That evening, at the Duke's residence.

  This was before the knights assigned to search for the 22 knights found their bodies in the forest.

  "Congratulations to those of you who have completed this fourth and final exam. Congratulations also to the 87 who managed to earn 20 medals and earned a full score of 4,000 points in this exam."

  "For those of you who failed to achieve a full score, please don't be discouraged. Although this is the final exam of the school year, you can still earn points through the daily matches, which will reopen starting Monday. Daily matches for this school year will remain open until the academy tournament. After the academy tournament, daily matches for this school year will not resume until the new semester."

  "After this, we will return directly to the inn, as it is already late and it would be inconvenient for Lord Duke."

  "I remind you again that tomorrow you will have a day off. You are permitted to explore San Minerva City for the entire day. We will return to the academy the day after tomorrow. I hereby declare the fourth exam of this school year officially over," said Mr. Alan.

  We all applauded at Mr. Alan's words.

  -

  Then we all went to the front gate of the Duke's residence. Duke Darwin, Commander Marshall, and several other knights also accompanied us to the front gate. Afterward, we all boarded the horse-drawn carriage and returned to the inn.

  Duke Darwin watched the students leave and then asked Commander Marshall about something.

  "What about the knights? Have they been found yet?" Duke Darwin asked Commander Marshall.

  "Not yet, Lord," Commander Marshall said.

  "Those knights were tasked with killing Rid Archie, but how come Rid Archie still managed to pass the exam? Did they all fail?" Duke Darwin asked.

  "I think so, Lord. This situation wouldn't have happened if I had personally gone down to the exam site to kill him, Lord," said Commander Marshall

  "If you had gone down yourself, it would have raised suspicions against the instructors. There's no need to regret it," Duke Darwin said.

  "Yes, Lord," said Commander Marshall.

  Duke Darwin decided to return to his residence, but suddenly a knight ran hurriedly towards him.

  "Huftt......Huffttt.....reporting, Mr. Duke," said the knight.

  The knight looked extremely exhausted from running.

  "What's wrong?" asked Duke Darwin.

  "Huffftt......Huffttt....we all managed to find the 22 knights in the deepest part of the eastern forest," said the knight.

  "What? How are they?" asked Duke Darwin.

  "Hufffttt....Huffttt....they're all dead and in a terrible condition," said the knight.

  "What?!?!?!?" said a shocked Duke Darwin.

  -

  After that, the remaining knights were deployed to recover the bodies and bring them back to the Duke's residence. The bodies were successfully brought to the Duke's backyard.

  "What happened to them? Why are their bodies like this?" asked a shocked Duke Darwin after seeing their bodies.

  "They probably died from being eaten by monsters. Did you see any monsters around their bodies?" asked Commander Marshall to the knights who first discovered the bodies.

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  "No, we didn't find any monsters. We only saw their bodies, which were already like this," said one of the knights.

  "Is that so," said Commander Marshall.

  "So they failed because they were eaten by monsters, not defeated by Rid Archie? Looks like that kid was lucky," said Duke Darwin.

  "I don't think so," said someone else.

  "Honey?" said Duke Darwin.

  "Miss Duchess?" said Commander Marshall.

  It turned out to be Duchess Harriet, who had suddenly appeared.

  "You all know that the monsters behind this residence are low-level monsters. Do you think a low-level monster could defeat those knights?" asked Duchess Harriet.

  "What the Duchess says makes perfect sense. It's impossible for those trained knights to be defeated and eaten by those low-level monsters," said Commander Marshall.

  "It's possible they initially managed to surround a student named Rid Archie, but were all defeated by him. They may not have been killed by Rid Archie, but rather rendered lifeless by him. That's why they were helpless when the monsters came upon them and ended up being eaten by them. That's just my opinion, but it's the one I find most plausible," said Duchess Harriet.

  "I also agree with Miss Duchess. There's no way the knights I led would have been defeated and eaten by those low-level monsters unless someone had defeated them first," said Commander Marshall.

  "I see. That means he was very strong, able to defeat 22 knights alone," said Duke Darwin.

  "I guess so," said Commander Marshall.

  "For now, news of these dead soldiers must not spread to others, especially those at the academy. They will be suspicious if they find out."

  "Tomorrow the students will have a day off and will be touring San Minerva City. I order you not to make any unnecessary moves, such as spying on them, especially Rid Archie, who is the mastermind behind the killing of the 22 knights."

  "I will contact Lord ?Duke San Quentine and Lord ?Duke San Angela immediately to discuss the next steps," said Duke Darwin.

  "Yes, Lord," said Commander Marshall ?and the other knights.

  Then Duke Darwin returned to his residence, accompanied by Duchess Harriet.

  -

  The next day.

  The students seemed enthusiastic about their holiday and wandered around? San Minerva City. We also went around buying materials and items we wanted. Irene, Charles, Chloe, and I, members of the Elevrad, planned to buy souvenirs to share with the other Elevrad members. This time, Enzo didn't go with us and decided to wander around the city alone.

  The city is currently very peaceful, although there have been nightly crimes recently, but they don't seem too affected by it.

  "There's been no news of the kngihts who were killed by monsters at the San Fulgen Akademiya student exam site. Has the Duke's side found their bodies yet?,"

  "No, the Duke should have ordered other knights to search for them since they didn't report back after being ordered to kill me. Their bodies should have been found by other knights who were ordered to search for them. It seems the Duke intended to cover up this news to avoid causing a commotion among the citizens of San Minerva and the Academy. Well, I don't really care whether they keep this news private," I thought.

  We wandered around city from morning until late evening, and then decided to return to the inn with our purchases.

  -

  The next morning, around noon.

  After packing up our belongings at the inn, we all left the inn and returned to the Duke's residence to say goodbye to Duke Darwin.

  "Thank you, Lord, for hosting us and lending us your space and territory to serve as an exam site for our students," said Mr. Alan.

  "You're welcome, Alan. Send my regards to the principal," said Duke Darwin.

  "Yes, Lord. I also thank you for lending me your knights, Commander," Mr. Alan said to Commander Marshall.

  "You're welcome, Alan," said Commander Marshall.

  "Then, we all take our leave to return to the academy, Lord Duke," said Mr. Alan.

  "Yes, be careful on the road, Alan," said Duke Darwin.

  After saying our goodbyes, we all left the Duke's residence with rode a horse-drawn carriage and returned to San Fulgen Academy, located in the capital of San Estella.

  -

  Shortly afterward, Duke Darwin returned to his room and spoke through a communication crystal.

  "I apologize for failing to defeat Rid Archie when he took the test at my place," said Duke Darwin.

  "It's ok, Lord Darwin. We didn't know how strong he was from the start, even though we knew he was strong because he defeated Javier and my daughter, ?Amelia. But this time, he even managed to defeat 22 trained knights who surrounded him," said Duke Remy.

  "So, what should we do to defeat him? Rid Archie is our biggest obstacle to the resumption of the ~Matchmaking Battle~. The academy tournament and academy festival are coming up soon, ?wouldn't it be better to send someone to defeat him at those events?" asked Duke James.

  It turned out that Duke Darwin was chatting with Duke Remy and Duke James through the communication crystal.

  "Don't be too hasty, Lord James. Didn't I tell you that if we attack the academy directly, our plan will be immediately discovered by the principal. If the person we sent is defeated there, she can obtain information from them. If we really want to attack the academy directly, we should at least deal with the principal first," said Duke Remy.

  "Then should we wait another year and deal with him when he takes the exam at my place?" asked Duke James.

  "Yes, that's the right time to deal with him, but as for the method, it seems we'll have to wait until after the academy tournament. My nephew, Vyn, the current chairman ?of Elevrad and the strongest student in the academy, previously challenged Rid to an academy tournament so he could face him. We'll figure out a way to defeat Rid after seeing his performance in the tournament, although I'm not confident he can win," said Duke Remy.

  -To be continued