, calm down,' after repeating these words over and over in my mind, I relieved a prolonged breath.

'I am fine now, I should be.'

With that, I put a smile on my face and started walking again.

***

Let's go back in time a bit.

When Zero was dealing with all this, a certain someone was busy with their own problem. The thing that was troubling this someone was a mathematical question.

And the person in question was Anya, Zero's older sister.

She was still stuck in the first exam, trying to somehow solve all these questions.

Her academic abilities were not good but she wasn't bad either. In fact, she was already done with all the literature questions, all that was left was mathematics.

At this time, a boy rose up from his seat and went to submit his answer sheet to the female examiner—who sat behind the podium on a chair.

This boy was none other than her own brother, Zero. Saying he was her "own" brother might not be right, but the fact still remained that he was her brother.

She glanced at him and the only thing she thought was, 'How in the world did he finish it this quickly?'

This was a normal reaction anyone would expect out of her, after all, she didn't know what Zero had written and what he didn't.

She knew that he was from another world, a world that was way advanced from this one. She also knew that he can use magic without anyone being there to teach him.

Even so, she never thought of him to be a genius in academics also.

A genius? After witnessing what happened just now, she was not able to discard this possibility by saying, "this is impossible".

Her doubts were slowly taking the form of fact. Though this was just her assumption, she wasn't aware of it.

Finishing her exam around half an hour after Zero left, she went to take on the third exam.

When she entered the room she was told, the sight of an old man who was staring at something outside with his eyes out was the first thing she saw.

Since she was the first one to finish the first exam after Zero, there were no other students here.

Those who left before her were probably done with the second exam also. This, however, also meant that the last one to leave from here was Zero; she was not so dense to not realize this.

'I guess it explains the state he's in. If it was Zero, then he must have done something again,' she thought.

This exam turned out to be a tough one for her; though she knew this beforehand. It was because the second exam tested one's magic skills; the thing she was weak at.

But she somehow cleared it, there was a magic circle in the middle of this room and the old man —who was the examiner this time —told her that this will supply her with mana to cast a spell.

He told her the incantation she was supposed to use and then when she was about to fire the spell, he interrupted her.

'Is this your first time also?' he asked.

"Yes, as I told you before. This is my first time using magic."

The look on his face suddenly darkened as he said, "Please don't blow up this place."

Some "things" that happened a while ago left a deep impact on the old man, this much was clear.

After clearing the second exam, she went to take on the third one. This exam was pretty easy for her since her specialty was sword arts and this exam tested just that.

However, the state this examiner was in can't be defined as good. 'Him again' she said internally.

"You've got some good skills there," the examiner complimented her before she left to which she replied with a simple "thank you".

Leaving that room, she stood by herself.

"Now all that's left is the fourth exam. The one I'm worried about the most," she said to herself.