Taming My Vampire Servant

Adviser Titus came in, bringing a box of scrolls, which he placed on the desk in front. The students panicked, especially Ivory who had not studied anything at all. She took a quick glance once more at Lucius' reference scroll before returning it to him. Unfortunately, she had only read three paragraphs.

Then came in Principal Arthurdane, and behind him was Lycus. There was a sudden ruckus among the students as soon as the handsome man steppen in their classroom. 

"This person is Lycus, my new assistant. He will be observing this class today and will be assisting your adviser in proctoring the exam."

Lycus gave a sweet smile to everyone.

"I feel like I can have a perfect score if a handsome man like him will proctor us," Arcea muttered, and the classmates nearby who heard her, laughed.

Principal Arthurdane said his goodbyes and exited the room, and Lycus helped the class adviser to distribute the blank scrolls afterwards.

"Alright, all Servants are to be placed in inactive mode or should stay in the hallway. Students, put away your reference scrolls and bring out your quill and ink now," Titus said, and they all followed. 

Sigmund and the others walked out of the room, but he took a quick glance at his Master who looked very troubled with the upcoming test.

After distributing all the scrolls, Lycus then walked over to the back of the classroom, smiling at Ivory when he passed by.

The adviser took a look at his pocket watch and told them, "The Crown Prince's special written examination will start now."

Everybody opened their scroll, but found nothing.

"Sir… My scroll is blank," Arcea told him, and the others also raised their hand, indicating that they received the same blank scrolls.

"I'm going to write one question here on the black board," he said, then went in front to write the question.

The students of Blue Gem class got nervous as the sound of the screeching chalk could be heard in the whole room. They wondered how hard the mysterious question was that they let them study everything they learned from their first year.

When Adviser Titus was finished writing the question on the board, he faced them and said, "This is the question that Crown Prince Jirou wanted to ask…"

On the black board, it said, "From all the lessons that you have learned in Qawiun Academy, pick the top three which you are the best and explain the theories closely related to it."

"Yes, you are all reading it right," Adviser Titus said as he fixed his eyeglasses, "You have until the lunch break to write your answers. I want you all to explain everything in detail as much as you can. In the afternoon, the Crown Prince will visit and he would personally be selecting the students who would join him in his tour next month. Mister Lycus, please look after them for me, I have to go to the principal for a short while." 

Everyone started dipping their quills into the inks and wrote their names. Most of them started writing about the four elements, while a few had not yet written any answer as they were not sure what to write, like Ivory.

While Lucius and Arcea had been writing their responses nonstop, Ivory paused after writing her name. She placed down the quill and leaned on her seat, and crossed her arms, staring at her scroll.

'The principal was in our house last night, but he didn't tell me anything about this examination. Ugh, I feel like I've forgotten everything I learned during the first year!' thought Ivory, and she tried to remember at least one.

Lycus, seeing Ivory thinking hard about what to answer, walked towards her and said in a soft voice after he lowered his head, "Don't answer it. If you get selected, I do not know what I'd tell your father."

Ivory was surprised to hear this from her long-lost relative. She wondered what he meant by it. Should he be cheering for her?

In the hallway, Sigmund stared at his Master by the door. Even though Lycus said it discreetly, he heard him because of his heightened hearing. He continued to listen to their conversation.

Lycus whispered to her, "Avoid anyone from the Silverblade Castle for now. It's not yet the right time. It's the reason why the Principal didn't tell you about it. So don't answer anything or answer the examination wrongly."

While he neared in close to her, the students wondered what he was doing. They suspected him of saying the answers to her, but what they noticed the most was their similar appearance - fair skin, light blue colored irises, and silver hair.

Because their Adviser Titus was not yet around, Arcea had the guts to ask, "Mister, are you… related to Ivory? You look really, really alike."

"I am her distant relative," he smiled, and the girls squealed, while the boys listened quietly to the interesting revelation.

Arcea got overly excited, "Ivory, you have such a hot relative! Why didn't you tell me about him?"

"I actually just found out about it yesterday," she told her.

"We're having an examination at the moment. Will you please keep quiet?" someone angrily said, and Arcea and Ivory apologized.

"I apologize as well, I was a bit impatient. I was just asking her what she would like for lunch… Please continue your test, I will be quietly watching you," he gave a quick glance and nodded at Ivory before he walked around the room slowly and peeked at the other students' desks.

Sigmund observed his Master if she would answer anything. After a few minutes, she took her quill once again and wrote something really short.

When it was time for lunch, Adviser Titus returned, and he collected all the scrolls. He told them that the rest of the afternoon would be self-study time because all the academy staff and the Educators would be busy for the Crown Prince's arrival. 

As soon as the class adviser and Lycus exited the room to drop off the scrolls to the faculty office, they got all noisy, asking each other of their answers. The Servants also returned to their Master's side.

Ivory, Lucius, and Arcea talked about the examination.

"I feel like I squeezed my brain dry," Arcea commented as she massaged her own hand. "I just said I specialize in close combat, then wrote about speed, accuracy, and other stuff. What about you two? What did you write?"

"I wrote about magic. And the theories related to incorporating the elements into one's weapon," Lucius said in confidence.

"You are highly likely to join the prince, Lucius. Aside from your great potential as a Master, you are General Goldwine's son, so you might have inherited his greatness," Ivory uttered.

"I would say the same for you. You have greatly improved since we reached our second year," Lucius said, but he saw her shake her head.

"I didn't do well on the written test."

Arcea curiously asked, "Why? What was your answer?"

"I wrote 'I'm not good at anything. I sincerely apologize'."

"What?! Are you crazy?!" she yelled, "Even though you were absent these past few days, the question is answerable at least for someone who finished the first year. You missed this wonderful chance!"

"Well, it's not like I'd get expelled, right?" Ivory chuckled, "It's alright. Besides, traveling around the kingdom would be tiresome."

"Hmm, I just noticed something. Your Servant has been frowning since a while ago," Arcea told Ivory.

"Why don't you mind your own business? That curiosity and loud mouth of yours will be the cause of your doom someday," the Vampire said as he looked at her with disdain.

"Why you-"

Ivory stepped in the middle of them, "I apologize on behalf of my Servant."

"Your Spirit Servant is the most stubborn Servant I have ever encountered. I can still remember those times when you were going out to find him because he ran away during the summoning ritual. Are you sure you're alright having him around you? I mean… Is he even following your orders?" Arcea asked Ivory out of concern.

She nodded in response to it, "Sigmund is the best. I don't know what I'd do without him, you know."

Hearing this, Sigmund felt happy deep inside. For him, it's better to be with Ivory as a mere Servant, than to be punished, unsummoned, and be away from her. He tried to keep their relationship as platonic as he could if it's the only way to be with her.

They all went to the academy eatery, and Lycus joined them after his assistance to Titus. After eating their lunch, it was announced that Crown Prince Jirou Dragonicus had arrived.

The twenty-eight year old prince had fair skin, charcoal black hair, and piercing medium blue eyes. He was cladded in a collard blue military uniform with golden linings and a golden braid. His blue-eyed black dragon Beast Servant, in its inactive, smaller form of only twelve inches tall, rested on his shoulder. 

Ignoring the attention that he was having, he directly went to Principal Arthurdane's office to check the students' answers.

"Your Highness, we prepared lime pie for you," the principal said courteously. "Would you like it to be partnered with green tea, or black coffee-"

"What the hell is this answer?! How dare this student take my special examination as a joke!" the prince banged the table with his fists, after seeing a few words from a certain scroll.

It said, ["I'm not good at anything. I sincerely apologize."]

"Who's this student?" Prince Jirou showed the scroll and pointed to her name. 

"Who would dare anger you, sir?" Principal Arthurdane took a peek at the scroll, "Oh. She's-"

"Nobody should mess with me, and I'll make her realize it," the Crown Prince said in an authoritative tone, "Bring her here. I shall punish this woman."